From Azkaban

As time approached noon, Locke closed the ancient book that had been sent to him the day before, stood up, and the chair that had appeared under him quickly returned to its original shape.

"It's time, everyone go and have a rest. This afternoon's professor is Professor Slughorn, make sure you remember it correctly."

Now that there are enough staff, Locke no longer studies with the children. Instead, two potion masters take turns studying separately.

"Great!"

Hearing that today's professor was Slughorn, the Weasley twins and Ron cheered. It was obvious that they liked Slughorn better than Snape.

"After observing for so many days, it is basically confirmed that the Weasley twins have a good talent in alchemy. Then there is Harry. It is obvious that he has inherited his mother's talent. Now he seems to be able to vaguely sense the magic of potions."

Looking at the six children who ran towards the front yard together after cheering, Locke shook his head after a brief thought and opened the book he had just closed.

"As for the remaining three, Ginny is still young, and I have only seen some talent in spells for now. As for Draco and Ron...their talents still need to be explored."

Ignoring the strong aura of black magic emanating from the book in his hand and the strong psychological suggestion in the text, Locke strolled out of the garden while reading the knowledge about curses in the book.

"According to what is written in this book, ritual magic was actually born together with curses. The two are in a companion relationship. The so-called sacrifice to ancestors and gods in ancient times was actually the use of bloody rituals to construct a large-scale, controllable curse that required regular sacrifice ceremonies to stabilize."

"It's the earliest and most primitive magic. So, there's no so-called anger from the gods or dissatisfaction from the ancestors. It's just that there haven't been sacrifices or rituals for a long time, causing the curse to gradually get out of control."

"Obviously, curses can also bring benefits if used properly, and can have positive effects on an area. However, curses are ultimately an extremely dangerous force, and the risks of using them are huge. If you're not careful, the curse will go out of control and backfire on you."

"That's why later wizards began to separate the ritual and the curse, making them independent. Although they are much weaker than the original ones, the risk of the curse is greatly reduced, and the ritual has become a new kind of ritual magic."

The ancient books sent by the pure-blood families this time were of immense value, and Locke found many treasures among them, such as the "Curse" in his hand, which was made of beast skin and had been circulated for who knows how long.

Because of the promise he made to Snape, Sirius and the Dursleys, Locke had been focusing on curses and ritual magic these days, in addition to studying potions and delving into the connection techniques of weather spells.

"But no wonder I made slow progress on the werewolf problem before. It turns out that I went in the wrong direction at the beginning. And from the knowledge above, it is obvious that the magic of werewolves was born much earlier than I thought."

Recalling some of the previous difficulties with the werewolf problem, Locke changed his perspective and followed the ideas given in "The Curse", and suddenly things became much smoother.

"The werewolf framework was not pieced together as I thought. The framework was built on a primitive path from the beginning. The curse and the ritual are integrated and coexist with each other!"

"That predecessor actually intended to rely on primitive barbaric power to break through the shackles, but unfortunately he also made a mistake. Although the primitive barbaric curse is more powerful, it is also more difficult to control."

"So the same goes for Horcruxes. They're all archaeological excavations, right?"

Thinking of this, Locke's eyes lit up, because according to this idea, what Locke had promised Lucius before could be realized.

As the saying goes, if he understands one thing, he will understand everything. As long as he can solve the werewolf problem, it means that he has understood all the links in this theory.

At that time, with this framework, Locke could completely put other magical creatures into it as he wanted. He only needed to remove the original werewolf part, replace it with other magical creatures and successfully put it into this framework.

By then, as long as it can be successfully put into the framework and run, let alone a dragon, even a fantasy creature Locke might be able to give it a try.

Volume 1: Chapter 90 New Magic

The originally empty hall gradually had more bookshelves as more books were moved in, filling the entire venue bit by bit.

In the center of the bookshelf, Locke was sitting and reading a new book "The Secret of the Curse" carefully. Next to him was a thick book with five big words on the cover: "The Laws of Ritual".

"From a new perspective, perhaps I can find a solution from potions."

Four days have passed since Locke learned about the grievances and hatreds between curses and ritual magic from the book. During these four days, Locke finished reading "Curse" and gained a lot of new directions and knowledge.

However, as he studied more, Locke's understanding of werewolves became deeper and deeper, but he also gradually encountered deeper problems and more unfeasible paths.

