69novels Chapter 174 Winter Quidditch and Field Observation
Chapter 174 Winter Quidditch and Field Observation
Chapter 174 Winter Quidditch and Field Observation
The capture operation planned for Sunday morning was temporarily put on hold amidst tense and orderly preparations, while another important event on Hogwarts' schedule was scheduled for Saturday afternoon, on the chilly Quidditch pitch, Ravenclaw School versus Hufflepuff School.
Despite the biting cold, the Quidditch stadium stands were still packed with students bundled up in warm clothes. Coins and flags representing the various colleges waved in the stands, and cheers and shouts of encouragement created a wave of warmth that chased away the chill.
"Come on, Wesley! Use your power to break through their defense!" Ernesto, wrapped in a thick scarf, sat on the Ravenclaw bench, patting Wesley, who was wearing the Chaser's dark blue jersey and stretching his wrists and ankles, on the shoulder. As a substitute Seeker, his main task today was to observe and analyze the opposing Seeker's flight patterns, and the rest was to cheer on his teammates.
"Watch this! I'm going to send the Quaffle flying into their goal like a cannonball!" Wesley's face was flushed with excitement and nervousness as he jumped up and down. "Karen! Fabian! Got your seats in the stands? Remember to record it for me with that precious thing!"
"Don't worry, the location is excellent, and the equipment is ready," Karen's voice came from high up in the stands. He and Fabian didn't squeeze into the most enthusiastic group of students, but instead chose a spot slightly back with a wide view. In front of them were three somewhat bulky-looking devices—the first prototype of the Charms Club's "Quidditch Eye" project.
These three prototypes were provided by Professor Flitwick and modified by Cullen herself. The main body resembled a brass telescope tube magnified three times, fixed on a heavy tripod, and was even larger than a typical astronomical telescope. Moreover, not only these three observation machines outside the arena, but also the Loitering Ball, the Quake Ball, and the Golden Snitch inside the arena had been modified. Professor Flitwick had previously discussed this with Professor McGonagall and Professor Sprout, and everyone was very interested in these novel gadgets. For Cullen, this modification was indeed much easier than building from scratch, partly due to her far greater knowledge of alchemy than before.
Professor Flitwick himself stood nearby, engrossed in a thick fur cloak, his pointed hat askew in the wind, but his small eyes gleamed with excitement. Two other senior members of the Charms Club also volunteered to help—Kryon, a fifth-year Ravenclaw student, and Scribe, a sixth-year Ravenclaw student.
"Is everything ready, children?" Professor Flitwick rubbed his hands together, his voice slightly hoarse from the cold wind. "Let's see what the test data for this thing looks like."
"Professor, all assumptions are complete, and the magic input is stable!" Creon stared intently at the display on an auxiliary crystal ball.
The slowly moving dotted markers representing fourteen players and three balls—"I wonder if they can clearly distinguish so many high-speed targets at the same time!"
"The stabilizers are working well, Professor!" Richard answered loudly, carefully checking the mithril wire connections between the three devices to ensure a smooth flow of magic. "The synchronization runes are also calibrated! I'm confident our results are absolutely fine!" He looked towards the court.
His eyes were full of anticipation.
"Karen, your control center is your brain," Professor Flitwick turned to Karen, "Let me confirm again, are you ready?"
Karen stood between the three prototypes, facing a glowing crystal ball displaying runes representing the status of each functional module. He was completely focused, his eyes glued to the displays showing the status of each module, confirming the details. "The basic link is established, Professor. We can begin recording match data now. We just wait for the match to begin!" His voice was steady, tinged with a barely perceptible excitement.
"Great! The game is about to begin! On your marks!" Professor Flitwick shouted excitedly.
As Mrs. Hooch's sharp whistle pierced the cold air, more than a dozen brooms shot towards the gloomy sky like arrows released from a bow!
The game officially begins!
Almost as soon as the broom took off, all the modules on the crystal ball in front of Karen lit up instantly! Fourteen blue dots representing players and three colored dots representing balls appeared simultaneously in the area representing the tracking module. Red represented the Quaffle, black represented the Loopball, and the Golden Snitch was naturally represented in gold, moving at an astonishing speed on the grid representing the court!
"Machine is running normally! All targets locked! Load—a bit high, but stable!" Creon reported excitedly, looking at the equally active light spots in his crystal ball.
"Activate track recording!" Karen commanded, decisively tapping the corresponding function module on the crystal ball.
Yu Yiyi!
