The Silent Bookstore Manager at Hogwarts

The story spread very quickly, since everyone knew that Harry had indeed disappeared on Halloween night. Coupled with Professor McGonagall's serious expression, and the inexplicable disappearance of 150 points from Gryffindor and 100 points from Hufflepuff, almost all the Hogwarts students started to speculate wildly, and no one knew what Harry had done that day.

Of course, they had no idea that the protagonist of the story was now complaining to Red.

"This is too exaggerated. It's only been two days and things have turned out like this. I don't know how it will be spread in a few more days."

Harry gripped his wand tightly, his brow furrowed. He was desperately trying to get close to Red, as this was his only chance of defeating him. If it came down to a contest of magic power and spell proficiency, Harry felt he was destined to be constantly beaten by Red. So, he could only hope to gain an advantage in close combat.

However, reality still dealt him a heavy blow. Under Red's dazzling "armor protection," he couldn't even clearly see where Red was, let alone get close.

"In a few days, Harry will shoot out a laser beam from his eyes, splitting the troll in two, shocking Dumbledore and Professor Snape who arrive later, and finally causing Professor Snape to sincerely apologize to the savior."

Red's words made Harry's already gloomy face even more helpless. He never imagined that there were so many versions of him slaying the troll.

"I hope Hermione won't be too angry... Describing someone as a country bumpkin isn't a very nice feeling."

Harry sighed. He hadn't seen Hermione since she was sent back to her dorm two days ago.

"Probably not. More important than that, you need to figure out how to earn those points back. Snape won't let you off so easily."

Red removed all his protective charms and stood in front of Harry, who put down his wand. The two assumed fighting stances and began close combat.

"There's no other way. I can only try to score more points in Quidditch matches, otherwise..."

Harry wanted to say that this might not be fair to the Gryffindor students, but in fact, everyone he had met in the past few days seemed to care about grades at all. They were all asking what had happened on Halloween night, what the trolls looked like, and whether Professor Snape was as angry as rumored.

It seems that none of the Gryffindors, including Prefect Percy, cared much about Harry losing 100 points and Ron losing 50.

"Compared to these 150 points, the courage, wisdom, and strength displayed by our beloved Savior are what should be valued far more."

This nearly drove their dean, Professor McGonagall, half to death.

Of course, it seemed to be a similar situation for Red. The Hufflepuffs didn't care too much about the score; they were more concerned about Red's safety and the exciting adventure story. Everyone wanted to know how they rescued Hermione from the trolls and how they killed them.

So today Ron was practically surrounded by a crowd, because the other Hogwarts students could hardly find Red and Harry, who had disappeared on time, and Hermione was still in the infirmary for a check-up to ensure her health, so only Ron could recount what happened to them.

"Cough cough cough... Why do I feel like I still can't break through your defenses in close combat? I already did it not long ago..."

"You're overthinking it. Do you think I can't do what you can?"

Red ruthlessly shattered this illusion. Harry had merely completed his ritual, taking the first step in practicing the "Commandment of the Scars." However, Red's "Contemplation of Dawn" had already reached Level 4. After completely seeing through and even deducing Harry's movements, defeating him would be a piece of cake.

"By the way, if you really want to surprise your enemy, you should insert spellcasting during close combat. A levitation spell or even a 'Water of the Spring' spell at close range can definitely give your enemy a surprise, right?"

Harry thought about it and realized that was indeed the case. However, compared to this plan, which might take even longer to show results, Harry was more concerned about something else.

"There must be more I can learn about the 'Commandment of Scars,' right?"

He asked somewhat nervously, after all, he knew that such wonderful and powerful knowledge should be very precious, and he could understand if Red couldn't produce the rest of the knowledge.

"Yes, but what you need most right now is to stabilize your mindset. Remember what I said at the beginning?"

Red nodded. This surprise was a pleasant one for Harry, but he didn't quite understand what Red said next.

"You can learn all the skills, knowledge, and powers in the realm of Divination, but I do not recommend that you become a follower of any Divination... At least, Silent Bookstore has the confidence to say this."

Due to certain special events, the Silent Bookstore fell into a state of complete neglect. The bookstore's guardians fell silent, and there were no longer any so-called supervisors. In other words, they could truly be called local tyrants in the academic field. As long as they did not leave the Silent Bookstore, they could study whatever they wanted.

"However, you don't have much time to study. After all, Christmas is coming soon, and you need to get yourself into the right mindset. If you take Christmas and final exams in this soldier's mindset, you'll feel terrible."

Harry nodded. He had actually sensed it. When the book described the colonel, it said that his soldiers never retired and could never betray him. At first, he thought it was just a restriction of some kind of contract, but now he gradually understood why the book said that. He felt that his mind was being reshaped. The Commandments of Scars brought him power, but also new ideas and thoughts, which he could hardly resist. He could only try to counteract the influence through other methods.

Seeing that Harry truly understood what he should do, Red circled "The Battle of the Walls" on his reading list.

The Battle of the Walls: An 18th-century epic, attributed to "Solipssistos". (Secret: 4 [Blades]) (Contains the great artistic teaching: [The Commandments of the Scars])

"You can find that book yourself when you get back to the bookstore, but we have other customers right now..."

As they spoke, Harry and Red both looked at the third guest. Hermione looked at Red and Harry somewhat timidly, and after a long while, she slowly spoke.

"Excuse me, did I disturb you?"