This whole game thing was wicked.
It wasn't just changing Harry. It was changing how he saw everything—and everyone—around him.
He'd begun using [Observe] more often, sometimes just for fun, sometimes out of habit. But today, what he saw left him blinking.
[Arabella Figg – Level 6 ]
[Class:Squib ]
[Reputation: Friendly]
"Squib?" Harry murmured under his breath. The word was unfamiliar, but the system didn't lie.
Mrs. Figg had always seemed like a kind, if slightly odd, old woman. She gave him biscuits and dry sponge cake, and used to babysit him when the Dursleys wanted to have a "family evening" without him. Her house had smelled strongly of cabbage and cats—and there were always cats, lounging on every surface.
That ended the year Dudley claimed he was allergic to cat hair. After that, the Dursleys stopped calling her.
Instead, they started leaving Harry with Grandpa Theo.
Now that man was something else entirely.
He was quiet, kind, and had a strange gleam in his eye—like he knew something other people didn't. His home was filled with oddities: jars of dried herbs, wooden carvings, faded maps, and clocks that never seemed to tell the right time. Harry remembered shelves filled with thick books in strange languages, and more than one object that glowed faintly in the dark. At the time, he'd just thought Grandpa Theo was weird in a nice way.
Harry knocked on the door of Number 9 Privet Drive, rapping gently with his knuckles. The doorbell had never worked, not once in all the years he'd been coming here.
Even though every house on Privet Drive had been built exactly the same—same walls, same layout, same driveway—Grandpa Theo's house always felt… different. The air around it buzzed faintly, like a television left on mute. The lights inside constantly flickered, the electricity acting up without reason—spiking, dimming, or failing altogether.
Harry used to run errands for Grandpa Theo when he was younger. The old man rarely stepped outside, except on Sundays when he went to church. Or, more often, to the cemetery behind it. People noticed, but no one ever asked who he was visiting. Everyone on Privet Drive was too wrapped up in their own lives to care.
Harry noticed, but he never asked either. He didn't want to see Grandpa Theo sad.
The door creaked open on its own.
Grandpa Theo didn't appear at the threshold, but that wasn't unusual. Harry stepped inside, balancing the paper grocery bag in his arms. The house smelled like dried herbs and old parchment. Automatically, almost unconsciously, Harry triggered his [Observe] skill as he passed the entryway.
What appeared made him stop mid-step.
[Teozad Umbra – Level: ??]
[Class: Wizard]
[Title: Necromancer]
[Reputation: ??]
Harry blinked.
It wasn't the "Wizard" or "Necromancer" part that shocked him. He had already come to expect strange things from the world ever since the blue boxes started appearing. What rattled him was the [Reputation: ??].
He thought he and Grandpa Theo were close. Closer than anyone else in the neighborhood. He was the only adult who had ever treated Harry kindly—offering warm tea, old stories, or strange puzzles when he visited. And yet... the system didn't show how Theo felt about him.
Still, the calm of [Gamer's Mind] kept Harry's face neutral. He didn't frown. He didn't freeze.
On the way to the shop, he thought about what it meant to see a wizard for the first time. Now, having confirmed that Grandpa Theo was one, everything felt oddly… quiet.
Until he returned.
When Harry came back with the groceries, the front door swung open before he even knocked. He simply continued forward, setting the groceries down on the kitchen counter and came back to the living room. And there, in the middle of the hallway, stood someone he barely recognized.
Not the old man in a dusty suit with a limp and a cane.
But a tall, robed figure in a deep velvet cloak. Runes shimmered faintly across the cloth in silvery script, shifting and twisting like breathing ink. Rings glinted on his fingers, chains and talismans hung from his neck. And in place of his usual walking stick, Theo held a pitch-black staff topped with a glowing, blood-red crystal that pulsed like a heartbeat.
Harry's breath caught—but he didn't move.
Then the sound rang out.
Ding!
A new blue box appeared in front of Harry's eyes:
[New Quest Created]
[Title: Find the Secrets of Teozad Umbra]
[Rewards: ??]
[Failure Condition: Death]
[Time Limit: None]
[Do you accept this quest?]
[Yes / Yes]
He knew the system wasn't joking. It never was. And if the quest was warning him of death, it meant exactly that—death. The idea that Grandpa Theo, the kindest adult in his life, might be dangerous... it didn't sit well with him. But he wasn't stupid. He was Level 2. He had no spells. No weapons. No way to deal with a real wizard—let alone a Necromancer.
