Harry Potter: The Gamer's Dimension Chapter 3

Hi all,

Here’s the next chapter. Thanks for your patience. This one is a little slower, as Celeste and Harry get to know each other. 

Chapter 3

Harry kept a wary eye on the zombies as they hammered on the gate below. Even though it was made of steel, he wasn't sure it would last forever. Then he turned back to Celeste, who had fallen silent. She looked like she had been running on adrenaline and was now succumbing to exhaustion.

“Celeste?” Harry asked cautiously.

“Wha?” Celeste opened her eyes drowsily.

"Is there something wrong with you?”

Celeste moaned and rubbed her head. "I'm about to crash. I have very little magic. I am probably going to suffer from magical exhaustion soon. It hurts like a bitch.”

Harry retrieved an MP Potion from his belt. “Will this help?”

"Yes!" Celeste's greedy eyes landed on the potion vial. “Gimme, please.”

Harry uncorked the vial and held it securely in his hand. She stuck her head into it and took a long, deep drink of the potion. Slowly he tipped the vial back to allow her access to more potion as if he were feeding milk to a baby animal with a bottle.

When half the potion was consumed, her whole face was covered in it. A chuckle escaped Harry's lips.

“What is it?” Celeste demanded, her eyes more alert than before.

"You're looking a little blue," Harry said, smirking. "I hope you don't feel sad."

"What does blue have to do with it?” Celeste asked before wiping her face on his sleeve.

“Hey. Don’t dirty my clothes, midget,” Harry scolded her. "And blue is associated with sadness.”

“Weird,” Celeste wrinkled her nose. “Uh, the potion was foul. Low-level trash. No wonder it took so much to replenish my magic.”

Harry blinked, confused by her words. Deciding to see for himself what she meant, he used the Comprehension skill to learn more about the potion.

=====

MP Potion | Consumable | Common/Grade 1 |

• The potion restores 10% (20%) of MP.

• Specifically designed for human consumption.

=====

It must restore more of her magic because of her smaller size if she only had to drink half of it.

“That’s because it’s designed for humans,” Harry told her.

“What’s a human?” Celeste asked. “I have not heard of that race in Dimensia.”

“Dimensia? Is that what you call this world?” Harry muttered. “Well, I am a human. A homo sapien. By the way, what are you?”

“You don’t know?” Celeste looked outraged. She got up and stood on her feet, although she looked unbalanced. “I am an Umbra Fairy. One of a kind! Worship me human!”

“It’s Harry,” he replied, ignoring her demand. “Are you okay? You still look unsteady."

“That’s because my wings are damaged,” Celeste scowled. “It affects my balance.”

“Will resting at a Camp help?” Harry asked, thinking she must have HP like him. She was from this world, right?

“There’s one around here?” Celeste asked.

“It’s this way,” Harry said and started walking back the way he had come while carrying her in his hands.

“So you said you are an Umbra Fairy?” Harry asked. “Are you a monster like the zombies? And why cannot I see your status?”

“Are you an idiot? Do I look like a monster? Do I behave like a monster?”

“No,” Harry admitted. “But I am a newbie to this world, so forgive my ignorance.”

“New to this world?” Celeste looked up at him perplexed. “What do you mean?”

“I came through one of those Dimension Doors. This is not my world.”

“What?! Hold on for one moment!”

Harry stopped and raised his hand so the fairy was in his line of sight.

“You’re a Dimension Diver?” Celeste asked urgently. “Let me see your status.”

Harry frowned. Even though he was a complete newbie, he knew that it was not polite to ask about another’s status. What if they had evil intentions?

Celeste seemed to know what he was thinking. “Here. I can show you my status first as a show of good faith.”

Before Harry could say anything, a window appeared in front of him, giving him no chance to object.

=====

Celeste

Age: 16

Title: The Last Umbra Fairy

Experience Cache: (0)

Level: 4 [Next: 40%]

HP: 100% MP: 100% SP: 100%

Strength: 2

Vitality: 3

Endurance: 3

Dexterity: 14

Intelligence: 26

Willpower: 15

Senses: 15

AP:0

Equipment

Embroidered Fairy Dress

=====

Harry browsed her status page curiously. Her physical stats were lower than his, which was no surprise considering her size. However, her Dexterity, Intelligence and Senses were better than his.

