Chapter 6 Galleons Bagged, Depositing Money at Gringotts
The box had shattered into pieces, and Galleons were scattered all over the ground, exposed right under the wand's light.
Although Hodu had long guessed that something might be hidden inside, seeing this scene with his own eyes felt completely different.
He didn't reach out immediately; instead, he first slipped his hand into his pocket and took out a crystal ball.
This item could detect traces left by the Dark Arts.
As long as it detected the Dark Arts, the sphere would emit a white light; the stronger the applied Dark Arts, the brighter the white light would be.
Hodu held the crystal ball, inching bit by bit toward that pile of Galleons.
He squatted down in front of the broken box, pushed the crystal ball slightly forward, and stared at it for a moment.
The crystal ball remained completely quiet, without the slightest reaction.
Since they were already this close, it was basically certain that no Dark Arts had been cast on these Galleons.
Only then did Hodu relax, a smile appearing on his face.
He quickly stuffed the crystal ball back, swapped it for a cloth bag, and reached out to grab a handful of Galleons from the ground.
Five or six coins fell into his palm, the icy metal tactile sensation distinct and clear.
The next moment, they were packed into the cloth bag.
As the Galleons kept increasing, the bottom of the bag quickly dragged downward, feeling heavy in his hand.
Hodu casually shook it, and a string of crisp clattering sounds immediately rang out from inside.
That sound actually felt quite pleasant.
However, this wasn't the place to slowly tally up wealth after all.
The underground tunnel was something he had temporarily conjured up, and there was originally no air inside; if he lingered for too long, there was no telling when he might run out of oxygen.
Therefore, while collecting the Galleons, he incidentally opened a few small holes in the earthen wall above his head.
As soon as the ventilated earth holes were opened, the air from above rushed eagerly inside.
Standing in the tunnel, Hodu could even feel several cool breezes blowing down from those small holes.
At least for a short time, there was no need to worry about passing out directly due to a lack of oxygen.
The Galleons on the ground were quickly cleaned up.
Hodu lifted a few more broken planks to make sure no coins were missed underneath, and only then did he stand up and leave.
He didn't touch the treasures in other places, quickly walking back along the way he came.
Behind him, the soil on both sides of the tunnel closed together on its own, and the newly dug path was blocked off again in the blink of an eye, the ground also returning to its original appearance.
Arriving at the entrance, the channel overhead opened up again.
Hodu didn't even need to climb up himself; the soil beneath his feet slowly rose, lifting his body all the way up.
The whole process was like taking a vertical elevator, extremely effortless.
The next moment, he had returned to that remote alley in Diagon Alley.
The soil beneath his feet likewise returned to being smooth and flat, looking nothing like it had ever been dug up.
Compared to before going down, he had an extra bulging cloth bag in his hand, and his black robe was also stained with some mud spots.
Hodu raised a hand to pat his clothes, looking down at the cloth bag, the corners of his mouth unable to be pressed down no matter what.
He hadn't counted carefully yet, but the Galleons inside definitely exceeded one hundred.
Hodu reached his hand in and felt out one, turning it over and over to inspect it by the daylight.
The surface of the coin showed no traces of decay; even though it had been buried underground for who knows how many years, it was still just like it had just been minted, leaving not a single trace of time's erosion.
At first glance, it flashed with golden light just like a gold coin.
But Hodu knew clearly that this thing was not a real gold coin.
Perhaps some gold was mixed into it, but the proportion wasn't high.
A Galleon was essentially a magical currency made of a certain material, which was why it could maintain its current appearance after being buried underground for so long.
This bag of Galleons couldn't be said to be exceptionally much, but it was definitely not a small sum either.
If he brought it straight home, it definitely wouldn't escape Hannah's notice.
Once she flipped out the money bag, he wouldn't be able to explain himself at all, and a magical beating would surely follow afterward.
Depositing the money into Gringotts was the safest choice.
Besides that, he could also buy a money bag cast with an Undetectable Extension Charm.
The capacity of that kind of bag couldn't be seen from the outside, and no matter how many Galleons were stuffed inside, it wouldn't show.
Yet in the British Magical World, this kind of thing belonged to outright contraband.
Of course, Hannah happened to have one in her hands.
When all was said and done, only when one got caught would it become contraband that needed to be dealt with.
This kind of item fell under the jurisdiction of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement within the Ministry of Magic, yet it wasn't serious enough to alarm the Aurors, and was usually handled by other Wizards in that department.
As for Knockturn Alley, usually even Aurors were reluctant to go in, let alone ordinary Wizards from the Department of Magical Law Enforcement.
Hodu knew that there were quite a few Wizards there privately selling this sort of contraband.
Diagon Alley certainly wouldn't have this kind of thing.
If he really wanted to get one, it wouldn't be too much trouble for Hodu.
