Chapter 158: Chap.155 - The Player's Epic! (Bronze)

[Congratulations, writer, on discovering a new serial achievement: (The Player's Epic)]

[Achievement unlocked: The Player's Epic! (Bronze)]

[How to obtain: Become a player on a recognized Quidditch team .]

[Reward: Icarus' Blessing (Bronze)]

[Type: Bound Item]

[Effect: The sky is my home (Passive) -> In the air, you don't feel fear, you feel euphoria and excitement, like a bird in its territory, the sky draws you in. The higher you go, the calmer, more relaxed, and more focused you become.]

[To upgrade Icarus' Blessing to (Silver), you need to win a Quidditch tournament . Good luck, writer!]

//-//

Rigel, in the comfort of his bed, looked at the wing-shaped pendant that appeared in his hand. The pendant was clearly made of bronze, with its characteristic color. It wasn't large, perfect for casual wear without drawing attention, and could be hidden under clothing.

That was good, he wouldn't even need to put it in phantom mode, just use it normally.

Putting the pendant around his neck, he felt its effect immediately.

It wasn't a clear effect, after all, the pendant's power was far from extremely potent. Instead, he felt a growing urge to simply climb out the window and fly away, as high as he could.

It was as if every fiber of his being longed for heaven.

Rigel didn't think twice, jumping out of bed while his companions were already asleep, he simply grabbed his broom and shot off into the sky, flying away.

The effect was immediate: Euphoria.

Although he had never felt afraid of flying after acquiring the triton physique and wind magic, there was always a fear, a certainty that he might fall, but none of that existed anymore at that moment.

Instead, he accelerated, not forward, but upward.

The higher he went, the bigger the smile on his face, there was not a shred of consideration for how high he would go, only a fierce desire to fly higher than anyone had ever flown before.

Fortunately, after flying so high that the wind almost knocked him off his broom, he calmed down, the pendant's effect wasn't coercive, it was just as if Rigel had been born with this desire to fly and he could finally follow it.

After realizing he had gone too far, he knew he would never be satisfied, even if he passed through the atmosphere, he would want to go further.

It wasn't worth continuing, yet, using his magic to stop the fierce wind, he closed his eyes, and upon the moonlit and starry night sky, he gazed down.

Land and sea, endless, a height that would make someone feel a chill in their stomach, but he only felt peace.

It was incredibly comfortable.

Rigel smiled, he had to go back to bed, he couldn't spend the night there, so he simply turned the broom around and sped down, an excited cry escaping his mouth, the wind dissipating it before it could spread.

He took his hands off the broom and opened his arms, feeling as if he could fly.

Well, he really could, whether by using the broom above him or magic, but it seemed more instinctive, as if he were a real bird.

He circled in the air a few more times, feeling he could spend the night there, but in the end, he couldn't. Sighing, he returned to the dormitory in silence.

No one saw him, or at least he thought not, no one knocked on his door in the middle of the night, so that night's adventure was considered a success.

Rigel went back to bed and took off the necklace, that desire to fly finally fading away.

He decided to keep the pendant, even though he could theoretically wear it all the time, the urge to fly that the thing caused was too strong, so he would simply keep it stored away until he needed to fly again, like in Quidditch games.

Lying in his bed, he can finally think about the pendant in peace.

The Icarus' Blessing. The story of Icarus is very famous, a boy who wished to reach the sun with wax wings. Ignoring his father's advice, he flew higher and higher until his wings melted and he fell to his death.

A story that taught the dangers of excessive ambition and overconfidence.

A serial reward means that this pendant could rise to Platinum Rank, what other abilities would it receive as a result?

Although the power of this pendant was merely a change of mindset, the future still promised improvements.

The goal? To win a tournament and upgrade Icarus' Blessing to Silver.

What would be the next goal? To win more tournaments? To win them all? It wasn't clear yet, but Rigel's mindset had changed. Before, he only expected to put in the bare minimum of effort, now? Now he needed to win.

Rigel finally allowed himself to be carried away to the realm of dreams, the power of the coffin took him in a few seconds.

//-//

It was Saturday again. Quidditch practices were staggered, there was only one pitch, so each team had to follow a fixed schedule to practice. Fortunately, although Wood wanted to, Saturday was free, so Rigel had plenty of free time this time.

He didn't go to Hogsmeade, instead, he planned to go to the Forbidden Forest to look for unicorns.

Fortunately, he has his compass, he just needs to get to the forest to get it.

Calypso had already given him something he thought might attract the interest of these guys, the biggest problem was that Rigel was a man, and besides, Rigel knew that he was very far from the concept of Purity that unicorns appreciated.

To be more direct, Rigel, who already had blood on his hands, would hardly be well-liked by these magical 'horses'.

However, Rigel still had his secret weapon to break the ice.

His voice.

Rigel's voice was far from just appealing to humans, if it worked on Calypso, he had no doubt it would work on magical creatures.

You don't like me? Sorry, now you do!

Although Rigel was far from the ideal of unicorn friendship, he didn't think they could resist his singing and the treats he brought them.

Rigel left early, secretly, although it seemed unnecessary because most of the castle was still asleep. He already had a plan in mind to enter the forest.

There are actually two, but due to the time, it would be more difficult to use the first one.

The first one was simple: To fly.

He was almost certain that Dumbledore had enchanted the forest to sense when a student entered it, at the very least, entering through the Hogwarts grounds was a big no-no, but flying around and entering from another point seemed possible.

However, it was already daytime, unless he was looking for the unicorns at night, which wasn't a good idea since unicorns were more receptive during the day, and it would be difficult to fly there unnoticed.

However, he had another plan: to go by water.

With the Forbidden Forest being immense, he only needed to go around the water and enter calmly, no one would see him. Besides, Rigel was almost certain that any protection Dumbledore had put in place was aimed at students, that is, wizards, and it might even be more limited for underage wizards.

However, just as Peter managed to enter Hogwarts repeatedly in his Animagus form without being noticed, it would make perfect sense that Rigel's Merman form wouldn't trigger any kind of alarm.

Therefore, the water route was the safest and most hidden.

Rigel simply searched for a secluded spot connected to the black lake and jumped in, quickly assuming his Merman form and swimming away, ready to find a hidden place to enter the forest.

He was in a good mood, feeling that he was one step closer to having the unicorn blood granted to him.