Chapter 538: Tracking and Countermeasures
Chapter 538: Tracking and Countermeasures
The reward for the "Magical Restricted Area" mission was an increase in the level of a certain skill by 1. This meant that the higher the level of the skill, the more valuable the reward would be.
Currently, Albert's highest-leveled skill was Wizard Bloodline at level 5. The second highest was Occlumency at level 4, while the rest of his skills were only at levels 3, 2, or 1.
After careful consideration for three seconds, Albert decided to claim the mission reward and upgrade his Wizard Bloodline to level 6. Although the improvement in bloodline didn't significantly enhance his strength, he went ahead with the upgrade anyway.
Perhaps this wizard bloodline could be inherited by his future descendants?
Of course, it was also because Albert wanted to see what the level cap for skills was!
The answer was... level 6.
Well, the Wizard Bloodline skill on the panel had directly turned into max.
To be honest, the amount of experience needed to level up skills on the panel was quite exorbitant.
The higher the level, the more experience was required, and the harder it was to gain experience through skill usage.
Reaching level 1 only required 100 experience points; leveling up to level 2 required 2,000 points; level 3 demanded 10,000 points; level 4 needed 50,000 points; and level 5 a whopping 200,000 points.
As for level 6, Albert had no idea, but he knew that with his current pool of 65,300 experience points, he could directly raise one of his skills to level 4, and that was it.
Even in the near future, it seemed unlikely that he would be able to master many level 3 skills.
Albert drew out his wand and cast an Impediment Jinx at the combat dummy in front of him. The dummy flew backward as if hit by a truck, crashing into a wall far away with a loud bang.
"The power of the spell has increased."
Overall, the effect of maxing out the Wizard Bloodline skill was quite remarkable.
What delighted Albert the most was the lowered threshold for learning nonverbal spells and wandless magic.
There was a reason pure-blood wizards pursued greater magical power. Those with stronger magical abilities tended to find it easier to learn most spells compared to others in the same situation.
"Next, it's the issue of the Basilisk." Albert put away his wand and began contemplating how to take advantage of the Basilisk incident to gain another wave of experience.
The idea of facing a Basilisk made Albert rather cautious.
He wanted to leverage the Basilisk incident to earn another Special Contribution Award. Then, by taking advantage of the Black family incident next year, he could completely fulfill the "Three Strikes and You're Out" achievement.
Among the many panel tasks, "Three Strikes and You're Out" was probably the most valuable one, offering the reward of "Gain a designated level 3 skill."
This meant that Albert could learn to create a Philosopher's Stone, instantly master Animagus transformation without the tedious process, or even grasp the highly dangerous and unstable Temporal Flip, making the creation of a Time-Turner a non-issue.
Although Albert didn't know exactly when Ginny Weasley would open the Chamber of Secrets and encounter the Basilisk, the first attack had occurred during Halloween.
Finding out Ginny Weasley's whereabouts was actually quite simple—he could use the Living Map. However, searching for someone through the map was troublesome.
He planned to use the Tracking Spell, along with the Human Presence Spell, to create a simple map specifically for tracking Ginny Weasley's location.
However, Albert didn't currently know how to cast the Human Presence Spell.
After much consideration, Albert decided to seek out Professor Flitwick to inquire about the spell. Their relationship was fairly good, and there was a high chance the professor would teach it to him. Building good relationships with the professors always came with some benefits.
Albert headed directly to Professor Flitwick's office and, along the way, happened to encounter Professor Lockhart being "escorted" out by Professor Snape.
"Good evening, Professor Lockhart," Albert greeted with a smile.
"Good evening, Mr. Anderson. What brings you to see Professor Flitwick at this hour? Perhaps I can be of assistance instead?" Lockhart said.
However, no sooner had Lockhart spoken than he began to regret his unnecessary offer.
"Well, you see, when I was in the United States, I came across a spell called the Human Presence Spell in a spellbook from Ilvermorny School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. I was hoping to consult Professor Flitwick about it," Albert replied.
"Human Presence Spell?" Lockhart feigned a thoughtful expression. "My apologies, but I'm not well-versed in that particular spell. Professor Flitwick is in his office, and he might be able to answer your queries."
With that, Lockhart quickly walked away.
Watching Lockhart's departing back, Albert felt a twinge of disappointment. He had expected the professor to blurt out something like, "Allow me to teach you."
After Lockhart left, Albert turned and made his way to the Charms Office. He raised his hand and knocked on the door.
The door opened soon after, and Professor Flitwick seemed relieved to see that it was Albert.
"Mr. Anderson, what can I do for you?" Professor Flitwick asked with a smile, inviting Albert in.