So he made the only logical choice.
For now, he would do nothing.
At school the next day, Harry kept his head down and stayed away from the noise. He slipped into the library during break, his mind focused on safer goals. Reading helped. It boosted his stats, it kept him calm, and it didn't involve any blood-red staffs or veiled death threats.
He pulled a thick book on potion ingredients from the shelf and began to read. The knowledge was dense and dry, but his brain soaked it up like a sponge.
[Intelligence 1]
[Wisdom 1]
[Skill Up: Reading Comprehension (Lv. 1 Lv. 2)]
Feeling more confident, he reached for something more exciting—a slim volume on basic martial arts. The cover had diagrams of stances and striking patterns. As soon as he opened it, a new prompt appeared in front of his eyes:
[Would you like to absorb the contents of this book instantly?]
[Yes / No]
Without hesitation, Harry selected Yes.
The book burst into flames in his hands.
His eyes widened, but before he could react, his mind was flooded—overwhelmed—with images, movements, and fighting techniques. It was like watching a thousand training montages at once, every move etched into his muscles through sheer force of information.
[Skill Gained: Martial Arts (Lv. 1)]
[Dexterity 1]
[Strength 1]
[Book Consumed: "Beginner's Guide to Martial Arts"]
[Absorption Successful]
Unfortunately, Harry wasn't the only one who witnessed the event.
The school librarian gasped in horror from across the room.
"You! What did you do to that book!?" she shrieked.
Before Harry could explain—or even pretend to—the story had already reached the principal. The librarian said he lit a book on fire. The other teachers believed it. The Dursleys had always warned them that Harry was trouble.
[Reputation Decreased: Faculty – Unfriendly]
[Reputation Increased: Students – Curious / Interested]
The rumors became real. Harry Potter had finally done something truly dangerous. Two weeks' suspension followed, along with a harsh phone call to Privet Drive.
When Uncle Vernon arrived at the school, his face was purple.
When they got home, they didn't ask questions.
They just locked Harry in the cupboard under the stairs.
But what they didn't know—what no one knew—was that Harry still had food and books stored away where no one could take them.
[Inventory Accessed]
[Items Retrieved: Bread (x1), Fruit Jam (x1), Sherlock Holmes Novel (Unread)]
And so, as the Dursleys celebrated his punishment, Harry sat quietly in the cupboard, reading by the light of a flashlight he'd snuck into the inventory weeks ago. A thin smile touched his lips.
Let them lock him away.
He was still leveling.
Aunt Petunia never liked having Harry in the house more than absolutely necessary. With Dudley back at school, she made her feelings clear.
"You're suspended, not sick. I don't want you moping around here all day," she said sharply, waving a tea towel at him. "Be back by evening—and don't let the neighbors see you."
Harry nodded and left without argument.
It suited him just fine.
He made his way to a small clearing surrounded by trees—a place he'd found a few days earlier, tucked behind the outer fields near the edge of town. Isolated, quiet, and forgotten. Perfect for what he had in mind.
He'd brought with him a long, sturdy stick he had trimmed and sanded smooth. It was strong and flexible, perfect for training.
There, in that hidden grove, Harry began to master the martial arts that had gotten him into trouble in the first place.
What began as uncertain footwork and awkward stances quickly became confident motion. His body remembered what the book had imprinted, and each repetition refined the instincts further. He practiced strikes, sweeps, and defensive moves. He trained from morning until the sun dipped behind the trees.
[Skill Up: Martial Arts (Lv. 1 Lv. 8)]
[Skill Gained: Hand-to-Hand Combat (Lv. 1)]
[Strength 2]
[Dexterity 2]
[Endurance 2]
[Stamina 1]
Every swing of his stick, every burst of movement, made him faster, stronger, more balanced. His muscles responded quicker. His footing became fluid. He lost track of time.
By the time his suspension ended and he returned to school, things had shifted.
Students who once ignored him now nodded in the hallway. Whispers followed him—curious, not cruel. His name spread among the quiet kids, the ones who usually stayed out of the way. Those who had once been Dudley's targets.
[Reputation Increased: Students – Friendly]
Of course, Dudley and his gang didn't like that one bit.
It didn't take long for them to try and reclaim their place.
It happened on the schoolyard during lunch. Dudley shoved Harry in the back, smirking.
"Let's see how tough you really are, freak," he sneered.
Piers, Malcolm, and Gordon formed a loose circle, trying to impress the watching students.
Harry didn't respond with words.