Quite a few similar items were buried underground in Knockturn Alley, and he could even pick and choose slowly.
The problem was that the probability of these magical items having the Dark Arts cast on them was definitely not low.
After thinking it over, Hodu ultimately came to Gringotts.
He hid the bulging money bag under his black robe.
There were quite a few Wizards coming and going on the street, and this appearance didn't attract much attention.
Hodu didn't delay any longer, stepping into Gringotts.
Inside was an extremely spacious marble hall, with a layout that looked much like a bank.
Goblins sat behind the counters on both sides, and a few suited Goblins were standing in the middle of the hall.
They were short in stature, about the same height as Hodu, and their appearances were largely close to humans, yet they carried an indescribable sense of strangeness.
Hodu's gaze lingered on these Goblins for a moment.
Goblins were also a creature; perhaps they could be taken as alternative targets for the fusion system.
It was just unknown to what extent the system would judge the difficulty of analyzing Goblins.
They possessed intelligence close to humans, which in itself was very rare, and their magical talent wasn't bad either.
It was said that adult Goblins could all perform wandless magic; of course, they mainly did so because they couldn't use wands.
No matter how one thought about it, fusing with a Goblinwouldn't be a simple task.
However, precious as intelligence was, if it came to a true one-on-one fight, Goblins might not necessarily beat a Dragon.
At least the vast majority of Goblins couldn't do that; purely in terms of combat power, a Dragon was obviously stronger.
Of course, Hodu was just noting Goblins down into his alternative list for now.
It was still uncertain what the system based its difficulty judgments on, but Goblins definitely wouldn't be low-difficulty targets.
He still had an A-rank difficulty analysis quest hanging on him, so there was temporarily no need to touch this kind of potentially tricky choice.
Even if he really had to choose a high-difficulty fusion target in the future, he didn't necessarily have to look for Goblins.
Wasn't the Phoenix in the Principal's office much better than a Goblin?
As his thoughts churned, Hodu had already walked over to an empty counter.
He lifted his butt and sat down, and sitting in the seat opposite him was a rather aged Goblin.
That Goblin wore glasses, the frames sliding down along its sinking eye sockets, quietly sizing him up.
"It's quite rare for a young Wizard to come over alone. Your parents aren't following; what business are you here to handle?"
The Goblin's voice was somewhat shrill, and with its age right there, it sounded tinged with a sense of agedness.
"Depositing money."
Hodu answered very crisply, at the same time placing the cloth bag onto the counter.
The Goblin didn't immediately take the money bag, only raising a hand to push its glasses up.
"Judging by your appearance, this should be your first time coming to deposit money. If you've handled it before, you should have taken out your vault key first."
"I don't have a vault key."
Hodu had thought of this long ago, and his expression didn't change at all.
"Then you'll have to open a vault first," the Goblin said.
"We have three kinds of vaults here: small, medium, and large, and the usage methods are divided into renting and purchasing. Renting can only be used until the agreed-upon term, while purchasing allows permanent use, usually taken as a family heritage."
It paused for a moment, then explained: "It is precisely because many families bought their vaults that their wealth could be continuously preserved, and thus they have the status today that distinguishes them from ordinary Wizards."
Chapter 7 Renting a Vault and Testing a magic Money Pouch
Hodu rolled his eyes and quickly ran through the current situation in his mind.
Based on the two traits he had already mastered, he likely wouldn't be short of Galleon in the future.
Those unclaimed Galleon underneath Knockturn Alleycould also be considered an income right before his eyes.
Seen this way, rather than renting indefinitely, buying a vault directly seemed more cost-effective.
"How much does it cost to buy a vault?"
Hearing this question, the Goblin showed not the slightest ripple of emotion on its face.
Having lived for so many years and seen all kinds of customers, it pushed up its glasses and stated the price.
"A small vault is 500 Galleon, a medium vault is 1500 Galleon, and a large vault is 3000 Galleon."
Hodu's expression froze for a moment.
Hmm... Farewell.
"What about renting?"
He forced himself to act fine without even pausing, immediately changing his words to ask about the rent.
The Goblin explained, "Normally, they are rented for ten years at a time. A small vault is 20 Galleon, a medium vault is 50 Galleon, and a large vault is 100 Galleon."
After hearing this set of numbers, Hodu quietly breathed a sigh of relief.
Although this price was not cheap either, at least it was within his affordable range.
He had finally figured out why Galleon were buried under Knockturn Alley.
With the vault rent right here, it made sense that many things people couldn't use and weren't willing to pay to store ended up buried underground.
"How big is a small vault specifically?" Hodu continued to ask.
According to the Goblin's explanation, a small vault was about eight cubic meters, which was completely enough to hold Galleon.
The space of a medium one was around fifty-plus cubic meters, pretty much the size of a room.
As for a large vault, it approached three hundred cubic meters, and its size was already quite exaggerated.
