Chapter 22 Quidditch Temporary Selection Test

The sun gradually sank in the sky, appearing and disappearing in the swirling clouds. The golden glow turned into beams of light, shining through the cracks in the clouds and falling towards the distant mountains. Amidst this grandeur, a sense of the old man's twilight crept in.

The weather was still cold, and the cold wind whistled on the Quidditch pitch. In the distance, there seemed to be faint rustling sounds coming from the Forbidden Forest.

Maca and Charlotte arrived at the pitch together. Maca noticed that the Quidditch pitch's grass was obviously enchanted, remaining green and lush even in the cold winter.

"You're here? Move around and warm up, the testing will begin soon." Darren welcomed Maca with a smile as he approached.

While Maca stretched his arms and legs to warm up, Darren introduced him to the official players of the Hufflepuff team. It turned out that one of the senior players was about to graduate, and upon learning about Maca's talent, he decided to retire early and focus on post-graduation employment.

Maca greeted the team members, and then he noticed another fourth-year student who would be participating in the impromptu selection with him. It was unclear whether Maca benefited from the senior player's retirement or if the fourth-year student benefited from Maca's influence, perhaps both!

"Alright, let's get started!" Darren smiled, then put on a more serious expression and began explaining the testing content to the two.

The goal of this impromptu test was to recruit a suitable Seeker.

In a Quidditch team, there are three Seekers who are responsible for passing the "Golden Snitch" to each other and attempting to score it into the three goal hoops of the opposing team. Each time the Golden Snitch enters a hoop, the team earns ten points.

The Seeker needs to have a strong sense of teamwork and be able to avoid the "Bludgers" that the opposing Beaters hit towards them—this clearly requires high flying skills from the player.

Before catching the Golden Snitch, they must try to score the Quaffle into the hoops and continuously fight for the basic score.

The retired senior player was in this position.

Therefore, this impromptu test was divided into three stages, following the usual selection process.

In the first stage, the candidates needed to participate in a test of catching and passing the Golden Snitch with the other two active Seekers, testing their reaction speed and passing accuracy.

The Golden Snitch is the only ball among the three that doesn't move on its own, and it remains fully controlled by the Seekers.

Maca sat on his broom and watched the fourth-year student not far away stiffly performing various flying maneuvers. Suddenly, he felt that maybe he could do it.

"You're doing fine, but your reaction speed is too slow. Always pay attention to your surroundings!" Charlotte, who was beside Maca, laughed and said as the other Seeker flew towards them.

She was the Hufflepuff team's Seeker and had a considerable skill level, or so it was said.

"Go, my junior. I think it's you!" Charlotte patted Maca's back with force, almost knocking him off his broom.

"Ouch! Senior, I mean—" "Stop talking and go!"

Maca felt like he was a Pokémon in Charlotte's Poké Ball, thrown forward and had to go to the field and give his all.

"Let's begin!" Kristen, the fifth-year Seeker, exclaimed and casually passed the Golden Snitch to Maca.

Maca immediately accelerated forward and caught it right at the spot where the Golden Snitch arrived. On the edge of the pitch, Captain Darren kept shouting

, "Keep moving, keep moving," urging him to move irregularly.

"Pass it to me!" the other Seeker, Charles, shouted loudly. He had already flown behind Maca at this point.

Maca, who was diving slightly downward, didn't even turn his head and threw the Golden Snitch backward from his shoulder. He had already predicted Charles's exact position.

"Oh! A beautiful reverse pass!" Darren excitedly shouted.

It had to be said that Maca had excellent observation skills. He could closely monitor the precise positions of the other two while focusing on every movement of the Golden Snitch.

"Here you go!" Kristen zoomed past beneath Maca, and at their closest moment, there was barely a foot or so of distance between them.

But Maca still firmly seized the opportunity and handed the Golden Snitch to her at that precise moment when Kristen zoomed past.

The standby players on the side couldn't help but exclaim, and the two veteran Seekers inside the pitch were excitedly exchanging glances.

The high-speed maneuver they just performed, which they hadn't intended to test, was accomplished by Maca!

The two veteran players looked at each other, intending to coordinate and perform a move they hadn't planned on.

They swiftly approached each other on their brooms and gave Maca a signal to "keep up," then flew shoulder to shoulder towards the front.

"Twenty feet apart, weaving forward, high-frequency passing!" Charles said.

Maca immediately understood that this was one of the intermediate technical maneuvers in "Quidditch Classic Moves Collection"—the Trident Attack Formation.

