Chapter 306: I, Am No Longer Human!
Why did Aisen suddenly think of such a question?
It was actually because the second task of the Triwizard Tournament was to be held underwater, and he suddenly thought of a question. That was, when he dived into the water, did he still need to cast the Bubblehead Charm?
After all, he had previously inscribed waterproof and fireproof runes on himself.
So, if he didn't cast a Bubblehead Charm on himself, could he move freely underwater? Or to extend the question, did he still need oxygen? Uh, he was sure about this, because he had stayed on the Moon before, and he really couldn't stay there for a long time.
However, Aisen seemed to remember that after Voldemort regained his strength, he no longer needed to eat. This was also a sign of being 'non-human'.
As for Aisen himself, he ate and drank as usual every day, and of course, he wouldn't test whether he would starve to death if he didn't eat. So, Aisen had never thought about this aspect.
Of course, this time he wanted to solve this problem, not to say that he wouldn't eat or drink in the future or anything. You know, eating and drinking were originally a kind of enjoyment, and he certainly wouldn't give it up.
Just thinking that he needed the Bubblehead Charm to move freely underwater for a long time made Aisen feel very awkward. After all, a being who was determined to become a god still needing to breathe oxygen was really a bit too childish.
Therefore, Aisen paused his current research just to solve this problem.
However, to solve such a problem, Aisen found after a period of research that it could be achieved from two aspects. One was to directly solve the oxygen supply problem, and the other was to directly solve the energy supply problem.
What does that mean?
The first one, simply put, was that Aisen himself produced oxygen for himself to breathe. This was relatively simple, because everyone knew that in the Witch world, summoning clear water with the Water-Making Spell was an extremely simple matter.
And water could be decomposed into hydrogen and oxygen, which even an ordinary Muggle knew. So, it was a matter of course that Aisen could create a Charm that could decompose the clear water summoned by the Water-Making Spell into oxygen.
In this way, Aisen could directly send the decomposed oxygen into his mouth and nose when the time came.
On the surface, this method was similar to the effect of the Bubblehead Charm, but there was still a slight difference in the details.
The other method was to directly solve the energy supply problem.
As everyone knows, the reason why living beings need oxygen to breathe is that oxygen can transport energy to the cells throughout the body. In other words, if there was a way to directly provide energy to living beings, wouldn't they be able to live without oxygen?
However, how to provide energy to all cells in the body was a problem that was basically impossible to solve at present.
But, the world Aisen was in now had magic, and magicwas a very subjective force. So, wouldn't it be logical to supply energy to the whole body through magic?
Moreover, this idea was still very easy for Aisen to solve.
Simply put, he just needed to inscribe some Energy Absorption runes on himself.
Uh—
Aisen suddenly found that in this way, he seemed to have really become a super man!
Previously, he had solidified some magic effects on himself, making his own body become a super man-like steel body, but he had basically never thought of absorbing sunlight to become stronger or anything like that.
But if the Energy Absorption was inscribed and solidified on his body, absorbing sunlight would seem even more like a super man! This—could only be said to be a strange coincidence.
However, it was clearly different.
Because a super man could absorb sunlight to greatly increase his strength. And Aisen only absorbed energy to maintain himself and his activities.
Although the first solution could also allow Aisen to move freely in the water for a long time, it still relied on oxygen. Therefore, after careful consideration, Aisendecided to directly choose the second method and solve the problem from the energy supply level.
However, he did not directly give up the first solution, because if a new Charm for oxygen supply was researched, this new Charm could actually be cast on others, so Aisen did not plan to directly give it up.
In mid-January, Witches above the third year went to Hogsmeade to play. Harry and Ron both went, but Hermione didn't, and instead stayed in the Library by herself.
And Aisen came to his secret base in Antarctica and began his actions.
In more than half a month, Aisen had enough time to complete all the experiments in the Dream World. Therefore, Aisen was fully confident in his actions.
Creating a new Charm, then casting the Charm, then disassembling it, outlining it with magical script, combining and arranging it with runes, and expressing the magic effect.
All the processes went very smoothly for Aisen.
Standing in the open space in the middle of the Alchemy Laboratory, Aisen closed his eyes slightly, and after the God's Perspective was opened, he extended his hands in front of him and began to move them.
It was as if he was plucking the invisible strings in the air, and as his fingers plucked, ripples appeared out of thin air, spreading out like water waves.
But the range of the ripples was limited by Aisen, and they dissipated when they spread to the vicinity of the ice wall.
At the same time, silver light kept flashing with the emergence of the ripples, and then gathered in front of Aisen, turning into streams of runes.
The runes kept appearing, gathering together and rapidly shrinking, turning into tiny silver light invisible to the naked eye. Then, at the place where Aisen's fingertips rippled, runes appeared again, and then shrunk and gathered again...
This cycle continued, and in half an hour, the flashing silver light had gathered to the size of a fist.
On the surface, between Aisen's moving hands, there was only a ball of silver light constantly flashing. But in fact, if you magnified it, you would find that the ball of silver light was actually countless extremely tiny runes constantly rippling.
Everything went smoothly, and a hint of a smile appeared on Aisen's face, and then his hands stopped moving.
With a thought, the ball of silver light suddenly, like a flame, leaped in the air. Then, an extremely tiny thread shot in, and burrowed into Aisen's body.
As if it stimulated the dormant power in Aisen's body, his originally unremarkable skin showed faint rune shadows. Fortunately, all of this was within his expectations.
The silver thread that penetrated into Aisen's body did not conflict with the runes that had already penetrated into every inch of his flesh, bones, and cells.
Another half an hour passed, and the jumping ball of silver light in front of Aisen disappeared. When the last wisp of silver thread entered Aisen's body, a strange feeling instantly appeared in his heart.
If you entered Aisen's body with a microscopic view, you would find that in addition to the originally inscribed and hidden runes in all his cells, there was a new set of runes.
Then, the magic in Aisen's body surged like a tide, connecting all the runes into a whole, giving him a feeling of being complete and flawless.
Immediately afterwards, the effect of inscribing runes and solidifying magic effects began to take effect.
These runes continuously pulled the energy absorbed by the newly added runes within the surface cells of Aisen's skin. At this moment, Aisen's body was as if countless tiny engines had been installed, giving him a feeling of immense strength.
"Is it an illusion?" Opening his eyes and closing the God's Perspective, a strange look appeared on Aisen's face.
Getting up and coming outside the secret base, Aisenclenched his fist and punched directly at the ground.
Boom—
Crack—
Two sounds rang out, and a foot-deep ice pit was punched out. Immediately afterwards, as if a chain reaction had occurred, a crack extended from the outside of the ice pit to the distance.
"Reparo—"
After casually repairing the ice surface, a satisfied smile appeared on Aisen's face.
You know, this was just a casual punch from him, and he didn't use any force, but he didn't expect it to have such an effect.
He had said before that he was not as strong as a super man. But he didn't expect that after inscribing and solidifying the Energy Absorption runes on his body, his strength would actually increase. Well, this was a pleasant surprise!
Clearing the Random Thoughts from his mind, Aisen cast the Super-Sensory Charm and carefully felt the changes in himself.
Then he felt the infinite energy in the world rippling. There was the sunlight shining directly on Aisen, and the cold in the ice and snow of Antarctica. There was also the ubiquitous electromagnetic force of the entire planet and the gravity of the planet's rotation—no, he couldn't feel that!
These energies circulated endlessly throughout the week. Once they touched Aisen's skin, he directly absorbed them and turned them into the energy needed to maintain his survival and activities.
"Ah—, I finally, am no longer human!" Aisen opened his eyes and sighed, but then the smile on his face could not be suppressed and appeared.
Chapter 307: The Importance of Holding Your Breath
After completing his plan, Aisen returned to Hogwarts.
At this moment, he was sitting in his office chair, quietly contemplating everything he had felt earlier.
How to put it? Although the effect of engraving and solidifying the Energy Absorption rune on his body was excessively good, it indeed made him very satisfied.
Next, during the second task, Aisen would be able to move freely underwater.
However, should he reveal his ability to move freely underwater? After thinking for a moment, Aisen felt it was completely unnecessary; he could just cast the Bubblehead Charm on himself when the time came.
After all, his development of methods like Energy Absorption was merely a result of connecting the second task to one of his shortcomings and subsequently Make up it.
