Sean's deliberately smug attitude immediately triggered a furious reaction from the Slytherin students.
"Sean, who exactly are you looking down on?!"
"We can definitely beat them!"
"That's right! Six against six! There's no way we lose!"
"Everyone hurry up and make battle plans! Be careful of the enemy Apparating around the battlefield!"
The entire wasteland instantly became chaotic.
Students began forming circles, discussing strategies loudly while waving their wands excitedly. Some even started assigning defensive positions like actual battlefield commanders.
Watching their enthusiasm, Sean suddenly felt much less interested in training himself.
After all, the training room's basic time ratio was already two-to-one.
Two hours inside only equalled one hour outside.
Normally, students only had around two free hours before curfew and bedtime. That meant they effectively had four full hours available inside the training room every evening.
Sean wasn't in a rush at all.
Instead, he looked sideways at Charlie beside him and grinned.
"I'll teach you another old saying."
Charlie blinked curiously.
"What saying?"
Sean folded his arms lazily.
"Newborn calves aren't afraid of tigers."
Charlie paused briefly before immediately understanding the meaning.
Then he burst into laughter.
At that moment, he finally realised why Sean had looked so delighted earlier while watching everyone charge toward certain death.
Sure enough, after discussing tactics for several minutes, the first group shouted confidently:
"Open Level One!"
One barrier after another rose across the wasteland.
Sean's attention immediately shifted toward the loudest group from earlier—the same idiots who had been screaming about victory with absolute confidence.
The moment the challenge began, their leader instantly raised his wand and shouted:
"Protego!"
Seeing that, Sean immediately shook his head.
"He's dead."
Charlie looked confused for half a second.
Then his expression changed violently.
Inside the barrier, the protective shield shattered instantly beneath the enemy's opening barrage.
But unlike before, the six black-robed wizards didn't continue attacking from the front.
Instead, they split apart simultaneously.
The enemy formation scattered in six directions while casting spells continuously.
And the weakness of the student teams instantly became obvious.
Every team included younger first-years.
Those younger students were the breakthrough point.
Several first-years panicked the moment the battlefield became chaotic and died almost instantly before even understanding what happened.
The defensive formation collapsed immediately afterward.
Without protection or coordination, the remaining Slytherins were massacred in seconds.
The entire team died before launching even a single successful counterattack.
Less than a minute later, the barrier vanished.
The six students reappeared lying flat on the ground gasping desperately for air.
One boy stared at the sky with tears in his eyes.
"This is the first time I've ever realised breathing feels this wonderful…"
Another student simply sat there trembling silently.
Then Charlie suddenly noticed something horrifying.
His eyes widened as he stared at Sean.
Then he looked around at the others.
Finally, he let out a scream.
"Sean! What happened to our hair?!"
Everyone froze.
Then they hurriedly looked at one another—
And instantly burst into hysterical laughter.
Every single student now looked as though they'd been blown apart by a cannon explosion.
Hair stood in every direction wildly.
Some people resembled exploded puffskeins.
Others looked like electrocuted trolls.
Sean casually touched his own afro-like hair and shrugged.
"What? Did you seriously think failure came without punishment?"
The surrounding students immediately stopped laughing.
"This is the system penalty," Sean explained calmly. "Your hair will remain like this until you clear the first level."
Then his smile became deeply malicious.
"And honestly, I don't recommend shaving it off."
The Slytherins suddenly had a terrible feeling.
Sean grinned brightly.
"Unless you want your nose hairs growing out instead."
Silence.
Absolute silence.
The expressions of the little snakes froze instantly.
After all, being ugly was one thing.
But Slytherins cared deeply about appearance.
Especially the girls.
Several older girls looked moments away from emotional collapse after seeing each other's destroyed hairstyles.
Not long afterward, some smarter students gradually realised where Sean's earlier injuries had actually come from.
And surprisingly, instead of feeling guilty, everyone relaxed considerably.
At least now they understood Sean hadn't already been punished by the professors because of them.
That awkward emotional burden disappeared immediately.
Soon afterward, another group stubbornly challenged the level again.
Sean merely glanced over before shaking his head helplessly.
Sure enough, they were massacred shortly afterward too.
After watching several more miserable failures, Sean finally lost interest in spectating.
"System," he said calmly, "Open Level One."
The battlefield shifted instantly.
The moment the challenge began, Sean immediately moved first.
"Avis!"
Birds exploded from the tip of his wand like a living storm.
Compared to before, the summoned birds were noticeably larger and faster now.
Hundreds of shrill cries filled the wasteland as the flock rushed directly toward the black-robed wizards, intercepting the opening barrage immediately.
At the same time, Sean sprinted sideways without hesitation while casting rapidly.
"Expelliarmus!"
"Petrificus Totalus!"
"Reducto!"
Bright flashes of magic exploded continuously across the battlefield.
Outside the barrier, more and more Slytherin students gradually stopped training themselves and gathered nearby to watch Sean fight.
"My God…"
A fifth-year stared with disbelief.
"Is he seriously still a first-year?"
Another student swallowed hard.
"That level of spellcasting… it's almost comparable to professors."
"Look!" someone shouted excitedly. "Sean already killed four of them!"
"No, wait!" another older student corrected immediately. "Look carefully! He secretly released Serpensortia earlier too. One of the enemies got distracted by the snake. That makes five!"
"There's only one left!"
Then somebody frowned.
"But Sean looks exhausted."
Inside the battlefield, Sean hid behind a massive dead tree while breathing heavily.
His eleven-year-old body simply lacked enough magical reserves.
Even though he mainly used basic spells, continuous rapid-fire casting had nearly drained him completely.
"At most…" Sean muttered quietly, "I have enough magic left for two spells."
Leaning carefully against the dead tree, he slowly peeked around the trunk.
In the distance, the final black-robed wizard searched methodically for his location.
Then suddenly, Sean touched the tree behind him.
An idea flashed through his mind.
The next second, a figure abruptly appeared beside the dead tree in the distance.
The black-robed wizard reacted instantly.
"Reducto!"
.....
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