The days at Hogwarts

Come on, every time Snape thought he was stupid, he would call him by his full name, or call him Mr. Morgan.

Loren gritted his teeth and nodded... Before this, he did think so, because rooster eggs explained the rarity of basilisks. Rooster eggs were rare, so basilisks were rare.

Snape sneered: "Think about it with your head full of orange juice. Inducing a rooster to lay eggs or inducing a toad to hatch eggs, which step sounds easy?"

"Choosing the right astrological signs, selecting the right breeds of rooster and toad, and feeding the two animals with potions... Any wizard who knows a little about potions knows how demanding these conditions are."

After Snape made some sarcastic remarks to Loren, he felt relieved and turned to the question of the medicinal value of the basilisk.

"--There have been no records of sightings of basilisks in Britain for at least four hundred years." Snape snorted coldly and said proudly, "A mature potion master can analyze the effect of a material based on the magic power contained in it and the properties of the material by analogy with similar materials. If it is unique and different from others, that's even better, as it will mean a unique potion."

Loren scratched his head. Maybe he wasn't a mature potion master yet, so he didn't have such awareness.

In the dim secret room, Snape explained how to theoretically analyze the medicinal value of the basilisk.

Until the time before lunch, Snape had been talking about the knowledge related to the basilisk, including the hatching ceremony of the basilisk speculated by some scholars, placing the egg under the toad on the night when Sirius is brightest... comparing the similarities and differences between the basilisk and the cockatrice...

By the afternoon, things seemed different.

After finishing lunch, Loren declined Harry and Ron's invitation to play snowballs, rested for a while, and went to the Chamber of Secrets again after digesting his food.

Snape hadn't arrived yet, so Loren didn't wait and climbed onto the basilisk's body and continued cutting its scales.

Thanks to his talent for spell correction, Loren repeatedly cast the Divine Edge Shadowless Spell while harvesting scales. His spellcasting was now extremely smooth:

"[Shen Feng Wu Ying]"

"[Shen Feng Wu Ying]"

……

When Snape came in, Loren had already filled several boxes of scales, and his speed was even faster than Snape.

The spell of Invisibility was invented by Snape himself. He was keenly aware of Loren's rapid progress.

At the beginning, Loren observed for a long time and then released the spell, but there were still flaws.

Now, as soon as Loren raised the scales with his left hand, his right hand cast a spell almost instinctively without thinking. There was absolutely no mistake in the cut scales.

Snape stopped where he was and stared at Loren processing the scales for several minutes.

Although Dumbledore did not say it explicitly, Snape could see that he wanted to train Loren to be his successor. Whether it was the chief wizard of the Wizengamot or the headmaster of Hogwarts, he wanted to train Loren to have the same role as him.

Do some extremely boring work, pay for the mistakes made by stupid people in this world, and cover the cost...something like that.

Snape completely disagreed with Dumbledore's idea. Loren had talent and was chosen by Nicolas Flamel. Even if no one revealed it, Snape knew that Loren might follow a similar path to Nicolas Flamel.

Nicolas Flamel almost reconstructed alchemy, and Snape felt that Loren could also achieve brilliant achievements in potions. The child had talent.

But the scene before him told him that Loren's talent was not limited to potions...

Throwing the freshly cut scales into the suitcase, Loren looked up and saw Snape, and greeted him happily: "Good afternoon, professor!"

"Hmm." Snape answered softly... Never mind, he should have a long life anyway, so let him choose.

Snape didn't say anything more and walked to his position to continue dealing with the basilisk.

While processing the scales, Snape stopped mentioning the medicinal value of the basilisk and started talking about the Potions Club and the school's potion business.

A voice without any emotion sounded in the secret room: "The money from the previous sale of rue essence has gradually arrived. Because this is the first time that the school has such a large amount of funds without the supervision of the board of directors, without the calculating people sent by the board of directors, Professor McGonagall made some mistakes in handling such a large amount of funds."

Before the complete financial independence, Professor McGonagall could not disclose the current financial situation. The previous allocation of funds and the purchase of daily necessities for teachers and students were all carried out under the supervision of the Board of Directors and managed by specialized accountants. Professor McGonagall only needed to give instructions.

