Inside the study space, Tom's sudden disappearance left the others bewildered for a moment. But before they had much time to wonder about it, they were thrown into chaos by the sudden transformation of the entire world around them.
This wasn't merely an ordinary expansion of the world. It was an enhancement and completion of its very rules.
Before, if one paid close enough attention, it was still possible to sense the vague boundary between illusion and reality.
But as the space expanded, chains of order descended from the sky one after another, filling in and completing the rules that had previously been missing.
Any areas where the rules conflicted or contradicted one another were likewise suppressed by the authority of the space.
In other words, the world had now become one hundred percent real.
It possessed everything that the real world possessed.
And even more.
Morgan took a deep breath, a blissful expression spreading across her face. "It's back. Everything is back."
"What's back?" Grindelwald asked with a frown.
He had tried flying around the space just now, but even after more than ten minutes, he still hadn't reached the end.
There were mountains and rivers, forests and valleys, streams and all kinds of vegetation.
But there was one thing missing: any sign of life.
Once Grindelwald realized there was no way he could investigate the entire area, he Apparated several times in succession and returned to his original position.
That was when he found Morgan standing there with an intoxicated look on her face.
"The rules. Rules so wild that they're practically manifesting themselves." Morgan opened her eyes, her face filled with delight. "I was wrong. We haven't returned to the era I came from. We've gone even further back, to an era far more ancient, an era much closer to the gods."
Everyone was startled.
That assessment was simply too profound.
Ariana closed her eyes and carefully sensed her surroundings for a while before shaking her head. "I just feel like the air is fresher. My body feels really comfortable here. Maybe... if the real world were like this, I could live for a few more decades."
Jeanne opened her mouth.
Could she really say that she could smell the fragrance of the earth?
"Pathetic. You're really a stinking country girl!" Jalter cursed furiously from the depths of her mind.
Aside from that, Jeanne couldn't sense anything unusual.
Ravenclaw, however, followed Morgan's words and tried to comprehend what she was talking about. After a while, she finally reacted.
She opened her eyes, looking both surprised and uncertain. "Morgan, why do I feel like the world's suppressive force has become stronger?"
As she spoke, she cast a spell.
A huge boulder in the distance began transforming rapidly, cycling through the forms of various animals. Before one animal had even fully taken shape, it had already changed into another.
Creatures that flew through the sky, ran across the ground, and swam through the water appeared one after another.
Everything was there.
Continuous transformations were one of the greatest challenges in Transfiguration. Yet in just a few seconds, Ravenclaw had completed dozens of transformations.
At last, she stopped on the form of a vermilion bird.
If Professor McGonagall had witnessed this scene, her first reaction would have been to assume she was hallucinating. Once she confirmed that it was real, her admiration for Ravenclaw would probably have surpassed even her admiration for Dumbledore.
Ravenclaw herself, however, wasn't satisfied.
"In the past, I could transform continuously more than a hundred times. Now I can only manage sixty-eight. That's because I can no longer affect the world with my spell."
"That's perfectly normal, Rowena," Morgan said with a smile. "Magic manifests differently in different eras. You were able to complete a hundred transformations with ease before because this world had already become... dim."
Ravenclaw nodded. "Then you could say we're now in an Age of Magical Prosperity, except the upper limit is the Legendary tier."
"Exactly." Morgan continued, "The stage after that is the one you're at now. You begin studying the rules of the world itself, learning how to influence them with magic to strengthen your spells or even create entirely new ones.
"Take me, for instance. My magic is still suppressed to some extent, but I can forcibly take control of an area using what we called a domain in my era and control everything within it.
"Still, that suppression has its advantages. All kinds of deeper rules are now being laid bare. As long as you can see them, you can crack them. How is that any different from taking an open-book exam?" Morgan glanced excitedly into the sky. "If I'd had an environment like this for research back then, how could that idiot Merlin ever have been my match?"
Everyone was speechless.
No matter the time or place, whenever she got the chance, Morgan never forgot to drag Merlin out and stomp all over him.
Ravenclaw's beautiful eyes flickered repeatedly as she stared into the sky.
Suddenly, Andros realized something else. "What exactly did Tom do? And why has he been gone so long without coming back? And where's the new arrival? She hasn't shown up either."
"Just what kind of god is the new comrade?" he asked, tilting his head toward the sky.
The enormous crack that had split the sky earlier had completely vanished.
The sky inside the study space had once been a hazy white, but now there was a sun overhead, along with clouds.
Just then, two black dots appeared in the sky.
The dots gradually grew larger, until they became two figures descending before them.
One was Tom.
The other was a gorgeously dressed woman.
Her clothes were embroidered with the sun, moon, and stars. The hem of her dress seemed to flow like the Milky Way, with countless nebulae moving within it.
Yet no matter how hard they looked at her face, they couldn't remember what she looked like. Their eyes were irresistibly drawn to those eyes of hers, which shone as brilliantly as the stars.
"Let me introduce someone to everyone." Tom's expression was somewhat strange, but he still managed a faint smile.
"She's our new colleague. She used to have another identity as well: the Lady of Mysteries, Lady Mystryl."
.
.
.