Bab 21: Blood magic makes you hungry
Gaude, after waking up in his bed once again, came to a decision: he couldn't continue like that anymore, it felt like he wasn't improving at all. That was why he donned Charles Vywin and visited Snape in the Potions lab.
"How is the research on the Bloodline Potion progressing?", he asked.
"It would've been finished yesterday, if somebody didn't come to me nearly once a week to give me a 'high priority' side project to work on.", Snape replied sarcastically.
"I understand. Unfortunately, that certain someone has come with another request: consider returning the Bloodline Potion to the highest priority and please find a way to purify the blood of a Hungarian Horntail to the highest degree you can manage as the next top priority. Do let me know the instant you've managed to do both."
"But, Sir, I'm so close to finishing that protein infusion you requested, at most a day or two away!", Severus protested.
"Alright, alright. Finish the protein infusion first, then. Just make sure it's no more than two days. If I get the Bloodline Potion and purified Dragon blood within the week as well, I'd be happy enough to give you a raise and two days off.
After that, I want you to start researching on an ink that is at least as potent as runes carved with a carving knife. It is already known that Dragon blood alone isn't enough as it simply burns out after a while, not even getting as good of a result as a cast charm.
What I want you to do is try adding Unicorn blood to it and possibly Re'em blood, by my understanding, the first should give the ink self-restorative properties while the second should empower it, unfortunately, I lack the time to perform the experiments myself."
Just like that, Gaude continued going through the torturous training day after day, him learning his twentieth unique rune cluster just a footnote of the training regime. Sure, he could've quit anytime he wanted, but somehow, he felt like he would be disappointing Linda, and he felt bad even thinking about it. It was not like he wanted to make her proud or happy or anything, it was a man's pride to never disappoint a woman. Yeah, that's exactly what it was.
In the end, he had to suffer through ten days of the same before he got the good news from Snape. Meanwhile, he wasn't just sleeping off the mental tiredness of the training during the working hours, instead, he was doing his best to compile all the unique rune schemes he could find, as it was much easier to work with what had already been proven as functional rather than reinventing the wheel when the task was akin to assembling a swiss watch from a box of gears and components already.
Still, finally Gaude was graced by the visit of Snape. Fortunately, the elves that were tailing him noticed that he was up to something when he started heading towards 'Charles Vywin's' office and one of them had silently apparated and alerted Laly who had then casted the appropriate illusion over him.
"Sir, I have good news for you, I have completed the potions and the purified Dragon blood as you have requested."
"You're late.", Gaude replied.
"Sir?", Snape asked confusedly.
"You promised me that you would complete everything within a week. That's a five percent raise instead of ten and a single day off for you."
"Yes, Sir. I understand.", Snape said.
It was only then that Gaude looked at the dejected young man. There were dark circles around his eyes large enough to confuse him with a drunkard that woke up after a bar fight, and he was standing there unsteadily.
Gaude almost felt bad for the guy that had burned the midnight oil way more than is the recommended dosage, but then he remembered that he was dealing with a Death Eater that was still carrying the Dark Mark, and thus could possibly be located by his other master at any given moment if they became interested in his sudden absence and reconsidered.
"Actually, you'll have three days off. Make sure to get some good rest and let your old acquaintances know that you're doing well and there's no need to worry. I would greatly appreciate if they didn't come looking for you here. I don't want people barging in and making a mess of this little haven I've built here.
After you return from your short vacation, I want you to get started on creating a magical ink that would be at least as potent as using a carving knife. I have read that Dragon's blood can produce short term drawn charms but tends to burn out rather quickly.
I do believe, however, that adding Unicorn blood should circumvent that issue, as it does have innate restorative properties. Make sure it's willingly given by the Unicorns in the ingredient zoo. The guys down there know exactly how to bribe- erm ask for it properly.
As for Re'em blood, there's a phial in storage room six. Don't touch anything else, each item in there is worth more than your life.
I'd ask you to try adding Phoenix blood to the mixture, but they seem to be horribly rare, I've ever only heard of two of them in the world."
"What do you mean two of them? There's flocks of them in the Himalayas!", Snape shouted. He was so flabbergasted that he even forgot to use any honorifics.
