307: Chapter 300 Hogsmeade Town, the Mysterious Sorcerer's Trail, and Unexpected People

Lin Miao arrived at Yuzhang Mountain with her mission. She first went to visit Ye Ming, who was alone in a small courtyard reviewing his training mission, and recounted the Director's sudden brainstorm.

After listening, he neither strongly opposed nor decisively agreed.

Having been in contact with Immortal Xu for some time, Ye Ming had gained a slight understanding of the other's character.

Indeed, he was reasonable and lacked the haughty arrogance of an "Immortal," being quite easygoing instead.

If a request were made, Immortal Xu would likely agree, but Ye Ming felt that one shouldn't constantly exhaust another's tolerance.

Even an honest man has his breaking point, let alone a "Cultivator" who could single-handedly destroy all of humanity.

Thus, he decided to go to the base to discuss it carefully with the Director.

Ye Ming was being cautious and well-intentioned, but Zhang Mu, standing aside with Shadow Technique active, was displeased.

Time was already tight; how could he allow them to continue wasting it?

He simply revealed himself, stating he already knew the purpose of Lin Miao's visit, and told the two not to worry too much and to just go ahead with the arrangements.

The two were stunned for a moment before realizing that Immortal Xu had agreed.

Lin Miao happily returned to the base to report the good news, while Ye Ming continued his review.

Zhang Mu returned to the Saul Continent and found Avril to ask about the progress of the legion reorganization and the expansion of the First Army. Since the situation in the Royal Capital had temporarily stabilized, these tasks had been left to her.

Avril didn't reply immediately. She first pinched the flesh on Zhang Mu's arm to show her dissatisfaction with his disappearance for several days, and then began her report slowly.

Thanks to the Little Cat Girl's prophecy, Lake would not have to worry about chaos for a year and could focus on reorganizing the legions.

Currently, the second-tier legions of each city had already set out to return to their stations, and all First-Tier Legions had been completely dismantled.

The elites among them were undergoing ideological construction led by Soldiers sent from the First Army. After passing strict assessments, they would directly enter the First Army.

Soldiers with slightly inferior abilities were reorganized into new legions after their original units were broken up. They followed the First Army's designation and were named the "Second Army." If the scale of the legions expanded further, they would be named sequentially by number.

Of course, they also had to undergo ideological baptism.

If they were eliminated in subsequent assessments, Zhang Mu intended to disband them on the spot.

After Avril finished speaking, she voiced her deep concerns in a heavy tone.

According to Zhang Mu's standards, barely one-third of the existing Soldiers would qualify, totaling less than a hundred thousand men.

But a year from now, Lake would surely face encirclement and suppression from neighboring countries. Setting aside Professionals, the number of Soldiers in ordinary human legions would be terrifying.

The disparity between the number of Lake's Soldiers and the enemy's was too vast; resisting would be extremely difficult.

Zhang Mu smiled, first teasing Avril for not understanding military affairs, and then explaining.

The outcome of a war is undoubtedly influenced by troop strength, but it is not absolute.

Never mind China's thousands of years of military history; even on the Saul Continent, there was no lack of classic battles where the few defeated the many.

Especially since Lake had been branded as a heretic by the gods. Under such a stigma, it was questionable how many Soldiers were still willing to be loyal to Lake. If such people were recruited into the army, would they have any combat effectiveness?

If a real fight broke out, Zhang Mu would be deeply relieved if they didn't defect on the battlefield.

Therefore, rather than blindly pursuing troop numbers, it was better to seek quality.

Besides, Zhang Mu wasn't too worried about the enemy's ordinary human legions. What he needed to guard against were those High-tier Professionals comparable to nuclear weapons.

The neighboring countries had no shortage of Saint-ranks.

After the turmoil in Lake, only three remained.

Zhang Mu had never slackened in his cultivation lately, but whether he could reach the Saint-rank in a year remained doubtful.

Of course, he didn't expect to overwhelm the enemy with the number of Saint-ranks.

The Saul Continent was vast, with numerous kingdoms and no few empires. Trying to compete with them in the number of Saint-ranks was a fool's errand.

For the key to breaking the deadlock, Zhang Mu placed his bets on magic-conducting weapons.

In the Great Battle of the Royal Capital, although the Sniper Magic Array hadn't fired a single shot, it didn't mean they were useless.

On the contrary, when Zhang Mu later found Blova and the others and asked if they had noticed this Special Operations Team of seven ordinary people, the three were very surprised that the seven were not Professionals.

During the confrontation atop the ruins, they had perceived a faint, flickering killing intent in the surroundings.

All three had mistaken it for a hidden Saint-rank on the other side, never expecting it to be seven ordinary people.

