Harry Potter: The Gamer's Dimension Chapter 8

Hi all,

Here’s the next chapter. Dumbledore gives his speech in the Great Hall, and Harry learns the mana sense skill.

Chapter 8

The hall fell silent as everyone waited for Dumbledore to speak. The candlelight illuminated his face, which revealed a solemn expression as he looked over the students.

Harry leaned forward in his seat, filled with anticipation. He was curious about what the headmaster had to say about the students' behaviour this year. Dumbledore had stated that he would take his time and resolve the issue by the end of the school year, but he would be disappointed if it wasn’t addressed to some extent tonight.

"I have an important topic to discuss tonight, but first, I would like to talk about Justin Finch-Fletchly, a student who did nothing wrong except be in the wrong place at the wrong time. I am deeply saddened whenever I lose a student, and in this case, it should not have happened at all. I would like to raise a toast to him, a boy who believed in hard work and fairness. May he be happy in his next great adventure."

Dumbledore raised his goblet, and many students followed suit. Justin was remembered with a moment of silence, and for once, the entire school was united. Even the Slytherins stayed silent. Some Hufflepuff House students were openly crying. Harry felt a twinge of sympathy for their loss, but then he brutally suppressed it. After everything they had done, they deserved nothing from him.

Hannah Abbott stood up just as Dumbledore was about to continue speaking. “We all know who the true culprit is, but he is still sitting among us, without a care in the world.”

"Sit down, Miss Abbott," Dumbledore said, his eyes flashing behind his glasses. He didn’t look amused.

"He also attacked me and some of my friends before," Hannah argued.

Harry shook his head. This girl was a complete idiot.

"Is this true, Harry?" Hermione asked.

Before he could respond, Professor McGonagall rose from her seat. "Is Miss Abbot telling the truth, Mr. Potter? Did one of my lions attack students from another house?"

"Several Hufflepuffs obstructed my path and said they would teach me a lesson," Harry said, standing up. "I simply disarmed them and disposed of their wands to keep them from attacking me."

“That doesn’t mean you are allowed to raise a wand to a student in the corridors, Mr Potter. Do you have any proof?” McGonagall asked.

“Besides the fact that students from the other house have attacked me on several occasions in the past without provocation,” Harry said, raising his voice.

"You are lying!" Hannah shrieked. Most of the house rose from their seats in support of her.

To show their support for Harry, some Gryffindors copied them. This included Hermione, Ron, his quidditch teammates, Ginny, and, surprisingly, Neville. The shy boy hadn’t spoken to him much this year, but he hadn’t said anything mean to him either. There was no one else in his house who rose to support him. Not that he cared.

Dumbledore raised his hands to restore some calm, but he was completely ignored.

“You called our house a bunch of dumb cunts,” one of Hannah’s friends accused.

Harry shrugged. “At the moment, you aren’t proving me wrong.”

“Enough!” Dumbledore roared. “Sit down before I give you all a month’s detention, serving as Mr Filch’s assistant.”

As soon as they heard the threat, everyone sat down hastily. Harry had never seen the headmaster so furious, and it was incredibly intimidating. It seemed like magic was emanating from him in waves, creating a suffocating atmosphere in the Great Hall that had a visible effect on the students. He wanted to learn that trick.

“Blimey,” Ron gasped. “I am never going to piss off Dumbledore in the future. I almost wet myself.”

“You shouldn’t be upsetting the headmaster for any reason,” Hermione said. “Right, Harry?”

“I don’t know,” Harry mused. “That depends if he pisses me off for some reason. Then all bets are off.”

Hermione scowled at him. “Why do I put up with you again?”

“Because you love me?” Harry joked.

Since he was watching the headmaster, he didn’t see the startled look appear on Hermione’s face. But Dumbledore continued speaking at that moment, and no one noticed her expression.

"The attacks on Mr Potter have gone on long enough," Dumbledore said, his gaze falling on several students, making them squirm in their seats. "The faculty should have addressed this sooner, but we completely failed on this front. But things will not be the same in the future. First and foremost, we must address the claims that Mr Potter murdered Justin Finch-Fletchy. This is completely false. The Aurors have already apprehended the true culprit, and Mr Potter has been cleared of all suspicions.”

