Hogwarts doesn't need a savior

Chapter 510 Euphemia's Plot

Later, Beauxbatons.

As soon as they met and before they spoke, the Nicoles noticed something from Euphemia's expression.

"Is there something wrong?" Perenelle asked.

"No, she just wasn't too happy that I was dealing with those monsters on my own, but it went smoothly and without incident."

"I knew it..." Nico picked up his walking stick and hit Lin En lightly, "I shouldn't have agreed to let you go to Hogwarts in the first place. You are just like that Dumbledore, taking on so much responsibility."

"Don't be like this, Nico." Euphemia said, "I'm glad nothing happened. I'm just a little worried. Everything seems normal today, but it's actually a little dangerous. There may be some monsters that are no less powerful than him and Dumbledore."

"It's not certain yet, but I will design the plan based on the assumption that he is stronger than Dumbledore," Lynn said.

The two of them were arguing back and forth, and Nico, who had intended to vent Euphemia's anger and help Lin En out in front of his wife, was at a loss as to what to do.

"You kid, you're still speaking well of him." He had no choice but to put down his cane. "I can see that you're just taking advantage of Fei's soft temper. No matter how harsh her words are, I'll still give in to you in the end and spoil you."

Lin En smiled awkwardly: "It won't happen again, but this time it was indeed a plan I made after discussing with Dumbledore and the others. Good opportunities are fleeting and should not be missed."

"Where did he go?"

"I didn't want him to know there was another survivor, so I didn't let him follow." Lin En said, "For the time being, it's best that only the four of us know about the making of the Philosopher's Stone."

"That's right. Otherwise, we will be pestered by him again and have no peace of mind." Nico said with a wry smile, "But do you still have the energy now? You haven't slept all night and have played several games. Go and rest first. I just need to prepare."

"That doesn't count for me... ahem! I better take a short break before I start again."

Halfway through his words, he noticed the resentful look in her eyes and wisely changed his words.

Euphemia was slightly satisfied and said softly, "Nico, Perenelle, I'll leave the preliminary preparations to you. He must get a good night's sleep, and I also need to sort out the intelligence I got today."

As soon as she finished her words, she grabbed Lynn's arm, pulled him hard, and took him back to her living room which had been unused for a long time.

The old couple watched their backs gradually walking away, as if they saw themselves many years ago. They smiled at each other and tacitly prepared the materials and checked the magic circle scrolls.

This is an alchemy that has not been attempted for hundreds of years since it was first invented, so it cannot be too careful.

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Lin En slept from noon till the lights came on.

Even though they say that everything is fine, the physical and mental burden of fighting, scheming, and intrigue in person cannot be faked.

Not to mention the two false gods, Knox and Voldemort, who were played around by the villains from beginning to end, and the mysterious monster that finally revealed some traces from the dark, each of them is not an ordinary person.

Demonstration, transaction, compromise, cooperation...different choices are the result of mutual testing.

Behind the apparent laughter, anger and free-flowing expression are countless analyses and plans. One cannot be careless at all, as a single flaw may lead to a series of chain reactions.

Coupled with the several rounds of attacks that seemed to be overwhelming but were actually not that easy, he was indeed a little tired.

Rubbing his eyes, he got out of bed, tiptoed to the desk, and approved a piece of clothing for Euphemia who was still writing furiously.

"Did you sleep well?" Euphemia said without raising her head. "Niko and the others have finished their preparations. Wait for me to finish writing the letter."

"No hurry, is there something wrong with Dmitri?"

"We suffered retaliation this afternoon and lost several people, but the situation has been reversed. Victor will send people to cooperate with him. Let's clean up Eastern Europe first."

"Is this a counter-attack to what we did last month, or is it a flex of muscle to Leicester? It's very quick."

"It's both. There's another thing. Yie was assassinated while you were asleep, and the connection with those goblins who were loan sharks was cut off."

"As expected, is he okay?"

"Rozier personally led the team to do the work. Nothing serious happened. It was just a false alarm, but he was scared to death. You should go see him in a few days."

"No problem. We need to beef up security at Bagman and Crouch Sr., and have Amanda pick some capable people. Anything else?"

"Not yet. McNeill is still the same. Do you think Voldemort is really not interested in him?"

Euphemia wrote as she spoke, and her ability to multitask was not affected at all. In a blink of an eye, she finished the letter to Dmitri.

After sealing the envelope and stamping it, she was finally able to relax her stiff shoulders and turned to look at Lynn.

