"Boss, are you alright?"
Malfoy hurried forward and touched Sean's forehead anxiously.
Sean slapped his hand away irritably.
"I'm fine."
After finishing the last of the food, Sean slowly stood up.
"Go back to class."
"I still have things to do."
Malfoy looked extremely suspicious, but eventually left the training room reluctantly.
Time continued passing.
Sean no longer remembered how many times he died.
At first, every death made him scream in agony.
Later—
he no longer even had the strength to scream.
Inside the second stage once again—
Sean cast Body-Bind and Crucio almost instinctively now.
The griffin froze under the chained control effects.
Sean immediately jumped onto its body.
This time—
instead of attacking recklessly—
Sean directly severed the griffin's tail with a single sword strike first.
Then he continued charging toward the creature's head.
His eyes remained completely calm.
"Three…"
"Two…"
"One…"
"Jump."
The instant Sean finished counting, he leapt upward slightly.
BOOM!
Flames exploded outward from the griffin's scales again—
but Sean perfectly avoided the eruption this time.
Then—
PSSSHHH!!
The Arthurian sword plunged directly into the griffin's eye socket.
Only the hilt remained visible outside.
At the same moment—
the unconscious man nearby finally woke up.
And the first thing he saw—
was Sean stabbing the giant griffin through the eye like some legendary knight.
[Congratulations to the host for clearing the second stage.]
[Completion rate: 100%]
[Submit results?]
Sean sat atop the griffin's corpse while gasping heavily.
"…Submit."
[Submission successful.]
[Congratulations to the host for obtaining a Mysterious Rune Chest.]
[Open now?]
[Second stage completed.]
[Third stage automatically unlocked.]
Sean was just about to open the chest—
when a sudden voice interrupted him.
"Warrior!"
"You slew the monster!"
Several knights in heavy armour appeared nearby excitedly.
"You shall be rewarded by the king!"
One knight stared at Sean in admiration.
"You appear barely twenty!"
"You may even qualify to join the royal knights!"
Sean looked down silently at his tiny eleven-year-old body.
Then his expression became extremely strange.
"…Twenty?"
"When exactly did all of you become blind?"
The moment Sean finished speaking—
his vision flashed white instantly.
Then—
he returned directly to the training room again.
[Third stage failed.]
[Cause of death: executed by the arriving knights due to rude speech.]
[Please continue working hard and pay attention to your behaviour.]
Sean stared blankly at the notification.
Then sighed calmly.
"…Fair enough."
Compared to everything else he'd experienced recently, dying from insulting medieval knights barely surprised him anymore.
"System."
"Open the treasure chest."
[Opening successful.]
[Congratulations to the host for obtaining Magic Runes: Defence and Speed.]
The moment the information flooded into Sean's mind—
his expression changed completely.
Magic runes were essentially a method of permanently stabilising magic itself.
If compared to Eastern concepts—
they resembled formations or arrays.
Once engraved, the runes automatically absorbed magic power from the surroundings and continued functioning independently.
They could even enchant objects directly.
And most importantly—
in the modern wizarding world—
this knowledge had already disappeared completely.
Sean immediately pulled out his wand and tapped a nearby stone.
The rock transformed into a rabbit instantly.
"Let's test the defensive rune first."
Sean raised one hand.
A glowing blue magic circle appeared in his palm bearing a shield-shaped symbol in the centre.
Then he lightly pressed the rune against the rabbit.
The glowing symbol immediately branded itself onto the rabbit's body.
"SECTUMSEMPRA!"
An invisible slash shot toward the rabbit instantly.
SWISH!
Two deep cuts suddenly appeared in the ground behind it.
Meanwhile—
the rabbit itself merely flashed faint blue light.
Then continued casually nibbling grass roots without injury.
Sean's breathing immediately became heavier.
Then he grabbed the rabbit again and attached the speed rune next.
"Let me see how much—"
Before Sean even finished speaking—
the rabbit vanished.
Literally vanished.
A blur shot across the training room faster than Sean's eyes could fully follow.
Sean's face slowly filled with ecstasy.
"The defensive rune blocks even advanced curses…"
"And repairs itself incredibly quickly."
"Complete restoration in roughly thirty minutes…"
Then Sean's gaze became even brighter.
"And the speed rune increased movement speed by over three times."
Sean immediately began calculating countless possibilities internally.
New products.
New weapons.
New industries.
But he also understood clearly—
the rune strength absolutely needed weakening.
Otherwise, once exposed publicly, people would kill for them.
Sean already had rough ideas forming in his head.
Reduce the effects to one percent.
Add restrictions.
Make them valuable enough to inspire envy—
but not enough to inspire madness.
Completely absorbed in excitement, Sean failed to notice several things.
His face was becoming increasingly pale.
His eyes increasingly unfocused.
Eventually—
Sean simply collapsed asleep without realising it.
Later that afternoon—
Malfoy rushed into the training room carrying several Slytherins and Hermione behind him.
"I'm telling you, something's seriously wrong with the boss today!"
"I think he's sick!"
Before Malfoy even finished speaking, an older student suddenly pointed ahead.
"Look!"
"The Prefect collapsed!"
Everyone panicked instantly and rushed toward Sean.
Malfoy immediately grabbed Sean's shoulders.
"Boss!"
"How are you feeling?!"
"AAAAAHHHHH!!"
Sean's eyes suddenly snapped open violently.
Then, like a terrified animal, he scrambled backward across the floor on all fours while drenched in cold sweat.
His eyes locked onto Malfoy with genuine horror.
"Sean!"
Hermione immediately rushed forward and hugged him tightly.
"What happened?!"
Sean slowly regained focus.
Then swallowed hard.
"…I had a nightmare."
Everyone waited nervously.
Sean looked traumatised.
"I dreamed…"
"…that Malfoy confessed to Harry."
The entire room froze.
Malfoy's face twisted instantly in disgust.
"Harry?!"
"No!"
"Absolutely impossible!"
Unfortunately—
the moment Malfoy yelled that—
everyone's expressions became even stranger.
An indescribably philosophical atmosphere spread silently through the room.
Malfoy finally realised what he'd just implied.
Then he nearly exploded.
"I LIKE GIRLS!"
"REALLY!"
Sean looked deeply disturbed.
"Malfoy."
"From today onward, remain at least one metre away from me."
After saying that—
Sean's head tilted sideways—
and he fainted again instantly.
Everyone looked at each other anxiously.
Then Hermione's expression suddenly changed.
"…I've read about this before."
Her voice became serious immediately.
"I know I've seen symptoms like this in a book somewhere."
"I just can't remember where."
Then Hermione stood abruptly.
"You all stay here and take care of Sean."
"I'm going to the library."
Without waiting for responses, Hermione sprinted out immediately.
The remaining Slytherins quickly divided responsibilities.
Some fetched towels to wipe Sean's cold sweat.
Others used damp cotton to moisten his lips carefully.
.....
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