Capítulo 10: Pay-to-Win Equipment
The four students talked well into the night, with Hermione and Neville even sticking around for supper at the Slytherin table. Draco had been most displeased by this, but all Ron needed was to threateningly brandish his wand and the little ferret shut his trap.
The other Slytherins and Gryffindors gave a few odd glances, but no one said anything about it. This was a good start. One of Ron's first big goals in Hogwarts was to smash down the crushing inter-house rivalries. If the Houses hated each other so much, how could he make money off everyone?
No, the four Houses of Hogwarts needed to unite under his capitalistic rule!
Ron grinned at the thought of this. Of course, this was a distant goal. For now, he would just need to make do with his little Slytherin worker bees.
Collecting his orders, Ron made sure to finish supper quickly, excusing himself early as he headed off to the Room of Requirement. It was time to work. Starting with the simpler repairs, he found he had gotten quite good at them now. While his skill proficiency hadn't changed, Ron found that the results of a skill were more complicated than just proficiency.
Intent and experience were also important. After repairing more than a dozen quills, Ron had developed a certain 'knack' for it. Even though he was using the same Green LV4 Mending, he would use slightly different technique with his wand waves to great effect.
Ron suspected that this was where specialized spells like 'Oculus Reparo' came in. If this continued, he might eventually create a 'Plumus Reparo'.
Chuckling at the thought, Ron finished with the simple orders before turning to Neville's cauldrons. The first had a few holes in the bottom, while the second was covered in small cracks. Nothing too complicated. After an hour of hard work, they were fixed up, though like Hermione's there were a few noticeable lumps where he'd mended them. Alas, that couldn't be avoided. A repair could never perfectly fix the problem.
"If only I could put points into equipment. A true pay-to-winner isn't complete without a set of OP-ass equipment." Ron muttered to himself, smacking his palm against the pewter.
But then, he froze. Because underneath the skill panel in his mind, he could see another floating panel.
[Pewter Cauldron (White) LV3 4/6]
Ron didn't move for a moment, sucking in a deep breath. Then, he put two points into the cauldron.
[Pewter Cauldron (White) LV4 0/8]
At that moment, under Ron's astonished gaze, the pewter cauldron began to shine, as many of the small lumps and deformities created by the repair shrunk. Not only those, but many other small imperfections on the cauldron started to disappear.
When the glow disappeared, the cauldron looked like something you'd see in a second-hand store, better than half the cauldrons at the Junk Shop. Then, Ron did it again. And again.
Finally, after 6 more levels of transformation, Ron had before him a shining new pewter cauldron.
[Pewter Cauldron (Green) LV1 0/20]
Ron felt a smile coming to his face. He didn't even care that he'd splurged nearly three sickles on this upgrade. He had done it.
Of course… how could a good and proper pay-to-win cheat not come with pay-to-win items! What's more, he could turn any item into a pay-to-win item.
Checking his next repair target, he smiled.
[Broken Telescope (Black) 0/9]
Black? Was that a level below White? That made sense, broken items were far inferior even to slipshod ones. Then, he checked the items he'd already repaired.
[Quill (White) LV4 5/8]
[Ink Pot (White) LV3 0/6]
[Brass Scales (White) LV6 7/12]
While he didn't spend points on all of them, just knowing he could was exciting. Moreover, the price for upgrading items was only a fifth that of upgrading skills of the same level. This was a steal!
Of course, Ron understood why. No matter how powerful equipment was; it was only external. It was just like the Elder Wand. While you may be a stronger wizard while you were wielding it, once you put it down, you were nothing.
But then, Ron's mind went to something else. What about his own wand? Could he upgrade that too?
[12-inch Ash and Unicorn Hair Wand (Purple) LV8 1,672/16,000]
Ron sucked in a breath. There was so much to take in. First off… Purple? Was that the level beyond Blue? Then there was the 15,000-point requirement… That was more than a fresh wand costed!
Of course, Ron knew a wand was much more valuable than seven galleons. Unicorn tail hair alone cost ten galleons, meaning every unicorn wand was sold at a deficit. This wasn't even considering wood and labour costs. There were probably Ministry subsidies on a wizard's first wand.
With that in mind, Ron suppressed the urge to sink all his points into the Ash-Unicorn wand. It was better to save seven galleons and get his own wand next year. That said, he still couldn't resist the urge to splurge… just a little. Looking down at his worn-out clothes, holey shoes and banged-up pocket watch, it was time for a makeover.
Slow-motion walking out of the Room, Ron felt like a new man, decked out in his fresh threads. Clothes made the man, and full set of green-level clothes made him feel like a million galleons. But then he noticed it was pitch black outside.
'Damn, did I really kill that much time?'
Checking his watch, it was quarter to midnight, well past curfew. That said, he wasn't too worried. With the Marauder's map he could quickly map a path back to the dungeon.