After listening for a long time, Hodu finally gritted his teeth and made a decision.
"Then I'll rent a medium one."
Buying ten years of usage time for fifty Galleon wouldn't be too much of a loss no matter how you calculate it.
The Goblin nodded, took the cloth bag on the counter, and poured out all the Galleon inside.
The sound of metal collisions merged into one, and a small pile of money quickly accumulated on the desktop.
Its nose twitched slightly, seemingly detecting the smell of rotting mud clinging to the Galleon, and then it glanced at Hodu with a bit of surprise.
However, the Goblin didn't ask more, lowered its head, and began to confirm the authenticity of the coins one by one.
This process took longer than Hodu had thought.
He had nothing to do, so he could only stand beside the counter and look around.
He had been to Gringotts once before, that time together with Hannah, and had also seen the large vault belonging to his own family.
The Goblin was right just now; that truly was a handed-down vault, except that the deposits inside were pitifully small.
A pure-blood family with neither a manor nor much savings to speak of looked like a declining household no matter how one saw it.
If they really compared, it was estimated that it wouldn't be much different from the Weasley family.
Those Galleon inside might not even compare to the cost of purchasing a large vault.
Of course, the possibility that Gringotts had lower fees when it was first established could not be ruled out.
While waiting, Hodu quietly activated Treasure Perception.
After his sight pierced through the ground, the dense Galleon and various treasures underground poured into his perception.
That little bit of money buried under Knockturn Alleycouldn't compare to Gringotts at all.
This was the true treasure trove, and the surroundings seemed to be filled with moonlight-like fluorescence.
Hodu's thoughts stirred as well.
Relying on his traits, perhaps he could really dig silently from underground into some vault.
But as soon as this thought popped up, he suppressed it himself.
Gringotts' anti-theft magic definitely wasn't just for show, and there might be methods inside that he completely didn't understand.
Even Dumbledore had been hurt by the Dark Arts left by Lord Voldemort on the Resurrection Stone, so how could a person who had just touched magic not long ago have the guts to touch such a place.
Thinking was thinking, but if he were actually asked to risk his life to test it, he wasn't desperate enough for that.
After waiting for a while longer, the old Goblin finally finished counting the money.
There were a total of 132 Galleon in the cloth bag, and deducting the ten-year rent for the medium vault, 82 remained.
Hodu didn't follow the Goblin to the vault, merely taking a golden key from its hand and turning to leave Gringotts.
He had been busy with this matter for the entire afternoon.
If he didn't have to hurry back for dinner, he really would have wanted to continue doing this job, which looked rather promising.
After dinner, Hodu returned to his room, closed the door tightly, and then pulled a small brown cowhide pouch out of his pocket.
There were two drawstrings at the mouth of the pouch, and with a gentle tug, the opening tightened.
This wasn't an ordinary money pouch, but a magical item cast with an Undetectable Extension Charm.
It was something Hodu found after searching for a long time underground in Knockturn Alley, and the search alone had consumed a major part of his afternoon.
Pouchs like this weren't actually rare down there, but as long as they got close to the crystal ball, the pouch would glow.
Hodu could perceive that Galleon were hidden inside, but he never dared to directly reach out and touch them.
The methods left behind by Dark Wizards were simply too hard to guard against.
Figures like Dumbledore had once fallen victim to Lord Voldemort's Dark Arts schemes, let alone a novice like him who was still unfamiliar with magic.
Even though the progress of Tough Skin had risen to 3 in the past two days and logically his protection should have increased, he still wasn't sure if his body could withstand the erosion of the Dark Arts.
Using oneself to test this kind of thing was obviously not worthwhile.
The money pouch he brought back had no Dark Arts, nor were there any treasures hidden inside; it was simply an empty money pouch.
When it was discovered, several other identical pouches were buried beside it, looking like a batch manufactured together, though it was unclear why they were hidden underground.
Since it was a magical item after all, Hodu picked one to carry with him, and put the remaining two into the newly rented vault.
Afterwards, he lifted the mattress and took out the hidden ordinary cloth bag from underneath.
Inside were the money he had accumulated previously and the twenty Galleon he had picked up yesterday.
Hodu poured all the coins into the cowhide pouch in one go, and looking at it from the outside, the pouch was still small and compact, completely showing no sign that it contained twenty Galleon inside.
He picked it up and shook it hard; no sound came from inside, nor could he feel the weight that it ought to have in his hand.
Trying it several times in a row, Hodu was quite satisfied with this item.
In addition to the Undetectable Extension Charm, spells like the Levitation Charm were also attached to the pouch, and its functions were far more numerous than it looked on the outside.
The only problem was that having been buried underground for too long, the body of the pouch always carried a fishy smell of mud.
Finding a day with good weather and letting it dry under the sun should get rid of it.
