novelhk Chapter 211 Two-Sided Mirror and Resonance
Chapter 211 Two-Sided Mirror and Resonance
Chapter 211 Two-Sided Mirror and Resonance (Bonus chapter for Yu Tuo Ji Ran's Alliance Leader!!!)
The heavy wooden doors of the Eagle's Nest blocked out the castle's nighttime silence. The unique glowing runes of the alchemy workshop emitted a soft, steady light, illuminating the workbench. Karen placed the lead box in the center of the table. He didn't open it immediately, but simply stared at its cold surface, as if he could see through the metal to the imprisoned, hateful fragments of a soul within.
Voldemort's hidden soul was like an invisible thorn piercing his heart. Dumbledore's strategy of waiting echoed repeatedly in his mind, each time strengthening his resolve to make his choice. Passive defense could never eradicate the cancer.
He walked to the other side of the worktable and picked up the two-way mirror. His fingers brushed against the cool frame, infusing it with a touch of magic.
The mirror rippled like water, then cleared up after a few seconds. The first thing that caught the eye was Nico's wise and kind face, his silver beard meticulously combed. Behind him was the familiar backdrop of the "Quiet Abode," with various sophisticated instruments gleaming softly.
"Good evening, Cullen, my dear child." Nico's voice came through the mirror, gentle and clear, with a hint of concern. "You're contacting me so late. Has something happened at Hogwarts again? I sense that you're troubled." His gaze seemed to penetrate the mirror, landing on the lingering seriousness between Cullen's brows.
"Good evening, Master Nico." Karen nodded slightly in greeting, not answering immediately, her gaze drifting to the shadows behind and to the side of Nico. "Professor Castor—?"
"He's here." Nicole smiled and stepped aside.
A figure emerged from a dimly lit corner of the workshop and walked to the mirror. Castor's face appeared clearly in the mirror. Karen's pupils contracted almost imperceptibly.
The changes were significant. The deep-seated weariness and weakness, ingrained by the curse, had almost completely vanished. Although her face still bore a pallor from being deprived of sunlight for so long, her sharp gray eyes had regained their brilliance, like tempered steel. On her left arm, the cursed markings that had once spread like living things, radiating an ominous aura, were now much fainter and had faded considerably. It was a pity that, separated by the two-way mirror, Karen couldn't use her True Eye to observe her teacher's current state.
"Teacher." Karen's voice was filled with genuine joy and relief. Although he had already learned from letters and Nico's reports that his teacher's health was improving, seeing Castor recover in person was far more reassuring than any victory. This was his teacher, his true guide on the path of alchemy.
Castor looked at Cullen, a distinct smile playing on his lips—a response to Cullen's current expression. "Cullen," his voice was deep and steady, with its usual chilling quality, "it seems things aren't peaceful on your end either. Tell me, what happened?" He cut straight to the point, seemingly unsurprised by what had transpired at Hogwarts.
Cullen took a deep breath and recalled the final moments of yesterday's Quidditch final, when Voldemort's main spirit took advantage of the chaos to launch a surprise attack on the Hogwarts penalty area.
He clearly and concisely recounted Voldemort's possession of an Auror, his discovery of himself, and his eventual escape after being severely injured by Dumbledore and Fawkes. He focused on describing the state of Voldemort's main soul, his escape method, and Dumbledore's subsequent attitudes regarding prophecy, Harry's status as a Horcrux, and the strategy of "awaiting the destined duel."
"—So, the headmaster believes that only Harry Potter can ultimately defeat Voldemort; it's a destiny ordained by prophecy. He chooses to maintain the status quo, wait for Harry to grow up, and wait for that moment to arrive." After Cullen finished speaking, both sides of the mirror fell into a brief silence.
A cold sneer broke the silence from Castor's mouth. "Destiny? Prophecy?" Undisguised mockery flashed in his gray eyes. "Dumbledore will never change his ways. To place hope in a vague prophecy and a minor child, while allowing an extremely dangerous Dark Lord to recover his strength in the shadows? Foolish!"
"Cowardice! This is gambling with the future of the entire magical world!" His words were like sharp ice shovels, hitting the core. "He has been blinded by his 'White Demon King' halo and so-called 'greater interests'! Karen, tell me, what are you thinking?" His gaze was fixed sharply on Karen.
Nico stroked his beard, his kind expression replaced by solemnity. He spoke slowly, his voice carrying the weight of years and wisdom: "Albus has his considerations. The power of prophecy, especially when it involves prophecies that have already been proven to be fate, often possesses a strong binding and guiding influence. The soul connection between Harry Potter and Voldemort is indeed an extremely special and fatal bond. Dumbledore's concerns are not entirely unfounded; forcibly breaking this balance would have unpredictable consequences."