Collecting his thoughts, Aisen stood up and looked down at the grounds outside the window. At this moment, the snow that had previously covered the grounds was gradually melting.
Little Wizards walked out of the Castle, traversing the grounds, moving towards the school gate.
On the deck of the Durmstrang ship moored on the surface of the Black Lake, there were many figures.
Several students, including Viktor Krum, were wearing swimming trunks and playing diving games. It was clear they had lived in colder places for years, which significantly increased their cold tolerance.
As time passed, the atmosphere inside Hogwarts Castlegradually became oppressive again. This was because the Professors of various subjects at the school assigned too much homework, causing everyone to complain bitterly.
Consequently, before February arrived, although the Little Wizards didn't cause any major waves, some small problems would always arise.
Just when Aisen thought the oppressive atmosphere at Hogwarts would continue until the second task began, something that surprised everyone happened during the first Dueling class after February.
Towards the end of the Dueling class, Madam Maxime, the Headmistress of Beauxbatons, proactively discussed with Professor McGonagall, hoping to add some swimming training to the next few Dueling classes.
Since Dumbledore left Hogwarts, all matters, big and small, had fallen on Professor McGonagall.
For reasons unknown, Madam Maxime wanted to add swimming training to the Dueling class, but Professor McGonagall agreed out of courtesy to her as a guest.
Professor Snape was very dissatisfied with this but ultimately said nothing.
Aisen suspected this suggestion might be related to the second task of the Triwizard Tournament, but since the other party wasn't openly cheating, he didn't see it as a big deal.
After all, as a safety officer, he didn't need to care about the outcome of the competition.
As for Cedric, well, joining the swimming training along with the champions from Beauxbatons and Durmstrang, starting from the same point, there was nothing to complain about.
However, how would swimming training be useful for the second task? Would it be like Krum from Durmstrang, jumping into the lake from the deck every day?
After the Dueling class ended, several Professors gathered to discuss the matter.
"Adding swimming training to Dueling class, I think this is complete nonsense!" This was Black expressing his opinion.
"It does seem a bit of a waste of time," Professor Flitwicksaid slowly. "If it's for the second task, it would be more useful to practice more Charms!"
"Philius is right," Aisen echoed, then changed his tone. "However, could swimming training potentially increase the speed of the champions' underwater movement?"
"It's not that simple!" Professor Snape said, sitting on a soft cushion, a hint of disdain on his face. "Moving underwater is one thing, but wielding a wand and fighting is another—"
"But the time is too short, they definitely can't achieve that," Aisen mused for a moment, glancing at the Professors. "I estimate Madam Maxime's original intention was this, Minerva, what do you think?"
"It's nothing, Cedric will also participate in the training," Professor McGonagall said indifferently.
It was clear she had long seen through Madam Maxime's purpose. But just as Aisen thought, since the champions from the three schools were participating in the training together, there was no need to dwell on it too much.
"Exactly!" Professor Flitwick said with a smile. "No matter what Madam Maxime's purpose is, as long as the champions participate in the swimming training together, it can be considered fair!"
"I want to say in advance, I will not be participating in any swimming training!" Hearing this, Aisen couldn't help but roll his eyes.
Seeing Aisen's posture, the Professors all burst into laughter.
...
After returning to his office, Aisen recalled the previous conversation and found some more issues. Uh, it seemed he had discovered quite a few issues recently.
Previously, the problems Aisen had been considering, the scenarios he had imagined, were all on the ground.
The simulated battles in the Dream World were the same.
Whether it was casting various offensive Charms to attack, or transforming various methods and weapons through Transfiguration to attack, or fighting by combining Apparition Without A Trace instant movement with spellcasting, Aisen always fought opponents on open ground.
At most, he would add elements like forests, mountains, swamps, deserts, etc., to the surrounding environment.
Having said all this, what Aisen wanted to say was that he had never considered more complex combat scenarios. For example, deep sea high pressure, within volcanic magma, in outer space, and so on.
However, upon second thought, Aisen realized this issue didn't seem to be much of a problem.
Because in this world, it seemed he wouldn't encounter such complex combat scenarios at all. Yes, who would specifically go to the deep sea or space to fight Aisen? Obviously, this was impossible.
But if not considering combat, only survival ability, Aisenwas confident he could survive in these extreme environments for a long time. Especially after engraving and solidifying the Energy Absorption ability onto his body, his confidence was even greater.
Since survival ability was completely fine, it also meant that some complex environments actually had little impact on Aisen's combat spellcasting ability.
Unless—there existed some so-called "Anti-magic" places in this world.
But did such places exist in this world? They should not exist, right! Aisen was not so sure about this point.
To give a simple example, Apparition is not possible at Hogwarts. Because the entire school is under an Anti-Apparition Charm. By extension, wouldn't it be logical for some unknown place to be under an "Anti-Spellcasting" Charm?
Although such a place or such a Charm was unlikely to exist, the moment he thought about the subjective nature of magic in this world, Aisen couldn't be 100% certain.
What if this Anti-Spellcasting Charm was researched by someone someday in the future?
Once he fell into some "Anti-magic" place, how should he fight the enemy? Or rather, how should he escape? By prolonging time through the Dream World to slowly figure out a solution? Or by traveling back in time to solve it?
Tsk tsk—theoretically, both methods could give Aisenample time to solve this problem.
But in reality, without personal experience, Aisen couldn't be sure if it would work. However, it would be necessary to simulate it in the Dream World later.
Wait—it seems that possessing a super man-like body of steel is completely fearless of so-called "Anti-magic" scenarios. Oh, then never mind!
Thinking of this, the smile on Aisen's face immediately spread.
...
For the next period, just as Aisen expected, as the second task approached, the oppressive atmosphere throughout Hogwarts gradually eased.
What made the Little Wizards even more excited was that each Dueling class now included an additional half-hour of underwater combat.
Uh—perhaps it could also be called swimming training?
Anyway, older Wizards could indeed cast a few Charms while submerged.
But compared to casting spells on the ground, their casting speed and spell power were significantly reduced underwater. And their skill level only went so far.
As for fighting each other, after a few training sessions, it looked quite decent.
As for the Little Wizards below fourth year, they basically treated the underwater combat as actual swimming training.
After another Dueling class, there were only four days left until the second task.
Perhaps because of this, the Professors at the school slightly relaxed the curriculum for the Little Wizards. This caused everyone's attention to be focused on the upcoming second task.
However, these things basically had no effect on Aisen. Ever since the Energy Absorption ability was solidified and inscribed on his body, he had returned to his usual rhythm.
The next day at noon, after Aisen finished eating in the Great Hall and arrived at the Library, he was surprised to find the Trio gathered in a corner, seemingly looking through some materials.
The sunlight from outside the window shone in, casting the shadows of the few people onto the bookshelves, in a precarious posture.
"Why are you all here?" Aisen walked directly to the reading table and sat down.
"Professor Aisen..." The Trio turned their heads at the same time when they heard the voice, and after seeing Aisen, they all greeted him.
What surprised Aisen was that Hermione looked full of energy, while Harry and Ron looked like they had lost all hope, as if they had suffered some blow.
Turning his gaze, a piece of parchment was placed in front of Hermione, with a few large words written on it: House-elf Legal Rights Demands!
This line of text completely bewildered Aisen.
"What are you planning to do?" Aisen glanced towards Harry.
"Uh, Hermione plans to write some articles in the name of the Society for the Promotion of House-elf Welfare and submit them to The Daily Prophet, and we are helping out!" Harry said, while he and Ron quietly folded the parchment in their hands.
"Uh, okay, that's a great way!" Aisen wiped away the non-existent sweat on his forehead, then took out a gold coin and placed it in front of Hermione, "I will give you my greatest support financially!"
"Thank you, Professor!" Hermione happily put away the gold coin.
"Oh, right, Professor, you've found the clue from the golden egg, have you figured out the secret inside?" As if wanting to get away from the topic related to House-elves, Ron directly changed the subject.
This topic, however, attracted Harry and Hermione, and the two of them looked at Aisen at the same time.
"That's right, do you want to try?"
Aisen twisted his neck and placed the golden egg on the table. Immediately after, he casually conjured a transparent water tank next to it and filled the tank with clear water.
"Let me try!" Hermione stood up from her seat, picked up the golden egg and put it into the water, and then opened the golden egg in the water.
