Everyday Life of a Top Student at Hogwarts

Chapter 332 First Contact and Debugging

Inside the portable workshop's soul experimentation area, the air seemed to freeze. Karen stood before the central workbench, giving a final check of the layers upon layers of protective magic arrays surrounding her. Energy-absorbing crystals emitted a soft glow in the corners, and the interwoven lines of mithril and obsidian powder on the ground formed a complex and precise pattern, locking all energy fluctuations firmly within this small area.

He took a deep breath, trying to calm his racing heart. After nearly ten days of intensive preparation, the simulated guided practice had become muscle memory, and through Professor Castor's explanations and his own research, his understanding of the internal structure of the "Hermes' Touch" had reached its current limit. Now it was time for the first practical application.

On the workbench, two specially made containers sat quietly. One was a small, lead-sealed box containing the small fragments of Voldemort's main soul that had initially been obtained from Quirrell. The other was the unassuming "Touch of Hermes" crystal.

"Ernest, final confirmation of the third quadrant energy reading for the Kabbalah Stability Circle." Karen's voice was transmitted to the workshop entrance through a simple megaphone.

Soon, Ernesto's clear voice came back: "Stable, all parameters are within the preset thresholds, with deviations less than 0.3%. Maximum strength of the outer isolation barrier."

"Wesley, the third shelf above the materials cabinet, that bottle of 'Tranquility' incense, light a small amount and place it on the entrance steps," Karen added. He needed anything that would help him concentrate and combat potential mental distractions.

"Right away!" Wesley answered and left.

Fabian's voice followed: "Karen, Professor Nico just sent a note via quill, emphasizing that during the initial contact, the will within the soul might try to 'erode' the cracks, and that, just like during the summer, you must ensure your Occlumency is fully operational."

"Understood." Karen closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and when he opened them again, all his emotions were firmly suppressed to the deepest part of his mind, his thoughts as smooth and hard as a mirror. The power of the Mind Control Technique formed an invisible barrier around him, specifically prepared for the will of the Crown Horcrux. After all, against a highly invasive will attack like the Crown Horcrux, a solid defense is more effective than mental interference.

After preparing, he carefully opened the lead box. Even through the protective barriers and the container, the moment he opened it, a faint yet chilling, resentful, and mad thought tried to burrow into his mind, like a cold, poisonous needle. But it was firmly blocked by the workshop's defenses and his mental fortitude; it was indeed far inferior to the crown.

Under the "Eye of Truth's" vision, the wisp of debris resembled a small, twisting mass of gray mist that seemed to be trying to roar, barely restrained by a powerful seal.

Karen picked up his wand, his movements slow and steady, like a movie in slow motion. He held his breath, carefully guiding the almost negligible wisp of soul energy, drawing it from the lead box, transforming it into a gray thread thinner than a hair, and slowly moving it toward the "Touch of Hermes" crystal on the table.

Fine beads of sweat began to appear on his forehead, not from exertion, but from the precise control and intense mental tension he required. The tip of his wand remained perfectly steady without the slightest tremor.

The energy filaments finally made contact with the surface of the crystal.

In an instant!

The previously dormant active runes inside the "Hermes' Touch" crystal suddenly lit up, bursting forth with a strong, unstable gray light! The entire crystal vibrated slightly, emitting a low hum. The wisp of soul energy, as if it had found an outlet, or as if it had encountered a natural enemy, became even more agitated, frantically trying to penetrate the crystal, while simultaneously eroding Karen's magical guidance.

The protective array around the workbench instantly lit up, its light swirling and firmly binding the sudden energy surge and negative intent within the operating area. The light from the energy-absorbing crystal also brightened slightly.

Karen groaned, feeling a cold, resisting force and a pulling sensation from the tip of his wand, as if it were trying to corrupt and devour his magic along with it. In his mind, the cold whispers became clearer, filled with vicious curses and frantic ravings, assaulting his mental barriers.

Unexpectedly, such a fragile soul fragment would launch a sneak attack. No wonder it's Voldemort's soul! However, none of this was enough to disturb Karen. At the same time, he increased his magical output, but not by force. Instead, he finely adjusted the frequency, attempting to make his magic a solid and smooth conduit, guiding this raging energy, according to the plan Ni provided, to those specific rune nodes inside the crystal, used for "acceptance" rather than "absorption."

This was an extremely demanding process. The energy was extremely unwilling, frantically surging left and right. The crystal's reaction was also inconsistent. Karen's "Eye of Truth" was operating at full capacity, staring intently at every minute moment when the energy flow came into contact with the runes, her brain calculating rapidly, constantly fine-tuning the intensity and frequency of the magic output.

Time seemed to have passed for a long time, yet it also felt like only a moment.

Finally, just before that wisp of soul energy was about to break free of control, Karen forcibly pressed it into a specific rune combination within the crystal core.

The buzzing sound suddenly subsided.

The gray light on the crystal no longer flashed wildly, but transformed into a relatively stable, slowly pulsating, dark glow, as if a dangerous beast had been temporarily caged. The cold whisper also diminished to the point of being almost inaudible.

Karen slowly, bit by bit, withdrew his wand. Only when the magical connection was completely severed did he allow himself a long, long pause.

