MM Racing Chapter 116 Returning Home and Reunion
Chapter 116 Returning Home and Reunion
Chapter 116 Returning Home and Reunion
The holiday flew by as if by a magic spell. Karen seized every second, immersing herself in the vast ocean of knowledge in Nico's library, especially the obscure scrolls about ancient magical rune systems and dynamic resonance theory. Nico would occasionally stroll in, and without Karen needing to speak, a mere glance at what Karen was reading would pinpoint a key concept or share an anecdote about an alchemist long lost to time. This greatly broadened Karen's horizons.
Professor Castor's condition stabilized visibly under Nico's continued treatment. Although the twisted, cursed markings on his arms hadn't faded, the turbulent, distorted magical energy flowing within them had become noticeably calmer and more orderly. Though still thin, one could sense that the confident Castor had returned.
On the afternoon of the day before his departure, Castor found Karen engrossed in a large collection of ancient Norse rune manuscripts in the library.
"Karen." His voice wasn't loud, but it clearly pierced through the sound of the pages.
Karen immediately looked up: "Professor."
Castor placed a notebook wrapped in dark gray dragon skin, its edges carefully stitched with mithril thread, on the pile of books in front of Karen. The notebook was not thick, but it was of extraordinary quality, cool to the touch, and had a metallic feel.
"Here you go." Castro coughed succinctly. "This is a compilation of some records and analytical ideas from my early research on the 'Hermes' Touch' crystal. It includes several stabilization methods I tried..."
Energy steering path design, and speculation about why those schemes failed.
Karen's heart skipped a beat. He carefully picked up the notebook. "Thank you, Professor! This is so important!"
"Important?" Castor's grey eyes gazed at him expectantly. "It's not the book itself that's important, Karen. What's important is what you can see in it, what angles you can think of that I haven't explored. The theories in these books give you a key, but where the lock is, what's behind the door, you have to find that for yourself. Remember,"
Knowledge is not meant to be memorized, but to be broken down and rebuilt.
"I understand, Professor!" Karen straightened her back, clutching her notebook tightly to her chest. "I will study it carefully!"
Castor nodded almost imperceptibly in response.
On the last day of the Easter holiday, Cullen stood in the hall of the Department of International Flood Coordination at the Ministry of Magic, with Dumbledore beside him. He gently dusted off his purple robe embroidered with stars and moons, and their upcoming journey home seemed to him as nothing more than an ordinary afternoon stroll.
"The journey is always pleasant, especially the return, Cullen." Dumbledore's voice remained remarkably clear in the noisy hall. "I imagine your friends must be getting impatient."
"Yes, Professor." Karen nodded, a quaint but spacious backpack slung over his shoulder. It was Madam Perenaar's insistence that he bring it, and it was stuffed with interesting non-core alchemy trinkets from Nico's Workshop, several large boxes of beautifully packaged French magical sweets, and carefully chosen gifts for his roommates. In his innermost pocket, he carefully kept the research notes on the "Hermes' Touch" crystal that Professor Castor had given him before his departure, as well as the deep blue "Starry Night Egg."
As they parted, Professor Castor offered no further advice, only reiterating to Karen, "Continue, don't stop thinking, Karen. Power comes from knowledge, and the boundaries of knowledge are for you to discover yourself."
As for Nicolas Flamel, the old man simply patted him on the shoulder again, his worldly-wise eyes filled with expectation: "Remember our promise, Karen. Keep your curiosity, keep your focus. The doors of the Tranquil Abode are always open for you."
Guided and inspected by Ministry of Magic officials in a formulaic manner, Cullen and Dumbledore successfully passed through the Floo Network and instantly returned to the Headmaster's office at Hogwarts Castle.
"I think you won't need me to accompany you on the road ahead, Cullen?" Dumbledore said with a smile, his gaze gesturing towards the headmaster's office door. "The Ravenclaw Tower must be brimming with the energy of anticipation for our reunion."
"Yes, Professor, thank you so much for taking care of me during the holidays," Karen said again, expressing her gratitude.
"Give my regards to your friends." Dumbledore winked, then waved for Cullen to leave.
Karen took a deep breath, turned, pushed open the wooden door, and stepped onto the familiar spiral staircase. Dinner time had just passed, and the sounds of students chatting and laughing could still be heard in the corridor. He quickened his pace, almost jogging through the archways, past the whispering portraits, his aim fixed on the bronze eagle-shaped door knocker of the Ravenclaw Tower.
When he finally stood before that familiar door, a gentle yet clear voice rang out: "What gains its greatest value through loss?"
Karen spoke almost without hesitation, a slight smile playing on her lips: "Time."
