Everyday Life of a Top Student at Hogwarts

Chapter 315 The Price of Power

As the team delves deeper into the materials surrounding Slytherin's laboratory, the realm of knowledge they encounter becomes increasingly bizarre and fantastical, while also revealing more clearly the staggering price the founder paid for the power he sought.

That afternoon, Fabian was engrossed in a pile of particularly messy notes and charts. These papers were clearly different from the relatively neat labels; they were more like Slytherin's drafts of inspirations or experimental data, with flowing handwriting, interspersed with numerous simplified symbols and unfinished sentences.

"Karen, Ernesto, Wesley, come and take a look at this." Fabian suddenly looked up and beckoned the other three over. He pointed to several sketches connected together, depicting a complex device resembling a sound wave generator, with distorted runes written next to it.

"These images seem to be a set—judging from the annotations, they seem to describe a method—using magical vibrations of a specific frequency to influence or even simply command low-level aquatic magical creatures?" Fabian's tone was uncertain as he carefully examined the ancient vocabulary. "It mentions Grindylo—and even its equally weak kin." Could this be referring to—

"Mermaids?" Wesley exclaimed in surprise. "Commanding mermaids with machines? How is that possible? Their power lies in their singing voices, isn't it?"

"It's not like a mermaid's singing voice." Karen leaned closer for a closer look. Although his "Eye of Truth" couldn't directly decipher these non-magical characters, it was particularly sensitive to the diagrams depicting the flow of energy. "Look at these lines; it emphasizes a kind of forced resonance and suppression—more like—taming? Or driving? Targeting aquatic creatures with lower intelligence. The note says it's ineffective against higher-level kin and intelligent individuals, easily provoking strong resistance."

Ernesto frowned. "Salazar Slytherin seems to be trying to establish absolute control over the underwater environment of the Black Lake. If this technology is truly effective, even against creatures like Grindylow, it would be enough to clear a safe zone, or—establish an underwater patrol?"

This conjecture surprised the group somewhat. Slytherin's experiments clearly extended beyond the confines of the laboratory.

Next, Fabian pulled out a relatively complete sketch of a potion formula from another stack of materials. "And this—an underwater enhancement potion. The main ingredient is—kappa skin tissue? And this," he pointed to a name, "Slytherin named it Black Lake Dark Algae, noting that it can only be collected at specific depths on the edge of mermaid settlements."

Karen immediately remembered: "I know this kind of algae! I saw it in the crevices of the rocks near that area when I was diving last time. It was a very dark color, almost blending into the rock. The magical fluctuations were very weak, but it gave people a feeling of—very resilience."

"The effects are described as amazing," Fabian continued translating, "significantly improving underwater agility and endurance, greatly enhancing water pressure tolerance, far surpassing the effects of gill stalk grass." He paused here, his voice lowering, "but the side effects section states—during use, the skin may temporarily turn bluish-gray, accompanied by a mild bloodlust." There was also a small note: "Significant effects are limited to underwater use only; no other enhancements are observed; long-term effects are unknown."

"Bloodlust—" Ernesto repeated the word, a look of disgust on his face. "It doesn't sound like anything good. Forcibly incorporating the characteristics of a kappa into a human body?"

Wesley made a disgusted face: "Skin turning bluish-gray? And a bloodthirsty urge? Merlin, that's too much of a price. I don't want to turn into a toad that wants to eat raw fish just to swim a little faster."

Karen solemnly recorded this information in her research notes. "These findings are important. This shows that Slytherin's understanding and utilization of the Black Lake reached an astonishing level. He practically treated the Black Lake as his backyard and raw material warehouse. Although this was easy for a great wizard like him, it also suggests that traces of his experiments may remain in other parts of the Black Lake as well."

He wondered if these traces could remain intact for a thousand years like they had in his laboratory. However, if the records here were accurate, this underwater enhancement agent, despite its dangerous side effects, might be very useful in emergencies. He also knew that he would never try to use this agent unless absolutely necessary, but the materials were not difficult to obtain, and perhaps he could find a way to reproduce it later.

Subsequently, in more sketches and scattered notes, they discovered Slytherin's research ideas about the large creatures in the Black Lake, including the giant squid familiar to Cullen and the others, and some vaguely described, perhaps more dangerous, sea monster ("The Deeppool Lurker?" Fabian translated the name uncertainly). The records were few, but enough to show that Slytherin had a strong interest in these powerful creatures, and may even have attempted to control or modify them.

"You say—" Wesley lowered his voice, as if afraid of being overheard, "could some of those big creatures in the Black Lake be—descendants or products—left over from Slytherin's experiments back then?"

