I, Hogwarts Second Time Around.

Chapter 564 Star Tears

After Owen easily broke the curse of the ominous sign on the fairy Frans, the fairies' attitude towards him immediately changed dramatically.

The shift from arrogance to fawning was almost instantaneous.

They also granted all of Irving's subsequent requests.

Aside from pleading for him to treat the king, he made no other requests.

But Irving refused to agree to this request.

It can heal other fairies, but not that king.

These intelligent beings—when they are sick and in pain, they only have simple thoughts in their minds about getting rid of the pain and enduring the pain, but once they are healed, their thoughts immediately become more complex.

Although Owen didn't care about the fairies' petty schemes, flies that don't suck blood are still annoying. Besides, that fairy king wouldn't die anytime soon. The ominous sign that the fairies were infected with this time was very different from the ominous sign of the Outer Gods; it wouldn't transform them into "Children of Ominous Signs," but would only weaken them to death. It seems that the technology of the ominous sign existed before the Outer Gods, and the Outer Gods merely improved upon it.

If he doesn't transform into the "Child of the Omen," then Irving will have no worries.

These days he and Hermione have been studying the obelisk intently.

And the stone slabs in the main hall.

There were some results; at least he finally figured out what the thing was used for.

In short, the obelisk is not the 'control panel' that Irving previously speculated.

He later realized that it was not uncommon for wizards to control ancient magic in ancient times, and that things like 'control panels' were somewhat useless to them.

Actually, this thing is an automatic encoder or something like that.

First of all, this ancient ruin was indeed a factory used by ancient wizards to produce the "Hundred Forms".

In order for the created organic creatures, the "Hundred Forms," ​​to completely obey the wizard's commands, their souls need to be edited, or rather, imprinted with a thought imprint, making them incapable of betraying the wizard.

After all, although the [Hundred Forms] appear strange, they are actually a form of intelligent life. Moreover, they possess the ability to cast spells. And no intelligent being could tolerate being born a servant and not rebel. To prevent future rebellions, the wizards invented the obelisk.

The reason why the fairies' "Hundred Forms" have turned into metal slugs is not only because the materials used are different from those of the ancient times and the technology is not well imitated, but also because they mishandled the obelisk, causing it to malfunction.

The fairies' collective infection with the ominous sign was caused by an ancient magical upheaval triggered by accumulated errors.

In short, the fairies brought this upon themselves, digging their own grave.

Irving was somewhat disappointed after learning the truth.

First of all—the obelisk's own 'program' has been completely altered by the fairies. There might be a possibility of repair, but he can't figure it out in just a few days.

Secondly, the error of the obelisk has not disappeared but continues to accumulate. It contains a large amount of ancient magic and is also the energy source of this ancient factory. Perhaps it will trigger another magical outburst soon.

Finally—because the research on the obelisk was far more difficult than Owen had imagined, his original plan to instantly rewrite the curse of all the fairies with a single click now seemed impossible.

"This is really troublesome."

"What's wrong?" In the main hall, only Hermione and he were together now.

Koyatl and Sirius went to find the fairies to obtain information about the Fairy Brotherhood.

Now is a good opportunity. The kingdom is in decline, and the goblins dare not refuse their requests.

"Is there no way to unravel the mystery of the obelisk in a short time?" Hermione asked with concern, her eyes gleaming with dark circles.

Sitting on a chair next to the obelisk, Irving put down the parchment in his hand.

"We don't have time."

"It will take at least a few years to figure this out."

"That's true." Hermione put down the parchment in her hand. She and Owen had been sharing research these days, and she knew everything Owen knew.

A few years is actually quite fast.

It took the fairies hundreds of years to achieve what they have today.

If it weren't for the fact that Owen is the true successor, possessing fragmented memories of many ancient deities obtained from the Divine Tower, even if given several hundred years, he might only be able to barely match the fairies.

"Let's not think about how to quickly break the fairy's curse right now," Hermione said, settling for second best. "The errors in the obelisk are still accumulating, and they will definitely erupt again in the future."

