Capítulo 414: Brewing the Dark Scroll Potion - Potioneer!
Mini Arc: Demon King - Rise of Kai Stormborn - Begins...
...
2 September 1990
Diagon Alley
02:00 am
They had gathered between the lake and the White Serpent Tower, surrounding the enormous cauldron. A blue fire lit under the cauldron and cast shadows in all directions.
Kai was scooching over a dozen charts, reconfirming the timing and magical probability of the potion's completion. The ingredients were sufficient only for one experiment. A second set of ingredients would burn them dry, bankrupting the enormous Sun and Moon Organization.
Kai rolled the charts and passed them to Item-M.
He stepped forward and neared the cauldron, a thick solution bubbling within it, smelling of blood. The vapors steaming off the solution had a rotten, but enchanting burn about them. Kai noticed that and frowned.
He looked up, and his gaze met Rintaro. They nodded.
It was time.
"Chinese Fireball's claws," Kai demanded, holding out his hand. Rintaro placed 3 claws there, all half-a-hand large.
For the potion to become an Artifact, Kai must brew it himself. Still, for precaution, all stepped back by a few feet, except Rintaro and Cersei. They weren't exactly people, and wouldn't count as external interference.
Kai dropped the claws inside the cauldron and carefully snapped his fingers, complementing the stirring with the right spell. It wouldn't matter if it took over a hundred snapping to get the spell right. He could not afford any error now. Not even marginal.
"3 drops of Liquid Luck."
Rintaro handed over the vial, bought from the Primordial Tower Trade Market.
Kai added one drop, stirred the potion for 15 minutes, cast a spell to cool the potion, and then added another. He repeated the process once more, always monitoring Item-M, who was referring to the charts along with the brewing.
She nodded at him with a hard face.
"Unicorn's blood."
Rintaro gave him another vial, containing 10 ml of silvery liquid. Strangely, but not so strangely, Unicorn's blood was the costliest ingredient among the thirteen. No one, not even a Contestant, was willing to live a cursed life, which was already cursed.
Collecting Unicorn's Blood had always been a job a Contestant was forced to do by top-floor organizations.
Kai smelled the enchanting, sweet smell of the blood and poured it into the solution.
It was also then the strange, rotten burn of the steam coming off the potion vanished, becoming something far more appealing and exciting. Even the surface of the potion had gone still as a winter lake, almost frozen and blue.
"Boggart."
Cersei went away and brought a large, dusty cabinet, which rattled as she put it down.
Kai had not been sure about the presence of Boggart within the thirteen ingredients. Still, a year of research had produced significant results. Apparently, a Boggart wasn't much unlike the Sorting Hat from Hogwarts. It could look into the target's mind, automatically selecting the current greatest fear and took shape of that.
In layman's terms, a Boggart was like a machine running on endless fuel, which had no motive other than its prime directive of transforming itself into others' fears.
Cersei nodded at Kai and unlocked the cabinet.
The doors swung open with a bang.
Kai stared into the darkness as it stared back at him.
1 second…
2 seconds…
3 seconds…
Kai closed his eyes. When he opened them again, two crystals were bobbing up and down there, his fears locked into his subconsciousness.
A beastly growl left the darkness, and the scream melted into the open surroundings.
Kai snorted and grabbed the churning mass of foul air within the cabinet using Telekinesis. Before the Boggart could transform itself based on others, who were already looking away from it, he dropped it into the potion.
A soundless boom shook the cauldron, and an enormous amount of vapors shot out from the previously still potion. The strands of steam churned, taking many unrecognizable shapes, screaming, blathering, and hissing.
Kai waited for them to calm down before casting a shrinking charm.
"1 square ft of Dementor's shroud."
One of his children glided forward and ripped an already marked piece of its billowing cloak. Kai took the ethereal cloak in his hands, dismissing the Dementor.
He dropped it into the potion and saw it diffusing within the potion like ice in the water.
A clear gray color appeared on the top of the potion as if it had hidden under a veil.
"Phoenix's egg."
Cersei stepped forward, taking out a palm-sized red egg, fiery lines running across it like runes. This was the smallest egg of all the Phoenix's eggs they could find. This was also the only egg they could find.
Kai raised the temperature of the potion.
"0.5 degrees more, my lord," Item-M corrected.
Kai nodded and snapped the fingers lightly, controlling the fire under the cauldron.
Then he dropped the egg.
Cry!!!
Massive flames burst out of the potion, taking the shape of a Phoenix. The magical bird cried toward the sky, flew up, and then made a 360-degree loop before falling back into the potion.
Kai found himself looking at the most beautiful color he had ever seen. Red, but regal, with a touch of purity.
Then Kai added the skull of a 5000-year-old Mummy, which let out images of sandy storms, full of dark magic.
Next came the Thestral's ashes, which were invisible to all, but a few. That meant they were visible to all Contestants, who had seen death within a Harry Potter World.
After that, Kai added the herb, Thaumatagoria.
Basilisk's Fang came next, which Red Sun had taken over 6 months to get. Not the rarest, but the most troubling ingredient, for it raised questions.
Sphinx's eyes dissolved into the potion, but not before asking a puzzle.
At the 12th step, Kai added the Brains of 7 Dragons, one after another. With each brain, the potion reduced, as if it was discarding all the unnecessary thoughts, retaining the wisdom.
When Kai was done, only a few drops were remaining at the bottom of the cauldron, persistently bearing the hotness.
The potion was all but done.
All breaths damped as Kai took out the bottle of memories. As he had predicted, the MACUSA had blamed the sudden loss of memories on an international criminal, the Yellow Warlock, now jointly pursued by the American and British ministries.
From what Kai had read on Madam Villanelle's face, he was sure that even she considered it the baffling appearance of the preparator behind Lord Ekrizdis' release.
"Be ready," Kai said, calming the nerves of everyone.
Then he poured the memories into the cauldron.
The 1000 memories cheered, laughed, and hoorayed as they tossed themselves among the remnant of the last 12 steps within the cauldron.
Kai observed as the silvery strands seemed to wash the last few drops. "Amazing," he mumbled, bending over the cauldron. "The memories are acting as a solvent, bringing the dead remnant to life. It's almost like…"
Kai stumbled back, shocked to the infinite degree.
"Master!" Item-M rushed toward him. Not before Cersei, though.
Kai pushed them all away, his eyes wide. As if in a trance, he glided toward the cauldron, followed by others.
One by one, they all looked into the cauldron.
Rintaro was the first to notice. "Oh, my!" he exclaimed. "Haha! But, of course, I knew."
Cersei looked at the red-gold viscous liquid, then at Kai, and then back the potion. She was the second to realize.
Item-M was the third, only losing the second position to Cersei because of the latter's thousands of years' worth of experience with Kai.
And they all noticed one by one.
"Motherfucker…" Red Sun cursed. "That's Philosopher's Stone, isn't it?!"
Kai couldn't look away from the magical liquid, sensing something missing within it. And then something else appeared in his eyes. A notification.
[
Congratulations Contestant Kai Stormborn…
You have obtained 1 Ability
Ability - Elementary Potioneer
]
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AN: 21 Chapters ahead of WN on Patre0n and Ko-FI. If you want to support the work and the author, then do consider becoming a subscriber. Or you can do a One-Time donation on Ko-Fi, starting with 1$ only. Any support will be most welcome. Enjoy!!!
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