I, Hogwarts Second Time Around.

Chapter 446 Camelot

The waves were stained with murky oil.

As dusk fell, Zhang Xiaolin's small boat sailed out of the harbor and slowly glided into the murky sea.

A windproof lantern hangs from the tentacle of the wrought iron statue at the bow of the ship, like a lone star in the darkness.

She sat at the stern, one hand resting on the gunwale, her fingers dangling over the surface of the grease, leaving a trail of swirling ripples that rose and fell with the blood-red waves.

"How barbaric," she muttered, the magic of the Cleanse Spell flowing through her fingertips, but unfortunately the greasy stains were not washed away and remained clinging to her hands.

"The flesh and blood of the sea monster Leviathan contain powerful magic. Ordinary magic cannot remove it," said Mr. Pierre, sitting at the bow of the ship, gently. He then handed over a handkerchief from his pocket.

Zhang Xiaolin took the handkerchief, wiped her fingers, and put it in her pocket.

"Wealth can move people's hearts," Mr. Pierre continued. "Besides, the water teems with gutted fish and skinned eels, which is when they have their feast."

"Are you afraid my fingers will get bitten off?" Zhang Xiaolin asked, raising her head.

"Without fingers, you can't hold a wand."

"You worry too much, Basil."

"My job is to take care of things for you that you don't want to worry about."

"Like that incident in Congo?"

"That time—there was a reason for it!" Mr. Pierre said somewhat excitedly, "I didn't expect that the other party's witchcraft would break through my magic."

"Just tell me frankly who saved you," Zhang Xiaolin said mockingly, looking at Mr. Basil. "That person is truly heartless."

Mr. Pierre blushed, wanting to explain, but when he opened his mouth, he couldn't find a reason, and could only remain silent.

Yes—it was because he wasn't skilled enough back then, but—things are different now.

Now he is confident—never—never a hindrance.

"Speechless now, huh!" Zhang Xiaolin said smugly, as the boat beneath her began to move automatically.

She couldn't possibly be traveling for several days.

The day after returning from Lisbon, she and Basil began exploring the surrounding waters.

According to the townspeople, many strange things only happen at night.

This is why they stay up all night rowing.

Would anyone think they were dating?

As he spoke lightly, sea fog suddenly rose from the waters ahead.

Unlike the grayish-white fog found elsewhere.

The mist in front of me had an eerie pale purple hue.

"They're here!" Zhang Xiaolin immediately gripped the folding fan in her hand.

Mr. Basil Pierre also quickly drew his wand from his pocket, ready for battle.

The purple mist quickly enveloped them.

A faint, decadent, fishy smell permeated the air, but upon closer sniffing, it also resembled the rotting flowers, possessing both fragrance and stench, the odors intertwined in a very complex way.

Zhang Xiaolin was momentarily dazed, but quickly regained her composure.

She tried Apparition and found that there was no anti-Apparition magic around her, which meant that she could leave whenever she wanted. Immediately, her slightly tense mood relaxed again.

Mr. Basil Pierre also noticed the anomaly, but when he learned that he could leave at any time, he spoke gently, "Don't be afraid—it's probably the mist formed by the dissipation of magic after the sea monster Leviathan died. There are similar places in some places—for example, around some ancient magical ruins, where the gathering and dispersing magic causes the surrounding area to be shrouded in mist all year round."

"Who's afraid?" Zhang Xiaolin said stubbornly. "In the Ming Dynasty, places like this are everywhere. The Imperial Academy in Chang'an is even built in a virtual realm, which is far superior to this fog protection."

Mr. Basil Pierre smiled noncommittally; he knew this gifted young girl.

She was hailed as the most outstanding graduate of the Imperial Academy in Chang'an in a century. Although taught by her teachers to be humble and cautious, her inherent pride remained dazzling, which was precisely what made her endearing—proud, intelligent, and with a touch of mischief. Anyone who spent time with her, regardless of gender, would be "captured" by her nature and fall in love with her.

Zhang Xiaolin's gaze turned to what was behind him, and through the thick fog, she saw the silhouette of a huge ship gradually emerge.

"That is?"

It was a very old sailing ship, a cargo ship from the medieval Age of Exploration that should be displayed in a museum.

Old and domineering. On the wide deck, the faint light from dozens of hanging lamps outlined the tall masts.

The two reinforced main masts were coated with waterproof sealant, and carved scales formed the shape of a giant python coiled around them.

The crust of salt that had hardened in the cracks of the wood gleamed silver in the moonlight. Although the sails had been furled, Zhang Xiaolin knew that those sails, sewn from silver canvas, must have been very expensive.

The Federation spared no expense on this ship. The battering ram-like bow sculpture is a serpent with bared fangs, cast from the fairies' prized creation, the Magic Cannon.

"I don't even remember it being that big!"

"The Camelot," Basil Pierre said. "The Federation actually sent it."

This is an exploration vessel, a sailing ship used by the Federation to explore legendary sites such as the Arctic and Antarctic, the sunken Atlantis, and the South American seabed.

