It had to be said.
Nick LeMay's cry of alarm had been truly loud. It startled the Bowtruckle that had fallen to the floor, and the little creature immediately panicked and burrowed into a drawer.
"What do you mean? I didn't kill anyone... not many, anyway." Ian froze for a few seconds too. Once he came to his senses, he roughly understood why Nick LeMay had cried out.
"You mean making a Philosopher's Stone requires killing people? Like Voldemort making Horcruxes?" To be fair, Ian had never come into contact with the process of creating a Philosopher's Stone.
There was nothing about it in the Hogwarts library, nor in the alchemy books he had found on his own. Such a creation at the very pinnacle of alchemy was almost impossible to find recorded in books.
Partly because knowledge of that kind was extraordinarily valuable and was usually monopolized privately, and partly because even if it were recorded, it would be meaningless to nearly all students of alchemy.
Of course.
An alchemist like Ian was not worried about being unable to learn it. As long as he had enough time, once his alchemy level rose high enough, no difficulty would remain a difficulty. If Voldemort had not used up Nick LeMay's Philosopher's Stone, he had originally intended to conduct some reverse analysis and research on it.
Now that he had unexpectedly acquired quite a few Philosopher's Stones in the Misty Illusion, Ian had initially planned to study them himself. Taking them out just now had only been an impulse after seeing Nick LeMay.
It was not entirely to start a conversation, either.
After all, Nick LeMay was someone who had truly created a Philosopher's Stone. With Nick LeMay's guidance, Ian would save a great deal of time and trouble on reverse