“Now show me yours!” Celeste insisted.

“I never agreed to show you my status page,” Harry said. “It was your own decision to share yours.”

“Rogue! Scoundrel!” Celeste cried. She pummeled her fists into his hand, but he barely felt it.

“I've been called worse,” Harry shrugged.

She continued to badger him all the way back to camp, but Harry ignored her. While he didn’t perceive any threat from her, as she was more annoying than anything else, he wasn’t just willing to give away his secrets. When they were back in camp, he placed her on the bedroll and told her to sleep. She looked like she was about to argue, but her eyes were already droopy. It wasn't long before she was asleep, snoring away.

Harry returned to the gate. Since he had just slept, he wasn’t inclined to spend another eight hours resting while he could do something productive.

The zombies had dispersed from the gate, scattering around the huge chamber. Two nearby started shuffling in his direction as soon as he appeared. He wanted to stab the zombies through the gate. However, he met resistance when he tried to poke his dagger through the gaps between the bars. There was some sort of invisible forcefield. It explained why Celeste couldn't fit through them.

Harry tried to count the number of zombies as he could from his position. There were at least twenty from what he could see, although he had seen more when they chased Celeste. The chamber was too large for him to see everything. He would have to get creative if he wanted to get rid of them safely.

The two zombies hit the gate with a bang and Harry stepped back instinctively. They were the only two that had seen him, so they were now separated from the rest. What if he simply opened the gate and let the two through before shutting it again? Then he wouldn’t have to worry about the rest.

Although there was no rush to try it out now. Celeste could help him, or she may have another idea that could work. Since she was at a higher level than he was, and from this world, maybe she had more knowledge than he did.

For now, he wanted to try some experiments. Harry retreated back up the stairs slowly, watching the two zombies closely. At what point did they lose interest in him and go back to their regular route? They turned around and shuffled back to their positions when he was over ten feet away.

Next, he wanted to see if he could get a skill for stealth. Crouching down, he slowly descended the stairs, trying to be quiet. The second Magelight spell had already run out, so the only light came from inside the chamber itself, in the form of torch braziers.

Harry reached the gate without being noticed. He turned around and retreated up the stairs. When he checked his skills, he found that he had not yet learned anything. He repeated his stealthy approach five more times before it appeared on his skills menu. Now he only had to develop the skill to a hundred per cent. He noticed that sneaking took up nearly as much stamina as swimming, which was surprising. Then again, sneaking took a surprising amount of work, maintaining silence while moving in a crouching position.

Thirty minutes later, Harry received the skill he had been working towards.

======

The player has fulfilled the first requirement to learn the Sneak skill.

*Sneak | Active | Novice | Rank: 1 | Next: 0% | Cost: 4SP/min |

• Increases the chance of remaining undetected when sneaking by 2%.

Do you want to spend four hundred experience points to acquire the skill? Y/N

======

It was what he expected. Each time he wanted to learn another skill, the amount of experience required doubled. It meant that he had to be careful about what skills he chose, as they would quickly become very expensive. The only exception was skill crystals. They didn't cost anything to learn.

Harry didn’t have four hundred experience points to spare. He wanted to know what would happen if he said ‘No’ to the prompt. Would the skill be lost forever?

He activated Comprehension again and submitted his query. He was happy with the answer. Even if he refused the skill now, he could still access it from his skills menu under the inactive section. The skill could be acquired at any point in time by spending experience.

Harry looked at his current Stamina. The level of his sneaking skill was already low due to all the work he did in order to acquire it. He needed to level up his physical stats if he wanted more Stamina to level up his skills like Dagger Mastery. Maybe it was a mistake to spend his AP to increase his Intelligence first. If anything, increasing stats like Vitality will help increase his survivability.

His MP was close to full. If he was aiming to be more efficient, then he needed to find a spell to use up his MP before using the camp to restore his resources. Although the spells he knew from Hogwarts used MP, they were not classified as spells or skills in this world. He wondered what that would mean when he returned to the real world. Would he retain his skills, or was it only applicable here?

For now, he would use his MP on Comprehension to obtain some more information on the system itself.

Harry spent his accumulated experience and it was enough for him to reach level three. He added five AP to his Vitality, which increased his HP by another fifty, and his Stamina by fifty. Finished with the task, he cast the Lumos Spell and returned to the camp.

