Hogwarts starts with stealing power.

Harry sighed deeply as he thought about this.

My friends are just too amazing!
He dared not entertain the thought of comparing himself to them.

But Ron is right. Since they are friends, the gap between them shouldn't be too big, otherwise they'll run out of things to talk about sooner or later.

Harry muttered, "If only we had more time."

Ron's eyes lit up, and he suddenly thought of something, whispering:

"How about we do what Hermione did and ask Professor McGonagall for a time-tamper so we can have more time to study?"

Harry was also somewhat tempted, but had some reservations.

Professor McGonagall agreed to Hermione's request because she had always been an excellent student, and Professor McGonagall believed that she could control time and be the master of time.

At the same time, Hermione has a very strong thirst for knowledge, and I think Professor McGonagall was willing to help Hermione apply based on this.

Harry paused, then said worriedly, "Haven't you noticed? Apart from Hermione applying for the Time-Turner, neither Lin Xia nor Draco did. This shows that the Time-Turner has certain drawbacks."

Ron pursed his lips and muttered, "Hermione is different from them."

Harry looked at Ron: "Hmm?"

Ron said, "Didn't you notice how anxious Hermione was when she was around those two?"

"I think Lin Xia and Draco didn't apply for the time converter because they didn't need it."

They don't need to squeeze out more time from this strange object.

With the time they have now, they have enough to arrange everything in a very organized manner.

“As for Hermione,” Ron changed the subject, “besides wanting to spend more time learning more, she might also be trying to catch up with them.”

"Besides, the Time-Turner helped us a lot during the battle of Hogsmeade."

Lin Xia and Draco both discovered that this strange object not only allowed them to squeeze out more time for studying, but also could rewrite their fate at crucial moments.

At this point, he confidently guessed:
"I bet as soon as the semester starts, the two of them will ask the professor for this rare item!"

Harry inexplicably felt that what Ron said made a lot of sense.

"So what should we do now? Should we apply to that professor in advance?"

Ron shook his head. "If we apply now, the professor will most likely not approve it."

They weren't as good as Hermione, after all.

Even Hermione had to go through a rigorous review by the Ministry of Magic and receive a recommendation from Professor McGonagall before she could obtain this item, and it could only be used at Hogwarts.

According to Hermione, each use of the artifact was monitored until she became proficient in its use, at which point the school removed the professor who had been watching her.

“Even if we get Professor McGonagall to agree, the Ministry of Magic might not. Our past academic performance wasn’t that outstanding, and we haven’t earned any badges of merit.”

Seeing Ron's confident expression, Harry guessed that Ron had already come up with a plan.

He asked bluntly, "What are you planning to do?"

Ron: "After school starts, Lin Xia and Draco will apply for this artifact. If we apply together, our chances of getting approved might be higher."

Harry asked, puzzled, "Draco and Lin Xia are more outstanding than us. If they apply together, they'll definitely be the ones who get approved. What chance do we have?"

A sly smile flashed across Ron's eyes.

“My dad works at the Ministry of Magic, and I specifically asked him about the Time-Turner. He told me that the Time-Turner has been damaged over the years since it was made, and there are not many left in stock.”

"After I asked him in detail, he revealed to me that the Ministry of Magic only has two time-twisters."

Harry vaguely understood, "The Ministry of Magic only has two, and one of them was given to Hermione, so there's only one left."

Ron snapped his fingers: "There's only one left, but Lin Xia and Draco are both excellent, so it's not fair to give it to only one person. I reckon they'll share a time-tamper."

I'll apply with you; if the Ministry of Magic wants to train us, they'll take that into consideration.

Since two people share one, it doesn't make much difference if four people share one.

And we can also monitor each other to prevent anyone from overusing it, don't you think?

Harry couldn't help but smile.

He thought Ron's idea was quite reasonable.

But there's a prerequisite: the Ministry of Magic must have high hopes for them and want to cultivate them before granting them special treatment.

I wonder how the Ministry of Magic views them.
-
The Ministry of Magic convened another emergency meeting.

The meeting discussed unusual topics, and the officials who participated in the discussions were of a very high rank.

Even Dumbledore, Nicolas Cage, and Barbling sent their doppelgangers.