After putting away the money pouch, Hodu opened the system panel to check.
As the analysis of the Niffler concluded, he now had another fusion opportunity available.
But as for exactly which creature to choose, he hadn't decided yet for the time being.
Fortunately, the Huo Family originally sold magical materials; apart from a small number of magical plants, most of the materials in the shop were related to magical animals.
But from Hodu's perspective, not every magical animal was worth bringing in for fusion.
Some things showed nothing particularly special, and no one could say for sure whether useful traits could be obtained after fusion.
The reason why the fusion was completed so quickly this time was mainly because the exclusive quest provided a cheating opportunity.
Otherwise, those 500 points of progress would have taken over a year at normal speed.
As for the next time, the exclusive quest might not be completed so quickly.
If he chose a useless magical animal, what would be wasted wasn't just a chance, but a very long period of time.
Therefore, this time, he had to choose carefully.
Chapter 8: Hodu Fuses Crup Traits
Hodu mentally reviewed the magical materials in the shop and quickly picked out two targets.
The Crup ranked first.
The name didn't sound special, and in reality, it was indeed as ordinary as an ordinary dog could get.
The only difference from a regular dog was probably its tail.
Its tail was like a swallow's tail, split into two from the middle, and this wasn't something it was born with, but rather modified by a Wizard later on.
In the Magical World, the Crup was basically just a pet.
The reason Hodu considered it was also very simple: this thing could eat a lot.
Almost anything that entered its mouth could be swallowed by it, and its digestion speed was shockingly fast.
If he could acquire this ability, it might allow the fusion progress of the Ukrainian Ironbelly to be completed ahead of schedule.
Hodu felt that this path was quite promising.
Should he specialize in breeding magical creatures in the future?
He had the system in his hands; if he really bred some strange yet useful magical creatures, the efficiency might be much higher than honestly studying magic.
Another choice was the Fire Crab.
The shell of this creature could be used to make cauldrons, and besides that, it could also breathe fire.
Although the fire was sprayed from its backside, no matter what, it was still a flame.
Speaking of the Fire Crab, one could not bypass the Blast-Ended Skrewt.
It was said that this thing was bred by Hagrid using Fire Crabs and other creatures.
The students' evaluations of it were not very good, but Hodu happened to be very interested in it.
The Blast-Ended Skrewt could also breathe fire, and the flames it breathed would bring a propulsion force, which was completely different from the Fire Crab.
In Hodu's view, this was practically a built-in thruster.
If he fused this trait over and then applied a ten-thousand-fold stacking, wouldn't the effect take off directly and be usable almost like a rocket?
Of course, the location where the Blast-Ended Skrewtbreathed fire was its tail.
Hodu's thoughts went off track on the spot, and an image of some kind of humanoid rocket popped into his head.
Thinking about it carefully, if he could really fly, tail-fire-breathing didn't seem completely unacceptable.
Unfortunately, the Blast-Ended Skrewt hadn't been born yet.
Hodu remembered that it should appear in some later grade, anyway not now.
Otherwise, he wouldn't hesitate at all and would choose it directly.
No matter how one looked at it, this creature wasn't high-level, and the fusion difficulty estimatedly wouldn't be too high either.
Once the ten-thousand-fold traits were stacked up, the final effect would definitely be quite exaggerated.
Precisely because of this, Hodu became even more certain of one notion: he must research animal breeding in the future.
If he could drag Hagrid over to do it together, that would be even better.
That guy really had some skills in this area.
After thinking for quite a while, Hodu ultimately selected the Crup.
As long as its traits could truly help him accelerate the Dragon fusion, this choice would definitely not be a loss.
The power of the ten-thousand-fold traits, he had already seen with his own eyes.
If Tough Skin could also be magnified ten thousand times, let alone Lord Voldemort, even if a real Dragon stood in front of him, it probably wouldn't be able to take advantage.
Once the Dragon traits successfully fused, he could steadily and securely be a middle school student.
The material in the shop related to the Crup was a tail that had already forked.
This thing wasn't valuable to begin with.
According to the requirements of the Ministry of Magic, after a Crup grew up, its tail had to be cut to avoid anomalies being discovered by Muggles.
Since it was a pet allowed by the Ministry of Magic to be kept, after being processed, its appearance was no different from ordinary animals.
Just like the owls, cats, and toads allowed to be brought into Hogwarts on the admission letter, although they all belonged to magical animals, their appearances were similar to their counterparts in the Muggle world.
Hodu remembered that the tail was hanging on the wall, not even entering a cabinet, and naturally didn't need a key.
After Hannah fell asleep, he gently pushed open the bedroom door.
A sliver of candlelight immediately leaked out from behind the crack of the door.
Candlelight.
Hodu had stayed in this world for eleven years and still hadn't figured this matter out.
It was already the nineteen-nineties, and Wizards were actually still relying on candles for lighting.