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

"Wake up!"

Harry opened his eyes and glared at the irritating fairy. He dismissed the prompt that informed him that his resources had been restored and sat up on the bedroll. It was morning the next day, and he had been missing from the Dursleys for nearly twenty hours.

He looked down at the bedroll. It was strange how easy it was to fall asleep. Did it have some special effect that helped in that regard? He slept like a log for sixteen of the last twenty hours.

"Are your wings better now?" Harry asked.

"Yep!" Celeste flew up and around his head to demonstrate her ability.

"How were you injured anyway? I didn't think the zombies could reach you in the air."

"Zombies are not the only thing in this cave," Celeste scowled. "There are undead bats as well."

"Something to look forward to," Harry muttered. "So, I have been meaning to ask more about this world. Dimensia, you call it?"

"Ask away," Celeste said, waving her hand.

"How big is it? Is everything here a part of the system?"

"Not telling," Celeste sniffed, flying down and landing on the bedroll next to a half-eaten apple. His bag, which he had placed beside the bedroll, had been opened by her.

"Hey! That's my apple that you stole."

"I was hungry," Celeste shrugged.

Harry grabbed the bag and retrieved the other half of the loaf. He was hungry, and he wasn't going to let Celeste steal that as well.

"Well, I need to continue exploring this cave," Harry said. "So I need to get rid of the zombies. You are welcome to join me. Do you have any useful skills that can help?"

"Maybe," Celeste replied. "Have you explored this area to the fullest extent? From where I started, there were two directions to choose from. I just chose this direction."

"I started out in this camp," Harry said. "I have already explored my side. It's a dead end."

"I was afraid of that," Celeste sighed.

"Do you have a map of the area you explored?"

"A map?"

“In your menu.”

“That’s not a feature I have,” Celeste said. “It’s not something I was told about in my-”

“Yes?”

“Nothing.”

Harry sighed. He couldn't blame her for keeping her mouth shut about herself. It wasn’t like he was giving out details either.

“Did you find anything in your explorations?” Harry asked.

Celeste retreated from him. “Hey, any treasure I find is mine.”

“I don’t want your treasure,” Harry retorted. “I wanted to know if you found any gamer dimension notes. I have a quest to collect them all in this cave.”

“Maybe,” Celeste said coyly.

“Whatever,” Harry sighed, finishing off the last of his bread. “I don't know why I even bothered to ask. Where would you hide them anyway? You are a midget.”

“I have an Inventory!”

“What?”

“You mean you don’t have one?” Celeste asked, radiating smugness.

“Are you planning to tell me what it is?”

“No!”

“Okay,” Harry said, standing up. “Then this is where our cooperation ends. It was a pleasure meeting you.”

Harry picked up his bag. Looking down at his discarded clothes, he sighed. If he wanted to get out of here, he needed them. He imagined the reaction if he showed up at the Dursleys wearing his current outfit. Reorganising his bag, he placed them at the bottom and the rest on top.

He cast another Lumos spell and entered the passage. He had only travelled a short distance when Celeste called out to him. Turning, he saw the fairy flying towards him, with a panicky look on her face. She hovered in front of his face.

“Wait, I will tell you about the Inventory, if you agree to help me kill the monsters and get out of here.”

“Agreed,” Harry said quickly. Although he didn’t know her abilities, she must have some capability if she was already level four.

“But first, what is that stick that gives off the light?” Celeste asked, pointing at his wand.

“This is my wand. I am a wizard,” Harry replied.

“Never heard of them.”

“It’s a human with magic. It allows me to do all sorts of neat things.”

“Oh,” Celeste nodded. “Everything here can cast magic without the aid of a tool. You may want to learn how at some point.”

“Really?” Harry grinned. That sounded awesome. Being able to cast magic wandlessly was supposed to be very difficult in the magical world. It would be amazing if he could find a shortcut. “So, what is an Inventory?”

“It’s a storage system where you can store any number of items,” Celeste said, sitting herself down on his shoulder. “It has no weight, and it keeps everything perfectly preserved.”

“How do I learn it?” Harry asked eagerly.

“It’s not easy. Not something you can learn in a week at least, depending on your aptitude.”

“Damn,” Harry sighed, disappointed. "Oh well. It’s not like I really need it at the moment. Let’s get going.”

