Looking at the pale-faced girl lying on the bed, Rhys could not help but feel a wave of emotion. Little Astoria had also become a Domain wizard now. This should make her feel much better.
He knew very well that the girl had always felt inferior because she had not awakened a Domain, but there was nothing he could do about it.
He could only cut off a portion of his own Domain and give it to them, hoping they might gain some insight from it.
Now it seemed that after such a long period of guidance, Astoria had finally reached an epiphany.
More importantly, judging from the situation before him, what Astoria had comprehended was not something random, but a Blood Domain.
This was an extremely pure subdomain of the liquid Domain, and it made Rhys genuinely happy.
However, with Astoria awakening such a Domain, what her future style would look like was hard to say…
Still, being able to grasp the mysteries of a Domain was ultimately a good thing.
As the blood flowed out, Astoria's complexion gradually shifted from pale to deathly white, making her look like a corpse. Yet her chest continued to rise and fall steadily, indicating that she was still alive.
Her blood did not spill chaotically. Instead, it gathered beside her, forming a bewitching and eerie crimson river, dotted with specks like stars in a galaxy.
The river of blood seeped from the girl's skin, circled the ground around her, then climbed up to her seven orifices before flowing back in through them, repeating in a continuous cycle.
Seeing the cycle form, Rhys finally let out a sigh of relief. At this point, Astoria was no longer in danger of losing her life. At worst, she would simply fail to grasp the Domain.
About a quarter of an hour later, the river of blood gradually dried up, leaving behind a brownish trace on the ground, like a dried riverbed.
The same brown marks were left on the girl's face. Although her complexion was still pale, it was much better than the corpse-like pallor from before.
A few seconds later, Astoria's long eyelashes trembled slightly, and she regained consciousness.
As soon as Astoria opened her eyes, she saw Rhys sitting not far from her bedside, a gentle smile on his face.
That expression… was a bit like the look a fruit farmer had when gazing at a tree heavy with ripe fruit. The heads of houses at the Hogwarts graduation ceremony had seemed to wear the same expression.
"Congratulations. You've stepped into the threshold of a Domain now," Rhys said, his voice reaching her ears and reminding her of what had just happened.
A surge of joy immediately rose to Astoria's face, and her breathing quickened. She had wanted a Domain for far too long, to the point of obsession.
People like her sister, Granger, and Diggory, who already had Domains, could hardly imagine her state of mind.
"It's blood, right?" Astoria had a vague sense of what her Domain was.
Rhys nodded.
"A relatively specialized Domain, but with tremendous power if developed properly," Rhys said with a smile.
Astoria's Domain could not be considered top-tier. In terms of range and influence, it was even inferior to derivatives like clouds, mist, or frost within the water Domain, and Aries's Domain surpassed hers in quality. However, in practical application, its power was extremely formidable. Rhys had demonstrated that just the previous night.
With a single move, it could kill more than a dozen well-trained wizards, and it could stand toe-to-toe with other Domains in a direct clash. Not to mention that there was still the path of further Domain awakening.
Astoria understood all of this, yet she still nodded happily.
She lowered her head to look at the bloodstains on her body and beside the bed, then began to draw upon the power of her Domain. Soon, the dried bloodstains on the ground began to tremble, gradually lifting into the air and forming a band of dark brown dust.
Astoria carefully controlled them, gathering them together. After some effort, she condensed the bloodstains into a dark red gem the size of a grain of rice.
"Too small." She was clearly dissatisfied with her work. She traced a finger along her collarbone, and a string of round, crystal-clear blood droplets seeped out from her pale skin.
Each drop gleamed like a ruby.
"The purest blood." Astoria gazed at the blood drawn from her own body, her eyes unfocused, as if mesmerized.
Rhys: "…"
The way she looked right now perfectly matched Slytherin's stereotype. Rhys did not even want to imagine what kind of bizarre reputation Astoria would gain after fighting others in the future.
The Blood Witch Astoria? The Crimson Witch Greengrass?
A few strange titles flashed through his mind before he forced them away.
After condensing the blood into a ruby the size of a quail's egg, Astoria took out a silver chain from her bag and set the gem onto it, making a ruby necklace.
Putting it on, she looked at herself in the mirror and revealed a satisfied smile.
"Let's go out. I'm a bit hungry," Astoria said softly after tidying up and getting dressed. The consumption during her Domain awakening had been enormous. At this moment, she felt the need to replenish her energy. She was extremely hungry, so hungry that strange thoughts and urges even began to surface.
Rhys glanced at her.
Astoria could not help but shiver. She felt as though Rhys had seen straight through her thoughts.
"Interesting. Your Blood Domain is a bit different from what I expected. Is it influenced by the remnants of the blood curse?" Rhys began murmuring to himself. "I originally thought a Blood Domain was simply about controlling blood, but now it seems I was a bit shallow… You're different, Astoria. I might have even named your Domain incorrectly…"
Astoria lowered her head. She did not quite understand what Rhys was saying, and it made her feel a little uneasy.
"Hey, want to try an experiment?" Rhys stepped beside her and asked softly.
"What kind of experiment?" Astoria swallowed, already having a faint idea of what he intended.
Rhys did not answer directly. Instead, he asked another question. "Just now, you had the impulse to directly draw the blood from my vessels, didn't you?"
"No, absolutely not. How could I possibly—"
"On either side of the trachea, about two fingers away from the Adam's apple, lies one of the most important arteries in the human body, the carotid artery. About eight liters of fresh, hot blood flows through it every day…"
Astoria could not help but swallow. Rhys's description only made her feel hungrier.
Rhys smiled.
"You see? You should face your inner thoughts honestly."
Astoria fell silent.
"This makes me feel like I've become a monster."
Rhys laughed.
"That's still far from being a monster, farther than the distance between a human and a snake. In the eyes of Muggles, wizards are monsters. In the eyes of wizards, those of us with Domains are monsters as well. The moment you gain a Domain, the essence of your life changes, but you are still yourself. As long as that part of your soul remains, you have not changed."
Rhys's explanation made Astoria feel much better.
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12 Chaps ahead at Patreon.com/HornyFBI