socalfunplaces Chapter 276, Section 275: Death and Accident
Chapter 276, Section 275: Death and Accident
Chapter 276, Section 275: Death and Accident
Deep in the forbidden forest.
In the devastated area, moonlight cast dappled shadows on the bronze gate. The scorched earth and crumbling rocks testified to a fierce battle that had once taken place here. Ian stood before the valley, his green eyes fixed on the massive bronze gate, hundreds of meters high, before which he appeared like an ant.
"Even if Wu Xie comes, he'll have to call me an expert... I'll probably have to pull out my black donkey hoof and pretend to be nervous for a bit." He muttered to himself, recalling a novel he had once read. The bronze door stood majestically, its frame densely covered with runes—not just runes, but also various ancient magical scripts intertwined together.
The layers of runes and unfamiliar magical script, some deeply engraved to the bone, others shimmering like flowing mercury, together formed a hodgepodge of magical languages that constituted the magical power of this bronze gate.
"What exactly is this thing?"
Ian reached out and lightly touched the door's surface with his fingertips. The touch was cold and smooth, yet he couldn't discern what material it was. The cold touch carried a subtle vibration. The material of this door was neither ordinary metal, nor stone, nor anything else. Ian couldn't find any adjectives to describe the feel of it.
Perhaps it truly belongs to a substance unknown even in nature or the alchemical world? Ian felt that the bronze door's composition was more like some kind of solidified magical artifact.
Ian tried again to use magic to influence the gate.
One of his most proficient magical skills was dark magic—and transfiguration. Having proven that dark magic had no effect on the bronze gate, Ian began experimenting with transfiguration to transform it into other objects, wanting to see if the gate could shake his extraordinary properties.
"Transform instantly!"
Ian's magic flowed through the gate, but it was like a stone sinking into the sea; it couldn't even shake the rust on the surface of the bronze gate. He could feel the magic he used to perform the transformation dissipate in an instant.
Does it have the property of being immune to magic?
That shouldn't be done.
This bronze door itself exudes an extremely strong magical aura. Even if some material were immune to magic, according to alchemical theory, it would certainly be unable to withstand any other magic.
in other words.
The bronze gate, now located deep within the Forbidden Forest of Hogwarts, which may have been exposed due to an earthquake that caused the valley to shatter, possesses a paradox that would be impossible in the realm of alchemy.
"Has there been an earthquake before?"
Ian didn't pay much attention to these things; he didn't recall any such incidents. However, he had been away from Hogwarts for a period of time, and there might have been an earthquake in that timeline when he was there. Regardless of whether there was an earthquake or not, logically speaking, the bronze door should have been sealed and not activated before.
If not.
The professors at Hogwarts, along with the old headmaster and his good friend, should have noticed something amiss here. Ian, who enjoys wandering in the Forbidden Forest, couldn't have only heard the dragon's roar today either—clearly, the reason he only discovered the anomaly now is because something caused the sealed bronze door to reappear.
But before it reappears.
It doesn't know how long it has been buried in this valley, and there must be some methods in the valley to prevent others from discovering the mystery when it was sealed.
Thinking about this...
Ian's attention also shifted to the valley.
He donned his flight cloak and, like Doctor Strange, ascended into the air, his pale green eyes scanning the various hidden places within the split valley.
"No, someone has damaged the valley that originally sealed the bronze gate?"
Ian then discovered another very strange place, because the cracks in the entire valley were too regular, as if they had been precisely torn open by some force rather than being caused by "the time" or a natural earthquake.
"Who would do such a thing, and why would they do it?" he muttered to himself, then waved his wand and flew swiftly into the depths of the valley's crevice.
Inside are various rocks that haven't seen the light of day for who knows how many years.
Unnatural patterns gradually appeared on the rock walls on both sides. As he expected, many of those seemingly ordinary cracks were inscribed with demonic runes upon closer inspection.
The entire interior of the valley.
