Hogwarts: Oh no, I've become Voldemort!

“Now, I’ve possessed Malfoy and attacked several lowly Mudbloods with the Basilisk from the Chamber of Secrets, but that’s not enough! We must be resurrected!” Cyrus became more and more agitated as he approached the soul residing in the crown. “That’s easy, but Horcruxes are still not safe enough.”

“Hordeals are safe enough. If the plan goes smoothly, we can have six Horcruxes.” Voldemort was already quite pleased with his plan to split his soul into seven. He was confident that no one could possibly know that he had created so many Horcruxes, let alone find the location of each one and destroy them.

“Insurance?” Cyrus sneered. “Insurance is about living in filthy sewers with snakes and rats? Don’t forget who we are! Don’t forget that we changed our names to ‘Voldemort’ so that one day, when we become the greatest wizards in the world, wizards everywhere will not dare to utter our names! Instead of lying in a stinking ditch like a stray dog ​​with a broken leg!”

“We must have greater power and more reliable means to fight against Dumbledore and that—” Cyrus placed his hand on the crown, his eyes flashing with hatred, “…the boy who lived!”

"You intend to abandon your true form?" The Voldemort in the crown suddenly understood Cyrus's meaning. But this made him even more incredulous; he had never imagined the other party could be so insane.

"Original body?"

“There is no physical body.” Cyrus’s emotions seemed to have calmed down, but this calm contained an even greater power, like the silent currents of the ocean.

"There is only one Voldemort in this world! It's him, it's you, and it's me! Since he lost, let me take his place. If I lose, then it's your turn!"

When faced with a tempting devil, Cyrus's trick is to tempt the devil in return.

The soul within the crown seemed to have compromised. Cyrus placed the crown on his head again and uttered the final words that shattered the other's psychological defenses.

"There is only one Voldemort in this world, and our goal is to make the name Voldemort great once again!"

I'm so sleepy at work, so sleepy, so sleepy, sob sob.

Chapter 64 Life is an exchange

The black aura vanished, and the soul with Voldemort's face returned to the crown.

Cyrus knew his plan had succeeded; he had practically fooled Voldemort himself. Of course, it was actually quite easy, since his very existence implied that he himself was a Horcrux.

Even if Voldemort were extremely cautious, he probably wouldn't have imagined that his Horcruxes could be possessed.

As for Cyrus, he could have easily avoided such trouble, but he didn't intend to use the crown only once. Being with Voldemort naturally required caution. At least while the crown was on his head, he had to be "Riddle."

Fortunately, Tom Riddle's Occlumency was still very powerful; even Dumbledore couldn't see through his thoughts back then. Cyrus absorbed all of Riddle's magical knowledge, so he naturally wouldn't slack off on such a useful spell as Occlumency.

Cyrus didn't go anywhere; he simply opened the Book of Abraham on the spot.

This is a bronze book with only twenty-one pages. Each page is numbered every seven pages, and all page numbers are "seven." In alchemy, three and seven are very special numbers.

Among them, the number three may represent "triple greatness", which means repeating greatness three times.

"Perhaps this means that a certain element needs to undergo sublimation three times."

Without a doubt, this element is mercury, or quicksilver.

However, this alone is clearly not enough. Cyrus previously attempted to achieve a perfect world using the Three Pillars, the Ten Primal Elements, the Four Worlds, and the Twenty-Two Paths, but ultimately failed.

Is something missing?

"And it's a very crucial point!"

He looked at the pictures branded on the book: two intertwined snakes, one being devoured by the other, representing the fusion of matter; the second picture, a snake nailed to a cross; the third, a swarm of snakes emerging from a spring in the desert…

What does the snake really symbolize?

Is it mystery, taboo, or immortality itself?

The shed snakeskin symbolizes a decaying body; is a brand new life born from it?

This constant alternation, repeating endlessly, seeks eternal life. Like the basilisk, which has existed for nearly a thousand years, yet remains far removed from death.

Perhaps I should add something snake-related to my potions, like the molted skin of a basilisk?

On the path leading to the secret chamber lies the molted skin of a giant basilisk. The basilisk itself is a product of magic, and its molted skin has many uses. Its extremely strong magic resistance can be used to make armor. However, most importantly, the molted skin has always been a symbol of immortality and rebirth. What if the basilisk's molted skin were added during the process of making a magic stone?

"Add snake molts? You really think that will allow you to create a unique magic stone?" The soul in the crown sneered. "I didn't know you were so naive. If I hadn't seen you created with my own eyes, I would have doubted whether you were even myself."

"What do you mean?" Cyrus's heart skipped a beat, and he asked in a deep voice.

However, Voldemort did not actually suspect anything; he just found it a bit ridiculous.

To interpret the contents of those pictures as snake molts is an insult to the Black Demon King's reputation.

Or was it because I was too young when I made the diary Horcrux, that the other person's soul was also too naive?

"You actually dare to ask me what I mean? Snakes devouring each other, snakes nailed to the cross, a man raising an iron axe to chop at Hermes' feet, the Holy Grail bearing countless drops of blood, slaughtered infants..."