To their surprise, the golden egg did not let out a scream.
"Is that singing?" Harry leaned closer and listened carefully, but he couldn't hear what the sound was clearly.
"It seems I can't hear it clearly!" Ron's face showed a look of confusion.
"That's right, but you can put your heads in and listen." Aisen smiled and nodded.
The Trio exchanged glances, then without saying anything, they directly plunged their heads in. At once, the singing became clear:
Find us where our voices sound, we cannot sing on the ground.
As you search, think carefully, we have stolen your most beloved treasure.
You have but one hour to find and take back what we have taken, after an hour, all hope is lost, it has completely vanished, never to appear again.
Splish, splash—
The Trio's heads emerged from the water, and the splashing water soaked their clothes and the Libraryfloor.
Aisen waved his hand, and three streams of warmth rushed into their bodies, instantly evaporating the water that had gotten on their heads completely dry. Afterwards, he closed the golden egg and took it out, and then also cleaned up the water tank and clear water on the ground completely.
"How is it? Was it simple?" Aisen pulled out a chair, and the Trio sat down again.
"Professor, you need to find those who cannot make sounds on the ground—" Harry took off his glasses and looked at them; they were completely clean without a single water stain, and then he put them back on.
"But who is that?" Ron spread his hands.
"If they cannot make sounds on the ground, then they must be underwater creatures—besides the giant squid in the Black Lake, there are—Merpeople!" Hermione's eyes darted around, and she quickly thought of a possibility.
"So, the second task is to find Merpeople in the water? That's so cool!" Ron showed an excited expression, as if he was about to take action himself.
"It's not that simple, didn't you hear clearly? That song said that the Professor has one hour to search, which means the Merpeople might be hiding in the deepest part of the lake!" Harry reached out and patted the armrest forcefully.
"Then, Professor, are you ready?" Hermione looked at Aisen, her face showing a look of worry.
"What?" Aisen looked over in surprise.
"Staying in the water for an hour!" Hermione's delicate brows furrowed slightly, "Professor, what method are you planning to use to stay underwater for an hour?"
"There must be some Charm that can allow someone to stay underwater for an hour—" Ron said carelessly.
"Maybe some Potions can do it too." Harry nodded in agreement, then as if he thought of something, he immediately added, "Transfiguration is definitely fine too, the Professor's Transfiguration is so powerful—"
"Yes, Professor, you can turn into a submarine, then you won't be afraid of the water!" Hermione's brows relaxed, and her eyes shone brightly as she looked at Aisen!
Hearing Hermione's idea, Aisen almost couldn't help but roll his eyes. Transfiguration could indeed solve the problem of underwater survival, but turning into a submarine was too exaggerated.
If following Hermione's line of thought, it would be more convenient to transform into a long hose.
This way, with one end tied outside the lake surface and the other end held in the mouth, one could stay underwater for as long as they wanted after diving in.
"Oh, right, Professor, you can use scuba gear, right?" Harry seemed to have thought of something and stood up, letting out a surprised cry.
"Scuba gear?" Ron looked at Harry in confusion.
Hermione exchanged a look of surprise with Harry, and then explained the function of scuba gear to Ron.
"The Muggle World has such useful things, the Professorcan definitely use it!" Ron gave Harry a thumbs-up, and then said, "There are still several days until the competition, Professor Aisen, you'll have to go to a Muggle shop to buy a scuba gear set."
Harry and Hermione also looked at Aisen eagerly.
Clearly, they unanimously agreed that using scuba gear was the most convenient and effective method for Aisen. As long as he purchased the scuba gear set from a Muggle shop in advance and put it in his storage ring, he could take it out and use it during the competition.
"This method is indeed good, but it doesn't need to be that troublesome!" Aisen smiled and waved his hand, "Actually, knowing how to hold your breath is enough!"
"Hold your breath?" Hearing Aisen's method, the Triowere immediately dumbfounded.
"Professor, are you joking?" After being stunned for a moment, Harry couldn't help but exclaim.
"Of course not!" Aisen raised his eyebrows, pondered for a moment, and said slowly, "You should know about this Guinness World Records thing, right?"
"What is that thing?" Ron eagerly questioned.
"It's a record in the Muggle World representing the world's best..." Harry and Hermione, talking over each other, introduced Ron to what the Guinness World Records was.
"I didn't expect the Muggle World to have such records, it's absolutely amazing!" After listening, Ron couldn't help but exclaim in admiration.
"Professor, do you mean that the Guinness World Records has a record for holding breath underwater?" Harry's face showed a look of realization.
"I'm not entirely sure, but I think there should be." Aisensmiled and shook his head, "It is said that some ordinary people, after professional training, can hold their breath underwater for more than ten minutes. But as a Wizard, holding my breath underwater for an hour, isn't that a very simple matter?"
Although he didn't know if there was a Guinness World Record for holding breath underwater in 1995, Aisenclearly remembered that in his previous life, there were already formidable individuals who could hold their breath underwater for over 24 minutes.
So, as a Wizard, wouldn't it be reasonable to be able to hold his breath underwater for an hour?
*Cough, cough—* Well, actually, Aisen cheated. Because after gaining the Energy Absorption ability, Aisen no longer needed to breathe, which meant that he could actually stay underwater for as long as he wanted without any problem.
However, as a safety officer, Aisen was just trying to provide better safety assurance for the other champions! Cheating or something, wasn't that only natural?
Chapter 308: The Second Task
Although Aisen swore that going underwater by holding his breath would not be a problem at all, the Trio, especially Hermione, remained particularly worried.
Finally, to ease their worries, Aisen said that he would cast a Bubblehead Charm on himself if he couldn't hold on any longer.
After learning the effect of the Bubblehead Charm, they finally felt much more at ease.
Early on Wednesday morning, while Aisen was still in his office looking through 'The Book of Hieroglyphs', Sirius Black unexpectedly knocked on his door.
'Is there something you need? I'm guessing it's about the second task of the Triwizard Tournament!' Aisen guessed, closing the book and inviting him in.
'No, there's nothing wrong with the second task!' Blacksaid, closing the door and sitting in front of Aisen. 'Although Dumbledore hasn't shown up, he has left the matter to Professor McGonagall, and we just need to wait quietly for the time to arrive.'
'So, you're here today because—' Aisen nodded, looking at him with a puzzled expression.
'Ah, yes, that's right! There's something I need to tell you!' Black said, pulling a crumpled page from a newspaper out of his pocket. 'I just saw it today, I think you should take a look—'
'This is—' Aisen murmured, taking the newspaper in his hand and looking at the place Black pointed to. A moment later, he put the newspaper down again.
'Because Lucius Malfoy, Antonin Dolohov, and others were imprisoned in Azkaban, Buckbeak's warrant has been revoked by the Ministry of Magic?'
'That's right, it's said that Dumbledore had been negotiating with the Ministry of Magic about this for a while!' Black said, his tone particularly calm.
'So, you mean you want to return Buckbeak to Hagrid?' Aisen looked enlightened.
Less than a year had passed, but Aisen felt as if a long time had gone by, and he had almost forgotten about this matter.
'Yes, you don't need to cast the Shrinking Charm on Buckbeak anymore! It can live openly now.' Black said with a tone of considerable emotion, seemingly recalling the days when he was wanted.
'If that's the case, couldn't you just bring Buckbeakdirectly to Hogwarts and give it to Hagrid?' Aisen said, shrugging.
'After all, you were the one who took it from Hagrid back then, so it's more appropriate for you to bring it back to Hagrid!' Black smiled and shook his head.
'Alright, I'll go tell Hagrid about this. By the way, I'll take this page of the newspaper to show Hagrid!' Aisen said, nodding and pointing to the newspaper on the desk.
'Of course, no problem!' Black said lightly. 'Alright, there's nothing else, I'll be going now!'
Waving goodbye to Aisen, Sirius Black turned and pulled open the door to Aisen's office.
'Oh, right!' Before leaving, Black turned back and gave Aisen a gesture of encouragement. 'The second task is about to begin, good luck!'
Smiling and shaking his head, Aisen said nothing. He just mused that in just one year, Sirius Black's demeanor and temperament had completely changed.
After thinking quietly for a while and feeling that there was nothing else to do for the time being, Aisen put away the page of the newspaper on the desk and turned to leave the office.
