Ancient Wizards Return to Hogwarts...

Chapter 357 Compression Domain

Rice carefully studied Helga's insights and came to the conclusion that Helga's role in Cedric's awakening of the pseudo-realm was like the foam on a butterbeer—it just seemed a lot.

The thought of spending three days and nights working on this "humorous" document in Helga's office sent Rice's body temperature soaring.

"Helga—" he yelled at the guy sitting in the office chair, but Helga completely ignored him and just sat quietly in the chair.

Rice rushed to her and grabbed her collar, only to find that the person in front of him was no longer breathing.

"That's an insult to people's intelligence." Rice sneered and used "Thunder Explosion" directly on Hufflepuff in front of him.

The human body in his hand was blown to pieces, but no blood flowed from the shattered remains; only a lot of dust was kicked up. Hufflepuff knew that Rice would be angry after reading the record, so she had already fled.

A piece of paper flew out of the dust, and it read:

Salazar, don't make a big fuss, or you'll attract Dumbledore's attention—you don't want the professors at the university to know your true identity, do you? Besides, I believe my insights can indeed help your two precious disciples awaken their domains, so go and give it a try!

Rice narrowed his eyes: Helga, very good!

With a flick of his wrist, the note turned to ashes.

Looking at the burnt-out note, Rice felt that if he continued to spend time with these people, it wouldn't be a problem for him to awaken another realm related to fire or pressure.

He had to admit that Helga was right; he couldn't make too much noise in her office, but not making noise didn't mean he wouldn't cause any damage.

Rice chuckled coldly, snapped his fingers, and large drops of water began to appear on the ceiling of Helga's office. More and more drops appeared, eventually forming rain in the office.

The rain intensified, quickly forming a layer of water on the floor. Rice remained unmoved, standing in the center of the office, controlling the weather.

Rice left through the window only when the water was deep enough to reach a person's waist.

As he floated out of the window, the rainwater that had clung to him automatically detached and flew back into Helga's office.

Go mop the floor, Hufflepuff!

Having vented his anger, Rice left. Shortly after he left, Helga returned to his office.

Seeing the waist-deep water, Helga's face twitched twice, then she silently began to clean up the mess Salazar had left behind. Fortunately, for a wizard, dealing with this situation wasn't too difficult, and it even took less time than it had taken Rice to turn the place upside down.

Rice returned to the Slytherin common room, where Daphne and Astoria were huddled in a corner doing their homework.

"Rice, you're back?" Daphne looked up and saw Rice in the lounge, and couldn't help but call out happily.

Rice has been leaving early and returning late these past few days. He leaves the common room before dawn and doesn't come back until late at night. During the day, except for a few classes, you can hardly see him at all.

This made Daphne a little curious, wondering what Rice was busy with.

"I'm helping Professor White develop dolls." Rice didn't intend to hide anything and directly told the Daphne sisters about his activities. "I suggest buying one or two top-of-the-line ones; the dolls this time are quite well made."

Rice wasn't promoting Helga's products; he genuinely believed her dolls were worthy of being passed down as family heirlooms.

Putting aside the ensuing squabbles, he and Helga did indeed put a lot of effort into this, and even the service model that Rice particularly wanted to complain about could still get the housework done very well.

"Really? Then I'll write to Dad and ask him to order a few." Daphne knew that Rice wouldn't lie about something like this, so she immediately made up her mind to buy a few automatons for the family.

"Yes, you won't regret it." Rice nodded, then leaned back in his armchair—the past three days had exhausted him.

As he nestled in the soft armchair, Rice pondered the insights Helga had given him.

To be fair, she did point out a new path for herself.

"Should we take Daphne and Astoria to try? It's all about luck, but maybe they can do the same as Cedric?" A thought popped into Rice's head, but he quickly dismissed it.

He didn't quite agree with Helga's approach; he felt that Helga's actions were counterproductive and stifled Cedric's potential.

If he were allowed to try awakening a domain on his own, he might awaken another domain, but with Helga's interference, Cedric will only be able to stick to the Earth domain in the future.

While this is a top-tier field, it doesn't align with Rice's philosophy. Rice prefers letting students forge their own paths to letting them find their own.

However, Helga's approach inspired Rice, who came up with a more feasible solution.

Helga's approach is more about relying on students' talent, while he is truly on the path of guiding students to awaken.

With that thought in mind, Rice sprang out of his armchair, ignoring Daphne's question behind him, and headed straight for his secret chamber.

Rice's idea was very simple: although Helga hadn't done much, she had still guided Cedric through her actions, so she could learn from her and guide Daphne and the others, letting them witness firsthand how a domain is formed. The more times they saw it, the higher the probability of awakening their domains.

However, it's difficult to replicate one's own approach, because among the world's powerful figures who possess expertise in their respective fields, who would be willing to do such a thankless and arduous task?

Upon entering the secret room, Rice immediately activated his domain.

The secret room quickly filled with murky lake water.

After covering the entire secret room with his domain, Rice began to compress his domain little by little, expelling the "impurities" within it and making the magic as solid as possible.

After repeated refining, the water level in the room dropped significantly, leaving only a thin layer of clear water on the floor.

The remaining water was crystal clear, seemingly without a single impurity, and rippled with astonishing magic. It seemed that with just a gentle push of magic, a vast expanse could be unfolded.

Looking at the "compression field" in front of him, Rice gave a tired smile: he could say he had succeeded halfway.

He collected the "water" on the ground and formed a water sphere about half the height of a person in front of him.

Rice took out an amethyst from his pocket, tapped it lightly with his wand, and turned the crystal into a hollow teardrop, adding a seamless expansion spell inside.

After doing all this, Rice "cut" a piece the size of a soccer ball off the water balloon and stuffed it into the crystal.

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

The second update is here!

(End of this chapter)