The door slid open silently, revealing the Ravenclaw common room. A warm fire flickered in the fireplace, and several students sat around a nearby sofa, reading or discussing quietly. But as Karen appeared in the doorway, a reddish-brown head on the sofa near the entrance jerked upwards.
"Karen!" Wesley jumped up from the sofa like a lit firecracker. "You're back!"
"Merlin's Beard, you're finally back!" He rushed over in three strides and gave Karen a warm, solid hug, almost knocking the backpack off his shoulder.
The shout immediately drew the attention of the others in the lounge. Fabian looked up from a long table piled high with parchment, put down his pen, and walked over, a warm smile spreading across his face: "Welcome back, Karen! How was your vacation?"
Immediately afterward, Ernesto appeared at the stairwell leading to the boys' dormitory, his pace noticeably quickening as he approached: "Karen, how was your trip to France?"
"Wesley, be gentle! You're going to break your bones!" Karen laughed as she pushed away her overly enthusiastic roommate, feeling a warm glow inside. "Fabian, Ernesto, it's so good to see you both. This vacation—well, it's quite special." He deliberately kept her in suspense.
"Special? How special?" Wesley pressed immediately, his eyes wide. "Tell me! What's the French wizarding world like? Do their wizards all speak with a rolled 'r' sound?" He clumsily imitated it, making Fabian chuckle.
"Don't rush, Wesley," Fabian gently reminded him, noticing Karen's bulging backpack. "Karen just got back, let him go back to his dorm and put his things down first. Besides, this isn't a good place to tell stories." He glanced meaningfully at the other students around him who were also casting curious glances.
Ernesto immediately understood, raising his chin slightly: "That's right, let's go back to the dorm and put our things down first?" He looked at Karen.
"That suits me perfectly," Karen nodded.
"Let's go, let's go!" Wesley eagerly pushed Karen toward the stairs, still basking in the sun as they went. "Tell me quickly, what formations are popular in French Quidditch? Are their brooms especially fast? And have you seen Paris, Muggle? The Eiffel Tower! The Louvre!"
While dealing with Wesley's barrage of questions, Karen, "escorted" by Fabian and Ernesto on either side, passed through the common room, climbed the spiral staircase, and returned to their dormitory on the upper floors of the tower.
Karen placed her heavy backpack at the foot of her bed and stretched her slightly sore shoulders. Her three roommates had already gathered around her, their eyes filled with undisguised anticipation and curiosity.
"Alright, can you tell me now?" Ernesto crossed his arms and leaned against the desk, feigning impatience, but his slightly forward-leaning posture betrayed his attention.
"First," Karen pulled several bulging, exquisitely packaged paper bags from the side pocket of his backpack, printed with French and vibrant images of magical candies, "these were insisted upon me by Madame Lemaître." He handed the bags to the three of them. "They're said to have unique flavors; some mimic seasonal floral scents, and there's a French upgrade to the chocolate frog, which jumps higher, croaks louder, and even has a different design."
Wesley cheered, immediately tore open the packaging, pulled out a pink gummy candy, popped it into his mouth, and mumbled, "Mmm! I bet this tastes like spring!"
Fabian took the bag and smiled, "Thank you, Karen. Please also thank the lady for us." He paid more attention to the French instructions on the packaging.
Ernesto accepted it with a reserved air, glanced at the packaging, and commented, "Very tasteful packaging, worthy of being a legend in the magical world." He then carefully put it into his drawer, clearly not intending to taste it immediately.
"Then," Karen smiled as she looked at them, and began to get down to business, "the markets in the French magical world are indeed very different from those in Diagon Alley." She described the huge underground magical market called Place de la Fountain: the dome that was as high as the starry sky, the floating magical lights, the shop windows that were as exquisite as works of art, and the relaxed and social atmosphere that was completely different from that of Diagon Alley.
"It sounds more like the upscale shopping mall near my home, but underground and magical," Wesley remarked, chewing on a gummy candy.
“It’s much more interesting than shopping malls,” Karen corrected. “The people there are dressed more—well—fashionably? More colorful, more tailored. And the Easter atmosphere is really strong.” He described in detail the giant magical chocolate eggs, the brightly colored magical flowers, the oddly shaped bread, and the magical egg tradition that attracted him the most.
"So you really bought one?" Fabian adjusted his glasses, intrigued. "'Starry Night Egg'? What will hatch? A star? A prophecy?"
"Mr. Lemaître said the result was full of surprises, and the shop assistant told me it might be related to the night sky and deep thoughts." Karen took the cool, smooth, deep blue egg out of her pocket, carefully showed it to herself, and then immediately put it back. "It needs time and specific magical guidance techniques to hatch, so I still need to study it."
