Jinx

Hermione got up early in the morning. She was planning to leave Hogwarts and return home today as well. She had enjoyed her year at the academy immensely. She had made all kinds of friends here and met many people who, like her, loved learning.

Although Hermione knew that a large part of why she forced herself to learn all kinds of knowledge and insisted on being first in everything was her sensitivity. Yes, she was extremely sensitive. The Wizard World was much like the world she had lived in, with all sorts of social classes. She did not want to become just another ordinary person.

During the Sorting, she had nearly been placed in Gryffindor. Though she knew that she sometimes enjoyed adventure, after coming to Ravenclaw, she realized this was where she truly belonged—just look at those young wizards in Gryffindor. None of their subjects seemed particularly outstanding.

Hermione’s feelings toward Josh were very complicated. At first, she had even regarded Josh as the person who had brought her to heaven. Looking back on it now, Hermione still found it quite amusing. She also no longer wondered what Josh’s purpose was in coming to this world. In any case, it had nothing to do with her.

In her eyes, Josh was merely a rather irresponsible Head of House, a fairly good teacher, and a very good friend. Of course, she was probably the only one who saw Josh as a friend rather than some lofty figure of high status. Josh had been very good to her, and she knew that she had been the first person Josh met in this world.

She was leaving Hogwarts today, so she had hurried to the Ravenclaw Head of House’s office early in the morning. She intended to say goodbye to Josh. What puzzled her, however, was that when she arrived outside Josh’s door, she seemed to hear people talking inside. As for what they were saying, she could not make it out.

"Did someone arrive even earlier than me?"

Hermione wondered silently, so she obediently waited outside for quite a while. Then she discovered that the voices inside had vanished. Yes, vanished, as though no one had been speaking at all. Hermione began to wonder whether she had imagined it. Had no one been inside earlier? Or had they already left?

Hermione was quite helpless. Her train ticket would not wait for her. After hesitating for a long time, she decided to go in and take a look herself.

"Good thing that lazy fellow gave me a key before, or I wouldn’t even get a chance to say goodbye."

Hermione took a key from her pocket. Josh had given it to her earlier so she could conveniently come here to clean up, and now it came in handy. In truth, Hermione herself had not figured out why she absolutely had to come say goodbye to Josh. She did not even plan to visit Dumbledore.

Putting those messy thoughts aside, Hermione opened the door to Josh’s apartment and walked in, closing it behind her. Yet she found that there seemed to be no one inside. Even after calling out twice, she got no response. Hermione was certain that no one was here.

"Did I hallucinate this morning? If I’d known no one was here, I would have just come in."

Not in the best mood, Hermione headed straight into Josh’s bedroom. But she soon froze, because before her stood something both unfamiliar and extraordinarily familiar—a silver Magic Gate! With her excellent memory, Hermione quickly recalled it. When she had first met Josh, had he not stepped out from this very gate?

"Could he… could he have gone home?"

Hermione murmured. She did not know why seeing this door made her feel so bad. She had always known that Josh was not from this world, and that he would return home one day, but she had not expected him to leave after only a year.

After all, in stories, if the protagonist was not from that world, then once he left, the setting was that he could never return—and that had drawn plenty of tears. At least, Hermione felt that was how things ought to be. Feeling a little upset, she walked over to the still-glowing Magic Gate and stared at it blankly.

But in the next moment, Hermione discovered that her body seemed to be out of her control, continuously drawn forward. She could not move at all!

"Damn it, I still have to go home!"

Hermione cursed inwardly, but it was useless. The silver light soon enveloped her and dragged her into the gate of time and space. Then the silver radiance slowly faded. The Magic Gate seemed to have lost its power, becoming an ordinary doorframe. Its former splendor was gone.

"So this is your homeland? The Muya Continent?"

As the silver light faded, three people suddenly appeared in Josh’s room: Josh, Garen, and Dumbledore. Dumbledore curiously looked around. To be honest, crossing between worlds was not a pleasant sensation. It was like traveling through chimneys with Floo Powder, and it left him a little dizzy. Still, unlike Garen, he had not vomited the first time.

"Yes. This is my castle, Constantinople. Welcome."

Josh nodded indifferently. To be honest, he felt rather sentimental as well. Without realizing it, he had been away from this world for an entire year. Though he had left as a Fourth Tier and returned still as one, Josh knew perfectly well that his current abilities were nothing like what they had been before he left.

