Before dinner, Kate squeezed in a trip back to the dormitory, because the System had been reminding her all afternoon that she still had rewards waiting to be opened.
"Open the rewards."
[Congratulations, Host, on completing Main Quest 6. Opening rewards...]
[Reward 1: Obtain an Animagus form.]
[Reward 2: Obtain one random ability from one random member of the Marauders' four-man group.]
[Reward 3: Obtain half the affection (max level is 10) of either Remus Lupin or Sirius Black.]
This round of rewards looked a little better than last year's, though not by much.
Honestly, apart from a few individual skills where they might edge her out, the Marauders back in the day couldn't possibly match who she was now.
As for affection, she wasn't playing some otome game. She had no interest in either of these two middle-aged men.
Even if Sirius couldn't stand the sight of her and later wanted to tell Harry something, she could handle a small problem like that. No need to waste a reward on it.
She barely had to analyze anything before she'd made up her mind.
"I choose the first."
[Host has obtained an Animagus form. Friendly reminder: please perform the first activation on a full-moon night.]
Her mood barely stirred. An Animagus transformation sounded difficult to acquire, but with enough determination, it could always be done.
The System had simply skipped the tedious steps in between. Even without this reward, she'd have mastered it one day.
The only thing that interested her was what form her Animagus would take.
[Opening Extended Quest rewards...]
[Reward 1: Dementor's Terror: Inflict fear on enemies; debuff effects can be stacked.]
[Reward 2: Dementor's Soul-Snare: Depending on the Host's Charisma, produces a soul-captivating charm effect.]
[Reward 3: Lord of Dementors: While this title is worn, you may command any Dementor within a one-kilometer radius at no cost.]
So the ones being exploited by this reward were Dementors? She'd thought it would be Peter Pettigrew.
Kate finally perked up. As expected of an Extended Quest, the rewards really were better than those of an ordinary Main Quest.
The first and third were easy enough to understand.
The first weakened enemies, though its starting values were probably low.
The third let her command Dementors at no cost.
She wouldn't have to rack her brains over stuffing bombs into Dementors anymore. She could make them serve her unconditionally. The downside was that it worked only on Dementors, which made it far too narrow.
In short, both were skills that were a little useful, but not very.
Only Reward 2 had a vague, muddled description.
"Can you explain in detail who the effect of the second one can be used on?"
[Dementor's Soul-Snare: a Stacked Ability. Can be switched on and off freely.]
[Effect 1: Greatly increases affection among those of the same sex. The specific effect depends on the Host's Charisma.]
[Effect 2: When used in battle, slows the target's actions and carries a very low chance of trapping them in an illusion.]
[Effect 3: While you hold this ability, the Host's Charisma +15 and Spirit +5.]
"Do Dementors... even have an ability like that?"
Staring at the string of text on the blue screen, Kate couldn't resist grumbling.
[All System rewards are tailored to the Host's own circumstances. Please make your selection promptly.]
Oh. So that was why there was a same-sex affection buff. If she liked men, the effect would probably change accordingly.
She was tempted to say, "The longer the text, the better," but long text came with its own troubles.
She did value that second effect. In Wizard duels, so often it came down to who was faster: drawing a wand, chanting the incantation, launching the spell.
Since she couldn't raise her own speed for the time being, slowing the enemy down was a perfectly workable alternative.
But Effect 1 was just too weird. It gave her the feeling the System was forcing her to get ready for romance.
Thankfully it could be switched off. Otherwise, walking around among the girls every day with that effect on, she worried she'd be pounced on and stripped one of these days.
"I choose Reward 2."
[Ding! Host has obtained Stacked Ability No. 7: Dementor's Soul-Snare.]
[Current Charisma: 71]
[Current Spirit: 81]
The moment the reward came through, Kate ran to the mirror in the bathroom to see if she'd changed again.
It turned out the System really was formidable.
The girl in the mirror was visibly more refined than before. Her silver hair fell like a waterfall, her eyes tilted up slightly at the corners, and she looked more and more like her mother.
Even the curves of her body had become noticeably smoother, except for the spot on her chest that had never been much to look at anyway. Nothing had changed there.
Probably inherited from her old mother. In her memories, even after marriage, her mother's figure had never been the least bit exaggerated.
So the System's Charisma enhancements followed her own traits. Since she already had delicate features and a slender build, it just kept optimizing in that direction.
At least no one would find it jarring to look at her.
But now that she'd become so dazzling, she wondered if makeup could still fix things.
Kate glanced at the time and had no choice but to hurry. She grabbed her makeup bag and started painting her face in front of the mirror.
She just barely finished making herself look considerably duller before dinner.
So much had happened today that she'd almost forgotten that stealing the Marauder's Map, exposing Delar's identity, and nearly killing Peter had all happened on the same day.
When she sat down at the Slytherin table and saw Delar's evasive, dodging eyes, she remembered that loose end.
Pansy beside her wore an odd expression and sat a little farther away than usual. She still seemed to be angry that Kate had petrified her without asking.
Kate studied the faces of the two people across from her and next to her, then simply decided to pretend she hadn't noticed.
Pushing up to them now would only get her a cold shoulder. Once Delar was done being awkward, she'd come looking for Kate on her own.
So she ate in silence. Just as she was about to stand, Delar suddenly called out to her: "Shafiq, wait a moment!"
The whole long table turned gossip-hungry eyes on them.
Then they were driven back by Kate's cool gaze.
"Sorry," she said calmly, "I've got detention for the next while, so I don't have time to chat. Goodbye."
With that, she walked straight out of the Great Hall.
"Detention?" Delar's face showed surprise at being turned down. "What did she do wrong this time?"
Pansy spread her hands. "No idea, but house points weren't deducted."
So that meant she was lying, just to avoid her?
The thought flashed through Delar's mind, and her face went from green to white. She gave a cold snort. "Damn Kate!"
Pansy dug at her ear. Ah, the usual routine.
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