This time, Louis focused on organizing everything he'd absorbed about alchemy.
The pipe truly lived up to its name as an inspiration amplifier. With a clear goal in mind, his brain worked like it belonged to someone else—nimble, sharp, and precise. In no time, he had sorted out the chaotic alchemical knowledge he'd seen in the library.
Riding that mental momentum, Louis picked up the two books he'd borrowed from the library and began reading. The fusion of advanced knowledge from the Restricted Section and the foundational information in these books caused his understanding of alchemy to leap forward rapidly.
Aside from his complete lack of hands-on experience, he was practically flawless.
"Whew—perfect." Louis closed the book with a long exhale, a gleam of intellectual brilliance in his eyes.
He felt like he could create anything he wanted right this moment.
His fingers trembled slightly with excitement—he wanted to try. Deep down, he felt certain: if he tried, he would succeed.
...Yeah, no. That was a lie.
He had nothing to actually work with.
At the end of the day, alchemy was a branch of magical science based on wizardry. Most of its creations were magical effects embedded into physical objects using spells.
Louis couldn't use magic—so he couldn't make use of alchemy directly.
"This won't work. I need outside help," Louis muttered, frowning in thought. "Someone who won't blow my cover as a Muggle, who has intelligence, experience, and ideally, a pioneering spirit."
"But where would I even find someone like that?"
He casually tossed the still-unconscious Fafnir back into the half-open cage and flopped onto his bed, lost in thought.
"If I could find the founder of alchemy, surely he would know what to do," Louis mused.
Then he remembered that awful book he'd scorned earlier—Hermes and the Homunculus.
"If Hermes himself could teach me…"
His voice trailed off, but his eyes grew brighter.
"Wait—that's it! Why can't Hermes teach me directly?" Louis jumped off the bed. "I've got the Rat Talisman—why not just bring a statue to life?"
He had almost forgotten—despite its ridiculous power, the Rat Talisman was still part of his arsenal.
"Of course, I need a physical vessel. Without a Hermes statue, I can't do anything."
He considered it for a moment. Getting a Hermes statue inside Hogwarts wouldn't be easy. There were plenty of them around the world, but it's not like he could just fly off and steal one.
"Guess I'll have to make one myself," Louis murmured, stroking his chin.
Not too hard for him, really—and doing it himself would allow for specific customizations to the statue's structure and constraints.
It'd just take time.
A wood carving would take about ten days; a stone sculpture could take three months. Wood it was.
He'd start tomorrow.
Glancing at the timetable on his desk, Louis noted that tomorrow's classes were Charms and Flying—both shared with Gryffindor.
"I'll need to find materials for the wood carving tomorrow. Maybe I can ask Hagrid. He should have plenty," Louis planned out his schedule.
As for finding Horcruxes or exploring the Room of Requirement—those could wait. He had time.
---
In the bathroom, Louis—his hair still damp—filled a basin with water. From his inventory, he pulled out a vial of Concentrated Spirit-Form Mutagen.
He'd just tried using the dragon-blood body wash. The feeling was amazing. His skin and muscles felt nourished, tingling slightly like a gentle electric current. It was addictively pleasant.
As for its strengthening effects, he hadn't felt much yet—it probably needed long-term use.
Now it was time to test the effects of the serum.
Uncorking the vial, Louis poured the dark blue liquid into the basin.
Instantly, the clear water turned deep blue, glowing faintly without being diluted at all.
> [Concentrated Spirit-Form Mutagen]
> Warning: Do not ingest or inject. Minors must use under supervision of explosive ordnance disposal unit. Usage: Soak the head. Greatly enhances user's spirit-form. Risk of explosion if user's body is too weak.
Louis stared at the glowing liquid for a second—then dunked his head straight in.
The fluid covered his face, flowing over his nose, eyes, and mouth. It reached up to his neck—his entire head submerged.
And in that instant—he felt it.
Thousands of invisible "insects" swarming through his pores, his eyes, nose, mouth—every crevice they could find—crawling into his skull.
Then they exploded.
It felt like being skinned alive, his nerves on fire. The moment they reached his brain, they burst in a mental detonation, sending his spirit surging like it had been pumped full of adrenaline.
The sheer force of it slammed against his skull like a wrecking ball.
His face twisted beneath the surface of the basin. Threads of black, waste-like impurities seeped from his nose and mouth—mixed with faint traces of blood.
Behind his tightly shut eyelids, faint illusions of the Dog Talisman and Horse Talisman flickered in and out of existence.
His brain became a volatile spiritual bomb, but just as it approached collapse, the talismans' power dragged him back from the brink—again and again.
Explode. Recover. Explode again. Recover again.
This process continued for ten long minutes—ten minutes that felt like an eternity.
Finally, Louis's consciousness returned.
A violent surge of spiritual energy exploded from his mind, blasting the now-blackened water from the basin skyward.
Louis stood upright, opening his eyes.
His gaze was deep and dark, brimming with tangible spiritual power. The Horse and Dog Talismans shone within each of his pupils.
The falling, tainted water didn't splash—it was caught midair by an invisible force, swirling into a spinning sphere. Then it launched across the room, slamming into the tiled wall.
BOOM!
The hard stone surface showed evenly-distributed impact marks—like it had been blasted by a high-pressure water jet.
And that was pure spiritual force. No magic. No wand. Nothing but raw mental power.
Under the effects of the serum, Louis's spiritual strength had not only reached the threshold of influencing physical matter—it was now a force to be reckoned with.
"With this… I don't have to worry about Muggle-Repelling Charms anymore."
Louis grinned, satisfied.
His mental energy could now project several hundred meters, persist indefinitely, and never tire.
This was just the beginning.
---
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