"That's easy," Owen suddenly stood up and said. "Although I can't fix the obelisk's 'programming error,' cutting off the power is still quite simple."

"Power outage?" Hermione stared at him blankly.

"To give you an analogy," Owen said, "the obelisk is powered by ancient magic, and I can extract it."

"Then what are we waiting for?" Hermione asked anxiously.

"Alright." Owen sighed softly. Once the energy source was extracted, it meant he had completely given up on quickly resolving the fairy curse.

He came to the obelisk and drew his wand.

With a gentle wave, one ancient rune after another appeared from nothing, from simple to complex, with his movements...

These magical runes, like water poured into the desert, quickly seeped into the obelisk.

The obelisk responded quickly.

The stones that make it up slowly wriggle and undulate, then split to both sides.

It's like a treasure box.

Inside the treasure box, a teardrop-shaped object shimmered.

Its body is perfectly round, radiating a silvery-gray luster, and it is permeated with a rich ancient magic. Clearly, this is the source of everything.

Irving reached out and took out the teardrop-shaped ancient magical polymer.

Then, a "click" sound rang out.

The stones that make up the obelisk suddenly stopped undulating.

The entire ancient ruins they were in were also filled with cars that had lost power, and sharp noises, like gears jamming, echoed everywhere. This continued for several minutes.

During this process, Irving picked up the teardrop in his hand and examined it closely.

This is a very beautiful man-made object. Upon closer inspection, you will find that the inside looks like it is inlaid with a star, with various tiny stars, which is quite beautiful.

But if you don't look closely, this teardrop will conceal the stars within, revealing only its jade-like smoothness.

Just by holding it, Owen could feel streams of ancient magic seeping into his body.

"Here, this is for you." He handed the teardrop to Hermione.

"What?" Hermione instinctively reached out and took it.

“This is useless to me,” Owen explained. “It’s just a polymer of ancient magic. It can only be used as an energy source and has no other function. Of course, I could extract its magic for my own use, but it would be too inefficient. I estimate it would take at least several hundred years to completely extract all the ancient magic from this tiny teardrop.”

"So I might as well give it to you as a decoration."

"An ornament?" Hermione rolled her eyes at Owen, then examined the teardrop in her hand. After a long pause, she finally said, "It's really beautiful."

There was nothing she could do; she couldn't sense the presence of ancient magic.

In her hand, a teardrop was nothing more than a beautiful gem.

"You could try researching this kind of artificial creation. Maybe we can mass-produce this 'energy' in the future." Owen offered Hermione a research direction.

"That's right. It's a perfect energy source. And this small piece can sustain the ruins' energy needs for tens of thousands of years, even though the ruins are mostly dormant. Its energy storage technology is indeed many years ahead of ours."

"A teardrop of a star," Hermione suddenly said. "I've called it a teardrop of a star. Perhaps it will play an infinite role in the future, just as the steam engine replaced human power and electricity replaced steam."

"Perhaps," Irving nodded.

Just then, a loud noise came from the entrance of the main hall of the ruins.

It looked like someone was fighting.

As Owen and Hermione began their investigation, they drove all the goblins out of the main hall.

After all, they don't trust the fairies yet. Research requires focus, and if there are fairies around, a sudden sneak attack would be very troublesome.

By banishing the fairies from the main hall, even if they want to launch a sneak attack, they would have to pass through the main hall first, thus increasing their reaction time.

"Hmm? Is the fairy finally going to attack us?"

"Probably not!" Hermione put the Star Tear into the pocket at her waist, then waved her wand to pack up all the research data and the stone tablets around her, without any thought of leaving anything for the fairy.

If the obelisk hadn't been integrated with the entire site, she probably would have pried it out and taken it with her.

"Are the fairies trying to break free of the curse by attacking us now?"

Hermione said as she packed the things.

"Who knows what they're thinking?" Owen gripped his wand and walked step by step toward the entrance to the main hall.

Suddenly—a piece of gravel flew out of the entrance, along with many sharp pieces of construction debris.

