Inside the headmaster's office, Dumbledore held a letter-sized, inch-thick hardcover notebook with a brown cover, his eyes full of curiosity. The gold-stamped cursive words on the cover read Practical Guide for Casters. At the moment, every page inside was still blank.
The old wizard raised his head and looked at the young wizard casually drinking tea across the desk. Behind his half-moon spectacles, his blue eyes shone brightly as he asked, "What do I need to do next to activate this book?"
"There's an instruction sheet tucked into the last page. Just drip blood onto the signature line."
Skyl leaned comfortably back in his chair. He did not come to the headmaster's office often, but the delicate, cluttered scenery here made him feel very comfortable. It did not feel like a cold office, but rather had the atmosphere of a museum. The portraits of the previous headmasters were all craning their necks, watching the scene with great interest.
Dumbledore found a paper instruction sheet on the final page of the Guide.
"This product is released by the High Tower Covenant and is dedicated to improving a mage's learning efficiency through a rich database and personalized intelligent guidance... Please report any technical issues in a timely manner. You may write down the issue you encountered in the feedback column of the attached page using magical ink, and the Covenant will reply within one to three business days." Dumbledore laughed. "I seem to recall that we don't have a relevant department." Skyl shrugged, indicating that there was a twenty-four-hour, year-round operator who would handle such matters. "Use of this product may cause excessive mental exhaustion. Please arrange your study time reasonably. Additional note: If this product says strange things to you, this is normal. Please do not take it seriously."
The old headmaster pondered this crude and suspicious instruction sheet twice over. Then he used a paper knife to cut a small wound on his thumb and dripped blood onto the user signature line.
With blood as the binding token, a soul link was established between the book and the person. The instruction sheet before Dumbledore's eyes began folding itself automatically, again and again, until it folded itself out of existence. The Guide hovered in midair, its pages turning without wind, rustling from the first page to the last, then from the last page back to the first, as line after line of writing began to appear.
The contents displayed on the first page were as follows.
[User]: Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore
[Magical Entries]: Charms, Advanced; Transfiguration, Advanced; Dark Arts, Advanced; Potions, Advanced; Alchemy, Advanced; Ritual Studies, Advanced; Herbology, Advanced; Divination, Intermediate; Astronomy, Intermediate.
[Evaluation]: You are powerful, wizard, but the gates of higher magic have only just opened to you. Remain humble. May you soon stand before truth.
The table of contents page divided each magical entry into further categories. Dumbledore could inspect every spell he had ever learned, and every spell could be used to search for similar materials. Not only could it help him fill gaps in his knowledge, it could also draw from a wide range of sources and deepen his studies in related fields.
The second half of the Guide consisted of the task and achievement system. In Dumbledore's eyes, this was the true essence of the book.
[Daily Study Task]: Even the most powerful wizard must never forget to hit the books and keep improving. Please arrange a subject for self-study. Total duration must not be shorter than two class periods. Reward: Energy Potion ×1. This product can effectively relieve fatigue and increase physical vitality. Suitable for humanlike beings. Magical creatures may experience unknown side effects after consuming this product.
[Advanced Study Task]: The road to truth requires persistent effort. Please raise your mastery of one subject to Advanced. Reward: Radiant Circlet. This product commemorates a mage's outstanding effort. Wearing this product grants immunity to charm, fear, and paralysis effects, and provides five Radiant Blasts per day.
[Achievement Task]: Please explore Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Milestone rewards will be obtained when exploration reaches 30%, 50%, and 80%. Reaching 100% exploration will unlock the achievement "Ivory Tower Explorer."
[Achievement]: Ivory Tower Explorer, locked. Prize: Windrunner Traveling Boots. Wearing this product significantly increases movement speed and provides three uses of the Flight spell per day.
Dumbledore clicked his tongue in wonder, looked at Skyl, and exclaimed, "Well, this has truly opened an old man's eyes. Creating this task and achievement system must have taken you a great deal of thought, and the investment could not have been small either, could it?"
Skyl nodded modestly. Designing Practical Guide for Casters had consumed no less effort than cultivating the Celestial brain. Since he intended to create a cheat, it had to look the part. By combining elements from the system stories he remembered from his previous life, he had created this kind of reward structure. Fortunately, he also had Harry Potter as a tester, who had helped Skyl improve the user experience many times. The finished product he was presenting now finally looked proper.
"Indeed, but the true essence of this book does not lie in the rewards." Skyl took the Guide from Dumbledore and turned to the second page. "It lies here."
Dumbledore froze, narrowed his eyes, and examined it carefully, but still said in confusion, "But this is a blank page."
Skyl filled a quill with ink and wrote on the blank page: I want to systematically learn the method for making the Elixir of Life.
The line of writing began to glow faintly. Then, beneath the words, another clear line of text appeared.
[The method for making the Elixir of Life is as follows: First, you must make a Philosopher's Stone. See Philosopher's Stone Production Method Index. Second, you must prepare a silver cauldron and collect one ounce of pure dew that has bathed in moonlight for three years... Finally, stir the cauldron clockwise three times, then counterclockwise three times. Add the Philosopher's Stone, remove the cauldron from the fire, and let it stand for one day until the supernatant has completely separated. Bottle the supernatant, and the Elixir of Life is complete.]
"So this book is also a professor?" Dumbledore realized something, and his expression abruptly became excited.
"That's right." Skyl laughed happily. "The age of magical AI has arrived, and it's disrupting education. This is the meta answer. In another thirty years, the Muggle world will experience something similar."
Dumbledore took the Guide back, loving this new toy like a child. After testing it repeatedly, he discovered that the artificial intelligence built into the Guide could truly be described as omniscient. Its teaching was also extremely detailed, enough to replace part of the functions of a real teacher.
The old wizard could not help growing excited. The main reason the wizarding world had never truly amounted to much was its small population and uneven education standards. Excellent teachers were the rarest and most valuable resource. If this Guide could be popularized, then the scarcity of educational resources would practically be solved at once.
Dumbledore looked at Skyl with eyes like burning charcoal and asked urgently, "Skyl, can this Guide be popularized?"
Skyl held his teacup and blew lightly over the misty surface. After a brief moment of thought, he replied, "Professor, I understand how you feel, but the Guide is currently exclusive to The Tower of Tomes. We can ignore the production cost, but letting the internal materials spread outside may not necessarily be a good thing. After all, those of us in the Covenant all revere the High Tower King. We have marks as proof and oaths as witness, and our code of conduct is more or less bound by rules."
How could Dumbledore not understand that? He stood up and paced back and forth through the headmaster's office, clearly caught in a major dilemma. The portraits of previous headmasters also became noisy, their opinions sharply divided.
By the time Skyl finished his cup of tea, Dumbledore finally spoke.
"Can we come up with a compromise? Like Winterhold."
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