Simultaneously traversing: the pinnacle of all realms

Chapter 94 This is a precious sword coated with deadly poison!

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them is an authoritative work that details magizoology and describes magical creatures.

The book, written by Newt Scamander, has been the standard textbook for the third-year Magical Creatures Protection class at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry since its publication in 1927.

By the way, this book costs fourteen siscoct and three nut at Flourish and Blotts, which is much cheaper than Lockhart's hardcover, gold-embossed, and signed novels.

The book contains very detailed accounts of the basilisk.

The Basilisk is a giant venomous snake bred by a dark wizard, also known as the King of the Basilisk.

Serpents).

In Ancient Greek, "basil (eus)" means "king," while the suffix "-iskos" means "small." The whole word together carries a connotation of "prince."

Xavier's thoughts drifted slightly—for some reason, the title "Half-Blood Prince" came to mind.

Many wizards often confuse basilisks with serpent-bodied lizards (also known as chicken-snakes or petrifying lizards), but in fact, the two are fundamentally different, even though both are extremely dangerous dark magic practices that are explicitly prohibited by the Ministry of Magic.

The basilisk hatches from an egg from a toad, while the chicken-bodied, snake-tailed monster hatches from an egg from a venomous snake. The chicken-bodied, snake-tailed monster usually has wings, while the basilisk does not.

The infamous Greek sorcerer Helbo was the first to breed the basilisk: he incubated an egg under the body of a toad, which hatched into a creature known as the basilisk.

Moreover, this breeding method is extremely secretive because people only need to remove the eggs from under the toad before the inspectors from the Department of Magical Creature Management and Control arrive, and the wizards will not be able to find any evidence.

Interestingly, although chickens and eggs do not possess magical properties in themselves, they are essential mediums for many ritual magics.

For example, the crowing of a rooster is the only fatal nemesis of basilisks; the sound is like a deadly curse to them.

But eggs have more uses in the wizarding world than that—they can even be used for divination.

One branch of this divination was called "egg-laying divination," which involved breaking an egg and interpreting the shape of the yolk as it fell. This method of divination was particularly popular among students at Hogwarts' Ravenclaw school.

(By the way, there's also the English word "Badegg," which is often translated as "scoundrel.")

The basilisk is not picky about food; it preys on all mammals, birds, and reptiles.

Ordinary basilisks can grow up to fifty feet long, so the sixty-foot-long thousand-year-old basilisk in the secret chamber is undoubtedly a behemoth among all its kind.

Its skin is dark green and covered with scales as hard as steel, capable of deflecting most spells. Like other snakes, the basilisk sheds its skin periodically as it grows, and with each molt, its size and magic resistance increase.

Xavier touched his arm.

His magic resistance was comparable to that of trolls—a conclusion Professor Flitwick himself reached, as some spells cast by younger wizards were almost completely ineffective against him.

Even so, compared to the basilisk's scales, which were almost immune to magical attacks, he was still far inferior.

What's most terrifying about the basilisk is never its sharp teeth or brute strength, but its gaze—just like that of the legendary Medusa.

The basilisk's eyes are yellow.

It can instantly kill any person or animal that comes into contact with it. Those who indirectly see the basilisk's eyes through reflections in mirrors, water, or other sources will be completely petrified.

Even glasses couldn't withstand this power, because the basilisk's gaze itself contained powerful magic, which couldn't be blocked by simple physical filters.

The original story features Ricklin Crevey as the best example. He tried to photograph the Basilisk, but the film and lens of the camera were burned, and he himself turned into a stone statue.

Moreover, this petrification ability is ridiculously strong; even ghosts cannot escape it. Nick, who was almost headless in the original work, was still petrified even though he was already dead and in a spirit state.

This is absolutely outrageous—it's like Brand getting burned, Lee Sin getting blinded, and Malphite getting petrified—

Moreover, this petrification effect can only be revived by using the Mandrake resurrection potion.

The only known creature immune to the basilisk's gaze is the phoenix.

"It can even affect ghosts in their soul form, no wonder the basilisk's venom can destroy Horcruxes." Xavier nodded silently to himself.

Basilisk venom is one of the deadliest poisons in the magical world, and there is only one antidote: the tears of the phoenix.

It can kill an adult wizard in minutes, leaving him drowsy, visually impaired, and hallucinating before his death.

From a purely biological toxicity standpoint, although there are biological toxins in the world that are even more toxic than this, the toxins of some tropical poison dart frogs can kill even faster, and the toxins of Australian box jellyfish can cause death within 30 seconds of skin contact.

Even in terms of power—the venom of the magical horned beast has an explosive force enough to overturn half a castle.

But the basilisk's venom has a unique characteristic: its magical toxicity effect is extremely long-lasting.

Even five years after the Basilisk itself died, Hermione Jane Granger could still destroy the Hufflepuff Cup with its fangs.

Moreover, some experts in the past speculated that this was precisely the secret behind Gryffindor's sword being able to destroy Horcruxes. In the original storyline, in 1993, which is next year, Harry Potter used Godric Gryffindor's sword to kill Salazar Slytherin's basilisk.

The moment the sword pierced the basilisk's body, it was soaked in the basilisk's venom, absorbing its magical poison that could erode the very essence of the soul, thus gaining the ability to destroy Horcruxes.

It wasn't that the sword itself possessed this power, but rather that it gained the ability to cleave souls after absorbing the basilisk's venom.

In other words, the Gryffindor sword that was used to kill the basilisk was coated with deadly poison.

But now, due to the plot, the Basilisk is dead, so we might need to go and enchant the Gryffindor sword again later.

Newt Scamander also mentioned in Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them that "there have been no records of sightings of the Basilisk in Britain for at least four hundred years."

No one could have imagined that, four hundred years later, this basilisk, which Salazar Slytherin had hidden in the Chamber of Secrets, would see the light of day again in this way.

Xavier flipped to the author's biography page and couldn't help but smile.

Newt's full name is Newton Artemis Fedor Scamander, yes, that Newton.

He also studied at Hufflepuff House at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, but was later expelled from the school for some reason.

Just like Hagrid, it was Albus Dumbledore who stood up and insisted that he was innocent.

Therefore, he was not punished in any other way—Newt eventually left the school, but was able to keep his wand.

In this respect, he was far luckier than Hagrid, whose wand was broken.

Xavier flipped to the end of the book and unexpectedly found two additional practical spell tutorials: the Disillusionment Spell and the Oblivion Spell.

He closed the book, tapping his fingertips lightly on the table, a series of questions popping into his mind.