He paused, then looked at Karen. "But Karen, I understand your concerns. Allowing a madman who possesses the secrets of Horcruxes to regain his power poses an immeasurable danger. Every time he returns, it means the loss of many lives and the collapse of order. Your 'Eye of Truth' has shown you his current weakness, and the possibility of ending the threat prematurely. This determination to take the initiative itself embodies immense courage and a deep respect for life."
Karen met Nico and Castor's gazes without flinching. "Yes, Master Nico, teacher. I cannot agree with the strategy of waiting. Voldemort has already seen my abilities, and he will inevitably see me as a priority target to eliminate. Passively waiting for him to regain his strength and come to me, or waiting for Harry to grow strong enough to fight him, the variables and costs involved are too great."
As he spoke, he pointed to the lead box on the workbench. "We have a fragment of his soul. This is the only, most direct clue. I'm thinking, could we use this fragment to develop a tracker? Could we use the unbreakable soul connection between the fragment and the main soul, through some form of magic or soul resonance, to locate Voldemort's main soul? The soul fragment itself will resonate with the main soul within a certain range!"
He elaborated on his concept: "The principle is similar to certain powerful tracking spells, but the target is not a physical entity."
Rather, it's the soul. We need to design a device that can extremely sensitively capture and amplify the faint resonance signals between souls, transforming them into perceptible or interpretable directional guidance. This requires deep knowledge of soul magic and the study of magical fluctuations, especially those at the soul level. I know my abilities are insufficient, so I hope to receive help from both of you teachers.
On the other side of the mirror, Nico's eyes gleamed with interest. "A soul resonance tracker—using the imprisoned fragments as 'beacons' to reverse-locate the main soul? That's a good idea, but even if it's made, it can't be a distance-insensitive sensor; it will definitely need a range."
Castor stared intently at Karen, then spoke slowly, his voice deep and powerful: "Very good. Karen, this is the mindset my student should have! 'Unbound by convention, daring to challenge the impossible!' Using the enemy's strength to track them down, turning their reliance on 'immortality' into a fatal weakness!" A hint of pride lingered in his tone. "Tell me, what do you need?"
Nico immediately chimed in, "It's entirely feasible in principle! Karen, now that you've made up your mind, Castor and I will fully support you in completing this project! We'll be conducting research on this here. Of course, you'll also need to learn more about it; I'll send you some relevant books later, and you can study them when you have time."
A huge weight lifted from Karen's heart. With the support of Nico and Castor, the plan had a solid foundation. "I understand. I'll immediately begin researching this area. And the parts about soul-level perception in Lucian's diary, as well as the highly sensitive rune arrays he designed when trying to replicate some functions of the 'Eye of Truth,' are excellent starting points. I'll try to modify them to capture and analyze special fluctuations at the soul level." His thoughts raced; he already had a preliminary direction.
“Very good.” Castor nodded, then his tone shifted, becoming unusually serious. “But, Karen, regarding the Horcruxes themselves,” his grey eyes were like ice, “have you considered how to deal with that living Horcrux savior? And can you guarantee you’ll find all of Voldemort’s Horcruxes?”
The air seemed to freeze instantly. Nico, on the other side of the mirror, also lost his smile, his expression becoming extremely serious, his gaze shifting back and forth between Castor and Karen.
Karen's heart skipped a beat. He knew what Castor meant. Even a basilisk newly made into a Horcrux couldn't escape death after being separated, and Harry, a child who had been entangled with Voldemort's soul fragments for eleven years...
What should we do? As for the second question, Karen is not too worried in the short term.
He was silent for a few seconds, his mind racing as he weighed the options. He spoke slowly, his voice calm and clear: "Teacher, I've thought about it."
Our most pressing need right now is to find Voldemort's Horcruxes and his main soul. As for Harry's situation, I think it's due to insufficient research on Horcruxes. Before this, there weren't enough Horcrux samples for research, and research on souls is a taboo topic in the wizarding world. Therefore, we haven't been able to effectively separate the soul from the Horcrux without damaging the object itself. So, I think our priority should be finding as many samples as possible for research; we can't throw the baby out with the bathwater!
On the other side of the mirror, Nico visibly relaxed and nodded approvingly: "Karen, your considerations are very thorough, far beyond your age. Calm, rational, and with the big picture in mind. Castor, I believe Karen's judgment is correct. Destroying the Horcruxes and eliminating Voldemort's soul are the ultimate goals, but the timing and methods must be extremely careful. Now, concentrate our efforts on developing the tracker..."
Locking onto the main soul is the most urgent task.