It is extremely precious, and there is only one of its kind. Under normal circumstances, they would never be willing to use it.

Because this ship is said to have been built under Merlin's supervision, its hull is inscribed with countless ancient runes, many of which have been lost. This means that if the ship is even slightly damaged, modern wizards would not be able to repair it.

Who would drive an antique around all day for no reason?

The two were lost in thought when suddenly a figure appeared on the deck.

He had a cold expression and was looking down at the two people below.

Basil Pierre and Zhang Xiaolin silently Apparated, appearing on the deck of the Camelot in the next moment.

"You haven't taken the Federation handbook to heart at all," the man said coldly. "Perhaps I should remind you how many people died in the two wars caused by the obelisks? Do I need to read out their names one by one?"

"I'm not even sure if you can win. If you can survive, then of course we'll be fine." Zhang Xiaolin surveyed everything on the deck, completely ignoring Sirius's warning.

"Strength?" Sirius Black continued, his face cold. "Do you think you can defeat a Titan hundreds of feet tall, or do you think you can beat Voldemort?"

"If you're not careful enough, just imagine the expression on Master's face when he receives your death notice!"

"Alright, Black." Basil quickly stepped forward to interrupt the argument; they really shouldn't be exploring the sea so late at night.

After all, the wizard before them had experienced two obelisk disasters; he was their senior. Respecting him was to respect the wizards of the Federation who had paid with their lives to accumulate experience.

"We're sorry," he said. "It's part of the job. We received intelligence that some unusual phenomena only occur at night."

"Calm down, everyone. Nothing serious happened." At this moment, a chubby young man with a prosthetic left arm walked up with a smile. "Long time no see, Zhang Basil."

"Winston!" Basil stepped forward and gave him a hug. "How are you doing at the French Ministry of Magic? Why don't you come back and keep me company in the Federation?"

"Why do you go around encouraging people to join the Federation?" Zhang Xiaolin also came up to Winston, and the two shook hands. "I really suspect you're a recruiter sent by Dumbledore."

"Haha—I'm doing very well in France." Winston Norton chuckled good-naturedly. "My mentor is back, and Mr. Grindelwald is back too. There couldn't be a better time. It's just a bit of a shame that I don't see Garona, Kent, and Victor very often."

"You are all shining brightly in your respective positions. You are like countless stars in the sky," Zhang Xiaolin praised.

"For the greater good," Winston said with a smile.

The three then gathered together and chatted and laughed.

They completely disregarded the dangerous sea area beneath their feet.

Sirius remained silent, observing the three men with indifference.

The federation is probably really short-staffed.

It's not that there's no one, but rather that there's a lack of experienced and composed people.

Undeniably, he had seen the information on the children in front of him; the oldest was only twenty-two years old, and the youngest had just turned twenty this year.

They are indeed very good, extremely good. According to the records kept by the Federation, the witch from the Ming Dynasty even saw the future of Owen and Hermione in her resume.

The same genius wizard possesses spells that other wizards dream of, and even those who spend their entire lives trying to glimpse.

But—they had no idea of ​​the horror within the obelisk, having never faced the gods. No matter how others described it, its bewitching power alone far exceeded most people's imagination.

The way gods use magic is completely different from that of wizards. The spells of wizards cannot be compared with the vast, profound, and mysterious works of the gods.

His works are more profound than the deepest trenches.

Sirius was deep in thought, while the waves crashed against the hull of the ship, and the purple mist around them did not dissipate.

Even with his eyes wide open, and even through the peephole, he couldn't see through the fog.

All he could see was a vast ocean, its waters as dark as ink.

Suddenly, he heard a louder and louder sound, not the sound of the ship's hull colliding.

It was even more muffled, like the sound of ten thousand bison trotting the earth.

At the same time, the surrounding seawater became increasingly turbulent, converging into a rolling current.

"Fall the sails!" Sirius shouted. "Open the dome!"

Others—about a dozen wizards together controlled the giant ship.

The towering mast shrank rapidly, like a deflated balloon.

Then, from the bow and stern, countless pieces of wood, like tracks, formed an arc to create a dome over the sailboat.

Before long, the boat transformed into an oval-shaped cocoon.

However, those inside can still see outside.

The dome appears transparent when viewed from the inside out, except for faint tree-like stripes.

"Wow, amazing! What kind of magic is this?" Basil Pierre exclaimed in surprise, while the other two curiously examined the structure that had suddenly appeared on the ship's hull, trying to figure out the principle behind it.

Sirius didn't have time to pay attention to them.

He looked up and gazed into the distance.

The pale purple mist around them had dissipated.

The ocean current beneath the ship gained an unusual speed, increasing every second.

Within five minutes, in every area of ​​the sea, the water had turned into a turbulent, turbulent sea.

The most turbulent part of the sea was just two or three nautical miles away from them.

Everyone has already noticed it thanks to the Sky Dome's built-in telescope function.

The seawater there split into thousands of colliding currents, surging and boiling.

A few minutes later, the scene changed drastically again.

Large, ribbon-like strips of foam are now rising to the surface of the sea. Mixed with oil slicks and the remains of unidentified fish, the foam strips gradually spread outwards, eventually merging into a single line.

