"Sorry, Luna."
"Sorry to keep you waiting."
Roger and Luna had originally agreed to set aside time during the first weekend after school started to research what exactly Pestering Mites were.
However, some unexpected circumstances arose, forcing Roger to make significant adjustments to his entire plan.
The various matters combined had kept him incredibly busy.
So, the Pestering Mites would have to be postponed for another week.
"It's okay." Luna wasn't too bothered; it was just a week.
It wasn't like it was an urgent matter.
"How have you been lately? Are you getting used to Ravenclaw?"
Magical research required a secluded place. As they walked, Roger and Luna chatted.
"It's good. Hogwarts is quite interesting." This was Luna's genuine feeling.
In the past, Luna had lived under her father's protection, rarely interacting with many peers.
This was a very novel experience for her.
And after Roger's Iron Fist Suppression and school-wide reforms last academic year, the entire atmosphere at Hogwarts had changed.
The events where, in her original fate, Ravenclaw students would ostracize the eccentric Luna, hide her belongings, and engage in cold-shoulder bullying, did not happen.
Although Luna's personality still made it difficult for her to fit in and make friends in Ravenclaw, no one dared to do anything excessive.
At most, they just ignored her.
"Roger, what about you?" As she asked, Luna's gaze turned peculiar.
A vast swarm of Pestering Mites, like a sky-obscuring canopy, had always hovered around Roger.
Once one entered the range of these Pestering Mites, their minds would be somewhat influenced by Roger's stray thoughts.
In the past, what Luna felt within them were things like 'strengthen your will' and 'seek truth.'
But now, there were some differences.
So, even without knowing what had happened, Luna understood that Roger must have encountered something extraordinary.
"...It's a bit bad." Roger didn't hide it.
"But it's only temporary. Things will get better in the future."
He had barely taken two steps into the Path to Immortality before being kicked back out, which was hardly a pleasant experience.
But Roger believed he would be able to re-enter it soon.
Of course, while Roger didn't hide it, he didn't explain the details to Luna.
Roger didn't want to pour out his troubles to a child; there was no need to share unhappy things.
"What do you think of this place?"
Hogwarts wasn't small, nor was it particularly large. Soon, the two arrived at their destination.
That is, the Forbidden Forest where Hagrid resided.
Unlike typical magical experiments, Based on Luna's description of her condition, Roger felt it would be best to find a very spacious area.
And one where there were other intelligent creatures nearby for reference.
Luna looked around and felt the place was indeed suitable. "It's good."
After receiving her reply, Roger led Luna a bit further.
Since the environment of the Forbidden Forest was fine, the next step was to inform Hagrid.
After all, Hagrid was the keeper of the Forbidden Forest, and he definitely needed to be notified if Roger was going to conduct experiments there.
"Hagrid?" Arriving at the small cabin near the Forbidden Forest, Roger knocked on the door.
However, there was no response.
Roger slightly extended his senses and immediately detected that Hagrid was too deeply immersed in virtual reality.
…Ever since virtual reality was fully promoted at Hogwarts, more and more professors and young wizards were indulging in it daily.
Aside from essential classes, meals, and homework time, everyone preferred to spend their time in there.
Playing? Reading?
Virtual reality had time acceleration. The time it took to read a book in reality was enough to read three books in virtual reality.
Playing was similar; there were far more things to do in virtual reality than in reality. With accelerated thinking, everyone would have more leisure time.
After Roger conquered the long-distance online connection technology, even many young wizards could connect remotely if they wanted to play together.
To be honest, this had played a significant role in mitigating conflicts among students from the four houses.
In the past, if two students from Gryffindor and Slytherin were friends before enrolling, they would inevitably be affected by the conflicting atmosphere between the houses after starting school. Their communication would become less and less frequent, and they would drift further apart.
It was like Lily and Snape. Snape had indeed done many wrong things, which was undeniable.
But as a friend, Lily knew very little about what Snape later experienced due to their different houses, and she didn't have many opportunities for deep communication with him. This led to many misunderstandings and estrangement, which was also a fact.
However, with virtual reality, such things would be greatly reduced.
Students would have private spaces to bypass the scrutiny of others.
Of course, this also led to a series of new problems.
For example, some secret societies began to flourish among the students.
The various situations within Hogwarts were merely a microcosm of society at large.
Roger could foresee that once virtual reality was fully rolled out worldwide, all the problems that appeared within Hogwarts would surely play out in wizarding society and Muggle society as well.
It would definitely happen from time to time that people like Hagrid, who were too engrossed in the near-omnipotent, wish-fulfillment beauty of the virtual reality world, to the point where they sometimes neglected real-world matters.
Even a simple 2D online game could mesmerize some people.
Let alone something more realistic, or even a world that might truly evolve into 'reality' in the future.
...As the knocking intensified, Roger thought to himself that it was time to find a way to solve this problem.
Roger developed virtual reality.
It wasn't for the world to become like "The Matrix," where everyone entered illusion.
"You want to do an experiment?"
"Of course!" Amidst Roger's heavy knocking, Hagrid snapped back from virtual reality.
He certainly had no objections to such a small matter.
But Roger abandoned his original plan to conduct the experiment directly.
Instead, he steered the conversation towards Hagrid's immersion in virtual reality.
"Hagrid, I've been wanting to implement some anti-addiction mechanisms lately. Do you have any suggestions?"
"More and more people within Hogwarts are pouring too much of their energy into this..."
Before Roger could finish, Hagrid interjected, "Roger, perhaps you're worrying a bit too much."
"There might not be anything wrong with it."
"Virtual reality is also reality."
"People are just shifting their real-world interactions to the virtual world; they aren't wasting their time."
"I don't think we need any anti-addiction measures. A 'reminder' function would suffice, to prevent people from neglecting real-world dangers when their minds enter the virtual world."
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