"Is that so? Looks like I've been misled. I'll send a few capturing teams out immediately. If all goes well, there should be Phoenix blood in storage room two by the time you have your morning coffee. Oh, actually, before you get started on the blood ink, purify Unicorn and Phoenix blood, a phial of each. I'd ask you to do the same with Re'em blood, but they're notoriously difficult to find these days. They're one of the five recorded species of creatures still missing from the zoo.
There are also these I want you to purify, once you're confident in your abilities to purify the blood of any creature to a high degree. It's best you don't know what they came from, as they're for a very special project of mine.
Once you're done with the purification, I'll need you to create potions that can disable Giants, Trolls, Manticores, Dragons and possibly Basilisks. The last one is optional as there aren't all that many Basilisks around, unless, you know, someone were to secretly breed them in an underground facility in a secluded area outside of the Ministry's reach."
"Sir, surely you're not suggesting that I should start breeding Basilisks just to find out their weakness?"
"Of course not. I'm sure Raymond has gotten rather bored taking care of Mandrakes and other plants of a more volatile nature in the greenhouse specifically dedicated to his care after his transgressions, I believe it's time he graduated into experimental breeding. I think I know just the guy to take over his position in the greenhouse.
Most likely, that matter is completely unrelated to Basilisks, however. Ah, I should also set up a small consolation fund for the families of the victims of work-related accidents."
"Sir, it sounds to me like you're setting up plausible deniability with me."
"Do I have a reason to?"
Once Snape had packed his belongings and had been properly compensated for the overtime he had logged, Gaude took the potions from a drawer attached to Snape's workstation – the drawer was something where Snape was meant to store Gaude's special requests, only accessible for the two of them through a blood-based lock.
While there was very little chance that one of Gaude's employees would just go rummaging through another's work, there was always the chance that someone might sneak in under Polyjuice and, being free from a binding contract from Gaude, would shove their warty fingers where they didn't belong.
---
There was a special room set up deep under the house. There was a steel table with chains and various clamps in the middle of the room and various mechanisms that could be used to 'pacify' a rampaging subject through the insertion of large sharp objects into their bodies until the excess blood that causes them to be a bit too lively is safely removed.
Gaude had Laly bring him one of the ex-criminals, in a 'sedated' state. Naturally, the method of 'sedating' was the Draught of the Living Death, Gaude's go-to when it came to making people be very still and compliant with experimental procedures.
Gaude started a bulky tape recorder.
"Subject is white male, twenty-four years old, in excellent physical condition. The pacification device has been implanted into the chest cavity. Attempting to administer potion with one drop of Dragon blood."
If you were to ask Gaude what the pacification device was, he would get a bit shifty and give a non-answer of: 'I can tell you what it probably isn't. An explosive device implanted next to the heart.' That device was for the case that the subject broke loose of the contract's control after they had been cleared in the initial inspection. Of course, if you were a weak-minded Muggle, you would simply get your memory wiped of ever encountering that recording if you tried to ask any questions.
Gaude goaded the liquid down the man's gullet.
He heard the man's joints starting to snap and saw his face wriggling about. Soon, the process came to an end. Once it did, Gaude performed multiple measurements with what looked like devices for sports medicine and at other times like they belonged into a materials science lab.
"Noticeable changes after potion has been used: facial features have become more angular. Muscles have reduced in size and at least doubled in density. Fingernail density had quadrupled. No deformities detected."
It seemed that the experiment was so far going well.
"Laly, take him to vault number three, bring in the next one.", he spoke.
"Increasing dosage to two drops of Dragon blood."
Laly then popped in with another one of Gaude's human-shaped lab rats.
He checked who that person was. It turned out to be the first guy he ever robbed in this world.
"Subject is one Robert Arkis, white male, forty-three years old, moderately overweight, in poor physical condition. Administering double dosage."
After a while of his body wriggling about, there were some visible changes.
"Subject's muscles have reduced by half in size. Fat deposits have gone through a noticeable decrease. A massive emission of heat was detected during the process of transformation. Measuring muscle density. Muscle density has quintupled. Subject's height has increased by three inches. There is an additional segment in the abdominal muscles. Changes to facial structure include slight flattening of the nose. Finger- and toenail density has sextupled."
