Regulus: I'm Not Pure Anymore

Regulus landed at the edge of the Forbidden Forest. Hagrid's Hut was dark. In the pumpkin patch, the Big Dog named Flossy huddled in its kennel, its ears perking up briefly before drooping back down.

He instantly Apparition, and the next moment, his feet landed on the sticky velvet mat in the center of the hollow.

(Super smooth, incredibly hassle-free website,)

As soon as he raised his head, his Magic Perception spread out and he saw a scene he shouldn't have seen.

In the clearing in the center of the nest, Aragog and Mosag were entangled together, their sixteen legs overlapping.

They are mating.

Aragog was much larger than Mosag, with a dark black carapace pressing down on its grayish-brown belly.

The two thickest legs clamped tightly onto her body, the hard spikes at the tips of her feet embedded in the soft membrane at the edge of her plastron, sinking in and unable to be pulled out.

Mosag let out a long, drawn-out screech, the final note rising as if something were pushing it open from within.

The hiss echoed through the depression along the spider silk, even stopping the small spiders lurking nearby. They lay motionless, their chelicerae tucked under their cephalothorax and their eight legs curled up, as if in worship.

Aragog's movements became increasingly rapid.

Mosag's neighing grew louder, its belly swelled even higher, and its carapace was stretched almost transparent, revealing something churning beneath.

Mucus seeped from the crevices of the plastron, trickling down the spider silk and pooling on the ground in a murky puddle.

Several small spiders crawled out of the shadows, scrambling over to dip their chelicerae into the puddle of slime and lick it.

Their bellies swell slightly as they feed, and their carapaces are covered in the same murky substance.

Regulus's Magic Perception was still active, and he was shocked.

The impact of Magic Power was more direct than visual; the predator's aura, mixed with reproductive instinct, was intense, primal, and carried the dark attribute unique to the Acromantula's life force when it erupted.

The oppressive feeling of a living being completely released in the face of its most basic needs was so intense, it was like having someone press your face against yours and take a sniff.

Mosag's Magic Power fluctuated violently, surging outwards in waves. Aragog's Magic Power pressed down on it, crushing it and then causing it to coalesce again.

He stood there, stunned for two seconds.

He's only twelve years old; he'd never seen anything like this before.

Even if his soul contained another complete memory, even if that memory contained all sorts of things, the scene before him was still beyond his comprehension and imagination.

He even felt his Magic Power shrink slightly.

The mind has been polluted.

The visual impact was significant.

He's not clean anymore.

He Apparition to instantly disappear.

The next moment, he stood on a protruding rock at the edge of the depression, with his back to the nest and his face towards the depths of the Forbidden Forest.

There were no trees around the depression, the moon hung in the sky, and the mist drifted with the wind, but those things seemed distant and unreal.

He took a deep breath, trying to suppress the churning feeling in his chest, but couldn't. He took another breath, but still couldn't suppress it.

The lingering Magic Perception remained in his mind, the details so clear that they made him very uncomfortable.

He closed his eyes, about to activate the Legilimency, to peel that memory from his surface consciousness, stuff it into the Isolation Zone, and seal it off.

Technically, he can do it; he can either completely seal it away or destroy it directly. With his current mental strength, doing this would be no problem for him.

But he didn't act immediately; an idea suddenly popped into his head.

The impact of what just happened on his mind came from the information itself, from what the image carried. No one attacked him intentionally; the information did it on its own.

Make him uncomfortable, make him nauseous, make him physically unwell, but that's all, nothing more.

What if a piece of information itself carries something powerful enough to destroy reason?

Then it's not just information; it's a weapon.

No spells are needed, no Magic Power resistance is required, and there is no need for any active Mental Layer intrusion or passive defense. All you need to do is let the other party access this information, and then the information will do the rest on its own.

As soon as I see, as soon as I hear, as soon as I perceive, I break down.

He took another deep breath and, following this line of thought, pondered it more deeply.

Is there such a thing as a concept that, simply by existing, can cause those who come into contact with it to collapse?

It's not necessary to see it, nor to be attacked by it; simply knowing that it exists, simply understanding what it is, will tear apart one's rational structure.

The human spirit has boundaries. Things within those boundaries can be processed, but things outside those boundaries are fundamentally beyond the scope that the human spirit can bear.

When exposed to this kind of thing, reason will collapse before fear.

Because fear is a reaction, while collapse occurs before the reaction.

Weapons in this direction are virtually impossible to defend against.

Legilimency can block active intrusion, but it cannot prevent the dissolution of reason itself once a piece of information enters the field of vision.

Can he become that kind of person?

Regulus thought of his Light Magic.