"Sounds like it's all about luck." Ernesto scoffed, but his gray eyes couldn't help glancing at where Karen had put the item back in her pocket. "Hopefully you don't hatch a ghost that only tells lame jokes."
After listening to Karen's words, Wesley immediately asked, "Karen, tell me quickly! What was Nicolas Flamel's workshop like? Was it full of gold that moved on its own and talking crucibles? Or was gold everywhere?" His imagination began to run wild again.
Karen's expression turned serious and filled with awe: "Not at all, Wesley. The place, from the outside, looks like a very old stone manor, surrounded by valleys and forests, very quiet, and outsiders cannot enter without a guide."
He paused, searching for the right words, then said, "As for the workshop inside, there wasn't any of that flashy, glittering gold you described, and the things inside weren't the traditional but precious and rare alchemy tools I had imagined. Instead, there were some rather trendy alchemy aids that combined technology, which really opened my eyes."
Karen then described the various strange alchemical tools inside, as well as the process that Nico later demonstrated to Karen, in which an ordinary stone was instantly transformed into pure crystal.
The dormitory fell silent, broken only by the crackling of the fireplace. All three roommates were awestruck by the atmosphere and philosophy Karen had described. Fabian nodded thoughtfully, "No wonder he's a legendary master; he's certainly different from ordinary alchemists."
“Of course, and Nico also gave me a lot of help with alchemy,” Karen affirmed. “He pointed out the problems I had with the research path I had when studying Lucian Sinclair’s Diary.” He briefly recounted Nico’s theories on “dynamic runes,” “magical context,” and “core resonance points.” “He made me understand that Lucian’s symbols shouldn’t be analyzed as rigid runes, but rather as living ‘magical words’ whose ‘meaning’ changes according to the input magical environment.”
"Dynamic Rune - Magic Context," Ernesto muttered to himself, his finger unconsciously tracing names on the table. "This angle—it's so novel! It completely overturns everything I was taught at home!"
"So Sinclair isn't crazy, he's just too ahead of his time? Or rather, he's gone astray?" Fabian tried to understand.
"Perhaps both," Karen sighed. "Mr. Lemaître believed that Sinclair's later obsession with structural perfection led him to neglect the fluidity of magic itself, resulting in his downfall. But those ideas themselves..."
It definitely contains gold. It's been a huge help to me.
"It seems you've had a very fruitful trip," Ernesto said with a hint of envy. "And Professor Victor? Is he feeling any better?"
Hearing this, Karen's smile brightened and became genuine: "Professor Victor's condition has stabilized and is showing signs of improvement! Although he still needs rest, the most dangerous phase seems to have passed!"
"Great!" Wesley was the first to cheer, giving Karen a hard pat on the back. "I knew Professor Victor was strong enough to be alright!"
Fabian breathed a long sigh of relief, his eyes behind his glasses filled with joy: "This is truly the best news for Easter. It's good that the professor is alright."
Ernesto visibly relaxed, the corners of his mouth seeming to turn up, but he forcefully suppressed it, only giving a soft "hmm": "He's lucky, but this also means that your upcoming alchemy assignments will be more demanding, Karen, don't get too excited."
Karen accepted the "concern" with a smile: "I understand. The professor even gave me new research notes before he left." He patted his backpack, "And during the summer vacation, if things go well at home, I might go to France again to study in depth with Nicolas Flamel for a while." He dropped this bombshell.
"We can go during summer vacation?!" Wesley's eyes reddened with envy. "Merlin! Karen, you're so lucky! Does that master still take apprentices? What do you think of me? I'm strong, I can help move the cauldrons!"
Fabian and Ernesto were also taken aback by the news. Fabian said sincerely, "This is a rare opportunity, Karen. We must seize it."
Ernesto snorted, "Looks like someone's gotta work harder, lest the master thinks his foundation's too weak and he slinks back in disgrace."
"Alright, alright," Karen suggested, looking at his excited roommates. "We've tasted the candy, shared our experiences, and announced the good news. Shouldn't we take a break? I'm planning to go to the Eagle's Nest tomorrow morning. I still have a few trinkets from the workshop in my backpack that Madame Lemaître asked me to bring to you. And," he lowered his voice, "we need to plan our next steps regarding the Forbidden Forest Full Moon observation and the magic cycle in the Moonmoss area. I've got some new directions in mind."
Everyone was very curious about what Karen had said, but unfortunately, after saying that, Karen refused to reveal any more information, so everyone could only wash up and go to sleep.