A day at Hogwarts.

Chapter 562 New Curse

"DiDi... DiDi..."

In the deserted Alpine valley, the night sky was silent except for the regular, cold electronic chirping of the Geiger counter. Moonlight cast Charles's bulky and lonely shadow on the grass, clad in heavy protective gear.

"Indeed, my idea was right."

Charles finally relaxed a little, summoned the Geiger counter on the stone that had been flashing an alarm with a Spell of Succeeding, and silently exhaled.

His research over the past few days had not been in vain. Starting from the most basic "fluorescent flashing", he reverse-engineered and compared the relationship between the spell structure and frequency differences of different colored illumination spells. After countless tedious calculations and dangerous failures, he finally captured that invisible yet deadly force that could penetrate matter—the X-ray spell.

This is enough for now. If we continue, we'll reach gamma rays, which the protective suits on our bodies won't be able to protect us from.

He cautiously withdrew his arm from the wand. The Geiger counters attached to the back of his hand and the outside of his forearm remained silent, with only the indicator lights emitting a faint green light to signify safety. This silent confirmation finally allowed his tense nerves to relax for a moment.

The most crucial step has been achieved: the direction of the spell's energy burst is controllable, at least it won't backfire on the caster. This means he can increase the intensity.

The wand was raised once more, pointing at the battered stone.

This time, Charles infused the magic with even greater concentration. The 460mm long wand was brimming with energy, and its tip seemed to emit a roar that even Death would fear.

The Geiger counter on the stone no longer made a ticking sound, but suddenly burst into a sharp, piercing, teeth-grinding continuous bang!

The red light flashed wildly, and the pointer instantly reached the end of the scale.

This curse releases X-rays exceeding 4 Sv, which can cause bone marrow damage and result in a 50% mortality rate within 30 days.

To more accurately measure the range and intensity distribution of the radiation field, Charles switched to high-end equipment, placing a large number of Geiger counter probes on a wooden frame, and transmitting the data through the instrument to a laptop computer.

These sophisticated instruments, obtained through Cordosdorez, are quite useful and save a lot of trouble. Together with the protective suit, they form the basis of his confidence in conducting spell experiments.

"Buzz! Buzz! Buzz!"

Each careful swing of the wand, each precise release of energy, was like dropping a boulder into silence.

The separate Geiger counters, in addition, produced a series of sharp, continuous explosions, creating a chilling symphony of death in the valley.

The flashing red light intertwined, casting an intermittent glow on Charles's face behind the protective mask.

Tonight's experiment ended amidst a nerve-wracking explosion.

Exhausted, Charles carefully removed the outer layer of his protective suit, which might have been contaminated with radioactive dust, in the valley before returning to the cabin for a thorough cleaning.

Although the professional professor from Novaya Zemlya told him that the Cleansing Charm could deal with the radioactive dust, he dared not take it lightly and wanted to use the whole set to feel at ease.

After he finished showering, he sat at his desk, unscrewed a bottle of ice-cold soda, took a couple of sips, and felt the cold carbonation soothe his tense nerves slightly as he processed the experimental data.

Through the data obtained from those frantically alarming instruments and probes, Charles clearly saw the effect of the X-ray spell: the rays emitted from the tip of the wand were not focused in a straight line, but spread out in a huge cone shape. The farther away from the wand, the more dispersed the ray beam became, and the radiation intensity decreased sharply.

This characteristic has both advantages and disadvantages. He frowned and thought it over, deciding not to change it for the time being.

Once struck by the X-ray curse, damage is unavoidable; the only difference is that if the victim is close, they will die quickly, while if they are far away, they will suffer a painful and slow death.

This also has its drawbacks; it doesn't distinguish between friend and foe, indiscriminately killing enemies while simultaneously inflicting heavy damage on friendly forces.

Charles took a big gulp of the soda, marking the initial success of the X-ray curse.

"Radiation damage..."

He leaned back on the sofa and muttered to himself, pondering how to treat such injuries.

Potions were not his forte; at best, he could memorize textbook knowledge and practice the techniques, but he was far from being an expert. However, his limited knowledge of potions could tell him that treatment also had different levels, namely "treating the symptoms" and "treating the root cause."

The potent bone-regenerating agent can quickly heal broken bones, the white cinnamon essence can instantly seal bleeding wounds, and some powerful antidotes can even neutralize specific toxins.

But what about radiation?

It destroys the most fundamental code of life, the ability of cells to replicate, and is a deadly curse that silently erodes the entire body and leads to its demise.

Potions can repair burned skin, anti-nausea syrup can relieve severe nausea and vomiting, and blood tonics may forcibly stimulate bone marrow to produce blood, but these are all just treating the symptoms, merely "treating the symptoms."

What about "addressing the root cause"?

Charles's heart sank.

If we cannot reverse the damaged, chaotic, and collapsing blueprint of life, and cannot eliminate the deep-seated sources of pollution, even the most powerful "tonic" medicine can only be like desperately adding water to a leaky bucket, delaying the eventual depletion, but unable to prevent the inevitable arrival of death.

If this problem cannot be solved, being cursed by X-rays, especially with a large dose, will inevitably lead to death—the only difference being the duration and degree of suffering.

Charles wasn't foolish enough to think he could only fight others and no one would fight him. While forging a sharp sword, he also needed to prepare a shield to protect himself.

He finished the bottle of soda and decided to test the effectiveness of spells like the Ironclad Charm against X-ray spells the next day, and also to see if the lead, tungsten, and other metals created by Polymorph had any shielding effect.

"I am so silly!"

He suddenly slapped his forehead. It hadn't even been ten years since the Chernobyl disaster. They might have some relevant information over there. He could just find an excuse to ask.

It was getting late, so Charles got up to go to bed.

"Oh!"

"what!"

Phoenix suddenly appeared, right on Charles's head, and kicked him down with one claw.

Charles immediately rolled to the side, avoiding being crushed by the phoenix.

As he got up, ready to confront Ruby, his eyes widened in surprise.

“Hehe, Charles.”

Gabrielle jumped off Ruby's back and was about to pounce on him when she noticed that Charles seemed angry. She scratched the back of her head sheepishly.

Charles saw that she was wearing a nightgown and a nightcap, and that there was still vanilla cream residue on the corner of her mouth, and immediately understood what had happened.

"You're not on holiday, are you?" He pretended to chop Gabrielle with his hand. "Girls who sneak out of school in the middle of the night will be expelled."

Gabrielle said, "It's Saturday today, and I applied to go home to visit my grandma this weekend."

Charles was speechless. The management of these young wizards was much more relaxed, and being away from their families for long periods of time was not good for their psychological development. Many of them went home on weekends.

Gabrielle continued, "I heard that you were captured by fairies and locked in an iron cage, so I had Ruby bring me here to find you."

Charles went over and reached out to pinch her nose, but she dodged it.

“I’m just staying here for a little while,” Charles said. “I’m fine, but if you don’t go back soon, I’m afraid I’ll really be locked in that iron cage.”

(End of this chapter)