great-warnovel Chapter 125 Seven-Layer Ring
Chapter 125 Seven-Layer Ring
Chapter 125 Seven-Layer Ring
"This place is divided into seven floors. We are currently on the fourth floor, which is also known as the Golden Hall." Hibiscus led the group of four forward.
"The Golden Hall is roughly circular, consisting of a series of shops. The corridor we are walking on now connects all the shops in a loop, which is called the Loop of Change."
She pointed towards the central courtyard, where four or five wooden elevators could be seen moving up and down: "Those are the elevators that connect all the floors, also called the Ascension Passage."
"The Golden Hall is where most of the sales business is concentrated; going up, the fifth floor is called the Emerald Hall, which is the headquarters of the various companies under Beauxbatons; the sixth floor, the Hall of Wisdom, is the apartment of some professors and managers, as well as the Great Hall and classrooms. The professors living here are mostly from the sales and medical departments; the seventh floor, the Hall of Philosophers, is the separate principal's office, which is very large."
Furong specifically described how the principal's office, which occupies an entire floor, must be more impressive than one could imagine. However, they probably weren't even qualified to go to the fifth floor.
"And then what?" Ron asked.
"The third floor is the Mercury Hall, the largest sanatorium in the world. We have the best medical system," Hibiscus said proudly.
"But there isn't a single Potions Master in Beauxbatons," Harry retorted. In his view, how could a medical system be considered the best if it couldn't concoct the most advanced potions?
Hibiscus laughed: "A healer and a potion master are not the same, although there are some overlaps between the two."
"In fact, there are three main disciplines that lead to the medical industry: herbalism, potions, and alchemy. Other disciplines such as spells are not considered as primary fields."
She suddenly noticed Harry's bright green eyes and asked somewhat uncertainly, "May I ask who the famous Lily Potter is to you?"
"It's his mother," Ron replied, as if watching a good show.
"Oh, that's quite surprising!" Fleur's beautiful eyes widened as she continued to Harry, "Of course, I don't mean to look down on Master Lily, but the pinnacle of alchemy—the Philosopher's Stone—can create elixirs of immortality. Our understanding of the human body is different from that of the Potions system, but the ultimate goal is the same: to make people healthy, long-lived, and immortal."
"Speaking of which, we often place orders with Master Lily. Many problems that alchemy cannot solve can be addressed better with potions." She subtly complimented Lily, trying her best not to evoke even the slightest bit of resentment in her customers.
"If you are Master Lily's child, I think I can apply for an additional discount on top of the original 20% off. Of course, you all have one." Fleur did not neglect the others because of Harry's identity; she took just the right amount of care into everyone's feelings and face.
Harry had wanted to continue the conversation about the Philosopher's Stone, asking why they, who inherited Nicolas Flamel's legacy, couldn't recreate it, but after Fleur's comment, he felt embarrassed to bring it up, since the discount was real.
"But can you tell he's Professor Lily's child just by the color of his eyes?" Hermione asked curiously.
"Our course requires us to memorize the physical characteristics and personality traits of all famous figures," she said calmly.
But Hermione seemed to see the sadness hidden in her eyes. At Hogwarts, another magic school, young wizards of her age would learn more advanced spells, rather than how to please others.
"That's a bit of a stretch." Fleur quickly composed herself and continued with a smile, "The Mercury Hall is a huge magical garden, filled with plants that are beneficial to the human body. A dozen senior healers and nurses are on standby around the clock. We will provide the best potions and alchemical maintenance techniques. Even if you're not sick, there are wealthy people willing to pay exorbitant fees every month to use it as a vacation or sanatorium."
"That area isn't open to the public, but when we get closer to the courtyard, we'll be able to see part of it looking down."
"Then what are the first and second floors?" Neville asked curiously.
"The second floor is called the Sulfur Hall, which is a marketplace for large-scale arms transactions. Only those who are invited or members are qualified to enter."
Beauxbatons practically monopolized the world's alchemy market, including arms, and the alchemical bombs and gadgets Lucius used before were probably bought from there.
Although he appears kind on the surface, the children can still sense another side of Beauxbatons that he hides when this is mentioned.
"And the lowest floor is called the Hall of Salt, which is our student dormitory." Fleur didn't explain much, but it's likely that Beauxbatons wouldn't provide these students with very comfortable accommodations.