Locke gradually discovered that the werewolf problem was actually very big, and not just a semi-finished product as he had previously deduced.

Simply put, Locke got the cause and effect reversed. The werewolf did not fail because it was an unfinished semi-finished product. It became a semi-finished product because it failed and the original path was no longer feasible.

In other words, many directions of the werewolf framework are not feasible. If Locke wants to perfect it, he must solve these problems. As long as he opens up those paths that were originally not feasible, he will have completed the semi-finished product of the werewolf.

Judging from the current situation, this seems to be the only solution, but after careful consideration, Locke gave up this solution.

Locke estimated that doing so would be as difficult as developing a new magic from scratch, or even more difficult, because he would have to assume that the werewolf already had a framework and be constrained.

In that case, why doesn't he just intervene from a new perspective and truly develop a new magic derived from werewolves from scratch?

So Locke gave up on completing the existing werewolf framework, and did not plan to dig deeper into the original power. Instead, he began to study how to combine current ritual magic and curses according to the werewolf's thinking.

After all, the original path is too uncontrollable, even Locke is not very sure. In addition, the creator of the werewolf has already stepped on the minefield, proving that restoring the original path is unlikely to work.

Therefore, if Locke wants to succeed and get the effect he envisions, he must optimize and iterate the existing werewolf framework and change it according to his own ideas. Coupled with his unique talent, Locke feels that this may be the path that belongs to him.

Now, Locke once again began to seek the breakthrough that he had not sought for a long time, the breakthrough from zero to one.

And just now, a flash of inspiration came into Locke's mind, giving him a sudden idea that he might be able to incorporate potion technology into it.

The source of this inspiration is the ritual potion used in the Animagus ritual today. In the entire Animagus ritual, the importance of that bottle of ritual potion is self-evident.

"It's feasible. You can try. Both are Animagus. Perhaps the werewolf's failure was caused by him ignoring this point and paying too much attention to the primitive path. He constructed the magic of curses and rituals completely according to the primitive method."

Thinking of this, Locke immediately reproduced the werewolf framework that had already been constructed many times in his consciousness space.

The werewolf frame that emerged in Locke's consciousness space had many red dots. Those were all the problems and dead ends that Locke discovered after in-depth research.

The reason for using it is that before creating new magic, Locke needs to use this existing framework to perform various verifications, just like the ritual potion that is added now.

Locke did not expect that this inspiration could solve the werewolf problem. He just wanted to use this method to determine whether his idea was feasible.

"Let me see. According to the current Animagus ritual steps, the steps for refining the ritual potion must be added from the very beginning. In this case..."

Locke began to add and subtract things to the werewolf framework according to his own ideas in his own consciousness space and made modifications to the entire framework.

There is no need to think that such behavior is outrageous. It is entirely based on Locke's profound understanding of the werewolf framework. Now the werewolf framework in Locke's consciousness space is constructed according to Locke's understanding of it.

Locke knew the werewolf's operating rules, knew where it would get stuck, understood some of the reasons why it got stuck, and knew where the root causes of its dead ends were, so he could modify it directly in the consciousness space like he is doing now.

Soon, Locke made preliminary modifications to the werewolf framework according to his own ideas, and as soon as the modification was completed, Locke tried to run it immediately.

"Let me see if it's better or worse."

Looking at the framework that changed a lot, Locke began to deduce it step by step. After a few seconds, a smile appeared on Locke's face.

"It works! After adding the elements of the ritual potion, part of the original dead end was replaced and became a new feasible road. Some places in the front half that were stuck also got the direction to continue moving forward!"

That’s about it. Locke has confirmed that the ritual potion is indeed useful for this system, and then a key point can be determined for the iterative development of magic.

"It's still a question of trade-offs after all. Even Animagus needs to make trade-offs during the ceremony, not to mention this even more unreasonable Fantastic Beasts version of Animagus."

"You need to make choices between the power of curses and ritual magic, but you are unwilling to make a choice after combining the two. Instead, you want to force your way through the original path and create a magical animal version of Animagus that is extremely easy to cultivate."

Thinking of this, Locke couldn't help but shake his head slightly. The idea of ​​the werewolf's creator was indeed very good and great, but he didn't think about why the primitive sacrifice had to be so bloody and why living people had to be used.

