Everyday Life of a Top Student at Hogwarts

Chapter 333 Key Upgrade

The next day, Karen seemed somewhat distracted. In Charms class, Professor Flitwick praised him for perfectly applying different charms to three objects simultaneously, but he merely smiled politely, his mind already preoccupied with the exercises he would be doing that evening.

At lunch, he ate little, repeatedly simulating the dangerous steps that were about to take in his mind.

After dinner, he went back into the portable workshop. This time, the atmosphere was even more somber.

On the workbench, the lead box had been replaced with a mithril box with more sealing runes engraved on its surface. Inside was the fragment of Voldemort's soul that had been peeled from the basilisk. Although it was still just a fragment, its energy and evil nature were far more powerful than the previous fragments.

The "Touch of Hermes" crystal has been temporarily emptied, and the remaining fragment of the main soul inside has been carefully guided out and resealed back into the lead box. The crystal has now returned to a temporary state of dormancy, but the runes inside seem to have become more "active" due to the previous manipulation.

Karen took several deep breaths, his Occlumency activated at full power, his mental barrier impenetrable. He checked all his protective gear again, making sure everything was in order.

"Let's begin," he said to himself, his voice ringing out clearly in the quiet workshop.

He carefully opened the seal on the mithril box.

boom!

A far colder, more viscous, and malevolent intent, more palpable than before, surged forth, even causing ripples to appear on the surrounding protective light barrier! The temperature within the workshop seemed to drop several degrees instantly. It was cold, filled with resentment and bloodlust.

Wang's whispers echoed deep within his mind, attempting to break through his mental defenses.

Karen's expression faltered, but her eyes remained cold and calm. The fragment's power was significantly stronger, but still within acceptable limits. Without hesitation, she swung her wand, causing the workshop's protective array to shine brightly, forcefully suppressing the mental impact. The energy-absorbing crystals flickered wildly, absorbing the dissipated energy.

Under the "Eye of Truth's" vision, the fragment appeared as a small, violently churning mass of dark gray energy, constantly trying to coalesce into a distorted face, radiating a chillingly dangerous light.

Guiding it was far more difficult than last time. The moment Karen's wand tip extended its magical threads in an attempt to make contact, the fragment fiercely resisted, trying to corrupt and even devour Karen's magic. A violent vibration emanated from the wand, a chilling sensation spreading up her arm, but this was actually a mental reaction. The current reaction to contact was stronger than with the crown, perhaps because Karen's defenses were still somewhat weaker than Nico's, or perhaps because the methods of contact were different.

Karen gritted his teeth, unleashing his magic without reservation to forcibly restrain the raging energy. The fragment's will did not yield; the whispers in his mind turned into roars, continuing to relentlessly assault his will.

"Silence!" Karen shouted inwardly. The barrier formed by the Occlusion Technique was like the smoothest mirror, repelling all negative emotions and delirium. His will was as firm as a rock, suppressing the resistance of the fragments.

The guiding process was suffocatingly slow. The dark gray energy stream was reluctantly dragged little by little towards the "Hermes' Touch" crystal.

Finally, the energy flow reached the crystal surface.

This time the reaction was far greater than last time!

The "Touch of Hermes" crystal suddenly erupted with a blinding gray-black light, vibrating violently and even jumping several centimeters off the workbench! All the runes inside flickered wildly, as if overwhelmed! The soul fragment, as if finding a more powerful host, surged in frantically, while simultaneously attempting to completely control and distort the crystal's structure!

Alarms blared continuously within the workshop, and multiple protective magic arrays around it flickered erratically due to instantaneous overload! The energy-absorbing crystals dimmed at a visible speed!

Karen felt a tremendous force backflow through the magic connection, and his chest tightened. Without hesitation, he maximized his magic output and activated all the workshop's defenses to tightly confine the violent energy of the crystal and fragments within the operating area.

"Quiet down!" he growled, slamming his wand down hard.

The light and vibration reached a peak, and then suddenly diminished!

The grayish-black light on the crystal's surface receded like a tide, eventually settling into a deep, dark gray that seemed to absorb all the surrounding light. It ceased vibrating, lying there quietly, with only the occasional, extremely fine wisp of light flowing across its surface.

An unsettling ripple of energy. The cold whispers and roars vanished, replaced by a deeper, more subdued stillness.

Karen stumbled, grabbing the workbench to steady himself. He was breathing heavily, his face pale, feeling as if the brief struggle had nearly drained his strength and magic. But he had succeeded; the stronger fragment of his soul had been successfully bound inside the "Touch of Hermes" crystal.

The crystal, when held in the hand, feels cold and heavy. Its energy field is so strong that even...