Lynn stood behind her knowingly and began massaging her skillfully, saying softly, "It's not that he's not interested, it's that he wants to hide something from us, making us think that he's no longer a threat in the short term and that McNeill isn't worth the risk."

"He has learned his lesson a little bit." Euphemia leaned back comfortably, "but it's meaningless. Regulus has already arranged the Muggle visa, right? The flight is next week."

"…Actually, I don't think you should go with me."

"You are about to take the initiative to act as bait for fishing. Will I just hide aside and watch? Or do you think I will be a hindrance?"

"Of course not, I just think—"

"Then stop talking nonsense and give me the hair. I've already told Doris. If you're acting, you have to make sure everything is perfect so that you can trick people into falling for you."

"Okay, it's up to you."

In front of his girlfriend who was rarely tough, Lin En had no choice but to compromise despite his doubts.

"That's better. Let's go. Nico and the others must be getting impatient. I'm looking forward to it too."

With a smile on her face, the fatigue from a busy day seemed to be swept away in an instant. Euphemia stood up briskly and ran out with him.

The bright moon has risen outside the window. There is still some coffee left on the table, and next to it are a few unsent letters.

Soon they will be dispersed around the world in the most traditional way.

True and false, real and fake, until the already turbid water surface is completely disturbed.

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Nearly a hundred kilometers away from Beauxbatons Castle, deep in the Pyrenees Mountains.

The dying false god lay quietly in an open space filled with various gems and precious materials. His only remaining eye had regained some of its spirit and was looking blankly at the night sky.

Countless runes controlled it from the inside out, making it completely leak-proof. Its magic power and vitality were completely sealed, and it couldn't even commit suicide like its counterparts who had died at the hands of Rowena and others.

It could only try to struggle in vain, and then make its already limited vitality even weaker.

My life is coming to an end, and I can neither live nor die.

In desperation, it saw two unfamiliar faces. It didn't recognize either of them, but it felt inexplicably familiar and frightened.

And then nothing happened. The light of magic lit up from the magic circle beneath it, and the scorching heat made it lose consciousness again and fall into eternal darkness.

In a daze, it heard faint conversations.

"It's only breathing its last breath. Will it cause its soul to be insufficient in strength?"

"Probably not. The last one looked even worse. If there is any risk, it's that the lifespan is too much. Your magic is too overbearing."

The false god who fed on human blood experienced the pain of being at the mercy of others at the end of his long life, but he no longer had the ability to express himself, nor the opportunity to issue a warning.

Chapter 511: The Philosopher's Stone and Alchemy Beyond the Rules

Countless dense magical lines spread and connected on the land beneath the monster, forming an unprecedentedly complex pattern.

Nico, Euphemia, and Perenelle all left the bare hill and retreated to another adjacent hill to watch from afar.

Under Lin En's control, tremendous amounts of magic power emanated from the gems scattered throughout the magic circle, constructing a four-dimensional pattern from the ground to the sky, even covering the most mysterious time. Every line was extremely dazzling, conveying a terrifying and powerful aura.

It was an alchemical array that had been absent from the world for hundreds of years and brought Hermes' mysticism to its extreme, and was also the nemesis of false gods.

The body of the false god, which even the fierce fire could not completely destroy, disintegrated in the light and turned into countless gray-black dust. Everything from the material to the spiritual was completely melted and destroyed, finally exposing the evil soul in reality.

It was a dark and tattered soul with no real form. It could only drift in the cleansing of magic, screaming silently and struggling hard, but it was irreversibly rising into the air, as if it was being sent onto an invisible scale.

Rising into the air along with it were more than a dozen rubies scattered all over the ground. With their magic exhausted, they were left with only empty shells. They slowly merged together and stood side by side with the broken soul of the false god, as if they were placed on the two ends of a scale.

In this process, all other magical materials were annihilated into the tiniest particles and blown away by the wind.

Nico's eyes were filled with intoxication and longing. He had never seen such a scene before - the attempt hundreds of years ago had not even progressed to this point, and a violent explosion destroyed everything.

He had made countless guesses to deduce the unknown hidden in the explosion, but he was never able to confirm it.

Now, this question that was thought to be taken into the coffin may finally have a possible answer.

He stared into the distance, wishing he could imprint every line in his mind.

-----------------

Unlike Nico's fascination and fanaticism, Lin En, who was in the vortex of magic, felt a novel experience that was completely different from any previous attempt at alchemy.