Gaude took out some Wiggenweld potion and dripped a drop into his open mouth. His eyes shot open as soon as the drop landed.
"Mr Arkis. How do you feel?", Gaude asked.
"I feel amazing! Whatever you gave me, it's good stuff, boss!", he exclaimed, full of energy. Gaude suspected at least half of it was the Wiggenweld potion.
"Alright. Punch this with full force.", Gaude said as he levitated up an inch-thick stone tile.
He did as Gaude had asked. The stone shattered on impact.
"Show me your hand.", Gaude commanded.
After inspecting Robert's hand by doing an x-ray Gaude said: "Increased bone density and skin toughness."
He informed the subject: "I'm going to cut you, so stay still."
Gaude took out a scalpel and made a deep cut along his arm, then observed it. Only a few drops of blood came out. It was blackish red, the same as Dragon's. Gaude then inspected the cut. It turned out that it had already started sealing up. It wasn't healed, however, since with some extra force, he managed to tear it open again.
"How much pain did you feel, on a scale of it leaving a bruise to a broken bone?"
"It hurt a lot less than I expected, probably wouldn't leave a mark."
"Excellent. You may leave."
"Laly, take him to the other one."
Gaude went through four more men like that. There were very apparent changes after eight drops, so he decided to make the next one ten. He discovered that upping the dosage to ten drops wasn't such a good idea – the man developed sharp fangs and claws as well as eyes with slit pupils and barely noticeable horns on his head.
Still, Gaude wanted to see what would happen if he gave twenty drops. The result was a creature that was more a Dragon than a person, but whether it was due to the purity of both the Dragon blood and the bloodline potion or some other aspect, the man-creature suddenly burst into flames and kept burning until only ashes remained.
"At a dosage of twenty drops, close to complete transformation was achieved. Spontaneous combustion occurred. Cause undetermined. Further testing is required, postponing until more suitable subjects are procured.
After that, Gaude did one final test with seven drops. It seemed that it was, as he suspected, the safe limit, causing the pupils to elongate slightly and the fingertips to become pointier.
Gaude had ended up at a dilemma: Should he take the potion with seven drops or do some more research?
After a few minutes of deliberation, Gaude opted for taking the potion. Its safety had already been proven.
First, however, Gaude wanted to make sure that nothing went wrong. While the potion seemed to have worked just fine on the criminals, he wasn't sure if Wizardkind, and especially one with the Vywin blood in their veins would react differently. While he could still obtain test subjects of the first, there weren't any siblings or other kinds of relatives around that he could test the potion on.
Gaude had Laly take him into one of the larger underground vaults and begun the arduous process of carving out the ritual circle. To call it a circle, was of course a cross oversimplification – there were three hundred and forty-three geometries involved, quite a few of them three-dimensional.
Gaude had to take a five minute break after every ten minutes of work – the process was draining for both his mind and body, but the elves weren't capable of drawing any of the elements properly, not to mention handling a Runecarving knife.
Next, he carved fourty-nine rune schemes for stabilization, wrote twenty-one Sanskrit inscriptions to their rightful places and had the elves bring in seven quartz pillars. The pillars were then placed into specific spots within the circle.
According to the Vywin Grimoire, one would need any body part of the one they wanted to merge their bloodline with, even as little as nail clippings or cut hair would do. Yet, Gaude, wanting the best results, had procured seven hearts of the strongest Hungarian Horntails that had been discovered. He had paid five thousand Galleons just to get his hands on those.
He placed the still very slowly beating hearts – a sign of proper preservation magic – onto the pillars.
Gaude dripped exactly seven drops of Dragon's blood into the potion and took it in. Gaude felt as if he had swallowed live Salamanders, he felt his flesh convulsing and writhing, and his innards being set on fire.
Yet, there was one more task left for him to do. Gaude sent all of the magic in his proto-core into the ritual circle. Then all five hundred of his house elves did the same. According to the Grimoire, it would've been enough for one or two family members to add their magic to the one attempting to add a bloodline to their own, but Gaude wasn't a man of half measures. Once again, he had thought that by adding quality and quantity, he could get a better result than the Vywin family had ever managed.