The three prototypes simultaneously emitted a deep, powerful hum! Then, the crystal ball suddenly shone brightly, projecting a slightly blurry but clearly structured 3D image of a Quidditch pitch in front of Cullen! In the image, the points of light representing the players and the ball trailed long, differently colored lines! Although the details of the players' movements were indistinct, and there was some jitter and noise at the edges of the image, the overall position...
The direction of movement and velocity vector are clearly displayed in real time!
"Merlin's Beard! It's really done!" Fabian stood next to Karen, watching the floating, flowing magical projection.
Fantastic light and shadow reflected off his glasses, and his face was filled with amazement. He temporarily forgot about Quirrell's plans, completely stunned by the magical and technological creations before him.
"Look at the Loitering!" Creon pointed at the screen. When the Ravenclaw batter slammed down a Loitering that was trying to sneak up on their Chaser, the black dot representing the Loitering instantly turned a flashing bright red! And a small, explosive shockwave symbol, representing a powerful hit, was left at the starting point! Simultaneously, a waveform representing the magical impact at the moment of impact flashed rapidly in a corner of the control panel!
"Power direction and intensity captured successfully! Trajectory line color change successful!" Creon clenched his fist excitedly.
"Interactive capture!" Karen reminded him, her eyes glued to the panel. When a Hufflepuff Chaser swerved to avoid a stray ball, narrowly missing a Ravenclaw Beater, their broomsticks almost colliding, the dots on their magical projections instantly turned red! And a flashing orange dot marked their closest point!
"Danger approaching! Contact point marker! Timestamp recorded!" Karen quickly confirmed, and the recording box emitted a slight click. "Recording successful!"
"That's fantastic!" Professor Flitwick was so happy he almost jumped for joy, and Richard quickly supported him to prevent him from being blown over by the wind.
The match was fiercely contested in the cold wind. Ravenclaw's chasers worked together seamlessly, with Wesley being particularly aggressive. With his outstanding strength and explosiveness, he repeatedly charged into Hufflepuff's defense like a bull. Although his accuracy was slightly lacking, one powerful shot slammed into the post, eliciting a huge chorus of sighs of regret. However, his unstoppable momentum created immense chaos and pressure for the opposition.
"Wesley! Open space on the left! Pass!" Ravenclaw's captain yelled in the air.
Wesley heard it, and out of the corner of his eye, he spotted his teammate's position. Without hesitation, he hurled the heavy Quaffle in his hand forcefully to the left! It was a wide-ranging lateral pass! The ball traveled at incredible speed, tracing a low, powerful arc!
"Trajectory recording!" Karen immediately locked onto the Quake. On the magical projection, the red trajectory line of the Quake clearly showed its sharp flight arc and speed changes. The recording box emitted a louder click, and the parchment rolled rapidly.
The ball flew precisely through the crowd and into the hands of an unmarked teammate, who easily put the ball into Hedgehog's goal!
"Ravenclaw scores!" Lee Jordan's commentary echoed throughout the stadium.
"Beautiful!" The Ravenclaw students in the stands erupted in enthusiastic cheers and footsteps, trying to dispel the chill.
"Well done, Wesley!" Ernesto shouted from the bench.
"Great shot! Perfect pass! Clear and powerful trajectory!" Creon exclaimed.
The match had reached its climax. Both Seekers hovered high in the sky, their sharp eyes searching for the faint golden light. Karen diverted some of her attention to control a prototype machine specifically to track the two Seekers and any potential Golden Snitch. At the edge of the magical projection, two blue dots representing the Seekers and an extremely faint golden dot representing the Golden Snitch appeared and disappeared.
Suddenly, Hufflepuff's Seeker swooped down!
"The Golden Snitch!" exclamations rang out from the stands.
Ravenclaw's Seeker immediately gave chase! The two figures, like eagles hunting their prey, engaged in a fierce pursuit in the air!
"Lock on the Golden Snitch! Track with maximum sensitivity!" Karen immediately gave the order, and the core brightness of the prototype machine responsible for tracking the Golden Snitch suddenly increased to blinding levels! The tube body slightly adjusted its angle, emitting a faint humming adjustment sound. On the magic projection, the golden dot representing the Golden Snitch became slightly clearer and more stable. Although it was still flickering, its movement trajectory was painstakingly captured and drawn! An extremely thin, intermittent golden trajectory line appeared in the projection!
"We've got it! Although the signal is very weak and erratic!" Creon exclaimed in surprise, his heart pounding in his throat.
