Ancient Wizards Return to Hogwarts...

Chapter 391 There are others in my domain?!

"Interesting..." Rice murmured softly.

"What's wrong?" Hermione gasped for breath, recovering her strength from overexertion, and turned to look at Rice.

Rice didn't say anything, but simply pointed to the sun in the sky.

Hermione looked up, initially noticing nothing amiss—the sun looked no different than usual, so why was she being shown the sun?

Then she suddenly realized the problem: the position of the sun in the sky had hardly changed, but she and Rice had been in the library area for a long time.

If everything were normal, the sun should be heading west by now.

"To the Great Hall." Rice said nothing more and led Hermione straight toward the castle.

Not far away, Helga, standing in front of the office window, squinted.

Three seconds, a full three seconds! Salazar and Granger vanished right before his eyes!

"What kind of domain has Granger awakened? It doesn't seem to be an elemental domain, but judging from her performance, it doesn't seem like she's only touched the threshold of a domain! Could it be that Hermione has actually awakened a complete domain?" Helga's expression was solemn.

A series of thoughts and doubts flashed through Helga's mind, along with a hint of worry. She planned to talk to Salazar privately after he came up, but there was no doubt that Rowena had also chosen a good student!

Rice and Hermione returned to the Great Hall and found that it was almost exactly the same time they had left.

Now Hermione was certain that time within her own domain was independent of time outside. Several hours had passed within her domain, but time outside hadn't changed much.

If that's the case, wouldn't I have more time to read? That was the first thought that popped into Hermione's head.

After paying special attention to the bulletin board and finding that the date had not changed, Rice concluded that Hermione's domain would "freeze" time.

Awesome!

Rice had no other thought in mind but this one.

Anything related to time is powerful, bizarrely so, and time magic is like that, as is the realm of time.

Hermione's realm, while not a pure time realm, can still create a space where the flow of time is independent of the outside world, like inserting a node into a normal timeline. Once the node unfolds, it represents a period of time that belongs exclusively to Hermione.

The pure time realm, Rice thought, was probably the most terrifying realm, because few people could resist the erosion of time, and the four of them were no exception.

Unfortunately, Hermione's cannot be considered a pure time domain, otherwise she would undoubtedly be the owner of the first domain at Hogwarts.

Even if her domain was only slightly related to time, it was still quite remarkable. In Rice's opinion, although Hermione's domain wasn't elemental, it was in no way inferior to the complete versions of Daphne's and Cedric's domains—not to mention their current level, which hadn't even crossed the threshold.

"Develop it well, and study it when you have time later," Rice said to Hermione.

The strength of a domain is not constant. Not to mention the secondary awakening after in-depth development, the strength exerted varies depending on the level of proficiency with the domain.

"Okay," Hermione replied earnestly.

Even if Rice didn't say anything, she would activate her domain several times a day. Each activation granted her three hours of extra study time, making her domain comparable to a time converter.

While it cannot turn back time, there is no risk associated with using a time converter.

"You get some rest first, I'm going to see Professor White." After instructing Hermione to further develop her own field, Rice turned and walked upstairs.

Hermione felt tired and decided to go back to the lounge for a short rest. Once she regained her energy, she would open the domain again.

When Rice arrived at the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor's office, Helga was already waiting for him.

"What domain did Granger awaken? Did she awaken it directly, or did she just touch the threshold like Diggory and the others?" Helga asked impatiently after Rice closed the door.

"It's a direct awakening. Unlike Daphne and the others, her domain is non-elemental, so she had a nearly complete domain right from the start." Rice didn't mince words and directly shared the information he knew with Helga.

"I see..." Helga frowned slightly, a hint of pity flashing in her eyes, as if to say, "I knew it."

Just as she observed, it was a non-elemental realm; Miss Granger was truly pitiful.

As a wizard who had lived through the age of mythology, Helga understood the difference between elemental and non-elemental realms. So when Salazar told her that Rowena's disciple had awakened a non-elemental realm, her first reaction was sympathy.

I sympathize with Rowena, and I also sympathize with Hermione Granger.

Putting aside her status as Rowena's student, Helga still had a deep impression of Hermione because she was a very hardworking and active girl in class.

From whatever perspective, Helga hoped Hermione would inherit her teacher's wind domain. Unfortunately, things didn't go as planned—if things could truly be as she wished, how could Salazar possibly allow her student to possess a magma domain?

However, in the modern magical world, perhaps non-elemental fields would be more popular? Helga thought about it again and realized that functional fields weren't as bad as they thought.

In the world a thousand years ago, survival was the primary concern. If a domain could not significantly enhance combat power, it was meaningless in the eyes of old-school wizards like Salazar and Helga.

Even Helga herself only began to seriously study food magic after she had become strong enough. Moreover, her food magic initially had strong practical value, as the food she created had a series of effects such as quickly restoring the stamina of her teammates, accelerating wound healing, enhancing immunity, and detoxifying.

When that dark and turbulent era ended and peace descended upon the land, the things wizards sought seemed to have changed. The proportion of magic used for combat decreased, while the proportion of utility magic increased, and some combat magic even transformed into utility magic—this was the general trend.

In other words, there should be enough places in the modern magical world for non-elemental fields to exert their power.

"Hey, what kind of look is that? Do you really think my domain is trash? Miss Granger's domain is related to time!" What's the relationship between Rice and Helga? He can guess what she's thinking just by looking at her expression.

Save your compassion for your students, Helga! Hermione's domain would have been quite formidable even a thousand years ago.