Suddenly, there was an extra sum of funds that could be used freely. Professor McGonagall lacked relevant experience, and during the use of the funds, some details were not handled very well. The board of directors seemed to have found out something through the accounts.

"Is it a big problem?" Loren asked.

"It's not big, nor is it small. Normally, we can handle it. However, if the school board investigates it seriously, there may be some trouble." Snape said slowly, "Until the accounts are settled in the next school year, this aspect of business will be temporarily suspended. As the rue is almost used up, the Potions Club will suspend its previous activities."

"So should we start developing a drug to bring the dead back to life?"

Snape hummed, and said nothing more about the arrangements of the Potions Club: "Professor McGonagall plans to select some people from this year's graduates and recruit them to represent the school's business. The main content is still potions, including the purchase of raw materials, the refining and development of potions, and sales."

Loren listened while dealing with the scales. Although he didn't understand why Snape told him these things, he still kept them in mind.

"…In order not to attract the attention of the school board, until the profits can cover all the school's expenses, the sales scope will not be set in the UK, but mainly in Africa, the United States, Egypt and other places…"

Chapter 220: The Origin of the Basilisk

"...Dumbledore seems to have some connections with the Magical Congress of the United States of America, and he easily obtained a business license..."

By the time Snape had finished explaining what the professors had recently discussed, all the scales on the basilisk were removed and put into a suitcase that had been prepared in advance.

After the scales of the basilisk's body were removed, its rough, gravel-like skin was exposed, and the thick keratin and remaining broken scales made it look more like rock.

He didn't feel it while he was processing the scales, but after he finished, standing a little further away, Loren looked at the entire body of the basilisk. Seeing this giant monster of dozens of feet being "skinned", an extraordinary sense of accomplishment arose in his heart.

"What should we do with the remaining flesh, internal organs and bones?" Loren had an excited expression on his face. He couldn't wait to dissect the basilisk.

Snape was walking between the suitcases, counting the boxes of scales, without looking up: "I can do the rest by myself, without your help."

Originally, he asked Loren to assist just to test his Divine Edge Shadowless Spell. If he was really in a hurry, he could ask other professors to help, which would make things faster.

Loren was a little depressed and responded sullenly: "Oh."

Loren had originally thought that processing the flesh and blood of the basilisk's corpse would be a huge project that would take until before Christmas. Now that he suddenly found out that he was not needed, he was a little disappointed.

This was his first time dealing with such a unique raw material. Compared to extracting snake venom, picking stamens, and other trivial tasks, the sense of accomplishment brought by dealing with a snake monster corpse that was dozens of feet long was completely different.

To make an analogy, even though you don’t like studying, it’s still quite satisfying to solve the final question.

Now I have listed the equation according to the question, and I have gone through the most difficult part. When I was about to solve the result and get the answer, the invigilator suddenly said, "It's OK, it's enough to know that you can do it."

I don’t know how to describe it, but Loren felt a little unhappy.

Snape still didn't look up and continued, "I will pay you after the body disposal work is completed."

This was agreed upon at the beginning. Loren could select some materials from the basilisk's corpse as "reward".

"Oh." Loren looked gloomy, turned around and walked towards the exit of the secret room, ready to leave.

"Who said you can leave?" Snape's cold voice sounded, with no ups and downs in his tone. There was no emotion in his voice, as ordinary as asking what the weather was like today.

"Anything else, Professor?" Loren asked.

"laugh!"

Snape's tone was emotional, mocking, "If I were you, and encountered a rare large magical animal corpse, I would watch how my own potion professor dealt with it. Instead of rushing to dinner, glutton!"

Loren said nothing, but stood obediently by the side, ready to observe how Snape would handle the situation.

While Snape turned around and walked towards the basilisk, Loren curled his lips and muttered quietly: "He is so angry and always speaks with thorns. I'm afraid he had a whole Hungarian Horntail for lunch..."

I don't know what happened to Snape. He was fine when he was processing the scales in the morning, but when he came back from lunch, he started to act weird.

Snape came in front of the basilisk, stretched out his wand and pressed it against the seam at the corner of the basilisk's mouth. A bright white light like the edge of a sword flashed at the tip of the wand.