If conventional alchemy, regardless of its school and nature, is like a rigorous experimental science, then today's attempt is more like a rough tug-of-war game - magic and the soul of the false god are the long rope used for tug-of-war, and standing on the other side is nothing but the rules of alchemy.

As we all know, the essence of alchemy is equivalent exchange.

Throughout the ages, generations of sages have summed up countless experiences through their time, sweat and even their lives, but no alchemist can explain where and why the standard of equivalence comes from.

Over time, the mystical ideas of Hermes have spawned countless branches, some of which have even become heresies like the Rosicrucian Order, which have ended up self-destructing in the most chaotic living alchemy in search of the ultimate breakthrough.

And today, at this very moment, the question of rules that has troubled countless people seems to have made a new breakthrough.

In a very violent way.

The soul of the false god is spiritual, and the gem that has lost its magic power is material. They are separated at the two ends of the scale, attracting the ubiquitous magic power and real matter. If you are not careful, the entire magic circle will self-destruct and fall apart, just like what Nico experienced.

Lin En could have done this, escaped unscathed with the protection of the World Tree, and obtained a magic stone that was no different from the one his teacher had, but he did not make such a choice. Instead, he put his own power and the power of rules on a fair playing field.

Because he discovered that in this extreme alchemy, the rules were no longer cold, unchanging dead things, but a round of game, a dynamic balance between right and wrong.

The so-called Philosopher's Stone is just a creation of this dynamic balance, and it has the possibility of going further.

Because it is composed of the purest fifth element, it transcends the matter that will eventually decay and is a product that runs through the material and spiritual worlds.

The rules of equivalent exchange are distorted and fluctuated here, exposing their own laws, just like lifting a veil.

Lin En carefully and decisively controlled the magic power that did not belong to him but allowed him to use it at will, eroding the soul of the false god, polishing the magic stone that was still in its infancy, and blocking the rules themselves with his own strength.

In this endless struggle, he burned countless magical powers, paid an unimaginable price in exchange for a brief advantage, and won the opportunity to face the essence of the rules.

[The immortal spirit is ultimately superior to corruptible matter]

This is the existence and rules of alchemy at a higher level that transcends equal exchange.

The magical lines slowly dissipated, and the flawless white light shone in the mountains at night, pure and bright.

-----------------

When the light faded, there was nothing left under the clear night sky.

The magic circle, gems, and those priceless treasures all vanished into thin air, leaving only a piece of stone with a blood-red halo lying quietly on the open space that should have belonged to the false god Bryce.

Lin En stood quietly in the same place. The shadow of the World Tree disappeared quietly. His tall figure remained motionless in the wind. Only his robe swayed slightly, announcing the passage of time.

Supported by Euphemia, Mr. and Mrs. Flamel came tremblingly.

"So this is the true process of making the Philosopher's Stone. I thought I would never have the chance to see it in my lifetime." Old Nico stood beside Lin En with relief and joy, patted him on the back gently, feeling deeply moved.

Only then did Lin En open his eyes and come out of his recollection. He saw the magic stone placed not far in front of him. It looked exactly the same as the previous one, but it seemed different in every way.

"Nicol, I know why living alchemy is a dead end that will never work." He said slowly, his voice seemed to be floating from far away.

"Living alchemy?" Nico was slightly startled, then his eyes widened, "You mean..."

Pursuing eternal spirit with decaying matter is the fatal link of living alchemy and the end of all rules. "Lin En stepped forward and bent over to pick up the Philosopher's Stone on the ground. "The opposite is the path to transcend the rules, and it is also the source of the Philosopher's Stone. Our initial assumption was wrong. The real rules are simpler than we thought. Immortality and turning stones into gold are not all of it. "

"So what new features does it have?" Euphemia walked forward curiously and took Lin En's arm.

“It’s not a new function, but a transcendence of the rules - just like the magic of the Room of Requirement, the power of the Philosopher’s Stone is more magical and more powerful, because it is both the fulcrum of magic and a universal amplifier,” said Lynn.

"The universal amplifier... the fulcrum of magic..."

Being quick-witted, she immediately came up with an idea and looked at Nico teasingly.

"It seems that the alchemy doll can be iterated again. Are you ready to work overtime, our dear teacher?"

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Hogwarts, Room of Requirement.

"Bam—"

A dull explosion sounded, and billowing black smoke enveloped the sky above the utility room that seemed to have no end.

Dumbledore and Grindelwald ran out covered in dust and coughing. Their old faces were stained with soot as if they had just finished digging coal. Their exquisite robes had turned into rags.