In seconds, it was over. He dodged Dudley's swing, flipped Malcolm onto the grass, swept Gordon's legs, and sent Piers running with a single, well-placed strike to the gut. Dudley stumbled back, bruised and humiliated.
The crowd was stunned—then began to cheer.
[Skill Up: Hand-to-Hand Combat (Lv. 1 Lv. 3)]
[Dexterity 1]
[Reputation Gained: Honoured – Students (Bullied Group)]
[150 EXP]
Of course, the Dursleys were furious.
Aunt Petunia grounded him again and denied him dinner for a week. But Harry didn't care. His inventory still had food, and his confidence had never been higher.
Let them punish him.
He had earned something real.
The garden at Number 4 Privet Drive had never looked better.
Aunt Petunia took full credit, of course—gloating about her "green thumb" to anyone who passed by. But the neighbors weren't blind. They had seen Harry, day after day, working tirelessly among the hedges, trimming roses, pulling weeds, and coaxing stubborn blossoms to bloom. And unlike Petunia, he never wore gloves.
One afternoon, Mrs. Jenkins from Number 6 leaned over the fence.
"Harry, dear," she said, "would you mind helping me with my hydrangeas? I can't seem to get them to grow."
Harry blinked, surprised by the kindness in her voice.
"Sure," he said simply.
Word spread quickly after that.
Soon Mr. Barnes needed help raking leaves. Mrs. Dalloway wanted her flower beds realigned. The Simmons twins asked if he could replant their tomatoes. And when they offered payment, Harry didn't hesitate.
[Gardening (Lv. 6)]
[Skill Mastery Bonus: 10% efficiency when working with plants]
[Reputation Gained: Local Neighbors – Friendly]
[Currency Earned: £22.00]
[Funds added to Inventory]
Every pound he earned vanished into the safety of his system—untouchable by Vernon's belt or Petunia's purse.
[Inventory Updated: Total Currency: £26.00]
[Inventory Slots Used: 12 / 100]
He kept running, cooking, training, helping, and reading. One step at a time, one job after the next. Until, one evening, just after completing a hedge-trimming job for Mrs. Dalloway, a blue glow appeared before his eyes:
[LEVEL UP!]
[You are now Level 3]
[5 Stat Points Earned]
[Current EXP: 7 / 200]
[Available Stat Points: 10]
Harry wiped the sweat from his brow, his fingers still tingling from the shears.
He didn't smile, but he felt it.
He was growing. Quietly. Steadily.
It was supposed to be just another ordinary day.
Harry woke up early, stretched under the dim light of his cupboard bulb, and quietly slipped out of the house before the Dursleys stirred. Mrs. Dalloway's garden needed tending—roses to prune, weeds to clear, and a few fence posts to reinforce. Nothing unusual.
But as he walked down the front path, a soft ding echoed in his ears. A new notification appeared—hovering in his vision with pale blue letters.
[Quest Alert: Monster Rats on the Loose!]
[Objective 1: Track and defeat escaped Monster Rats before they destroy local gardens.]
[Objective 2: Visit the Monster Rat Dungeon and defeat the boss.]
[Rewards]
– [300 XP]
– [£100]
– [Treasure Key x1]
– [Reputation Increased: Privet Drive Residents]
[Failure Penalty]
– [No Rewards]
– [Reputation Decreased: Privet Drive Residents]
Harry raised an eyebrow.
"Monster Rats?" he muttered under his breath.
He didn't care much about the reputation bonus, but £100 and XP? That was worth it.
"Map."
A semi-transparent map appeared on the right side of his vision, showing a miniature layout of the area. At the center was a blue dot—him. Six glowing red dots blinked around the outskirts, scattered across nearby lawns and alleyways.
"That must be them."
He reached into his inventory and pulled out the long wooden staff he had been training with. The moment it touched his hand, the weight felt familiar—like a natural extension of his arm.
[Blunt Weapon Equipped: Training Staff]
[Passive Skill: Blunt Weapon Mastery – Lv. 3 (Progress: 67%)]
[Effect: 10% weapon speed, 5% damage]
Harry dashed toward the nearest red dot.
Behind a hedge near Number 11, he found it—massive, hunched, and gnawing at the base of a rose bush. The creature looked like a rat, but it was as big as a beaver, with red eyes and yellowed teeth. It turned and hissed at him.
It was fast.
But Harry was faster.