Castor stared at Karen, his sharp gaze seemingly piercing through him. Then he nodded, agreeing with Nico and Karen's assessment.
"Yes, teacher," Karen replied.
"I will compile an encrypted document outlining the basic theories of soul resonance and some taboo points regarding dangerous soul magic, and send it to you as soon as possible through secure channels. Be extremely cautious when studying the sensory analysis terminal, and remember, never experiment on yourself," Nico solemnly instructed.
"I understand, Professor Nico. I will be very careful," Karen solemnly promised.
"We'll begin designing the tracker's receiver core module as soon as possible," Castor added. "Contact us immediately if there's any critical progress or if you encounter any insurmountable bottlenecks. Don't try to tackle it alone."
"Okay, teacher."
The communication ended, and the starlight on the two-way mirror slowly faded, the mirror returning to its normal dark color. Karen gently placed the mirror on the worktable and let out a long sigh of relief. His communication with his two mentors had not only earned him their unwavering support but had also clarified and solidified his somewhat wavering thoughts.
His gaze returned to the lead box. Now, the target was clear.
He walked to the workbench, spread out a new sheet of parchment, and picked up a quill. In his mind, the intricate and exquisite array of runes in Lucian's experimental diary, his whimsical ideas about magical perception, the essence of alchemy taught by Nico, and the techniques of magical compression and precise control taught by Castor surged, collided, and merged like a tide.
Time slipped away with the scratching of the pen across parchment. Karen was completely absorbed, forgetting his fatigue. He attempted to construct a miniature rune array, its core borrowing from Lucian's "resonant spiderweb" structure used to sense subtle disturbances in magical energy, but with significant modifications to the energy levels and frequency tuning, aiming to simulate the characteristic spectrum of soul fluctuations. The outer layer employed the stable circuitry taught by Nico and the magical compression techniques emphasized by Castor, attempting to amplify and purify any faint signals that might be captured.
Failure. The runes were combined and infused with magic, but there was no reaction, as if they had sunk without a trace. Blackened marks were left on the parchment.
Try again. Adjust the resonant frequency and change the energy guiding path. This time, the rune glowed faintly, but it was extremely unstable, flickering a few times before going out, and burning a crystal fragment used as an energy buffer.
Continue. Karen frowned, undeterred. He cleared away the remnants of failure and redrawn a more complex array, adding multiple filtering and anti-interference layers—
For the next few days, Karen studied this thing whenever he had a spare moment. Until one morning, Karen put down his pen. On the workbench in front of him lay an extremely rudimentary prototype: on a palm-sized mithril substrate, a complex rune array, shrunk countless times in size but with a relatively stable structure, was etched with a fine magical engraving knife. At the core of the array was a small piece of specially treated crystal that could slightly amplify mental fluctuations. The entire device looked incredibly crude, and the mithril plate still bore the marks of multiple modifications and burning.
Karen took a deep breath and picked up the prototype, which he temporarily named the "Resonance Compass." He carefully infused his magic into the activation rune.
Buzz—
A very faint, almost imperceptible vibration traveled from the mithril plate to his fingertips. At the same time, the small crystal in the center of the array emitted an extremely dim, intermittent purple glow.
Karen held her breath, picked up the lead box, and slowly, extremely slowly, approached the "Resonance Compass".
10 meters - 8 meters - 5 meters -
When the lead box was about three meters away from the compass base plate, the strange thing happened!
The dim runes on the compass base suddenly brightened as if injected with a strong electric current! Especially the runes in the core area pointing towards the lead box emitted a clear and stable pale golden light! The base itself also began to emit a continuous, low hum, accompanied by an extremely faint but clearly discernible vibration pointing towards the lead box! It was as if the compass's "needle" was being pulled by an invisible force, firmly locking onto the lead box's position!
Karen's eyes lit up instantly!
It worked! Although the range was extremely limited and the sensation was rather "sluggish" and "clumsy," it did indeed produce a targeted resonance response to the fragment of the soul that was sealed layer by layer in the lead box!
To be honest, this is far less than the sensing distance between the soul fragments themselves, and it is also far from what he had imagined. However, the principle has been verified and passed!
This simple, buzzing little gadget may be the prototype of the "hound" that will one day pierce the darkness and lock onto Voldemort's soul!
Karen set down the lead box, and the compass's vibrations and light immediately diminished and disappeared, returning it to its ordinary mithril form. Looking at this rough prototype, a genuine, satisfying smile finally appeared on his tired face.
The first step of this long journey has been taken. What follows is endless optimization, scaling up, and interference mitigation—as well as waiting for the research results from Nico and Castor.
He carefully put this simple "resonance compass" into a specially made shockproof box that isolated magic.
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