Voldemort recounted the bloody scene word for word, especially the last picture: a king holding a large sword was ordering his soldiers to kill many babies, whose mothers knelt before them and begged for mercy. Nearby were containers resembling buckets and crucibles, in which the babies' blood was collected, and the sun and moon were bathed in the blood.

Tell me! If you wish to gain eternal life, what is the price?

"On the scales of life, what can be measured against it?"

Voldemort's voice was like that of a terrifying demon king from hell, voicing the deepest questions at Cyrus's soul.

It was as if he had taken a hammer and driven the sharpest nail into the place that Cyrus had never dared to look at before, leaving it covered in blood.

There is only one answer—

"Only life!"

The only price to pay for life is life itself.

This was actually a principle that Cyrus had already understood. If he wanted to be resurrected, he had to absorb the life force of a person. Only when the life force of the person he possessed was completely drained would he have the ability to influence reality.

In fact, the creation of Horcruxes is also done in the same way.

Kill an innocent soul, then forge a Horcrux.

This is true equivalent exchange. If alchemy is a balance scale, then if "life" is placed on one side of the scale, "life" must also be used to measure the other side.

Voldemort was already intimately familiar with this. He had killed far too many people in order to create Horcruxes.

"Life is an exchange, it has always been so throughout history. Eagles kill rabbits, snakes hunt mice, lions and tigers hunt cattle and sheep... Only when others die can you live!"

However, for Cyrus, his goal was to avoid killing any innocent life during his resurrection, which is why he sought another way to replicate the Philosopher's Stone. Yet, the more he researched, the more he realized that life, as a price, was indispensable.

If that were the case, then everything he did would lose its meaning, so subconsciously he was less willing to think in that direction.

However, Voldemort ultimately and ruthlessly broke through this barrier.

This also allowed Cyrus to confront the true truth.

Magic itself is a kind of idealistic power. Sometimes, to achieve something, you don't need spells, wands, or complicated rituals; all you need is the desire of your heart.

Conversely, if even you are deceiving yourself, how can you possibly succeed in crafting a magic stone?

"If you want to forge a magic stone, you must use the blood of something to temper it, otherwise you will never succeed."

“But Nicolas Flamel, do you really think he’s the kind of person who would do something so bloody?” Cyrus countered.

"People of his generation—" Voldemort merely scoffed, clearly failing to grasp the true meaning of "goodness" in this world. He probably believed all kindness and justice were false, and that the truth hidden beneath lies and deception was always bloody!

Voldemort's views were certainly biased, but that also meant he wasn't entirely wrong.

Right!

Nicolas Flamel lived for over six hundred years; who knows what life was like in his time?

The further back in time we go, the more bloody and cruel civilizations become, and this is true even in the magical world. Six hundred years ago, even black magic was probably just ordinary magic to people at the time.

Moreover, considering that Nico has been unable to replicate the Philosopher's Stone for so many years, perhaps he himself was unaware of this life exchange.

"Is that what you think?" Voldemort countered.

“I’m more inclined to believe that he knew, but when he tried again, he lost the prophetic revelation.”

Voldemort did not believe that Nicolas Flamel was a naive person. How could a master alchemist not notice such an obvious exchange of equal value? Besides, the amount of blood needed to create a Philosopher's Stone was far more than just a little.

Rumors have circulated that Nicolas Flamel hunted down a large number of dark wizards at some point in history, but whether this is true or not is unknown.

But if that's true, then he's very likely preparing to refine a magic stone.

“The Book of Abraham once revealed some of its secrets to Nicolas Flamel, but that revelation disappeared after Flamel successfully crafted the Philosopher's Stone.”

"If that's the case, then how do we find this revelation?"

"Find it? No! The revelation will be complete once this book is in your hands!" said the soul in the crown.

Thank you for your 1000-point donation to Mingyue Mujixu. Thank you, my darling.

Turns out I wasn't too sleepy, I was sick and crying.

Chapter 65 evokes a sense of guilt about cheating.

The revelation has been completed.

The Book of Abraham the Judean is a magical book, and when it fell into Cyrus's hands, it was already destined that he would be the next person to be able to forge the Philosopher's Stone.

Voldemort, inside the crown, believed that this person was himself, and was therefore extremely proud.

He was not only the heir to Slytherin, but fate itself also favored him.

But Cyrus knew perfectly well that none of this had anything to do with Voldemort. Voldemort couldn't obtain Nicolas Flamel's Philosopher's Stone, much less forge a real one.

But he also knew that he wouldn't feel any guilt if he were to exchange his life for those evil dark wizards. However, now that he was possessed by Draco Malfoy, where was he going to find so many dark wizards?

But Cyrus couldn't bring himself to use the lives of those innocent young wizards in the castle. A person may be cruel, but at least they should have a bottom line, not for any other reason than to prevent themselves from becoming a monster in human skin.

Voldemort probably misunderstood him, thinking he was worried that sacrificing so many lives in the castle would provoke Dumbledore's revenge.

"We certainly can't be too high-profile right now, but don't forget, there are still many lives in the Forbidden Forest!"

Forest ban!