10 Chapter 10: Proffesor McGonagall

"This coat is good in every way except for being a bit too big and smelly," Mason said as Hagrid's zombie body burned like a bonfire. He unloaded his backpack and used it as a chair while bandaging the wounds of the kite man sitting beside him.

He still played the role of a mute perfectly, but the kite-man, who was aware that he was now Mason's ally, kept complaining.

Mason gave him a share of the loot, and he was happy. But he became unhappy when Mason gave him a blood-stained and foul-smelling shirt.

"Ah!"

As Mason tightened the bandage, the complaining kite-man suddenly twitched. A notification appeared in Mason's mind, displaying an 'increase in his first-aid skill proficiency by 5 points thanks to the excellent technique of quick bandaging.'

He nodded in satisfaction, tied the bandage into a bow, and motioned for the kite-man to extend his other arm, which was severely scratched.

This guy was actually quite lucky. He was asked by Old K to go up and be cannon fodder, but he was slapped away by the zombie Hagrid.

Given the sharpness of the mutated claws of the zombie, if it had cut through his skin, he would have been dead by now, even though Mason did not know whether Old K had an antidote for the zombie virus.

'But one thing for sure, that cunning old man would never give the precious antidote to a cannon fodder.'

"We can make a trade."

Although the Kite Man had no objection to the silence of the new boss, he had his own little plan. He held the stinky leather coat and said to Mason.

"I'll trade this with you. I see you have a gun, and what I mean is that you can give me that knife."

"Look at this material. It's so good. It's definitely top-quality fur. I'm not boasting, but after the Joker Gang disbanded, I worked in Wayne Mall in Gotham for a while to earn rent. I have put in some effort in identifying fur, and I am definitely a professional."

"Well, how about I give you a million dollars, and you give me that coat?" Old K's voice appeared next to the two of them like a ghost. Mason was not moved, but Kite Man's whole body tensed up.

"Don't be nervous, you're my best scout. You'll be the main force in the next mission."

The cunning old man showed a calm expression and sat down beside Mason and Kite Man. While observing Mason's skilled and precise first-aid techniques, he casually said to Kite Man.

"Mason is really good to his own people. He gave you this good magic armor without hesitation. When I was a newcomer, my captain wasn't that nice to me."

"Magical protective gear?" Kite-Man blinked his eyes and looked at the stinky coat in his hand. He humbly asked, "Is this thing really powerful?"

"Well, it's quite powerful. You just saw it a moment ago. This jacket can even withstand small-scale explosions at close range, and ordinary bullets can't penetrate its protection." K was an expert in this field.

He reached out to touch the black mole rat fur coat in Kite-Man's hand and said, "Even in the trading market of the Star Scoiety, this tough and magically enhanced protective gear is popular among D-level members. Of course, higher-level members wouldn't bother with it. Don't look at me, Charles. I'm just a C-level member and have better things than your pitiful spoils. I'm not a good person, but I can also be generous when necessary."

As they talked, Old K took out three slim bottles with blood-red liquid from his waist belt and handed them to Mason. He looked at Mason and said

"You can have these bottles as compensation for the knife you got. They're called Swallow Elixir. Drink it, and you'll instantly recover your vitality and heal all injuries that are no more severe than 'serious wounds' within the next five minutes."

The System immediately popped up.

"Detected high-level alchemical compound. This item is identified as a 'Swallow Elixir,' which can restore vitality and heal all injuries that are no more intense than 'serious wounds' within the next five minutes. The formula is too complicated for your low-level alchemy skills to analyze, but the formula for 'Novice Healing Potion' has been recorded."

Looking at the three high-level potions in front of him, Mason's expression became hesitant.

Under Old K's expectant gaze, Mason reluctantly pulled out the giant-style hunting knife from his waist and caressed its blade.

Hagrid's Skinning Knife

Quality: Fine Craftsmanship, Outstanding Workmanship

Effect: Enchanted with sharpness but poor balance and not suitable for close combat. The giant hunter-style tool is very suitable for harvesting leather, greatly increasing resource collection speed when equipped.

Maker: Fridwulfa Hagrid

Item description: When you hold it, you will miss the gentle force of the giant mother helping you smash the brain of the burst-toothed bear.

Warning: This item is stained with the blood of animal trainer Hagrid. Being near Hagrid's tame pets while holding it will be very dangerous!

This knife is perfect.

