At Hogwarts, the story begins with deconstructing Avada Kedavra.

As the portal dissipated, Lucien felt dizzy, as if he had broken free from the cramped prison of his senses and crashed into an endless sea of ​​stars.

When his gaze refocused, Lucien found himself not back in the tower, but above a vast galaxy.

Beneath my feet lies a crisscrossing silver chessboard, each piece a star.

This is a vast space with the universe as its chessboard.

On the other side of the chessboard, the blurry figure that had appeared in the illusion finally solidified.

Rowena Ravenclaw.

She wore a dark blue robe, her face obscured, only her eyes remained, calm as time itself, tinged with desolation and indifference.

But the blurred outline of light and shadow is far superior to any stone carving.

It possesses a majestic presence that seems to see through the passage of time, and a lively energy that allows the stars to shift and change.

"You Ravenclaw, you're not greedy at all," Rowena said, and the starry sky pulsed in response.

"You should know Ravenclaw best, shouldn't you, Your Excellency Headmaster?" Even in this game of chess that could crush mortal souls, Lucian remained upright and bowed slightly.

To the founder of the academy, a pioneer who tirelessly pursued the truth.

"Only when reason prevails over greed can we see the way out of the fog of truth. I just don't want to be distracted by empty fame on the road to finding the truth."

"Do not seek complete knowledge, nor be misled by desires." Rowena nodded slightly.

"In the past thousand years, you are the first 'variable' to have made it here alive."

Rowena raised his hand, and a yellowed parchment scroll with charred edges appeared out of thin air, hovering in front of Lucien.

Beside it was an alchemy table, piled high with rare materials long since extinct: dragon blood crystals, unicorn horns, phoenix bone powder...

"This is my last task before I die: to confront the will of the world with transcendence and immortality."

Unfortunately, I failed...

The Philosopher's Stone was the first step in all of this.

Rowena pointed to the materials, "Refine it. If you succeed, you will inherit my legacy; if you fail..."

Before he finished speaking, Lucien walked straight to the alchemy table and unfolded the manuscript.

The paper was covered with complex alchemical formulas and annotations, written in a messy and chaotic handwriting, clearly written by Rowena in a state of extreme anxiety.

"You only have one chance." Rowena's figure gradually faded, disappearing into the starry sky.

"Let's begin."

Lucian walked directly to the alchemy platform, flicked his finger, and the dark blue alchemical flames ignited instantly.

Following the steps in the manuscript, he poured in mercury and sulfur, and rhythmically tapped the edge of the crucible with his wand.

"Phase One, Nigredo. A return to the primordial chaos of matter."

The material rapidly decomposes under high temperatures, turning into a mass of black sludge. This is the process of death and decay, the foundation upon which all rebirth is built.

Lucian picked up a crystal of dragon's blood.

The moment it fell into the mercury crucible, the liquid was stained a viscous, deathly lead black.

"Phoenix bone powder, to stabilize the soul." He sprinkled in a handful of powder that shimmered with a faint flame.

A phoenix's mournful cry echoed from the thick smoke, and the lifeless, lead-black liquid began to writhe eerily, giving birth to a twisted new life!

"The second stage, Albedo. Removing the dust to reveal the truth."

Lucian's mental perception had reached its limit. In his eyes, the black mass was countless intertwined and twisted lines of cause and effect.

He hovered his wand above the cauldron and slowly poured in moonstone powder.

As the powder was sprinkled in, the murky black mist was forcibly stripped away, and the remaining liquid gradually became transparent from lead-gray, eventually flowing with a holy silver light.

The starry chessboard was illuminated in every detail.

The third stage is Rubedo. This is the key to solidifying the illusory will into eternal matter.

The manuscript clearly states:

The Crimson Lion is its father, and Fire is its wet nurse.

As the beast roars in the furnace, it feeds on the blood of the sun.

Therefore, one should separate ice from flame, extract the essence from the coarse, and proceed with utmost care in a short time.

At this moment, the silver liquid inside the crucible, under high temperature, transforms into a lion composed of crimson steam, which is roaring wildly, symbolizing the most violent and primal tension of magical energy.

Lucian lightly waved his wand, attempting to suppress the temperature.

But at the very moment he was about to act, he stopped.

In his mental vision, he saw countless gray lines of death. Those were the inevitable failures that would result from following the manuscript.

"wrong."

"Ms. Rowena, is this why you failed back then?"

You seek stability, yet forget that magic itself is a betrayal of stability!