They returned to the gate again, but Celeste told him to stop at the top of the stairs.

"We need to create a party," Celeste said.

"A party?" Harry asked, confused. "I don't think this is the time to celebrate."

Celeste rolled her eyes. "No, dummy. A party is where two or more members join up and share their experience points. It also allows us to communicate with each other through the system menu over long distances."

“Oh, cool. How do we do that?” Harry asked.

“I got it,” Celeste said.

A pop-up window appeared in front of Harry.

======

Celeste has invited the player to join the party ‘Fairy’s Rule.’

Accept the invitation? Y/N

======

Harry pressed ‘Yes’ and blinked when another image appeared in his user interface, on the middle left side of his field of vision. It was a portrait of Celeste, showing her level and resources.

“Ha! You really are the Dungeon Diver!” Celeste exclaimed.

“What?” Harry turned his head to look at her. “How do you know?”

“I can access your status through the party menu,” Celeste said sheepishly. “You didn’t change the settings to turn your status page to private.”

“You tricked me,” Harry growled, taking a swipe at her.

Celeste yelled and flew off his shoulder. “Wait, this is a misunderstanding.”

Harry chased her down the passageway as she fled. He was determined to catch the little menace and wring her neck.

“I have two of those notes,” Celeste cried. “I will give them to you as an apology.”

Harry stopped. As soon as she realised that he wasn’t chasing her anymore, Celeste stopped as well. There was no point trying to catch her, as she was faster, and could fly.

“Here,” Celeste said, and two parchments appeared in front of her, before falling to the ground.

Harry picked them up and sat down against the cave wall to read them.

“You should really change your settings,” Celeste said. “Only a total amateur would forget to change his party status to private.”

“Not helping," Harry said, focusing his attention on the first note.

Gamer's Dimensions Note #1

What is the Gamer Dimension?

The Gamer Dimension was created long ago as…………………redacted. It is a self-sustaining system that oversees the various inhabitants of this world. Unlike any other dimension, everyone's path and strength are determined by their levels, attributes, and skills.

The world is expansive and the system is constantly evolving it in order to meet the needs of its inhabitants. It is filled with numerous opportunities, treasures, and ways to strengthen themselves. However, the danger is ever-present. Make one wrong move and you may be returning to the system embrace in an instant.

The Gamer Dimension is connected to other worlds, although only one world is currently active at the moment. Dimension Divers can travel here through portals scattered across the world. To see and access them, they must have the Dimension Ring equipped. The Dimension Diver is a special existence and never meets the ring by chance.

Harry lowered the note. Although the information was illuminating, it wouldn’t help him practically. The person who gave him the ring must have been the last Dimension Diver. Why did he give it to him though? He was just a thirteen-year-old kid. If you ignored the whole Boy-Who-Lived crap, then he was nobody special.

“Take me with you, please!” Celeste pleaded.

“What?”

“To your world,” Celeste said. “This world is insane. Sure, it’s nice to visit and go digging for treasure, but it’s no place to live.”

“Is that even possible?” Harry asked. “How would you survive without the system in my world? Come to think of it, how would I?”

“Read the other note,” Celeste ordered.

Harry looked down at the other note. When he read it, a sense of excitement gripped him.

Gamer’s Note #9

Transferable abilities from the Gamer’s Dimension.

The player may receive benefits in his world depending on his actions in the Gamer’s Dimension.

Attributes

The player will benefit from at least some of the attributes gained within the Gamer’s Dimension. Let’s take strength as an example. If they increase the attribute, they will feel a difference when he returns to his world. He will be slightly stronger. As the system does not exist in the player’s world, this will not be represented by a number. However, if he increases it enough, it is definitely going to be noticeable. The amount each attribute gives is different, depending on their aptitude.

Skill and Abilities

Some skills and abilities earned within the Gamer’s Dimension may be able to be carried over when the player travels back to their world. They may operate a bit differently, as they cannot exist in the same way as before, but it is still a powerful benefit nonetheless. An example of this is wandless magic, although it will take a long time to master.

Familiars

If you find a familiar binding scroll, you may bind yourself to a creature within the Gamers Dimension if they are willing. Familiars may follow the player to their world and derive the same benefits as them. Be warned, this bond is permanent, and only death will break it. However, you will gain a companion for life who you can trust unconditionally.