At first glance, it simply felt like regressing directly from modernity back to ancient times.
On the Muggle side, even computers were popularized, yet Wizard society still clung to candles and wouldn't let go, which was somewhat absurd.
Perhaps it was the ridiculous pride of pure-blood Wizards, feeling that Muggle things were not worth using; or perhaps it was the Statute of Secrecy that completely separated Wizard society from Muggles.
At least people like Arthur Weasley, whose work content was related to Muggles, would truly come into contact with some Muggle technology.
Hodu did not light a lamp, groping down to the first floor with the faint moonlight seeping in from outside, and soon touched that tail on the wall.
After getting his hands on it, he squeezed it, and the tail still had some elasticity.
With the item in hand, he immediately returned along the same route.
The whole way was very quiet, without making a single sound.
Just as he returned to the room, Hodu stared at the tail in his palm and directly issued the thought of fusion.
The thing in his hand disappeared in the blink of an eye.
He couldn't even be bothered to cut off a small sample.
This tail was not worth a Galleon to begin with, and even if it vanished out of thin air, Hannah wouldn't notice.
[Fusable item discovered, analysis task initiated.]
[Current fusion item: Crup]
[Analysis difficulty: D-grade]
[Analysis progress: 1/500]
[Currently extracted traits: 1. Phagofusion]
[Phagofusion: After swallowing the target, decompose it and absorb the beneficial substances within, while the harmful parts will be directly annihilated.]
[Note: If the body cannot bear the beneficial substances generated after decomposition, they will be excreted out of the body through various methods.]
The result on the system panel was about what Hodu had thought.
Only then did he relax, casually wiping the cold sweat off his forehead.
Fortunately, it wasn't an ability like splitting tails.
If that kind of trait were magnified ten thousand times again, what kind of things would split out from his body? Just thinking about it was exciting enough.
As soon as Hodu thought of this, he couldn't help but gasp a breath of cold air; that image was really a bit too daring to look at closely.
Phagofusion?
Hodu rested his chin in his hand and pondered for a moment, finding that this ability seemed much stronger than simply being able to eat.
His eyes lit up bit by bit.
Viewed this way, the Dragon fusion was already half stable, and there was no need to wait for another twenty-plus years at all.
However, ten thousand sheep were not a quantity that Hannah could casually prepare at will, and in the end, he would still have to rely on himself to figure out a way.
What was even more troublesome was that the Galleons needed to buy so many sheep wouldn't be few, and his current money pouch might not be able to handle it.
And the day after tomorrow he had to set off for Hogwarts, so this matter could only be thought about slowly after going to Hogwarts.
Hodu wasn't in a rush, though.
Taking a glance at the night scenery outside the window, he couldn't help but yawn.
In order to get the Crup's tail, he forcefully endured his sleepiness and stayed up until now.
At this moment, his eyelids were extremely heavy and almost unable to stay open.
After blowing out the candlelight, he collapsed and lay down.
Before long, soft snoring sounded in the room.
The next day, Hodu went out treasure hunting again.
With the money pouch cast with the Undetectable Extension Charm, this operation was much more convenient.
However, he still didn't relax his vigilance; if he ran into Galleons cast with Dark Arts, let alone picking them up, he wouldn't even get close.
After bustling about for a whole day, all the Galleons that could be taken away in the undergrounds of Knockturn Alley went into his money pouch.
The originally flat pouch now looked bulging.
This money definitely couldn't be carried on him all the time; depositing it into the bank was the safest method.
Hodu came to Gringotts once again, and this time his back was straightened much more while walking.
Reaching the counter, he slapped both the money pouch and the vault key onto the desktop, opening his mouth to prepare to deposit money.
The Goblin who received him this time wasn't the one from yesterday.
The appearances of the two were still very difficult to distinguish, but the one in front of him was obviously much younger.
Chapter 9: Gringotts, Depositing Money, and a Floor Tile Accident
The young Goblin took the money bag, glanced at it, and its expression changed in an instant.
But the next moment, it had already concealed that trace of strangeness.
"Depositing money!"
Hodu saw its change clearly, but he didn't plan to conceal the Undetectable Extension Charm on the money bag.
Goblins were not exactly well-behaved, honest citizens, let alone likely to ruin their own business just to report a customer.
When it came to the number of items related to the Dark Arts, Gringotts might not necessarily be cleaner than Knockturn Alley.
Whether White Wizards or Dark Wizards, many things were given priority to be stuffed into the vaults here, and once things entered Gringotts, the Ministry of Magic would find it very difficult to intervene.
Of course, poor people didn't count.
The Goblin reached into the money bag, grabbed a large handful of Galleons, and casually scattered them on the counter.
As if noticing something, it brought its fingers to its nose and sniffed.
