Hogwarts: From Selling White Peppers to Becoming a God

Chapter 368 Retirement Syndrome

"Is this a statue of the Virgin Mary?"

In the soft light of dawn, a man wearing a golden crown spoke.

Before him stood a blind old man, groping with his hands as he painted on the canvas.

"Yes," the old man replied.

"These are the gods of a foreign race," the king said. "Have you forgotten our own gods?"

"Now, more people will buy the gods of other races."

"I should hang you so you can return to the embrace of the Virgin Mary."

"You may do that, sir. My family died in the war between gods, and my eyes were gouged out by foreigners. Our gods are still their gods, it's no different. They won't care about the life or death of an old blind man."

"Only royalty and nobility can reach Avalon after death, only valiant warriors can go to Valhalla, and only believers who have donated money to the church are worthy of heaven. I am just an old blind man who can't get enough to eat, I can't go to those good places, I will always go to hell. Since it is hell, it doesn't matter whether I am in the hell of the Celts, the underworld of the Vikings, or the purgatory of the Saxons."

"You're a faithless person. But why do they all buy your paintings?"

……

"Teacher, why does the God he depicts, a man filled with resentment towards God, appear so compassionate?"

A poet holding a harp looked at his teacher in front of him.

"Because the person who painted this picture knows the suffering of this world better than the real God, or the messengers of God."

He knew that those hardships were not God's test, not a ladder to heaven, not a guarantee of happiness in the afterlife; they were just hardships.

"Suffering does not bring happiness, growth, or any good outcome. It simply presses down on people, forcing them to endure and bear it. He does not glorify suffering; therefore, he pities those who suffer even more."

"It doesn't matter who is depicted in this painting anymore. Whether it's the Virgin Mary or Bridget, it doesn't matter. He painted the God in his heart, his own God. That's what we're looking for."

"A god who is not a god."

"The portrait comes to life!"

……

"As a bond between wizards, the oath needs a power stronger than the wizards to ensure its execution. It is the Holy Mother, who can survive through the faith of foreigners and even possesses some power close to that of a deity."

In the forest, several wizards huddled together.

An elderly man leaning on a wooden cane spoke up.

"At the same time, the portrait is simpler than the person, which can ensure that after we die, it will continue to supervise the operation of the oath according to our requirements."

"But, teacher..."

"What if it develops its own consciousness? What if it really considers itself a god? Future wizards no longer possess the power to fight against gods; could it become a new deity?"

"The compassion and loving feelings that the painter infused into it will be its most basic emotion towards humanity. It will regard humanity as its own children, making it impossible for it to enslave humanity like a real god."

The old man explained that this was why he chose this portrait, rather than any other, more powerful medium.

"Of course, it may also go awry, but there is no foolproof plan. We have made the best arrangements, and we can only leave the future to the future."

"Its power will also be limited by the oath, and it won't be much stronger than the wizards. If it becomes an enemy of the wizards in the future, then let's look forward to the moment when the wizards defeat it."

"Perhaps that is the opportunity to solve the problems we cannot solve."

……

The moment she was pulled into the black ship, the Virgin Mary found herself back on the riverbank where she first gained consciousness.

In the dim morning light, an old man sat opposite the picture frame, holding a wooden cane.

"I have failed," said the Virgin Mary.

"No, you have already completed your mission."

"The long trial is over; they have defeated the gatekeeper."

"The real adventure begins now."

……

After losing the support of the ritual magic, the spirit world passage finally closed, and the black ship and the lake disappeared from Murphy's sight.

At the same time, the hall also began to collapse.

This real secret chamber was originally connected to two worlds, but the previous violent tugs had made its connection with the real world unstable. Huge stones began to fall from the walls, and the snake-shaped containers that imprisoned the students kept breaking apart.

Dumbledore used a slowing spell to stop the falling debris, and together with Murphy and Grindelwald, opened the containers, protecting them in a protective shield.

Then they brought everyone, along with the shattered secret room, into the real world.

The shattered ritual hall crashed to the ground, almost filling the original secret chamber, and even burying the basilisk underneath—this creature had escaped being captured by the Black Ships because Voldemort was in a hurry to complete the ritual and hadn't participated in the magic circle, but was buried alive; it was hard to say whether it was lucky or unlucky.

It's most likely not dead, but we don't have time to deal with it yet.

Voldemort's ritual drained too much of the students' magic; they remained unconscious, and many were even on the verge of death.

Dumbledore once attempted to sacrifice himself, using the connection he had established with his students to transfer his own magic into them.

But Murphy stopped him. "I noticed it a long time ago. You seem to have been trying to destroy yourself ever since you left Hogwarts. You just want to die a worthy death, don't you?"

After leaving Hogwarts, especially after deciding to go to war with Murphy, Dumbledore's actions were almost always suicidal; many times he fought Murphy with the intention of taking him down with him.

"What, is there nothing left for you to cherish in this world?"

As Murphy spoke, he found Snape, who had almost been crushed underneath, and gave him a Philosopher's Stone, instructing him to begin brewing potions to replenish the students' magic.

The students have simply overdrawn their magic. With the Philosopher's Stone, an item that grants virtually unlimited magic to a certain extent, surely they can save people?

"I am just an old man clinging to the past," Dumbledore said. "I belong to the old era, and I can no longer fit into the future you have described."

"My presence here will become an obstacle for you."

Murphy frowned. "I think you're just too pessimistic. Maybe you're feeling empty after retirement and have lost your sense of direction and meaning. This is very common in Muggle society. It's called retirement syndrome. Many people treat their work as a lifelong career, and once they retire, they feel that everything they've worked for has disappeared. They feel lost, anxious, depressed, and the like."

"This is just a normal phenomenon after a huge change in your life. You may just need to take a break and find your own path again..."

(End of this chapter)