Regulus thought of his Light Magic.

He has already verified that light can carry information.

If such information could be incorporated into light, he could stand there without Spellcasting or making any moves; the information would be incorporated the instant the light reflected off him.

Everyone who saw him received that message simultaneously, and simultaneously collapsed, or simultaneously went mad.

But this idea is too far-fetched. It's not that it's impossible, but rather that there isn't enough information available.

The scene of those two spiders mating was merely disgusting and physically unsettling, but far from enough to drive someone to the brink of collapse.

However, simply being disgusting isn't necessarily bad; it all depends on how you use it. If used correctly, it can be just as effective.

He stripped that memory from his surface consciousness, pressed it into Isolation Zone, sealed it separately, marked it, and kept it as material for external output.

Then I completely suppressed the remaining turmoil and reorganized my state of mind.

He turned his back to the nest, pulling himself out of his thoughts; he had important business to attend to tonight.

Aragog has already crawled out of its lair.

Its body outlined itself in the mist, its eight legs landing steadily, each step creating a subtle tremor.

It stopped a few meters in front of Regulus, its uppermost pair of eyes staring at him, their pale light exceptionally clear in the night.

After a moment of silence, Aragog spoke first, his voice still rough and deep. "You've come at a bad time."

Regulus neither turned around nor spoke.

Aragog's chelicerae opened and closed slightly, making a soft crackling sound.

Its tone carried a nonchalant incomprehension of Regulus: "Reproduction is a necessary act for the continuation of the race. Mosag is in good condition this year, which is a good thing. Why are you leaving?"

Regulus turned around and glanced at it.

Aragog lay there, his eight legs tucked to his sides, his abdomen rising and falling slightly.

The eyes in the top row held no provocation, no mockery, only a purely biological bewilderment.

It's asking this question seriously.

Regulus said in a very restrained tone, "I just felt I was bothering you."

After a while, he asked again, "Don't you spiders care about this?"

He knew that animals do this without carrying people on their backs, but he didn't know if intelligent animals would carry people on their backs. Now that he knew, he still couldn't help but ask.

What if Hagrid just didn't take good care of it?

"What's the point of talking about mating? Reproduction?" Its voice held a matter-of-fact bewilderment. "You wizards don't mate?"

Regulus replied indifferently, "Mating."

Aragog then asked, "You don't let people watch you mate?"

When Regulus asked this question, he even felt that Aragog was a wise man, so profound.

He was silent for a moment, then thought carefully, "Generally, we don't allow it."

He had never seen wizards mating, but he was certain that wizards didn't need anyone else to watch them mate.

Who knows?

He pushed the thought out of his mind.

"You all continue," Regulus said. "I'm looking for Baruk."

Aragog let out a short, sharp thud.

A response came from deep within the nest, a slightly higher-pitched sound than Aragog's, with a light, rhythmic quality.

Aragog turned around, and with each of its eight legs moving alternately, it crawled back into its nest.

Its eight legs moved at a moderate pace, its abdomen swaying from side to side, its chelicerae half-open and half-closed, emitting a series of low, rumbling sounds.

It walked to the entrance of the nest, paused, glanced back, then turned back and disappeared into the shadows.

Baruk crawled out of the nest, moving quickly, its carapace still covered with bits of velvet padding.

It stopped in front of Regulus, lowered its front half slightly, stretched out its two foremost legs, and lightly touched the rock with its claws.

Regulus watched its movement and waved his hand.

The spider is greeting him.

Baruk's eight eyes were all fixed on him, and he raised and lowered his front legs, conveying a sense of eager anticipation through his body language.

Regulus released his Magic Perception and scanned the area.

Baruk's Magic Power remained the same; the spider's Magic Power was primal, predatory, dark, and its racial characteristics were clearly defined.

But a layer of emotion covered it up: anticipation, curiosity, excitement, and something he wasn't quite sure about, like intimacy.

Regulus stepped forward and looked at it. "Still want that feeling from last time?"

Baruk made a series of clicking sounds.

"That... strong..." It tapped its front legs on the ground twice, the rhythm rapid. "Want to... experience..."

Regulus raised his wand, and a ball of silvery-white light shone from its tip.

But this time, the tone wasn't one of arrogance or contempt, but rather curiosity and eagerness to try.

When the light shone on him, Baruk's body stiffened for a moment, much shorter than last time, less than two seconds.

Unlike last time, it wasn't confused or bewildered. It turned around twice, tapping its front legs on the ground, as if it were experiencing something.

Then it raised its head and made a series of rapid clicking sounds.

Regulus didn't quite understand the string of sounds, but he could roughly guess the meaning. "One more time."