Ancient Wizards Return to Hogwarts...

Chapter 374 Second Awakening of the Domain

Every second that followed was torture for Rice.

Every glance from Helga took on a different meaning in his eyes. Even a casual yawn or stretch from her would trigger a stress response in Rice.

Like a piece of roast meat that has been simmering in an oven for two hours, Rice finally realized: Isn't it reasonable that Daphne's realm of enlightenment is magma?

Her teacher was water. She worked all day in the "earth" office and finally had an epiphany while staring blankly at the flames in the fireplace. The realm she realized was the combination of water, fire, and earth.

After the string in his mind snapped, Rice's thoughts instantly became clear.

The concept of "water" shouldn't be limited to just "water"; it encompasses all liquid substances. Yes, that's it!

Rice's eyes suddenly lit up, like two bright little suns—magma is also liquid, so magma is "water"!

After going back and forth, Daphne still managed to grasp the realm of water!

Helga noticed Rice's unusual behavior. She looked at Rice in surprise, while simultaneously sensing the strange magical fluctuations emanating from him.

Has the old viper finally realized something again?

Rice slowly rose from his seat, his feet hovering three inches off the ground, and spoke to Hufflepuff in a clear, magnetic voice:

"I understand."

Helga: ? ? ?

"What did you realize?"

Daphne and Astoria also put down their work and looked at Rice with curiosity, wondering what he wanted to say.

Everything that flows returns to water; this is true of all things.

Helga: ?

Salazar, do you want to listen to what you're saying? Are you crazy? I admit I laughed a little loudly just now, can't you be normal?!

Helga was a little panicked because Salazar was the best potion maker among the four. Salazar could save Rowena from madness with potions, but if Salazar went mad, they would be helpless.

What's worse, she also had to painstakingly seal away the crazed old serpent, otherwise his current state would be too dangerous—letting someone like him go out of control would be a world-ending crisis.

Helga silently assessed the strength of both sides. She felt she could win, but wasn't sure she could capture the old viper; she'd probably need Dumbledore's help. At the same time, she mentally scoffed at Rice: "So what if I made a couple of sarcastic remarks about your student's field? Why is he so upset?"

Rice spread his hands, and two clumps of silver liquid gradually condensed in his palms.

Helga: !

She was stunned, because Rice was not using any other kind of magic, but the purest form of domain expansion.

The field of mercury, or more specifically, the field of quicksilver.

Helga's expression turned serious. As a longtime friend, she knew all too well what Salazar's domain was like. It had absolutely nothing to do with mercury, but today he had used the power of his domain to conjure up a large mass of mercury.

There are only two possibilities: either Salazar accidentally awakened the Mercury Domain, or...

If we interpret his words correctly, Salazar's domain is clearly much broader, and his authority has increased further.

Can a wizard or deity possess two domains? Of course, they can. For example, Loki and Odin have multiple domains, but the phenomenon exhibited by Salazar is much rarer than awakening an additional domain.

A second awakening of the domain! It's actually a second awakening of the domain!

When the mercury in Rice's hand disappeared and was replaced by a mass of molten lava, Helga was immediately certain that something had happened to Salazar—his domain had undergone a second awakening, switching the concept of "water" in the domain to the concept of "liquid."

Hufflepuff wore an extremely complex expression: the second awakening was the realm that the four of them had been tirelessly pursuing, a true "taking another step forward" and "the ultimate in magic," but it turned out that the old viper had taken the first step, and in such an absurd way.

All I can say is that magic is truly amazing.

Experts see the details, while laymen just watch the show. Daphne and Astoria had no idea what was going on; they only knew that Rice seemed to have pulled off some fancy maneuvers again.

"Is that sparkly mercury?"

"Yes."

"Wow, it's lava!"

"Quiet!"

After being scolded by her younger sister, Daphne returned to her obedient child state, except that her big eyes were still darting around.

Rice's eyes gradually dimmed, and a faint smile remained on his lips as he fell back to the ground.

"Thank you." He looked at Helga, his eyes sparkling like stars.

Hufflepuff: ...

Shut up, it's so sour!

She glanced at the two sisters sitting in the corner eating melon seeds and couldn't help but sigh heavily: These two girls are really lucky.

"You're lucky to have witnessed the second awakening of the domain firsthand; his domain has become even more powerful." She then proceeded to explain to the Greengrass sisters what the second awakening of the domain was.

Rice listened quietly, occasionally adding a comment based on his own insights, which greatly benefited Helga—after all, Rice was the only person she knew who had undergone a second awakening of the realm and was willing to communicate with her.

However, as Rice's explanation went deeper, Helga also noticed a problem: since Rice's domain focus had changed from "water" to "liquid", would his suppressive power over those sub-domains such as "cloud" and "fog" be gone?

"That's true, but since those things originate from water, I still have a very strong control over them. I can suppress those areas by preventing water from turning into vapor—and I should remind you that fog is composed of tiny water droplets or ice crystals suspended in the air near the ground, which is still within the realm of liquid control. You should brush up on your Muggle physics. I'm sure Hermione Granger from Ravenclaw would be happy to lend a hand."

Helga felt her body temperature was getting out of control; Salazar's words caused her blood pressure to spike.

"Alright, let's stop making parts for today." She made a quick decision and dismissed them.

It's not that I'm afraid my brother is suffering, it's that I'm afraid he'll drive a Land Rover—this kind of situation also exists in the magical world. Salazar is undoubtedly the first of the four to drive a "Land Rover," and Helga is so envious she could grind her teeth to dust. She simply cannot imagine what it would be like to spend an entire day in the same room as Salazar; it would be excruciating, every minute and second torture!