Walking through the corridor, past the Great Hall, through the entrance hall, and down the steps, one could see the hut embedded in the ground at the edge of the Forbidden Forest.
With no intention of stopping, Aisen continued to walk slowly towards Hagrid's hut.
The iron-grey, mirror-like surface of the Black Lakereflected the Durmstrang ship. On the ship's deck, some students were gathered, seemingly discussing the upcoming second task.
On the other side, the huge carriage parked at the edge of the Forbidden Forest looked particularly quiet, as if it were empty. Perhaps they were busy with something inside the carriage.
As he approached Hagrid's hut, a breeze blew, and he could smell the aroma of alcohol drifting from the Beauxbatons carriage. Uh, that was the smell of pure malt whisky, the food for those huge flying horses with golden-silver manes.
It must be said, they were quite picky eaters.
However—those flying horses were indeed quite handsome! Should I find an opportunity to ask Madam Maxime how to acquire a flying horse?
Forget it, forget it, they're too much trouble to raise!
After a change of mind, Aisen gave up on the idea. After all, for him, a flying horse was useless except for showing off when riding it.
Knock, knock—
Aisen knocked on the door of Hagrid's hut. After entering, he found that Hagrid looked the same as usual, wearing a thick coat, with his Black hair and beard tangled together messily.
Judging from his appearance, he probably knew himself that things wouldn't work out with Madam Maxime!
'Professor Aisen, is there something you need?' Hagridasked, running his thick fingers through his hair after inviting Aisen into the house.
Woof, woof—
The husky named Rook whimpered a few times, then collapsed into the dog bed made of velvet cloth, snuggling with Fang. The fire in the nearby hearth was blazing, bringing a touch of warmth to the hut.
'Yes, I think you might want to look at this!' Aisen didn't hesitate and directly handed the page of the newspaper he had gotten from Sirius Black to Hagrid.
'The Ministry of Magic has revoked the warrant for the Hippogriff, so Buckbeak is alright?' After scanning the words on the newspaper, Hagrid immediately broke into a joyful smile.
'That's right, I plan to bring Buckbeak back.' Aisenpointed outside the window. 'Are you planning to keep it in the vegetable patch?'
'Of course, it will love it here!' Hagrid rubbed his hands excitedly. 'Hmm, I need to prepare some food beforehand, what does it like? Oh, right, ferrets, and insects...'
Hagrid paced back and forth in the hut excitedly as he spoke.
'Alright, wait for me for a bit, I'll bring it back!' Seeing Hagrid so happy, Aisen turned and left.
A few minutes later, Aisen pushed the door open and entered again, finding that Hagrid's mood seemed to have calmed down considerably. But when he saw Aisen, he still couldn't help but smile.
'Here—this is Buckbeak, it hasn't suffered at all during this time!' Aisen opened his palm, and a matchbox-sized Hippogriff appeared in front of Hagrid.
'Wonderful! That's right, it's it!' Hagrid carefully cupped it in his hands and gently tapped its head with his thick finger. 'Look at its beak, there was a scratch on it, I remember it clearly!'
'Alright, Hagrid, I have other things to do, so I'll head back to the Castle now.' Aisen wasn't interested in disturbing their reunion, so he said goodbye to Hagrid. 'Oh, right, in three more days, it will return to its original size!'
'Oh, okay, I understand, goodbye, Professor Aisen!' Hagrid, beaming, tucked Buckbeak into his arms and waved with his other hand, seeing Aisen out.
...
The day before the task approached, Aisen suddenly realized he seemed to be receiving a lot of attention for some reason.
'Professor, good luck!'
'Professor, you're the best!'
...
Whether eating in the Great Hall or strolling in the corridor, Aisen would occasionally encounter Little Wizards who would grin and wish him good luck for tomorrow.
Uh, this attitude puzzled Aisen.
Logically, they should be wishing Cedric from Hufflepuffgood luck. After all, they knew that Aisen himself wasn't being scored.
Therefore, cheering Aisen on was completely unnecessary.
'They want the Professor to help Cedric get a high score in tomorrow's task!' This was the explanation Hermionegave after hearing about Aisen's experience.
Harry and Ron both expressed their agreement.
Could it be—
Could the Little Wizards' intention really be as Hermionesaid, using the opportunity to cheer him on to hint at helping Cedric cheat tomorrow?
It seems that quite a few of those Little Wizards were from Hufflepuff.
But surely not!
Aisen basically understood what kind of person Cedricwas. It was evident from his unwillingness to take advantage and reveal the clue from the Golden Egg to Hermione.
Even though Aisen, as a Champion, wasn't being scored, Cedric still indirectly revealed the clue he got from solving the Golden Egg to him. From this, it could be seen that Cedric definitely wouldn't do that.
That evening, while the Little Wizards were eating dinner and going back to bed, the Professors and Ministry of Magic staff began setting up the task area.
The Durmstrang ship was anchored on the side closer to the Castle entrance. On the other side, many Ministry of Magic staff members were busy.
Percy, Bagman, Karkaroff, Madam Maxime, and Professor McGonagall were gathered together discussing something.
"I think the site can be set up on the other side of the lake, what do you think?" Bagman pointed at the map, drawing a circle around the Black Lake.
"The setup from the first task last year can be moved directly here!" Percy offered his opinion.
"Very well, I have no objection!" Madam Maxime said indifferently.
"Then, let's do it this way!" Karkaroff said with a cold face, but he did not object to the plan.
Professor McGonagall, who was replacing Dumbledoreas one of the judges, also agreed to the plan.
Since everyone unanimously agreed to the plan, immediately following Percy's instructions, several Ministry of Magic staff began waving their wands.
A moment later, logs and planks flew from the Forbidden Forest, plunging directly into the ground on the opposite bank of the lake. Then, planks stacked layer upon layer on the logs, extending outwards around the Black Lake.
Finally, the extending planks on both sides stopped near the location of the Durmstrang ship.
Thus, in just five minutes, a grandstand built around the lake was set up.
On one side of the grandstand, near the lake surface, an empty space was marked out. Clearly, that was where the judges were supposed to be.
...
February 24th, the day the second task of the Triwizard Tournament officially began, Aisen woke up early, ate in the Great Hall, and found that many Little Wizards were already rushing out of the Castle.
After entering the entrance hall and passing through the two oak doors, Aisen slowly walked down the steps.
Although the sun was shining directly down at this moment, the weather had not warmed up much.
Walking across the lawn towards the competition site, Aisen saw the figures of Little Wizards already swaying on the tiered grandstands. Behind him, students occasionally came in twos and threes, continuing towards the seats on the grandstand.
Looking from afar, one could see the lake surface, like a mirror, reflecting the surrounding grandstands along with the Little Wizards moving upon them. Looking closely, the chattering sounds that came back made Aisenunderstand how excited they were.
On an open space on one side of the grandstand, next to a table covered with a golden tablecloth, Percy, Karkaroff, and other judges were sitting. Before Aisen arrived, Cedric, Krum, and the other champions had already gathered.
In addition, Aisen also saw many Ministry of Magicemployees. He figured they would be responsible for maintaining order during the competition.
As he approached the table, Ludo Bagman was pacing back and forth, occasionally saying something to Cedricand the others. When he saw Aisen walking over, Bagman's eyes lit up, and he smiled and waved at him.
"You're finally here, Aisen, we still have to wait a while before the competition starts!" As he spoke, Bagmansuddenly glanced around, then leaned towards Aisen, "The Minister will bring a lot of guests over later, the safety of the champions will be in your hands!"
"No problem!" Aisen said carelessly.
Ten minutes before the competition was to start, a short, plump figure came from the other side, it was Cornelius Fudge, the Minister of Magic. Many people followed behind him, they were likely Ministry of Magic officials.
"All right, champions, you need to get ready!" Bagmanwaved, calling to Cedric and the others.
Then, Cedric, Krum, and Delacour stood in a line along the bank. Each person was about ten feet apart, and Aisen stood behind Krum.
After speaking, Bagman turned and went to the judges' table, chatting with Fudge.
A moment later, as if he had received some notification, he took out his wand and cast a Amplifying Charm on himself.
"All right, the competition is about to begin! Listen up, our champions are in place. As soon as I blow the whistle, the second task will start. They have a full hour to retrieve the things that were taken from them. Now, ready – start!"