"So, Filch is on the ground floor… near the armory. Mrs Norris is by the library… Harry and Seamus are on the third floor. Hermione and Neville are… Ehh?"
As he studied the map, he noticed that there were four other students out of their rooms, namely Harry, Seamus, Hermione and Neville. While he didn't care for the former two, Hermione and Neville were important for business?
'What are they doing on the third floor?'
Then, it dawned on him. Wasn't this the day the trio discovered Fluffy? The door must be unlocked then.
Ron felt his heart hammering from excitement. Despite all that had happened, he hadn't forgotten about canon. This year was the year the Philosopher's Stone was hidden at Hogwarts. And he wanted it.
It wasn't stealing… more like preservation of a priceless artifact. After all, in canon, Flamel destroyed the stone rather than let it all fall into Voldemort's possession. Ron would put it to much better use.
Turning lead into gold… if he could do that, he could instantly become the strongest wizard in the world.
There was only one problem. The third-floor corridor was locked, and his Alohamora was useless. He'd tried several times before giving up. In retrospect, it made sense. Why wouldn't Dumbledore guard against something taught in the first-year Charms book? But he didn't understand how the trio had gotten past it in canon.
But then Ron recalled seeing Hagrid on the third floor earlier using the map. Maybe he'd gone to feed Fluffy and forget to secure the door? That seemed like something he'd do. Either that, or Dumbledore intentionally left it unlocked for them.
Regardless, tonight was the fated night and he needed to seize the chance. Stowing away the cauldrons in a hurry, Ron rushed down to the third floor immediately. But as he neared his destination, he slowed. He had to be careful not to get caught.
With the map, he was on top of everything. Filch was down on the ground floor, Harry and Seamus on the second while Hermione and Neville were…
"Ron?"
Right behind him. Wheeling around, he saw them, illuminated by Hermione's flickering wand.
"What on earth are you doing here?" Hermione asked.
"I could ask the same of you."
"We're looking for Harry. Neville noticed him sneaking out of bed and Gryffindor can't afford to lose more points." She explained. "Now you."
"Burning the midnight myrrh and banging out some orders. By the way, I finished your cauldron, Neville. I'll fetch it for you tomorrow."
"Really? Thank Merlin! I've got detention tomorrow and…"
"Is this really the time to be talking about this?" Hermione interject angrily. "Harry might be halfway to the Armoury by now."
However, just as Hermione said this, a loud meowing sounded out, followed by a triumphant cry.
"Aha! I've got you Finnigan!" Filch snarled angrily. "And that must be Potter running upstairs!"
Upstairs? Didn't that mean… Ron turned to the staircase, seeing a panicked Harry running towards them. Blue eyes meeting green, Harry's expression flashed through surprise, anger and then finally back to panic as he hurried towards him.
"Filch is right behind me."
Ron didn't need telling twice, dashing off at once. The Gryffindor trio was right on his tail, with Filch only seconds behind. Turning corners and weaving past suits of armour, they tried shaking off the caretaker, but to no avail. Soon, the door to the third-floor corridor was in sight.
"In here." Ron cried, whipping out his wand. "Alohomora."
A familiar white light flashed in the keyhole, only this time it was successful. Throwing open the door, he burst inside, followed by Harry and Neville. Hermione hesitated for a moment, but Filch's snarls scared her in. Throwing a chunk of pewter down the stairs, Ron quietly shut the door.
The trio froze, silencing their every breath as the sound of footsteps approached. Then the sound waned, as Filch chased after the scrap pewter. Only once his footsteps fully disappeared did they finally relax.
"Sweet snargaluff, I've never been so scared in my life." Neville sighed.
But that statement was no longer true a second later, as Neville turned to the room behind him. Where he, like the other three, lay breathless at the other resident of this room: an immense, three-headed dog, baring its spear-like fangs at them.
Even Ron, who had been fully expecting this, was utterly flabbergasted by the beast. It was bigger than an elephant, its every fang and claw like a well-sharpened weapon of war, with a massive boulder-sized paw on a trapdoor.
'Fluffy my ass!'
Still, after all the canon changes he'd encountered, it felt good to confirm Fluffy was here. But he wasn't nearly ready to face him, or the subsequent trials now. Slowly reaching for the door behind him, Ron didn't dare make any sudden moves. Then, he slowly opened the door, and tiptoed out with the others.
The moment the door shut, Fluffy's howls filled the halls. The Gryffindor trio made a break for it at once, dashing to their Common Room. Ron stopped for a second, fusing a tiny chunk of pewter into the lock. Spells were finicky, and just this little modification could disrupt the anti-unlocking charm.
Then, he dashed to the dungeons, Filch's roars echoing behind him. That was enough adventuring for one night.
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