"What astonishing power…" Rhys clenched his fist. He even had the feeling now that he could face a wizard who possessed a domain without opening his own.
Because at this very moment, the magic within his body had reached its absolute peak, as if he had stored an entire domain inside himself.
Helga also drank her share of the wine, a flush of crimson rising on her face.
After enduring a brief surge of emotions, Helga absorbed the energy within the wine as well. The unnatural redness on her face gradually turned into a healthy glow, and even some of the wrinkles on her skin faded away.
"I feel like that single sip could let me live a few more months," Helga joked to Rhys after burying the surging emotions deep in her heart.
"Then this must be the most luxurious Elixir of Life in the world."
"Unfortunately, the gods of this world are already extinct, and the rate of conversion is far too slow."
The two of them exchanged a smile.
"Let's get moving. If we don't go do something soon, I feel like I'm going to burst from all this magic," Rhys said as he stood up and headed for the door first.
"By the way, do we need to inform Dumbledore?" Helga suddenly thought of the school's nominal headmaster.
If they were going to modify the school's protective magic, it would definitely alert the Headmaster. It would be better to explain things to him first, so as not to give him a scare.
Rhys naturally had no objections. He only reminded Helga not to let Dumbledore know that he was involved as well. If Dumbledore wanted to help, Helga would also have to find a way to keep him from getting involved.
"Even now, you still don't want him to know about your existence?" Helga asked with a smile.
"It's too early." Rhys felt that expecting a Headmaster from Gryffindor to trust him was nothing short of wishful thinking. Once his identity was exposed, his situation at the school would probably become much more difficult. Dumbledore also possessed a domain.
"You have to understand me. You're a Hufflepuff, after all, but I'm a Slytherin, and Dumbledore is a Gryffindor."
"I don't think he's as narrow-minded as you make him sound," Helga muttered softly, but Rhys only shook his head and did not respond.
"Alright then." Since Salazar insisted, Helga did not try to persuade him any further.
She quickly headed to the Headmaster's office and met with Dumbledore once again.
Although Dumbledore was a little surprised that this "Professor White" had come to visit him for the second time in such a short span of time, he still politely invited her to sit down and talk.
At the same time, the aura she was giving off made Dumbledore secretly startled. It seemed that in just a short time apart, this professor had undergone quite a noticeable change.
"Care for a candy?"
"No need." Helga declined his kindness and told Dumbledore the purpose of her visit.
"Do you need any help?" After hearing Professor White's plan, Dumbledore did not hesitate and directly asked if there was anything he could assist with.
In his view, Professor White's willingness to renovate the school's defensive magic was truly wonderful. No one was more suitable for this task than she was. Even if she had not brought it up, he had planned to hint at it to her in a few days anyway.
Of course, if Professor White did not exist, Dumbledore himself would have found a way to reinforce the defensive magic as well. All of this was preparation for the future.
"I'm afraid not," Helga said honestly, delivering a rather blunt answer.
Indeed, the magical system Dumbledore commanded was completely incompatible with hers and Salazar's. Leaving aside the question of how Salazar would position himself afterward, the mere clash of their three systems would already be more than enough trouble.
"Ah, I see." Dumbledore was not surprised at all. He simply sat back in his chair and wished Professor White every success.
After Professor White left the office, Dumbledore fell into deep thought. She had not been gone from his office for long before coming up with a new idea. It looked very much like she had discussed something with someone else. How interesting…
Still, Dumbledore had no intention of digging deeper. In his view, everyone had their own secrets, and rashly pursuing every truth would likely only bring negative consequences.
Professor White was someone he could trust completely. Dumbledore believed that when the time was right, she would tell him everything herself.
While Dumbledore was lost in thought, Hogwarts' defensive magic had already been quietly activated. A transparent membrane spread over the castle, covering the lawns and greenhouses outside, all the way to the edge of the Forbidden Forest.
This was the protective range that Salazar and the other three had designated for the school back then.
When she arrived at the school gates, the starting point of the defensive magic, Helga found that Salazar was already waiting there.
"Let's begin." Rhys said nothing more, simply drawing his wand. Helga took out hers as well.
Magic flowed into their eyes, and the world before them changed. Above Hogwarts hung a translucent film, densely covered with runic inscriptions.
"The magic system of the Norse gods is really quite useful. It's a pity that later generations never managed to learn their magic. In the end, only the symbolic meaning of runes was passed down."
"They couldn't even fully preserve their own wizarding heritage. How could we expect them to understand the spell systems of those Nordic gods?"
"Don't put it that way. The study of manal flow was simply eliminated in the process of magic evolving and renewing itself. No one ever imagined that not learning about mana flow would actually lead to the loss of the domain technique. That's what's truly unfortunate."
Rhys and Helga exchanged a few casual remarks, then began updating the defensive magic.
Though rather than calling it an update, it was more accurate to say they were adding new functions to it.
The two of them first worked together to add another layer of protection to the existing magical barrier, then began inscribing runes upon it.
Under their combined efforts, one rune after another started to appear across the shield.
"Destruction alert, add it."
"Concealment, add."
"Automatic magic absorption, add."
"…"
Before long, Rhys and Helga had finished installing the basic functions of the barrier.
"So, what do you want the outside world to see?" Rhys asked for Helga's opinion.
"Let's make it look like how it was when we first arrived here back then. Calm lake water, thin mist, and barren grasslands, as if Hogwarts had never existed at all."
Memories surged like a tide. Rhys recalled the day Rowena brought them here.
...
"Hey, Helga, I had a strange dream last night!"
"A dream? Wizards don't just dream for no reason. Rowena, would you like a bottle of Calming Draught? I also have Anti-Evil Potion, freshly developed—"
"Salazar, shut up!" Rowena snapped at Slytherin, cutting off his idea of feeding her some strange potion, then told her friends about the dream she had last night.
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12 Chaps ahead at Patreon.com/HornyFBI