In ancient times, true Legends, after their soul power broke through a certain critical threshold, had needed to anchor their concentrated soul force in the mysterious 'Jellyfish World' to achieve the extraordinary goal of endlessly channeling magical power directly from that land. It had been the source of their god-like abilities.
However, after the 'Jellyfish World' mysteriously drifted away from Earth, wizards could no longer form those ancient contracts with it. They could no longer realize or replicate the mighty, overwhelming power of those ancient wizards who could control fundamental elements with a mere gesture, who could restructure reality with a thought.
Moreover, as the ambient mana saturating Earth's natural environment gradually dissipated into the universe over millennia, bleeding away into the void, the ceiling for what wizards could achieve grew progressively lower and lower with each passing generation.
Nowadays, in this diminished age, even the least capable wizards who barely passed their O.W.L.s are only marginally stronger than ordinary Muggles in practical terms. The glory days were long gone.
A thousand years ago, when the 'Jellyfish World' had already been separated from Earth by an impassable sea of stars, becoming hopelessly distant, the Four Founders had been forced to take an alternative path to achieve legendary status.
By painstakingly containing massive amounts of magical power within specially crafted structures, carefully isolating the soul and body from environmental erosion and decay, and inscribing the vital essence of magic into their spiritual world through the language of Universal Runes to form what became known as a 'Field,' they had achieved power genuinely comparable to that of the ancient Legends of old.
They had found another way.
Bryan had first learned of this revolutionary theory from the preserved memories of the Four Founders, through their various magical legacies. For quite some substantial time since that discovery, he had been intensively researching the specific, intricate methods of forming a personal 'Field' and had even attempted the process himself with mixed results.
Over a month ago, when Bryan had dealt with that ancient 'Progenitor Vampire' in New York, his usual Fiendfyre which was normally devastatingly effective couldn't inflict any substantial damage on the creature's supernatural form.
In desperation, he had briefly unleashed his soul power directly, allowing it to emerge from his body, and used that raw spiritual energy to hastily construct his own rudimentary Field.
It had been utterly exhausting, draining him completely. His soul had been forced to return to his body after that brief, dangerous emergence, retreating to safety. And while the improvised 'Fiendfyre Field' he'd constructed had indeed erupted with satisfying destructive power, directly dissolving those remnant souls that had been attacking, the structure had collapsed almost immediately due to fundamental instability and his inexperience.
Though the magma lake's surface far below had not receded or lowered at all, it was rapidly cooling and solidifying. Within just a few dozen seconds of exposure to the potion's breaking, the previously scorching, glowing surface had turned black and solid, with only the deep fissures running through it still glowing an alarming red.
Bryan no longer concerned himself with the neutralized magma lake beneath him, dismissing that danger. He focused intently instead on the magnificent 'starry sky' of emeralds now enveloping him in three-dimensional space, surrounding him completely.
Each individual emerald gemstone radiated brilliant, dazzling light like a miniature star. With the gemstones' synchronized pulsation, beating in perfect rhythm, over a hundred stones were establishing profound and all-encompassing magical connections with one another, weaving an intricate web.
Bryan slowly drifted away from the Field's embrace, using his flight to circle the emerald 'star field' at a slow pace. He observed carefully from every possible angle this extraordinarily complex Rune structure that encompassed more than a hundred individual magical nodes with staggeringly complex configurations connecting them all.
This specific configuration was nothing less than the foundational structure of Salazar Slytherin's own personal Field, the very framework he'd used. It embodied his most profound, hard-won understanding of magic accumulated over a lifetime!
Finally, after several minutes of careful observation, when the last remaining magical node connected successfully with the entire configuration, the instant all magical channels in the runes completed their construction and locked into place, the entire complex configuration began to pound gently with life.
A misty, ethereal green light emerged from the void, materializing from nothing, enveloping the geometric configuration like a magnificent nebula in space.
Bryan had studied Fields extensively both in theory and through that single practice. He knew that this was the complete, proper construction process of a functional Field.
Bryan stopped his circling motion somewhere in the void, hovering motionlessly. He gazed with undisguised wonder at the breathtaking nebula surrounding him, at this masterwork of magic. Suddenly, struck by curiosity, he raised his wand intentionally. A golden fireball shot from the wand's tip with a sharp whoosh, rushing directly into the thin, misty nebula to test its properties.
The fireball didn't shatter the delicate nebula, didn't damage it at all. Nor did it simply penetrate through to the other side as if through mere illusion—it simply vanished completely!
The gleam in Bryan's eyes flickered with fascination. He raised his hand again with growing excitement, shooting another Fiendfyre orb into the nebula's edge, while he himself carefully observed the Field's reaction from every dimensional perspective, using his magical senses.
The second fireball still vanished without a trace. But this time Bryan watched more carefully. The moment the Fiendfyre entered the Field's boundary, every single configuration node in the Field's structure suddenly lit up brightly in his magical vision, activating in sequence.
Like an extremely fast computer processing data, it analyzed the Fiendfyre's magical structure within microseconds and, in an extremely short time, constructed a perfect 'key'—a counter-spell like thing, that could completely dismantle the Fiendfyre's configuration at the most basic level.
In effect, the Field had autonomously created an entirely new magic, one that had never existed before, specifically designed to perfectly counter the incoming Fiendfyre!
All in less than a second.
Crack—
Bryan once again released a different spell, a crimson orb surrounded by crackling red lightning, toward the Field—this was his own deepened, enhanced version of the Stunning Spell, based on the standard Stunning Spell configuration but modified.