“Why was the original path forgotten and abandoned? It was because the price of sacrifice was too great. After all, in the primitive era, life was undoubtedly the biggest sacrifice.”

The trade-off mentioned here does not mean that life was valuable in that era. The reason for this is that Locke made a judgment based on the general environment of the primitive era.

In that wild environment, life may not be valuable to the barbaric and primitive tribes, but for the collective, for the human race, large-scale cruel sacrifices of lives obviously have a very negative impact on the racial situation.

If the practice of human sacrifice becomes excessive, it may not be noticeable in the short term, but in the long run, the number of human beings will inevitably decrease.

So, everything has its own destiny, and all demands have a price that you can see or cannot see.

Volume 1: Chapter 91: Fantastic Beasts Animagus

After understanding the core problem, Locke completely abandoned the inertial influence left by the creator of the Werewolf Framework and began to make major changes to the Werewolf Framework based on his own experience.

First of all, what needs to be changed most is the way werewolves spread. The original method of successfully obtaining them by biting was abandoned by Locke.

Such a simple way of obtaining it can be said that it raises the difficulty to the purgatory level from the very beginning, leaving no way out for the future.

This is also the fundamental reason why werewolves will eventually become an ineradicable curse. After all, the entire framework has been seriously unbalanced from the very beginning, and the result that awaits you later will only be magic getting out of control and the curse backlash going out of control.

After eliminating the simple and crude method of biting people to spread the acquisition, it is natural to redesign a new method of cultivation.

Locke had already had an idea about this. Based on the ritual potion and various conditions, he finally successfully determined the first step after more than ten hours of trial and error.

After solving the first step, the following steps became easy. Locke took each step carefully and soon finalized the method of repair.

At this point, Locke has successfully completed the first part and obtained a scale with clear limits.

Next, Locke needs to follow the werewolf's thinking, continue to develop and try, and finally find the results that can fill the restricted range to the maximum extent.

To put it simply, this whole process is that Locke first determines the ritual process, that is, the setting of the method of cultivation. Locke makes choices and finalizes the entire process using a process similar to that of Animagus.

This finalized process limits the difficulty of this new magic, and this is also the limit of what Locke can do at present.

In this way, all subsequent content fillings need to be set within the set limit. In other words, function settings within this limit of difficulty are allowed, but those exceeding it are not allowed.

To give another simple example, like the Animagus, the stable operation limit of its rituals is ordinary animals, which was set at the beginning of creation.

Locke studied Animagus in depth through the books sent by Sirius and a group of pure-blood families, and determined that the key to choosing this magic is stability and harmlessness.

The creator of this magic has maximized the safety of the Animagus. Apart from a slight risk of being controlled by the animal's mind at the very moment of success, the entire ritual can be said to be completely risk-free.

Before the final plate, if any step of the entire ceremony goes wrong, it will only lead to the failure of the ceremony, and there will be no other problems.

The advantage of doing this is that the danger of this ritual magic is not even as great as practicing some ordinary spells, but the cost is also obvious. It is extremely difficult, requires a lot of luck, and the animal to be transformed cannot be chosen.

Now, this new Transfiguration magic that Locke will create is different in nature from Animagus, it is more than just ritual magic.

Thanks to the nature of the curse, this new magic will be inevitable, but also more dangerous.

Because of the curse, this new magic must be completed once it begins. If an accident occurs during the process and causes failure, the ceremony will get out of control, and the curse contained in the magic will backfire, bringing unknown dangers.

This is an unavoidable problem. If you want to gain stronger and better power, or if you want to use the power of the curse to take an unconventional approach, these are risks that you must take.

However, risks naturally have corresponding benefits. The first is naturally the greatly reduced uncontrollable luck component, which in disguise increases the controllability of the whole process. As long as you can control the whole process, the risks can naturally be ignored.

This is equivalent to placing the main trade-offs on the consequences of final failure, thereby increasing the success rate of the entire process.

Secondly, Locke made the setting of this new magic so that the result could be selected, that is, before starting, one could freely choose the magical animal or fantasy creature he wanted to become within the scope allowed by magic.

There is no big problem with the magical creatures. According to the limit of this magic, basically all the magical creatures in the world today can be included. After all, Locke's own strength is there, and his limit is what the magical creatures can reach.