A sharp, piercing whistle sounded in everyone's ears, causing bursts of cheers and applause from the grandstand.
Glancing at the few people beside him, Aisen found that they seemed to have no hesitation whatsoever, immediately waving their wands, and then quickly jumping into the lake.
Cedric and Delacour both cast the Bubblehead Charm on themselves. Clearly, they were well prepared for this. As for Krum, he used Transfiguration to turn his upper body into a shark's head.
"Wow—"
"He just jumped in like that!"
...
Aisen did not take out his wand, nor did he make any preparations, he walked directly to the bank and then jumped straight into the lake. This action immediately caused gasps of surprise from the grandstand.
Aisen paid no attention to the reactions of the Little Wizards. The second task, wasn't it just about who could hold their breath the longest? What was the big deal?
After jumping into the lake water, a cool sensation came from the skin all over his body. Before Aisen could feel more, the Energy Absorption runes inscribed on his body immediately took effect, and wisps of cold energy contained in the lake water were absorbed, decomposed, and converted by the runes, providing energy to the cells throughout his body.
Although at this moment, Aisen had held his breath, his whole body felt very smooth, as if every cell in his body was breathing at the same time, without any feeling of suffocation.
After feeling no discomfort at all, Aisen focused his attention on the bottom of the lake.
It was then that he discovered the scenery at the bottom of the Black Lake was extraordinarily bizarre. The bottom of the lake was embedded with sparkling stones of various colors, and as the water flowed through, strange colors shimmered within them, adding a touch of fantasy to the hazy, peculiar scenery.
Scanning around, Aisen did not see Cedric or the others.
Perhaps the champions had all rushed to dive into the deeper part of the lake.
In that case, let's start cheating!
With a thought in his mind, Aisen activated his God's Perspective, bringing the entire lake into his mind. In an instant, Aisen saw the figures of Cedric and the others, and at the same time, he also saw the figures of the hostages tied to a statue somewhere.
Hmm—, some of the Black water plants at the bottom of the lake grew very long, and some horned water creatures were hidden among them—Grindylows.
So, how should I cheat next? Aisen quietly stayed and sank to the bottom of the lake.
To be honest, Aisen knew many ways to move freely at the bottom of the lake, and to move quickly enough.
For example, he could Transfigure flippers to wear on his feet, which would speed up Aisen's movement.
Of course, that wasn't fast enough. A faster way would be to Transfigure a propeller at his feet. Then, by spinning the propeller at high speed, he could push his speed to another level.
Otherwise, he could be more direct, Aisen could just use Apparition Without A Trace to instantly move to where the merpeople were holding the hostages, that would be fast enough.
"However, wouldn't cheating like this be a bit too much! This is too bullying!" Muttering to himself, Aisen gave up the idea of instant movement.
Alright, decided, I'll use this method.
With a thought, Aisen directly transformed into light, entering a world where everything was still. The water flow was still, the light was still, the fish and shrimp were still.
Swoosh—
In one ten-thousandth of a second, Aisen crossed the entire Black Lake and arrived at a merpeople village made up of stone dwellings, then stopped at the tail of a huge stone-carved Merperson statue, and returned to his human form.
Aisen's sudden appearance startled many of the merpeople surrounding him, they held their spears pointing towards Aisen, but after seeing Aisen's appearance, they all lowered their spears.
Clearly, these merpeople already knew Aisen's identity, so they would not attack him. However, Aisen's method of appearance clearly shocked them.
After all, the competition had only started less than five minutes ago! Someone had actually found this place, this was too incredible!
Without paying attention to the merpeople, Aisen's gaze turned to the figures tied to the tail of the Merpersonstatue.
Hermione and Cho Chang were tied together, and beside them was a little girl who looked seven or eight years old with cloudy silver hair. In addition, a student wearing a Durmstrang uniform was tied on the other side.
Chapter 309: The Bottom of the Lake
Aisen bobbed up and down in the lake water, contemplating the next steps.
Now, there were two choices before him.
One was to directly untie the rope binding Hermione and bring her out of the lake. This would complete this event.
However, due to his status as a safety officer, he also needed to keep an eye on the other Little Wizards at all times.
It was possible that if Delacour was attacked by Grindylows like in the original story, Aisen would still be responsible for bringing her sister out.
Besides this, there was another option, which was for Aisen to just wait here. He could wait until the one-hour time limit for the event was over and then rescue all the remaining hostages.
For the other Little Wizards, this event definitely required rescuing the hostages as quickly as possible and leaving the bottom of the lake. Only by doing this could they improve their scores with the judges.
But for Aisen, this problem obviously didn't exist.
So, waiting quietly at the bottom of the lake for an hour was actually a good option.
He glanced at the hostages still tied to the statue; although they looked like they were unconscious, Aisenknew they were perfectly fine.
Even after an hour, they wouldn't have any problems. Obviously, the school couldn't entrust their safety to the Little Wizards.
Uh—
Suddenly, a thought popped into Aisen's mind: What would happen if he rescued all four hostages directly and brought them out of the lake together?
Think about it! If Aisen brought everyone back, wouldn't Cedric, Delacour, and Krum have done all that work for nothing? This would mean they all got zero points in the second event?
It's important to know that the order of entering the hedge maze in the third event of the Triwizard Tournament was determined by the combined scores from the first and second events.
If Aisen really rescued all the hostages and caused the other Little Wizards to get zero points, wouldn't that mean the scores from the first event directly determined the entry order for the third event?
In that case, wouldn't Cedric have a huge advantage?
As thoughts swirled in his mind, a smile appeared on Aisen's face. Then, as if he thought of something, he shook his head and his smile faded.
How should he put it? Although Aisen was willing to provide Cedric with some convenience, doing it this way might not be appropriate. The reason for saying this wasn't that he couldn't do it, but rather that he didn't want to leave any handle for Karkaroff and the others to grab.
After all, Aisen participating in the Triwizard Tournamentas a Professor was inherently not very fair.
Thinking about it, he had finally come up with a way to participate as a safety officer to ensure the fairness of the competition; it didn't make sense to deliberately do something that would be seen as inappropriate, right?
Anyway, he didn't want to argue with Karkaroff about this again.
After thinking this through, Aisen still felt it was better to just wait quietly.
Leaning against the statue, with his God's Perspectiveopen, Aisen focused his attention on Cedric and the others.
"Hmm—, looks pretty good, his Bubblehead Charm is very skilled, and he swims quite fast. You can tell he put effort into the swimming training during Duelling Class recently!"
In his line of sight, Aisen spotted Cedric. A large bubble enveloped his head, making his features look stretched and widened, appearing particularly comical.
However, his swimming posture was quite smooth, and his speed moving towards the deeper part of the lake was also good. After encountering Grindylows blocking his way, he could even pull out his wand and cast spells silently.
"Hmm—, as expected of Cedric, as the most outstanding student in Hufflepuff, he truly lives up to his reputation!" Aisen sighed softly, then seemed to discover something, his face showing surprise, "Hey, hey, it looks like the direction you're heading is wrong!"
From his God's Perspective, Aisen clearly saw that Cedric's direction of travel was not towards Aisen's location, but skewed to the other side.
Was this affected by the black water plants at the bottom of the lake? Or was his vision blocked by the stirred-up black water vortexes at the bottom of the lake? Tsk tsk, seeing this, Aisen couldn't help but shake his head.
He saw clearly that if Cedric hadn't deviated from his direction, with his speed, he could have reached the merman village here within twenty minutes. Unfortunately, now he estimated it would take some time.
His gaze shifted to Krum. The situation there was slightly different from Cedric's.
"Well done, we see the competitor Krum, who has turned into a half-shark, starting to charge around at the bottom of the lake, stirring up and muddying the water in the surrounding area.
Beautiful, keep doing that! Look, whether it's water plants blocking him or water monsters he encounters, he can cleanly and decisively leave them behind.
Look, this competitor is swimming rapidly through the water as if he were riding a broomstick looking for a golden snitch. Unfortunately, this competitor's direction of travel is also wrong…"
Uh—, wait—
Aisen, who was dramatically narrating internally, saw Krum's swimming posture in the water and suddenly thought of a question: Can a broomstick be used in water?
Logically, a broomstick is a tool that helps a Witch fly. But, if you think deeply, the environment in water is actually very similar to the environment in the air.
