A moment later, outside the Hogwarts Headmaster's office.

Xenophilius Lovegood stood nervously before the stone gargoyle, glancing back at the staircase below every so often, as if he could see Luna through the floor. However, he knew very well that Ravenclaw students rarely came to this floor.

Especially at this time, students were either in class, or holed up in the library or common room.

Just as Mr. Lovegood was hesitating whether to sneak downstairs and see if his most beloved little moon was settling in well at Ravenclaw, faint footsteps echoed from the nearby stairs.

As the footsteps grew clearer, a small, silver-white tuft of hair appeared in his sight.

Xenophilius's eyes sharpened, and a solemn expression quickly surfaced.

"Finally here."

Guided by Gilderoy Lockhart, Eileen arrived at her destination without any obstructions.

In the process, she discovered a small pattern – the trick staircases inside the castle seemed to have another operating logic: when professors were walking, they did not trigger the sinking, slippery, or disappearing steps.

Upon closer thought, this wasn't too difficult to understand.

At least in Eileen's memory, whether it was Professor McGonagall, Professor Snape, Professor Dumbledore... the Hogwarts faculty members never seemed to hop around on the stairs or count the steps with furrowed brows.

Of course, this was limited to official professors, not special personnel outside the rules like her.

Perhaps, as she had once speculated, Hogwarts Castle was not merely a magical inanimate object. Somewhere within the castle, there might be a core hub of sorts, acting as a simple "central computer" with limited authority.

Energy, materials, algorithms – these were the three most important limitations in the future world.

If only the first two were unlocked, the benefit would only be shortening the research and development time, rather than fundamentally forming a disruptive change. Living beings ultimately have limits. Before individual power can support a civilization, the direction of integration between the magical and non-magical worlds should still be based on these three aspects.

Undoubtedly, whether it was ghosts, portraits, or Hogwarts Castle...

The magical civilization had accumulated thousands of years of wealth, all the knowledge, insights, wisdom, and art, as if gifts prepared specifically for her. At this critical juncture of human civilization's innovation, she had too many directions to enjoy and research.

And Hogwarts Castle was undoubtedly the most delicious and important of them all.

However, before that, she had a more suitable research subject – [sCp-017-03]

Hogwarts and the magical world had bestowed it with knowledge, life, and magic, and now it was time for it to contribute its value to this world. This was the law believed by the oldest Druid sects, and it was the truth of this world.

Casually glancing at the two magical statues that, at Lockhart's command, opened the way to the Headmaster's office, Eileen collected her thoughts and followed Lockhart and Xenophilius into the familiar square room.

Dumbledore stood up from his chair and waved his hand.

At the same time, golden-red curtains descended from the portraits all around, covering the portraits of past headmasters. With the sound of the office door closing, Newt and Flamel, who were sitting on the sofa in the room, also stopped talking and turned to look at the door.

On the mahogany table were seven sets of tea utensils, with wisps of smoke rising from them, obviously freshly brewed.

Tsk... seven sets...

How interesting—

Eileen glanced at everyone in the room, went directly to the phoenix's perch, and in the face of the golden-red beautiful bird's indignant yet unspoken gaze, skillfully grabbed a handful of crispy, fragrant small fish crackers in her palm and raised her eyebrows.

"This is different from what we agreed upon. I thought you had already finished talking about everything."

"Regarding the schedule, it might be my fault for the delay. As an old man of several hundred years, I'm not so sensitive about time. However, Dumbledore said that a comprehensive introduction might be more appropriate when you arrive."

Nicolas Flamel sized up the silver-haired little witch with curiosity, while explaining with a smile.

He didn't expect that, as the oldest alchemist currently alive in the magical world, he would receive the most irresistible invitation of his life at the age of six hundred and sixty-six – second only to the shock of first encountering the Philosopher's Stone.

There were mainly three reasons for this:

First, the "Hyperion," a ship that surpassed his understanding and was unheard of.

Secondly, the forces involved this time were too fantastical. In the civilized world, knowledge is the most precious wealth and power, and goblins, wizards, and Muggles, this could almost be said to be a joint action of all civilizations in the world.

And most importantly, all of this was facilitated by a Veela half-blood who had just turned eleven.

"You seem to have many questions you want to ask me, but please wait a moment..."

Eileen slowly walked to the long table, picked up a cup of red tea, and gently blew on it. "Before that, haven't you noticed that there's one person missing in this room? Don't you want to know who that person is first..."

From the moment she entered the Headmaster's office, Scamander and Flamel's simultaneous gazes had already explained a lot.