He called it 'Cluster Shot.' But unsurprisingly, despite being unique magic, this spell was also smoothly dissolved after entering the nebula, neutralized as efficiently as the others.
"Incredible—absolutely incredible—"
Bryan murmured in genuine awe, his eyes absolutely full of admiration and appreciation.
These specific spells he'd been testing hadn't even existed a thousand years ago when Slytherin created this Field—they were modern innovations, new magical configurations. But Slytherin's Field could still, upon contact with the unfamiliar magic, instantly perceive its underlying structure and neutralize it effectively.
This undoubtedly proved the profound, perhaps unmatched magical accomplishment of Salazar Slytherin, one of the Four Founders and arguably the most skilled in pure magical theory.
Like an excited child who had received an interesting new toy to play with, Bryan kept enthusiastically testing the Field with various different spells from his collection. He watched with fascination how it dissolved and countered each attack through different mechanisms.
Gradually, he became completely absorbed in the study, losing track of time.
When they had first entered Gringotts' underground vaults, it had been a bright, sunny morning with the day just beginning. By the time they finally returned to the solemn, majestic marble hall above, blinking in the sudden light, the sun had already passed its zenith some time ago.
It was mid-afternoon.
Upon seeing the bright sunlight streaming through Gringotts' windows after hours in darkness, both the severely smoke-stained Amelia and the soot-covered Bogrod simultaneously took deep, grateful breaths of fresh air. Expressions of profound relief was hung over their exhausted faces.
"Well then, thank you for your assistance, Bogrod—"
Bryan nodded politely to the thoroughly soot-covered old goblin, acknowledging his service despite everything.
"I've already personally inspected that underground cavity while I was down there. Its structural integrity has been completely resolidified by the cooled magma. It's perfectly safe now, stable, and you can continue using those depths for vault storage without concern."
Having suffered what was undoubtedly the worst fright of his entire life, having genuinely believed he would die, Bogrod didn't know how to properly respond to such casual assurance. He could only bow slightly, respectfully, and say in a hoarse voice roughened by smoke inhalation,
"It's an honor to serve you, Mr. Watson. Truly."
"Heh heh."
After a slight, knowing laugh, under the watchful, curious eyes of many goblins behind their counters and numerous customers scattered throughout the hall, Bryan casually tossed Bogrod a reminder to 'keep today's events confidential.'
Then he turned and led Amelia toward the bronze exit doors.
The hot summer weather outside felt so refreshingly, wonderfully cool to Amelia's overheated senses after the underground inferno. She took several deep, cleansing breaths of London air.
When the many ancient, wonderful, and interesting shops of Diagon Alley came back into her view, Amelia suddenly realized with a small, incredulous laugh—she had just personally experienced another great adventure, another brush with death.
This was becoming a pattern with Bryan.
"Will he actually keep it secret?"
Looking back over her shoulder at the dazed Bogrod slowly returning to his station behind the counters, visible worry crossed Amelia's, soot-smudged face.
"Oh, personally I think it's quite unlikely—"
Bryan glanced nonchalantly, at a shadowy gap between Gringotts' white marble wall and a neighboring shop's brick. His expression remained completely unchanged as he smiled pleasantly.
"But I don't particularly care whether it remains secret or not. Besides, it's not something he can successfully keep confidential just by wanting to—"
Amelia's brow twitched slightly with understanding. Being perceptive, she immediately grasped Bryan's subtle meaning without need for elaboration.
"He won't be in mortal danger, will he?"
"Oh, I don't think so, no—"
Bryan said calmly, his gaze falling on Amelia with a somewhat heavier, more serious look than before.
"But you need to understand something important, Amelia. You don't yet have an objective, realistic understanding of the current environment in Britain's magical society—how dangerous it's become. The forces at work are different than in America.
So, you also need to stay constantly vigilant and aware. For the next period of time, weeks at least, stay close to Remus whenever you leave the house. You know he's a cautious, experienced wizard who's been through actual war, and faced Death Eaters. His experience can help you avoid most dangerous risks."
Amelia nodded solemnly, taking the warning seriously.
"Well then—"
Bryan's tone became noticeably lighter, and the heavy moment was passing.
"I need to return to Hogwarts. The Hogwarts Express leaves King's Cross in half an hour. I hope Professor McGonagall hasn't removed me from the teaching staff."
Reluctance seeped into Amelia's brown eyes at the mention of separation. She worked hard to control her emotions, and nodded slightly in understanding.
"After you return to Hogwarts, what will you do?"
"Oh, the Triwizard Tournament matters need attention—"
After thinking for a moment, Bryan said in a deliberately relaxed tone, trying not to worry her.
"There's less than a month remaining until the Triwizard Tournament begins. Voldemort's unexpected interference ruined all the originally designed competition events we'd planned. I need to completely design new tournament tasks from scratch that will be safe but still challenging."
"Can I come watch the tournament? Would that be allowed?"
Amelia's interest was immediately piqued, her face brightening. She looked at Bryan expectantly, hopefully.
"Of course you can. You can come with Sirius and Remus, and take the opportunity to properly tour Hogsmeade village and Hogwarts castle that you didn't get to see well last time when you were, well, smuggled in—"
Bryan smiled warmly.
Recalling her last illegal experience being snuck into the school, Amelia also pursed her lips in a small smile—that had indeed been a wonderful, exciting experience for her.
After thinking for a moment, Amelia said earnestly,
"Give my regards to Headmaster Dumbledore when you see him. And to the three young wizards who helped me last time. Tell them I appreciated their help."
"I'll look after them."
Bryan nodded. He gave Amelia one last deep, meaningful look, then turned decisively and strode away toward the bright sun.
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