Flying in water is also flying, isn't it? Well, perhaps no one in the Wizarding World has ever thought about how to ride a broomstick underwater.
Clearing his mind of distracting thoughts, Aisen turned his attention to the other competitor, Fleur Delacour.
Hmm—, Delacour's Bubblehead Charm is also quite good, not much worse than Cedric's, and she swims forward quickly. The key is that her direction of travel is correct. If nothing unexpected happens, she will be the first to arrive here at Aisen's location.
Does this mean that Delacour will get the highest score in the second event of the Triwizard Tournament? Although he didn't know what had changed, if nothing unexpected happened, that was probably the case!
Hmm—, that long silver hair rippling in the water looked quite tempting to tug on.
Speaking of which, the core material of her wand seemed to be Veela hair, right? So, that mass of long hair could make quite a few wands!
Oh dear—, this is a bit bad. As Aisen turned his gaze back, he suddenly found that not far ahead in Delacour's direction of travel, there were many Grindylows blocking the way.
If she didn't change direction, she would likely be in for a tough fight soon.
Time passed little by little, and after about twenty minutes, Cedric and Krum both adjusted their directions and began moving towards Aisen, seemingly having found the correct path.
As for Delacour, just as Aisen had predicted, she was in the awkward situation of being surrounded by Grindylows. Aisen saw clearly that with her strength, if it were two or three water monsters, she could handle them relatively easily.
But unfortunately, she encountered a large group.
Moreover, the combat environment was underwater, which made it difficult for her to cope.
Fortunately, the duelling classes before the event had covered underwater combat techniques. This allowed Delacour, although surrounded by a large group of Grindylows, to still continue moving in Aisen's direction.
However, her speed towards this direction became incredibly slow.
Tsk tsk—, at this speed, Aisen felt that Delacour would definitely finish last. In fact, if the one-hour time limit ended and she was still entangled with that group of water monsters, it was possible she wouldn't even be able to rescue her hostage, just like in the original story.
Whoosh—
A faint sound of water current entered Aisen's ears. With Aisen's current eyesight, even without God's Perspective, he could easily see a shadow moving towards him dozens of meters away in the dim lake bottom.
It seemed that the first place would still be Cedric.
"Professor!" Cedric swam over to Aisen, greeting him with a surprised look, seemingly curious why he had stayed here and hadn't left. "I got lost, Fleur and Krum are also coming soon!"
"Keep it up!" Aisen pointed at Cho Chang, who was tied up next to him, and gave him a thumbs-up!
Seeing this, Cedric didn't say much more. He took out a small knife from his pocket, cut the rope binding Cho Chang, and then swam upwards with her.
The merfolk surrounding them did not attempt to stop Cedric when they saw his actions.
Clearly, within the rules, if the Champion only rescued the hostage they needed to rescue, they would be allowed to do as they pleased.
Another ten minutes passed, and Krum, whose upper body had turned into a shark, appeared. He shook his shark head and rushed towards the Durmstrang student tied to the statue, opening his big mouth as if to bite off the ropes on him.
Unfortunately, the shark's teeth structure was not enough for him to bite through the thin ropes.
Too bad, if Krum could regain his human form at this time, he could have used his own teeth to bite off the ropes directly.
Looking at Krum, who was sporting a shark head and moving back and forth as if to bite the person in half directly, Aisen had a feeling of not bearing to look directly.
This...
In the original work, Harry helped Krum, and only then did he successfully complete the task. But now, Aisen, who had already made up his mind to be a spectator, wanted to see what Krum would do!
A few minutes passed, and Krum, who was constantly flapping in front of the statue, seemed tired and directly gave up the action.
Just when Aisen thought the other party was going to act and snatch a spear from the surrounding merpeople's hands, he found that the other party directly plunged headfirst into the depths of the lake bottom, extending a sinful hand towards the stones buried there.
Uh— okay, Krum thought of the exact same method as Harry in the original work.
It seems that although he looks relatively strong, he is not a brainless person.
After picking up a relatively sharp stone, he picked up the stone and smashed the ropes, quickly ascending towards the surface with his good buddy.
Both Champions had rescued the people they were supposed to rescue. Currently, the only people trapped on the stone statue were Hermione and that little girl Gabrielle. After looking at the two people's peaceful faces, Aisen placed his gaze again on Delacour.
Hmm— she had already gotten rid of the water monsters' siege, but a large group of Grindylows was still following behind her. Could it be that these water monsters were all enchanted by her Veela bloodline?
This is quite outrageous!
Looking at all this, Aisen couldn't help but shake his head slightly.
Although she was already hurrying towards this side as quickly as possible, it was already too late in terms of time! Hmm, she would need to wait at least another twenty minutes to arrive!
A few minutes later, when Aisen confirmed that the time had already exceeded one hour, he decided to act.
"Time is up, the competition is over!" Looking at the merpeople who had been standing guard here, Aisencasually said.
Then, Aisen stepped forward, waved his hand and slashed, and two water blades directly cut off the ropes on Hermione and Gabrielle. He stepped forward and embraced the two people, then floated towards the surface.
Hmm, wait—
An hour has passed, and since the competition is considered over, from the perspective of a safety officer, it is also reasonable for me to be worried about Fleur Delacour's safety and take her up together, right!
At the moment, Aisen directly opened his God's Perspective and saw Delacour still lurking. Then, with a thought, a large water ball wrapping Delacour directly enveloped her, taking her with it as it rushed towards the surface.
Splash—
Aisen was the first to float to the surface, then relaxed his instincts and started breathing.
Hmm— wonderful, fresh, sweet air poured into his nasal cavity— forget it, I'm not making it up anymore, actually for Aisen, there was no difference between breathing or not breathing. It was just that letting his instincts take over and breathing freely was indeed something he was more used to.
The stands were bustling with noise, and people stood up one after another, looking towards Aisen.
"Cough cough—" Hermione and Gabrielle woke up one after another, and after coughing out a large mouthful of water, a trace of confusion appeared on their faces.
"Oh, dear, I'm soaked all over!" Hermione felt the warm large hand around her waist, and after seeing ProfessorAisen by her side, her eyes immediately narrowed.
This little girl Gabrielle seemed not to understand what was happening, trembling slightly, her eyes revealing a strong sense of unease.
With a thought, Aisen continued to float upwards with the two people. After their feet were exposed from the lake surface, he was as if standing on the lake surface out of thin air, undulating with the water waves.
Crack—
The lake surface Aisen was standing on froze into a thick layer of ice.
Immediately after, he placed Hermione and Gabrielle down, letting them stand on the ice layer, then cast a Warming Charm and a Cleaning Charm, removing the moisture from their bodies.
"Professor, how did you bring her up too!" Hermionestood on the ice surface and stamped hard, finding that it was just like standing on the ground, then placed her attention on the little girl on the other side.
"The competition is over, and she hasn't been rescued by her sister yet—" Aisen said calmly, taking a step and walking towards the shore.
Along with Aisen's steps forward, the ice layer under his feet extended forward accordingly, while the ice layer where he had stood behind him turned back into lake water.
Aisen walked slowly on the lake surface, the ice layer frozen below was like a large disc supporting Aisen and the others as they moved, constantly approaching the shore from that side of the lake surface.
"Wow— did you see that, Professor Aisen brought up two people!"
"Look under his feet— what kind of spell is that, that's so cool!"
"Is it Transfiguration? Being able to walk on the lake surface, only some powerful Witches can do that, right!"
...
The voices of the Little Wizards in the stands entered Aisen's ears, making him feel speechless.
Actually, when his strength reached this level, if he wanted to do something, he simply didn't need to chant spells anymore.
Just like the method of freezing ice under his feet, although there are indeed some spells that can do it, as long as he has such a thought, the vast magic within him will automatically operate, and the magical effect that should appear will automatically appear.
After walking ashore, Bagman, Percy, and the others were all looking at him. Even the merpeople who had been standing guard at the bottom of the water earlier were like a team of ceremonial guards that had completed its task, coming from the lake bottom to the shore at some unknown time and starting to sing an unusually harsh song.
Over there, Cedric and the others, who had already come ashore, had already put on thick blankets, and Madam Pomfrey was fussing around them, seemingly ensuring they didn't have any other problems.