The hall erupted in discussion, and it seemed like every student in the hall turned to look at Harry. Although he tried to ignore their expressions, it was more difficult to ignore the students from his own house who were sitting nearby. He expected some of them to come grovelling to him later for constantly doubting and verbally abusing him during the school year.

Even if they got down on their knees and apologised, he wouldn't accept it. Perhaps he was being harsh because schoolchildren can be incredibly stupid at times. Harry conveniently forgot he was one as well. In an environment where they all spent the majority of the year together, they acted like a flock of sheep following the herd. But he didn’t care for excuses like that, and he was short on forgiveness these days.

Dumbledore continued. “Furthermore, the culprit who ordered a beast to attack the students has also been taken care of.”

“Who did it?” One of the students shouted.

“What was the beast?” Someone asked from the Ravenclaw table.

"The attacks were not carried out by an individual," Dumbledore explained. "An object with extremely dark magic was responsible. The beast in question was a basilisk. If not for a very fortunate set of circumstances, the students who were petrified might not be here today."

Dumbledore added some additional details while the students listened in rapture. Harry couldn't believe Dumbledore was being so open about certain things. Although he didn’t elaborate, there was no doubt that the students would have more questions because his explanations were incomplete, and there were inconsistencies. If the object was influencing things, then who wrote the messages on the walls and killed all of the roosters?

“You shouldn’t be accusing Mr Potter,” Dumbledore said. “You should be thanking him. When he learned that another student’s life was in danger, Mr Potter didn’t hesitate to rescue them. Not only did he save the student, but he slayed the basilisk in the process.”

There were shouts of disbelief and shock from the students. Harry enjoyed seeing the expressions on their faces, especially the ones who had targeted him. They had been so convinced that they were right that they had irreversibly offended one of the most popular wizards in the British magical community.

"Mr Potter will receive two hundred points for his house for demonstrating extreme courage and steely nerves in the face of seemingly impossible odds," Dumbledore announced. "He accomplished something that most adult wizards would be unable to. Ron Weasley will get fifty points for following his friend into danger. Although he didn’t participate in the fight, the fact that he would follow his friend into danger demonstrates a level of loyalty that I am afraid another house has severely misconstrued."

The Gryffindor table erupted in cheers, while the Hufflepudd house looked gloomy. They recognised that the headmaster was referring to them when he spoke about loyalty. Ron grinned as Harry slapped him on the back, and those nearby congratulated him.

Although Ron had gone down to the chamber for Ginny's sake, Harry was confident Ron would follow him into danger if he needed to.

"Miss Granger will also receive fifty points," Dumbledore said, surprising Hermione. "For demonstrating her brilliance in discovering that we were dealing with a basilisk. If it hadn’t been for her, we might never have found the beast, and the school would have been closed."

Hermione was taken aback by the attention paid to her following that announcement, but she appeared pleased to be recognised.

"With those additions to the house points, I believe we can safely predict who will win the House Cup this year without having to wait for the end-of-term feast. The other houses' totals will be reduced significantly due to the next topic I will be discussing.”

Dumbledore clapped his hands, and the murals on the walls transformed from black to red and gold. He waited until the celebrations had died down before he continued.

"Now, let us return to the earlier incident involving Mr Potter and the Hufflepuff students. Miss Abbot was unaware that there was already evidence of her wrongdoings.”

Hannah looked stunned, and she exchanged uneasy glances with her friends. Harry's eyes widened. Was there anyone else in the corridor who witnessed the confrontation?

Dumbledore stroked his beard as he began to explain. "Normally, the ghosts and portraits are strictly forbidden from revealing anything that happens in the castle's corridors due to privacy concerns, and this is strictly enforced through magic. They cannot say anything, even if they want to, and it's part of the castle's security measures that I, as headmaster, cannot change. While it may have aided in identifying the perpetrators of the attacks, there is a reason why this feature exists. A headmaster could instruct the ghosts and portraits to spy on the students for his own benefit."

"That’s not mentioned in Hogwarts: A History," Hermione said quietly, her face betraying her disappointment.