The area revealed after the valley split open was covered with countless enormous magical runes, and even some of the internal stones were shaped in a specific way. They spread throughout the mountain like blood vessels, some dull and lifeless, others shimmering slightly, as if still in operation.
These stones may be carved or magically modified; Ian cannot make a clear judgment. He cannot even fully identify all the magical runes, just as he cannot effectively decipher the combined effect of the mixed magical runes on the bronze gate.
"I guess I'm not knowledgeable enough." Ian couldn't help but sigh. The runes he was seeing were just as much of a hodgepodge as the runes on the bronze gate.
Perhaps both were created by the same person. Regardless of the situation, Ian could tell from the runes he could recognize that, just as he had guessed before, the entire valley was a huge "container," a sealing facility used to contain and suppress the operation of the bronze gate.
Could it be a reserved facility?
Ian felt like he was becoming one of his classmates who were completely clueless about magic. After all, he had only attended school for a year, so it was impossible for him to learn all the knowledge in the wizarding world. In fact, even with a renowned teacher, it would definitely not be something he could accomplish in ten or twenty years to learn all the magic in the world.
It's like science for Muggles.
The era of wizarding magic predates the era of scientific development by a considerable margin. Although progress has stagnated somewhat in recent years, countless branches of magic have indeed evolved over the long course of history. A wizard, even in a lifetime, could not possibly master all branches, just as even the most powerful scientist could not be an expert in all scientific fields.
Human beings have their limits.
Even geniuses like Ian and Einstein are no exception. Even for someone of exceptional talent, the learning speed of an individual, even if they studied all the knowledge of wizards day and night, would take an extremely long time.
Even with knowledge readily available for learning, things are already like this. Not to mention that some knowledge has actually been lost for many years, and it's impossible to find it to learn anymore.
Therefore.
Ian also avoids internal conflict.
If we don't know each other, we don't know each other.
He is still young.
There was still a bright future to explore. Ian continued deeper into the crack, and more and more runes came into view. Some he recognized—like the runes for "binding," "cycle," and "time"; others were completely unfamiliar, like some ancient magical language, even mixed with strange graffiti that didn't seem to belong to this world.
"That's a big spender..."
A hint of amazement flashed in Ian's eyes. The ability to transform an entire valley into an alchemical creation and even inscribe such a complex sealing system was far beyond his imagination.
Even Nicolas Flamel probably couldn't do that. Hmm, the real old professor would be very happy here; after all, only a master understands how boring the lonely life of a master can be.
And at that very moment.
"roar!"
Suddenly, a familiar dragon roar came from behind.
Ian turned around and saw the chaotic vortex within the bronze gate churning once more. The head of the ancient dragon suddenly emerged, its ferocious eyes flashing with a light that was a mixture of madness and fear.
"Has a brain, but not many?"
Ian saw the dragon, and the dragon saw Ian. This time, the dragon chose to flee again, but in the opposite direction from last time.
Perhaps in its view.
Could the opposite direction prevent it from ending up like before?
Ian, however, felt that it was somewhat unavoidable.
It turns out.
He was the most intelligent creature in the valley—the dragon's massive body swept across the treetops, but the next second, the dragon stopped again at the edge.
Its scales began to peel off.
Like withered leaves, they fell one by one.
The exposed flesh withered and decayed at a visible speed. The dragon's wings still flapped desperately, but cracks had already appeared in its bones, and it finally shattered completely with a mournful howl. The entire dragon was once again swept away by an invisible torrent of time, turning into ashes that scattered in the night wind within seconds.
"Just as expected."
Based on previous observations, Ian speculated that there was an invisible force field around the bronze gate, and any creature that emerged from it could only move within this invisible force field.
Exceeding even a little bit means you are no longer protected by this position.
"Immortality in captivity is more cruel than death."
The little wizard sighed softly.
Take a turn.
With a light tap of his wand, Ian began to trace the runes on the rock wall. Pale blue magical threads flowed from the tip of his wand, clinging to the runes as if they were alive.
