Ian once saw talking books in the Forbidden Book Area of the Hogwarts Library. He even conducted a curious study of them, which must be one of the important reasons behind the absurd scene in front of him today.
"I become more efficient in alchemy when I'm drunk?!" Ian tried hard to recall what he did last night, but all he could remember was himself battling dance leaders at a ghosts' banquet.
Kids really shouldn't drink.
He had no idea when he returned to the Room of Requirement and how he managed to stay up all night tinkering with this pile of books. He even managed to decorate a Dementor somehow.
The feeling of a hangover is very unpleasant.
Especially for Ian's body, which was not yet fully developed.
He shook his aching head, as scattered fragments of memory seemed to spill out. But he only recalled categorizing the bones of Riddle's whole family.
"One of you must be Old Tom," Ian remarked as he glanced at the pile of Muggle bones that had been carefully sorted out. Due to their lack of magical bloodline, they were spared and stacked in a corner. As for the bones with magical bloodline, they were now floating in the air as the Book of Bones.
None were spared.
"My body is about to explode!"
"Can't you make me bigger?"
"You've messed up the face on my cover; take it off and fix it right away!"
"Oh, heavens, what a boring creator. He made us just to talk with stupid snakes. I feel I despise the content and mission I carry!"
...
A group of floating Books of Bones chattered non-stop.
Their covers were composed of intricately selected human bones, originally scattered and now rearranged into lifelike but uniquely distinct skeletal faces.
Some male, some female.
They looked decidedly evil, but also had an artistic vibe. Ian felt that his artistic flair was rather pronounced when drunk, and he grabbed one of the Books of the Snake Language and opened it.
Sure enough.
Just like when his plans were interrupted by ghosts last night, the book contained no words, only ancient rune symbols outlined in lines, faintly flickering.
"Hiss hiss hiss~"
The open Book of the Snake Language ceased its complaining, and the skeletal face on the cover began whispering instructional tones, as if snakes were murmuring in Ian's ears.
Accompanied by translations.
But before the translated whispers began, Ian found that he had already guessed the meaning of snake-speech ahead of time, despite some errors, it was generally not too far off.
Only now did Ian notice that after last night's frantic crafting, his Alchemy was approaching a breakthrough point, and he had gained a preliminary understanding of Snake-man during the creation of the Book of the Snake Language. Although he didn't acquire specific Skills, the Skills he already possessed had greatly improved.
[Language Mastery (Level 7): 5/6400]
From Level 6 to Level 7, it reached the same level as [Flame Conquest]. Fully mastering snake-speech might lead to a considerable enhancement.
"Hiss hiss hiss~"
Ian attempted to interact with the Book of the Snake Language using Snake-man.
"Hiss hiss hiss hiss hiss~"
The skeletal face on the cover of the Book of the Snake Language immediately responded. This is the reason why the Books of the Snake Language appear to have high 'intelligence' and make comments.
Ian's creative concept is to provide learners with a good language exchange environment.
He believed that the rigid memorization and study of words and language structures would only leave learners able to understand snake-speech but never truly communicate. Being able to have exchanges while learning is the best way to learn and definitely the fastest method to learn a language.
"You all are wonderful!" Ian gave the Book of the Snake Language a perfect score for user experience, and he immediately took out his carving knife to inscribe a sentence on the Book of the Snake Language.
[They will speak to you. This is a masterpiece book by Ian Prince.]
Following the Bone Crushing and Ash Scattering Box, Ian created his own original work. Although the materials were somewhat from the Underworld, the Book of the Snake Language was evidently more meaningful than the Bone Crushing and Ash Scattering Box. If the Gaunt Clan has no objections in the Yellow Springs, it might indeed be called an outstanding piece.
After all.
Parselmouth, aside from bloodline inheritance, is notoriously difficult for even Dumbledore to master through study. Dumbledore, apart from being a magic genius, is also a linguistics genius. Even such an expert can only memorize some syllables through rote learning. For other mediocre wizards, mastering Snake-man is even more unlikely.
"Unfortunately, I can't sell you at school, at least not until I catch a treasure snake-monster... The little wizards at school probably won't offer a high price anyway." Ian scrambled around the room, gathering the Books of the Snake Language that were fleeing in all directions and stuffed dozens of them into his money bag.
After numerous expansions, Ian's money bag now had the size of a football field. Most of his possessions were now conveniently carried with him.