Even with his protective gear, Karen felt a slight unease. He hadn't expected the fusion of this fragment and the Touch of Hermes to have such a strong reaction; it was far beyond his expectations.

"Now—the energy should be enough," Karen muttered to himself, looking at the dangerous "key." He even had a touch of bittersweet humor in his mind: "It seems the person in the diary has been temporarily spared the pain of having their soul severed." He knew that if this fragment wasn't enough, he would really have to consider taking action against the diary itself, which would be the riskiest option, and he might have had to ask his mentors for help. Fortunately, it seemed unnecessary for now.

He didn't proceed to the next step immediately. Upgrading the "key" was too costly, and he needed time to recover. He carefully placed the crystal in a specially made shielded box, then dragged his exhausted body out of the workshop.

"How is it?" The three people who had been waiting outside immediately surrounded her and were shocked to see Karen's pale face and hair soaked with sweat.

"It was a success, but barely." Karen's voice was a little hoarse. "I need to recover. The new 'key' is dangerous." He briefly described the thrilling process that had just taken place.

Wesley gasped. Fabian quickly handed him a warm, pre-prepared potion of mana restoration. Ernesto frowned. "This level of energy—wouldn't the final operation be even riskier?"

"The risks are manageable. As long as we plan carefully, and the actual use won't be like this—the energy released when the two are combined is far greater than when used—I do need to spend some time getting familiar with this thing." Karen drank the potion, feeling a warm current spread through her body, and her fatigue lessened slightly. "Although it exceeded expectations, the mentors' plan is effective, and the workshop's protection has withstood the test. Next, I need to design the final operating procedure. According to the previous plan, the next key point is synchronization."

Over the next two days, Karen focused on recovering while devoting all his energy to designing the final plan. The core challenge lay in synchronization: the Parseltongue-esque magical fluctuations he mimicked to activate the censorship mechanism of the access lock, and the soul fragment fluctuations from the crystal projections prepared to pass the censorship, had to be perfectly synchronized in timing and frequency, without the slightest deviation.

He sketched and drew on the parchment, designing a three-step process:

1. Trigger: Using a precise mimicking Parseltongue magical fluctuation, the access lock is unlocked, triggering its censorship mode.

2. Overlay: In the extremely short time (maybe only a fraction of a second) after the censorship mode is activated, the fluctuations of the soul fragment are precisely "overlaid" onto his own magical fluctuations through the "Hermes' Touch" crystal, instantly completing the "focus" shift, so that the access lock "sees" the soul fragment instead of him, Karen.

3. Maintenance: During the brief period when the access lock is reviewing and judging, do everything possible to maintain the stability of this "overlay" state until authentication is completed (or fails).

This process requires him to have an extremely precise grasp of timing and control over magic. Any mistake at any step could lead to the access lock refusing authentication, or even trigger unexpected countermeasures.

He conducted countless simulated rehearsals without any physical objects, closing his eyes and purely using his mind to visualize each step, the timing of each magical conversion, and the intensity of its output. He broke down the entire process into countless minute details, practicing them repeatedly until they became second nature.

He sent the final plan in detail to Nico and Castor via a communication quill.

Soon, the two-way mirror sent a communication request.

"We've seen the plan, Karen." Nico's face appeared in the mirror, his expression serious and focused. "The overall idea is sound, very ingenious. But in the 'coverage' section, we suggest you increase the peak magic output by about five percent."

Based on your previous test data, the access lock experiences a brief spike in sensitivity the moment the review is initiated. A stronger surge of spiritual energy is needed to ensure complete "overlay" and prevent it from detecting your underlying fluctuations.

Castor added, "Also, during the maintenance phase, don't try to stabilize" the fluctuations of the soul fragments. Let it remain in its inherent, chaotic, and malevolent nature. "Slytherin's censorship likely recognizes this very nature," and excessive control could actually cause the certification to fail. You only need to maintain the stability of the projection channel, like holding a torch without worrying about how the torch itself burns.

Karen carefully noted down these key suggestions: "I understand. Increase the peak output, maintain the projection rather than the stable fragments themselves."

"Yes." Castor's gray eyes were fixed on him. "Remember, if synchronization fails or the access lock reacts strongly, immediately cut off all connections. Prioritize your own safety. We can find another opportunity, but your safety is paramount."

"I will, teacher," Karen promised solemnly.

After the communication ended, Karen made further minor adjustments to the plan based on the suggestions and conducted corresponding simulation exercises.

At this moment, he stood in the workshop, his condition at its peak. His mind was clear, his magic abundant, and his concentration at its highest. All preparations were complete.

He glanced at the diary still tightly wrapped in snakeskin on the worktable, and next to it, at the dangerous "key"...

The shielding box for the "key".

it's time.