"Well..."
Albert quickly fabricated a story about how he had come across the Human Presence Spell in an American spellbook during his summer vacation in the United States, and so he had come to seek Professor Flitwick's guidance on the matter.
"A spellbook from Ilvermorny School of Witchcraft and Wizardry in the US?" Professor Flitwick seemed quite interested in the spellbooks used in America.
"The spellbook from Ilvermorny is called 'Charms of Chikwi,' " Albert explained. "It's quite different from our standard textbook, 'Standard Book of Spells.'"
"I wonder if it's possible to get ahold of one in the country. If not, we might have to resort to other means," Professor Flitwick mused.
"Professor Flitwick, I happen to have a set if you need it," Albert offered.
"That's wonderful! I should be able to take a look within a week. Oh, and by the way, the Human Presence Spell!" Professor Flitwick took out a piece of parchment, drew a simple map on it, and then demonstrated the casting process of the Human Presence Spell to Albert.
After the spell was cast, the parchment now showed footprints marking the locations of the two people.
"This is the Human Presence Spell," Professor Flitwick explained. "This type of spell is usually used in conjunction with a map. It will display the locations of all people within the map's range as ink dots, and these dots will move accordingly as people change their positions."
"The larger the range of the Human Presence Spell, the more people it will reveal, and the more demanding it is on the spellcaster," he added.
After teaching Albert the incantation and wand movements for the Human Presence Spell, Professor Flitwick let Albert try it out on his own. This spell was quite challenging, and mastering it would require a significant amount of effort.
However, to Professor Flitwick's surprise, Albert quickly grasped the basics of the spell in no time.
"Although I don't know what you intend to do with it, I hope you won't go around revealing other people's information willy-nilly. I'm sure you wouldn't do that, though," Professor Flitwick reminded him.
"I just want to use this spell to keep track of my cat," Albert explained casually. "His name is Tom, and he's just an ordinary Muggle pet cat, not very smart. Last time, he ran out of my dormitory and nearly got lost. It scared me so much that I daren't bring him to school now. If I can master this spell, I'll be able to locate Tom immediately."
Professor Flitwick looked at Albert and said, "If you want to solely lock onto a cat, I'm afraid you'll need to practice the spell more diligently to achieve precise control. Do you have any other questions?"
Albert thought for a moment and asked, "Is there a counter-curse for the Human Presence Spell? Is there a way to block it?"
"Well..." Professor Flitwick hesitated. "Using a blocking curse should do the trick. A sufficiently powerful blocking curse should be able to effectively conceal the presence of witches and wizards, making them untraceable."
Professor Flitwick then demonstrated how to use a blocking curse to counter the Human Presence Spell. After he cast the blocking curse on himself, the map only showed the footprint marking Albert's location.
Albert fell silent. He had tried casting the blocking curse before but failed. Now, he tried again, focusing on the footprint on the map, but he still couldn't make it work.
"Your blocking curse isn't strong enough," Professor Flitwick explained.
"Does this involve the advanced application of blocking curses?" Albert asked, raising an eyebrow. "Professor Flitwick, can you teach me the advanced applications of blocking curses?"
"You want to learn the advanced applications of blocking curses?" Professor Flitwick asked, his eyebrows raised in surprise.
"I heard that the Ministry of Magic used Trace spells on students," Albert said.
"Do you want to block the Trace spell?" Professor Flitwick looked at Albert in astonishment, then shook his head. "Even a powerful blocking curse probably can't block the Trace spell."
"Why?" Albert couldn't help but ask, his curiosity piqued.
"The Trace spell is a contract magic created by improving upon various tracking spells, including the Human Presence Spell and the Tracking Spell," Professor Flitwick explained. "When the Ministry of Magic designed this spell, they took this into consideration. The original prototype of the Trace spell was intended to monitor certain witches and wizards, allowing them to know their whereabouts and the spells they used at any time."
"But the Trace spell can also make mistakes and misjudge," Albert pointed out.
"That's normal," Professor Flitwick said. "The Trace spell needs to be used in conjunction with specialized magical tools. However, students aren't criminals or suspects, so the Ministry of Magic later changed it to a contract form, monitoring a region around the student to detect any use of magic."
"It's challenging to break or block a magical contract like that, but you might be able to find a loophole to get around it," he added.
In the end, Albert got what he wanted—Professor Flitwick agreed to teach him the advanced applications of blocking curses. However, mastering these advanced techniques wouldn't happen overnight. As part of the deal for teaching Albert, Professor Flitwick requested that he publish a paper on blocking curses in the "Innovations in Charms" magazine after achieving proficiency.
(End of Chapter)
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