Gaude thought to himself: 'that little bit of extra strength, it's not worth this fucking pain.' That was the last thought he had before passing out from the pain.
Suddenly, Gaude woke up, feeling an absolutely unfathomable presence approaching him. He opened his eyes and only saw darkness around himself. He looked towards the presence and the first thing he saw was a pair of blazing eyes that were at least the size of a minivan.
"Why have you summoned me, pathetic mortal? And these inferior ingredients, are you mocking me?", a rumbling voice echoed inside his head, so loud and brimming with power that it threatened to turn his brain into mush with just those few words.
Gaude felt the presence growing stronger by the moment, threatening to blow him into subatomic dust. He felt like an ant in front of a giant. Gaude was completely terrified. His entire body was drenched in cold sweat.
"What… "
It was the only word that Gaude managed to utter before passing out from the pressure he had been trying to hold his own against.
"Another fool, then.", the presence muttered in a booming voice. After a while it continued "Hm, there seems to be something interesting about this one. Perhaps, one day…"
What or who the presence was and what it meant by its last words, wouldn't be known for a very, very long time.
The presence left the dark space. A minuscule fraction of it, no bigger than a strand of hair remained in that dark space and flowed into the body of a child lying down on the ground and bleeding from each of his orifices.
An unknown amount of time later, Gaude woke up to Laly pouring a potion down his throat. According to the label, it was a Wiggenweld potion, and there were already quite a few empty phials beside him.
Gaude mentally congratulated himself for getting his elves trained in wizarding first aid, because he might've ended up in a state much worse than he currently was in. He hadn't expected the reaction to be so violent, especially judging by how well the test subjects had taken it.
Gaude had no memories of what had happened after he passed out for the first time that night. Otherwise, he would've been both terrified and intrigued. Once again, after what the care package had done to him, there were changes occurring in his soul and his proto-core. Even his body wasn't spared from the changes, yet after the initial burst facilitated by the Dragon bloodline potion, each of the more profound changes were extremely gradual, possibly manifesting noticeable effects only after many years had passed.
Gaude decided that he had committed an oversight of not testing the Bloodline Potion on children of his own size and age. Of course, there was the fact that children of that size and age tended to be innocent of any crimes. Gaude wasn't a monster, he wasn't going to conduct potentially deadly experiments on innocent children.
Suddenly, Gaude felt as if the blood in his veins was turning into ice. He cast a second glance at the empty phials on his side and going through their labels, he discovered that one of them was the flame-freezing potion. The empty phial meant that it was already in his system and he was feeling the side-effect of the potion taking away bodily heat.
It turned out that it was still too early to rely on house elves for first aid, as it was fifty-fifty with them, either they dosed you with the right stuff, or they threw in something that shouldn't be fed to a wizard directly.
"Laly, get me a hot bath!", he croaked, his throat seemingly sore to the limit after his recent ordeal. Gaude was much too tired and disoriented by the ordeal to notice anything else at the moment, otherwise he would've seen a pool of blood mixed with a tar-like rancid-smelling substance on the floor where he had clawed at the floorboards, and the broken fingernails that were dangling over a set of fresh ones.
While warming himself up in the scalding bath, Gaude was constantly battling with the onset of sleep, he was so thoroughly exhausted that a blink was all it might have taken to send him plummeting into unconsciousness. While the elves that were on standby would've most likely rescued him if it looked like he was about to drown, his pride didn't allow him to let that happen.
In the end, Gaude woke up in his bed, not knowing how he had ended up there, his memories of the previous night quite hazy. As usual, Gaude tried to force magic into his system, to accelerate his body's growth, yet while it did move a lot more easily than before, it was also quickly absorbed without a hint of it left, as if he had poured it into a black hole.
Seeing no visible changes to his body even after nearly exhausting his magic core, Gaude had a suspicion that Dragons and even part- dragons required a lot more magic for growth than Wizardkind did and would most probably absorb it through their skin and breathing.
All this meant that for Gaude, accelerated physical development was off the table until he found an area with even greater concentration of ambient magic than his current home had.
There was another thing that had apparently turned into a black hole – Gaude devoured ten pounds of meat and a proportionate amount of side dishes just to feel somewhat full.
Status Power Mingguan
-- Peringkat
Power 
-- Power
stone