"I never expected Professor Brod to give you such high praise." Katrina's expression was complicated, or rather, she was quite unconvinced.
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At home, her older sister Isabel treats her very well, but Isabel is an absolute magical genius. Growing up under the constant shadow of Isabel's genius, Katrina feels a lot of pressure.
Later, Katrina finally went to Hogwarts, thinking that she could show her talent there and get rid of Isabel's genius aura.
Katrina's magical talent is actually very high, and she always studies very hard. She is the kind of person who works hard in all aspects. If it weren't for Albert, Katrina would definitely be one of the best among this year's freshmen. She is talented and hardworking, enough to make her classmates look up to her. Even Cedric Diggory of Hufflepuff is not as good as her.
However, there are no "ifs".
Albert appeared out of nowhere, overshadowing all of Katrina's brilliance. Even Izabel, whom Katrina admired and who was hailed as the most talented wizard in Ravenclaw in a century, was far inferior to him.
Katrina, who was originally very confident in herself, suddenly became depressed.
In terms of talent, the opponent is stronger than me.
In terms of effort, the other person's contribution is no less than yours.
What's even more frustrating is that Katrina originally thought that even if she lost, she wouldn't lose by too much, after all, she had been working hard to learn and was always ready to surpass her opponent.
The reality, however, far exceeded Katrina's expectations.
When Albert Anderson was invited by Professor McGonagall to join the Transformers Club, Katrina comforted herself that she would definitely be invited to join the Transformers Club next year.
Later, Albert displayed his extraordinary flying talent on the Quidditch pitch, helping Gryffindor defeat Slytherin. Since Katrina wasn't athletic, she simply comforted herself by thinking that as long as she could surpass her opponent in other areas, that would be enough.
However, Katrina discovered that Izabel also unusually admired this person, believing that he was very talented in Transfiguration.
At that time, Katrina was unwilling to admit it, but the latest paper in Transfiguration Today dealt her a heavy blow, confirming Albert's extraordinary talent in Transfiguration.
But what about today?
What is this ancient demonic script all about?
This is clearly a third-year elective course, how did Albert Anderson manage to learn it on his own?
Self-taught?
This incredible maneuver left Katrina completely stunned. Moreover, judging from Professor Brod's changing expression, it was easy to see how high Albert's level of knowledge in ancient runes was, something Katrina could hardly imagine.
"Could it be that I really chose the wrong opponent?" This thought surged in Katrina's mind. Although she was used to being crushed by her sister in many ways, this girl from Ravenclaw was not going to admit defeat so easily.
Yes, she hasn't lost yet.
Since Albert is also very good at Wizard's Chess, then...
"Play Wizard Chess with me," Katrina suddenly said.
"Wizard chess?" Albert was surprised that the Ravenclaw girl next to him wanted to play chess with him. Although they knew each other, they were just acquaintances.
"You and me?" Albert pointed to both sides and asked.
"Yes, let's decide the winner with chess!" Katrina needed to regain some confidence from Albert, and chess was a good way to do that. Professor Brod said Albert was good at wizard chess, and wizard chess was one of the few things Katrina could beat her sister Isabel at.
Albert suddenly felt a sense of bewilderment.
Moreover, what puzzled him most was the tasks on the panel:
Completely crushing
Someone sees you as a rival and tries to challenge and defeat you. Beat the challenger in the realm of Wizard Chess and make her understand that she will never be your opponent.
Rewards: 200 experience points, Katrina McDougal's favorability +1, Izabel McDougal's favorability +5.
The experience gained from this mission is pitifully low, and the points added to increase favorability are also strange. Why does Katarina gain less favorability than Izabel?
Albert wasn't really interested in just 200 experience points. After all, the quest panel already had a generous experience pack like Voldemort.
Of course, he wouldn't let go of it if he could get it. Albert had done similar tasks before.
"Playing wizard chess?" Albert feigned surprise. "In the Great Hall?"
"Yes, in the auditorium, three games of chess," Katrina nodded.
"Well, if you want, I don't mind." Albert felt sorry for the red-haired girl in front of him.
After all, the mission is called "Complete Overwhelming," which means that you are almost completely overwhelming the opponent.
She completely chose the wrong target to compete with someone who has an unfair advantage.
"By the way, is that notebook you're going to give to Professor Brod?" Albert suddenly asked.
After all, Professor Brod already had an appointment with him, so Katrina's appearance clearly indicated that there was something else going on.
"Ah, I almost forgot about that." Katrina exclaimed suddenly when she noticed the notebook in her hand, "These are Professor Busceda's notes that she asked me to pass on to Professor Brod."
With that, Katrina strode toward the Defense Against the Dark Arts office.
Albert watched Katrina's departing figure and shook his head.
Actually, he couldn't quite understand Katrina's insistence; she had actually borrowed the Wizard's Chess set from Professor Brod.
The two then began their contest in the auditorium, attracting several onlookers with great seriousness.
Albert lost the first set.
Katrina's Wizard Chess was indeed very impressive; Albert was caught off guard and was easily defeated in one fell swoop.
However, Albert didn't care too much. He didn't care about winning or losing, but rather about enjoying the fun of playing chess. Even if he lost, the task wouldn't suddenly fail; it would just be temporarily unavailable. It would remain on the task panel, and he could complete it at any time.
Albert won the second game, albeit by a narrow margin.
He deliberately played fast chess to speed up Katrina's pace. Perhaps her easy victory in the first game made her misjudge, and Albert exploited her weakness.
The third game ended in a draw.
This time, Katrina clearly wouldn't give her opponent any openings, while Albert chose pairs from the start. In the end, after both sides exchanged all their pieces, the game ended in a draw.
As for the fourth game, there was no fourth game.
Since it was initially agreed that there would only be three rounds, Katrina originally wanted to decide the winner, but Albert directly stated that she had won the fourth round.
Although he didn't know why Katrina wanted to beat him, Albert knew that if the game went to a fourth inning, he might really suffer a crushing defeat, so he simply conceded defeat.
Katrina was very dissatisfied, but she ultimately chose to end the game in a draw and said that she would find time to continue playing chess with Albert another day.
"What happened to your sister?" Albert asked Izebel, who had been standing there since the beginning, after watching Katrina leave.
"She's under a lot of pressure, but she's very competitive," Izabel said calmly. "She probably realized that she couldn't catch up with you in terms of magical skill, so she wanted to rely on her strengths to defeat you."
"I think you must have put too much pressure on her," Albert muttered. "Having a genius older sister is a tough job to be her younger sister."
At this point, Albert suddenly fell silent, because he was thinking of Nia?