"Customer, you've kept these coins for quite a long time; they're almost starting to smell stale. Entrust them to our safekeeping earlier, and we guarantee they'll look just like newly minted ones when you take them out."
Its eyes rolled, obviously turning over quite a few thoughts in its mind, yet not saying a single word of it out loud, merely taking the opportunity to praise Gringotts.
"Aren't they already delivered here?" Hodu smiled slightly.
The Goblin said no more, bent down, and carried out a balance scale from under the counter.
It first counted out ten Galleons, placed them aside separately, and then began to weigh them.
This kind of inspection was to prevent the weight of the coins from being short by too much.
Galleons normally refined using magic naturally wouldn't be short on weight, but there were always people who secretly reduced the amount, stubbornly scraping together eleven pieces out of the weight meant for ten.
The Goblin stared at the scale, adding a little here and shifting a little there, its movements as meticulous as if it were dealing with some major matter.
That serious streak made four words pop up involuntarily in Hodu's mind: 'holding a lantern to assess damages'.
This inspection lasted for quite a while.
When it finally ended, the small cart beside them was already filled with Galleons.
Hodu also pulled up the hood attached to his black robe at this moment, covering his face.
This time it was indeed his oversight.
Who could have expected this Goblin to dawdle so much, taking so long just to weigh money?
The cart full of Galleons had long since drawn the attention of the people around them.
Those gazes fell upon him in waves; if he were an ordinary Wizard, even if others had thoughts in their minds, they wouldn't dare to do anything openly in broad daylight.
But he happened to be short in stature and looked like a child on the outside, so there were not as many scruples about spying on him.
"Customer, the tallying is complete. A total of two thousand six hundred and fifty-two Galleons."
This number did not surprise Hodu.
From beginning to end, he followed along counting by the side, absolutely refusing to let the Goblin underreport a single coin.
Judging by the results, these fellows still had a bit of credibility.
However, he wasn't prepared to deposit all the money.
Right in front of the Goblin, Hodu took back two hundred more and put them back into the money bag.
Afterwards, led by the Goblin, he walked towards the vaults.
Another Goblin wearing a white shirt and a wool vest over it, pushing a cart filled with Galleons, turned into the side passage with them and headed underground.
The passage was still the same as before.
The Goblin unlocked the door, lifted the cart, and the Galleons inside instantly poured down like a waterfall crashing into the vault. The clinking sound was crisp and pleasant, sounding surprisingly like a symphony being played.
Hodu took back the key, tucked it closely into his pocket, and only then left Gringotts.
However, just as he stepped out of the main entrance, he ran face-to-face into a gloomy and chilling face.
That person's gaze was nailed hard onto him, as if determined to carve his appearance into his brain.
The corners of his mouth were also exaggeratedly pulled to one side, looking just like a crooked-mouthed god of war.
The man quickly turned his head away, but Hodu had already sensed that he was being targeted.
One use of his Spirit Treasure Perception was to appraise people.
Occasionally turning it on to see if other people had any valuable treasures on them was purely out of curiosity.
The man just now had a necklace hanging around his neck, and Hodu had already sensed it inside Gringotts.
At that time, the other party had been standing in the hall, staying for a long time as if paying attention to certain things.
Back then he didn't take it to heart, but looking at it now, the target was probably himself.
After leaving Gringotts and walking onto the street of Diagon Alley, the distance between the necklace and him never changed.
He stopped, and the necklace stopped; he continued walking, and the necklace moved along with him.
This was already enough to explain the problem.
That person had been following behind all along.
Spirit Treasure Perception was not line of sight.
Even if Hodu didn't turn around, he could still sense nearby treasures, and that sense would directly surface in his mind.
Hodu frowned, but his feet didn't stop, and he didn't even turn his head back, continuing to pretend as if he hadn't discovered anything.
He didn't think the other party would dare to make a move on the main street.
After all, this wasn't Knockturn Alley; even if a real fight broke out, how could the other party get the vault key away from him?
Most likely waiting for an opportunity, wanting to see when he would fall behind alone.
Actually, even if Hodu did nothing and went home as usual, accidents wouldn't necessarily happen.
But this kind of malicious peeping still made him quite displeased.
His eyes narrowed slightly, and soon he had an idea.
Hodu still maintained a nonchalant appearance, his pace unhurried as he moved forward.
Behind him, that Dark Wizard's attention was locked tightly onto his back, completely failing to notice that a bluestone tile ahead was quietly tilting up at a corner.
He stepped on it with one foot, and the sole of his boot happened to strike that slight protrusion.
The instant his body lost balance, his hands instinctively flailed in the air, stumbling forward as he fell.
His forehead heavily struck the ground, and as luck would have it, it struck the protruding corner of the bluestone tile.
"Ah!"
The shrill scream immediately spread across the street, and the surrounding people looked over one after another.