This bold conjecture silenced the Eagle's Nest once more, and the mystery of the Black Lake seemed to have been partially lifted, revealing a deeper and more unsettling truth.

Karen sent a summary of her findings on aquatic bio-impact technologies and underwater enhancement agents to Nico and Castor via a communication quill, along with the team's initial analysis and questions.

The reply arrived in the evening. First was Castor's reply, his handwriting sharp and forceful: "Karen, focus on that underwater potion. 'Bloodlust' is a typical manifestation of magical creature traits brutally overriding a wizard's nature, a clear precursor to mental erosion and bloodline contamination. It's not a 'mild' side effect! History is replete with wizards who attempted this shortcut, ultimately becoming half-human, half-beast monsters, or suffering utter mental distortion. Self-administration is strictly prohibited. However, this is undoubtedly an attempt to integrate the bloodline talents of magical creatures into the human body; research is possible, but proceed with caution."

Nico's reply came a little later, focusing more on the bio-influence technology: "A very interesting discovery. This technology, based on the resonance of magical frequencies, is likely an application that Salazar derived from his Parsleyan talent. Parsleyan is essentially a magical language for communicating and commanding specific creatures, and he has extended this principle to other lower aquatic beings."

In theory, if the frequency and intensity can be precisely controlled, it is indeed possible to achieve the effects of dispelling, calming, or even giving simple commands.

However, this requires extremely precise control, and different frequencies need to be adjusted for different organisms. It is recommended that you, under safe conditions, try to study this using the lowest intensity, non-coercive "soothing" or "dispersing" frequency; this might lead to the development of an effective means of dealing with disturbing underwater organisms.

This might offer another perspective on understanding the magical nature of Parsleyan speech, and even ultimately, cracking the access lock. As for controlling highly intelligent beings, that's far beyond the capabilities of this technology; do not attempt it lightly.

The two mentors' replies reiterated the dual nature of Slytherin knowledge: powerful, yet also fraught with risk.

In the following days, during the process of sorting through the materials, the team discovered several more chilling potion or ritual sketches. These records involved using the blood, nerve cords, or fragments of magical cores from powerful magical creatures, such as dragons, thunderbirds, or even darker creatures, to forcibly enhance a wizard's mana regeneration speed, burst power, or even temporarily grant certain biological properties, such as superhuman dynamic vision or petrifying skin. Karen felt it resembled the abilities of superheroes from American comics.

The descriptions of the effects were increasingly enticing: "Magic boils like lava," "Sensory sharpens to the point of detecting the flapping of mosquito wings," "Skin protected like iron armor"—but the side effects were equally alarming, like chilling warnings: "Target experiences emotional instability and berserk tendencies," "Magic core burned, permanent damage," "Irreversible bloodline contamination, dehumanization"—

Looking at these records, the atmosphere inside the Eyrie grew increasingly tense. Power seemed to have a price tag, and Slytherin was clearly willing to pay a high price—a price paid by others, of course.

"He's playing with fire," Fabian finally said, his voice hoarse. "No, this is a million times more dangerous than playing with fire. He's gambling with other people's souls and sanity to contribute to his research. No wonder it's underwater and uses Parsleyan as an activation condition; it's probably to prevent the other founders from discovering it."

"And he seems to think it's worth it," Ernesto said with a complicated tone. "Perhaps in his view, as long as the goal is achieved, whether it's purifying the wizarding world or pursuing the ultimate in personal power, these costs are acceptable."

Wesley shook his head. "I don't think becoming a madman or a monster is anything worthwhile. What's the point of having immense power if you're not even yourself anymore?"

Karen closed a research notebook filled with dangerous speculations and made his decision. His gaze swept over his three roommates, his tone firm: "Wesley is right. All these dangerous formulas and techniques involving direct, forced alteration or enhancement of wizards themselves should remain only for theoretical research and cautionary reference until we have sufficient capacity to ensure safety. Our research priorities must be placed on relatively safe knowledge, such as special material handling techniques, the principles of magical devices, and..."

Environmental modification techniques, or, as Professor Nicole suggested, low-risk aquatic organism repellency techniques.

He picked up the dangerous sketches about underwater enhancement potions and bloodline enhancement potions, put them in a folder labeled "High Risk: Experiment with Caution," and cast a simple security spell on them. These could be tried later, but he should be careful not to use them on himself.

Knowledge brings the possibility of power, but also a heavy ethical burden and security risks. For the first time, the other members of the Eagle's Nest team were acutely aware of the complexity, power, and danger of the legacy they were dealing with. The road ahead required even greater caution and clarity of mind to explore.