"It's actually a spell textbook for older students!"
"Has John gone mad? It's only been a few days since school started!"
Hermione stared at the thick spellbook in Logan's hands as though it were a cursed object. The title alone was enough to make her scalp tingle. It wasn't beginner material at all. Most first-years were still struggling with basic wand movements and pronunciation, yet Logan was already reading advanced defensive magic as casually as someone flipping through a bedtime story.
In Hermione's opinion, this was dangerous. No matter how talented Logan was, he was still only an eleven-year-old first-year student like everyone else. Advanced spells weren't things children should touch so early. If he failed, the backlash could be serious. If he succeeded… honestly, that somehow felt even more alarming.
As his classmate, rival, and at least half a friend, Hermione felt obligated to stop him before he wandered completely off the rails.
After making two dissatisfied little huffs through her nose, she marched over and dropped into the seat beside him.
Logan blinked and finally looked up from the sea of books surrounding him. "Hm?"
Why was Hermione sitting next to him all of a sudden? And hadn't she been glaring at him a moment ago?
Girls really were impossible to understand.
Hermione folded her arms and tried to look stern, though the faint redness on her face slightly ruined the effect. "Logan… those books you're reading are for older students, right? Aren't the first-year textbooks enough for you already?"
Logan barely hesitated before nodding. "Yeah, they are. I'm interested in a spell called the Shield Charm. It's important, so I'm planning to learn it."
Hermione stared at him in disbelief.
Did he completely miss the point?
She jabbed him lightly with her elbow. "What I mean is, you're a first-year student. Isn't studying advanced magic a bit too difficult already? Don't you think you're being overambitious?"
Logan looked genuinely puzzled. "Difficult? Not really."
He turned another page while speaking casually. "Honestly, it's not that different from our normal textbooks. If you hadn't interrupted me earlier, I probably would've finished learning it already."
Hermione froze.
"…What?"
Surely she had heard him wrong.
No first-year could possibly learn an upper-year defensive spell after reading for a single afternoon. That wasn't confidence anymore. That was pure nonsense.
She narrowed her eyes suspiciously and kept staring at him, trying to catch any sign that he was joking. Instead, Logan simply sat there calmly under her gaze, which somehow only made her more annoyed. After a few seconds, she elbowed him again in irritation.
Logan was honestly getting nervous under Hermione's stare. He had no idea why, but this little witch somehow radiated terrifying pressure. Maybe it was because she was unreasonable. Maybe it was because she had nearly headbutted him to death once before.
Either way, it was safer not to think about it.
More importantly, he was incredibly close to mastering the Shield Charm. The system notification earlier had practically been screaming at him that he was one final step away.
So Logan stopped paying attention to Hermione and plunged back into studying.
Seeing him suddenly become serious again, Hermione reluctantly turned back to her own books as well. Before long, the library returned to silence, broken only by the occasional turning of pages.
Time passed quietly.
Then—
Ding~
Sage Mode activated.
The familiar feeling flooded through Logan's mind. His thoughts sharpened instantly, and the complicated spell diagrams in front of him suddenly became simple and clear. The structure of the magic, the wand movements, the magical flow—it all connected together naturally.
Learning Shield Charm…
Understanding Shield Charm…
Mastering Shield Charm…
Congratulations. Shield Charm learned.
Magic Skills:
Shield Charm [Beginner]
Transfiguration Charm [Beginner]
Wingardium Leviosa [Beginner]
Lumos [Beginner]
Scouring Charm [Beginner]
Alohomora [Beginner]
Accio [Beginner]
Logan nearly laughed out loud.
He had actually learned it.
This was incredible.
Before he could celebrate further, another system notification suddenly appeared.
Ding~
Mission Generated.
Mission Objective: Perform a miracle before Hermione Granger.
Mission Description: You are a gifted wizard possessing extraordinary magical talent at the age of eleven. Such brilliance deserves recognition and admiration. However, the young witch beside you appears doubtful of your abilities. This is unacceptable. A future legendary wizard tolerates neither defeat nor disrespect. Having mastered the Shield Charm, you should demonstrate your greatness before her.
Mission Rewards:
Skill Experience Card ×1
Legend Point ×1
Logan stared at the mission window with a deadpan expression.
"A miracle before Hermione…"
Wasn't this just another way of saying "show off in front of Hermione"?