He exhaled with a trembling breath; a small patch of his robe on the back was already soaked with sweat.

He succeeded; the initial integration was achieved on the very first contact.

But he dared not be careless in the slightest. Zi Guang stared intently at the crystal. It was like an extremely unstable bomb, temporarily restrained, yet containing a dangerous power within. He could sense that the fragment of soul was slowly combining with the crystal's properties, adapting to each other.

For the next few days, Karen's life became a monotonous routine between his dormitory, classroom, canteen, and portable workshop. He devoted almost all his free time to fine-tuning this "dangerous bomb."

He needed to practice repeatedly, remotely stimulating and suppressing the fluctuations of soul energy within the crystal using only magic, without ever making direct contact again. He needed to find the precise feeling of that "switch".

This process was tedious and dangerous. The slightest mistake could trigger an energy backlash or go out of control. Several times, the energy within the crystal suddenly surged, the gray light brightened abruptly, and the whispers intensified, but these were all forcefully suppressed by the tight protective array and Karen's timely mental suppression.

During his research, he contacted Nico and Castor multiple times through a two-way mirror.

"Teacher, the frequency of energy surges seems to be decreasing, but the intensity of each surge is slightly increasing. Is this normal?" Karen asked Nico on the other side of the two-way mirror, pointing to the crystal on the workbench that had just calmed down.

Nico stroked his beard, carefully examining the magical images and data records shared by Karen: "Hmm—I can understand."

This can be seen as the soul fragments being tamed by the crystal, or rather, imprisoned more tightly, causing their resistance to become more intense but less frequent. Continue to observe; as long as the defenses remain robust, this trend is positive. Carefully record the intervals and intensity changes of each riot.

Castor, however, focused more on the details of Karen's actions: "According to the video footage of the experiment you transmitted, the magic frequency shift was 0.1 seconds slower when you suppressed it just now. That's dangerous. Next time, be faster and more decisive. Hesitation will give it an opening." His gray eyes, sharp through his lenses, fixed on Karen. "Your Occlumency technique cannot be relaxed in the slightest, especially when it's 'quiet'; that could be a trap."

With remote guidance from her mentor and logistical support from her roommate, Karen's control became increasingly proficient, and her grasp of the crystal's state became more and more precise.

He felt it was time to proceed with the next preliminary test.

He took the snakeskin diary out of the sealed cabinet and placed it on another specially made platform in the operating area, facing the "Hermes' Touch" crystal.

He planned to conduct a low-power "tuning" test. That is, instead of actually trying to open the access lock, he would use the crystal to project extremely weak soul fluctuations to touch the access lock and observe its reaction characteristics to external soul fluctuations.

He reactivated the protection, then carefully and remotely activated the crystal, projecting a faint, almost imperceptible soul fluctuation towards the snakeskin log.

Under the "Eye of Truth's" vision, when that ripple touched the snakeskin on the surface of the log, the complex network of runes that constituted the access lock lit up for a moment, extremely faint, but it did produce a reaction! That reaction carried a hint of "scrutiny" and "doubt," as if it had detected something familiar but too faint to trigger a formal review mechanism, and quickly fell silent again.

"There's a response!" Karen was overjoyed and immediately recorded the intensity, duration, and specific pattern of the access lock rune lighting up.

Over the next few days, he repeated this process dozens of times, stopping immediately after each log reaction and fine-tuning the intensity, frequency, or angle of the crystal projection.

Through extensive data recording and analysis, he gradually uncovered some patterns: the access lock reacts most noticeably to soul fluctuations within a specific frequency range; the projection angle needs to be perpendicular to a specific direction of the snake scales; the reaction intensity is positively correlated with the energy intensity of the crystal projection, but the fragment of the main soul he currently possesses is too weak, and even with full force, it is far from reaching the threshold for triggering a formal review.

"It seems that this amount of energy is indeed insufficient." Karen looked at the densely packed data in his notebook and came to the same conclusion as Professor Nico's previous analysis. The low-power test was successful, allowing him to accumulate valuable experience, but it also proved that the "key" still needed an upgrade.

He walked out of the portable workshop and told his three roommates who had been waiting outside about the situation.

"So, we still want to use the bigger one?" Wesley asked nervously.

"Hmm." Karen nodded, her face showing weariness but determination. "These fragments of the main soul are too low in energy level; they're only useful for getting familiar with the process. We need to switch to the fragment we obtained from the basilisk. Although we used quite a few to heal Professor Castor's curse, it's currently the largest fragment besides the Soul Weapon. Of course, using it will be riskier, but it's a necessary step. If this one doesn't work, then I'll have to try the diary."

Fabian adjusted his glasses. "Do you need us to check the workshop's safety measures again? Or perhaps we could replenish some materials?"

"Yes, especially the energy-absorbing crystal, does it need to be replaced?" Ernesto asked with concern.

Karen looked at them gratefully: "Thank you, the protection is fine for now. The energy-absorbing crystal's depletion is also within a controllable range."

But I need some time to recover my mental and magical energy. The next operation will take place tomorrow night.

He needs to be in top condition to face that stronger and more dangerous fragment of the soul.