After all, knowledge is power for wizards, and Hermione can accelerate the speed at which wizards acquire knowledge, and can even share the knowledge in her mind.

Some magical families keep their spellbooks as family heirlooms. Hermione can replicate a spellbook in her domain after reading it only once, which is an incredible ability.

Is it related to time? Helga was stunned for a moment, and the few traces of sympathy that had just risen in her heart vanished instantly.

I'm so stupid, really. I only knew Hermione Granger's domain was a non-elemental domain, I never imagined it was related to time? So what am I supposed to sympathize with? I should sympathize with myself!

"Time?" Helga asked again, a little uncertain. At the same time, she recalled the scene she had just witnessed: Salazar and Granger had indeed mysteriously disappeared for three seconds. Could it be...?

"Oh? So we disappeared for a moment. Hmm, it doesn't seem like time completely stopped, which is normal. Speaking of which, did a huge library just suddenly appear out of nowhere?"

Rice was relieved to learn that they had vanished into thin air. It would be ridiculous if Hermione activated her domain and a library sprang up from the ground.

"What's the deal with the library?" Helga's curiosity was piqued by Salazar's mention of the "library." She wanted to know what mental state Salazar was in to ask such a question as, "Was there a library on the ground when they disappeared?"

"Miss Granger's domain is to create or summon a library that can accommodate specific individuals to study within it," Rice succinctly explained Hermione's domain effect to Helga.

Helga: ? ? ?

A hint of doubt flashed in her eyes: she had lived for so long, and this was the first time she had ever seen such a field.

But upon closer reflection, the effects of this field are truly powerful; it can seemingly create an extra period of time for a person each day. This time can be used for rest or for learning, making it a truly powerful auxiliary field.

Just as Helga was about to ask for more details, a red flash suddenly appeared in Rice's arms.

"It's Rowena." Rice gave her a brief explanation in response to Helga's confused look.

Rice took the crystal ball out of his pocket, placed it on Helga's desk, and patted it. Rowena's voice came from inside.

"Salazar, what's going on with Granger?" Rowena's voice betrayed a hint of anxiety, revealing her deep concern for her student.

"Royna, congratulations! Hermione has just successfully awakened her domain!"

"Oh? Really? What type of domain did she awaken?" Upon hearing such good news, Rowena was overjoyed and couldn't help but ask Sarah about the type of her student's domain through the crystal ball.

"Her domain is a non-elemental domain, related to time. Her specific ability is to summon a library similar to Hogwarts Library, which can accommodate people to study. The flow of time inside the library is different from that outside. One hour inside the library is only about one second outside."

Rowena paused for a moment.

When Salazar mentioned "non-elemental realms," her heart skipped a beat, but when he mentioned that it was related to time, Rowena couldn't help but feel a surge of joy, her emotions fluctuating like a rollercoaster.

But what the heck is a library? Spending all day in the library has this effect?

Rowena felt like complaining, but didn't know where to begin: Wasn't this her own fault? She specifically recruited students who loved spending time in the library as her successors, so wouldn't it be reasonable for her to awaken a domain that could summon libraries?

"Hermione's library domain is incredibly powerful, and there's clearly still a lot of room for improvement. Rowena, you've really struck gold."

boom!

Rowena slammed his hand on the sand table in front of him, causing a small earthquake within the sand table world.

"What?! Salazar, how can your naming skills be so terrible?" Rowena roared. "Couldn't you call it the Realm of Knowledge or the Temple of Thought?! The Realm of Library, isn't that just too... too plain?"

Rice: ...

To be fair, the name Rowena chose did sound better than I had imagined.

"I'll ask Hermione later and see which one she'd like to choose." Rice decided to return the naming rights of the domain to its owner.

After saying that, he ended the call with Rowena.

"Library Domain... I think that's a good name. What do you think, Helga?"

Helga pursed her lips; she felt Rowena was just being pretentious. What else could Miss Granger's field be called but the Library Field? The two names she came up with were utter nonsense.

"Ahem," Helga cleared her throat, not directly answering Salazar's question, but instead bringing up a new topic: Shouldn't we consider preparing the final exams for the students this year?

"This year, the children have all been exposed to the realms, so the difficulty of the trials needs to be increased." Helga's face showed a hint of difficulty. As the children's strength increases, it becomes increasingly difficult to arrange suitable trials for them.

Finding a dark wizard or troll as the trial topic, as before, is clearly too simplistic.

Rice turned his gaze to an automated combat dummy standing in the corner of the office; it might be a good choice.

Following Salazar's gaze, Helga understood his meaning. A pang of regret flashed in Helga's eyes: Did they really have to use it for the trial? The problem was, they didn't seem to be a match for these little guys either. They couldn't just bring out several puppets to fight at once, could they?

"The puppet's strength is a bit too weak."

Helga's words elicited Rice's agreement, but he quickly set his sights on something else: the Godric armor, which they had previously used as teaching aids for their students, and which could perhaps still be put to good use.

“But a teaching aid…” Helga frowned, “Wouldn’t it provide enough pressure?”

"Then I'll think of another way." Rice fell into thought again.

While Rice and Helga were discussing the final trials, Hermione had already rested enough.

She got out of bed and stretched. Seeing that the dormitory was empty, she simply drew the curtains and opened her domain in the room.

Entering the library again, looking at the familiar building, a sense of joy flashed through her heart: let her read to her heart's content for three hours.

But when she went around behind the bookshelves to find a table to sit down, Hermione was stunned—she saw someone in her own library area, someone other than herself!

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.

Hehehe, today's update is much earlier!

(End of this chapter)