And what was all this nonsense about "legendary wizards" and "tolerating neither defeat nor disrespect"? Since when had he become this dramatic?
Still…
The rewards were amazing.
A Skill Experience Card alone sounded absurdly useful. If it really boosted spell proficiency directly, then saving it for difficult magic later would be incredibly valuable.
As for Legend Points?
Those things were practically impossible to get.
Logan immediately made up his mind.
This mission had to be completed.
He slowly closed the book in front of him, leaned back in his chair, and rested his chin against one hand while staring at Hermione with an unreadable expression.
Hermione immediately got goosebumps.
"…Why are you looking at me like that?"
Logan slowly tilted his head upward at a dramatic angle and spoke in a low voice.
"My eyes have already closed themselves to the light of the world."
Hermione blinked.
Several silent seconds passed.
She looked at him as though trying to decide whether he needed medical attention.
Logan coughed awkwardly and continued, "You don't understand. My power has already surpassed ordinary imagination. There's an old saying from the East: 'With one hand, I may pluck the stars from the heavens. There has never been another like me beneath the sky.'"
He placed a hand against his chest.
"That saying refers to me."
Hermione's expression slowly turned horrified.
Oh no.
Reading advanced textbooks really had driven him insane.
Should she take him to Professor McGonagall? Or maybe the school nurse? Could magical exhaustion cause brain damage? First-years definitely shouldn't study upper-year magic this early.
Meanwhile, Logan was internally panicking.
Why wasn't she impressed at all?
Those lines had worked perfectly in his previous life. Countless people online had fallen victim to this kind of nonsense before. How was Hermione completely immune?
No.
He couldn't let the mission fail.
Thinking about the lost rewards made his heart ache.
Without warning, Logan grabbed Hermione by the shoulders and stared directly into her eyes.
"Hermione," he said seriously, "I learned the Shield Charm."
Hermione's face flushed slightly from the sudden contact, but the moment she processed his words, her eyes widened again.
"You actually learned it?"
She still sounded doubtful.
Logan immediately raised his wand.
"Protego."
A faint transparent barrier shimmered into existence around him. The magical shield flickered unstably for a moment, clearly showing his lack of experience, but it remained active all the same.
Silence filled the table.
Hermione's mouth slowly opened.
She reached out cautiously and touched the air around him. Her fingertips met resistance.
"It's real…"
Her voice carried genuine disbelief now.
"Logan, that's incredible. Upper-year students struggle with this spell sometimes, and you actually learned it already."
For once, there wasn't even the slightest trace of competitiveness in her tone. It was pure amazement.
"To be honest…" Hermione admitted quietly, "I'm kind of jealous."
Ding~
Mission complete.
Rewards obtained:
Legend Point ×1
Skill Experience Card ×1
Logan nearly smiled from ear to ear.
Perfect.
Meanwhile, Hermione looked down at her own stack of beginner books before glancing back at Logan's advanced spellbook. The comparison made her increasingly frustrated.
Why was the gap between them suddenly becoming so enormous?
After a moment of internal struggle, she abruptly snatched the Shield Charm textbook off Logan's desk.
"Hmph. Fine then," she declared stubbornly. "I'll learn it too. I'm borrowing this book for now, and I'll return it later."
Logan watched the annoyed little witch in confusion.
What exactly had upset her this time?
Girls really were impossible to understand.
Still, he didn't dwell on it for long. Although he had successfully mastered the Shield Charm, there was still plenty of Transfiguration theory left to study.
Soon, both of them buried themselves in books once again.
The library became completely silent except for the soft rustling of turning pages.
Hours passed.
Then more hours passed.
Eventually, Madam Pince finally snapped.
"You two!"
Her sharp voice shattered the silence of the library.
"It is already extremely late. While I appreciate students who enjoy studying, normal human beings require sleep."
She crossed her arms and glared at them both. "And if you children refuse to rest, the rest of us would still like to."
With no other option, the two unwilling students packed up their books and checked out the ones they still wanted to read.
As Logan and Hermione left the library together, Madam Pince watched them disappear down the corridor and shook her head helplessly.
"One stubborn child and another willing to indulge him," she muttered. "Interesting pair."
Still, compared to certain red-haired troublemakers who regularly treated the library like a battlefield, these two little bookworms were practically angels.
.....
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