Dumbledore's words made Link fall into deep thought.
Although Dumbledore kept saying he could not reveal it to Link, in reality he had already revealed a lot of information between the lines.
First of all was the bloodline or power that Dumbledore called the Blood of the King.
There was no doubt about the strength of this thing.
Not only did it integrate all the bloodlines of the Peverell family, but there had already been too many signs in the past proving to Link that the Blood of the King had countless connections with his cheat ability, namely the system panel.
Link even felt that the system panel was actually just a form deliberately created by the Blood of the King so that he could understand it more easily.
If the person who possessed the Blood of the King had not been Link, a transmigrator, but some native soul or some ancient person, then the form of the Blood of the King might have turned into something like a phantom magic book.
And eighty percent of the strength Link now possessed came from the system.
This probably explained why those shadow figures, who were clearly fragments split from Voldemort at different ages, all possessed strength no weaker than Voldemort.
All of this was granted by the Blood of the King inside their bodies.
And the intensity of this power might very well be related to the concentration of the Blood of the King.
This point had also been proven in the previous battle at the Department of Mysteries.
After Link absorbed the Blood of the King from that shadow figure's severed arm, the levels of the skills in his body had almost increased explosively.
Besides that, the Blood of the King probably had other ways of being used.
For example, the method the shadow figure had used earlier, burning the Blood of the King to directly break through the spatial blockade of the mysterious object.
Judging from this result, the goal of the original body's mad father in performing the bloodline modification ritual should have been achieved.
The current Link not only possessed many extraordinary talents such as Parseltongue and affinity with magical creatures, but the Blood of the King also provided him with an almost cheat-like speed of improvement.
But in reality, only Link himself knew.
The original "Link" had actually died long ago.
His soul and mind simply could not withstand the erosion of the Blood of the King. Even splitting off the soul fragment Mike to share the damage made no difference.
In Link's memories, when he entered this body, although the original owner had not yet died, his consciousness and soul had already become extremely weak, like a candle in the wind that could go out at any moment.
So why did he enter this body at that exact moment, by such a coincidence?
After all, if the original owner's soul had been even a tiny bit stronger back then, he could have cooperated with Mike to form a standoff against Link.
And that would have been under the condition that he originally had no hostility toward Link.
After all, this body belonged to him.
Link's face turned pale, and his body suddenly began trembling without him noticing.
He came up with a terrifying guess.
Could the Blood of the King inside him have its own consciousness?
This consciousness might not be very intelligent, but it truly existed.
Was it because it sensed that the body it parasitized was about to die, and in order to maintain its own survival, it drew Link's soul over?
This guess was not originally created by Link.
Link remembered that in his previous life there were people who let their imagination run wild and proposed the bacteria-dominance hypothesis.
The idea was that bacteria were the true rulers of this world.
The Earth had existed for more than 4.6 billion years, while the earliest multicellular organisms were only born about 500 million to 1 billion years ago.
Before that, there were only bacteria.
During those blank three billion years, bacteria developed their own civilization and their own intelligence.
They created multicellular organisms, created dinosaurs, created humans.
All these organisms had one thing in common, which was that their survival depended on bacteria.
For example, humans need bacteria to digest food.
Without bacteria, humans would not be able to absorb any nutrients at all.
And the reason bacteria did all this was to control humans in order to optimize the Earth's environment and make it more suitable for bacteria to live in.
At the same time, it was also to control the human body to produce and transform various substances to supply bacteria.
They might even protect the human body from certain injuries in order to preserve the human body as a workshop or factory.
The bacteria in that hypothesis were so similar to the Blood of the King in Link's guess.
In addition, there was also the prophecy Dumbledore had mentioned.
More and more doubts flooded into Link's mind.
When he finally felt his head starting to ache and woke from his thoughts, he realized that the sky outside the window had become dark again.
He had actually been sitting in the Headmaster's office for an entire afternoon.
Dumbledore had long since disappeared from the sofa across from him.
At this moment, he was sitting properly behind the eagle-leg desk, carefully examining a thick document.
That document seemed quite suited to his taste, to the point that even his eyes behind the small reading glasses were shining.
Link rubbed his swollen temples and stuffed a Fizzing Whizzbee into his mouth.
He actually did not like this kind of overly sweet thing that stuck in the throat, but right now he urgently needed sugar to replenish the mental energy he had used up.
Only after letting the entire candy dissolve did Link finally look at Dumbledore.
There were still too many doubts in his heart that needed Dumbledore to answer.
Even though it was unlikely that Dumbledore would say anything, Link still planned to try.
However, Dumbledore was even more firm than Link had expected.
Before Link could even speak, Dumbledore seemed to sense his thoughts and spoke first, "The teaching system you set up recently is truly excellent!"
"Especially the D.A. advanced class mechanism! All the lesson plans inside are practically perfect!"
"I never expected the officials of the Department of Magical Education to have such ability. Then why were their yearly summaries so terrible before?"
Dumbledore had just started complaining when he suddenly slapped his forehead and continued, "Look at my memory, I forgot that the Ministry of Magic is now also your territory."
"Back when Fudge was in power, they were influenced by him and naturally wouldn't put in much effort."
"Now that the leadership of the Ministry has changed, once you apply a little pressure they naturally have to show some ability to impress the new leader."
"Heh, I have a feeling that this year's O.W.L. and N.E.W.T. exams may have the best results in the past ten years!"
Through Dumbledore's behavior of changing the topic, Link had already fully understood that Dumbledore did not want to talk any more about the Blood of the King.
He did not continue pressing the matter, and only frowned and said, "That's inevitable. The Ministry of Magic is short of people this year."
Hearing this, Dumbledore shook his head vigorously.
"No, no, the Ministry of Magic is indeed short of people, but this year's graduates are also truly excellent. There is no necessary connection between the two."