Eventually, it began to exhibit a vortex-like rotating motion.

In the blink of an eye, a large whirlpool had clearly taken shape.

It has a diameter of more than half a mile.

The inner wall of the funnel was a smooth, shiny wall of water.

The wall and the water surface form an angle of approximately 45 degrees.

It spun rapidly at a dazzling speed, emitting a terrible sound into the air, half like a lament and half like a roar, a cry that even the mighty waterfall had never uttered to the heavens.

The ship trembled, and all sorts of strange ancient runes appeared on the wooden planks. Those shining characters were radiating a vibrant magic, working together to maintain a stable spell.

On the deck, the wizard only felt a strong shaking, and then everything calmed down. There was only a slight tremor.

"The Great Whirlpool?" Basil Pierre stared in disbelief at the whirlpool that the townspeople and sailors talked about, a whirlpool that resembled a legend.

He had already surveyed the surrounding area during the day several days earlier.

There couldn't possibly be a vortex around. If those fishing boats existed, how could those wizards not know the exact location?

Only a few wizards regarded it as a legend.

Basil Pierre pressed the experienced old wizards who had fished here for decades, and learned from them that the legendary whirlpool seemed to exist in the Tasman Sea between Tasmania and New Zealand.

However, the closest distance between the two sides is more than 1,500 kilometers.

To think that one could search such a large area of ​​the sea in just a few days is simply wishful thinking.

What's more—at this point, it had only been an hour since he and Zhang Xiaolin had left Tasmania.

No matter how fast the magic boat goes, it won't travel more than twenty kilometers in this short period of time.

It was just a simple, magically powered ordinary boat. It didn't offer any speed boost, and besides, they had no destination; it was just a boat ride for a date.

Twenty kilometers!

With so many fishing boats coming and going every day, how could we not spot it?

Fishing boats are available even at night!

"Something's weird!"

Everyone realized it.

However, the currents carried by the huge whirlpool made it impossible for the sailboat to move forward.

"Don't panic!" a wizard shouted. "The Camelot is a creation left behind by the Archmage Merlin. It can navigate normally in waters tens of thousands of feet below the surface, where the pressure and destructive power far exceed that of this whirlpool. So there's no way we could be in any danger."

It must be said that his voice was very effective.

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief after realizing that the sailboat beneath their feet was so sturdy.

And it seemed to confirm his words.

At this moment, the giant ship had already entered the whirlpool. The surrounding seawater was like long knives cutting into the ship's hull, but the giant ship remained stable and did not shake at all.

Now—no one doubts the value of Merlin's work anymore.

Sirius calmed himself down. He had made a thorough preparation: there were several door keys on the sailboat, all of which were new products carefully modified by Victor, much more stable and powerful than ordinary door keys that were randomly cast.

Dumbledore even installed a replica of a certain artifact on this ship. It was the one from the Room of Requirement.

If anything unexpected happens, he will take everyone and the ship directly back to England.

At this moment—as their emotions gradually calmed down, the crowd looked around with a mixture of awe, fear, and admiration.

The giant ship, like a gecko, looked as if it were hanging on the inner wall of a large, deep funnel. If it weren't for the smooth inner wall spinning at an astonishing speed and shimmering with a bright, eerie light, the surface of the water might be mistaken for smooth ebony.

High in the sky, the bright moon cast its silvery light into this enormous vortex, the light shining along the dark walls of the vortex towards its unfathomable depths.

But the crowd still couldn't see anything clearly.

Ahead, it seemed as if a layer of pitch-black ink enveloped the dome.

A magnificent rainbow appeared in the ink, like the legendary Rainbow Bridge of Asgard. It would carry them to a divine realm.

The giant ship spun round and round with the vortex walls, accompanied by a dizzying halo of light.

Looking around, the group discovered that they were not the only boat in the whirlpool; there were many more, of various shapes and sizes, including ferries, sailboats, steel fortresses, and even rafts.

Time seems to have gone awry here.

There were humans on the raft, dressed in animal skins and clothing, appearing to be from a civilization thousands of years older than theirs.

"I have a bad feeling about this!" Winston Norm said in a deep voice. "It's like we've entered a long flow of time."

"I know." Sirius frowned, then immediately ordered, "Prepare to go home. Confirm these coordinates, we'll come back later."

After saying this, the wizard in the cabin immediately waved his wand and inputted a series of commands into the crystal control panel in front of him.

Immediately afterwards, a golden, floating magical artifact, resembling a prayer wheel, appeared before them.

The gold patterns and the engraved inscriptions indicate that this is not a European gold-refined product.

The prayer wheel, floating in the air, is divided into three layers: upper, middle, and lower. The golden walls are carved with the sky, mountains, and earth, respectively.

And complex ancient Chinese inscriptions.

"Shangri-La?"

Zhang Xiaolin recognized the treasure at a glance—the prized possession of Kunlunxu Academy, and one of the ancient artifacts recognized by the Ming Dynasty's Ministry of Magic.

(End of this chapter)