Today, the Great Hall at Hogwarts was decorated quite differently than usual, filled with a mysterious yet joyful Halloween atmosphere.
As soon as Lynn walked into the Great Hall, he was drawn in by the sight before him.
On the ceiling, countless enchanted live bats—which Lynn mischievously thought looked remarkably like miniature, wing-flapping Snapes—were circling and flying about.
Countless jack-o'-lanterns carved with grimacing faces floated in mid-air, with warm candlelight flickering inside them.
Even better, above each House table floated a small cluster of low, dark clouds that constantly dripped a cool light rain, perfectly cooling down the lively atmosphere.
The air was thick with the tempting aroma of food, even more bountiful than usual.
The savory scent of roasted meat, the sweet and warm aroma of pumpkin pie, and the sweetness of various candies intertwined, making one's mouth water.
Of course, there was no holiday for Halloween at Hogwarts; students still had to attend classes as usual.
However, the festive atmosphere clearly lightened the mood in most classrooms.
Naturally, this excluded a certain Professor's Potions class.
This morning, Lynn attended Professor McGonagall's Transfiguration class.
To suit the occasion, the lesson involved turning a thick wooden board into a jack-o'-lantern.
For Lynn, who possessed [Transfiguration Mastery], this was simply effortless.
He waved his wand and chanted clearly; almost the second after Professor McGonagall finished her demonstration, the wooden board in front of him twisted and morphed, quickly turning into a perfect jack-o'-lantern with a bared-teeth expression and an automatically lit candle inside.
"Although I have witnessed your extraordinary talent in Transfiguration many times, Mr. Lynn,"
A trace of almost imperceptible approval appeared on Professor McGonagall's stern face, "I must still award five points to Hufflepuff for your excellent and swift transformation."
The Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff students in the same class were long used to this; their hearts were untroubled, and some even felt like yawning.
Wasn't it always like this? The moment the Professor announced the start, Lynn would already have his hand up to indicate completion. You just get used to it.
In the evening, all students, led by their Prefects, returned once more to the newly decorated Great Hall.
The long dining tables were already piled high with various Halloween specialties.
Once everyone was seated, Headmaster Dumbledore stood up and gave a short holiday speech.
It really was short!
Lynn gave Headmaster Dumbledore a thumbs-up in his heart. Compared to the leaders in his past life who could talk for over half an hour even when they had nothing to say, this was heavenly!
"Now..."
From the podium, Dumbledore scanned the Great Hall with a smile and uttered the two most beautiful words:
"...Dig in."
"Praise Dumbledore! Praise short speeches!"
Lynn cheered inwardly, his hand already reaching for the nearest plate of fragrant beef stew.
Just as his fork was about to touch the beef, the system notification sound chimed inopportunely in his mind:
[Ding! Quest Issued: Collect a sample of fresh Troll snot. Reward: Thousand Refinements]
[Thousand Refinements: After casting, your physical strength, endurance, energy, and mana recovery speed will receive a comprehensive and significant boost, lasting for 1 hour. After the effect ends, you will enter a weakened state for 1 hour.]
[Want to be a humanoid Troll for an hour? Wish granted!]
???
Lynn's hand, holding the fork, froze mid-air, a look of bewilderment on his face.
Trolls? Snot? Had the system had too much butterbeer for Halloween?
Where was he supposed to find a Troll?
As if in response to his question, the doors of the Great Hall burst open with a loud "Bang!"
Professor Quirrell, pale-faced, came stumbling in, his turban lopsided, his voice filled with terror:
"Troll... Troll... in the Castle... I... I thought..."
Before he could finish, he seemed to lose all strength, his eyes rolled back, and he "fainted" directly onto the floor by the doorway.
Lynn watched, dumbfounded, his lips twitching slightly.
No way? Such a coincidence? He ran all this way just to deliver intel and a quest target? Talk about excellent service!
Immediately after, the entire Great Hall erupted into a panic of clamor and screams, like a lake into which a giant boulder had been thrown.
"Silence!"
Dumbledore's voice boomed like a great bell, momentarily suppressing the commotion.
The Prefects began loudly directing the students of their respective Houses to follow the Professors back to their common rooms in an orderly fashion.
Taking advantage of the chaos, a sharp glint flashed in Lynn's eyes. Like a slippery eel, he quietly detached himself from the Hufflepuff line and slipped out of the noisy Great Hall.
In the empty corridors, the distant sounds of students evacuating and the hurried footsteps of Professors echoed.
Instead of being afraid, Lynn was actually a little excited.
"Let's see where that Troll brother who's delivering snot is hiding..."
He muttered to himself, standing at a staircase landing like a human radar, using [Peters Jolt] to sense the direction of danger.
He faced upstairs and sensed for a moment. Upstairs? No particular reaction.
He turned downstairs and sensed carefully. Downstairs? Aha! There's a reaction—it's right down there!
"Found you!"
Lynn grinned and dashed off toward the lower floors.
A perfectly good danger-warning ability had been turned into a real-time navigation and monster-tracking tool by him.
Lynn truly wasn't panicking at all.
Leaving aside how many spells he knew, even if he really couldn't win, he still had Levi's feather in his pocket for spatial teleportation; escaping would be no problem.
If he accidentally got hurt, [Blessing of the Dittany] could also keep him alive.
As for being killed by a Troll? He had a good grasp of his own abilities; that possibility was basically zero.
Now, his goal was clear—find that lost Troll, and then... find a way to "borrow" some "materials" needed for the quest.
Guided by the needle-like danger sense of [Peters Jolt], Lynn moved quickly through the empty Castle corridors, eventually arriving near the cold dungeons.
Before he even saw his target, an indescribable, horrific stench—like a mix of old socks and rotting cabbages blended with swamp mud—slammed into Lynn's face like a physical force!
This smell was ten times more pungent than the thick garlic odor in Professor Quirrell's office, making him stagger and nearly drop dead right then and there.
"Ugh..." Lynn gagged and quickly cast a Bubble-Head Charm on himself, feeling like the smell was about to bring tears to his eyes.
"Merlin's smelly socks... I'm starting to think that the system reward might not be absolutely necessary after all..." He began to have second thoughts; the price was simply too "flavorful."
However, before he could decide to retreat, heavy footsteps echoed from ahead, accompanied by a roar that clearly lacked intelligence:
"Smash!"
The voice was coarse and unpleasant, echoing against the stone walls.
"Hehe~ Smash!"
The sound grew closer, and with the slight vibration of the ground, the intensity of that suffocating stench rose sharply.
"Smash!".
Finally, at the end of the shadows around the corridor corner, that massive figure radiating stench and danger clearly appeared in Lynn's line of sight.
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