The tea set prepared by Dumbledore also provided ample information. Obviously, at the first full meeting of the Foundation O5 Council, what she needed to solve was not just the insignificant "experiment" tonight.

"Guessed a bit."

Nicolas Flamel exchanged a look with Newt Scamander, gazing intently at Eileen.

"But I am more curious about what kind of 'hope' could make him betray his promise and reappear in the magical world. As for the question you mentioned, isn't he already sitting there?"

"So... I really hate you perceptive guys—"

Amidst a complaint, the air beside the bookshelf behind Dumbledore gradually twisted and shattered. Gellert Grindelwald stood up with a cold expression, casually walked to the long table, picked up a cup of red tea, and took a shallow sip.

"Didn't you ever think that if you guessed wrong, it would be very embarrassing?"

With his appearance, no one in the entire room, except for Gilderoy Lockhart, showed any surprise.

"As one of the most outstanding wizards in the world today, Mr. Grindelwald, your aura is too dazzling. Unless Dumbledore suddenly split into two people, I really can't imagine why there would be two magical torches in this room."

Nicolas Flamel turned his head, looking at the first Dark Lord with interest, and replied in a calm tone.

"As for Aberforth, he is obviously much weaker. Even the young Mr. Scamander is stronger than him—"

"So it's you—Gellert Grindelwald..."

Newt Scamander smiled wryly. Over the years, it was the first time he had heard the evaluation of "young". Not to mention, at almost a hundred years old, he didn't expect to become the baseline for combat power comparison again.

However, on the other hand, Grindelwald's appearance also cut off the last bit of illusion in his heart.

Before this, because the two had always been responsible for different fields of work, he and Grindelwald had never been in the same room face to face like now. Newt even wondered if the first Dark Lord was still self-imprisoned in Nurmengard.

"Long time no see, Mr. Scamander, thank you for your care—"

Gellert Grindelwald raised the teacup in his hand, swayed around, raised his eyebrows, and looked at Newt. A dangerous, playful glimmer flashed in his eyes. He deliberately said in a slow tone,

"If you intend to wave your wand, I suggest you think carefully—at least from the current situation, neither in terms of strength, environment, nor numbers, are you on the advantageous side, so..."

"So, we are here today to discuss conditions."

Nicolas Flamel shook his head gently and took out a small golden box from his arms.

In the very center of the box, a scarlet stone lay quietly – the Philosopher's Stone from Paracelsus.

"Albus Dumbledore, Gellert Grindelwald, Newt Scamander... you are the most talented wizards I have ever seen in these centuries. Any one of you can easily influence the world, and if you unite together..."

Nicolas Flamel extended his index finger and pressed it on the Philosopher's Stone, looking around at the wizards in the room.

"Destruction, or creation, is now up to you to decide—"

Along with the old alchemist's voice, the Philosopher's Stone suddenly bloomed with a bewitching red light, emitting a terrifying aura.

"Eh? Mr. Nicolas Flamel, what do you mean by this, rua?"

Eileen's eyes changed slightly. She put down the small fish crackers in her hand, stared at Nicolas Flamel, and asked innocently in a childish voice.

"Oh right, let me briefly popularize a little knowledge. I was born in 1326 AD..."

Nicolas Flamel smiled, turned his head, and sized up Eileen thoughtfully, saying meaningfully.

"If I remember correctly, this should be the explanation that I and those old pals gave to the 'Magician' when we were spreading this deck of cards hundreds of years ago, right—dear Miss 0? If I'm not mistaken."

The Philosopher's Stone, or rather, the Sorcerer's Stone.

As the most profound and mysterious existence in the field of ancient magical alchemy, its function is not only limited to turning any metal into pure gold, or creating the elixir of life - in a sense, it means infinite-level manifestation.

Even just this small piece of the Philosopher's Stone contains enough energy to raze Hogwarts to the ground.

Undoubtedly, he can use this power to actively help those 'flowers of hope' push open the door to the new world.

Conversely, if he discovers that the hope and justice of this world have been completely lost, and a most terrifying dark lord in history is about to be born...

Then Nicolas Flamel can at least completely extinguish the source before darkness descends.

As one of the creators of the Philosopher's Stone, the founder of European alchemy, Nicolas Flamel can be said to be one of the very few wizards in this world who knows how to unleash this energy.

At the same time, this is also his confidence in going to Hogwarts alone to negotiate terms.

In a bewitching red light, Nicolas Flamel looked at Eileen with a serious expression and asked softly.

"So first, who exactly are you..."

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