Chapter 45. I'm Being Watched.
"Are you alright?"
Ian stepped forward and pulled Lynn up from the ground.
Lynn patted his butt and waved his hand to indicate that he was fine.
His eyes gleamed, completely ignoring the thick hair on Ian's body, and he put his arm around Ian's shoulder.
Ian felt goosebumps all over his body from being stared at like that.
"What are you doing?"
"Ian, do you think we're friends?" Lynn asked sincerely.
Ian hesitated for a few seconds, then nodded reluctantly: "I guess so."
"You're lying!"
"How am I lying?"
Lynn just looked at him resentfully, unable to explain himself.
He couldn't exactly say that the system hadn't judged his mission as completed, so it thought he was lying, could he?
With just a simple test, Lynn could see the difference between his current physique and Ian's after becoming a Werewolf.
After his physique attribute was unlocked, he already had 2 points, plus 1 point from a side quest reward, giving him a total of 3 points.
Lynn guessed that 3 points of physique was the physical condition of a normal adult, while lower-year Hogwarts wizards would likely only have 1 point, like Cedric.
After becoming a Werewolf, Ian would have at least 5 points of physique!
This was Lynn's conservative estimate, and Ian wasn't even an adult yet.
An adult Werewolf's physical condition would undoubtedly be much stronger.
Of course, Werewolves also have their limitations.
Leaving aside the fact that ordinary werewolves completely lose their consciousness after transforming, even someone like Ian couldn't use magic after becoming a Werewolf.
But the Lynn system's stat allocation doesn't have this flaw at all.
If he can obtain the reward from the second stage of the system's mission, he will gain the same powerful physique as Ian after his werewolf transformation, and his use of magic will not be restricted.
Such an improvement would be immense for any wizard.
Even if his physique points could be maxed out…
Lynn was already imagining himself transforming into a human tank, rampaging through countless beams of magical energy.
Lost in thought, Lynn couldn't help but stare intently at Ian.
Ian felt uneasy under his gaze and instinctively moved away.
…
A month after Christmas.
In the Slytherin common room, Lynn looked on with a headache as Betty, who had just had a fight with her boyfriend, sat next to him, constantly complaining.
"He used to have a complicated relationship with Angela from fifth grade, I even saw her kissing him on the cheek once! He explained to me that it was just Angelina thanking him for his help, and that he didn't mean anything by it, and I believed him.
But now he's trying to make me cut ties with my family just because my brother married a Muggle…"
Lynn was really in a dilemma. He didn't want to get involved in the love-hate entanglement between the two Slytherin prefects, but at this point, he couldn't stay or leave, and was forced to play the role of a confidante.
"So he's disgusted that your brother married a Muggle?"
"Not only that." The usually strong and capable Betty's eyes were red-rimmed, as if she was about to cry.
"He actually resents my brother for not marrying his cousin. Our two families had already arranged a marriage, but my brother..."
What a melodramatic family drama! Is your sister-in-law about to have a major conflict with your mother?
Then pregnancy, abortion, divorce, and finally, a tangled mess of ties for another four or five years?
Lynn mentally ranted, but outwardly offered words of comfort.
"It's a good thing your brother found true love. Williamson will understand."
Lynn admitted she wasn't very good at comforting him, but she really had nothing else to say.
"No, he won't understand. His family is an extremely pure-blooded, traditional business family.
Don't be fooled by his lack of prejudice against you; he's just maintaining his good manners. In fact, he's told me more than once to stay away from you."
Why is he bringing me into this again?
Lynn was completely bewildered. He felt increasingly uncomfortable and knew he shouldn't stay any longer, so he declined,
saying, "Senior, I just remembered I haven't finished my Transformation class assignment. I have Transformation class this afternoon, so I have to go back and do it. I'm sorry I can't continue chatting with you."
His reason was perfectly valid, and Betty didn't try to stop him, only asking softly,
"Are you free tonight? I'm feeling down. Could you come with me for a walk by Black Lake?"
Lynn got goosebumps and hurriedly waved his hands.
"Sorry, senior, Cedric asked me out tonight… to go fishing! Yes! Fishing! So, unfortunately, it was arranged beforehand, and I really don't have time. I'm so sorry, goodbye senior!"
Lynn fled from the Slytherin common room as if escaping.
Lynn didn't really care about Betty saying Raphael was talking bad about him behind his back.
He hadn't expected all the young wizards in Slytherin to like him anyway; maintaining a semblance of harmony and keeping to themselves was good enough.
There was no reason or need to take it any further.
What horrified Lynn was the meaning behind Betty's words.
Although he had been single in both his lives, he had seen it all! Those romantic dramas I watched in my spare time weren't for nothing.
Betty's words just now conveyed the same meaning—Raphael and I are out of the question, so something can happen between us.
Lynn turned pale with fright, unable to comprehend her thinking.
He's only twelve years old!
Betty is in seventh grade, almost seventeen.
They're a full five years apart. Although Lynn usually acts a bit precocious, he still looks very young.
Is this considered copper smelting? Lynn's mind was in turmoil. Of course, he didn't go to the library to catch up on any unnecessary homework.
Instead, he found Cedric and Ian and arranged to go fishing on Black Lake that night.
"Are you crazy?"
Cedric touched Lynn's forehead, and Lynn slapped his hand away.
"Who are you cursing?"
"If you're not crazy, why would you go fishing in the Black Lake? You can only fish for fishermen."
"I don't care, even if you're a fisherman, you're coming with me tonight."
Ian had an astronomy class that evening and couldn't join their nonsense, so only Cedric accompanied him to the Black Lake to bait his hook in the evening.
"What are you trying to do?" Cedric complained as he hung the beef he'd stolen for dinner on his hook.
Their actions were hard to ignore, and a group of idle young wizards watched them from a distance, as if hoping they would catch something.
Lynn had already cast his hook into the lake; he hadn't put on any bait, because he hadn't come there to fish in the first place.
He turned his head cautiously toward Cedric and said,
"I think I'm being watched by an old bull."
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(End of Chapter)