"Getting Story Points doesn't seem too hard, so then the exchange prices in the shop..."
Altair opened the System shop, and row after row of exchange listings appeared before his eyes.
Character: Gandalf
Exchange Price: 10,000 Story Points (Requires Narya, Glamdring, World Acceptance)
Note: Can increase the One Ring's unlock progress by 20%
Character: Saruman
Exchange Price: 10,000 Story Points (Requires a Palantír, an army of five thousand Uruk-hai, World Acceptance)
Note: Can increase the One Ring's unlock progress by 20%
Character: Sauron
Exchange Price: 50,000 Story Points (Requires the Nine Nazgûl, the Seven Dwarven Rings, the Three Elven Rings, the Eye of Sauron, World Acceptance)
Note: Sauron can increase the One Ring's unlock progress by 25%. If Sauron cannot be summoned, the One Ring can only ever be unlocked to 99% at most.
…
Note : Characters that require World Acceptance cannot be summoned until the required acceptance level is full.
Looking at the rows of characters and items, Altair let out a weak sigh.
The items were manageable enough. As long as he had Story Points, he could exchange for them. Characters were another matter. Most of them required bonded items before they could be summoned.
And once he factored in the exchange prices of those bonded items, the total amount of Story Points needed was still quite large.
Sauron was the worst of the lot.
He was essentially mandatory.
That strongest ability of the One Ring, Dark Supreme, definitely required 100% unlock progress. But summoning Sauron meant that Altair would inevitably have to fight him.
Because Sauron would definitely try to take the One Ring back.
As for the so-called World Acceptance, Altair had also checked with the System.
Characters that required World Acceptance could not simply be summoned at will. They could only be summoned once the acceptance level was filled.
And if he wanted to increase that acceptance, he would have to build up momentum himself.
Put simply, Altair had to make the wizarding world know who Gandalf, Saruman, and Sauron were, and make them believe that such figures truly existed before he could summon them.
Otherwise, it would be impossible.
Of course, it was not necessary for everyone to believe it. As long as most wizards had heard their names and believed they existed, that would be enough.
"I'll just take it slowly. There's no rush anyway."
Even though the Story Point rewards were not large, Altair was very patient. He was only eleven years old, after all.
And besides, there were still several years before Voldemort's resurrection. Before then, Hogwarts was relatively safe, provided he did not go looking for trouble himself.
"Besides, I still get two free summons of an item and a character every month. Even if each one only unlocks one or two percent, that'll still add up to a lot over time!"
For some reason, excitement surged in Altair's heart.
"System, I want to draw a Lord of the Rings item."
He decided to draw an item first and test the waters.
"Ding! Congratulations, Host. You have successfully drawn the item Saruman's Experimental Notes."
A black parchment-bound book abruptly appeared in Altair's hands. It looked ancient, and heavy besides.
This journal was neither a bonded item for the One Ring nor a bonded item for Saruman, so Altair felt a little disappointed.
But after opening it and reading through it, surprise appeared on his face.
This was Saruman's experimental record for breeding Uruk-hai.
It contained a detailed record of every step Saruman used to create Uruk-hai, as well as all the materials required.
And among Saruman's exchange requirements was possession of an Uruk-hai army.
Besides that, the notebook also recorded methods for brewing certain potions, as well as some ancient spells, including their incantations, wand movements, and the corresponding mental and magical requirements.
According to the System's prompt, the materials originally required to create Uruk-hai and potions did not belong to this world. However, the System had thoughtfully altered them into materials that existed in this world, while preserving the same effects.
The same was true for the ancient spells recorded in the notebook.
After all, Saruman's true nature was that of a Maia, and most of his power was expressed through spiritual force. He did not really need spoken incantations to cast spells. The spells recorded in the notebook were also modifications the System had made to fit the Harry Potter world.
Of course, none of that was the important part.
What mattered was that, through this experimental notebook, Altair could learn ancient spells that did not originally exist in this world, and could also manufacture Uruk-hai himself, as well as the powerful potions recorded within it.
"And if I make good use of these things... they'll be a huge help for my future missions. They'll also help a lot in raising Saruman's World Acceptance."
A vague idea had already begun to form in Altair's mind.
He read through it carefully. Many of the materials needed to create Uruk-hai were things he had never heard of, but some of them were familiar.
Among them were centaur blood and a troll's heart.
"There are centaurs in the Forbidden Forest at Hogwarts. As for trolls, Professor Quirrell is going to bring one in on Halloween. I'll need to plan this carefully."
Altair stored the notebook in his System space.
Although it was not a bonded item, it was highly practical. It seemed his luck today was pretty good, so he decided to strike while the iron was hot.
"System, summon a Lord of the Rings character."
"Ding!"
"Congratulations, Host. You have successfully summoned Sméagol! The One Ring's unlock progress has increased by 15%!"
"Congratulations, Host. The One Ring's unlock progress has reached 20%! Ability unlocked: Necromancer!"
Hm?
Altair froze for a moment, then wild joy burst across his face.
Immediately afterward, a strange force emerged from deep within his soul, powerful yet evil. Altair understood at once that the One Ring's Necromancer ability had been unlocked.
"Sméagol?"
Through the System, Altair checked more closely and discovered that this Sméagol was actually that Hobbit, Gollum.
He had possessed the One Ring for nearly five hundred years.
No wonder he could increase the unlock progress by fifteen percent in one go.
Aside from the major characters, probably only Gollum could provide that much.
Judging purely from his connection to the One Ring, his bond with it ran even deeper than that of some members of the Fellowship.
"Not bad."
Altair wore a smile on his face.
On the very first day of awakening the System, he had already pushed the One Ring's unlock progress to 20%.
That was more than just decent luck.
At this rate, it would not be an exaggeration to call it absurdly good fortune.
"If my One Ring's unlock progress reaches 100%, what will happen to the System?"
Altair suddenly thought of this question.
"The System will provide the Host with three divine artifacts of an even higher tier to choose from."
The System did not conceal anything and answered directly.
Altair nodded thoughtfully, but he did not get too excited.
Today, he had simply been lucky.
But no one could stay this lucky forever.
Who knew how long it would take to fully unlock the One Ring?