Harry raised a brow at Celeste. “Are you interested in becoming my familiar?”

“It’s the only way I can escape this place,” Celeste nodded. “Do you know what this cave is specifically?”

“It’s called the Beginner’s Cave,” Harry said.

“This is a random tutorial dungeon that the system sets up for the new Dimension Diver,” Celeste said. “For some reason, the dungeon summoned me to this cave as well. I have to believe that there is a reason for it.”

“You know more than you are letting on,” Harry accused her.

“I don’t know what you are talking about.”

Harry decided to leave it alone for the moment. “What if we can’t find one of these familiar bond scrolls? Besides, we barely know each other.”

“It may take a while. They are super rare," Celeste admitted. “By that time, we would have gotten to know each other enough to decide if we could bear to live with each other.”

“Alright,” Harry nodded. He placed the notes in his database and stood up. “Then I suppose we should figure out a way to kill these zombies and get and find a way out of here.”

They descended the stairs and stepped up to the gate. Just like before, the two closest zombies noticed someone standing there and shuffled forward.

“What skills do you have?” Harry asked curiously.

“None that are offensive in nature,” Celeste replied. “They are primarily support or utility skills. I have one spell that causes damage. If you understand why I am called an Umbra Fairy, then you will know where my abilities lie.”

“Umbra,” Harry said. “So it’s shadow magic? Dark magic? Isn’t that evil?”

“As if,” Celeste scoffed. “Where are your brains? Shadow magic is neither good nor evil. It lies in the hands of the user.”

The zombies hit the gate, but Harry ignored them.

“What kinds of spells does Shadow magic employ?”

“Debilitating status effects and offensive magic that leans towards inflicting as much pain as possible,” Celeste said cheerfully. “I have two spells at the moment. One of them is Silence, which causes the target unable to cast magic. The other is Shadow Spike. A single-target offensive spell that causes the target to bleed if it penetrates into their body.

Harry grimaced. Why wasn’t he surprised that Celeste’s magic favoured spells that inflicted pain? “It doesn’t sound like your spells will be useful in this situation. Bleeding won't affect zombies, will it? ”

“Nope,” Celeste said. “And these zombies don’t have magic either. They are just your ordinary level two cannon fodder.”

“Level two?” Harry looked at the zombie's user interface with a frown. “I can’t see their level.” Now that he paid attention to it, he could see that the zombie's HP and SP were slightly higher than the ones he had already killed.

“Your Sense attribute is too low,” Celeste shrugged. “Raise it a bit, and you should be able to see it. Your Sense attribute clashes with your opponent's Willpower to determine whether you can see their status. A zombie's Willpower is not very high.”

“I see,” Harry said thoughtfully. “Well, it looks like I will do most of the heavy lifting. Once I open this gate, I will take these two out, then we can continue from there.”

“Uh, I suppose,” Celeste said, retreating up the stairs to safety.

Harry summoned his wand and cast the Unlocking Charm on the gate. Thankfully, the latch held against the two zombies' combined efforts, so he had time to prepare himself. Taking out his dagger, he stood to the side of the door and reached out to lift the latch. He timed it just as one of the zombies attempted to ram the door again. He opened it enough for the zombie to fall through before slamming it shut again before the other zombie could react. He quickly latched the gate before turning to face the zombie.

Harry quickly sidestepped it as it lunged, and it hit the gate with a bang. He stabbed it with his dagger, aiming at the back of its head. It connected, but it didn’t penetrate fully as he expected. He met some resistance, which caught him off guard. The zombie swung its arm backwards and connected with his torso. He grunted and took a few steps back from the impact, feeling his chest ache. A quick glance at his HP showed that he had lost ten per cent of his HP. The zombie packed quite a punch for such a casual attack.

"The zombie still has half its HP," Celeste called helpfully. “Try not to get hit by them. Their Strength is their highest attribute.”

The zombie turned and lunged at Harry, and he dodged the attack again. Swinging his dagger around, he sank it into the back of its head. This time, its HP bar emptied, and it crumpled to the floor.

Dagger Mastery Novice - Rank 1 -> Rank 2

“Its defence is higher than the ones I faced,” Harry groaned, rubbing his chest again.

The zombie disappeared, leaving behind a five-pound note and another red HP potion.

