The Bard of Hogwarts

Chapter 192 First Alchemy, A Two-Meter Staff

The days passed uneventfully, and before we knew it, it was early November.

On Halloween, in the Slytherin dormitory.

Ino looked at the materials on the table: a dirty mat and a wooden stick that was more than two meters tall and about the thickness of a baby's arm.

He was very pleased with these items: the unicorn hair and the mountain pear branch, all gifts from Hagrid.

Today, Ino plans to create an alchemical item. A week of intensive study at the library has given him a considerable understanding of alchemy.

Speaking of alchemy, it's actually a kind of helpless situation.

Ancient works like those by Nietzsche, that thick dictionary, actually encompassed all known knowledge. And for unknown knowledge, if it wasn't in the dictionary, even the Hogwarts library wouldn't have the corresponding book.

Left with no other choice, he had to passively knock on the door of alchemy.

Trying to find the knowledge lost over the years.

In essence, alchemy is another application of ancient runes; it's just that over a long period of time, this discipline has achieved a degree of autonomy.

Alchemy uses ancient runes as components, inlaying them one by one onto alchemical objects using special techniques to form a powerful runic circuit, thereby producing unexpected effects.

In this respect, it is actually somewhat similar to Muggle electronic chips. For example, logic gate circuits only use AND gates, OR gates, and NOT gates to form complex digital logic functional modules.

Alchemy is similar, its foundation being the 24 runes plus the "empty stone." These runes are arranged in rows according to some mysterious rules and combined to form a complex alchemical item.

A simple example is that the original meaning of the second letter 'u' in ancient runes was: fate, destiny, unknown factor.

The original meaning of the third letter 'th' is: to stab, to surprise, to protect a triangle, and to conceal one's energy.

By combining these two letters through alchemy, one obtains a destiny charm, an alchemical item that can ward off misfortune and protect oneself.

Of course, this is only alchemy at the theoretical level.

The three main parts of alchemy are: knowledge of magic runes, alchemy techniques, and alchemy materials.

As mentioned before, alchemy underwent a process of self-determination, and ancient alchemists abandoned the term "runes."

They prefer to call it: magic runes, meaning magical patterns with magical effects.

Similarly, as one gains a deeper understanding...

Ino increasingly felt that alchemy was a vast discipline, and if it weren't for the initial driving force of "magic," alchemy might have already formed its own school of thought.

This is by no means an exaggeration.

Because the three major alchemy manuals cover all knowledge, anyone who achieves mastery in any one of them can be called a master.

Just like Principal Dumbledore.

Ino had seen Dumbledore's alchemy works in modern books, but Dumbledore specialized in one of the three major works: Alchemy Materials.

Its academic representative is the famous twelve uses of dragon's blood.

There may only be one alchemist throughout history who is proficient in all three major alchemical works: Nicolas Flamel, the creator of the Philosopher's Stone.

In fact, Ino had some regrets after entering the world of alchemy.

I didn't seize the opportunity to acquire the Philosopher's Stone back then, even though it had lost its power to grant immortality.

But for an alchemist, the vast magical runes of the Philosopher's Stone are its most precious treasure. Because with a sample, one can work backwards; if one can understand it, there's a chance to create a second one.

There are some regrets, but not too much remorse.

He still holds onto his original belief that as long as you live long enough, there is nothing that cannot be sculpted by time.

Ni's ability to become an alchemist proficient in the three major alchemy texts is largely due to his long lifespan of nearly seven hundred years.

……

After a brief moment of thought.

Ino shook his head to clear his mind and prepared to create his first alchemical item.

But the first step is to deal with the materials: unicorn tail hair and sapwood. These two are the favorites of all beginners and are also the most versatile alchemy materials.

Of all these materials, the most difficult to clean was the mat with its dark, patina. Even with household cleaning spells, it took him a great deal of effort to get it clean; anyone who didn't know better would have thought that Yaya had used it as a doghouse.

After releasing three cleaning spells in succession, all the stains were completely removed, and the unicorn's tail hairs revealed their original appearance.

Smooth and supple, with a gentle, ever-flowing light, it resembles a creation made of solidified mercury.

The remaining pearwood branches are much simpler; the cutting spell is the best magic.

Ino held the wand, the tip of which was like an invisible high-speed chainsaw, causing excess branches to fall to the ground wherever it passed.

After processing the materials, he waved his wand again, splitting the pear wood in half, and began to carve magical runes into the core of the wood with a carving knife.

This operation looks at first glance like making a magic wand.

However, in reality, he was simply imitating the making of a magic wand. He simply split it open, engraved it, and then connected it with unicorn tail hair.

……

"Clarity, inner light, warmth, healing, divine wisdom, miracles, thirteen, calamity and death, elk, destiny and protection..."

For a full half hour, Ino inscribed as many runes as he could understand as possible on the inside of this two-meter-long stick.

This is why he chose the long staff. He didn't use the alchemical runes or professional staff-making techniques; he only used the most primitive runes.

All of this was done to verify his conjecture, not to produce or sell.

Once all the runes were inscribed, the two-meter-long piece of pear wood resembled an exotic work of art.

The staff is positioned with each rune spaced exactly one inch apart, just enough space for the unicorn's tail hairs to connect.

Ino picked up the selected tail hairs one by one and connected the two different runes together in the manner of the ouroboros ring.

This time, the ouroboros ring is not round, but a twisted pattern like the Black Mark, resembling the shape of the number '8'.

The process involves burning the recordings, connecting the pieces, and finally, using magic to glue the split pear wood back together.

"Permanent paste!"

Ino waved his wand, and a gray beam of light shot out, perfectly sealing the two halves of the split pear wood back together.

To the naked eye, there is no trace of it having been split open.

On the other hand, when the mountain pear wood is put together, a complete transformation occurs.

The staff, which is over two meters long, looks somewhat similar to Gandalf's staff at first glance.

The dark brown wood grain gleamed with a faint, crystalline white light, which, though subtle, gave off a sacred and warm feeling.

Clearly, this stick is a magical alchemical artifact.

Ino didn't feel much joy at his first success.

After all, this is the simplest and most primitive form of alchemy. If you fail at this, you might as well stop going to school, because anything that requires brainpower is a waste of time.

Ino examined the finished product in front of him, reached out and picked up the knock-off staff, which weighed about four or five pounds. It was a handy tool whether for mountain climbing or fighting in a group.

The staff's effects seem to be limited to lighting and warming hands.

Nominally a refining item, it is essentially just a sturdy stick that looks nice and feels warm in the hand.

There might be some amulet effects, but those are all hidden.

Although it was just a hand warmer, this success validated his idea—to derive unknown runes using the most primitive and clumsy method of decomposition.

To put it simply, as long as you do enough experiments and endure enough time...

Whether it's Ravenclaw's crown or any other complex rune circuit, it can be disassembled bit by bit.

(End of this chapter)