"So the only place we can visit is the Golden Hall?" Harry asked.
"I'm sorry, but I think so. The other floors require specific qualifications or reservations to enter."
"But the Golden Hall is also very large, and I guarantee there will be countless novelties. Our R&D department is generating new ideas every day." Hibiscus tried to divert everyone's attention back.
"Any recommended shops? Where should we start?" Harry asked with great interest.
"How about the Quidditch Boutique? We have the latest model of nuclear crossbow that even Malfoy Castle doesn't have. This product won't be officially released until next year, and there's a high probability that other places will designate them for military use and reverse engineer them for production. They won't be available for a while."
Hibiscus looked at them with bright, expectant eyes, and she truly captured the hearts of the three boys instantly.
Who can resist Quidditch (except Hermione)? Even if you can't afford it, just looking at it will give you plenty of topics to talk about during your nightly chats.
On their way to the Quidditch shop, they learned that Beauxbatons owned a stake in many of the shops in Malfoy Castle. Those pure-blood families with little skill simply held shares based on the land; the real research and development and supply were actually done by them.
They hadn't gone far when they arrived at the shop entrance. Before they even went inside, they could hear gasps of surprise coming from within.
"George, Fred, we can hear you from outside!" Ron shouted as soon as he entered the store. The two of them had rushed in to experience the store before the lockdown.
"Hey, come and see!" The twins' eyes never left the display case. They and Ji Jordan pressed their faces against the glass, examining the exquisitely crafted broom inch by inch. Like Hermione and the others, they were accompanied by a beautiful saleswoman from Beauxbatons, but theirs seemed to be an adult and looked much more mature.
To be fair, even Hermione thought the broom was quite beautiful. The dark wooden handle had a noble matte finish, and each of the broom twigs at the end had been carefully selected to ensure that they would form a beautiful arc when combined. Some tiny green specks of light flickered among the broom twigs, looking like dust clouds from the outside world.
But Hermione firmly believes that brooms are meant for sweeping, not for riding and watching them fly.
"Top-tier braking spell, accelerating to 150 mph in ten seconds, unparalleled steering ability, unique dust cloud concealment coating, and an additional maximum capacity of one hundred additional spells!"
"God, if I could ride it and fly for a while, I wouldn't mind dying!"
"If Harry were equipped with one of these, the House Cup would be a sure thing!"
"Draco can't even get a whiff of his exhaust fumes!"
Even though she knew the students couldn't possibly afford it, Furong still smiled and explained every little detail about the broom to them.
Hermione got bored listening to the boys, so she said goodbye and decided to go shopping by herself and buy the gifts behind their backs. She really liked these little surprises.
There are many shops in the Golden Hall. She didn't go too far. She just browsed around the nearby shops and bought almost everything she needed.
One of the items prepared for Harry was a pair of Quidditch goggles that could automatically defrost and rain, and also had a magnifying effect on gold, making it easier for the Seeker to track the Golden Snitch. This spell was the maximum effect that could be achieved by skirting the rules of the game. Wizards were perfectly capable of casting a spell on the goggles to automatically track and lock onto the Golden Snitch, but that would deviate from the meaning of the game.
She bought Ron an expensive bottle of autocorrect ink. She was fed up with his grammatical errors. This ink, unlike the same brand on the market, could create the same inked sentences on the back of the user's hand, constantly reminding him not to make such basic mistakes again!
I bought Neville a memory ball; he always says he has a bad memory, and I hope this will help him.
She also prepared gifts for the professors. She bought a beautifully decorated schedule notebook that could automatically generate a calendar for the following month. She planned to cast some spells herself to make a little gadget for Professor McGonagall that would remind her of her schedule every day.
She also bought a pair of earplugs that could filter out harmful noise while allowing people to hear what others were saying. They had been tending to mandrakes in herb class this year, and the earmuffs provided by the school were quite bulky and stuffy. Of course, she also bought an extra pair to give to Professor Sprout.
Professor Flitwick was given a bottle of maintenance oil specifically for fairy metals, which could extend the lifespan of fairy machinery.
As for the other professors, she hasn't found any particularly suitable gifts yet, and she'll probably have to rack her brains for more ideas.