This was only the beginning. Sagres's teaching blueprint extended far beyond this.
He was already designing other "instances" to test a wide range of abilities:
1) Magical Ruin Exploration: Simulating the environments of ancient ruins or lost temples, filled with mechanisms, traps, and lingering guardian magic.
Students would need to flexibly employ counter-curses, protective charms, and exploration spells to solve puzzles and pass through safely.
This tested both the breadth of their spell knowledge and their ability to react on the spot.
2) Alchemical Golem Workshop: Set within an out-of-control ancient alchemy laboratory, where students would face a variety of combat golems powered by magical metals and runic cores.
These golems possessed diverse behaviour patterns, with weaknesses hidden within different runic structures, requiring precise spellcasting and strong analytical skills.
3) St. Mungo's Crisis: Simulating a large-scale outbreak of a highly contagious magical plague in a magical hospital.
Students would need to rapidly diagnose "patients" (magical constructs), apply accurate healing spells, cleansing charms, and isolation measures to prevent the "epidemic" from spreading.
This tested not only healing magic, but also decision-making and teamwork under extreme pressure.
4) Dark Forest Adventure: A wilderness scenario filled with unknown dangers, where students might encounter vampire ambushes, werewolf tracking, and disturbances from various Dark Creatures.
They would need to rely on stealth, tracking and counter-tracking techniques, along with strong defensive and counter-offensive spells, to survive and complete objectives in perilous conditions.
5) Dragon Flame Trial Ground (Team size: 3–5): One of the ultimate challenges, specifically designed around the Hebridean Black Dragon.
The stone tablet would simulate a volcanic cavern steeped in the stench of sulphur, home to a Black Dragon.
Lava would course through deep ravines, while narrow walkways hung suspended above a searing abyss.
Team members would need to work together to "repel" or "restrain" the Black Dragon.
6) Opaleye Floating City (Team size: 4–5): The Australian Opaleye's arena would be a ruined city in the sky.
The Opaleye would cunningly circle among the floating structures, using its pearlescent scales to create dazzling halos and illusions amid clouds and sunlight to conceal itself, while raining dragonfire to ignite the terrain.
Team objectives could include:
Guard the Core: Defend a fragile magical crystal tower at the city's centre that kept the floating city aloft, while fending off the Opaleye's diving attacks.
Dragon Egg Puzzle: Locate the dragon egg hidden somewhere within the floating city and disable the guardian traps set around it by the Opaleye, requiring the deciphering of ancient runic puzzles.
Dragon Catcher: Make use of the floating city's complex terrain and surviving ancient magical devices, such as still-functioning defensive turrets, to lure the Opaleye into a designated area for capture or expulsion.
All of these demanded excellent team coordination, mobility, and the ability to rescue one another under pressure.
Sagres even envisioned that, when the time was right in the future, he might "invite" one or two genuine Dark wizards into the stone tablet to serve as sparring partners in real combat.
Of course, that was a matter for another time.
For the time being, this rich and varied "instance library" blueprint was more than enough to ignite the students' enthusiasm for self-challenge and lay a solid foundation for their future magical careers.
In the days that followed, the air at Hogwarts seemed charged with electricity by the arrival of the "Advanced Missions."
The news spread rapidly: Professor Greengrass had placed real Magical Creatures, from clumsy trolls to formidable dragons, into the Dueling Stone Tablet.
Students deemed "eligible to unlock Advanced Missions"—primarily those in fourth year and above, along with a few exceptionally outstanding younger students—were filled with a mixture of excitement and nervous anticipation.
Whenever someone stepped up before the stone tablet and attempted to commune with its ancient runes, a crowd of onlookers would quickly gather.
The Dueling Stone Tablet's light flared and dimmed in turn, and the students who successfully activated an "Advanced Mission" each stepped into the first true advanced trial of their magical lives.
Sagres's design was remarkably ingenious. Although many of the challenges involved trolls, variations in type, combination, and environment ensured that every trial was filled with uncertainty.
The first student in the entire school to step forward and issue a challenge was Hufflepuff's immensely popular champion—Cedric Diggory.
Tall and lean, Cedric walked steadily to the centre of the arena. Under the watchful eyes of the assembled students, he embedded his duelling badge into the stone tablet.
After verification, the surrounding scenery immediately began to twist and transform.
The flat stone arena vanished, replaced by rugged, precipitous mountain canyons. One side was a sheer, jagged rock wall, while the other plunged into a bottomless, turbulent, ice-cold fjord.
The moment Cedric stepped onto the simulated battlefield, a biting mountain wind whipped at the hem of his yellow robes, and the roar of the fjord thundered in his ears.
High upon the rock face, a tall, burly figure suddenly rose to its feet. Thick, stone-like horns crowned its head, and loose rocks cascaded down as it moved.
The Alpine Mountain Troll's murky eyes fixed on the area below, and it let out a deafening roar.
Muscles bulged along its massive arms as it hoisted a boulder half a man's height. With a violent whoosh, it hurled the rock straight toward the centre of the arena.
Cedric reacted instantly, rolling forward and to the side, hugging the ground with agile precision.
As he rolled, his wand traced a swift arc. "Protego!"
An invisible barrier flared into being, stopping the spray of jagged debris with a dull, heavy impact.
Using the momentum, he slid into a half-kneeling position, his eyes scanning the battlefield in an instant. The Alpine Mountain Troll's physical defence was astonishing—charging it head-on would be unwise. And beneath the dark waters of the fjord, there had to be another opponent waiting.