“You killed it on its own,” Celeste said. "So you get all the loot.”

Harry nodded and picked them up. He stored the potion in his belt and stuffed the note in his pocket.

“The ones you faced before must have been level one,” Celeste said. “The zombies in there are level two. I think there are some level-three zombies as well.”

“Great,” Harry muttered.

“If you can sneak up on them and backstab them, you can do extra damage.”

That reminded Harry that he still needed to acquire the Sneak skill. In looking at his experience points, he had just enough to learn the skill.

"Let's try it on the other one," Harry said, after obtaining the skill. “I will retreat ten yards so it returns to its original position. Although, with the noise the gate makes, I probably won’t be able to sneak up on it.”

"I am able to silence the gate," Celeste said. “The Silence spell isn't just for neutralising spellcasters. I can use it on your boots to make you sneakier as well.”

“Then let’s do it,” Harry grinned.

Harry retreated up the stairs until he was out of range of the zombie and waited for it to reset. As soon as its back was turned, Celeste cast silence on the gate and flew up and did the same for his boots.

Harry activated Sneak and crept down the stairs. He unlatched the gate and crept slowly towards the zombie. He held his breath, too scared of the zombie hearing the sound.

When he was behind the zombie, he silently rose to his feet and stabbed it in the back of the head. Its HP bar instantly dropped to zero, and it crumpled to the ground. Unfortunately, the sound was enough to alert three nearby zombies, so Harry quickly retreated behind the gate and slammed it shut.

“That was an excellent effort,” Celeste nodded in satisfaction.

Harry noticed he had received a notification, so he opened it to read it. He gained a new skill called Backstab. If he used it several more times, he would have another skill to learn.

Over the next few minutes, Harry killed several more zombies using the same method. They were still spaced out enough, so he didn’t need Celeste to separate them. He was racking up experience points, although he noticed that Celeste was getting a small portion for her contribution with the Silence spell. After killing ten of them, Harry retreated back to the gate. There were still another ten left in the front half of the chamber. He wasn't worried about the zombies beyond that at the moment.

Harry had gained another level in Dagger Mastery, and a notification was waiting for him.

======

The player has fulfilled the first requirement to learn Backstab

*Backstab | Active | Novice | Rank: 1 | Next: 0% | Cost: 8 SP |

• Increases short-bladed weapons' damage by 50% when remaining undetected and striking the enemy from behind.

Do you want to spend eight hundred experience points to acquire the skill? Y/N

======

Harry was torn about whether to level up or acquire the skill. Ultimately, it was the skill’s amazing damage potential that decided it for him. If he wanted to kill level-three zombies in one shot, he needed it. After pressing ‘Yes’, Harry acquired the skill.

“The last group of ten is too bunched up,” Harry said. “I will need you to divide them up. Lead one here, and I will shut the gate to prevent it from attacking us. When it turns around to return to its original spot, I will sneak up on it and backstab it.”

“Fine,” Celeste sighed. “Get ready.”

Thankfully, Celeste separated one zombie from the group easily. Because she was so small, she could attract one without alerting the rest of the group. Celeste led it back to the gate and Harry shut it before it could pass through. Harry retreated until the zombie turned around, and then snuck up behind it to kill it.

Harry killed another nine until there was only one left on their side of the chamber. He earned another skill level in Dagger Mastery, and two in Backstab. This time, he spent his experience and increased his level to four. He spent five AP on Strength, raising his Stamina by another fifty.

“Let’s kill the last one,” Harry said. “No need to lure it here.”

Harry sneaked back into the chamber and approached the last zombie. Despite it being a level three, he wasn't bothered. As long as he could backstab it, it would die instantly.

Harry rose up and stabbed the zombie in the back of the head. It collapsed to the floor, dead. He grinned. Now that he had cleared out the first half of the chamber, he could pick up the loot.

He froze in shock as the gate slammed shut, trapping him and Celeste in the chamber. The hairs on his neck stood up and he turned around. The zombies on the other side of the chamber were shuffling towards him.

“It was a trap,” Celeste cried.

Harry sprinted to the gate and tried to unlock it, but it wouldn’t budge. Gritting his teeth he turned around to face the twenty zombies.

“This will be a pain.”

So, what do you think? Harry and Celeste face off against a horde of zombies next time. Can they come out on top?

Thanks for reading.