A solemn-faced wizard stood up. He had two very deep vertical lines on either side of his mouth, which made him look serious and old-fashioned.

"I would like to report to you the discoveries we made this month while exploring the world of evil gods. We discovered 36 kinds of plants in the world of evil gods that are different from those in the wizarding world. These plants all have a certain degree of aggression and toxicity, which has caused great damage to the wizards' search."

But these plants have one unique characteristic: they not only attack wizards, but also the infected in the world of evil gods.

On the contrary, pure humans who are uncontaminated, Muggles who have neither the power of evil gods nor magic in their bodies, are able to live safely in the areas inhabited by these plants.

With the help of Muggles, we transferred 36 plant specimens to the wizarding world for special observation.

Next month, we'll be able to analyze all these plants, extract the useful toxins, and use them to fight the infected in the world of the evil god.

In the wizarding world, most infected individuals are wizards who have been infected by the power of evil gods, and they are divided into low-level, medium-level, and high-level.

Thanks to the wizards' dedicated research, low- and mid-level infected individuals can be controlled through appropriate medications.

Now, lower-level infected individuals are able to control the demonic ramblings within their bodies quite well.

Intermediate-level infections only slow down the continuous infection process and are difficult to contain, but they take longer than previous technologies.

Everyone believes that one day, the magical world will discover a way to stop intermediate-level infected individuals from becoming increasingly contaminated.

As for advanced infected individuals, well, even wizards at this stage are beyond saving.

However, the infected in the world of evil gods are different from those in the world of wizards.

In the world of evil gods, once infected, the body will become deformed.

In the wizarding world, once a deformity occurs, it is considered a high-level infection state, leaving one with no choice but to lose their mind and wait for death.

In the world of evil gods, deformities can actually be saved.

Some wizards have participated in the task of lighting the altar and have seen that sacred flame, which can strip away the deformities from the humans in the world of evil gods.

This gave the wizards an idea: if this flame were used on a wizard, could it also remove the evil spirits from their body? Could it completely cleanse the wizard of the evil spirits' whispers?
It's a pity that the wizard couldn't bring this flame out of the world of evil gods, otherwise it would have been used for research long ago. After reporting, the wizard sat down.

Another wizard stood up.

Although the wizard had a stern face, it was clear that he was not a man who rarely smiled. His eyes were resolute, and he exuded a strong aura of bloodlust.

He is one of the people in charge of pioneering the battlefield of the evil god world.

"Because of the Radiant Candles, we are exploring and advancing very quickly in the world of the evil gods. This month alone, we have discovered several towns, lit the altars one by one, and destroyed the evil gods."

Now I will report to you on the changes that occurred in the five normal towns under the control of the Ministry of Magic after the altars were lit.

The remaining mutants, after having their deformities removed by the holy flame, regenerated flesh and blood just like normal humans.

After testing, it was found that under the protection of the sacred flame, there was no evil god power in the human body.

Furthermore, the Holy Flame is extremely averse to the power of evil gods; if it encounters them, it will fight to the death, and it disregards magical power.

This further confirms that this world possesses its own civilization, and that evil gods are actually invasive alien species; otherwise, this phenomenon would be difficult to explain…

After each wizard finished their report, Dumbledore stood up to summarize the day's meeting and outlined the direction for future development.

"The wizards who were already lurking in the liberated towns continued to lie in wait, studying what made these towns different."
Bring back any plants that regrow in the town to see if they contain any other power.

We must do our utmost to recharge the sacred flame and prevent it from going out, otherwise all our efforts will be in vain.

One of the wizards couldn't help but frown and said, "Minister, do we still need to provide these flames with high-grade magic stones?"

High-grade magic stones are scarce in the wizarding world; every one used reduces the supply. Since the Holy Flame can destroy the power of evil gods and even feed on their power to grow stronger, why not feed them with advanced mutants or evil gods?

Although evil gods are not easy to capture, it takes a lot of manpower and resources.

However, high-grade magic stones are a non-renewable resource.

If we can use manpower and resources to make up for the loss of high-level magic stones, then it's worthwhile.

Alternatively, the magical world could discover a completely new super magic stone mine.