Cedric made his decision without hesitation.
Lowering his centre of gravity like a hunting leopard, he used the jagged rock wall as cover, moving deliberately along the edge of the Alpine Mountain Troll's field of vision.
As he reached the slick rocks near the water's edge—
Splash—!
Icy water erupted into the air.
A grey-green, slime-skinned Norwegian Fjord Troll burst out of the water, its webbed fingers splayed wide.
It wielded a massive bone club studded with sharp shark teeth, and with a strong stench of fish, it swept viciously toward Cedric's legs.
Cedric had anticipated this. The instant the troll broke the surface, he shifted half a step sideways, adjusting his centre of gravity.
Twisting his waist, he snapped his wand up. "Petrificus Totalus!"
Bright white magical bindings shot forth, wrapping tightly around the thick ankle of the Fjord Troll as it stepped onto the rocks.
The troll's movement halted abruptly. Its huge body lurched, and the heavy bone club smashed into the rock beside it with a loud clang, sending sparks flying.
Without pausing for even a moment, Cedric lifted his wand again and fired a sharp beam of purple light straight at the enraged Alpine Mountain Troll on the cliff face. "Stinging Hex!"
The purple beam struck precisely into one of the Alpine Mountain Troll's murky eyes.
The troll immediately erupted into a shrill, agonised howl, clutching its injured eye with a massive hand. Its enormous body shook in pain, and its throwing attack was completely interrupted.
From the stands, Sagres's steady, authoritative voice rang out as he explained the creatures in the arena to the young wizards.
"Alpine Mountain Troll. Identified by the stony, horn-like protrusions on its head. Its strengths lie in immense physical power, devastating throwing attacks, and high resistance to blunt force and basic spells. Its weaknesses are slow movement, low intelligence, and a notoriously short temper."
The students watched in rapt attention, eyes fixed on the rapidly shifting battle below, ears straining, afraid to miss a single word.
Sagres's gaze shifted to the troll by the water, which had already broken free of the magical bindings. His tone remained steady.
"Norwegian Fjord Troll. Identified by its grey-green, slime-coated skin and webbed fingers. Amphibious in nature, it moves swiftly across wet terrain and excels at lurking and ambush tactics. It wields a bone club embedded with teeth, indicating a basic capacity for tool modification, and its intelligence is slightly higher than that of the Alpine Mountain Troll. Its most significant weakness is a fear of fire."
The students nodded unconsciously, their eyes fixed on the rapidly moving figure in yellow within the arena.
Down below, Cedric did not linger after landing the Stinging Hex.
With agile footwork, he retreated while deliberately drawing the Fjord Troll—still struggling against the remnants of the magical bindings—toward the rock face, where the one-eyed Alpine Mountain Troll was thrashing wildly, smashing its fists against the stone in pain and fury.
The moment the Fjord Troll staggered into that zone, Cedric snapped his wand toward the slick rocks beneath its feet. "Slippery Charm!"
The ground instantly became treacherously slick.
The Fjord Troll's massive body lost all balance. Arms flailing in panic, it slammed heavily into the enraged Alpine Mountain Troll.
The two giants collided with a heavy, echoing impact and immediately became entangled in a roaring, tearing struggle.
Cedric seized the opening. He raised his wand and cast "Swift as Wind" on himself, and a surge of lightness flowed into his legs.
Lowering his stance, he used the temporarily incapacitated Alpine Mountain Troll as moving cover, weaving deftly around its bulk.
He used his positioning with precision, ensuring that each time the Fjord Troll swung its club at him during his "evasive" movements, the blow landed squarely on the Alpine Mountain Troll instead.
Before long, even with its thick hide, the Mountain Troll was smeared with blood from the bone club's embedded teeth.
Driven by Cedric's deliberate manipulation and the water troll's frenzied attacks, the Alpine Mountain Troll—half-blinded and repeatedly "injured by mistake"—was pushed into a complete frenzy.
Groping blindly, it seized a jagged, razor-sharp boulder in its massive hand and, howling with fury, brought it crashing down onto the head of the nearby Fjord Troll, which was still wildly swinging its bone club.
Bang!
With a heavy, muffled impact, the Fjord Troll instantly dissolved into a flash of blinding white light and vanished.
"One down!"
Cedric's eyes flashed with focus.
He kicked off the ground, leaping back and to the side in a few swift bounds to create distance. Raising his wand high, he aimed at a section of the rock face that had already been weakened and shouted with solemn force:
"Bombarda!"
Boom—!
A blinding flash of light erupted, followed by a deafening explosion.
The section of the rock face struck by the spell collapsed instantly. Guided by Cedric's wand, the shattered mass of stone thundered downward like a landslide, crashing onto the Alpine Mountain Troll below as it clutched its injured eye and roared.
Bang!
The troll's massive body burst into white light and vanished.
Cedric's chest rose and fell as he caught his breath, sweat beading at his temples, yet the hand gripping his wand remained steady and firm.
He swept his gaze across the battlefield, alert for any remaining threats. Only after confirming there were none did a faint smile slowly spread across his face.
Gently flexing his slightly numb wrist, he slid his wand back into his robe pocket and walked toward the stone tablet as it slowly rose from the ground to retrieve his badge.
The duelling badge had changed.
It was no longer dull bronze, but now gleamed with a radiant silver sheen.
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