Mysterious Journey
Chapter 1053 Magical Terminal and Version Plan
The resident ghost of Gryffindor House is Sir Nicholas de Mimsy-Porpington, though he is more commonly known as "Nearly Headless Nick" because his head was not completely severed from his neck during his execution, a trait that carried over to his ghostly form.
It has long been impossible to trace back to when "Nearly Headless Nick" first appeared in the house.
People's understanding of him is limited to the death story he repeats year after year, as if it were a much-loved play—he served in King Henry's court and was sentenced to be beheaded with a blunt axe for accidentally causing a certain noble lady to grow tusks. At the end of the story, Nick would tirelessly advise everyone to study magic well, use their magical powers carefully, and not repeat his mistakes.
This story spread through generations of students, almost becoming a cultural symbol of Gryffindor House.
Approachable, amiable, old-fashioned, and somewhat comical - that's people's impression of Nick.
However, in today's Grammar class, the young wizards rediscovered "Sir Nicholas."
Compared to the somewhat rash and sensitive ghost who usually quibbles over small details, Sir Nicholas in the Grammar class displayed the demeanor of a true aristocrat - elegant, confident, and familiar with various ancient allusions and writing techniques.
After all, "Nearly Headless Nick's" real name before he became a ghost was the famous Thomas Cromwell.
As the drafter of the "Act of Supremacy" and the "Statute in Restraint of Appeals," the mastermind behind the "Gondor Revolution," the person who drove the Roman Catholic Church's forces out of the entire territory of England during his tenure, personally planned the financial, religious, and legal systems of England for the next few centuries, and even ended centuries of wars between the non-magical and magical worlds, he was, in some ways, even more powerful than Albus Dumbledore and Gellert Grindelwald combined.
Aileen was not at all surprised by Mr. "World's" achievements in the field of literature.
In fact, if "Cromwell" couldn't even teach basic grammar lessons well, Aileen might have been a little surprised instead.
The whole class was quickly attracted by the stories in "Professor Nicholas's" mouth, and no one made any sound in the subsequent Grammar class.
Everyone sat quietly in their seats, concentrating on taking notes on the *Nibelungenlied* as Nick explained and requested, so that when the class bell rang, a rare look of loss even appeared on the faces of many young wizards.
"Alright, gentlemen and ladies, today's class is over."
Sir Nicholas clapped his hands and smiled at the young wizards in the classroom.
"As for homework, please reorganize and transcribe the *Nibelungenlied* again - you should be able to find it in the library - and try to memorize the first 12 lines of poetry from the *Nibelungenlied*. As for the overall evaluation of this course, I think... excellent for the whole class."
"Course evaluation?"
Harry frowned in confusion, looking at Sir Nicholas inexplicably.
However, before Sir Nicholas could answer, the student handbooks placed on the desks suddenly trembled.
Then, as in the hall, it suddenly opened to the first page, and words began to appear on the blank pages.
「Function unlocked: Task system, settings system, learning system」
The line of text flashed on the paper and was quickly absorbed, leaving no trace.
Then, several new lines of text seeped out of the paper.
「Daily Tasks」—Next refresh time 08:00
「Task 1: Honor Student!」(Remaining completions 3)
「Get an excellent evaluation in any class of the day (11)」
「Task 2: Perfect Attendance!」(Remaining completions 1)
「Get a good or better evaluation in all classes of the day (14)」
「Task 3: Don't put off until tomorrow what you can do today!」(Remaining completions 4)
「Complete the professor's homework before eight o'clock the next morning (01)」
……
「Weekly Tasks」(Unlocked after completing any 3 tasks)
「Monthly Tasks」(Unlocked after completing any 10 tasks)
「House Tasks」(Unlocked after completing any 15 tasks)
……
At the very top of the page, two ornate words with gold borders appeared.
「Personal Settings」、「Main Menu」、「Learning System (!)」
Red exclamation marks flashed in front of the young wizards' eyes, with a faint prompt appearing next to them.
【←Touch the dialog box to view】
As the young wizards' fingers touched the border, the text on the page quickly disappeared.
Then, their course schedule for this week appeared before everyone's eyes.
And on the small box for 【Grammar Class】, a small, golden-red "1" was constantly flashing.
After continuing to click on it, the homework assigned by Sir Nicholas was clearly displayed.
Almost all the young wizards' faces flickered with disbelief and excitement, and excited exclamations were heard from time to time in the classroom.
This unprecedented magic book completely subverted their understanding, and everyone kept clicking and checking various contents on their "student handbooks," sharing their respective tasks and new discoveries. Had "Nearly Headless Nick" not urged them to leave for the third time and threatened to change the evaluation of this class, these young wizards, who had just received "new toys," could have stayed in the grammar classroom to study their "student handbooks" all the time.
Five minutes later, the second-year Class A wizards left the classroom one after another, ready to go to Transfiguration class.
Along the way, almost every student—not just Aileen and her group, but every young wizard passing by in the corridor—was excitedly holding their "student handbook," curiously clicking on it, and sharing their respective tasks and new discoveries.
Even though the "student handbook's" functions were not fully unlocked, the young wizards had also discovered many novel uses for the "handbook."
For example, although this handbook seemed to have only a few dozen thin pages, the content it could hold was clearly far beyond what was visible to the naked eye.
Whether it was class notes, textbook excerpts, inspirational records... or even doodles when bored, all of these could be recorded on separate pages—each page was an independent notebook that could roughly store a quarter of *A History of Magic's* content.
Of course, not all pages could be used as free input space for students.
As the initiator, developer, and system module setter of the "Hogwarts Personal Data Terminal" project... Aileen was very clear about the basic parameters of the "first-generation terminals" that the students now had in their hands: in addition to the personal main interface, task system, course module, game platform, achievement record, system settings, and spell slots these seven frameworks, the regular "handbook" had a total of 21 blank pages for the young wizards to use freely.
However, that was only the function of the complete version. Apart from the Little Wings and her own, the other students now had 23 blank pages.
In the plan submitted by Aileen, rare pages such as the "Achievement Page" and "Spell Slot" all had to be upgraded with points—if a young wizard wanted to increase the number of pages, they would have to pay extra.
There were too many versions in a series of interconnected rings. The new semester had just begun.
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Yay!