Ancient Wizards Return to Hogwarts...

Chapter 432 Godric: Are you guys never going to stop?!

Once Rice and his two companions entered, the office was packed like a sardine can. Rice couldn't see Rowena at all; he could only hear her voice from the front.

"Alchemy, literally speaking, is the art of refining gold," Rowena said to the students, seemingly oblivious to the crowded office.

She started directly from the origins of alchemy.

"The ultimate goal of alchemists is to transform common metals—some alchemists choose plants—into gold or silver, and to create a 'miracle cure' that is said to cure all diseases and extend life indefinitely."

This field of study existed long before magic, originating from ancient humans' desire for wealth and life. The birth of magic imbued alchemy with mystical significance, transforming it from merely a discipline of burning stones. But don't underestimate burning stones; it's the precursor to what Muggles call 'chemistry.'

One of the students, who knew a bit more about alchemy, couldn't help but ask, "Professor Ariane, are you referring to the Philosopher's Stone?"

"That's right! Although alchemists throughout history claimed to have successfully crafted the Philosopher's Stone before Nicolas Flamel, their creations all had flaws and shortcomings to varying degrees. Many were simply clumsy illusions. Others didn't even utilize alchemical knowledge, instead relying on divine power. These were not true Philosopher's Stones. It wasn't until Nicolas Flamel appeared that he successfully crafted the Philosopher's Stone that best met the requirements of alchemists—what you call the Philosopher's Stone."

At this point, a slight smile appeared on Rowena's lips: she had to thank Salazar, who had given her a small piece of the Philosopher's Stone, allowing her to glimpse the ultimate in alchemy. She had also gained great inspiration and enlightenment from it, and her alchemy skills had advanced by leaps and bounds, reaching the level of mastery she had achieved now.

If she wanted, she could easily replicate the Philosopher's Stone, which has an effect similar to that of Nicolas Flamel's Philosopher's Stone.

"I also have some knowledge of alchemy. Fortunately, I was lucky enough to push open the heavy door of knowledge and glimpse the tip of the iceberg." After answering her student's question, Rowena continued her lesson.

"My pursuit of alchemy is different from that of ordinary alchemists. You cannot learn how to turn ordinary iron into gold from me, nor can you achieve immortality through alchemy. I will only teach you to make some practical little gadgets."

Professor Arias's words did not disappoint the students much, because everyone knew that the Philosopher's Stone was not something an ordinary person could create. Throughout the entire history of magic, wasn't Nicolas Flamel the only one who succeeded?

So even when Professor Arias said she could teach them how to craft Philosopher's Stones and pulled out a box of them, they didn't believe they could learn such an advanced technique. But the "practical gadgets" were different; they were things they could actually learn and use.

The students, instead, perked up and listened intently, afraid of missing a single word.

"Children, do you feel that this place is a bit crowded and not suitable for classes?" Rowena suddenly asked this question.

"Yes!" Rice's voice was exceptionally loud. He and the Greengrass sisters, who were the last to enter, were squeezed into a corner. They couldn't even find a place to sit down, let alone stand. Daphne even used flying magic to float about a foot off the ground to gain more space and get a clearer view of her teacher's face.

"Then come this way, I'll take you to a spacious place to study." She gestured for the students to follow her to one side of the platform, where a small, round archway stood.

Rowena said to a Hufflepuff senior standing beside her, "Get in."

Upperclassmen: ? ? ?

"Professor, this seems a little small..." he said weakly.

"Don't worry about that, just go straight through the archway." Rowena's tone left no room for argument.

The older student reluctantly complied, but when he stood in front of the archway, he found that the archway was getting bigger and bigger.

The archway, which was originally only the height of a palm, gradually grew to be half the size of his body, then the same height as him, and finally became three times the size of his body.

"This..." The older students were dumbfounded.

He soon realized that it wasn't the archway that had grown bigger, but rather his own body that had shrunk, turning him into a tiny person about an inch tall!

Turning around, Professor Ariane stood behind him like a mountain peak, almost as tall as the "sun" above. Looking around, the students also appeared as giants, surrounding him like an endless mountain range.

"A little trick of spatial magic, next one, everyone hurry up." Seeing the astonished expressions on the faces of those around her, Rowena couldn't help but smile from the bottom of her heart. She urged the students to hurry up and enter the platform.

It has to be said that even Rice was amazed by Rowena's move.

He knew that Rowena had been tinkering with clay figures in the dungeon out of boredom the other day, but he never expected that she had developed the spell to such an extent.

Shrinking people and stuffing them into a sandbox—how could she even think of that! This means Rowena has made another breakthrough in spatial magic.

The students lined up to enter the platform, and soon it was Rice's turn.

"How about it? This spell." Rowena looked at Rice and couldn't help but show off.

"That's truly amazing," Rice exclaimed sincerely. "Looks like this year's championship will rely on this spell?"

"It's a secret." Rowena was very tight-lipped and unwilling to reveal even the slightest bit of information.

But Rice is certain that she will definitely take advantage of this spell this year, otherwise she wouldn't be Rowena.

After entering the platform like everyone else, Rice examined the platform that Rowena had created.

The area is lush with various plants and trees, and you can even hear the chirping of insects and birds in the forest. Not far from the entrance is a magnificent castle and its garden, which is obviously Rowena's residence.

Looking at everything before her, Rice recalled Rowena's earlier masterpiece, the bio-crystal ball. She had contained an entire forest within a crystal ball, creating a world unto itself. Now she had applied that technology here; this platform was simply an open-ended crystal ball, but the impact was entirely different.

Rowena was the last to come in.

She waved her hand, signaling everyone to follow her.