"The stillness of the magical world... is death."

"Incendio Tria (Fire Fire)!"

boom!

The originally ghostly blue flames instantly transformed into a ghastly white, sentient inferno. The terrifying heat turned the once silver space a pale white.

"Madman..." A soft snort came from the void, indistinguishable as either praise or mockery.

The red lion inside the crucible let out a mournful scream. It disintegrated and reformed in the fierce fire, transforming into a red dragon that coiled around, and then into three-colored lions that bit each other.

A blinding red light burst forth, sweeping across the entire galaxy.

As the light faded, a crystal the size of a thumb lay quietly at the bottom of the crucible. It was blood red, pulsating, and bursting with an astonishing vitality that took one's breath away.

This is the Philosopher's Stone, born from the distortion of the laws!

"This is the correct answer."

The starry sky trembled.

Rowena's figure re-emerged.

"You are more arrogant than I am... and more right than I am." She floated down slowly, gently touching Lucien's forehead. "I lost to the rules, but you... perhaps you really can tear this script apart."

The surrounding galaxy began to collapse on a large scale, turning into streams of light that entered Lucian's body.

"That crown outside has long been tainted by malice, becoming a curse," Rowena whispered in his ear. "The true crown is this wisdom itself, capable of seeing through all things. Go, child. If you encounter Helena..."

Before vanishing, the witch known as the Wise Woman revealed a bittersweet smile befitting a mother:

"Tell her that Mom never blamed her. I just... couldn't beat fate. But now, someone else has taken over this game."

A sliver of cool moonlight shone into Lucien's brow.

The essence of countless spells, the loopholes in the rules, and the destiny of the world flashed wildly before his eyes, eventually converging into an extremely complex star-shaped mark.

That was Ravenclaw's lifelong magical insight.

At this moment, he could see the magic flowing through every brick of the castle, the causal threads permeating the air, and the hidden blind spots behind every creature.

Lucian's doubts arose, and this expressiveness was all too consistent with his inner worldview.

……

When Lucian opened his eyes again

The marble statue in front of me stood silently.

But the heavy weight in his pockets reminded him that it was all real.

at this time,

A golden-red blur rushed in. Professor Flitwick's wand was flashing red, followed by Dumbledore, whose expression was solemn and whose blue eyes no longer held any smile.

Fox circled in the air and let out a long cry.

"What happened? The energy fluctuations that erupted from the tower just now even awakened the creatures in the Forbidden Forest!" Flitwick waved his wand, scanning his surroundings warily.

Lucian quickly concealed the brilliance in his eyes and leaned against the wall. But a fervor that still burned in those eyes made both professors' hearts tremble.

That was the look in the eyes of someone who had just glimpsed the truth.

Lucian's voice was a little hoarse.

"Sorry, I think I went a little too far."

"Too much?" Dumbledore looked around. The concentration of residual magic here was astonishingly high, and the air was filled with an ancient and pure aura.

"I think I've unlocked Rowena Ravenclaw's secrets."

Lucian straightened up, his tone suggesting he was discussing the pudding flavor for tonight.

"But I found the manuscript left by Lady Ravenclaw very interesting, so I tried to recreate it using alchemy, and it resonated with me a little bit."

Dumbledore and Flitwick stared at the lingering silver starlight in Lucian's eyes, speechless for a moment.

"Merlin's beard...?"

The Ravenclaw headmaster looked up at his students. "Just for... the pursuit of truth?"

"The thirst for knowledge is always hard to suppress, isn't it, Dean?"

Lucian smiled politely, then looked at the white-bearded old man.

"Headmaster Dumbledore, I hope I haven't broken any school rules. After all, it's not written in the rules that one can be engrossed in studying during curfew."

Dumbledore’s signature, enigmatic, gentle smile returned to his face.

"Of course not, child."

The old man looked at Lucian's slightly tired face.

"However, next time, for academic research of this level, it would be best to inform Professor Flitwick," Dumbledore added gently. "After all, some truths are too heavy to bear alone. And..."

He blinked, a sly glint in his blue eyes behind his glasses.

"...wouldn't it be a shame to miss out on sharing your joy with others?"

Sharing joy? Lucien paused slightly.

His gaze lingered briefly on the two professors' concerned faces before shifting away, and he responded in his usual elegant yet aloof tone:

"Thank you for your suggestion, Principal. But the path to truth is a solitary journey."

He nodded slightly as a gesture of respect. "If there's nothing else, I think I need to rest."