Irving easily used Polymorph to turn it into dust with a swing of his staff.

"What a primitive attack method," he muttered. Owen stared at the entrance.

The small fry who attacked him revealed his true form.

She really is a fairy.

However, the fairy was a bit strange. His expression was stiff, and his limbs were somewhat uncoordinated.

The moment he saw him, he rushed over using both hands and feet.

"Crazy?" Owen was puzzled as to why this fairy dared to go up to his death, but he still mercifully helped him fulfill his wish and casually threw out an explosive spell.

The red spell struck the fairy squarely, and then, the explosion that Owen had anticipated did not occur.

The curse was like a stone thrown into a lake, creating ripples on the surface.

The same applies to those around the fairy.

Then its spell was neutralized.

"Interesting!" Owen swung his staff again, casting another Explosion Spell. However, this time he infused it with even more ancient magic, increasing its power several times over.

Similarly, the spell struck the fairy squarely, as if it had no idea how to dodge.

This time, the ripples on his body became more frequent, faster, and more numerous until they reached a certain limit, at which point his entire body suddenly disintegrated automatically. The red spell timely devoured the fragments, triggering an explosion.

"boom--"

The blast wave violently lifted the hair on Irving's forehead.

Hermione instinctively raised her hand to shield herself from any dust blowing into her eyes.

"What is this?"

"I don't know, but it's definitely not a fairy."

"Could it be—" Hermione finally pocketed most of the valuable stone tablets. "Like in those novels, are there protective mechanisms in ancient ruins? Did you take the obelisk's energy and trigger the mechanism?"

"Really?" Owen didn't quite believe this guess. Mechanisms also need energy to operate, and he had already unplugged the power. Even if there was a mechanism, it should have stopped working.

Just then, several more demons rushed in through the entrance.

This time, Irving did not choose to kill them all, but left one alive.

He planned to use the Soul-Capturing Spell to see what was happening.

Then he saw a grayish-white light, with static from a television screen.

"What the hell?"

"Does the other party not have a soul?"

Irving showed a hint of shock.

Unless the other party is a puppet.

Just as Irving was pondering this, a familiar face appeared at the entrance.

"What happened?"

The person who came was Koyatl.

Her face was deathly pale, and her eyes were vacant.

In addition, there was some lack of coordination in his body—as if it was the first time he had taken control of this body and he needed to practice.

"The fairies have rioted," Koyatl said coldly.

Then he strode towards Irving.

"Fairies? A riot? How dare they?" Hermione asked in disbelief, her gaze sweeping over Koyatl, where she indeed saw several fairies chasing after her.

Immediately, she drew her wand and swung it rapidly for several seconds, casting seven or eight spells.

The spells were extremely powerful; the fairies were blasted into pieces almost without even a ripple.

"Are you that angry?" Owen glanced at Hermione. Did this girl hate fairies that much now?

"However—" he said, rapidly waving his wand and unleashing the Divine Slash Spell. "You forgot there's one more."

Koyatl, who was running towards him, fell to the ground with a thud.

A large, exaggerated wound appeared on his chest.

"Owen?" Hermione exclaimed in surprise.

"Don't rush. Look at her wound," Owen said.

After receiving the hint, Hermione quickly looked over and immediately noticed something strange: although the Koyatl had a wound on his chest, no blood was flowing out.

What's even more bizarre is that a silvery substance is gushing out of her wound, and this substance is rapidly repairing her wound.

"Isn't this kind of physical cutting magic very effective?" Owen muttered to himself.

"What monster?" Hermione cast a Barrier Charm, which struck the fallen monster and stopped its attempts to move.

"I have a guess, but I'm not sure." Owen grabbed Hermione's arm, ignoring the monster still on the ground, and strode towards the entrance.

Outside the main hall is a long tunnel.

There is still some distance to the elevator.

The road was teeming with all sorts of "fairies".

Without any hesitation, Owen waved his wand—a surge of soul energy instantly obliterated a large number of 'fairies'.

(End of this chapter)