"Besides, the Magic elements in this world are far more active than those in the Wizard World. If I cultivate properly here for a while, breaking through to the Fifth Tier immediately probably won’t be a problem. And at the Fifth Tier, I can obtain two incredibly powerful spells. I’ve been looking forward to them for a long time."

Josh thought to himself. The magical power within his body had already condensed to its limit. It could be said that his spring of magic had already filled up. Although in Icathia, a great deal of Void energy had expanded his original stream of magic sideways into a river of magic, those things were merely residing within him and had not been completely put to use by Josh.

Still, this had some benefits. Josh did not need to worry that he would be unable to absorb Void elements in other worlds. Moreover, the density of the Void elements in his body was so high that it could frighten people to death. Without exaggeration, if Josh became strong enough, he might even be able to use the Void elements in his body to expand his sea of magic—and perhaps fill it.

"This is the aura. This is the feeling." Suddenly, the tattoo on Josh’s body lit up, and Akathosh flew out from it, floating in midair. "That’s right, this is the feeling! I’m back! I’m finally back!"

Akathosh’s emotions were extremely complicated. He loved this world, and it was this world that had given him his name. Yet he had accidentally shattered this world beyond recognition, which filled him with guilt. Thus, even when World’s Lament attacked him, he did not hate this world.

At the time, he had only done it for his descendants. And no matter how much he loved this world, he had not been willing to simply die like that. So, he had entered the endless void. After wandering for countless years, to the point where he could practically be considered dead, he had still been unable to forget this world. Now, he had finally returned.

But he immediately became uneasy again. He had only just managed to come back to life. He did not want to face death again. Even when he had been so powerful before, he could not withstand an attack from the entire world, much less now, when he was weak to the extreme.

But he soon became puzzled. Based on what he had understood about this world before, if outsiders entered it, there should have been some kind of reaction—he naturally knew that Dumbledore had come with Josh, and now he himself also counted as an outsider.

Furthermore, although his body had changed, the essence of his soul had not. He was not like his foolish son Hosdena. No matter what kind of contract he entered into, his soul remained the same. Yet this world seemed not to have noticed them at all.

"That’s strange. It shouldn’t be like this."

Akathosh remained close to the silver Magic Gate. If anything went wrong, he could immediately enter it and return to the Wizard World. He closed his eyes and used his weak but still divine soul to communicate with the will of the world. To his mingled amusement and frustration, he really did receive a response from the world.

"What the hell? Did we beat its consciousness into fragments back then, then make it fall asleep?"

The response Akathosh received was simple: a piece of information. It covered many things. For example, the entire world had been broken into countless fragments, and the world’s consciousness had shattered as well. Its primary consciousness had fallen asleep, leaving only its subconscious active to maintain the world’s operations. At the same time, it restricted god-level and higher Main Gods and Rulers from taking action.

This filled Akathosh with shame. He had personally experienced how magnificent Kamacia had once been. Looking at its current ruined state, Akathosh could not help wanting to cry. Now, he also understood just how tolerant the world’s consciousness had been toward them back then.

"Even now, its subconscious alone can restrict Rulers from acting. How powerful must it have been at its peak?"

Akathosh sighed softly. He did not want to think about any more messy matters. Of course, if Josh knew about this, there was an eighty percent chance he would wonder whether the world intended to purge a wave of its own powerful beings or something. But Akathosh would not. He loved this world.

"All right, Josh. We’re safe. The world’s consciousness has fallen asleep, so it won’t care much about us. I think you’d better close this door first. It would be troublesome if someone else came through."

Akathosh said listlessly, then quickly returned to the tattoo on Josh’s body. Josh could only nod. Through their shared memories, Josh knew that Akathosh was in great pain right now, so he said nothing further.

Walking over to the Void Gate, Josh reached out, intending to drain the magic from it. That way, even if the Void Gate had been fixed in place, it would no longer serve any purpose. It would merely be a spacetime anchor, making it convenient for Josh to travel to and from other valuable worlds.

"Damn it, is that guy a crow or something?"

But Josh’s expression soon changed, because he clearly sensed a wave of energy coming through the Void Gate. Or rather, he distinctly sensed someone carrying magical power being transported over! This left Josh deeply puzzled. He remembered locking the door from the other side, and he had only just returned before intending to "close the door." Who could it be?

"A crow? You mean that ominous bird? Did someone really come through?"

Garen also walked over and watched with a frown. The answer soon appeared—a girl in black wizard robes rolled out of the Void Gate, her eyes vacant and her expression dazed. Garen grabbed the hood at the back of her collar and lifted her up.

"Hm? Aren’t you Miss Granger?"