With those five thousand Galleons, Roger bought quite a few things in Diagon Alley.
There were Hogwarts school essentials, some basic living supplies, and of course, mostly items for study, experimentation, and research. He transported everything back to the country villa in one trip.
By then, the villa had been tidied up and looked almost brand new. The wooden cabin where Roger lived was now furnished with a bed, a wardrobe, a table, and stools. The Old Wizard's former master bedroom had been converted into a study and laboratory.
For the entire month that followed, he immersed himself in study and research. The handwritten notes he produced were nearly piling up as high as the materials the Old Wizard had left behind.
More than a dozen large, precisely drawn blueprints were nailed to the walls of the study.
They depicted dozens of common wild animals from the outskirts of London, such as crows, peregrine falcons, squirrels, red foxes, bats, red deer, ladybugs, toads, and silver eels.
These were the fruits of his month of work.
Following Dumbledore's advice, he began with non-magical creatures. What Dumbledore did not know was that Roger possessed a Bio-computer.
Using the Bio-computer as an observer, and combining it with Magic-Sensing Potion diluted hundreds of times and fed to the test subjects, Roger successfully mapped the unique "magical patterns" within these dozens of animals.
With these maps in hand, the next stage of work became much clearer. He first compared the differences between the patterns of various organisms, then used the "scalpel" of Imperio once again to guide magic into reconstructing itself according to the target's magical patterns, achieving transformation.
At that moment, right before his eyes, a squirrel was undergoing an incredible transformation under the repeated guidance and stimulation of Imperio's energy. Its form twisted and reshaped, its fur faded, and wings gradually sprouted. In the end, it completely turned into a crow.
This was by no means an ordinary Transfiguration spell. It had no time limit. It was a complete, biological transformation. That squirrel had essentially become a crow.
Of course, compared to the Transfiguration taught at school, the "permanent transfiguration spell" Roger had modified had significant limitations. It could only work on living organisms. Its advantages were that the effect was permanent and the magical consumption was minimal, which made it very suitable for Roger in his current state.
After all, he could not simply use Imperio whenever he pleased. If he were discovered and reported to the Ministry of Magic, a cell in Azkaban would be his home for the rest of his life.
But this was still far from Roger's ultimate goal, transforming himself, especially into those powerful magical creatures.
And Dumbledore's guidance had ended there. Roger still had not found a true breakthrough.
The materials left behind by the Old Wizard were mainly divided into two parts. One consisted of documents from his family and school of thought. The other was made up of study notes and various books on potion brewing and experimental records, the most numerous of which were naturally those concerning the Magic-Sensing Potion and the immortality potion.
Information about ordinary spells was pitifully scarce, because the Old Wizard's school believed that the three Unforgivable Curses were the pinnacle of magic, and that other spells were not worth mentioning at all. Naturally, no research on them had been left behind.
In the conscious space of the Bio-computer, Roger once again brought up that book:
Imperio, Crucio, the Killing Curse — The Soul's Scalpel.
"Through experiments on more than a dozen subjects, including Muggles, wizards, and magical creatures, it has been confirmed that Imperio can indeed establish a soul link between the caster and the target. In other words, it allows us to peer into the souls of others. Fascinating. When this werewolf transforms during the full moon, its soul state is actually similar to that of an Animagus, still maintaining the magical structure of a wizard. Could it be that a werewolf is simply an unstable Animagus form? This is undoubtedly a major discovery.
Froya firmly believes that since Imperio can perceive the soul, then Crucio, which directly harms the soul, must be capable of precise manipulation as well. She considers Crucio the key to unlocking the mysteries of the soul and even wishes to use it to 'dissect' the soul."
"Got it!"
Reading this, Roger's spirits lifted.
According to the book, that group of Dark Wizards had experimented with the three Unforgivable Curses in countless ways, developing dozens of variant forms of "soul magic" for the fine manipulation of the soul.
Imperio and its derivative spells were mainly responsible for perceiving the soul and magic and guiding the flow of magic, while Crucio and its derivative soul magic could more precisely stimulate, modify, or even reshape the soul. The Killing Curse was speculated to be like a sledgehammer, capable of carrying out large-scale "demolition and reconstruction" of the soul.
The witch Froya in the book proposed that if Crucio could be used like a scalpel to "repair" a werewolf's soul, it might stabilize their "unstable Animagus form" and make the transformation controllable.
So… if he mastered Crucio and cast it precisely on himself, could he forcibly adjust his own magical patterns and achieve self-transformation?
Roger acted on the idea at once, immediately beginning to study Crucio and ordering the Bio-computer to analyze it with full effort. Unfortunately, there was still too little relevant information to complete a full analysis.
When he reached the last page of the notes, he drew in a sharp breath.
"Froya declared that Crucio is the perfect soul scalpel, capable of reshaping the soul and unlocking the source of power.
But she went mad. She cast a heavily suppressed Crucio on herself. With just a single burst, her entire being lost its breath at once, dying faster and more cleanly than from the Killing Curse.
Her mentor, Enrico, said this was quite a discovery. It turned out that the effect of the Killing Curse could be achieved with even less magic, making it a nearly perfect slaughtering curse. However… no one dared to continue the research…"
After reading this passage, Roger swallowed hard, suddenly feeling that the so-called "soul scalpel" path might not be one he absolutely had to pursue.
Stepping into Knockturn Alley once again, Roger was reminded all over again that this truly was not a good place.
He had just passed a large, bubbling cauldron in which a human head was actually bobbing up and down in the murky potion. A skeleton stood rigidly at the entrance of a certain shop, its empty eye sockets seeming to scan every wizard who passed by.
He even caught sight of a wizard nearby with vacant eyes, clearly under the control of Imperio, wandering about like a puppet.
The scenes here made him wonder whether this place was even under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Magic at all.
Walking to the door of Borgin and Burkes, Roger quickly slipped inside. The shop was not large, but it was so crammed with items that there was barely any room to move.
He swept his gaze around. On the top shelf of the central display case lay a withered, shriveled human hand resting on a velvet cushion. Beside it was a deck of playing cards stained with dark red spots, and a glass eyeball that seemed to stare at you no matter where you stood.
The walls were covered with masks bearing hideous, twisted expressions. The counters and shelves were piled with all kinds of products made from human bone, and rusty metal chains of unknown purpose hung in clusters from the ceiling. In the darkest corner stood a tall black cabinet.
A beautiful opal necklace bore a small card that read: "Warning: Do Not Touch. Cursed. Nineteen Muggles have lost their lives trying to possess this."
The shop owner, Mr. Borgin, walked over, his shrewd eyes sweeping Roger from head to toe. "Good afternoon, young wizard. I am Borgin, the owner of Borgin and Burkes. If I may be so bold, customers like yourself are usually better suited to browsing Flourish and Blotts in Diagon Alley."
His tone was polite, but the meaning beneath it was perfectly clear. This was not a place where Roger belonged.
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Yo! Add to your library!