After reuniting with his family at the Khan el-Khalili market, Arthur's hands were already overflowing with shopping bags, while Mrs. Weasley was still busy, seemingly intent on buying out the entire stall.
Aiden browsed the stalls and picked out some local trinkets—perfect souvenirs for friends back home. Of course, he planned to enchant each one with protective charms, so he could later claim that every blade of grass and tree in Egypt possessed magical power. The thought made little devilish shadows dance around his head.
At last, the happy trip to Egypt came to an end, with Arthur's hard work carrying everything home.
On the way back, Aiden asked,
"Uncle, why didn't you use the Undetectable Extension Charm trunks? I should have left plenty for you."
The whole car fell silent. The twins and Ron exchanged glances. Ginny and Percy looked down at their laps. Mrs. Weasley fixed Arthur with a look that clearly said, "You explain."
"Uh, Aiden, due to local customs, those trunks…" Arthur began, looking unusually embarrassed.
Mrs. Weasley cut in, hands on her hips. "Because your genius uncle performed a storage magic trick in front of Muggles, all the Extension Charm trunks were confiscated."
"All of them?" Aiden was incredulous.
"All of them. Because your uncle nested the trunks inside each other, once one was confiscated, all were lost," Mrs. Weasley said, spreading her hands.
"Haha, I bet the Egyptian Ministry of Magic made a fortune off that," Aiden said, helping Arthur out of his embarrassment.
"Exactly, exactly," Arthur agreed, hoping to move on.
Mrs. Weasley shot him a glare, and he fell silent.
Soon, Arthur parked the car beside the Burrow, finally returning home after a long journey.
Aiden looked around, suddenly finding that everything seemed especially pleasing to the eye.
"Maybe this is what they mean by 'there's no place like home,'" he murmured.
"Doghouse? You want to keep a dog? But you already have Lada," Ron said, glancing at the little cat.
Lada, left alone at home for a week, was now glaring at Aiden with a look of pure feline reproach.
"You know what I mean," Aiden said, smiling as he tried to placate her.
Lada turned her head away with a huff, refusing to acknowledge him.
After settling in, Aiden began to organize his thoughts about the second layer of the Deep Realm.
Why is it that wizards, who aren't even the most powerful beings, can so easily explore the depths of the mind?
"So, host, do you think collective power is stronger, or individual power?" the system asked.
"Of course, collective…" Aiden started, then paused as realization struck.
"So, I've gone off track?" he murmured.
"You've been using the power of a dreamwalker more than actually playing your role," the system pointed out.
"But isn't this stage of the dreamwalker just about traversing and observing dreams?" Aiden protested.
"And after traversing dreams, what then? Are you content to be a spectator outside of history?" the system pressed.
"So you mean I lack guidance," Aiden realized.
"Not too dumb, kid. Your psychic cloud server project is excellent. Once it's officially put into use, your progress will soar," the system said, then went silent, leaving Aiden to ponder.
The next day, Astoria sent Aiden a letter, inviting him to visit the Greengrass family.
After letting Mrs. Weasley know, Aiden was picked up by a house-elf and whisked away to the Greengrass family's old castle.
Astoria greeted him at the door; it seemed no one else was home.
"Aiden, I want to show you something cool," Astoria said, her eyes sparkling with mischief.
She led him down to the basement, boldly entering first, with Aiden close behind. Astoria drew her wand and cast Lumos, illuminating the darkness.
A strong smell of iron filled the air—it was clearly an armory. Every wall was stacked with firearms, and in the center of the room sat an actual tank.
Astoria stood with a grin, gesturing as if to say, "See this? I even got my hands on a PPSh!"
"Where did you get all this?" Aiden was dumbfounded.
"Didn't a Muggle country collapse recently? Their people have been selling stuff everywhere. I bought these from a Russian wizard," Astoria replied, raising her eyebrows with pride.
"But Astoria, owning these things is illegal!" Aiden's surprise finally peaked.
"Didn't you tell me as long as the ownership isn't in my name, it's fine?" Astoria said, thinking Aiden was overreacting.
'Oops, am I on her turf now?' Aiden thought helplessly.
"Alright, never mind that. Help me modify these weapons. Muggle stuff isn't reliable—this thing called bullets runs out too fast," Astoria grumbled.
"But why do you need so much firepower?" Aiden asked, still confused.
"To arm people, of course! I've developed a group of underlings among the Muggles. Now, I control a big gang in London through weapons," Astoria said, nearly bouncing with excitement.
'Impressive, impressive. Give this girl some time, and she'll have you sitting on the British throne,' the system praised.
Aiden thought, 'That's not the point—she's way too proactive. How do I slow her down?'
'Why slow her down? Wouldn't it be great to use these gangs as your test subjects?' the system suggested.
'Hmm, that actually makes sense,' Aiden realized.
'So?'
'Let's do it!'
With his plan set, Aiden said to Astoria,
"Nicely done, Astoria. But we don't actually need these weapons anymore."
"Why? Aren't we going to arm the Muggles?" Astoria asked, puzzled.
"Well, after the goblin incident, thanks to their contribution, my research made a little progress," Aiden said, rubbing his fingers together.
"So?" Astoria tilted her head.
"So, we now have the technology to turn ordinary people into wizards," Aiden revealed.
"We… we have it!?" Astoria was so shocked she could barely speak. Aiden nodded seriously.
A moment later, Astoria regained her composure, using her mind-reading ability.
"In that case, I'll have to scrap my previous plan," she said, stroking her chin.
"May I know your plan?" Aiden asked cautiously.
"I was going to arm gangs with guns that had unlimited ammo, control the underworld, gather huge amounts of Muggle money, bribe their politicians, and finally push for top-down reforms," Astoria explained.
Aiden swallowed hard.
"But now that you have this technology, I'll follow your lead," Astoria said.
"Let's run both plans in parallel. Don't stop your side. I'll assign you a team of black wizards from Diagon Alley to keep you safe and teach magic to the new converts. Also, we'll tweak your plan a bit—while bribing politicians, we'll also encourage them to undergo conversion. Once everything's ready, we'll start mass magical empowerment."
Astoria nodded, her eyes shining. And so, a plan that would change the course of the world was quietly decided by these two.
[Chapter Complete]
***
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