"Where is my sister?" Gabrielle, after coming ashore and seeing Madam Maxime, seemed to have thought of something and suddenly screamed.
This sound attracted everyone's attention, and the judges of the judging panel all looked towards Aisen. Madam Maxime even pulled Gabrielle over, shielding her in front of herself, then stared intently at Aisen, as if he had done something bad.
"Over there!" Aisen's expression didn't change at all. "I saw that the time limit for the competition was over, so I brought her up together. Don't worry, as a safety officer, I guarantee nothing happened to her!"
Looking at where Aisen pointed, everyone saw a shadow moving quickly at the bottom of the lake, heading towards the shore where everyone was, approaching.
With a thought, the large water ball enveloping Delacour's body instantly disappeared. But the inertia brought by the large water ball wrapping her did not disappear, and she still rushed towards the lake shore.
Splash—
Delacour rushed out from under the lake surface, as if thrown by something, and fell towards where the judges were.
"Shock Absorption and Speed Reduction—" Aisencasually took out his wand and pointed, letting her land safely on the shore.
Of course, Aisen had no interest in helping her deal with her soaked and disheveled state. However, it seemed Aisen didn't need to worry about this either, for he only saw Madam Maxime take out her wand and point at her, and a puff of steam rose from her body.
"Where is Gabrielle, don't mind me, she's still underwater!" Delacour screamed hysterically, not looking at the surrounding situation at all, and was about to pounce into the lake.
"Sister!" The little girl screamed loudly and directly pounced into Delacour's arms. Suddenly, Delacour's body stiffened.
"Oh, I'm sorry, it was the Grindylows... those Grindylows had been besieging me, I didn't make it in time..." Seeming to have thought of something, she tightly hugged Gabrielle, and tears seemed to flow down from the corners of her eyes.
Then, Delacour and Gabrielle were called aside by Madam Pomfrey and she started asking questions. A moment later, seeming to have found no problems, they were again taken to Cedric's side.
Chapter 310: The End and the Attempt
Professor McGonagall took out a folded piece of parchment, went to the water's edge, and opened it.
Then Professor Aisen saw a translucent image of Dumbledore's head appear out of thin air, conversing with the female Merperson who looked particularly rough and appeared to be the Merperson leader.
Clearly, Dumbledore was using an item he had given Professor McGonagall to communicate with the merpeople.
However, seeing Dumbledore talking to the merpeople, Professor Aisen suddenly felt a sense of awe.
Although Dumbledore's voice was rather sharp and piercing, it was indeed the language of the merpeople. This made Professor Aisen have to admit that Dumbledore was widely recognized as the greatest Witch of his generation in the Wizarding World for a reason.
How to put it, perhaps his powerful strength was indeed beyond the reach of many in the Wizarding World. But his achievements in other areas were also incomparable to ordinary people.
Or perhaps, Dumbledore was a polymath. Perhaps it was precisely for this reason that the title of the greatest Witch of his generation could be bestowed upon him.
"Professor Aisen! You saved Gabrielle, thank you!" Delacour rushed to Professor Aisen's side, her emotions quite agitated.
"As a safety officer, it's what I should do!" Seeing the scars left on her face that she hadn't bothered to treat, and her excitement making her seem as if she might gasp for breath at any moment, Professor Aisen couldn't help but frown.
After his words fell, Professor Aisen stretched out his hands and clapped them together forcefully.
Clap clap—
Faint silver ripples spread from his hands, sweeping towards Delacour.
In Delacour's perception, after the handsome Professor in front of her clapped his hands, a warm current swept through her heart, completely calming her agitated emotions.
It was as if she had taken a Draught of Peace; her entire being no longer had the panic and excitement from before.
"Thank you, Professor!" Delacour pursed her lips, thanked him again, and returned to Madam Maxime, pulling her sister into her arms.
Tsk tsk—
Seeing this scene, Professor Aisen shook his head almost imperceptibly. He remembered very clearly that when she first came to Hogwarts, she had been arrogant and disparaged various parts of the Castle.
"Hermione, how did you feel underwater just now?" Looking at Hermione, who had quieted down beside him, Professor Aisen suddenly asked out of curiosity.
Hermione and the other hostages had stayed underwater for so long earlier, but after coming out of the water, they seemed completely fine.
"I didn't feel anything, it was like I just slept!" Hermionethought carefully, then shook her head and said.
Professor Aisen nodded without saying anything.
A variation of the Stunning Spell? Or had they taken some kind of Potion?
"Ladies and gentlemen!" A loud voice interrupted Professor Aisen's thoughts, drawing everyone's attention. Clearly, Mr. Bagman was about to announce something.
"Now, we have decided to score the champions out of a maximum of fifty points—"
"First, Fleur Delacour. Although she showed excellent use of the Bubblehead Charm in the lake, she failed to successfully rescue her hostage within the allotted time. Therefore, we award her—25 points."
A round of applause erupted from the stands.
"She didn't even complete the task, and she still got 25 points. Shouldn't she have gotten zero?" Hermionemuttered softly beside Professor Aisen.
"The Triwizard Tournament tests the champions' talents, strengths, courage, and various other abilities. Of course, you can't give a zero just because they didn't successfully rescue the hostage," Professor Aisen said calmly, understanding the judges' thinking.
"Next is Cedric Diggory. It's clear that he also used the Bubblehead Charm, and it was an excellent application of the Charm. Furthermore, he was the first to return with his hostage, and it only took him forty minutes..."
"Well done! Cedric!"
"Fantastic, you won—"
During Bagman's speech, the Hufflepuff students in the stands immediately cheered enthusiastically. Clearly, although Bagman hadn't yet announced what score Cedric would receive, everyone had already anticipated the result.
"This was a perfect action, so we award him 47 points!" Bagman's booming voice echoed in the ears of everyone present, causing even more people to erupt in cheers.
"Finally, I must speak of Viktor Krum. He used Transfiguration, which, although not entirely complete, was still very effective. He was the second champion to bring back a hostage, and he did so within an hour. Therefore, we award him 40 points."
Karkaroff pulled Krum forward and smiled, clapping his hands vigorously. It was clear that although Krum only finished second, he was still very satisfied with this result.
Krum seemed dissatisfied with his own performance, lowering his head, lost in thought.
However, at this moment, Professor Aisen still clapped his hands, applauding the other boy.
Although Krum was indeed inferior to Cedric in the competition, in terms of Quidditch, Krum's strength was likely far superior to Cedric's.
At the very least, given that they were roughly the same age, Krum was already a world-class Seeker. While Cedric was still leveling up at Hogwarts School.
"Alright, there's one more thing to say!" Bagmancontinued, "The second task is officially over, and the final task will take place on the evening of June 24th. The champions will learn the specific details of the task a month in advance!"
"June 24th? That's still four months away!"
"Who will win the Triwizard Cup?"
"It looks like Cedric has a big advantage."
"He's only seven points ahead of Krum, the advantage isn't that big!"
...
The final task was still quite a long time away, but the Little Wizards had already begun discussing who was most likely to win the Triwizard Cup. Perhaps because Delacour's score was too low, they had unconsciously overlooked the possibility of her winning the championship.
"Alright, that's all for now! Thank you all for your support for the champions—" Bagman finished his last sentence.
"Professor Aisen, the competition is over!" Harry and Roncame down from the stands at some point and approached Professor Aisen. Ron greeted ProfessorAisen excitedly.
"Yes, the competition is over, let's go, it's time to go back!" Professor Aisen said casually, his gaze glancing towards the other side.
Over there, Cornelius Fudge was saying something to Percy and Bagman, then turned and left. A moment later, under Percy's direction, several Ministry of Magic staff began dismantling the site that had been set up the day before.
Madam Pomfrey was nearby, monitoring the condition of the champions and hostages, and walked with them towards the Castle. Professor Aisen and the Trio followed the crowd up the stone steps leading into the Castle.
It was foreseeable that the entire Castle would be enveloped in a festive atmosphere over the next week. Perhaps they would even have a celebration.
Hmm—the Little Wizards have quite a lot of academic pressure. It's rare to encounter a time worth celebrating, so they will definitely seize this opportunity.
However, what puzzled Professor Aisen was that Dumbledore didn't appear at all during the entire event, only communicating with the merpeople briefly using a magical item after the competition ended.
Could it be—
Was he still staking out Voldemort somewhere? Thinking of this possibility, Professor Aisen couldn't help but shake his head.
