"Looks like things are about to get busy!" Rhys could not help stretching.
Hopefully, he could finish preparing the potion before the next stage of the tournament began. Then...
As he imagined the future, Rhys suddenly thought of a problem.
According to Rowena's description, the newly revived little Godric would be extremely weak, almost like an infant.
Who would take care of him?
After thinking it over, Rhys decided to bury the question in his heart and not mention it.
After all, his current identity was that of a student. The task of caring for Gryffindor definitely would not fall to him.
Let Rowena and Helga worry about it!
"Thank you for your hard work, Salazar," Helga said earnestly. "If there is anything you need us to do, just say so. There is no need to be polite."
"Dumbledore has a phoenix, right? I want some of its blood and tears. Get me a few feathers as well."
After hesitating for two seconds, Rhys ultimately decided against asking Helga and Rowena to collect the phoenix's droppings.
If he really brewed a potion using phoenix dung, Godric would never forgive him after being revived.
"No problem." Helga agreed without hesitation. It was a simple matter for her.
Rhys thought for a moment. If those materials still failed to produce a suitable potion, then he would have no choice but to consider using the Basilisk's venom.
After asking Helga to collect the phoenix materials, Rhys felt that he had nothing else to entrust to his companions.
However, he still had one question for Rowena.
"Rowena, is the passage of time inside your small world different from the outside?"
Rhys had already noticed this issue while he was inside the alchemical world.
The people there seemed to possess a great deal of history.
The previous Great Calamity appeared to have happened an extremely long time ago from their perspective.
That made no sense.
Rowena had only been awake for a few years. How could the people have experienced so much time?
The only explanation was that time flowed differently.
"It is indeed different. Sometimes I deliberately accelerate the flow of time. A single day outside might equal a hundred years inside the world. However, after the world spiralled out of control, I could no longer freely accelerate its time.
"Only after you contestants entered and gave me anchors could I forcibly stabilise the flow of time at a one-to-one ratio."
Rhys's eyes widened.
"Then under normal circumstances, what is the ratio?" Rhys suddenly became nervous.
"It isn't fixed. At the lower end, one day outside might equal one year inside. At the higher end, ten years is also possible."
Rhys: !!!
There were a full two months before the second stage of the tournament began.
That meant at least sixty years would pass inside!
If they were unlucky, it might even be six hundred years!
"That is why I gradually lost control. Time passes too quickly inside, so powerful beings emerge more frequently as well."
Rowena spread her hands.
"Even when I repeatedly unleash Great Calamities, I still cannot eliminate those who pose a genuine threat. Moreover, after each calamity, the flow of time suddenly accelerates. It is the world's will resisting me."
Only someone like Rhys, who personally entered the world and seized fragments of its origin, could truly weaken the runaway alchemical world.
Rowena's Great Calamities merely treated the symptoms.
Rhys's actions struck at the root.
Rhys rubbed his hands together.
This was going to be rather troublesome...
"Oh, right. There's one more thing."
Just as the discussion came to an end and Rhys was about to leave Helga's office, he seemed to suddenly remember something and casually added,
"During the next stage, have the contestants bring some antidotes with them. I have a feeling the organisers' protective measures aren't quite adequate."
The remark seemed to come out of nowhere, but his two old friends had known him for years and understood him almost as well as he understood himself. Naturally, they grasped what he was implying.
Rhys also knew that saying this was practically the same as confessing to them, but he had no choice. What Rowena had said about the difference in the flow of time was genuinely frightening.
He had conducted a small experiment before leaving the alchemical world.
If only a few months or even several years passed, Rhys felt that it would probably be fine. But according to Rowena, every day outside equalled at least a year inside, and that made him rather uneasy.
The potion he had released was no ordinary poison. It possessed the ability to evolve slowly...
Even Rhys could not predict what his experiment might become after developing for decades or even centuries. It had most likely already escaped his control.
If it suddenly poisoned more than half the contestants to death, that would cause serious trouble. Therefore, Rhys suggested strengthening their protections.
As long as he prepared the contestants in advance, there should not be any problems...
Probably?
Rowena and Helga stared directly at Rhys until he began to feel slightly guilty.
Then he thought about it again and immediately regained his confidence.
That alchemical world was meant to be destroyed anyway. What was wrong with conducting a few experiments there? If they had a problem with it, they could simply refuse to let him enter again!
Rhys, convinced that Rowena had no choice but to rely on him, instantly recovered his composure.
"Is there anything else? If not, I'll go back and rest."
Rowena and Helga exchanged a glance before Helga sighed.
"You can go."
Rowena had no particular objection to what Salazar had done. This was an unspoken understanding between them, essentially compensation for all the effort Salazar had put into cleaning up her mess.
If the entrance to the alchemical world had not already been sealed after the first stage, preventing contestants from entering again, she would certainly have sent Salazar back inside and allowed him to experiment to his heart's content.
"Don't take things too far," Helga warned Rhys seriously.
She would turn a blind eye to whatever reckless experiments he conducted inside the alchemical world. But if he brought those things into the real world and accidentally released them, then even if he was Salazar, she would not let him off!
"I understand."
Rhys nodded solemnly.
He understood perfectly well how dangerous his experiments were. If they spiralled out of control, Hogwarts might be transformed into a land of death in an instant.
After saying goodbye to his two old friends, Rhys left Helga's office and slipped all the way back to the Slytherin common room.
Sure enough, they were holding a ball.
Just as Rhys entered, Malfoy appeared before him, spinning around while holding Pansy Parkinson in his arms.
Malfoy: "..."
Rhys: "..."
The atmosphere became slightly awkward.
Malfoy needed only half a second to make his decision.
Pretending he had seen nothing, he continued holding Pansy and danced away to the music.
Rhys felt immensely relieved that he had not attended Slytherin's celebration.
He walked straight towards the dormitory, intending to remain there until the tedious party ended.
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12 Chaps ahead at Patreon.com/HornyFBI