Ancient Wizards Return to Hogwarts...

Chapter 459 Rice: Pick up your wand! I told you to pick up your wand!

Back in the Great Hall, Dumbledore found that the other professors from the school and headmasters from other schools had arrived.

A strange calm prevailed in the auditorium.

After Serafina entered the Great Hall, the strange atmosphere even began to take an eerie turn. The students seemed to be engrossed in devouring their breakfasts, yet they also seemed to be secretly watching Professor Picqueri as he returned to the Great Hall.

Serafina noticed the strange atmosphere in the hall, but being a seasoned veteran, she chose to pretend nothing was wrong.

She went straight to the faculty section and found an empty seat.

Serafina herself wanted to keep a low profile, but others wouldn't give her that opportunity, such as Karkaroff, who thrived on chaos.

"Professor Piqueli, I'm really curious, what exactly happened just now?" Karkaroff asked with a strange smile on his face.

Seraphine froze, and just as she was pondering how to respond to this pesky Karkaroff, Dumbledore's voice came from behind her.

"Nothing happened, Igor, it's just a misunderstanding," Dumbledore said calmly, while looking at Karkaroff.

Karkaroff shut his mouth.

He felt immense pressure.

Few dared to offend Dumbledore on Hogwarts' territory. So, after receiving a strong response from Dumbledore, the commotion subsided.

It was deeply buried in everyone's hearts, and the name Les Lint became widely known as a result.

No matter how he explained it, he successfully withstood Professor Piccoli's sneak attack and defeated him in a direct confrontation. That alone is enough to warrant attention.

No matter how old Professor Piqueli was, his profound knowledge and experience were unmatched by ordinary wizards.

How could someone like that end up at the bottom of the standings in a single round of competition? It's simply unbelievable!

However, after some contestants revealed the tasks assigned by the system during a round of the competition, everyone noticed a detail: if a contestant single-handedly killed the fire dragon and then did not reunite with his teammates but instead chose to wander around, wouldn't he get zero points?

In other words, the contestants who scored zero but passed the assessment were all formidable individuals who completed the main quest independently without relying on the help of the locals or their teammates!

Once I figured this out, the names of those players at the bottom of the leaderboard who had zero points but completed the main storyline suddenly became dazzling.

Rice wasn't a high-profile person. When people asked him how he dealt with the fire dragon, he always said he just picked up a juvenile fire dragon by chance. Most of the other zero-point contestants gave the same answer, except for the monk from India who claimed that he had indeed single-handedly killed an adult fire dragon.

"First, I applied essential oils all over my body, which made my skin impervious to water and fire. Then I drank Soma, a wine brewed using ancient methods in my hometown, which gave me immense strength. Afterward, I took out several musical instruments, which automatically accompanied me. To the music, I danced the Shiva Tanvada dance of destruction and gained boundless divine power. Shiva's blessing helped me slay the evil dragon," said the Indian monk Arjun, while demonstrating the essential oils and Soma to the shamans present.

Everyone was shocked; there was no way such a magical potion existed in the world!

When asked if he sells essential oils and soma, Ah-Chung replied, "How could I sell such things? But if you are truly willing to make offerings, I can write a letter to the priest at the temple in my hometown and ask if he can bestow some essential oils and soma."

At this point, most of the young wizards had come to their senses and stopped thinking about it.

"Did that person really slay the dragon in this way?" Helga was extremely curious, so she quietly asked Rowena.

Rowena took out the crystal ball, retrieved the data of contestant Arjun, glanced at his competition process, and then Rowena was speechless.

"He was teleported to a place very close to a big city. He sold essential oils and soma wine, as well as some other miscellaneous trinkets, for a month. Then he used the money to buy a dragon egg, and he actually hatched a fire dragon from it—that's how he got his dragon heart."

After hearing this person's story, Helga was speechless.

He actually found a loophole in the competition! Indeed, when Rowena made the rules, she did consider that some players might try to cheat by buying a Dragon Heart, so she specifically stipulated that they had to participate in the hunt for the Fire Dragon, but she did not specify the age of the Fire Dragon!

Normally, young fire dragons are always accompanied and cared for by adult fire dragons. If one can kill a young dragon under such circumstances, Rowena believes that one would be qualified to pass the test.

But who would have thought that someone would come up with such a bizarre operation as hatching eggs?

"Forget it, this guy doesn't have any teammates, he'll definitely be eliminated in the second round, it's not a big problem."

Helga blinked: It seems Salazar doesn't have any teammates either. Could we have accidentally eliminated him as well?