He sidestepped its leap and swung the staff with both hands. The crack echoed like wood hitting wet stone. The rat collapsed mid-snarl, then dissolved into dark mist, vanishing into the soil.
[Monster Defeated: Mutated Garden Rat]
[5 XP]
[Loot: £5, Rat Fang x1]
[Loot Collected: £5]
[Blunt Weapon Mastery: 67% 74%]
He left the fang. Took the money.
Five more red dots blinked on his map.
Harry had tracked and defeated all six monster rats. Each one fought with more speed and ferocity than the last, but his movements were sharper, his swings more precise. He began predicting their patterns, landing his strikes with confidence.
[Monster Rats Defeated: 6 / 6]
[Loot Collected: £30]
[Skill Up: Blunt Weapon Mastery (Lv. 3 Lv. 4)]
[Strength 1]
He stood at the edge of the last yard, breathing steadily as the final rat faded away.
The red dots were gone.
Only one marker remained on the map now—deep in the woods, flashing gold.
The entrance to the Monster Rat Dungeon.
The entrance to the Monster Rat Dungeon wasn't grand or ominous. It looked like an ordinary, half-collapsed cave on the outskirts of the woods, moss-covered and forgotten. Harry approached it with his staff in hand, eyes scanning for traps. There were none—only silence.
With a steady breath, he stepped inside.
The air grew colder as he walked. Damp stone walls absorbed sound, muffling his footsteps. For several minutes, there was nothing—no noise, no movement, only the flicker of his system map and the faint glow of floating torches lit by some unseen force.
Then the path widened into a chamber.
It looked like a hollowed-out hall, large enough to be a cellar, with old bones littered in the corners. That's when they came—Monster Rats, just like the ones outside, but faster in the dark, more coordinated in tight spaces.
They lunged from cracks in the walls, from holes in the ceiling. Harry spun, blocked, struck with his staff again and again.
[Monster Rats Defeated: 25]
[Damage Taken: Moderate]
[XP Gained: 125]
[Currency Gained: £25]
[Blunt Weapon Mastery (Lv. 4 5)]
[Endurance 1]
The rats dissolved into mist as they died, leaving behind only the occasional [£1 Note]. But there were so many of them, and they attacked without pause. Bites stung his arms and legs, and his health bar dropped steadily.
Still, he didn't stop.
When the final rat fell, Harry leaned against his staff, panting quietly as the last bits of mist faded into the stone floor.
Ahead, a low archway led deeper.
He straightened, wiped his brow, and stepped through.
The next chamber was smaller, more circular—almost like an arena. At the far end stood a rat unlike any he'd faced before.
[Commander Rat – Lv. 6]
[Title: Rodent Tactician]
[HP: ???]
[Allied Units: Soldier Rats x12]
The Commander wore scraps of crude armor—leather and tin strapped across its chest and limbs. Its red eyes glinted with intelligence. Around it, a dozen Soldier Rats stood in formation, their tiny claws tapping in unison.
Then they charged.
They moved as one, attacking in synchronized waves. Every time Harry paused, they lunged. He couldn't hold still—not even for a second.
He weaved through them, striking when he could, using footwork and terrain to his advantage. The Commander barked orders in shrill squeaks, coordinating the swarm with terrifying efficiency.
It took everything he had.
[HP: 27 / 140]
[Stamina: Low]
[Skill Up: Hand-to-Hand Combat (Lv. 3 4)]
[Strength 1]
[Commander Rat Defeated]
[Soldier Rats Eliminated]
[Loot Acquired]
– [£50]
– [Iron Key x1]
– [Iron Sword x1]
Harry slumped to one knee as the Commander's armored corpse dissolved like the rest. The battle had drained him, but the rewards were real.
In the corner of the chamber, a wooden trunk shimmered faintly with a quest marker.
He approached and opened it.
[Chest Loot Acquired]
– [Health Potion x2]
– [Luck Potion x1]
– [Galleons x12]
[Currency Updated: £280 / Galleons: 12]
Harry immediately uncorked one of the red-glowing bottles and drank.
[Health Restored: 100]
[HP: 127 / 140]
He equipped the iron sword from his inventory. It felt heavier than the staff, but solid—balanced. A true weapon.
Then he raised the small vial of shimmering golden liquid and drank half of the luck potion.
[Buff Applied: Lucky Aura – 30 minutes]
[Effect: 20% Critical Chance, 5% Item Drop Rate]
Harry took one last breath, sword in hand.
Beyond the next archway, he could feel it—the presence of the boss.
He was ready.