"There is one exception, and that’s when an unnatural or suspicious death occurs in the school," Dumbledore explained. "The rule is temporarily suspended while the faculty and Aurors investigate the death. The ghosts and portraits report not only current events in the castle but also those from the past that are relevant to the investigation. Since Harry was questioned, any incidents involving him during the school year have been reported.”

Harry grinned as he saw the effect it had on some of the students. They were now realising they were in serious trouble, which made him overjoyed. He hoped they received the appropriate level of punishment for their deeds. Anything less and he would be disappointed in the headmaster.

Then he realised he had dodged a bullet by opening the gateway to the gamer’s dimension in his dorm room, where portraits and ghosts weren’t permitted. If he had ever been seen vanishing into thin air,  that would have required some serious explanations.

“Hannah Abbot and her friends who impeded Mr Potter’s way earlier will be seeing her Head of House later to find out their punishment,” Dumbledore said. “As for the rest, since there are a disturbing number of incidents that we have to sort through, all disciplinary actions will be delayed until the next school year. You will be punished accordingly, but for the time being, the house totals of Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin will be reduced by three hundred points. Let us now wrap up the discussion and enjoy our supper."

Dumbledore sat down, and food appeared on the tables in front of the students. There was a lot of noise in the hall as the students discussed what the headmaster had revealed. Harry's meal was especially enjoyable because he felt like he had received some justice for the abuse he had endured over the previous year.

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

Harry spent the next two weeks primarily with Hermione and Ron studying for the end-of-year exams, although the latter slacked off whenever it came too much for him. Because of the incidents at the school, the exams had been delayed by two weeks to give the affected students time to catch up. Hermione was incredibly grateful to Harry for taking extensive notes, but that didn’t prevent her from panicking and going overboard with the number of hours she devoted to studying.

As a result, Harry studied harder than he had ever done before and felt like he performed well on the theoretical portion of the exams. For the spellcasting portion, he felt even more confident as his ability had improved significantly ever since he increased his magic attribute. But the main reason for his improvement was unlocking the Mana Sense skill.

Harry spent an hour every day in the Nexus learning the skill, and he even practised it in his dormitory rooms at night, where it was quiet and free from distractions. Although it wasn’t as effective as the training room, it did assist him in focusing his mind.

The primary method for developing mana sense was to make his body more sensitive to magic. He spent time in the training room, surrounded by magic and stripped of all five senses. It started with a tingling sensation on his fingertips, as unused nerves awoke from their long dormancy.

"All wizards have two central nervous systems," James had explained. "One that all humans possess, and another that is magical in nature. Most wizards' magical nervous systems have become dormant as a result of centuries of inactivity. The key to mastering the skill is to stimulate your nerves and increase your sensitivity to magic across all five senses. When that happens, your sixth sense, known as the mana sense, will become active. It is the foundation for you to do amazing things with magic in the future."

His magical nerves grew more active over the next two weeks. Following touch, his sense of taste was the second to be affected. When the nerves on his tongue became more active, he swore he could almost taste magic, and it tasted sweet. He didn’t know if all magic tasted like that, or if there were differences depending on the type of magic.

Next, his vision was affected, causing him to see small motes of coloured lights in the air around him. He initially thought it was a figment of his imagination, but he soon realised he was witnessing magic in its most pure form. This was only the beginning, as he could only see a fraction of the magic that surrounded him; however, the ability to see it at all was remarkable in itself.

The last two senses, hearing and smell, had little impact on his ability to sense magic, but James explained that this was normal. Magic, in its purest form, emitted neither odour nor sound. But that would change as he encountered other forms of magic.

It became distracting when his entire body started feeling the tingling sensation over his body, but James reassured him that it would disappear after his body became more accustomed to it.

On the twelfth day of practice, as he was about to finish his training for the day, he was overcome with a strange sensation. It was similar to having an out-of-body experience, in which he could still feel his body but felt his consciousness detach and surround it like an invisible and intangible cloud. Surprisingly, he could control the cloud with his thoughts, extending it around him in a one-metre radius. This cloud interacted with the surrounding magic, giving him a wealth of information. The magic exuded a warm, curious feeling, almost as if it were sentient.

James had congratulated him on learning the skill. He described mana sense as a physical manifestation of his consciousness and senses working together to perceive mana in the environment. It was an active skill, and he could improve it by training it to passively sense different types of magic. For example, he could use it to detect dark magic, potentially saving him from danger. At the moment, the ability's range was only one metre, but it would expand as he practised and his magic attribute increased.