They saw that pale-skinned Wizard struggling to sit up from the ground, one hand clutching his forehead tightly, blood flowing down from between his fingers, while he kept screaming miserably in his mouth.
Yet Hodu didn't even slow down his pace, let alone turn back.
The whole thing looked like it had nothing to do with him whatsoever.
In his heart, he also felt a bit helpless.
To pull off this trick, he had already used the Earth-Splitting Stone-Cracking Technique, but what he could currently control was only to this extent.
Relying on the Earth-Splitting Stone-Cracking Technique, he dared to say he was a god underground.
Even if he ran into a Dragon underground, he had the confidence to fight it out.
Unfortunately, the underground god couldn't manage matters on the surface.
Once on the surface, he could still manipulate soil, rocks, and walls, but he could only barely make a passage, unable to do whatever he wanted like underground.
The ground was the boundary of this trait.
Even a basement built underground wouldn't weaken its power.
However, being able to do this much was already enough.
The corners of Hodu's mouth curved up slightly.
First locking onto the other party with Spirit Treasure Perception, then adjusting the ground to stage what looked like an accidental fall—this could both teach that fellow a lesson and avoid startling bystanders; it was simply perfect.
He couldn't just erect a barbed spike directly on the road surface, pierce through the other party's eye, and poke it out from the back of the head.
If he really did that, the Aurors would definitely be drawn over, not to mention that the Earth-Splitting Stone-Cracking Technique couldn't do that kind of thing right now anyway.
When that unlucky Wizard recovered his breath and looked up ahead, Hodu's shadow had long since disappeared from the street.
Chapter 10: Crup Catches a Mouse to Grind Progress
After dealing with that scheming Wizard, Hodu didn't linger outside and went straight back to his own shop.
He dared not be sure that no other Wizards were watching him nearby.
Thus, he scattered Floo powder into the fireplace of the Leaky Cauldron and returned to his own shop via the Floo network.
In this way, even if someone was plotting something in secret, they wouldn't be able to trace him step by step.
Since he was leaving here tomorrow, Hodu couldn't be bothered to run off anywhere else and simply decided to stay the night in the shop.
Hannah was packing his luggage for him, tidying up things like clothes and books one by one.
Meanwhile, Hodu sat behind the counter looking after the shop while opening his system panel.
[Fusion Target: Ukrainian Ironbelly]
[Analysis Progress: 4 / 10000]
[Fusion Target: Crup]
[Analysis Progress: 2 / 500]
Seeing the progress of the Crup, Hodu suddenly remembered that he seemed not to have checked its corresponding exclusive task yet.
After the fusion was completed yesterday, he was so sleepy that he fell asleep the moment he touched the bed.
Today he was busy treasure hunting again, and only now did he finally have some free time.
He immediately clicked open the task details.
[Exclusive Task: Crup Catches a Mouse]
Drive away any invading creature in the building where you are located, increasing progress points by 1 for each creature driven away.
[Note: This task is the exclusive task for fusing the Crup.]
"Crup Catches a Mouse?"
Looking at this task name, Hodu was stunned for a moment.
Could the system really want him to go catch mice?
Looking at the description below, he then realized he had misunderstood.
The "mouse" here was just a manner of speaking; any creature that broke into the building could be counted as an invading creature.
The problem was that it wasn't easy to find even a single invading creature in his house.
Especially ordinary animals, which appeared even less frequently than magic creatures.
How could a Wizard's home lack means to drive away animals?
Just brew up some Potion, and mice would have to walk around it, while even insects wouldn't dare approach.
However, in Hodu's memory, it wasn't as if strange things had never broken into his home.
For example, a Ghoul.
That was a magic creature with a slimy body and an extremely ugly appearance, feeding on small insects and moths.
He didn't know when it had sneaked into the small attic on the third floor of his house, scaring Hodu quite a bit at the time—after all, that face was truly too much of a challenge to a person's tolerance.
Later, it was Hannah who turned it into magic materials.
By the next day, that thing was already displayed on the counter.
Hodu's eyes darted, and an idea immediately came to him.
Since there were no invading creatures, he would just make one himself.
If the conditions weren't enough, he would supply the conditions with his own hands.
Just catching a mouse, how hard could it be?
It was just that this matter didn't need to be rushed; it would still be in time to do it when he was about to go to bed at night.
Late at night, Hodu walked into the room and looked up at the window.
He stepped forward, pushed the window sash open, and then snapped his fingers.
"Flutter!"
A figure flew in from outside and landed steadily on the tabletop—it was precisely the owl he had bought a few days ago.
This owl already had a name, Gili, which implied auspiciousness and smoothness.
Hodu reached out and stroked its head.
Gili didn't dodge; instead, it tilted its head and let him pet it, looking evidently very much to enjoy it.
Pets in the magic world were simply different; they all carried a bit of spirituality, and their brains even seemed to work better than ordinary animals.