Holding the wand casually, Snape quickly walked around the basilisk's body, and the wand never left the basilisk during the whole process. Snape's movements were not slow, but the basilisk's body was huge, so it took some time to complete the process.

After a while, the tip of the stick moved from one side of the basilisk's mouth to the other side. Snape paused for a moment, then turned to look at Loren and asked calmly, "Do you understand?"

The crystal blue light in Loren's eyes gradually faded. He recalled the scene he had just seen and analyzed the spells used in it. He answered uncertainly: "It seems to be a combination of the Splitting Spell, the Separating Spell, the Shattering Spell and the Divine Sharpness Spell?"

I knew he had talent...

In the dim secret room, Snape's eyes softened a little, and his tone became much calmer: "The Sharp Spell is the basis, and the other spells are to control the trajectory of the cutting. The most important thing is to have a clear route in your mind."

Loren suddenly realized.

This is the accumulation of Snape's long career. Only by repeating basic work countless times can he creatively combine the spells he has mastered and make them achieve the effect he wants in his heart.

This is something he cannot do at the moment, but he can learn the idea of ​​using spells in a comprehensive way.

The spells that Loren had come into contact with were isolated from each other. Just like when Hermione used the Levitation Spell combined with the Fire Spell to drive back the troll in her first year, although there was coordination and linkage between the Levitation Spell and the Fire Spell, the two were released separately and had no direct connection.

And just now when Snape was dealing with the basilisk, the linkage between the spells was integrated.

"While processing the scales, I was able to understand the structure of the basilisk's body and work out the details of the dissection."

Snape said, raising his wand and tapping the basilisk's body. The dozens of feet long monster instantly disintegrated, the flesh on the surface separated from the bones in pieces, and the black sticky plasma spilled all over the ground. The large organs remained intact, lying quietly in the middle of the skeleton.

Loren's eyes flashed with amazement, and he had to admit that although this kind of magic was difficult to use against the enemy, the process of the basilisk's corpse disintegrating was like art.

The rest of the work was very simple. Use the levitation spell to put the basilisk muscles that had been broken down into pieces into the suitcase, and disassemble the skeleton into bones that were like parts and put them into the suitcase as well.

The venom glands and fangs are kept separately and carefully.

Even the black plasma spilled on the ground was not spared, Snape packed it into several boxes and sealed it up.

Loren got the two shriveled and broken eyeballs of the basilisk as he wished.

Snape made the decision, and all the boxes full of defective scales that Loren had produced in the early stages of his work were given to him.

Loren didn't mind, he went back to the dormitory to get his own space suitcase and put everything in it.

……

At night, the alchemy laboratory of the Book of Fantasy.

The red brick walls surrounded a hemispherical space. In the middle of the space, a black boiler flashed a red light.

The virtual images of light and shadow of the two eyeballs were projected in the air, golden, crystal clear and full, and the terrifying vertical pupils kept expanding and contracting according to Loren's will.

Loren held one of the eyeballs in front of himself and kept zooming in and out of the image, analyzing the generation and flow of magic power from the lines on the cornea, the shape of the lens, and the flow of aqueous and vitreous fluid.

In strong light, the pupil of the snake eye shrinks to limit the amount of light entering the eye to prevent the retina from excessive light stimulation. In weak light, the pupil expands to increase the amount of light entering the eye so that the retina can get enough light stimulation to produce clear vision.

He attempted to find out the generation pattern of the basilisk's strange magic from these physiological structures and dynamic changes, and tried to construct the same system with alchemical arrays and runes to artificially produce the two kinds of magic.

While observing the pupil reaction of the snake's eyes, he recorded the flow of magic power in this process. After more than half an hour, Loren still had no clue. He did observe that the three colors of magic power did appear from nothing, but this process did not conform to any magic principle theory he knew.

Loren had no choice but to look at the virtual figure floating on the boiler and swaying: "Flamel, can't you help me?"

"I worked hard to restore the basilisk's eye to its original appearance. How can you say that I didn't help you?" Flamel said leisurely. He didn't seem to care much about the basilisk's magic power.

"But after you restored your eye, you just lay there—"

Loren's eyes rolled and he vaguely came to his senses. Flamel's attitude was a little strange.

