Harry Potter and the Great Old Ones

Chapter 167 Establishment of the Research Group

Yes, Tiera is going to the Dreamland.

Tiera wanted to trade gold, jewels, and slaves for flowing silver, pillar bronze, and sky gold from the Moon Beasts who lived on the far side of the Dreamland moon.

These are the three irreplaceable elements of the ascension ritual recorded in Merlin's Notebook—

The flowing silver is produced only in a lake on the main star of the constellation Piscis Austrinus.

The copper pillars are produced from underground volcanoes on Alpha Tauri.

Sky Gold was created by the Moon Beast through a unique technique that fused gold with other magical substances and condensed them.

The exact recipe is known only to the Moon Beast clan; it takes approximately fifty grams of gold to refine thirteen grams of Sky Gold.

In other words, the price of thirteen grams of Sky Gold in the Moon Beast's possession is definitely no less than that of fifty grams of gold.

The ritual to become a god requires at least 120 grams of Sky Gold, and the more the better, with no upper limit.

Otherwise, why would Tiera have the audacity to knock on the school's bamboo pole?

If there were no other way, who would be willing to damage their school's treasure?
Because "Gidrolock Hart" was only a purchased professor, the University of Greenwich did not allocate a research fellowship to Tierra's laboratory.

In other words, Tierra can only recruit using the available positions for laboratory assistants at the University of Greenwich.

To put it bluntly, he was just a temporary worker at the University of Greenwich.

So the first person to apply for the job was a security guard, and he was an old acquaintance of Tiera's.

Jason Donde, Manton Moria, Peter Freeman, Richard Wick, and Joe Forester.

The group of five high school dropouts who often loitered on the streets of London initially engaged in petty theft on their own or organized homeless children to commit petty theft.

However, after becoming addicted to laundry detergent, he started selling it to support his addiction. During the time when Tierra was homeless on the streets, he helped them transport contraband.

“Professor Lockhart, I’m not bragging, but there are five of us. We’ve all just finished our military service, we—” Jason Dond, the leader, sat across from Tierra’s desk, about to launch into a long, eloquent boast.

"Alright, you're hired." Tiera interrupted directly. He was too lazy to listen to Jason Tangde's bragging anymore. Anyway, although these guys were hopelessly addicted to laundry detergent, they looked pretty strong and should be able to hold out until they entered the Cold Plateau.

"Really?" Jason Tang said in surprise, not expecting it to be so easy.

“Really.” Tierra pulled five fifty-pound notes from her wallet and handed them to them, then said, “But we don’t need you here for the time being, so each of you will receive a monthly wage of fifty pounds. You can go do your own thing, but you must be available whenever we call. Leave your contact information here, and I will contact you again when there is work. Additional work commissions will be calculated separately.”

The group of thugs exchanged surprised glances. Jason Dond, the leader, grabbed the two hundred and fifty pounds from Tierra's hand and excitedly counted it.

Clearly, they never expected the money to come so easily.

"Okay, okay." After dividing the money in front of Tierra, the five people left their contact information and left the office with no complaints.

He also took the opportunity to flirt with Aitakandi, who was sitting on the secretary's desk.

It was as if he had just closed a deal worth tens of billions.

Tierra sat behind her desk and sighed.

They, like me, were too young to understand that every gift bestowed by fate comes with a hidden price.

Tierra's second hire was Gillen Williams, a computer science graduate from the University of London.

He was a tall, thin boy with thick hair.

Tierra asked him to estimate, by analyzing the locations and frequencies of paranormal sightings around the world, which locations might be gathering places for paranormal beings, if any.

Despite Gillen Williams's disgusted and dismissive expression, he still accepted the exorbitant salary offered by Tierra.

In just half an hour, Gillen Williams handed Thiella an estimate report.

Tyrell took a look and thought it was alright, not bad, its location basically overlapped with the Forbidden Forest behind Hogwarts, so she hired Gillen on the spot.

Next to apply was Adolkent, a master's graduate from the Theology Department of the University of the Arts London. He was a robust man, slightly balding. Adolkent also brought along a classmate from the University of the Arts London's Paranormal Society—

Judy Wilson, an archaeology major, is a girl with short, neat hair and medium build.

The last one was Mitchell McGann, a postgraduate student in Geography from Durham University. She was a quiet girl with long hair, thin arms and legs, and her smile was like that of a flower girl you could see anywhere on the street.

However, Tierra knew through mind reading that Mitchell had once won third place in the All England University Women's Taekwondo League.

Tierra: ...

Boss, boss.

Society, society.

Tiera originally wanted to add some lecherous, foolish, and wealthy traits to "Gidro Lockhart's" character design.

Think about it and forget it.

Perhaps because Tiera offered high salaries, the entire research group was assembled in just a week and a half.

By mid-July, Tierra was already sitting in her office, holding her first group meeting—

The group meeting went very smoothly.

Just as she had done with Etakandi, Tiera tossed out Merlin's simple sketch and declared—

"This is our project! We are looking for the legendary dream city, Kadas."

Tiera could see that beneath everyone's smiling faces lay a heart full of rage.

"Excuse my bluntness, Mr. Lockhart," said archaeologist Judy Wilson after examining the painting with her professionally discerning eye. "I believe this painting has extremely high artistic and collectible value, but I don't think it has any practical archaeological significance."

This is just a scribble by a down-on-his-luck painter from the 13th or 14th century. You'd be better off auctioning it off than leaving it here for us to study.

These are the thoughts of archaeologist Judy Wilson.

Although Judy Wilson joined a paranormal society during her college years, for her, the so-called supernatural meant exploring haunted houses at night or using tarot cards to predict her fortune for the day.

But this—

This is the so-called search for the dream city of Kadas.

This has gone beyond the supernatural and entered the realm of wishful thinking.

Tierra knew that almost everyone thought the same way.

“No, no, no, my dear, don’t be so hasty. Here—” Tiera pulled out another roll of parchment and placed it before her, saying, “Here is the painter’s travelogue—”

This is yet another volume of Merlin's notebooks.

Yes, Merlin visited the Dreamland.

After King Arthur's death, Merlin sacrificed a finger and learned about the ritual of becoming a god by praying to Umur At Tavel, the Outer God incarnation of Yog-Sothoth.

Then they first located the city of Nakert in the Western Australian desert, and through dozens of maps from different eras collected within Nakert, they finally pinpointed the entrance to the Dreamland.

Merlin didn't write the map and specific locations in his diary, but rather in several pages of text that resembled a travelogue.

Although some distinctive terrain features appeared, they were not enough for Tiera to find the entrance to the Dreamland entirely on her own.

“It’s Old English…” said archaeologist Judy, while stepping aside to make room for her classmate, the theologian Adorkent.

"This is Old English from around the 14th century, but the grammar and phrases still retain some early 12th-century customs," the archaeologist determined. "I'll need to go back and consult a 14th-century Old English-Modern English dictionary to find out exactly what it means."

“No need for that,” Tiera said, turning the parchment over, placing her finger on it, and reading aloud:
"I followed a group of merchants into the Timurid Empire, crossed an endless grassland, and arrived at..."

Thank you Korsi for the 100 points!
Thank you for the 100 coins reward from "Flowers Fall, Only Branches Remain".
Thank you XiaCao195 for the 100 coins!
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(End of this chapter)