Apart from the Penguin Man's Umbrella and Batarang, this is the third good item that Mason has acquired.

Although the label states that it is "not good for close combat", Mason found that the destructive power was quite good when he wielded it in the air a few times before. It felt very handy to use.

This conflicting wonder is actually easy to understand. The so-called not good for close combat statement refers to the size of the giant's body.

This thing is like a dining knife in the hands of a half-giant like Hagrid, definitely not suitable for close combat. But for a standard-sized human, this thing is great.

Its sharpness makes it as easy as cutting grass to chop off a zombie's head.

Old K was indeed an expert. He could tell at a glance that the knife was the most valuable spoils of battle on the zombie's body. However, he didn't use his captain's status to demand it on the spot but chose to exchange it.

This action itself represented Old K's goodwill towards Mason. He always said he was selecting his future team members, and it seemed that the ordinary Mason had caught his eye.

Mason caressed the knife in his hand, the snow-white blade reflecting his black hair and skin.

His somewhat immature face was full of hesitation.

But when he saw the message in the System of the knife again, Mason made up his mind.

From the current situation, those "pets" raised by Hagrid might have turned into zombies, and they might be wandering in the ruins of Hogwarts right now.

Hagrid, the half-giant, called those things "pets."

But Mason, who had seen the movies and read the novels, knew the true face of those seemingly harmless little pets. Bringing this knife into Hogwarts would be a terrible threat.

But it's perfect to use as a trap from Old K.

Mason put on a reluctant expression, sighed, and handed the knife to old K with both hands.

This action was seen by the Plastique and Vertigo on the other side of the bonfire. The hot-tempered girl immediately spat to the side and cursed

"Damn, you son of a bitch"

"Thanks." Old K was also very satisfied with the result.

He generously put three advanced potions into Mason's hands, then stood up and threw a bottle of special liquid to the kite man, gesturing for him to spray the potion on his new coat.

Then, old K wore Hagrid's hunting knife on the weapon slot behind his back.

This way, with his cool golden eagle sword that he already had, he now had two weapons that he could use for close combat.

But unfortunately, the previous mission had suffered severe damage. Old K had almost lost all of his belongings as a C-level member. Now, he had to start over.

He switched to the weapons he needed, then walked over to Plastique and Vertigo, smiling, sitting beside them, and engaging in friendly conversation.

He even gave them a tier-two potion and explained how to use it when they complained. The smile on Old K's face became even gentler when he saw the tired Plastique and Vertigo drink the potion with suspicion.

His new team couldn't just consist of core members, after all. Good cannon fodder was also necessary.

"Yay, it doesn't stink anymore! It's just like new!"

Meanwhile, on Mason's side, Kite Man poured the potion given to him by Old K onto Hagrid's leather coat, causing a lot of foam to appear. After Kite Man struggled to shake the coat and remove the foam, the once foul-smelling coat became as clean as new.

It was as magical as magic itself.

Unfortunately, the coat was still made for a half-giant, and when Kite Man put it on, he looked like a kid wearing his dad's coat, with his arms and legs barely visible.

Mason blinked and gestured for Kite Man to hand over the remaining liquid. He looked at the label and quickly saw the System pop up.

Stark's Armor Cleaner

Quality: Standard Alchemy Item · Standard Craftsmanship

Effect: Quickly cleans all stains using dry cleaning mode. It comes in different fragrances, making it used for home and travel.

Item Description: For superheroes and playboys alike, a perfect appearance is just as important as cool and powerful abilities.

Status: Blueprint has been collected.

"Hmm?"

When Mason saw the name of this thing, he felt something swirling in his mind. Could this "Stark" be the same... Hmm, it seemed that Old K wasn't lying. Their group of Star Society was indeed very powerful.

Thinking of this, Mason touched the three advanced healing potions on his waist and then touched the back of his neck. He wondered if the effect of these potions would be enough to save him when he cut open his spine to remove the bomb.

Hmm, it takes five minutes to take effect. It probably won't work.

Just to be safe, he needed to find magical medicine that could instantly heal injuries. Hogwarts should have something like that. The world of magic, medicine, and alchemy is a very ancient tradition.

More than twenty minutes later, while Mason, disguised as a "mute person," silently completed his gun maintenance, the low whistle echoed on this magical platform.

He stood up and looked outside the platform at the mist. Soon, he saw a steam locomotive-like train slowly approaching through the mist. The other people also got up from their rest, and Old K was even more ready for battle, fully armed and ready to go.