Rowena led her students into the castle garden, where she chose a fig tree and sat down in its shade. The students followed suit, sitting on the ground with her.

"This is also a form of alchemy, the alchemy I pursue—creating life," Rowena said in a calm tone, revealing something extraordinary.

Rice: !!!

He was startled by Rowena: Could it be that all the trees here were created by Rowena using alchemy?

He quickly looked around and was surprised to find that Rowena didn't seem to be exaggerating; many of the plants in the garden were created with magic.

For example, the grass on the ground in front of him, upon closer inspection, most of the grass looked the same, as if they were carved from the same mold, and contained a faint but very pure magic power within.

This is the power of magic.

"Of course, sometimes to save trouble, I'll shrink down real plants and animals and bring them in. For example, this fig tree is one I transplanted from outside." With a wave of her hand, several ripe figs fell into her palm.

"Clear water like spring water!" She quickly washed the fruit, peeled it, and began to enjoy it.

"Professor, isn't this the power of Transfiguration?" Hermione raised her hand, expressing her confusion and bewilderment to Professor Arias.

Rowena showed remarkable patience when faced with questions from her chosen students.

"Miss Granger, in terms of their form, they may resemble transfiguration, but they are not entirely the same." Rowena plucked a blade of grass from the ground.

"You see, if it were a transmutation spell, the object would most likely disintegrate and revert to its original form after being damaged like this. This is a characteristic of transmutation: when the damage the object suffers exceeds the limit that the spell can withstand, the spell will become ineffective. But alchemy is different." Rowena casually conjured a small vortex, which shredded the weed in his hand into pieces.

The wild grass turned into grass clippings and fell to the ground, but it did not disappear.

"This is an alchemical creation made from elements. When it is destroyed, it will gradually disintegrate, but it will not disappear immediately like a transformation—in other words, the things here are edible," Rowena explained, giving a very simple and easy-to-understand example.

Food created through transmutation is inedible unless it was originally edible. Eating it removes the spell and restores the object to its original form, potentially causing uncontrollable damage to the digestive system. However, alchemical creations are different; they are edible and ultimately revert to their original energy elements within the digestive system.

"Alchemy, this ancient discipline, involves studying the composition, structure, and magical properties of the four basic elements, as well as the transmutation of matter. By mastering the proportions, one can refine whatever one desires." Rowena closed her eyes, and after a few seconds, the hole that had been empty in the ground was filled by a newly sprouted blade of grass.

"This subject is very interesting. You have to find a balance among the four elements and then create new items." Rowena stretched out his hand and wrote the four words [Wind], [Earth], [Fire], and [Water] on the ground in that order.

"Today I'm going to teach you some basic principles of alchemy, and we'll start with the simplest things."

"Are we supposed to train ourselves to grow a blade of grass?" an older student asked, rubbing his hands together eagerly.

"Of course not." Rowena rolled her eyes at him.

"Don't underestimate this blade of grass. If you can conjure up even one blade of grass by the time you graduate, that would be a success. Today we're studying the simplest classification of elements, which doesn't involve anything at all, including life."

As she spoke, Rowena took out dozens of substances, distributed a pile to each student, and asked the students to classify them themselves.

"Put single-element images together, and label images containing multiple elements as representing those elements. If you have any questions, discuss them with your classmates first. If you can't reach a conclusion, then come and ask me." After explaining the content of this lesson, Rowena leaned against the fig tree and began to read her book.

Rice glanced at the materials he had been allocated, and within a few minutes he had sorted them all out. Then he picked a plant that had been conjured by alchemy and began to study it.

"The combination of water and soil... does such a plant have the ability to reproduce?" Rice held the plant in his hand, examining it from all angles.

Then his gaze sharpened: he noticed that the magic attached to the grass was expanding at an extremely small rate, which meant that the grass could absorb energy on its own. Once it absorbed enough energy, it would grow and even split off into a second plant.

To verify his guess, Rice began to carefully examine the surrounding plants and trees, and then he actually found something that could prove his guess: next to a larger wildflower was a small flower that looked exactly the same as the larger one, except that it was a little smaller.

"Truly remarkable," Rice thought to himself. The little world Rowena had created was already capable of self-circulation.

He spent the rest of the class studying Rowena's estate, gaining considerable inspiration in alchemy.

The bell rang outside, and Rowena stood up, quickly corrected a few mistakes made by the students, and then announced the end of get out of class.

"How was it?" Rowena asked Rice before he left.

"Impressive." Rice's response was simple, but it made Rowena beam with joy.

"Let's make a deal." After the other students had left, Rowena called out to Rice.

Rice: ?

"I heard that you have the Resurrection Stone, one of the Three Holy Relics of the Dead. Lend it to me for a while, and I'll share my alchemical insights with you. It contains many ready-made recipes; you can 'mix' them according to the proportions to craft the same items. You should understand what I mean."

Rice knew perfectly well what Rowena was talking about.

Rowena's life alchemy is somewhat similar to potion making, as it involves adjusting the proportions of the four elements: water, fire, wind, and earth. Therefore, given the specific recipe, he could indeed replicate the life alchemy Rowena had previously successfully created.

"Don't break it." Feeling that this deal was quite a bargain, Rice took out the resurrection stone and handed it to Rowena, who in turn stuffed a small booklet into Rice's hands.

"You can leave now." Having succeeded, she didn't hesitate to tell Rice to leave.

After Rice left, Rowena eagerly twirled the resurrection stone three times in her palm. A gust of hot wind swept by, and a familiar voice rang out in the forest.

"You guys are never going to stop, are you?!" Godric's phantom appeared in front of Rowena.

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 delivered, goodnight~

(End of this chapter)