France, Paris, a cottage hidden by magic.
Nicolas Flamel, who had decided to stop taking the Elixir of Life, sat in his home listening to selections from the opera King Lear playing on his gramophone. His aged, withered hands lifted a cup of faintly steaming tea, taking a gentle sip as he peacefully savored the tea in his cup.
As an alchemist who had lived for over six hundred years, Nicolas Flamel had grown weary of everything. He had abandoned the Philosopher's Stone, abandoned immortality, and now only alchemy could barely catch his interest. But recently, even Europe's most famous alchemical journal, The Philosopher's Stone, hadn't featured any papers he found interesting for quite some time. Nicolas Flamel felt he wasn't far from completely abandoning alchemy as well. When that time came, he could peacefully await the arrival of death.
Tap tap!
Tap tap!
Hearing the sound of tapping on the window, Nicolas Flamel curiously turned to look.
In this world, very few people knew he lived here. Due to magical protection, only a handful of people knew his exact residence and could send him letters. These people wouldn't disturb him without important matters, so Nicolas Flamel was curious about what could have prompted them to contact him. Had Grindelwald escaped from Nurmengard?
Though curious about the letter's contents, Nicolas Flamel didn't choose to go open the window and retrieve it. He was, after all, very, very old. When he had helped deal with Grindelwald, he had already been trembling and infirm, and now even more so. So he gently tapped the table before him, and an alchemical circle the size of a fingernail suddenly appeared on the table. Looking closely, this alchemical circle was incredibly complex, appearing from a distance like a fingernail-sized point of fire.
The moment this alchemical circle appeared, the wall nearby suddenly began to change. From the wall built of blue bricks, wisps of firelight seeped through the gaps between the brick blocks. Those bricks began rolling like waves, rapidly retreating to both sides, revealing a young girl with arms crossed over her chest and eyes closed.
When the wall fully opened, the girl inside immediately opened her eyes. However, compared to humans, this girl's eyes held no human intelligence. She simply stared blankly at Nicolas Flamel.
"Lisa, go fetch the letter."
The girl Lisa walked directly to the window, opened it, and retrieved the letter delivered by the owl. She then went to the kitchen to find some nuts that hadn't yet molded, placed them on the table for the owl to take, then brought the letter to Nicolas Flamel's side. She placed the letter in his hands, pulled up the blanket covering his legs a bit higher, then stood quietly behind him.
Throughout his long life, Nicolas Flamel had created countless alchemical puppets. Though he had created the Philosopher's Stone, he still hadn't managed to create an alchemical puppet with life and intelligence. Among them, Lisa was the closest to intelligent life. She could react to many things and respond appropriately, but she couldn't think. She had no desires, so she remained ultimately just a puppet.
This was one of the few regrets in Nicolas Flamel's long life.
With trembling hands, he opened the letter. Seeing Dumbledore's signature on the envelope, Nicolas Flamel smiled slightly. When he opened the letter, however, he discovered another envelope inside, along with a letter from Dumbledore.
Looking at Dumbledore's letter with some confusion, Nicolas Flamel's face gradually showed surprise and bewilderment.
Dumbledore's letter contained no lengthy discourse. He simply explained the situation to Nicolas Flamel briefly. But precisely because of this simplicity, it made Nicolas Flamel feel surprised and puzzled.
"Antonius Hopkins...
This is an alchemist from even before my time. It's said that in that golden age of alchemy, he was the most famous alchemist. To this day, the small portion of his published papers on life alchemy are secrets pursued by alchemists just as much as the Philosopher's Stone itself. If this letter is truly written by him, then...
Then I'm not so eager to die after all."
Nicolas Flamel opened the envelope with some impatience. Yes, impatience. Today, Nicolas Flamel actually felt impatient about something again, which struck him as quite novel.
Opening the letter and looking at the handwriting, Nicolas Flamel frowned slightly.
The handwriting wasn't bad, but it definitely wasn't the script that alchemists of that era would have used. In that instant, Nicolas Flamel's expectations dropped several levels. However, his six-hundred-plus years of life had given him composure that few others could match. Though his expectations had fallen, he still sat quietly in his chair, continuing to read the letter's contents.
As he read on, the expression on Nicolas Flamel's face gradually became more animated, those wrinkles seeming to smooth out.
Though the handwriting was wrong, the alchemical knowledge in this letter was quite sophisticated. Just the contents of this letter, properly organized, would be completely qualified for the front-page headlines of Europe's premier alchemical journal, The Philosopher's Stone.
From this perspective, Nicolas Flamel could at least confirm that the person behind this letter was indeed not a modern alchemist, because modern alchemists simply didn't have this capability. Of this, Nicolas Flamel was absolutely certain.
However, to conclude from this alone that the letter was written to him by Antonius Hopkins, Nicolas Flamel still had reservations. He needed to continue reading before making a judgment.
This letter mainly discussed many of Antonius's questions about the alchemical creation of the Philosopher's Stone. The questions he raised were all key to creating the Philosopher's Stone. For some of these key issues, Antonius also provided his own solutions. Some solutions were wrong but had great reference value, while others were correct and even better than Nicolas Flamel's original methods!
After Nicolas Flamel finished reading the letter, he believed considerably more in Antonius's existence. At least he no longer thought it was completely impossible.
Thinking of this, Nicolas Flamel set down the letter and said to Lisa: "Lisa, bring me some of my remaining Elixir of Life. I may need to live a bit longer.
Also, fetch parchment and a quill. I'll dictate, you write, then help me send the letter back."