Chapter 91: Each One

Harry and Hermione stared at Allen in astonishment; they couldn’t understand how he had cast the Transfiguration spell so precisely to conjure the key to the wooden door, especially since the key had been flying rapidly through the air, too fast to discern any of its details.

“How did you do that?” Hermione asked quickly.

“Now isn’t the time to explain—our task is to move forward!” Allen replied.

Hermione reluctantly fell silent, and the four of them pressed on...

Only Allen knew what had just happened...

He had deciphered this hidden parameter of the Unlocking Charm long ago, but after adding it, the charm behaved no differently from the standard version; despite numerous attempts, he achieved nothing, and he even began to suspect his deciphered parameter was wrong, so he dismissed the matter entirely.

Today, watching Hermione cast the Unlocking Charm toward the wooden door, he remembered it again.

So he tried casting it with that parameter—unexpectedly, it worked!

But this success differed from a standard Unlocking Charm’s success.

A standard Unlocking Charm uses magical force to brute-force locks, but it’s easily countered—any protective spell on the door renders it useless, so it only works on ordinary locks.

The Unlocking Charm with the hidden parameter behaves identically to the standard version when facing ordinary, unenchanted locks—both rely on magical force to brute-force them—which was why Allen had never noticed it before; he had only tested it on ordinary locks...

But when facing locks that cannot be brute-forced by magical force, the modified Unlocking Charm gains a new function—it returns a precise model of the key to the caster’s mind.

The moment Allen woke up, he noticed the key model in his mind; it was exquisitely detailed and complex, every part crystal clear.

Allen instantly understood what he must do next—after all, the greatest challenge of the Transfiguration spell is visualizing the desired transformation in one’s mind, and this key model was a ready-made visualization, so he simply cast the Transfiguration spell to turn a fragment of a broomstick into the wooden door’s key...

The only thing puzzling him was why he had fainted, and why glowing runes had appeared on his forehead—was his brain really damaged? Allen mused absurdly to himself.

But the next moment he realized the monstrous potential of this new use of the Unlocking Charm—when facing locks protected by magical barriers, he could instantly conjure a key by combining it with Transfiguration!

This was a magical master key!

Allen’s mind raced further—he thought of the legendary vaults deep within Gringotts; if he could infiltrate them, theoretically no lock could stop him!

He suddenly realized another solution to his financial problem—robbing banks!

At that moment, Allen truly understood what it meant to possess a powerful tool and feel the urge to kill.

Because right then, he genuinely wanted to rob Gringotts!

Fortunately, he remembered his current situation and forcibly restrained his thoughts.

He silently marveled: In his past life, he had been a law-abiding citizen—why, after less than two years in the magical world, had he started thinking about robbing banks?

But the next challenge pulled Allen back to reality.

They reached the edge of a massive chessboard; Ron recognized it as a giant wizard’s chess set—they had to win the game to proceed.

Allen knew nothing about wizard’s chess; his spare time had always been devoted to studying Ancient Runes and spells.

So Ron took charge, directing them through the challenge, and ultimately sacrificed himself—knocked unconscious—

allowing them to pass this trial.

They placed the unconscious Ron in a hidden corner before continuing downward; Ron’s fate stirred a somber mood within them.

They walked in silence to the next chamber, where a nauseating stench hit them; they lifted their robes to cover their noses. Their eyes watered from the fumes, and through blurred tears, they saw a troll—larger than the one on Halloween Eve—lying motionless on the floor, unconscious, a bloody, swollen lump on its head.

“Perfect—we won’t have to fight this troll,” Harry whispered.

They carefully stepped over the troll’s thick legs.

“Let’s go—I can’t breathe,” Hermione said, clutching her nose.

He pulled open the next door; Harry and Allen, as boys, entered first. As they crossed the threshold, flames erupted behind them, sealing the entrance.

These flames were unusual: they were purple.

Simultaneously, black flames surged up at the doorway ahead.

They were trapped in the middle, while Hermione was locked outside.

“Are you all right!” came Hermione’s voice, laced with panic.

“We’re fine—are you okay?” Allen replied.

“The flames blocked me—it seems you two must go on alone,” Hermione said, worried.

Then Harry spoke: “Go find Ron, then use the Levitation Charm to return to Fluffy’s room. Once you’re up there, find Professor McGonagall and Professor Dumbledore—we need them to rescue us. Harry and I might hold off Snape!”

“You’re both incredible wizards!” Hermione said.

“Go now! We need backup!” Allen urged her.

Hermione left; her footsteps faded until they vanished...

Only then did Allen and Harry begin to examine the room’s contents.

The room held only a table, upon which rested seven bottles of differing shapes, beside them a sheet of parchment.

Allen picked up the parchment and found it contained a logic puzzle; but this posed no challenge to Allen, a programmer by origin—he solved it quickly.

“The bottle on the far right will let you return the way you came; the smallest bottle will let you proceed,” Allen murmured.

They had to make their choice.

“I’ll go forward—you find Hermione,” Harry said firmly.

“Are you sure?” Allen knew what Harry would face.

“I know I might face Snape and Voldemort both—but maybe I’ll still get lucky,” Harry said, pointing to the scar on his forehead.

Allen felt convinced; he said nothing more to dissuade Harry.

Harry picked up the smallest bottle, preparing to drink.

Allen suddenly said: “I’m glad I met you. It’s an honor to be your friend.”

Harry suddenly smiled—bright, warm—and whispered: “Me too.”

He drank the entire contents of the bottle, then stepped through the purple flames...

Allen stared at the spot where Harry had vanished for a long time. Finally, he sighed, drained his own bottle, and passed cleanly through the black flames into the troll’s chamber.

The troll’s stench pulled him from his emotions; suddenly, he felt a thought stir—he pulled open the next door again, and inside, there was only a table, upon which sat seven bottles of differing shapes.

Reset?