"No problem, have some faith in Salazar." Rowena remained calm and confident in his old friend.

"Alright then." Seeing that Rowena looked confident, Helga stopped asking questions and started talking to her about other things.

In the faculty section, the other professors also had their own thoughts.

Professor McGonagall intended to ask Dumbledore about the specific details of the conflict between Les Lint and Professor Piccolo that morning, but she discovered that Dumbledore's entire mental state had changed overnight.

Well, she couldn't quite put her finger on what exactly had changed, but if she had to say, she felt that Dumbledore had become more relaxed, as if a huge burden had been lifted from his shoulders.

This is very strange.

Professor McGonagall knew what Dumbledore was carrying. The mysterious figure was like a Damocles' sword hanging over the heads of Hogwarts' teachers and students, making this centenarian bear far too much.

But now he seemed as if the mysterious man had never existed, which Professor McGonagall couldn't understand—perhaps it was just her imagination.

Dumbledore noticed Professor McGonagall's gaze, pointed his wand, and a plate of Turkish desserts flew into his hands.

"Mileva, would you like some dessert? This dessert is called 'Angel's Hair,' a Turkish specialty—"

"Albus!" Professor McGonagall quickly snapped out of her daze and snatched the calorie bomb made of a huge amount of oil and sugar from Dumbledore's hands with lightning speed.

"Absolutely impossible! Don't even think about getting desserts of this caliber!"

"Minerva, I am the headmaster!" Dumbledore's expression became unusually serious.

boom!

Professor McGonagall slammed her hand on the table.

Breakfast ended in such a joyful and peaceful atmosphere.

After breakfast, Rice met with Ilvermorny, the Parseltongue student, in the presence of Dumbledore and Seraphina.

When Jack learned that Rice was going to compete with him for the Slytherin Staff, he did not back down as Rice had expected, but readily accepted Rice's challenge.

This left Rice utterly bewildered: Who gave you the courage to defy me? You can't even stand up in front of me!

If it weren't for the fact that this was Hogwarts, where he couldn't do whatever he wanted like in the alchemy world, this person wouldn't even have the right to talk to him; just getting close to him would cause the liquid inside his body to boil.

How dare he compete with me for ownership of the Slytherin Staff?

With these questions in mind, Rice returned the Slytherin Staff to him for the time being—he was genuinely curious to know how this student would handle the situation.

Not only was Rice confused, but other students from Ilhamoni who had witnessed Rice's prowess were also puzzled.

Jack remained completely calm, because he had acquired a very powerful item during the competition. He had only been caught off guard by Les Lint in the auditorium. He was confident of victory in the actual confrontation.

Yes, he believed that once he used that method, even Professor Piccolo would be no match for him.

"You're playing against that Rice? Really? Can you win?" Jack's classmate couldn't help but ask.

"We can win!" Jack declared confidently.

Soon, Jack and his friends arrived at the dueling location designated for them by Professor Piccolo and Professor Dumbledore—an unused classroom at Hogwarts.

The so-called "battle for control of the wand" is actually a duel to determine a winner, only a gentler one, which does not necessarily require paying the price of life.

Not long after they arrived at the dueling arena, Rice also arrived. Accompanying him were some Hogwarts students and several Hogwarts professors.

Under the watchful eyes of Dumbledore and Seraphina, Rice and Jack stepped onto the dueling platform they had set up.

After going on stage, Jack didn't rush into the duel; instead, he started talking to Rice.

"Les Lint, I admit your performance in the auditorium was a bit unexpected, but it only caught me off guard. Now, I'm going to show you the opportunities I've gained in the arena—"

Rice raised an eyebrow; his curiosity had been fully piqued.

Jack pulled a small crystal bottle from his pocket, filled with a red potion. He uncorked it and drank the potion in one gulp.

"The physical bodies of wizards, or rather, humans, are far too weak. Today I'll show you what a truly powerful body is—the body of a dragon! Magic is nothing but an illusion before it!" As he spoke, Jack's aura began to rise steadily, and dense scales sprouted from his body.

A few seconds later, he transformed into a "dragon man" who was much taller than a normal person, and his hands also turned into something resembling dragon claws.

"Whoosh—" A ball of flame spewed from his mouth, and he casually tossed the Slytherin Staff in his hand to the ground, then tilted his head back and let out a deafening dragon roar.

Rice's expression changed instantly.

"Pick up your wand, you bastard, you have some nerve! I told you to pick up your wand!"

In response to Rice, there was an even louder dragon roar.

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 everyone!

I updated with 5,000 words today, which is quite a big update!

(End of this chapter)