Harry received a notification after learning mana sense, which he read to see what he had earned.

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You have learned the Mana Sense skill.

You have earned 1000 experience points for unlocking a skill in the Upper Path.

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Mana Sense | Active | Rank: B | Upgrade: Training | Cost: 10 MP/min | Attribute: MAG

Description: A foundational skill in the Upper Path that allows the player to create an invisible cloud around himself that can detect magic and provide information about it. As he continues to practise and experiment with the skill, he will be able to broaden its range and scope, as well as distinguish between different magic energies.

Magic + 5

Willpower + 5

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Learning Mana Sense opened up three new paths on the grimoire board.

Mana Proficiency - The path explores gaining mastery over their mana to allow them to expend less when casting magic and increase their reserves. After this path has been fully unlocked, it will open up more possibilities.

First Skill - Efficient Wand Casting (D)

Mana Manipulation - This path delves into the process of transforming the player's mana sense into a physical construct that can interact with the world in various ways. More options will become available once this path is fully unlocked.

First Skill - Mana Hands (C)

Magic Vigour - The path explores the development of a battlemage and the ability to unleash destructive magic on its opponents. There are some spells included, but the majority of the skills are passive boosts that improve the player's ability to deal damage.

First Skill - Mana Empowerment (D)

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James had told him to take a break and delve deeper into the skill to see what he could learn before moving on to the next set of skills. Harry didn’t argue with him because he was already interested in how he could utilise mana sense and improve upon it.

Aside from spending time in the training room, Harry met a few more of the locals and attempted to get them to open up to him. Although he didn’t have much success, he did gain some relationship points with them. Interacting with them daily appears to be the best course of action for the time being, at least until other options become available. It may be slow, but at least he was making some progress.

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

After the exams were finished, the trio could finally relax and enjoy the last few days of the school year in peace. Hermione hadn’t relaxed, though, as she was busy researching something in the library, but when Harry asked her about it, she refused to tell him. He had let the matter go because he knew she would tell him when she was ready.

There was a decision still to be made about the third-year electives. Hermione, in her usual style, did extensive research on each subject, even though it was obvious which subjects she would choose.

"Harry, what do you think we should choose?" Ron asked. “I reckon we should choose Divination and Care of Magical Creatures. They should like the easiest subjects.”

“Ron! You shouldn’t choose electives based on how easy they are," Hermione exclaimed. "You should choose something that interests you."

Ron gave her a disappointed look. "Hermione, I am hurt by how little you know about me after two years of friendship. Of course, I will choose based on how easy the subjects will be. If Quidditch were an elective, I wouldn’t hesitate to take it."

Harry chuckled at Hermione's offended expression. “Leave him alone, Hermione. You aren’t going to change who he is. Academics isn’t his strong suit.”

Hermione huffed. “Well, don’t drag Harry down to the same level. His grades have seen an amazing improvement over the last few weeks. I would like it if he chose the same…”

Hermione trailed off in embarrassment.

“Were you going to say the same classes as yourself?” Ron gasped. “Aren’t you being a little hypocritical?”

Harry defused their argument by pulling a galleon from his pocket. “Let’s decide it this way. Heads, I will be taking the same classes as Ron. Tails, I will join Hermione in Arithmancy, Ancient Runes, and Care of Magical Creatures.”

"You cannot make such an important decision like this," Hermione protested, looking scandalised.

"Sure, I can," Harry replied. He flipped the coin, caught it, and then opened his hand to reveal the result. "Heads. Looks like—”

“Harry! No!” Hermione lunged for the coin and nearly fell out of her chair.

Harry couldn’t help but laugh aloud. He loved teasing Hermione like this because she could get worked up about the strangest things. Hermione growled when she realised she was being played with. She sat back down in her seat and continued reading the parchment in front of her, ignoring him.

"Sorry, Hermione. I was just teasing," Harry apologised to her before speaking with Ron. “I have to go with the subjects Hermione has chosen. I have no interest in Divination, but at least we will be in the Care of Magical Creatures class together.”

Ron didn’t respond because his mouth was wide open, staring at them.

