After temporarily saying goodbye to Belby, Avada returned to his residence with the list in hand.
Right after passing the assessment, he had immediately gone to speak with Belby about the matter. He hadn't even had the time to check out his room yet, let alone properly explore the university as a whole.
So he figured that since he didn't even know where he lived yet, he might as well think while wandering around and take a careful look at the place first.
After walking around for a while, Avada was surprised to discover that the scale of this place was actually much larger than he had imagined.
Due to the limitations of the Undetectable Extension Charm, the architectural area of Leach University wasn't particularly large—certainly nothing compared to those real university towns in the outside world. However, Avada could see that the wizards who designed the place had done their best to make the space feel as open and natural as possible, while also including plenty of living and recreational facilities.
For example, they had dedicated an enormous amount of space to build a Quidditch pitch, even installing a simulated sky and sun above it.
This field alone occupied roughly a quarter of the entire space. Many rooms were even built with windows facing directly toward the pitch, making the living environment more comfortable.
But this design also created a problem.
The simulated sky and sun had to be installed several hundred meters above the ground, which meant the space had to be extremely tall. Naturally, they couldn't allow all of that valuable space to be taken up by the Quidditch pitch alone.
Besides the Quidditch field, there were also two other "open-air" areas: the herbology greenhouse and the magical creature breeding zone. Avada even spotted a toad in the magical creature area that was currently incubating a clutch of eggs.
The indoor sections, meanwhile, were divided into the academic district and the residential district.
The academic district included the grand hall he had seen upon arrival, as well as the library, classrooms, offices, large laboratories, and other comprehensive research facilities.
The residential district, on the other hand, consisted mainly of the dining hall, a large common lounge, and a limited number of student dormitories.
According to Headmaster Goshawk, Leach University typically only had around two to three hundred students enrolled at any given time, so the dormitory space was naturally quite limited.
It couldn't be helped.
Leach University was not currently open to the public, and every member who joined had to sign strict confidentiality agreements. The contract Avada signed included such a clause.
It clearly stated that until the headmaster, the deputy headmasters, more than half of the professors, and the board of governors collectively issued a written decision allowing the university's existence to be revealed, no one was permitted to disclose the existence of Leach University to any creature that had not been guaranteed or had not signed the agreement.
After that came a long series of detailed explanations and supplementary clauses.
Because of this, Leach University's recruitment pool was extremely limited. Most of its students were young people the professors had met in the outside world, or individuals recommended by former graduates.
However, according to the university's long-term plan, Leach University would eventually become completely public and recruit students from all of magical society. When that time came, they would no longer need to hide within this extended space, so there had never been any reason to expand the dormitories over the years.
Just like Hogwarts, the daily maintenance of food, sanitation, and living facilities at the university was handled by house-elves.
It was said that these house-elves came from the households of certain members of the board of governors, though Avada hadn't seen them yet.
After making a full circuit around the campus and observing everything, he finally arrived at his own room.
His office and living quarters were connected, separated by a heavily protected wall that only he himself could open.
The office looked like a standard office—desk, chairs, bookshelves, and a number of small experimental devices were all present.
The only unusual feature was a pair of owl statues.
According to the instructions provided by the headmaster, he could preset a receiving address in the real world, then place one of the statues there. A passage similar to a Vanishing Cabinet would form between the two statues, allowing letters from the outside world to be received through them.
Now he finally understood why the university didn't block Vanishing Cabinets.
So it was because they needed to use something similar themselves.
As long as they strictly controlled what items entered and exited the gateway and ensured no one smuggled in an actual Vanishing Cabinet to stage an intrusion, it was essentially no different from blocking them.
Meanwhile, the living quarters on the other side of the wall were surprisingly spacious.
The window there faced the Quidditch pitch directly, allowing him to enjoy the simulated sky and sunlight. For a moment, he could forget that he was actually inside a confined Undetectable Extension space.
All the other living facilities were also present, even including a small kitchen that allowed professors to improve their meals manually.
Though none of that was particularly useful for Avada's wooden body.
Still, he had to participate symbolically in the professors' daily life.
After all, he was now part of a group. Even if it was only a disguise, the disguise still had to be maintained.
After tidying up the office and living quarters and taking out some of his personal belongings to make the rooms feel less empty, Avada took out the list Belby had given him again.
As he read through it, he began planning his next steps.
"The list isn't long—just over ten names… Ha, that interviewer's family really is on it, and right at the bottom. Was it added recently? Because of me?"
"The Azkaban infiltration doesn't seem urgent, and it probably doesn't require me specifically. There are far too many powerful people here anyway."
"So the priority should be dealing with the werewolf situation as soon as possible… Tomorrow. I'll contact one of the victim families tomorrow and pay them a visit. That way I can start researching that externally triggered berserk transformation magic."
"Then I'll need to ask Professor Belby for several instruments to observe vitality and mental energy… though maybe I won't even need to ask. My laboratory might already have them. After all, I still need a research process that makes sense to others, don't I?"
"Oh right—I haven't checked my teaching schedule yet… Here it is."
"Four grades. Two large lectures per week for each grade, plus a weekly seminar and consultation session per grade… I'm responsible for half of those? Not bad—the workload isn't too heavy."
"And besides that, there's also something else on the school side that I need to deal with quickly…"
That was shrinking his control device again.
In less than two weeks, he would be meeting a group of top-tier figures to begin Dumbledore's experiment together. He had no illusions that the crude device he currently used could fool everyone present.
"Sigh… looks like I'll just have to work overtime on both fronts."
(End of Chapter)