Ryze carefully described everything he had seen, recounting the vision in as much detail as his memory allowed.
However, after listening to his entire explanation, Professor Babbling still could not immediately determine which room Ryze had been referring to.
"Although the structure of Hogwarts Castle hasn't changed much over the past thousand years," she said thoughtfully, shaking her head, "the interior decorations have been altered several times. Every generation of professors leaves their own mark."
She folded her arms, deep in thought.
"Try to remember what those portraits looked like," she continued. "If we can locate those portraits somewhere inside Hogwarts, we should be able to narrow down the room's location."
The interior décor of Hogwarts was never truly permanent.
In fact, it was constantly changing.
Each professor had their own preferences when decorating their classroom or office. Some favored cluttered rooms filled with magical curiosities, while others preferred clean and minimalist environments.
Even the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom changed its style almost every year, depending on the professor teaching it.
For example, this year Professor Quirrell had adopted an extremely minimalist approach. Both his office and classroom were sparsely furnished, with very few decorative objects anywhere in sight.
According to Quirrell himself, he preferred to avoid unnecessary items because he worried that certain magical artifacts might bring him harm.
Whether that reasoning was justified or not, no one could say. But the result was that his workspace looked unusually bare compared to most other professors' rooms.
Beyond classrooms and offices, the many portraits and statues scattered throughout Hogwarts were also subject to change.
Their arrangement often depended on the preferences of the current headmaster.
Dumbledore, for instance, had a fondness for whimsical magical art. Because of his personal taste, several enchanted portraits had been placed around the castle that could automatically play chamber music or perform magical demonstrations.
Some portraits even played games with passing students.
In one corridor, a painting occasionally hosted a magical game of skittles, complete with cheering spectators.
Hogwarts was a place where history and personality constantly blended together.
As Professor Babbling spoke, Ryze gradually felt his breathing return to normal.
He closed his eyes once more, trying to carefully reconstruct the images he had seen during the prophecy.
Prophetic visions were not easily forgotten.
However, the portraits in his vision had been some distance away from the door. From the perspective of the prophecy, they had appeared slightly blurred, making them difficult to identify.
Ryze frowned slightly as he focused.
"I remember one portrait more clearly than the others," he said slowly.
Professor Babbling looked up immediately.
"Oh?"
"It showed a knight," Ryze continued. "He was riding a horse. The armor looked old—ancient, even. Very medieval."
"A knight on horseback…"
Professor Babbling murmured thoughtfully as she processed the description.
"Considering the founding era of Hogwarts," she said after a moment, "the most likely candidates would be portraits connected to the Knights of the Round Table."
She tapped her chin lightly as if sorting through the countless magical portraits she knew existed within the castle.
"If I remember correctly," she continued, "there are portraits of King Arthur and Merlin somewhere in the castle. Most of the other portraits of the Round Table knights tend to follow their lead."
Her expression brightened slightly as an idea formed.
"I can go speak with King Arthur's portrait," she said. "If the Round Table portraits are still somewhere within Hogwarts, they may be able to gather themselves together again."
Magical portraits had a unique ability to travel between frames and communicate with one another.
If anyone could locate a specific group of historical portraits scattered throughout the castle, it would be the portraits themselves.
Professor Babbling then turned her attention back to Ryze.
"How are you feeling now?" she asked gently.
"If you're still unwell, I can contact King Arthur's portrait today and we can continue the search tomorrow after you've had some rest."
Ryze glanced inward, checking the slow recovery of his mana reserves.
Although it felt like they were very close to solving the mystery, he could not deny the heavy fatigue weighing on his mind.
His body felt drained.
If there were any more mana-intensive activities today, he doubted he would be able to endure them.
This was most likely the aftereffect of exhausting his mana too quickly.
In the future, he would need to be more cautious while practicing magic. Maintaining a reserve of at least fifty mana would probably be safer.
Health points in the system recovered very slowly, sometimes only a few points per day.
Mana, on the other hand, depleted quickly—but it also regenerated much faster.
At his current recovery speed, a proper meal and a full night's sleep should restore most of his strength.
"Then I'll leave it to you," Ryze said, wiping the sweat from his forehead. "I didn't expect directed divination to be this exhausting. I suppose I overestimated myself a little."
Professor Babbling waved her hand dismissively.
"It's good that you realized that," she replied. "When I saw you earlier, completely soaked in sweat, I was honestly worried that your body wouldn't be able to handle it."
Her expression softened slightly.
"But confirming your Divination Talent is already a significant result."
