Ancient Magic, a…

The moment the thought arose, Adam’s heart began pounding fiercely.

Ancient Magic—judging from the information Professor Fitzgerald had provided so far, this power was absurdly overpowered compared with the magic used by wizards. It was a force more inclined toward the mind and the Spirituality Dimension than ordinary magic.

Considering its effects, which were even more metaphysical than magic itself, Adam felt it would not be an exaggeration to call wizards qualified to cultivate Ancient Magic the wizards among wizards.

Aside from the Hogwarts student who had once defeated Ragnok, Adam was also somewhat interested in Isidora, whom Fitzgerald had described as having gone astray.

In his view, there was not much difference between Isidora and Tom. The so-called going astray had largely been caused by flawed or missing guidance acquired later in life.

She had only wanted to free her father from his pain. It had not even been a sudden impulse; she had always held that desire. Yet the professors who took her away and taught her had paid no attention to it, nor had they guided her in the right direction. They only knew how to teach her Ancient Magic.

Then, when she researched a path of her own, the professors merely said that what she was doing was wrong, without uttering a word about what the right thing to do was. As if she would listen to them.

As for Isidora ultimately dying to a single Killing Curse cast by the Slytherin Head of House, that was even more bizarre. Someone who had researched Ancient Magic to such an extent had actually been caught off guard and killed by one Killing Curse…

It was as ridiculous as Voldemort suddenly hitting Professor Dumbledore with a Killing Curse on the road and killing him outright.

"This is another promising talent."

Adam Reed, educator extraordinaire, declared that he could not bear to watch such promising talent be ruined by Western education. Hogwarts was currently short of exactly this kind of person!

With that in mind, Adam had an in-depth discussion with Professor Fitzgerald, confirming many details about the events of that year. Then he could not help sighing.

"This senior really was incredible."

He had enrolled halfway through the year and had never studied magic before, yet in just one year, he had grown strong enough to suppress a goblin rebellion alone. Those goblins had even possessed weapons Adam had seen before. Even in the Wizarding World, that was the stuff of fairy tales.

At the same time, it also showed from another angle just how powerful Ancient Magic was.

After listening to her story, Adam also understood why Hogwarts had once had such an extraordinary figure, yet he had never heard of him before—he was also a Badger.

As a Badger blessed with the aura of a background character, the only one Adam had known over the years with an extremely high profile was Professor Scamander. That was probably because he updated Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them every few years, constantly refreshing his presence.

After reviewing the memories Professor Fitzgerald knew once more, Adam activated his time-traveling magic and arrived at Hogwarts in 1890 in the blink of an eye.

"Hogwarts a hundred years ago… doesn’t seem all that different from Hogwarts a hundred years later?"

After reaching the target time, Adam did not immediately seek out his target. More accurately, he did not know where the other person was at this point. He only knew that the person would transfer to Hogwarts this year.

And now… Adam had left himself a little leeway in case of minor discrepancies. There were still several days before Hogwarts began its term, and he had no intention of jumping forward another few days.

"This period is just enough for me to handle a few things in advance, such as…"

Following Professor Fitzgerald’s account, Adam headed toward the library.

Deep within the Restricted Section… at the end of the storage room… found it.

"So this is Ancient Magic… Indeed, only upon seeing it firsthand do I realize that not only does it use magic power differently, even the energy itself differs somewhat from magical power. Is it magical power more deeply fused with will?"

Adam looked at the stone wall before him, his gaze flickering slightly.

"That’s right. This concealment method is also more closely linked to emotion and cognition. Those who master Ancient Magic can easily notice that something is wrong here, but those who do not will directly overlook it. That is why this has become the place with the most clutter."

This was practically an enhanced Muggle-Repelling Charm. Oh, it should now be called the "Non-Ancient-Magic-Master Repelling Charm," and it left even fewer traces than a Muggle-Repelling Charm. People would simply subconsciously overlook this place.

He raised a hand and floated the clutter aside, then began drawing in the air with his fingers.

Although he could have directly opened the lock with a Lock Card, Ancient Magic was a new field for Adam. There was no rush, and since Ancient Magic had piqued his interest, he naturally intended to study it properly.

About an hour later, Adam tapped a spot on the wall. A pattern of three twisting, intertwining curves flashed past, and then a metal door suddenly "grew" from the wall of brick and stone.

After gaining a deeper understanding of Ancient Magic, Adam broke through the spell.

"So that was how it worked…"

After making the door leading deeper inside appear, Adam did not enter immediately. Instead, he looked down at his palm.

As Adam lightly moved his fingers, drops of milky-white, mercury-like substance condensed in his palm, radiating a soft glow.

"Ancient Magic is even more… specialized than the magic commonly used by wizards. No wonder it’s stronger."

According to Adam’s current research, both Ancient Magic and Ancient Magic energy were extremely compatible with this world’s rules. One could even say they had been tailor-made for this world. That made this form of magic extraordinarily powerful here, granting immense bonuses to spellcasting.

Using the same amount of power to cast Ancient Magic and ordinary magic could result in effects differing by dozens of times.

The price was probably that, once one left this world, ordinary magic would retain better spellcasting effects than Ancient Magic… But for more than ninety-nine percent of the people in this world, that probably did not count as a price at all.

"It seems future Hogwarts really needs to offer Ancient Magic as a major. And this power appears to depend heavily on talent as well… Should we add another talent-testing class for first-years?"

The talent-testing classes Adam mentioned were probably like first-year flying and Divination classes. At first, they merely tested a student’s aptitude, after which those with high talent could pursue specialized study according to their needs.

That was right—Adam even intended to develop flying lessons into a field for further study. Wizards had their own student athletes too!

For now, though, that thought was merely a seed planted in Adam’s heart. His main priority was still to take a look at the bomb beneath Hogwarts—

According to Professor Fitzgerald, she had not actually known the situation beneath Hogwarts in the end. She had merely assumed, from the fact that Hogwarts remained unharmed, that the power underground had been sealed away again.

Thinking of how even the elderly goblin had only heard of his predecessors’ experiences and inferred that Ancient Magic energy lay beneath Hogwarts, Adam had a bold idea.

If he dealt with that bomb in this era… it seemed it would not change anything in the future?