Rice didn't waste any more words with her and left Helga's office with Daphne and Astoria.

"So, Rice, how did you suddenly awaken a second time?" Daphne asked curiously.

Rice smiled without saying a word.

Daphne deserves at least 30% credit for this second awakening in the field.

"Since there's a second awakening, will there be a third or fourth awakening?" Astoria asked from the side. This question had been on her mind for a long time. She had wanted to ask it in the office just now, but seeing that Professor White's expression wasn't very good, she didn't bring it up.

This question left Rice speechless, because he didn't know the answer either.

Theoretically, it's feasible. A so-called "domain" is actually just a concept or a powerful effect. For example, having control over the "fog" in a certain area is a fog domain.

After such a realm awakens a second time, it might become the Water Realm, or it might become something else entirely. Rais has already proven that the Water Realm can continue to awaken, that is, a third awakening. But Rais is uncertain whether this realm can continue to awaken beyond that; it's theoretically possible, but no one has ever achieved it.

"It's hard to say, but it should be possible. Alright, stop thinking about all that nonsense, you two need to focus on awakening your domains." Rice said to the two of them, half-jokingly and half-seriously.

"good!"

"good……"

The three of them walked together toward the Slytherin common room, leaving Helga alone in the office to "quietly" remain.

After Salazar and the others left, Helga's mood gradually calmed down.

Regardless, she was happy that her friend had made progress—even if that person was Salazar.

She also began to consider the possible directions for a second awakening in her field, drawing on Salazar's ideas.

After a while, she suddenly realized that she had left Cedric in the common room last night and hadn't paid any attention to him! With that thought, she abandoned her research and ran straight to the Hufflepuff common room.

Helga arrived not too late; she got there as soon as Cedric regained consciousness.

"I'll have some of this to replenish my energy." Helga strode into the common room and took out a piece of chocolate from his pocket.

Cedric was still in a daze, clearly not yet recovered from last night's battle.

He instinctively took the chocolate from the teacher, but the movement aggravated his shoulder injury, causing him to wince in pain.

The pain quickly brought Cedric back to his senses. He turned sharply to look at Helga, muttering, "Teacher—"

"Eat it first," Helga interrupted Cedric.

Cedric was an obedient and good boy. Seeing that his teacher said this, he stopped talking and focused on finishing the chocolate that Helga had given him.

He bit into the chocolate, chewed it, and swallowed it. Cedric felt a warm current rise in his stomach, ascending all the way to the top of his head, sweeping away all the fatigue in his body.

After eating the whole piece of chocolate, Cedric had the illusion that he was fully recovered, and even the wound on his shoulder didn't seem to hurt as much anymore.

"Teacher, can we distribute these chocolates to the Quidditch team members? They seem perfect for replenishing energy during the game!" Cedric's first thought was Quidditch, which made Helga both amused and exasperated.

"I'm afraid that's not possible, because this chocolate contains energy potions, and eating it would violate the Quidditch rules." Having been in the modern magical world for a long time, Helga had a thorough understanding of various common sense and rules, and even knew the complex Quidditch rules very well.

Cedric sighed with regret, but a few seconds later he realized what he was doing and asked the coach if the team members could be provided with this chocolate during training.

Taking it during training shouldn't violate the rules, right?

Helga was speechless. But after thinking about it for a moment, he realized it did seem feasible. Should he make a few more himself? However, the Hufflepuff Quidditch team members were in for a rough time.

She didn't even need to think to know what Diggory would do after getting the energy chocolate; the most insane training house among the four houses was probably about to change hands.

"Teacher, last night—"

"The people who attacked you were from the Secret Order. Don't worry, I've already taken care of them." Hufflepuff gave Cedric a brief introduction to the Secret Order, this reclusive organization.

Cedric's expression grew increasingly serious.

Seeing her student looking worried, Helga quickly comforted him, telling him not to worry too much. After all, she would be there to support him even if the sky fell.

"If only I could awaken a domain..." After learning of the existence of the Secret Order, Cedric's desire for a domain was ignited.

"The domain will be there." At this point, Helga remembered that Cedric still had an injury on his shoulder, so she repeated what Salazar had told her about the injury to Cedric.

"Try to use the power of the Earth Domain to eliminate the domain residue at the wound. I think this will be very helpful for you to master the domain," Helga instructed earnestly, and Cedric nodded repeatedly.

After giving Cedric a few instructions and handing him a new bracelet and a small jar of soil, Helga left the warm lounge.

The bracelet was for Diggory's survival, a way to replenish what he had lost. The soil was for healing; if Cedric couldn't hold on, he could sprinkle the soil from the jar on his wounds. The soil, imbued with Helga's power, would neutralize the residual light and dark energy in the wounds, accelerating healing.

She believed Cedric would use them properly.

Although not many students stayed on campus during Christmas, Hogwarts still prepared a very lavish Christmas meal.

However, due to the small number of students, Dumbledore didn't continue the tradition of having the four houses eat at separate tables. Dividing the meals among five tables with so few people would be too lonely and would result in a serious waste—with no more than ten students per house, how much food could each house possibly consume? Yet, a portion of the food had to be prepared for each table. If a dish was present on the Gryffindor table but not on the Slytherin table, who knows what kind of trouble that would cause.

The four college desks disappeared, and in their place was a faculty desk, which was placed in the center of the auditorium for use by teachers and students staying on campus.

Rice and Helga entered the auditorium one after the other, and when they saw the table and the students from various colleges mingling around it, they were both taken aback: if they had chosen this way of dining back then...

A jumble of thoughts collided in their minds until the person behind them gently nudged them.

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.

Update here~

The next one is most likely to be around this time tomorrow.

(End of this chapter)