But soon, everyone's expressions changed.

The train had been attacked. Although the locomotive remained intact, the following train carriages were reduced to only two short transportations.

And the last transportation seemed to have exploded from the inside, splitting in the middle, while the broken wheels continuously created sparks as they rubbed against the rails as the train moved forward.

"Don't worry, there's no life activity inside," Old K said, holding his pipe.

He seemed to have some sort of detection ability and had been observing Mason. Mason had just noticed that Old K's pupils had changed shape.

As the train slowly pulled up to the platform, Old K, as the captain, pushed the carriage door, but it did not budge. He frowned and took out some cracking tools, telling the others to back up.

"Step back, There's a wizard's barrier magic in this carriage. It looks like some of them were using this thing as a shelter during the disaster."

A few minutes later, the magical barrier was cracked, and Old K kicked open the carriage door. He was the first to walk in, and everyone followed. A foul smell made everyone frown as soon as they entered the carriage.

This intact carriage was full of corpses and bloodstains. The bodies still wore small wizard robes, and some formal wizards had tragically died inside the carriage.

"Ugh."

The last Kite Man to board the train covered his mouth and ran down when he saw the scene, and the others also had unpleasant expressions, except for old K.

The old man grinned and said to the others.

"Get used to it as soon as possible. You'll see more exciting things in the future. Now clean up these bodies. There are four compartments in this car. I'll go to the front of the train to check the situation. You guys rest. According to my information, this train needs at least four hours of travel to reach Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry."

After speaking, old K quickly jumped onto the roof of the car and walked towards the front of the train.

Although the remaining few people were unhappy, they still threw the bodies out together for the next four hours.

A few minutes later, the train restarted, and the cleaned-up carriages were clear. Plastique and Vertigo went to the left compartment, while Mason stayed alone in another compartment.

But when the train left the platform, Kite Man, holding his new coat, walked in with an embarrassed expression on his face.

He looked unhappy and embarrassed as he said to Mason, who was loading bullets into the magazine. "Those two guys are really in the mood for playing around in the carriage. I really admire where they got the mood from."

Mason listened carefully and heard the sounds coming from the back of the carriage, sounding like someone in heat. Plastique and Vertigo seemed under a lot of pressure and needed to vent this way.

Mason looked at the Kite Man lying on the sofa opposite him, putting on his coat and preparing to sleep. The latter noticed Mason's strange gaze and heard Plastique's increasingly bold moans.

He didn't know what he was thinking, but he suddenly covered his butt and shook his head frantically, saying, "I'm sorry, but I..."

"Shh!"

Mason put a finger to his lips to signal him to be quiet.

He heard strange noises and pushed open the sliding door of the compartment cautiously. In that instant, a line of words appeared in front of him:

'Enter battle mode.'

"F*ck!"

Mason slammed the door shut with his fastest reaction speed ever.

At the same time, with a screeching scream, several claw marks appeared on the glass of the closed train compartment door, as if a dagger had left white marks on it.

And through the glass, Mason just caught sight of the attacker.

A cat.

It was like a zebra cat one size larger than normal, and its eyes, which should have been green, had turned into a more dangerous scarlet, reflecting a sense of violence.

What was even more deadly was that the cat's once smooth fur was now covered in decaying and rotting scars.

Now, it was crouching in front of the train compartment glass, staring at Mason with its crimson eyes, while its tail, which was shedding fur, swayed back and forth in place, just like a little tiger that had found fresh food.

And when Mason saw the similar rectangular glasses stripes on the cat's face, he was shocked.

Professor McGonagall?

But before Mason could observe carefully, the zombie zebra cat, which was blocked outside the glass, heard a more vibrant sound. With a swoosh, it disappeared in front of Mason's eyes and rushed toward the increasingly intense and strange female screams coming from the compartment.

"That pair of wild lovebirds is dead!"

A thought came to Mason's mind, and the Kite-Man behind him was so scared that he jumped up.

"What the hell is that thing?"

"Shut up, Go find Old K! Hurry up! We've encountered a hidden boss, and if he comes any later, we're all going to die here!" Mason's gaze fell on Hagrid's large leather coat in Kite-Man's hand. Old K had said that this thing had magical protection.

He snatched it and put it on before grabbing his gun and rushing out of the compartment. Leaving Kite-Man, who was holding the gun, staring blankly inside.

"Ah, so you're not mute?"

.....

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