After returning to his office, Professor Aisen lay on the lounge chair he had conjured casually, not wanting to move anymore.
That's right, the second task was indeed very lively and brought joy to many people. But the setup in the lake was jointly arranged by several Professors beforehand.
What? Professor Aisen didn't participate in the underwater setup work because he was a champion? Oh, then it's fine, he doesn't seem to be that tired!
However, staying underwater for an hour and constantly monitoring the safety of the champions and hostages was still very boring—and exhausting, right!
In the Castle, the Little Wizards were wandering around, their laughter and discussions constantly impacting Professor Aisen's eardrums, making him feel noisy. For this reason, Professor Aisen had to actively limit his range of hearing.
As his thoughts turned, Professor Aisen remembered the idea that had popped into his mind earlier, closed his eyes, entered the Dream World, and began simulating combat scenarios in extreme environments.
It wasn't until the sky gradually darkened that ProfessorAisen opened his eyes.
Early the next morning, when Professor Aisen went to the Great Hall for breakfast, he found that the Little Wizards were still discussing the second task.
Unlike usual, the Little Wizards this time surrounded Cedric, Delacour, and others. Even Hermione and the rest became the center of attention.
Because everyone wanted to know what exactly happened under the lake yesterday.
To make herself less conspicuous, Hermione reluctantly told Harry and Ron about the events, asking them to tell everyone. This way, while Harry and Ron were recounting the story, Hermione successfully extricated herself from the situation.
However, despite this, many people still teased Hermioneby saying she had become Professor Aisen's most beloved treasure.
But Hermione was completely oblivious to this, burrowing into the Library every noon and night, and even neglecting the S.P.E.W. matters.
She looked mysterious; nobody knew what Hermionewas doing.
Ron seemed to have grown fond of the feeling of being the center of attention while telling stories, so he spun the originally unremarkable plan into a thrilling kidnapping tale.
After entering March, the weather above Hogwartsseemed to clear up, but after the cold wind blew, people could still feel a lingering trace of winter.
After several days of consideration, Aisen finally made up his mind to personally brew some Potions.
Of course, he wasn't doing this to become a Potions Master or brew Potions for money. It was because he wanted to understand the properties of some herbs and Potions.
The reason it was so troublesome was primarily because his understanding of the Scarpin Revealing Charm was still somewhat superficial. Although he had completely mastered this Charm during this time, understanding its principles, or rather, its feedback mechanism, was still very necessary before dismantling it.
Thus, Aisen set his sights on Professor Sprout's greenhouse.
If he could get some herbs from her to brew Potions, Aisen believed he would gain a deeper understanding when dismantling the Scarpin Revealing Charm.
"Professor Aisen!" As soon as he entered the greenhouse, a voice rang out beside his ear.
"Ah, hello, Professor Sprout!" Aisen showed a polite smile, making himself look as amiable as possible.
Speaking of which, it seemed Professor Sprout was also the Head of Hufflepuff. Looking at this kind lady, Aisensuddenly remembered her identity.
Oh dear, this damned sense of presence!
"Is there anything you need here?"
"Ah, yes, a friend from Egypt sent me a Potion recipe, and I wanted to try brewing it using some herbs."
The true purpose, of course, couldn't be revealed. Experimenting with the Scarpin Revealing Charm like this, even Snape, the Potions Master, probably wouldn't do such a thing.
Aisen and Professor Sprout began talking.
Professor Sprout didn't pay much attention to why Aisenwas suddenly interested in the properties of some herbs, but she was very pleased with Aisen's behavior.
He wasn't sure if it was his imagination, but in the subsequent conversation, Professor Sproutenthusiastically introduced Aisen to the properties and uses of herbs like daisy root, mugwort, hemlock, and scurvy grass.
After gaining a deeper understanding of the properties of some herbs and which Potions could be brewed from them, Aisen felt his eyes were truly opened.
Finally, Professor Sprout even specifically gave him some fresh herbs.
There was nothing he could do; she was simply too enthusiastic. It was as if Aisen had already decided to dedicate himself to the study of Herbology. Thus, before leaving the greenhouse, Aisen solemnly declared that if he encountered any problems, he would definitely come to her for advice.
Only after returning to his office did Aisen remember his purpose.
To gain a deeper understanding of the Scarpin Revealing Charm, understand the properties of herbs, and personally brew Potions, Aisen even began to admire himself at this moment.
He classified the fresh herbs, selected some, and then used Wind Blade to slice them, remove stems and roots, squeeze them, and put them into the cauldron he had conjured for brewing Potions.
"Alright, the remaining herbs need to be stored separately. Hmm, some need their medicinal properties extracted under a full moon, some need to be sun-dried, and others need to be air-dried in the shade—it will take some time to process them, the whole process is indeed quite troublesome," Aisen muttered as he worked.
However, the herbs he had gotten from Professor Sproutwere of excellent quality, so Aisen wasn't worried about anything going wrong while brewing the Potion according to the procedure.
"Alright, that's it for now. I estimate the Potion can only be brewed after the herbs are processed in a while." After finishing some tasks, Aisen breathed a sigh of relief.
Once the Potion was brewed, he would be able to personally experience the effect of the Scarpin Revealing Charm.
However, while talking about these matters, Aisenrecalled a question about himself that had occurred to him during his previous conversation with Professor Sprout.
That was, could the side effects of some Potions harm him? Or rather, could some poisons harm him?
For example, there is a Potion in the Wizarding Worldcalled Babbling Beverage. After drinking it, one would involuntarily babble nonsense. So, what if Aisen drank this Potion, would he start babbling and reveal that he was a transmigrator?
For another example, there is a Potion called Confusion Concoction. After drinking it, the person becomes reckless. This effect is simply like a spell that lowers intelligence. If Aisen accidentally drank it, would he become like an idiot and be easily manipulated by enemies?
It must be said that Aisen possessed perfect-level self-healing properties. He was confident that he could withstand the harm inflicted upon the human body by injuries and curses.
This meant that if it were poison, his self-healing properties should be able to counteract it perfectly.
However, the effects of some Potions, how should one put it, were like adding some negative buffs to him, and the self-healing property didn't seem to work.
Clearly, this was a rather troublesome matter.
What? He had the magical effect of Energy Absorptioninscribed and solidified on his body? Oh, then it's fine!
Suddenly, Aisen breathed a sigh of relief.
It was then that he remembered he had inscribed and solidified the ability of Energy Absorption onto his body some time ago. Because the runes were inscribed on all the cells throughout his body.
So, theoretically, even if Aisen drank the most potent poison, it would be broken down and converted into basic energy by the Energy Absorption runes, which would then be supplied to all the cells in his body.
"Unknowingly, have I become this powerful?" With this thought, a satisfied smile appeared on Aisen's face. "Could it be that I will become a 'foodie' who eats anything and everything? However, I wonder if I eat the Philosopher's Stone, will I be able to digest it?"
Thinking this, the smile on Aisen's face immediately faded. Following that, his expression turned strange again.
Energy Absorption should be able to absorb energy from the Philosopher's Stone, right!
Wait—
Could the 10 points of magic added by the golden finger every day be a manifestation of Energy Absorption? Could absorbing energy from the Philosopher's Stone be what increases magic?
Could it really be like this?
Aisen closed his eyes with a serious expression, carefully sensing his entire body. After a while, he opened his eyes again but felt nothing.
Did I think too much?
After a moment of contemplation, a smile blossomed on Aisen's face. Forget it, what's the point of thinking so much? Things will work out when they come to it!
After clearing his mind of distracting thoughts, he looked at the cauldron, found that there were no problems with the Potion brewing, and directly cast several Protective Charms on the cauldron before leaving his office.
As he walked through the corridors, Aisen could still feel the lingering effects of the second task of the Triwizard Tournament. Although a week had passed, the Little Wizards still wanted to cling to the tail end of the event and have more time for celebration and play.
But unfortunately, heavy homework assignments were dispensed from the hands of the Professors, striking them like a flood.
This caused the Little Wizards to complain incessantly.
Especially when they learned that the Champions didn't have to take exams, feelings of envy, jealousy, and hatred brewed within the Castle.
Fortunately, although Harry and Ron weren't academic overachievers, they had, after all, been given a boost by Aisen, so their studies weren't completely unbearable.