They were completely imprinted into Ian's mind. Great wizards all have their own techniques for memorizing knowledge, and Ian chose the shortcut of using magic to memorize.
Why use magic when you have it?
Why waste your brain cells?
That's so self-torturing.
Organizing these runes.
Ian has discovered runes related to Death once again.
Could this be a coincidence?
Of course, it's unlikely.
"So? Death created this gate?" Ian couldn't help but let his imagination run wild, which wasn't entirely unreasonable, after all, Death had once created the Three Holy Relics.
He can also alchemize.
Moreover, as a god.
It is perfectly reasonable to create works that transcend the scope of human alchemy.
of course.
This is just Ian's guess.
Runes associated with Death may not necessarily be the work of Death himself; they could be the work of believers in Death, or perhaps the operation of this bronze gate relies on the power of Death.
"roar!"
Again.
Looking back at the dragon that kept reappearing in cycles, Ian felt that the latter possibility was also quite likely. But in any case, the appearance of the runes representing death here was by no means meaningless.
The dragon changed direction and flew in a third direction.
This time.
The same ending.
Ian was getting a bit tired of seeing it.
After the last set of runes was copied, Ian put away his wand. Ian had roughly memorized all the runes inside the mountain before he turned around and flew back to the location of the bronze gate.
"Who made this thing? Could it be something created by Death?" Ian stared at the runes related to Death, unsure whether it was connected to Death.
Before the young wizard, the enormous door still stood silently, with chaotic mist slowly flowing through the cracks, as if mocking his ignorance in silence.
Just as he was pondering, the vortex on the bronze door suddenly began to spin violently, and the chaotic mist began to surge violently, as if something was struggling to break out from behind the door.
"here we go again!"
Ian sighed helplessly, and instantly raised his wand, the tip of which shone with a dazzling blue light.
The next second, a huge dragon head suddenly emerged from the vortex, its ferocious dragon eyes staring intently at him, but before it could even emerge, Ian's wand was stuffed into its nostrils.
"Go back!"
Without hesitation, Ian swung his wand, unleashing a torrent of violent magic that slammed directly into the dragon's head. The dragon let out a painful roar and tumbled backward.
This caused its massive body, which was about to burst out, to be forcefully thrown back into the bronze gate—the vortex completely submerged it, and just when Ian thought this might be the fastest way to deal with the dragon.
"Boom!"
The vortex inside the bronze gate suddenly accelerated its rotation, unleashing a terrifying suction force! It didn't suck up gravel or anything else, but instead focused its frenzied suction on Ian, who was standing right in front of it.
Perhaps it wasn't because Ian was studying it, but because Ian had interfered with its normal operation—his act of driving the dragon back just now seemed to have triggered some mechanism of the bronze gate.
"Um?!"
Ian's body lurched forward, his feet carving two deep furrows in the ground, but he still couldn't resist the force. He immediately waved his wand, trying to use magic to steady himself.
"Gravity anchoring!"
The magic has just begun to form.
It was instantly disintegrated by the power of the vortex. Not only that, several of Ian's spells in succession were unable to resist this suction force; all the magic spells formed from magical energy were destroyed.
"Tsk..." Ian's expression finally changed. His body was being pulled by an irresistible force, sliding little by little towards the bronze door. Various incantations burst from his mouth one after another.
The magical light exploded into dazzling sparks under the suction, only to be instantly swallowed up.
"Damn it! I'll never do that again!"
The little wizard felt a little regretful.
Even with seven or eight flight cloaks on, he couldn't counteract the bronze gate's pull. He slowly approached the vortex inside the gate, and was gradually swallowed up by it.
"I hope it's not the Jurassic era inside..." Ian couldn't help but pray in his heart. Before he finished speaking, his figure completely disappeared into the vortex. The bronze door slowly closed, the vortex subsided, and the Forbidden Forest returned to silence, except for the mess on the ground and the lingering magical aftershocks in the air.
Everything seemed as if it had never happened.
(End of this chapter)