“Ron?”

"The two of you are mental," Ron said. He scribbled down his elective choices before getting up from his seat. "I have had enough of the library. I am going to find someone to play chess with."

Hermione smiled as she watched him leave. "He is going to check on Ginny again, right?"

"For probably the hundredth time this week," Harry muttered. "He should have gotten it out of his system by the beginning of our third year."

Hermione gave him a searching look. “You don’t have to choose the same electives as me. Choosing three electives is going to be a lot of work.”

"Sure, but I am actually looking forward to it," Harry told her. “With all the drama that went down in the past year, I preferred studying in the library with you.”

Hermoine gave him a brilliant smile. "I considered taking all of the electives next year and discussed it with Professor McGonagall. There was a way to do it, but she changed her mind at the last minute and prohibited me from selecting more than three electives.”

Harry stared at her as if she were crazy. “On top of our usual classes? Are you feeling alright?"

“I can see now that it wasn’t a good idea,” Hermione said, rolling her eyes. "But I was upset when she first told me."

Harry grinned. "You must have suffered from a serious internal conflict. Do you argue with an authority figure such as Professor McGonagall, or do you accept the fact that you will not learn as much as you would like to? I’m not sure what option you would choose."

"Not funny," Hermione said, poking out her tongue at him.

They fell into a companionable silence. Harry thought about heading up to his dormitory room so he could enter the gamer’s dimension and do some dungeon runs. He was slightly nervous about facing the boss again, but it shouldn’t be as hard as before, as he had increased his magic attribute to twenty. The issue is that it wouldn’t affect the spells that were equipped on his gamer gloves. He would have to use his wand to reap any benefit, but his spell repertoire was limited.

He reminded himself that he still had enough experience points in his cache to level up. If he spent the five AP to boost his willpower attribute, he would have enough to unlock the grimoire he discovered in the dungeon. The question was, would it provide him with what he needed? Based on the book cover, he assumed it was a grimoire that gave him access to healing magic.

“Has Dobby’s condition changed at all?” Hermione asked, breaking him out of his thoughts.

"Not in a couple of days," Harry replied.

Dobby was still holding on despite all odds. But he couldn’t fool himself into believing that the elf would last the entire summer vacation until he returned. The question reminded him, however, that he hadn’t visited the elf since he learned the mana sense skill. Should he try using it on the elf to see if he could see a way to help the elf?

“Want to go see him?” Harry asked, and Hermione nodded.

They went up to the infirmary, where they had to get past the Auror on duty to see the comatose elf. Before examining him with mana sense, he used Assess on Dobby to see if it would provide any useful information. However, it only provided a level, just like the students and professors. Surprisingly, the little house-elf was level twenty-four.

He looked over at Hermione, who was having a one-sided conversation with Dobby, and realised he hadn’t yet assessed her. She was level ten, and he assumed that if she had attributes, she would have high intelligence. Her level was the highest out of all the second-year students he had assessed so far.

Returning his attention to Dobby, he leaned closer to the bed and activated his mana sense. As the cloud touched Dobby, Harry was bombarded with information, which manifested itself as an image in his mind.

He could see the magic emanating from Dobby's body, and it was the colour of the earth. He could almost taste the same earthiness on the tip of his tongue. But something was wrong with Dobby's magic; the mana was twisted into knots and wasn’t flowing smoothly over his body as it should. He felt a sense of wrongness, but he couldn’t express it with words. Unfortunately, his skill wasn’t advanced enough to delve deeper into the elf's body in search of the source of the issue. He knew it had been a long shot, but he was disappointed when he could not find out anything new.

“I’m going to speak with Madam Pomfrey to see if there is any change,” Hermione said, getting to her feet.

As soon as she left, Harry opened his status window and spent his experience points to reach level six. He received five AP and four skill points. He wasted no time in increasing his willpower to fifteen, thereby meeting the requirement for unlocking the new Grimoire.

He retrieved it from his inventory and was immediately greeted with a prompt.

=============

You have fulfilled the requirements for learning the skills that are found in the Panacea Grimoire.

Would you like to learn it? Y/N

=============

Harry pressed yes, and the book vanished into motes of light before rushing into his body. He accessed the grimoire board and noticed that another group of nodes had appeared in the centre leftmost area.