Upon receiving this answer, Zhang Mu was very excited.

He rushed to urge Geoffrey that the Sniper Magic Array must be perfected within a year, at least to the point of sustained output, rather than the weapon being destroyed and the user killed after a single shot.

As long as Geoffrey made progress, Zhang Mu would fully expand the Special Operations Team.

Undoubtedly, the selection criteria for Special Operations Team members were harsh, but it was still easier than picking people with Saint-rank talent.

How many Saint-ranks were there in the vast Lake Kingdom?

Even if it took seven lives to trade for one, the enemy would surely be the first to break in the end.

With this in mind, Zhang Mu told Avril to "speed up the legion reorganization," then entered "The World" to find Geoffrey and ordered that the focus of recent work be entirely on the Sniper Magic Array.

With things settled, he was in no hurry to leave. With a thought, he went over to Hogwarts, intending to observe the mission progress of the five.

Summarizing the six's training in Jinshui Town, Zhang Mu felt that the mission flow and town operation mechanisms designed by the Adventurer's Guild basically had no loopholes or malfunctions.

However, to ensure a realistic experience, the puppets playing the villains would not show mercy.

It was the five's first mission, and they lacked experience. Zhang Mu was truly afraid they would be too reckless and get themselves killed.

One must know that if they truly fell into a certain-death situation and there was no proper reason to make the villains stop, even if Zhang Mu arrived on the scene in time, he would only watch indifferently from the side.

Arriving at Hogwarts, he first took a turn around the academy.

The reporters were still enthusiastically interviewing upper-year students, while the Queen was nestled in the forest clearing, building rapport with gentle magical creatures.

The Queen had previously found an opening to request a magical pet.

Zhang Mu, in his identity as Dumbledore, had promised her that as long as the magical creature itself agreed, she could take it away.

So the Queen had gone to the forest clearing early to scratch the belly of her favored Pack Rhino.

In the foreseeable future, for this trip to Hogwarts, she likely wouldn't care about anything else.

After circling the academy, Zhang Mu nodded in satisfaction. Good, none of them had caused him any trouble.

With nothing to do here, he didn't stay long and quickly rushed toward Hogsmeade Town.

...

Toby and the other four trudged through the muddy road after the rain, laboriously cresting a hillside.

"Look, we're here!" Misha, walking in the middle, poked her head out from the left side of the group, excitedly pointing at the town below the hill.

The town was full of medieval charm.

Looking down from above, most were low stone houses, with a few pointed-roof buildings standing out. Near the edge of the town, several giant windmills turned slowly. It was lunchtime, and smoke rose from every chimney, gathering overhead and casting a layer of haze over the originally peaceful town.

Despite the distance, the five seemed to hear the bustle of the market. The anticipation of witnessing medieval customs firsthand injected new strength into their heavy legs. They rushed down the hill and quickly approached Hogsmeade Town.

As the saying goes, a mountain looks close but can exhaust a horse. It looked nearby, but the group spent two hours half-running and half-walking before reaching the town entrance.

The five collapsed under a birch tree by the roadside, leaning against the trunk and panting.

Misha gulped down a bottle of mineral water in one breath, then wiped the corner of her mouth with her sleeve, completely lacking any ladylike image: "Uncle Leon, I really should have learned how to ride a broom first."

Although Leon was too tired to move, he still spoke up to express his dissatisfaction: "It should be Brother Leon."

Only then did he agree: "I think you're right, we should have... oh, broom riding is a second-year course. We won't be able to learn it until this time next year. I remember the original book wasn't written like that; it could be learned in the first year."

Wino, having caught his breath, took over: "Then Ms. Rowling must have remembered it wrong."

In this regard, the curriculum at Hogwarts was indeed different from the original books.

It wasn't for any special reason, but simply that Zhang Mu's materials at the time were insufficient to mass-produce brooms.

To have flying lessons, just having brooms for the five of them wasn't enough.

Broom riding had a dedicated field, with each grade occupying an area within it.

If the five of them went to class, they couldn't be the only ones riding; there certainly had to be upper-year students too.

Without a solution in the short term, Zhang Mu simply moved the broom class to the second year, figuring that by then, he would surely have accumulated enough materials.

And indeed, when he made the puppets for the two towns last time, he had prepared the brooms as well.

The five rested under the tree for a good while until they felt some sensation return to their numb legs. As the sky gradually darkened, they pulled themselves up and walked into the town.

Hogsmeade Town currently had Evil Sorcerers active. Although Zhang Mu hadn't introduced the Evil Sorcerers in detail, the name alone gave a negative impression, so they naturally didn't want to be active outside the town after dark.