He quickly reached the left position and began spiraling and weaving together with the other two. At high speed, the Golden Snitch was passed back and forth between the three at an extremely rapid frequency, leaving the other team members on the sidelines holding their breath.

It wasn't until the three of them separated and made diving movements toward different goal hoops, drawing three arcs in the air and charging toward the goal hoops, that they gradually stopped.

Charles awkwardly smiled at Maca. In the final moments of the high-speed passing, he failed to catch it—it slipped from his grasp.

"Charles! It's because of your constant mistakes that we never dare to use high-difficulty moves in official matches! Let's see how you face Maca today. Remember, he's just a first-year student!" Kristen chuckled, feeling amused. She pointed her slender finger at Charles and taunted him loudly.

Maca looked at this spirited short-haired girl and recalled the feeling of cooperation they had just experienced. He had a strong sense of satisfaction.

"Oh well—I understand now! I'll practice harder next time and set a good example for Maca." Charles scratched his head and laughed along.

It seemed that Maca had already been selected by the two active Seekers in the first stage.

"Captain, I think it's settled! It's him, no doubt!" Kristen exclaimed loudly towards Captain Darren.

Maca saw Darren nodding in agreement and glanced at the other disappointed candidate, feeling that accepting this situation peacefully didn't align with the image he had been striving to portray.

He thought for a moment and then said to Darren, "I think it's better to complete the test. Otherwise, it wouldn't be fair to the senior student who participated in the selection with us."

Darren turned around and looked at the fourth-year student next to Charlotte, then nodded.

"Yes, you're right," Darren said. "Let's continue with the second stage of the test—shooting the ball into the hoops."

Of course, it wasn't as simple as just shooting the ball into the goal hoops. The goalkeeper wasn't a pushover!

And the goalkeeper for the Hufflepuff house team was their captain, Darren Chris.

"Hey, little junior! Our captain Darren's goalkeeping skills are average. Be gentle and don't hurt his self-esteem!" Charlotte teased while hugging Maca's shoulder, with no intention of lowering her voice.

"I heard everything!" Darren, who was at the goalposts not far away, turned around and intentionally glared at them with widened eyes!

The test for the fourth-year student quickly ended. They scored three out of ten shots, which was actually quite decent for a candidate. It also indicated that Darren's goalkeeping skills were indeed average.

Now it was Maca's turn. He held the Quaffle ball and looked at Darren, who seemed a bit hesitant.

"Don't worry! The stronger you are, the happier I am. After all, you're one of us, Hufflepuff!" Darren said with a smile to Maca.

Maca nodded in response, letting go of his doubts, and flew towards the right goal hoop.

Darren immediately reacted and moved slightly to the right, trying to guess whether Maca was preparing to shoot or just trying to shake him off.

He could see the flying movements Maca had just performed, the smooth and swift small arcs indicating his unquestionable agility.

Closer, even closer, Maca indeed began to ascend and rotate.

Darren immediately moved towards the center hoop, but to his surprise, Maca only ascended and didn't make any lateral movement.

It was a feint! Deceiving the goalkeeper with the illusion of a small rotational movement, returning to the middle hoop for defense, and using the rotational force to quickly return to the height of the side hoop to shoot.

The Quaffle ball was predictably shot into the empty right hoop, a beautiful goal!

The ten shots didn't take long. Maca scored 90 points against Darren's defense without showing any mercy. If it hadn't been for Darren's fingertips grazing the last ball, Maca would have probably achieved a perfect score.

"Amazing, amazing!" Darren greeted Maca with a pained expression as he flew towards the sidelines. He continued, "In this year's Quidditch Cup, you'll be the secret weapon of our Hufflepuff team! No, the super secret weapon!"

"I've never seen a newcomer with such immense talent before! It's like those prodigies in professional tryouts!"

"Don't say that, Senior Darren. Quidditch is a team sport, not something one person can handle the entire match," Maca said with a smile.

And that was the truth. Take the World Cup, for example. It always had exceptionally skilled elite players, but so what? In the total points system of Quidditch matches, winning more matches didn't guarantee the championship. Individual heroism was always just a joke.

Even the Golden Snitch, worth 150 points,

paled in comparison to the foundational score achieved through high-level teamwork. Not to mention the individual skills of the Seeker—team synergy was the key.

"Next is the final stage. The test is simple: try to avoid the Chasers' attacks as much as possible!"