The chase lasted for more than ten seconds, until the Golden Snitch made an incredibly nimble zigzag change of direction and disappeared into the huge shadow of the stands at the edge of the field. The two Seekers helplessly pulled up their brooms. But this brief chase had already accumulated extremely valuable experience for the "Record Eye" to capture high-speed, tiny targets.
The match ended with the Hufflepuff Seekers catching the Golden Snitch in overtime. Hufflepuff won. The Ravenclaw students, though disappointed, applauded their players' fighting spirit, especially Wesley's fierce performance. Although Wesley didn't score, his crucial assist and the chaos he created were invaluable.
"Match over! Stop all recording!" Karen ordered the moment the final whistle blew.
The buzzing gradually subsided, the runic light dimmed, and the crystal core cooled down. The magical projection emanating from the processing core slowly dissipated into the cold air.
"Quick! Look at our spoils!" Professor Flitwick exclaimed impatiently, his voice trembling with excitement.
Karen, Creon, Richard, and Fabian carefully opened the three recording boxes. Inside were thick stacks of specially made parchment covered with densely packed, shimmering runes and intricate patterns of trajectory lines.
"This is..." Creon pulled out a sheet that clearly depicted the movement paths of all the player dots over a period of time, interwoven into a complex and dynamic network diagram. "Player movement trajectory network! My God, it really recorded everything! Although the dots and lines overlap somewhat, the information is complete!"
Richard picked up another sheet, which highlighted several key running ball hits and Quaffle passes, clearly marked with power and direction values, trajectory lines, impact points, explosion symbols, and the symbol for Wesley's powerful throw. "Trajectory visualization! Power characteristics! Clearly identifiable! Fantastic!"
Karen flipped through the parchment recording the interactions, which clearly marked the time and location coordinates of several near-dangerous encounters and suspected minor collisions. "The interaction capture markings are accurate, and the timing matches the situation on the field."
He then found the sheets of paper that recorded the tracking of the Golden Snitch. The faint, intermittent golden trajectory line on them was real, and next to it was a unique waveform diagram of the captured, faint magical disturbance. "The magical disturbance of the Golden Snitch has been captured and recorded by the equipment for the first time! Although the signal is weak, the waveform characteristics are obvious!" Karen's voice carried an undisguised joy of success.
Creon said with some regret, "But we didn't collect much action foul data this time, and I noticed some issues with the color design for the players during the game. They were all uniformly blue, which made it difficult to distinguish between the two teams' players."
Richard immediately responded, "The first question is simple. We'll find a Slytherin match later, and the foul data you want will definitely meet your requirements. As for the second one, it depends on whether Cullen can make some further adjustments."
"I've noticed the issues the two seniors mentioned, and I'll try to debug and improve them later!" Karen replied after a moment's thought.
"Incredible! Absolutely incredible, kids!" Professor Flitwick's beard fluttered in the wind with excitement. "A landmark success! This proves our idea is entirely feasible! The next step is optimization! Optimize the tracking accuracy and stability! Optimize the trajectory clarity! Optimize the data processing speed! And that long-awaited real-time playback interface!" He patted Karen on the shoulder forcefully. "Karen, you're the hero of this experiment!"
Creon was already excitedly planning: "I suggest we find time to optimize and perfect it immediately! We must present a more perfect version at the Academy Cup finals! Let everyone see it!"
Karen looked at the excited professor and his companions, then at the invaluable raw data in the recording box, and a genuine smile spread across his face. The pure sense of accomplishment brought by the technological breakthrough temporarily dispelled the gloom surrounding Quirrell and Voldemort. He carefully put away the recording box, his gaze unconsciously sweeping towards the direction of the teachers' stands.
"It's a pity Quirrell didn't come." A faint sense of regret crossed his mind. Otherwise, in such a chaotic and lively environment, he might have been able to try to capture some of Quirrell's scattered "fragments." Karen always carried a Shadow Bottle with him. However, this thought only flashed through his mind. Today's successful technical verification was already encouraging enough.
"Let's go," Karen said to Fabian, then waved to Wesley, who was high-fiving his teammates on the field below, still looking excited despite the loss, and Ernesto, who was walking over from the bench. "Go back and work through this precious data. The library operation tomorrow morning will proceed as planned."
After the initial excitement of the technical tests subsided, Karen's thoughts were once again occupied by a more clandestine plan targeting the Dark Soul Shards.
The cheers of the Hufflepuff students celebrating their victory echoed in the cold wind, but Karen's mind had already calmed down as she made final preparations for the operation at the library entrance on Sunday morning.