great-warnovel Chapter 508 Farming in the Dark
Chapter 508 Farming in the Dark
Chapter 508 Farming in the Dark
In the cabinets on this floor, Hermione found dozens of wands neatly categorized and stored.
These are the parts that were confiscated but could not be taken back.
They were bound with enchanted seals to ensure they wouldn't be stolen by others.
Over the years, these talisman seals should have long since expired, but perhaps due to the leakage of unknown magic or the power accumulated in the wand itself, they have undergone some mutations.
When Hermione tried to take them out of the cupboard, the seals, like startled hounds, fiercely manipulated the unattended wand, unleashing spells.
However, this level of resistance was insufficient. The Finger Witch, in a foul mood, roughly used the power of the Great Order Rune to crush all the seals and pack up the wands to take away.
These are all pre-war masterpieces; taking them back will give next year's new students more choices.
Further down, on the third floor is the Department of Magical Accidents and Disasters, which oversees the Reversal of Accidental Events Team, the Memory Deletion Command Center, the Muggle Problem Mediation Committee, the Invisibility Task Force, and the Muggle Liaison Office.
However, many rooms have now been converted into bedrooms, with beds made of desks and sleeping bags made of file folders. Now, with the death of the spellcaster, they have all become soft and brittle garbage.
In the tea room, Hermione found a teapot that kept crying. It could pour out warm black tea in an endless stream, but it would also suddenly pour out murky blood.
This was an out-and-out Dark Magic item, and it was very likely made after the wizards were trapped here. Hermione only deduced this much before deciding not to think any further.
Starting from this level, one can clearly feel the unusual magical power seeping up from below, which makes the surrounding air feel stuffy and oppressive.
Although there won't be any ghosts or other creatures here, it seems to make magical creations even more eerie.
"The signal on the ground is getting weaker," Adam suddenly said.
Before descending, the steel balls he left on the surface had functions of positioning, timing, and signal transmission, but as they gradually went deeper underground, the electromagnetic signals seemed to be affected more and more severely.
Hermione could also sense that the nails she had left behind for positioning seemed to have become distant and elusive, but she still had the commandment: Transfer, which could still be used normally thanks to the prayers that operated through the Order Runes.
The twisted pointer in their arms was a little warm, but there was nothing more unusual, so they continued downwards.
The fourth basement level—the Department of Magical Creatures Management and Control.
This is the second largest department in the Ministry of Magic, with three main offices: Beasts, Outcasts, and Ghosts, which are further subdivided into more detailed categories, such as the offices for centaurs, goblins, and the relocation of elves.
This floor appears to have been converted into a restaurant and agricultural area, where a trapped wizard is attempting to use magic to quickly cultivate food.
The floor was covered with a thick layer of soil, which seemed to have been dug directly from the underground rock walls, and the simple water pipes were also directly diverting groundwater.
Unfortunately, there was no sunlight here, and the concept of low-light agriculture didn't exist back then. Even professional herbalists probably wouldn't carry edible mushrooms with them.
The wizards' own ability to maintain the glow spell was insufficient to provide long-term illumination for crops that required sunlight.
Even worse, as the nuclear contamination seeped down from above, the groundwater that was being diverted was also severely polluted, as Hermione could tell from the withered, mutated plants.
"But at least they tried," Hermione said softly.
Stepping on the hardened, compacted soil, I suddenly felt something beneath my feet.
Adam kicked away the soil, revealing the skeleton beneath, which appeared to be that of some magical creature.
This kick seemed to have stirred up a dormant magic, and some lingering echoes and phantoms appeared again.
There were many people this time. Wizards without wands stood around with simple farming tools, while Aurors with wands escorted some strange magical creatures, which were probably sent here to await their fate before the nuclear explosion.
The cutting spells flowed in unison from the Aurors' wands, and those intelligent magical creatures fell one by one, buried in the earth to increase fertility.
At first, there were only low-level creatures like hairy crabs and dwarf pigs, but soon Cornish elves appeared...
House-elves — and even werewolves.
They were killed without resistance in the fields, and the shamans in charge of the farming silently covered them with soil. Someone chanted in a low voice a herbal incantation, using the flesh and blood to quickly fertilize the fields.
"Werewolves—aren't they human?" When Hermione saw the skeletons in the stairwell, she was relieved that these wizards still adhered to the bottom line of not eating their own kind.
But using werewolf corpses to farm doesn't seem to make much difference, right?
The afterimage disappeared, but Hermione remained lost in thought.
Adam tugged at her clothes: "If I had humanity, would I become like this?"
How is this "like this"? What kind of information does this robot receive and understand?
The Finger Witch was speechless for a moment. She couldn't answer such a question. No matter where they were in the borderlands or in this world, no matter what race they were, it seemed that humanity could not withstand the test.
"Let's continue downhill, there's nothing much to see here."
She and the mechanical boy continued searching for the stairwell leading downwards.
They walked straight through the International Magical Cooperation Division on the fifth basement level, which had been converted into temporary prisons. Hermione forced herself not to look at the corpses inside the iron bars.
The sixth basement level is the Department of Magical Transportation, where wizards racked their brains trying to calm the spatial disturbances and restore the function of the fireplace and door keys.
But perhaps due to their initial reckless actions, which led to a disastrous chain reaction, their results were limited.
This place is piled with a large number of scrapped and shattered objects, all of which failed in the process of making the door key. Expired Floo powder is scattered everywhere, seemingly the result of the researchers' final hysterical outburst.
All the way up to the seventh floor—the Department of Magical Sports.
"I've completely lost contact with the ground," Adam said.
Hermione nodded to indicate that she understood. Here, the surging dark magic was as dense as the deep sea, and the churning malice was like a demon lurking in the darkness.
They entered the floor together, but suddenly a strange thing happened.
The moment I stepped onto the floor, a sharp whistle suddenly came from the depths of the corridor.
Then the world spun around, the ceiling and walls cracked in all directions, and boundless darkness surged in in an instant.
But the surrounding area was filled with cheers from the audience, and something flew by at high speed, creating a whooshing sound, as if a fierce Quidditch match was taking place in the darkness!
"Foul! Foul! No walking allowed on the Quidditch pitch!" A stern, piercing female voice echoed in the darkness, and Hermione and Adam were instantly flung into the void by an invisible force.