The Panacea Grimoire encompassed two paths. The first was called the Restoration Path, and it included an initial skill called Heal, which he could unlock for two skill points. The second was called Remedy Path, and the first skill was called Venom Resistance, which cost him one skill point to acquire.

"These skills will come in handy in the Snake Pit, but I don’t know if it can help me with Dobby’s situation.”

Since he had eleven skill points, he had more than enough to acquire both skills. Before he did so, however, he focused on each skill until a description of each skill appeared.

============

Heal | Active/Spell | Rank: D | Unlock: 2SP | Cost: 10 MP | Attribute: MAG/VIT

Description: This spell heals the player for a maximum of 300 HP. The amount restored depends on both the magic and vitality attributes. Its slow cast time makes it less suitable for use during combat, yet it provides a cost-effective method for restoring HP. It can be upgraded to improve the amount of HP restored.

*All grimoire spells cast with a wand are 40% less effective.

==========

Venom Resistance | Passive | Rank: E | Unlock: 1SP | Cost: -- | Attribute: VIT

Description: This skill gives the player a passive 50% resistance to all mundane and common magical venoms. It also reduces the rate at which HP depletes when inflicted with venom, which is influenced by the vitality attribute. This skill can be upgraded to increase the resistance it provides.

==========

It was unfortunate, but unless he learned a wandless magic skill from the grimoire board, he would have to cast the spells with his wand, which would reduce their effectiveness. He had a feeling he would learn wandless magic from one of the Upper Path skills, so he needed to focus on them during the summer holidays.

Harry spent three skill points and acquired both skills, which unlocked another skill on each path. He checked them out briefly, but none of them would help him with Dobby, so he left it for the time being.

After talking with Dobby, Harry returned to the common room. He noticed Celeste speaking with the twins in the corner and decided not to interfere with whatever nefarious plan they were hatching. Judging by the twin's identical grins, it wasn’t anything good.

Back in his dormitory room, Harry used the Gateway spell and returned to the Nexus. Before he entered the dungeon to grind experience, he wanted to check out the Nexus first. After two weeks, he had gotten pretty familiar with the layout of the plaza and the store on offer, but he hadn’t had much time to explore them. But he was interested in visiting one particular store in particular, to see if the owner could help with Dobby’s situation.

He entered the apothecary called the Potent Elixir and greeted Alfyn, the owner and apothecary who produced all the potions in the store.

Alfyn had dishevelled blonde hair, with the crown hairs standing up, and a small ponytail on the back of his head. He typically wore a beige and brown shirt with a green jacket and a brown leather vest. Harry had spoken with him a few times, but they hadn’t been long or productive conversations. He spotted a young woman in a wheelchair in the corner and greeted her with a smile. He didn’t know who she was, but she had been sitting there every time he entered.

He received a notification informing him that his relationship with Alfyn had improved by ten points. It appeared that being nice to the woman was the way to improve his relationship with the apothecary.

“Hello, Alfyn,” Harry greeted the man standing behind the counter.

"Mr Potter," Alfyn said in a low voice. "Is there anything you would like to buy from me?"

“I was wondering if you could help me,” Harry said. “I have a friend in a critical situation, and I thought there might be a potion that could help.”

“What are their symptoms?”

Harry explained the situation as best he could, and Alfyn fell into deep thought. Harry waited patiently, knowing that the man represented his best chance to save Dobby’s life at the moment.

“I am not familiar with a house-elf, but from the way you described him, I think I know of a potion that may help him,” Alfyn finally said.

“How much is it?” Harry asked excitedly.

“About fifty thousand dimension coins,” Alfyn replied, and Harry groaned in disappointment. It would take him a lot of time to earn that many coins.”

Alfyn glanced at the woman briefly, before returning his attention to Harry. “There may be another way to earn the potion, but it will be dangerous.”

Another notification appeared in his vision.

===========

Alfyn has offered you a personal quest!

The Elixir in the Dark Mage’s Tower.

Would you like to accept it? Y/N

===========

Harry was overcome with confusion. Where did this come from?

So, what do you think? Harry embarks on his first quest to obtain the potion to help Dobby. Will he succeed?

Thanks for reading.