After speaking with an "ancient" like Salazar, Lucien also came to understand that most wizards a thousand years ago might not actually have possessed very strong means of protecting themselves from Muggles.
To give a simple example, a wizard who had mastered Apparition was extremely difficult to capture.
Even other wizards would struggle to restrain them, let alone Muggles.
But even in the modern era, when magical education was widespread and Hogwarts had been teaching generations of students for centuries, how many wizards had truly mastered Apparition well enough to rely on it in a dangerous situation?
And in Salazar's time, the gap between individual wizards had been even greater.
Some excelled at brewing Potions.
Some specialised in manipulating the elements.
Some even focused on strange branches such as cooking magic...
Most wizards concentrated on only one or two fields, while their combat ability depended almost entirely on personal talent, experience, and instinct.
Unfortunately, that was also an era when witch-hunting was widespread.
Once a wizard was discovered, they could be captured, tied to a stake, and burned to death.
Some powerful wizards, confident in their abilities, would even deliberately allow themselves to be tied up, enjoying the "fun" of being burned in front of a crowd of Muggles before using magic to escape.
To them, it was little more than a performance.
A way to frighten or mock those who had believed they were about to witness an execution.
But what about those wizards who lacked the strength to escape?
They were captured and tied to the pyre, and when the flames began licking at the soles of their feet, no one would come to save them.
Perhaps all they could do was pray.
Perhaps they would panic and fail to cast properly.
Or perhaps the thick smoke would overwhelm them before they could even manage a single spell.
Their names were never remembered, their stories never sung.
They became nothing more than another number in the count of "burned wizards"...
Salazar's voice pulled Lucien back from his thoughts.
"You want to know how to separate and dispel the curse while preserving the soul... but from your description, the cursed individual's physical body and magical circuits are in an even worse state?"
Lucien nodded.
"Her physical body and magical circuits have become deeply entangled with the curse. Both have already mutated and twisted beyond recognition."
Salazar pondered for a moment.
"Then it would be better to first try dealing with the curse within the physical body and magical circuits."
Lucien's eyes shifted slightly.
"The physical body is the 'soil' of the soul," Salazar continued. "If that soil is fertile and the body possesses abundant vitality, the soul can grow steadily."
Lucien understood this deeply, although his understanding came mostly from negative examples.
Back when Voldemort possessed Quirrell, he had sustained his own damaged soul by draining vitality from Quirrell's flesh and blood, allowing himself to briefly unleash greater magical power.
Later, the soul fragment inside the Horcrux diary had done something similar.
It had secretly absorbed the user's vitality to strengthen itself and gradually increase its influence.
A healthy body and abundant vitality could nourish the soul.
If that principle worked even for damaged and corrupted souls, then naturally it should also apply to an ordinary person.
And what about the magical circuits?
"As I said before, the magical circuits are shaped by both the physical body and the soul."
Salazar raised a finger, a faint light gleaming in his slit pupils.
"They also serve as a 'bridge' between the two, binding their connection even more tightly."
Hearing this, a flash of inspiration crossed Lucien's mind.
He suddenly blurted out, "Is that also one of the reasons wizards live longer than Muggles? Because the nourishment provided by vitality is more direct and abundant? And the soul should also feed back into the physical body?"
Salazar smiled.
A rare trace of gentleness appeared on his usually cold face.
"This is also why I believe wizards are born extraordinary. We are indeed more... superior to Muggles."
There was no deliberate arrogance in his tone.
He spoke calmly, as though merely stating something he considered an objective fact.
Lucien's eyes flickered slightly.
Under normal circumstances, wizards did indeed live longer than Muggles.
As long as they didn't fuck around with dangerous magic too much, wizards could live to be a hundred and fifty, or even two hundred years old.
Leaving aside the miraculous nature of magic itself, even in terms of lifespan, wizards and Muggles were vastly different.
The existence of magical circuits and the close connection between body, magic, and soul might very well be one of the reasons behind that difference.
Lucien temporarily set aside his thoughts about the differences between wizards and Muggles and returned his attention to Nagini's problem.
According to Salazar, once the physical body and magical circuits returned to normal, they would naturally provide positive feedback to the soul.
That changed the order in which Lucien had been thinking about the treatment.
If treating the curse was seen as a tug-of-war between two sides, then the more support Nagini's side had, the better.
Restoring the physical body and magical circuits first was equivalent to adding two powerful reinforcements to her side before confronting the most difficult part of the curse.
With Salazar's reminder, Lucien realised that his previous line of thinking needed to be adjusted.
He had originally believed that he should prioritise the most difficult problem, the soul.
After all, if the soul was where the most serious danger lay, solving it first had seemed natural.
But now it appeared that treating the physical body and magical circuits first would be far better.
Not only would those areas be easier to begin with, but doing so would also create better conditions for treating the soul later.
Moreover, once the curse within the physical body and magical circuits was purified, the curse affecting the soul might also weaken to some extent.
After all, the three were part of an interconnected whole.
If one improved, the others would naturally benefit as well.
The physical body was relatively easy to deal with.
Lumen's Pure Fire had already proven effective.
Although the process was painful, at least the direction was correct.
The human skin revealed beneath the scales touched by the Pure Fire was the best proof.
Combined with Transfiguration, that part should be manageable.
Even if it required time and careful control, Lucien at least knew what needed to be done.
As for the magical circuits...
That was far more troublesome.
Lumen's Pure Fire could burn curses, including those entangled with the magical circuits.
The problem was that Nagini had carried the curse for so long that her magical circuits had nearly fused with it.
Removing the curse would also damage the circuits themselves.
That was exactly what Lucien had seen when he tested the Pure Fire earlier.
Either Lucien had to avoid using Pure Fire and find a gentler method of separating the curse from the circuits first...
Or he had to find a way to reweave and reconstruct the magical circuits while the Pure Fire burned the curse away.
Destroy and repair at the same time.
To rebuild them as they were being dismantled...
Lucien fell into deep thought.
If the timing were even slightly wrong, the magical circuits could collapse before he finished repairing them.
Yet if he could somehow maintain the structure while continuously removing the curse...
Perhaps it really could work.
Salazar did not interrupt him.
He simply watched the young wizard quietly, allowing him to sort through the possibilities in his own mind before speaking again after a moment.
"The curse carried by that afflicted person causes the body to transform into a beast and strips away human reason."
Lucien raised his head.
"When the time comes to treat the soul," Salazar continued, "you can try helping her recover the strongest and deepest memories and emotions tied to her humanity."
His expression became slightly more serious.
"Those are the 'anchors' of the soul."
Lucien's gaze sharpened.
Salazar looked at him and added,
"You should already have some understanding of this from learning the Patronus Charm."
________
(^///^) Please support this fic and also read 12 chapters ahead at Patreon.com/DrakDevil1