But the Ministry of Magic across the country has searched for decades and only found three, and in the last ten years, not a single one has been found.

Otherwise, they wouldn't be worried about the reserves of high-level magic stones.

Dumbledore's deep blue eyes were fixed on the wizard, and he said calmly, "The evil gods are very independent. They generally do not gather together, nor do they share their information."

The reason I didn't let you seek out evil gods to feed on the holy flame is because I was worried that if we hunted too many evil gods, it would cause panic among them and spread the news quickly, letting them know that the magical world had already conquered five towns.

The power we invested in the world of the evil god was ultimately too little. Once the evil god abandoned his pride, he consciously besieged the five liberated cities.

Do you think that the newly developed sacred flames alone can withstand the combined attack of the evil gods?

The wizard frowned and said with some worry, "But to maintain the energy of the sacred flame, we need to invest a lot of high-grade magic stones every day, not to mention that we need to maintain five strands of sacred flame."

The consumption of high-level magic stones is like a bottomless pit!

Barbling suddenly said, "Won't the area of ​​a town expand and be confined to one place?"

Everyone was taken aback by these words.

Babling said calmly, "I have been to the world of evil gods. I remember there were many undeveloped wilderness areas around the towns, and these wilderness areas were filled with the power of evil gods. Even the plants had the power attributes of the world of evil gods."

Since we can't capture the evil gods to feed on the holy flames, why not expand the town's area and let the holy flames eliminate the evil god's power in the wild?

The other wizards discussed it with the wizards around them, and everyone nodded in agreement.

This method can reduce the consumption of high-level magic stones, allow the holy flame to grow stronger, and expand the town's area, achieving three benefits at once.

However, there is a problem here.

As the town continues to expand, will it attract the attention of other evil gods?
They were unaware of this; the wizards still didn't understand how the evil gods communicated with each other.

The worst-case scenario the Ministry of Magic had anticipated was that after liberating the towns, they would attract the attention of other evil gods, who would then reclaim them, rendering all their initial investments worthless.

However, they had already liberated five towns one after another, and had not received any news of the evil god's appearance, nor had they noticed any unusual activity from the evil god.

This puzzled them.

Is the evil god unaware of the situation in these five towns, or is he plotting something big?
Mikel followed Professor McGonagall, thinking they were going to the professor's office, but the professor led him to the library instead.

Just as they were about to enter the library, Professor McGonagall suddenly stopped and handed Mikel a seamless, retractable ring.

McGonagall said cautiously, "The items the school prepared for you to resist the evil god's whispers are all in the ring, but I don't recommend that you put everything in the ring."

The moment you enter the forbidden book space, you'd better take out all your belongings.

Mikel's expression turned serious, which meant that the professor did not believe that he would be able to spare any attention to take the item out of the ring after reading the forbidden book.

Or perhaps he will be disturbed by the ravings of evil gods before he finds a suitable forbidden book.

Mikel looked curiously at the library door and asked, "Professor, is the restricted section I want to go to inside the library?"

McGonagall said, "You'll find out soon enough."

Mikel thought for a moment, then cautiously took out half of the items from the ring.

The reason he didn't take everything out was because the school had prepared quite a lot of items for him.

He could only hold half of it with both hands.

Seeing his reaction, a hint of satisfaction flashed in McGonagall's eyes.

She had led many wizards to the forbidden book area, but Mikel was the most cautious.

This indirectly means that he values ​​his life.

She felt more at ease in the forbidden book zone with a wizard who valued life, rather than one who was bold and reckless.

Professor McGonagall led him into the library, which was empty; the caretaker, Ms. Pince, was nowhere to be found.

Whether it was a coincidence or not, he had been to the library a few times before, and there were wizards inside.

But this time when I came in, there was no one inside; it seemed like they had been cleared out beforehand.

Mikel followed Professor McGonagall deeper into the library, comparing his memories with those of the past.

He remembered that further into the restricted book section, there was a wall, which meant the end of the road.

But the next second, when he stepped over a certain floorboard, the scene before Mikel's eyes completely changed.

As if time and space had intersected, he simply took a step and arrived in another magical world. (End of Chapter)