Once inside the town, the five, like Ye Ming and the others, looked around curiously.

Upon entering the town, the dirt roads were replaced by unevenly laid stone paths.

The visual impression was indeed a bit shabby, but fortunately, it was firm enough that water wouldn't collect and splash mud everywhere when stepped on.

They walked along the main street for a while and found that the interior of the town had no strictly divided functional areas; merchants, residential areas, official offices, and so on were randomly mixed.

The degree of randomness was roughly such that you might walk out of a jewelry store, intend to check the shop next door for clothes, walk in happily, and find it was actually selling livestock.

It was quite magical.

Klaisi leaned his mouth close to Wino's ear and asked in a lowered voice, "Are medieval towns really like this?"

He laughed loudly: "From what I know... Hogsmeade Town is already considered quite good."

"How so?"

"At least we don't have to use umbrellas and wear high heels." He amused himself for a bit, then looked around in confusion, "But one thing is indeed very strange, which is... I don't remember history books saying that the various areas of a medieval town would be so mixed. "

At least... different markets would be separated."

As the two stood there muttering, Toby, who had walked a few steps ahead, turned his head and said solemnly, "We are not here to study local culture, and this is Hogwarts. Don't use the history of Blue Star to interpret it."

Klaisi frowned, seemingly unhappy with his commanding tone.

Wino didn't mind, shrugged, and pulled Klaisi to catch up with the other three.

Leon, who saw everything, sighed helplessly in his heart.

Before departure, the Queen had held a meeting for them.

The "new students" of the Chinese Mountain Gate had already finished their first actual combat. Because of time constraints, the Queen hadn't brought the video, but she emphasized that the other six had completed the mission with great rapport.

Although there were some low-level mistakes along the way, it was their first time, after all, and was understandable.

In contrast, on their side, they had just arrived at the mission site and the team already showed signs of internal strife. How was this to continue?

"Uncle Leon." Misha walked a few steps to be side-by-side with him. "Don't worry too much, Wino knows what's important."

"Why are you telling me this?"

"Aren't you worried about the lack of unity in the team?"

Leon raised an eyebrow.

He had long felt this little girl was not ordinary. Not only did the Headmaster personally deliver her letter, but she also performed brilliantly after being captured by the calamity.

I've met her parents; they are very ordinary people. Hiss... whose genes did she inherit?

After pondering for a while, Leon asked hesitantly, "Misha, are you, uh, are your parents your biological ones?"

"Hmm?" Misha looked up in confusion, staring at his face. "Uncle Leon, is your brain broken?"

Feeling that he had asked something too abrupt and rude, he awkwardly changed the subject: "The mission assigned by the Headmaster is to find out the suspicious activities of the Evil Sorcerers. We need to find their traces first."

Toby said while subtly observing the townspeople busy with their chores on both sides: "I did my homework in advance.

Towns in The World of Hogwarts haven't popularized magic or used communication technology derived from magic.

Their main, and only, way of obtaining information still relies on word of mouth."

"So?"

"Taverns are the places where information exchange is most dense."

"What's your opinion?" Toby stopped and turned to ask Wino.

He smiled: "I agree."

With Wino agreeing, Klaisi, who already tended to be a lackey, naturally wouldn't object, while Leon and Misha stood firmly on Toby's side.

The five's opinions were temporarily unified.

Toby walked toward a stone house by the road and asked for directions from an auntie sitting on the front steps washing dishes.

The auntie pointed the way for him and enthusiastically asked if he needed a guide.

Since Hogsmeade Town was currently unsafe, out of caution, Toby politely declined and rushed with the other four to the tavern located in the central area of the town.

However, as soon as they pushed open the wooden door of the tavern, the five heard a familiar voice greeting them: "Oh, what took you so long?"

Looking toward the source of the sound, Ms. Rowling was sitting alone at a round table, holding an unknown drink, with her other hand waving gently.

The five were very astonished. They ran to the table and sat down, and Toby hurriedly asked, "Ms. Rowling, why are you here?

Are you by yourself? The town is very dangerous right now!"

"Hehehe..." She covered her mouth and chuckled for a bit, then explained, "I heard about the practical class from my grandfather, so I asked him to let me come to Hogsmeade Town for fun.

As for safety, don't worry."

She raised her hand, revealing a silver bracelet on her wrist: "Grandfather said that as long as I don't take it off, no one in Hogwarts can hurt me."

Hearing her say this, Toby felt relieved and asked instead, "How many days have you been playing in the town?"

"That's not important." She placed the glass on the table, scanned the five, and said in a mysterious tone, "I seem to have picked up some information about the Evil Sorcerer."