"First you dreamed about Rowena Ravenclaw, and now you successfully performed a divination using a thousand-year-old artifact."
She gave him an approving look.
"Your talent for divination may be even stronger than I initially believed."
She paused briefly before adding,
"The only limitation right now is your physical condition. As you grow stronger and your magical reserves increase, your abilities will likely develop as well."
She smiled lightly.
"Who knows? By the time you graduate, you might become the most famous prophet of the twenty-first century."
Ryze listened silently.
"Doomsayer" was, after all, a colored Hextech Rune.
If the Divination Talent it granted wasn't powerful, he would definitely consider asking the system for a refund.
Of course, Ryze had no intention of stopping at becoming a famous prophet.
With the rune system in his possession, if he failed to become one of the greatest wizards of the next era, wouldn't that be a complete waste?
After resting for a while longer, Ryze finally felt strong enough to stand.
Professor Babbling escorted him back to his dormitory.
With Ailey nearby to take care of him, she wasn't too concerned about Ryze's condition.
Even if he became hungry during the night, Ailey could easily visit the Hogwarts kitchen and bring him dinner.
However, when Ryze's roommates returned from their outdoor practice later that evening, they were startled by the sight that greeted them.
Ryze was lying weakly in bed.
His pale face and exhausted expression made it look as if he had collapsed from overwork.
For a moment, they feared he had become so obsessed with studying the mysterious statue that he had worked himself into illness.
Fortunately, after hearing Ryze's explanation, they finally relaxed.
"So that Hyper-Sensation Spell is really that powerful?" Terry asked with obvious curiosity.
"It actually helped you solve part of the puzzle?"
"The statue's secret hasn't been solved yet," Ryze replied calmly.
"We only know that it originally came from a room somewhere on the upper floors of the castle. We still need to find that room and investigate what's hidden there."
"As for the Hyper-Sensation Spell…" he continued, glancing at Terry.
"You can use it for studying if you want, but it puts a heavy strain on our bodies at our current level."
"And you definitely can't use it during exams."
"If a professor discovered it, it would probably be considered cheating—similar to taking Felix Felicis."
Terry snorted.
"As if we could ever get our hands on Felix Felicis," he said.
"That stuff is ridiculously expensive. If someone sold me, they probably still wouldn't get enough money to buy more than a few drops."
"Using something that valuable just to cheat on exams would be pathetic."
Even so, after seeing Ryze's exhausted state and hearing about the strain caused by the Hyper-Sensation Spell, the others quickly abandoned the idea of learning it.
At least for now.
Instead, they became interested in something else.
Tomorrow, they planned to join Ryze in investigating the mysterious room connected to the statue.
After all, if there really was a hidden location somewhere in the castle tied to ancient magical secrets, none of them wanted to miss the opportunity to explore it.
"I hope we can find it tomorrow," Ryze murmured quietly.
He shifted slightly in bed and then asked Ailey to help massage his aching back.
The warmth of her hands eased some of the tension lingering in his muscles.
Then he turned his attention back to his roommates.
"So," he asked, "how did your afternoon practice go?"
"You all looked pretty excited when you came back."
His question immediately sparked an enthusiastic response.
"Even if our results weren't as impressive as yours today," Anthony said excitedly, "that dueling booklet really is something special."
"Even after more than fifty years, it's still incredibly useful."
He leaned forward eagerly as he continued speaking.
"You know what else we found out?"
"During dinner, we asked some upper-year students about Ravenclaw's dueling history."
"Our house actually has a pretty impressive record!"
"Professor Flitwick himself—our Head of House—once won the World Wizard Dueling Championship when he was younger."
Ryze raised an eyebrow slightly.
That was certainly impressive.
Anthony continued enthusiastically.
"Apparently Ravenclaw has produced quite a few famous dueling masters over the past century."
"Although…"
He hesitated slightly.
"It seems that tradition might have been broken sometime in the last thirty years."
"Probably because of You-Know-Who."
During Voldemort's rise to power, many magical traditions had been disrupted.
Competitive dueling was no exception.
"In fact," Anthony added, "in the last decade, only one champion has come from Hogwarts—and that one was from Gryffindor."
"The rest of the champions were students from Ilvermorny in the United States or Koldovstoretz in Russia."
He clenched his fist slightly, his eyes filled with determination.
"That's why I think finding this dueling manual in the Room of Requirement might be a sign."
"Maybe it's an opportunity for us."
"Maybe we should restore Ravenclaw's dueling tradition."
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