Magical Studies at Hogwarts...

Chapter 39 Alchemy

The beginning of a holiday is always leisurely.

There was no homework during Hogwarts' summer vacation, allowing the young wizards to fully enjoy their holiday. Ike, too, was able to relax and forget about those troublesome problems.

Of course, it only lasted three days. On the fourth day after returning to St. Mary's, Ike threw himself into the study of the Philosopher's Stone.

The Philosopher's Stone is arguably the pinnacle of alchemy, and this remains true even though it has existed for countless years. In fact, even Nicolas Flamel himself could not recreate one, a fact he has claimed for centuries.

Whether it's true or not, only he himself knows.

Unraveling the mysteries of the Philosopher's Stone is impossible for Ike with his current alchemical knowledge, but that doesn't prevent him from using it. Its two most well-known uses are: turning lead into gold and creating an elixir of immortality.

The latter is Nicolas Flamel's closely guarded secret, while the former is worth trying.

The method is very simple and completely foolproof.

Prepare the metal to be transformed, such as an iron rod. Then, attach the magic stone to the iron rod, imagine the appearance of gold in your mind, and slowly pour your magic power into the magic stone. You will then see the iron rod slowly transform into a golden rod from the point of contact with the magic stone.

It's simple and quick, but it consumes a lot of magic power. Turning a half-meter-long iron rod into a golden rod made Ike feel a void in his body.

However, in terms of returns, it is still quite considerable.

In addition, the Philosopher's Stone is an alchemical artifact with magical power that can replenish a wizard's consumed magic. However, this magic cannot remain in the wizard's body indefinitely; it needs to be consumed within a certain period of time, otherwise it will have adverse effects on the wizard, including but not limited to aging, weakness, magic backlash, and death.

The result of Ike's experiment was that the room was filled with many gold artifacts, which were shiny and very beautiful.

Wizards can turn stones into gold—without magic—by drawing magic from the Philosopher's Stone—and to some extent, given enough time, they could turn the entire earth into gold.

Of course, this is impossible. The Philosopher's Stone has its limits. If the magic power inside it is excessively depleted, a wizard will need to replenish it.

"In other words, is this equivalent to a power bank?"

With a golden pen twirling in his left hand and a magic stone toy in his right, Ike had already formed a basic understanding in his mind.

As for the elixir of immortality, Ike didn't even consider it. Even if he had the recipe, a potion of this difficulty was beyond his current ability to brew.

Moreover, Ike only has a little over a month to conduct research. Whether it's converting gold products or exploring the secrets of immortality, it's not as good as using the Philosopher's Stone to study alchemy.

Knowledge is eternal.

Hogwarts did not offer alchemy courses, but the library had many related books. Before leaving the school, Ike borrowed some alchemy books, including "Mystic Alchemy," "Precision, Control, and Change," "The Catalogue of Medieval Alchemy," "Alchemy: From Beginner to Master," and "The Complete Guide to Simple Alchemy Making," and even got the "Hermes Scroll" from the restricted section.

It is no exaggeration to say that fully understanding these books would be enough to make one the greatest alchemist of the world. Unfortunately, the Hermes Scriptures are written entirely in ancient runes, and the vast majority of the runes have not been deciphered; only a very small portion can be truly understood.

Aiming too high is not advisable. The Hermesian Scriptures only gave Ike a goal; he still needed to start from the basics.

As July arrived, Ike had gained a basic understanding of alchemy. In a sense, alchemy is the "science" of the magical world, a rigorous discipline.

To create an alchemical artifact, any slight deficiency in the raw materials, runes, or magic array will lead to failure, especially with alchemical recipes passed down from ancient times.

Generally speaking, alchemy can be divided into two categories: bestowal and transformation. The former is represented by various alchemical gadgets and puppets, which use alchemy to endow an ordinary thing with magical properties, enabling it to act according to predetermined rules or follow the wizard's will; the latter is to completely transform one thing into another, such as turning lead into gold.

The two have two things in common: runes and magic circles.

"Looks like I'll have to study ancient runes next semester," Ike secretly decided.

Runes are key to imbuing magical properties; the simplest alchemical items often only require inscribing a specific rune to succeed. For example, inscribing a cup with the rune representing "sturdiness" will give you an unbreakable cup. Magic circles, on the other hand, are more often used for complex alchemical creations, such as the creation of puppets, which requires a transformation circle.

Compared to runes, magic circles are more complex, mainly because this part is not covered much in basic books. The Hermes Script does have some, and you can just memorize the lines of the magic circle. But if you don't understand runes, you won't know what each magic circle does.

Ike wouldn't dare try it; who knows what might happen?

In the second week of July, Ike began experimenting with making some simple alchemical products, such as unbreakable cups, unbreakable pens, and untearable notebooks.

That's right, Ike can only give an item the "Durable" attribute; he can't do anything else yet.

With only half a month left, Ike finally focused his research on the Philosopher's Stone.

Having some knowledge of alchemy gives one a different perspective on the Philosopher's Stone.

This magical stone was covered with dense magical runes, of which Ike could only recognize a few dozen, and that was just a drop in the ocean.

These runes were written with the blood of a magical creature; their sheer number and density caused them to appear red. Ike guessed it might be the blood of a phoenix, given that phoenixes are capable of continuous rebirth and could be the key to the Philosopher's Stone's ability to create an elixir of immortality.

Of course, it could also be a mixture of the blood of various magical creatures; only Nicolas Flamel knows the secrets behind it.

Besides the runes, magic circles were also inscribed on the smooth parts of the Philosopher's Stone. Ike counted them several times; there were thirteen in total. These thirteen magic circles and runes formed the surface of the Philosopher's Stone. As for its main material, Ike could only distinguish mercury and gold from it; he couldn't recognize the rest.

The Philosopher's Stone truly deserves its status as the pinnacle of contemporary alchemy. Even understanding only a small portion of the knowledge it contains greatly improved Ike's alchemy skills, giving him a deeper understanding of combinations of multiple runes.

On July 29th, Ike finally completed another alchemical item: a small wooden cart that could run on its own.

It's the size of a palm, runs incredibly fast, and makes no sound.

First update, shamelessly asking for votes.

Book club: 714141880

(End of this chapter)