Chapter 264: Capturing the Diadem
Chapter 264: Capturing the Diadem
"Is this Big Brother's world?" Rose Crystal looked around the small Multiverse General Store after stepping out of the portal, voicing her question.
"This place is just a temporal hub that belongs entirely to me. I have several other worlds I can visit", Liam quickly defended, not wanting to lose face in front of his newly recognized sister. After speaking, he placed a golden box he was carrying on a shelf. This box, given to him by Professor Rogen, had enough defensive enchantments to store a Horcrux.
When Liam told Rogen he could obtain a Horcrux, Rogen gave him the box. After all, Rogen was quite interested in the Soul Vessel from another world and hoped Liam could bring one for him to examine.
After placing the box, Liam showed Rose Crystal all the worlds he could visit, even taking her on a night tour of Hogwarts. In the end, she chose to stay at the Multiverse General Store. As she put it, "This is the most important place for Big Brother, so Rose Crystal will stay and guard it."
Liam promised repeatedly to take her on trips to different places whenever he had the chance, then bid farewell to the somewhat reluctant Rose Crystal and returned to Hogwarts. Honestly, as an only child in both his lives, he had no idea how to interact with siblings. But Rose Crystal's obvious desire to follow him, coupled with her stubborn belief in the importance of guarding the home, truly moved him. He accepted her as his puppet sister from the heart.
Upon returning to Hogwarts, Liam resumed his usual daily routine. The fourth-year curriculum was more demanding, but Liam managed the workload well. However, he constantly remembered Professor Rogen's instructions.
After a week of classes, it was the weekend again. On Saturday morning, Hermione felt unwell and went directly to the Hospital Wing. Liam, not wanting to go to the Library alone, decided to head to the Room of Requirement to retrieve the Diadem of Ravenclaw.
He arrived at the tapestry on the Eighth Floor and walked back and forth three times while silently thinking about needing a place to hide something. The door to the Room of Requirement then appeared on the wall.
Although Liam had visited once before to check on the diadem's condition, he was still somewhat awed by the room's appearance. A vast chamber, the size of a cathedral, was filled with all sorts of items, creating a strangely grand and eerie atmosphere. Liam felt it was like a Diagon Alley made of junk.
He soon found the diadem using a troll specimen as a landmark. It was placed on a wooden crate, atop an ugly bust of an old wizard, the diadem itself rusted and worn. If not for the knowledge, one would never guess it was a treasure left by one of the four founders, Rowena Ravenclaw.
It seemed Voldemort had different methods for hiding each Horcrux to prevent someone from analyzing his habits and destroying all of them at once. The diary was left out in the open to cause trouble, Harry's encounter was an accident, the locket and the Resurrection Stone were hidden with a series of dark traps, the cup and the diadem were mixed with similar items for pure concealment, and Nagini, being a living creature, was a blind spot in many people's minds.
Thus, the diadem's dull and dusty appearance in the pile of junk was intentional on Voldemort's part, and it was a very successful hiding method. Even Dumbledore had not figured out its location. In the original story, if not for Harry's accidental encounter with the diadem due to his protagonist luck, no one would have thought to look there.
Liam confirmed the diadem's location and summoned a steam robot to pick it up and place it in the special golden box. The diadem remained quiet, showing no magical resistance. This was likely because Liam used a robot, so the soul fragment did not react, and the diadem's primary method of concealment was its disguise. If it had been laden with magical traps, the disguise would have been less effective.
After securing the golden box, Liam opened a portal and headed straight to the Multiverse General Store. An hour later, he reappeared in the Room of Requirement, holding a gleaming diadem.
Liam spent another week with Professor Rogen, thoroughly studying the Horcrux. Their research revealed that Voldemort's Horcruxes differed from Soul Vessels in several ways: Horcruxes required much cheaper materials and were easier to create, as the method of splitting the soul was simpler.
However, this method of creating a Horcrux has its drawbacks. The process of splitting the soul using this method is extremely damaging, especially when the separation is achieved through murder. This brutal approach leaves far more severe aftereffects on the soul compared to the method used to create a Soul Vessel.
Additionally, this method of soul splitting ensures that the soul fragment within the Horcrux retains some degree of self-awareness. This means that the location where the Horcrux is hidden must be a place that has a strong impression on the Horcrux's owner. Otherwise, the self-awareness within the Horcrux will gradually fade away. Even if the Horcrux is later used to resurrect the owner, they may lose some of their memories or even their sense of self.
This research finally explained to Liam why Voldemort placed his Horcruxes in locations that could be deduced by analyzing his life. If not for this limitation, Voldemort, who was not entirely ignorant of the Muggle world, could have hidden his Horcruxes on something like Voyager 1 or a Mars probe. In such a case, even if someone knew where the Horcrux was, it would be nearly impossible to retrieve it.
After thoroughly studying the Horcrux, Professor Rogen successfully extracted Voldemort's residual soul from the crown, which was then used as a target for Liam to demonstrate the Heavenly Thunder Array. However, the residual soul, once separated from the Horcrux's protection, was extremely fragile. It was completely obliterated by just two strikes of the purple Heavenly Retribution Lightning, far short of the forty-nine strikes Liam had expected it to withstand.
Following the extraction of Voldemort's residual soul, the two of them continued to study Rowena Ravenclaw's crown. According to legend, wearing the crown grants wisdom, and in some fan theories, it was even suggested that the crown itself was a Horcrux of Ravenclaw's, making it akin to carrying a System or a wise old mentor.
Under Professor Rogen's expert analysis, the crown's mysteries were finally unraveled. It turned out to be an Alchemy artifact. After confirming its safety, Professor Rogen allowed Liam to wear the crown, and he quickly discovered its functions.
The crown was imbued with several magical properties. One was Mechanized Mind, which turned the wearer into a dispassionate learning machine. Another was Magic Detection, enabling the wearer to see the unmasked magical auras within their line of sight. The final one was Vitality Restoration, which significantly reduced the wearer's fatigue and hunger.
In essence, it was a perfect tool for someone to devote themselves entirely to their studies, 24/7. No wonder Ravenclaw had inscribed "Exceptional wisdom is humanity's greatest treasure" on the crown. For someone as intelligent as Ravenclaw, this artifact was like giving a tiger wings.
This was also why Ravenclaw always wore the crown, as it allowed her to maximize her wisdom.
Professor Rogen was highly impressed by the crown, praising the creator for using only decent materials and Alchemical Arrays to create an artifact with near-permanent effects. He believed the creator must have been an exceptionally powerful individual. Upon learning from Liam that the crown was crafted by an ancient figure from a thousand years ago, Professor Rogen lamented the loss of the opportunity to meet such a person.
After thoroughly examining and analyzing everything, Professor Rogen decided to seclude himself to organize the knowledge he had gained. Meanwhile, Liam found Rose Crystal to prepare for their return to the school. During this time, Rose Crystal had not been idle. When Liam found her, she boasted to him about learning the knowledge of Faith Ascension from a book in the library. Professor Rogen had collected this book during his travels in another world, finding it interesting but ultimately useless, so he had left it in a corner. It was later discovered by a group of small puppets.
After glancing through the book, Liam realized that achieving Faith Ascension required a perfect combination of celestial timing, geographical advantage, and human harmony. Unfortunately, none of the worlds he had access to met these conditions. Moreover, he had no intention of pursuing the path of Faith Ascension.
So, he treated the matter as a novelty, satisfying Rose Crystal's desire for attention. He then handed over his notes from the past few years to Alice and her sisters before returning to the Room of Requirement with Rose Crystal.
(End of Chapter)
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