Capítulo 51: Chapter 51
Monday, December 27, 2021 10:03 PM
Hidden behind the curtains of his bed, Harry opened his Menu and brought out the three unopened Christmas gifts he had remaining. It had been a trying day (he'd been extensively questioned about the attack on Christmas Morning by three different adults for the fourth or fifth time) and he needed a bit of a distraction least he drown in his grief over the fact that he was still trapped in the world of MaM.
The first one he unwrapped was a box of Chocolate Frogs from Hermione Granger, a rather talkative first year that had been tutoring him in Transfiguration, Charms, and Potions. According to rumors he'd heard, the girl had supposedly been rather obnoxious (in an attention seeking way for the approval from the professors) until she'd nearly been killed by a troll on Halloween night. Harry tolerated her more than most of the other NPC students because she was one of the few that didn't hound him with questions or constantly try to get him to be her friend.
The next gift he opened was a box filled with a handful of inexpensive wizarding games from Neville Longbottom, another first year (who was painfully shy) and one of Harry's roommates in the first year dorm. Neville was also the last of Harry's tutors and the one that had helped him get caught up in Herbology and Astronomy. He was Hermione's best and only friend since he'd been the one to save her when he'd braved a detention (and been threatened with expulsion) to tell a teacher about Hermione being in the bathroom instead of at the feast.
He was also clumsy, forgetful, and very insecure except when it came to defending his only friend or when it came to Herbology and Astronomy (that particular NPC's two best subjects). Harry tolerated him for the same reasons he tolerated Hermione (and the Weasley twins to a point).
After opening both of those presents, Harry felt a small twinge of guilt as he hadn't given out any presents because he honestly hadn't expected to receive any in the first place. Despite knowing that the four students that had given him gifts were NPCs, it still bothered him to accept gifts without giving them something in return. A thank you card would suffice for the elder Weasleys and their daughter since he'd never met them and he'd already thanked Hagrid. His aunt had demanded he have impeccable manners, after all, because it wouldn't do for him to ever embarrass the family (not that they had ever let him go anywhere with them).
After a bit of internal debate on what to get for them (since he wasn't allowed to leave the castle) he chose to make each of them a pendant from the extra dragon scales he had. The moment that had been settled, he turned his attention to the last gift which had been wrapped up in brown paper and a tag that only had his first name written on it (much to his annoyance).
Once opened, he discovered the final gift contained a Cloak of Invisibility and an unsigned letter claiming that the cloak had once belonged to his father. Harry saw it as yet another attempt to supplant reality in his mind but didn't discard the Item because he acknowledged its usefulness – part of him automatically believed the anonymous gift a Key Item that would be needed to complete the current level or possibly the entire game.
He did, however, carefully assess the cloak to make certain that it wasn't trapped in some way and found that it had three spells woven into the fabric that didn't belong; a Tracking Charm, a Monitoring Charm, and a Beacon Charm. The Tracking Charm would allow the movements of the one wearing the cloak to be tracked, the Monitoring Charm would monitor the person wearing the cloak (and therefore allow the caster to hear everything heard or said by the wearer), and the Beacon Charm would allow the caster to easily find the individual wearing the cloak when in the same room.
As a Trap Master, Harry had the ability to disable other people's traps (which had transferred over to this game as an ability that would remove anchored spells from objects and locations) and he used that ability now to strip the unwanted spells from the cloak. He had no desire to paint such a large target on himself when that would allow anyone to find him and monitor his movements so easily (Harry not yet aware that only the person who cast the spells could gain any knowledge from them). He wouldn't have to worry about someone recasting those spells on the cloak because when he wasn't using it, the cloak would be safely stored in his Bag of Holding and accessible only through his Inventory.
Harry immediately tried the cloak on after it had been cleared of the traps and felt an urge to explore the castle in order to search for a proper Monster Dungeon; the lower levels of the castle where he attended his Potions lessons not counting in his mind.
Hedwig joined Harry beneath the cloak the moment he climbed off of his bed (complaining all the while about the way it ruffled her feathers) and he gently ran his fingers along her body to smooth her feathers back into place as he slipped out of the room and down the stairs. When he came to the portrait that covered the entrance to the tower, he hesitated a minute as he suspected that there might be an alarm spell of some kind was tied to the portrait in order to alert the staff whenever a student slipped out of the tower after curfew (and he was on the wrong side to scan the picture for traps).
Not wanting to be caught the moment he left the tower, Harry slipped around the potential alarm by using the Teleport Spell to move him to an out of the way corridor within the castle where he knew there were no portraits, suits of armor, or other castle guard present to see him appear in a flash of blue light. Harry then spent an hour and a half just wandering through the castle looking for a Dungeon entrance without any fear of getting caught due to the combination of his SAO Hiding Skill and the Cloak of Invisibility.
He was just about ready to give up his search for the night when he realized that he'd already been given a clue as to the whereabouts of the castle's Dungeon when he'd been told by Professor McGonagall that the third floor corridor was off limits when she'd explained the rules to him back on the day he purchased his supplies. He mentally kicked himself for not having realized it sooner but he'd been too wrapped up in his grief and anger to really give the matter any serious thought before he'd been given the cloak.
Harry wasted no time in making his way to the third floor and headed straight for the forbidden corridor where he found his way forward blocked by a locked door. Fortunately, one of the benefits of being tutored by Hermione meant that he was familiar with all of the spells that the girl knew and in no time at all he'd used the Unlocking Charm to open the door. He didn't expect to find what he thought was the Boss Chamber on the other side though and he stared in surprise at the huge three-headed dog that was growling at the now open door. He was in no way prepared to face a Boss right off the bat when he'd not tested any of his new Skills against lower leveled monsters within this new game first.
.
.
.
.
.
👀The novel is available in PDF, visit my Patreon store👀
🚬Patreon.com/BlackGoku222🚬
Estado de energía semanal
-- Ranking de
Poder 
-- Piedra de
Poder