Hogwarts: From Selling White Peppers to Becoming a God

Chapter 207 Halloween Eve

Halloween is almost here.

Murphy sadly discovered that his goal of maintaining a healthy lifestyle had not been achieved at all... Now he not only has to do his own research, but also lead his students in research, and he feels busier than before.

But fortunately, there were some gains.

Two days ago, news came from the Magic Research Institute that after hundreds of iterations and optimizations of the model, they had found a super-powerful staff-core antenna model that could achieve about 90% of the theoretical limit.

After matching the wand model with the wand body, the research institute designed a magic wand.

Murphy was somewhat stunned when he saw the design drawing that the researchers jokingly called the "Supreme Wand".

Why does this thing look so familiar?

From the outside, it is a sixteen-inch wooden stick, but unlike ordinary wooden sticks, it is like bamboo with seven joints from head to tail. In the cross-section, each joint actually contains a large number of concentrated core coils.

Ah, this...

Isn't that the Elder Wand?!

Murphy had seen Dumbledore's wand; while not exactly the same as the one in the picture, it was certainly very similar.

So the optimal structure that I painstakingly calculated already exists in reality?

Considering the biological characteristics of wands, and the fact that the Elder Wand has been passed down through generations, if wizards subjectively believe it to be the strongest wand, then with the support of the "magic network's" power of thought, the Elder Wand might self-optimize. And after countless generations of owners continuously optimizing it, it is quite possible that it eventually approaches the theoretically optimal structure.

Isn't this just a magical version of the evolutionary algorithm?

Indeed, compared to science, magic is much more convenient, as it offers far greater autonomy.

With the wand design in place, the next step was to control the growth of the wand core by incorporating potions, so that it would resemble the design in the blueprints.

The core in the design is actually a phased array antenna tree. When magic flows through different branches, different harmonics are formed, thus creating gain for signals of different frequencies and directions.

The antenna tree in the design is very complex. Ideally, it could have tens of thousands of branches. Even when simplified, it would still require controlling the growth of at least sixty main branches, the thickest of which is only about 10 micrometers.

Murphy doesn't have much of a clue about how to precisely control the growth of the cane core yet, so he can only start by looking at the shape of the cane core space.

He plans to carve the core space of the staff into the shape of an antenna tree.

If you can't control the contents, control the container first.

However, conventional methods are not feasible for creating 10-micrometer-scale fine structures within a single piece of wood.

Murphy decided to use the Amplification Spell and Laser Dial.

To achieve the best carving effect, he used snakewood with extremely high cell density as the material for the staff.

After the wand body is made through the wood processing steps, the base and tip are cut off. The wand body is then magnified tenfold using an enlargement charm. Then, starting from the bottom or top, holes are drilled using a high-energy laser to create a tree-shaped wand core space.

For the coil structure in the joint area, gamma rays were used for internal carving.

Once the core space is complete, remove the enlargement spell to restore its original size. Then, install the staff tip, inject the fusion potion in the cleanroom, and finally place the staff core in, insert the base, and wait for the staff core to grow along the tree-like core space under the stimulation of the fusion potion.

Even with this method, the overall processing precision is only 10 micrometers, which can only carve the most important thirty-odd branches to meet the requirements. The remaining branches with smaller diameters and higher precision requirements cannot be made at all.

The coil structure in the joint section also fails to meet design requirements, with the number of coils and turns reduced by more than half.

However, this is already the limit of current carving techniques.

Murphy was eager to know how this new wand would compare to the Old Wand.

……

By the last weekend of October, the core of the cane had finished growing.

The snakewood wand is finally complete.

It is sixteen inches long, dark red all over, covered with snake patterns, and heavy in the hand. It doesn't feel like holding a wooden stick, but more like holding a metal weapon.

Murphy added a harpy feather to his wand—he didn't use his own hair or anything like that because he wasn't sure if using a part of his own body as a wand core would be affected by things like cell aging. To reduce variables, he first tested it with a harpy feather that he knew could be used as a wand core.

He tried it himself first, and it was indeed much better than the wand he had made before, but perhaps due to compatibility issues, it still did not achieve the effect he was satisfied with.

So after Murphy tested the magic properties of the wand, he gave it to Tom, who was theoretically the most suitable candidate.

Harry could also participate, but the first Quidditch match is about to begin, and Harry has been training very hard lately, so he simply doesn't have time to participate in group activities.

"This wand is too new. Based on my guess, a new wand and its owner need a period of adjustment. Try it out these few days, and once you feel familiar with it, we can compare it with your original wand."

Tom hesitated for a moment.

He had recently discovered a lead about Tom Riddell.

Not long ago, Draco told him that Tom Riddle was a student at Hogwarts fifty years ago, and his special contribution to the school was related to preventing a heinous crime. Later, after Tom's investigation, he discovered that a Muggle-born student, Moaning Myrtle Warren, was killed in that case.

He's currently investigating who Myrtle Warren really is, spending long hours at the library every day, and he didn't originally want to take on this kind of testing assignment.

But this snakewood wand was just too beautiful.

After learning that he was a Parsleyan, Tom developed a great fondness for snakes, and the snakewood wand seemed tailor-made for him.

He took the wand from Murphy's hand, and the instant he held it, he felt a surge of power coursing through his body, as if he could do anything he wanted with this wand.

Powerful, undeniably powerful!

He really didn't want to miss the chance to use the magic wand.

"Yes, Professor, I will make good use of it."

……

Halloween Eve.

The large dining room was filled with pumpkin lanterns, countless bats flew around, and the four tables were laden with food.

Harry and Ron sat at the Ravenclaw table, enjoying pumpkin pie with Hermione.

"Where's Tom?" Harry asked, feeling that he hadn't seen many of his crew members, except for Ron, for a while.

"He suddenly ran out just now," Cho Chang said, puzzled, from not far away. "I was just talking to Hermione about the crying Myrtle, and he seemed very interested. He asked where Myrtle was and then left."

"Myrtle? That ghost?" Ron had heard about this ghost from his brothers. "Why would he go looking for a ghost?"

"Could it be related to our topic?" Harry asked.

"No, I've been spending a lot of time with Tom lately. He's been researching Legilimency, but he hasn't done much research on ghosts yet..." Hermione said.

The group was somewhat puzzled, but Tom was a Slytherin, and he was naturally a bit mysterious, so it wasn't surprising that he was keeping some secret from them.

……

Murphy sat at the teacher's table, slowly preparing the stewed potatoes in front of him, though he had little appetite.

Although he had been living in England for so many years and had long been accustomed to the British diet, he was getting really tired of eating the same thing every day.

If I had known better, I wouldn't have had the students do any experiments at all; we could have just had them grow vegetables!

Even planting a few cabbages would be better than eating potatoes every day.

He simply put down his knife and fork and glanced at the students below.

The trio is all there.

Because Hermione was sorted into Ravenclaw, she didn't have to worry about the two clumsy kids losing points, so she didn't have to constantly remind them. As a result, she had a pretty good relationship with Harry and Ron and wasn't disliked.

She thrived in Ravenclaw and even befriended Cho Chang, so there was no scene like the one in the original book where she was provoked by Ron's comment about not having any friends and ran to the bathroom to cry.

This might make the friendship between the three not as strong as in the original story, but it doesn't matter. The trio is just part of the plot. Harry is the protagonist of Dumbledore's play, but he doesn't have that much to do with his own script.

So, where's Tom?

He was preparing to observe Tom's movements through the Seed of the Mind when suddenly Quirrell ran in.

"A troll! A troll is in the underground classroom!"

(End of this chapter)