He threw away the basilisk eyeball in front of him, came to Flamel's side, and asked: "You thought from the beginning that it was impossible to reproduce the magic of the basilisk through alchemy, right?"

Flamel stood up slowly, floated in front of Loren, waved and took a basilisk's eye, magnified the light and shadow, and displayed it in front of him: "Loren, you will see many magical animals in the future, the naturally invisible cloaked beast, the bird-snake that can grow and shrink, the space magic, the thunderbird that controls lightning... Their magic power is not only generated from within, but also the transformation of natural energy. The thunderbird can draw strength from the dark clouds, and the cloaked beast is more lively under the moonlight..."

"Unlike their innate talents, wizards' magic powers take the form of magic. We are fundamentally different from them. Before wizards touch the essence of magic, alchemy cannot create something out of nothing."

In the slightly transparent eyeballs of the basilisk, crystal liquid was shaking and flowing, and the basilisk's magical power was strangely marked out and generated from nothing.

Loren was a little discouraged, but still did not give up. He gritted his teeth and retorted: "I still want to try! The basilisk is not a magical animal that exists in nature. It is cultivated by humans. Helpo can cultivate a basilisk from scratch, so why can't alchemy do the same?"

Young man, it’s not a bad thing to try more... Flamel smiled gently, and instead of discouraging him, he talked about some information related to the basilisk.

He floated into the air, taking on the image of a basilisk, but his size was not as exaggerated.

"Loren, have you ever thought about this question? If the basilisk's gaze kills anyone who sees it, then who was the first to spread the information about the basilisk, and how did he know the function of the basilisk?"

A yellow light shone from the virtual basilisk's eyes onto the simulated human figure, which instantly froze, lost all signs of life, and dissipated into specks of light and shadow.

"Perhaps someone observed the basilisk's attack?" Loren guessed.

Flamel did not judge the right or wrong of this view, and asked another question: "Do you think that the despicable Herpo cultivated the basilisk in a planned way, or did such a monster hatch by coincidence?"

Plan...coincidence...Loren hesitated.

Thinking of what Snape said not long ago, choose the right astrology, select special breeds of roosters and toads, feed two kinds of animal potions, induce the rooster to lay eggs, and induce the toad to hatch...

For such a complicated process, if it is a coincidence, then the conditions are too harsh.

If it was planned in advance, it seems unlikely. After all, designing creatures according to one's own ideas is the authority of the creator. If the black wizard Herpo had such ability, he would have ruled the world long ago.

Seeing Loren fall into deep thought, Flamel paused for a moment and continued to guide his thoughts: "I wonder if you have noticed that in Muggle mythology, there is a character called Medusa, who is related to snakes and petrification..."

Muggle myths and legends... Loren remembered the topic of immortals that he had talked about with Flamel a long time ago: "Could this also be the information left by the immortals during their travels?"

"Maybe, maybe not, who knows?" Flamel said mysteriously.

"Although history books record that the first person to breed a basilisk was the evil black wizard, the despicable Herpo. But in orthodox magic books, the earliest concept of a basilisk was proposed in the book Natural History, written by the Roman wizard Pliny the Elder in 77 AD."

"In Volume 8, Chapter 33 of Natural History, it is mentioned that there is a snake in Cyrene that is no longer than 12 fingers wide (about 20 cm) and has white spots on its head. It can destroy bushes, burn grass, and crush rocks with its breath. And its gaze is also deadly..."

Its body length is no more than 12 fingers wide, which is much smaller than the basilisk which is dozens of feet long.

Destroying bushes and burning grass may be the effects of the basilisk's venom, but destroying rocks... Loren recalled several battles with the basilisk and was sure that the basilisk's breath was not so powerful.

Putting all this information together, Loren speculated uncertainly, "Did a small basilisk once exist? Was it a magical animal originally found in nature? Was it the prototype of the basilisk that Herpo cultivated?"

Flamel nodded. "Although I don't know the specific breeding method of the basilisk, my conclusion is that Herpo designed a set of artificial breeding rituals for the basilisk based on the breeding method of the naturally existing basilisk. In this process, he made some trade-offs in the original abilities of the basilisk, strengthening the magic power of the eyes and increasing the size of the basilisk, but removing the power of the breath."