"If you don't believe it, go ask the people in the Department of Magical Education the day after tomorrow when the N.E.W.T. and O.W.L. exams are finished."
"The day after tomorrow?" Link said in surprise. "Why so soon?"
"You didn't know?"
Dumbledore looked even more surprised than Link.
Only then did Link react.
The O.W.L. and N.E.W.T. exams had actually already been approaching when they went to the Department of Mysteries.
At that time Percy had even mentioned to Link that the Department of Education had already been properly trained.
If he counted the days, the exams had started today.
Seeing him like this, Dumbledore said with disappointment, "Just look at you. Do you still look like a student? You don't even know the exam dates!"
"I'm only in sixth year. I don't need to take the exams." Link instinctively answered stubbornly.
That single sentence instantly left Dumbledore speechless.
He stared blankly for a moment with his mouth slightly open, then helplessly waved his hand and said, "You may not have exams, but Cedric and the others do."
"So you should hurry up and leave. If you don't leave, they'll probably wait outside all night. That would delay their exams and rest, which wouldn't be good."
Link then used the headmaster authority to check.
Through the vision of the monster statue outside, he indeed saw Cedric and Emily and the others waiting in the corridor.
Seeing this, Link stopped talking nonsense with Dumbledore and directly got up and left the Headmaster's office.
In the corridor, when Emily and the others saw Link appear, they immediately gathered around him.
No one spoke, but every face showed guilt and worry.
With LV6 Legilimency, Link could clearly sense their thoughts. They believed that since Link had stayed inside so long, things must not have gone smoothly.
Link smiled slightly and said, "Sorry, Professor Dumbledore and I got along very well, so we chatted inside a bit longer."
"Then," Cedric asked cautiously, "the authority over Hogwarts from now on…"
Link answered directly, "It will continue to be decided by the committee, but the existing three-party committee will expand into four parties. The additional party will be represented by Professor Dumbledore on behalf of the staff."
After speaking, Link paused and comforted them, "Professor Dumbledore's return to Hogwarts was inevitable. It's not your fault. Honestly, the current situation is already very good."
Hearing this, Cedric and the others finally relaxed.
What they feared most was that Link and Dumbledore would completely fall out, causing Hogwarts to fall into chaos again.
Since none of that had happened, this was the best possible outcome.
Looking at the group in front of him who had relaxed again, the smile on Link's face grew even brighter.
As if suddenly realizing something, he said again, "Oh right, Cedric, Newland, and Skegfen, you three are graduating this year, right?"
The three of them nodded.
"Have you thought about where you'll go after graduation?"
As soon as Link said this, Newland and Skegfen exchanged glances and both lowered their heads.
Their self-awareness was very clear.
With their identity and seniority within the Link Group, they were not yet qualified to choose their own paths.
Link's question was actually not directed at them at all, but was a privilege given solely to Cedric.
And that was indeed the case.
Among the three people asked, only Cedric showed a clear trace of a bitter smile.
He looked at Link, hesitated, and first shook his head before saying, "My father hopes I can join the Ministry of Magic."
Cedric was actually handing back this rare initiative to Link.
Because under the current situation, all of them entering the Ministry of Magic for divided control was almost a certainty.
The only difference would be which departments they were assigned to.
Hearing this, Link pursed his lips.
Link had only met Cedric's father a few times, but he understood him somewhat.
The excellent genes of the Diggory family, whose ancestors had once served as Ministers for Magic, had not shown much in him. Instead, his obsession with official positions had been brought out to the extreme.
He had worked hard his whole life and only managed to become a small official in the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures. In terms of rank, he was only slightly higher than Ron's father.
So he placed all his hopes on Cedric.
This man was actually quite worldly.
He was very good at judging people based on status.
When meeting families like the Weasleys whom he looked down on, he would show off his precious son, speaking in a sarcastic tone while pretending it was unintentional.
But when facing someone like Link, who had noble origins and great strength, he behaved calmly and modestly, offering a few flattering remarks at appropriate moments to make people feel pleased.
Normally, Link would not think highly of such a person.
Nor would he allow him to gain promotion.
But unfortunately, he was Cedric's father.
Since he had placed all his hopes on Cedric, it wouldn't be a problem to fulfill his wish and let Cedric show some filial piety.
After thinking it over for a while, Link said, "Then go to the Department of Magical Law Enforcement."
"Be the assistant to the department head, and also serve as an inspector under the Minister's Office responsible for the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures."
"Ah?"
Cedric's mouth dropped open.
The position of assistant to the head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement was easy to understand.
That position suited him perfectly.
He could both monitor old Barty and gain experience, and it was a very high starting point.
His father would certainly be very satisfied after hearing about it. After all, his ancestor had climbed step by step from that very position and eventually became Minister for Magic.
But what was that inspector position about?
And specifically an inspector responsible for the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures.
This position could report directly to the Minister for Magic.
In other words, it was basically a position for reporting problems.
The position itself was small, but the influence was great.
It belonged to the kind of role that might not accomplish things, but could definitely ruin them.
And it would be directly over his father's head.
'This… must be Link's bad sense of humor!'
Cedric looked at Link's sly smiling face and immediately confirmed this.
He still wanted to argue, but Link spoke first again, "As for Newland and Skegfen, the two of you will enter the Auror Office."
"I will send more people in later. I need you to cooperate with them to divide and win over the Auror forces and truly absorb them."
"That's the decision."
"Of course, I won't give you special treatment. If you want to enter the Ministry of Magic, then do well on the exams."
"So you should go back and rest properly."
"Don't end up saying I affected your exams."
After saying this, Link grinned, took Emily's hand, and walked straight toward the Entrance Hall.
The carriage Percy arranged was already waiting outside.
His work for tonight was still not finished.