Hopefully, the Earl can seize the opportunity to survive.
Afterwards, Cohen began to browse through several books he had borrowed from the library.
First was alchemy, where Cohen saw a very familiar word—"Albus."
"Albus..." Cohen's lips twitched.
So Dumbledore's name is a term from alchemy?!
Alchemy originated in Egypt, where a wizard named Hermes condensed it into thirteen sentences and carved them onto an emerald tablet (the Emerald Tablet).
Almost all alchemical texts in the wizarding world are analyses and expansions of those thirteen sentences in the Emerald Tablet, and the ultimate goal of alchemy—the Philosopher's Stone...
ha, it's just waiting to be stolen in school; learning these things now seems useless.
"If you really want to study this, why not just steal it?"
Cohen sighed.
Alchemy revolved around one ultimate goal—the Philosopher's Stone. All other alchemical items were merely byproducts, much like how Eastern alchemy produced gunpowder.
Nicolas Flamel was practically the culprit behind the destruction of ancient alchemy because he created the Philosopher's Stone. This caused almost all alchemists who aimed to create the Philosopher's Stone to abandon their pursuit—since someone had already created it, why not just steal it?
This led to frequent attacks on Flamel after his creation in 1383, though the attackers would always find themselves in foreign lands, discovering one of their fingers had turned to gold.
With no one succeeding, the attempt to steal or rob the Philosopher's Stone from Flamel gradually ceased—allowing him centuries of peaceful retirement.
Alchemy then began to branch out into other fields, some incorporating potion-making, others in runes and symbology…
Contemporary alchemy also had more topics to explore, among which Cohen even came across an alchemical term called "Homunculus."
"Homunculus… why does that sound so familiar?"
Cohen had a strong sense of familiarity with this word, as if… he had heard it "when he was a child."
Considering that he was a product of a runaway research project in some dark magic laboratory, it did seem very similar to the creation of a Homunculus. Was it because someone in that dark magic laboratory had uttered this term beside his young self?
[Homunculus possesses all sorts of knowledge from birth. It originates from the material within the bottle, yet transcends it. It is the most secretive and complex research direction in contemporary alchemy.
However, synthesizing life is a forbidden subject, and this book will not introduce or answer it.]
"Count, do I look like an idiot?"
Cohen asked the dozing count with a stiff expression.
"This is the second time you've asked this question, so my answer is—why are you asking?"
The Earl glanced at Cohen, continuing in his rather unseemly side-lying sleeping position for a bird.
"Dumbledore doesn't think that just because he tore this chapter out of the book and wrote his own paragraph as the ending, I'll actually believe that the book was originally like this, does he?"
Cohen retorted indignantly,
"He could at least have written it in print! He could have put a little effort into fooling me! He's the only one in the whole school with this kind of thin, artistic handwriting!"
The brief description of the "man in a bottle" from *The Alchemy Manual* was written on a nearly blank page, in Dumbledore's signature long, thin, concentric circles—almost a blatant message to Cohen: "I don't want you to see this. Go learn something else.
" "Perhaps he's afraid you'll go astray—after all, you're a naturally evil Dementor brat," the sleepy Earl mumbled. "But I agree with you; he really doesn't need to get too involved… In fact, you're already headed astray."
"I just want to figure out what I am…"
Cohen slumped back into his armchair, exhausted.
"It's like a child always wanting to know who their real mother is," the Earl concluded. "I don't even consider that question, because the first thing I saw when I hatched from the egg was a basilisk—everyone knows it's definitely not my mother, and it might even have eaten her, but it doesn't matter, you know, the one who raised you is the one you need to care about most—"
"Liar!" Cohen said in Voldemort's tone, "Last time you said John brought you into the lighthouse and then hatched you in the furnace!"
"Is that so? Was that the version I said last time?" The Earl turned his head and asked.
This bird was a habitual liar, and Cohen had no intention of trusting it at all—after Cohen trusted it and allowed it into the closet last time, it was filled with field mouse bones.
Now Cohen had no expectations for the next book; it was a book that Dumbledore had borrowed first, and it would definitely be modified whenever there was a part that "little Cohen can't read."
Cohen thought Dumbledore should be the director of the broadcasting bureau, not the headmaster of Hogwarts. The book
*The Soul in the Jar*
introduces a theory that souls and magic share a common origin. The book devotes considerable space to detailing each experiment involving the soul—somewhat cruel, but because it was written by the Department of Mysteries of the Ministry of Magic, to maintain official legitimacy, details about the selection and species of experimental subjects were glossed over.
This theory was recognized by the Ministry of Magic, and the researchers were awarded the Order of Merlin, Third Class. To this day, the Department of Mysteries still retains the "Brain Jar" and the "Arch of the Underworld" used for soul research.
The common origin of souls and magic… does seem to explain Cohen's current situation; a stronger soul also symbolizes stronger magic.
So, is Edward the floor of strength for the wizarding community?
If so, how can he normally cast high-difficulty spells like the Silent Charm?
Or perhaps the two are only relatively related, such as an increase in soul strength leading to an increase in magic power, while a decrease in soul strength does not lead to a decrease in magic power...
This seems more reasonable, because even with Voldemort's soul strength shattered into 40-point pieces, he could still overpower a bunch of high-level wizarding warriors. If soul strength and magic power were always equal, any professor at Hogwarts should be able to easily defeat him.
"Wait a minute... you really want to find out about your origins, right?"
The Earl, unable to sleep because of Cohen, rolled over in his owl-shaped bed and asked,
"Why don't you just go and check out the ruins of that laboratory?"
"Guess why I haven't gone..." Cohen pouted, "I've read through all the old newspapers in the library, and the Ministry of Magic hasn't reported on it at all."
"And Rose and Edward definitely won't tell me about it, and the professors at the school are even less likely to—"
"I know," the Earl said abruptly.
"?" Cohen stared at the Earl.
"I know what you want to say, 'Why didn't you say so sooner?'" The Earl continued slowly, "Well, let me ask you, you never actually asked me—who would ask an owl's opinion, even if it's an owl old enough to be your mother's ancestor..."
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(End of Chapter)