Hodu pulled open the desk drawer and took out a Chocolate Frog from inside.
He tore off the packaging in a few strokes, and the frog, which was originally just made of chocolate, instantly came to life, giving its hind legs a fierce kick, breaking free from his palm, and hopping forward.
Before it had time to land on the ground, Gili's beak had already arrived.
With a clamp of the beak, the Chocolate Frog was caught on the spot.
Gili raised its head and flicked it, tossing it into mid-air, and then opened its beak to peck again, swallowing the Chocolate Frog directly into its belly.
"Gili, go out and get me a mouse back."
Having eaten his food, Gili was indebted; Hoduimmediately began arranging the task.
Gili tilted its head and looked at him for a moment, its eyes full of confusion, but soon fluttered its wings and flew out the window.
Not long after, the sound of flapping wings came from outside again.
Gili flew back, firmly grasping a large mouse underneath its two claws.
Just the body of this mouse was almost twenty centimeters long, with the tail not even counted.
Hodu's expression changed slightly, and he immediately drew the wand in his hand.
Sure enough, as soon as Gili flew into the room, it let go of its claws.
That fat mouse plummeted straight down toward the tabletop.
"Wingardium Leviosa!"
Hodu hurriedly waved his wand, the spell slipping out of his mouth.
The magic light struck the freshly falling mouse.
The next second, the mouse stopped in mid-air, its limbs kicking wildly, unable to touch the ground no matter what.
Only then did Hodu put his heart back from his throat, raised his hand to wipe the cold sweat on his forehead, and then glared fiercely at Gili.
Gili had already landed on the edge of the table, and at this moment was looking back at him with an innocent gaze.
This fellow had no idea at all how dangerous it had just been.
The mouse was full of vitality, and its body size was even sturdier than a kitten.
If it were allowed to land, it would definitely scurry around everywhere in the room.
By then, Hodu estimated he would have to spend quite a lot of effort to catch it again.
Fortunately, the Levitation Charm succeeded.
This was one of the few spells he knew, and he usually occasionally missed; today his luck could be considered quite good.
The mouse in mid-air stared with two pitch-black little eyes, its four claws kicking wildly non-stop, yet it could never break free.
Hodu stared at it for a while, his brows slowly furrowing.
The mouse was caught, but how should it be counted as "driven away" next?
The open window came into view, and he instantly had a way.
Using both his hands and feet with all his might, Hoducrawled onto the table.
Then he cautiously reached out and grabbed the mouse's long tail, afraid that this thing would suddenly turn its head to bite him.
Holding it by the tail, he dragged the mouse floating in the air out of the window bit by bit.
Until the mouse's entire body was outside the house, Hodustill didn't let go.
His other hand clicked open the panel.
[Fusion Target: Crup]
[Analysis Progress: 3 / 500]
The progress had indeed increased.
Hodu had long guessed there would be this result, so he immediately pulled the mouse back into the room and then dragged it out the window again.
[Fusion Target: Crup]
[Analysis Progress: 4 / 500]
Looking at the numbers jumping again, Hodu couldn't help laughing.
"He could really exploit this loophole!"
For the same invading creature, as long as it repeatedly entered the house and was repeatedly driven away, it could actually keep counting.
The originally troublesome task instantly turned into a giveaway question.
Thus, a rather comical scene appeared in the room.
Hodu grabbed the mouse's tail, swinging it out the window time and time again, and dragging it back again.
The progress numbers kept jumping upward, at an astonishingly fast speed.
Not long after, that mouse was tossed about until it fainted.
However, whether it fainted or not didn't affect Hodu's continued grinding of the task in the slightest.
After repeating it nearly a thousand times, whenever one of his hands grew sore, he switched to the other hand.
By the time the very last bit of progress was also filled, both his arms were already numb and swollen.
[Crup fusion successful!]
This time, a second trait didn't appear like last time.
Even though the fusion difficulty was also D-rank, the results were different, but Hodu didn't take it too much to heart.
The mouse no longer had any utility value.
Casually throwing it out the window, he looked at Gili still staying on the table and reached out to chase this owl out as well.
On the outer side of the window was set Gili's aviary, a small wooden house thirty or forty centimeters wide, paved with dry straw inside, which could at least shelter it from the wind and rain.
Tomorrow, it would follow Hodu to Hogwarts.
Thinking of this, Hodu's eyes held a bit more anticipation.
Nowadays, he was no longer worried all day long like before.
Devour had now become a ten-thousand-fold trait; as long as he resolved another ten thousand goats and let the Ukrainian Ironbelly complete its fusion, even if Lord Voldemort were resurrected, he would have nothing to fear.
Since safety didn't need to be worried about for the time being, Hodu naturally started looking forward to that magical Hogwarts.
He quietly left the room, went to the restroom to wash his hands, and only then returned to bed to sleep.