What can truly challenge the limits of magic are fantasy creatures like werewolves, which are not naturally occurring but born from the imagination of wizards and humans.

The scope of fantasy is infinite, which is an infinity that even Harry Potter's idealistic magic cannot reach. Therefore, how to design fantasy creatures is the highlight of Locke's new magic development this time.

In this way, Locke began to move forward step by step according to the existing ideas. As he expected, after solving the problem from zero to one, his development path began to become smooth.

For the next seven days, Locke did not leave the hall and did not sleep for seven days, continuing to advance all night long.

No one dared to disturb Locke like this. The round table meeting was skipped and the two potion masters took the initiative to take over the children's teaching for the day. Mr. and Mrs. Arthur, who came to visit Locke with their three children on the new day off, could only wait until next time after knowing the situation.

Until the early morning of the eighth day, a burst of laughter was heard from the hall.

“Although it’s a little bit different from what I expected, it’s still a success.”

Leaning back in his chair, Locke had a smile on his tired face. He had succeeded. He used the werewolf framework idea and combined it with his own knowledge to develop a Fantastic Beasts version of Animagus.

It's a pity that he didn't perform the transformation of fantasy creatures this time, as that was already beyond the limit. Locke could only settle for the second best and created two new magics, one for Fantastic Beasts and one for werewolves.

The Fantastic Beasts version is divided into three steps: sowing, gestation, and birth.

Unlike Animagus, the trade-off made by the magic developed by Locke is to increase the consequences of failure, reduce the uncontrollability of the process, and obtain a stronger transformation.

The three steps are roughly as follows

Sowing: Build a ritual magic framework, then simultaneously plant curses and seeds in it, allowing the two to blend with each other.

The seed is the strongest or most special part of the magic in the chosen magical animal. It is brewed into a potion with other ingredients and taken together with the curse.

Gestation: Continuously visualize every day (starting from the time of extreme yin (12:00 a.m.) to the time of extreme yang (12:00 noon), and continue this for 49 days), and the object of visualization is the animal that you have transformed into.

Then the watering will be carried out once every seven days. The first time is at 7 o'clock in the morning when the corresponding potion is taken, and the second time is at 7 o'clock in the evening, and this cycle will be repeated seven times.

World-weary

The potion is the same as the one taken when sowing the seeds. At this stage, the seeds will continue to grow larger, and an embryo will appear inside them, continuing to develop and take shape.

Birth: After completing the above steps, the birth will come at noon on the forty-eighth day. The embryo in the seed will be fully developed and break out of the cocoon. At this time, the wizard will involuntarily begin to transform, and the final crisis will also appear.

When transforming for the first time, the wizard will be hit by the curse that was planted at the beginning. This is the time to test the results of the visualization.

The wizard needs to be firm in his heart and maintain an accurate understanding of what he is transforming. As long as he is not affected by the impact, he will be successful after it is over.

If cognition is affected and changed by the curse, the curse will go out of control and the transformation will fail. The curse will completely shatter the wizard's mind and soul, turning the wizard into a soulless body.

Similarly, if there is an unexpected failure in the process, the final result will be the same.

This is the Fantastic Beasts version of Animagus created by Locke. As for the werewolf, Locke's method is to completely overturn the existing process, start from the beginning, and go through it again according to his own method. Of course, some targeted adjustments will be made in the process.

World-weary

However, compared to normal wizards, the danger of werewolf completion is much lower, because the thing in their body is a curse in itself, and the ritual framework is not independent, but becomes a part of the curse, deeply symbiotic with them.

What Locke needs to do is to control, perfect and enhance the curse that exists with them, not to reverse its nature into that of an ordinary wizard.

After all, in that kind of symbiotic relationship, the conditions in their bodies are completely different from those of ordinary wizards. It is already the limit for Locke to improve and control them. As for reversing them to their pre-symbiotic state, that difficulty is not something Locke can do now.

But actually this is already very good. After all, werewolves do not affect fertility and the body. Once they can be controlled, they will become a stronger and unique version of the fantasy creature Animagus.

And now this is just the first version. Locke will definitely spend time iterating it later. The prospect of the transformation of fantasy creatures makes it impossible for Locke to stop, so no one can predict what will happen in the future.