Nicolas Flamel and the Philosopher's Stone / The Disqualified and the Erased Secret

Unlike the briefcases used to house Fantastic Beasts, Harry's Magical Combination Chest, which he never took out of the house, was an absolutely bloody and gruesome place.

Numerous horrific incidents, including torture, dismemberment, and human drug research, have occurred here... Undoubtedly, if the events that took place here were made public, a large number of moralists would jump out and condemn Harry as a vicious and evil man, even more wicked than the Dark Wizard, and so on.

But from the very beginning, Harry never cared about any of that.

The Magical Combination Chest is much quieter now than before; there's almost no smell of blood left, and only one prisoner remains... and that one has been brain-damaged and is completely unable to speak.

August Rookwood was a prisoner Harry rescued from Azkaban. Although he wasn't among the highest-ranking Death Eater, he was definitely a core member.

Here I need to bring up something from the past... So why was Harry so angry earlier about Albus Dumbledore's inaction in letting Moody get arrested?

Because he himself controlled a long-term prisoner, by analogy, how could Barty Crouch Jr. Crouch Jr. possibly treat Moody well and provide him with good food and drink?

By now, all the guys who were kidnapped by Harry in the same batch are dead, leaving only Rookwood. However, due to long-term and repeated searches and memory alterations, he has eventually become a complete idiot.

And now, his life is nearing its end...

Harry was going to use him as a test subject to test a kind of medicine to deal with his master Voldemort... let's just call it a drug, but a living 'drug'.

Arriving at the dissection table where Rookwood lay, Harry didn't intend to remove any parts of his body this time. Instead, he hung the snake blood bag he had brought on a high shelf, connected the transfusion set, and inserted the needle into Rookwood's vein.

Logically, if snake blood is to be effective, it should be consumed raw; injecting it directly can easily cause a series of abnormal reactions in the human body.

However, considering that this was a valuable resource for Voldemort's resurrection, Harry ultimately decided to experiment with it through blood transfusions. To this end, he patiently underwent countless cultivation and alchemy processes before finally refining Nagini's blood to a state that satisfied him.

"Let's observe for a month first." Harry murmured to himself, watching the blood bag gradually deflate...

'Voldemort, why did you have to go against a medical student?'

"Hmm?" Just as Harry was focusing on Rookwood's blood transfusion, he suddenly sensed a magical fluctuation coming from the alchemy laboratory, accompanied by a slight crackling sound.

Leaving the Magical Combination Chest to investigate, Harry saw a slender House-elf.

"Eliezer, what brings you here?"

"Excuse me for disturbing you, young master, but the master wishes to see you."

The House-elf respectfully explained his purpose, which made Harry sigh inwardly.

It seems the teacher doesn't want to delay any longer.

"Then let's go... I haven't visited my teacher since I came back."

After locking the Magical Combination Chest, Harry, Eliezer, hurried to the room where the Flamel couple lived in the nursing home.

"Doctor, you've finally arrived! Come and sit down."

When Harry arrived, he found the Flamel couple sitting on the sofa in the living room waiting for him, with hot tea already laid out on the coffee table.

"Teacher, teacher's wife," Harry greeted them respectfully before taking his seat with poise.

"I'm so sorry, Doctor, we know you must be busy, but Nicolas Flamel misses you so much~" Perenelle used magic to bring a cup of tea to Harry, explaining with a kind smile.

"Oh no... it's all my fault for being late!" Harry quickly apologized upon hearing this. "It was my fault before; I didn't come to visit you and your wife in time."

"It's alright, we're not busy anyway, you can come anytime." Nicolas Flamel smiled nonchalantly, but his eyes held a clear question, "Doctor, did you discover anything interesting on your trip to Armenia?"

"Well... okay, I think I've figured out the energy composition of the Sorcerer's Stone now..."

Seeing his teacher's expression, Harry knew he couldn't hide it from her no matter what.

"I see... I knew it. You were so hesitant to come after you returned; you must have learned something." Nicolas Flamel sighed softly. "I didn't expect that kind of power would still remain in that country... But that's fine too. What you see with your own eyes is always more real than what I can describe."

Harry nodded slightly, but said nothing.

It was truly vivid, even shocking.

"Doctor, do you know how my Sorcerer's Stone was made?" Nicolas Flamel asked softly, his tone seemingly filled with reminiscence and emotion for the past.

"It is said that it was guided by a book called the Book of Abraham..." Harry didn't know much about this history, and Nicolas Flamel had never let him see the book.

"Its real full name is 'The Book of Abraham the Jew,' and it was that book that completely changed my destiny. If it weren't for it, Perenelle and I would probably just be an ordinary wizard couple."

Chapter 727 Nicolas Flamel and the Sorcerer's Stone

In August 1348, Nicolas Flamel, who had just graduated from Beauxbatons and was then just an ordinary wizard, left the Pyrenees, where he had stayed for several years during his studies, and returned to his hometown of Paris.

However, Paris at that time had already fallen due to the ravages of the Black Death. The city was littered with corpses and devastation, and pedestrians who were walking on the street one second could die suddenly from the disease the next.

In the extremely desolate and dilapidated neighborhood, black 'P's graffiti are almost everywhere on the walls, a symbol of the great plague, and just looking at them makes people cover their faces and run away.

It was during this dark era that Nicolas Flamel carefully concealed his identity as a wizard, taking a job as a scribe to barely make a living in Paris.

He witnessed firsthand the plague and everything that followed... More than half of Paris's population was killed by the disease, famine was rampant, bandits were everywhere, and the turbulent situation led to a citizen uprising. Meanwhile, the Hundred Years' War was raging on outside.

Even though Nicolas Flamel was a wizard, his life was far from easy.

This continued until 1357, after which everything changed.

As if divinely inspired, Nicolas Flamel saw a Winky angel in a dream. The angel gave him a divine book and told him that it contained the knowledge of God.

Coincidentally, a few days later, Nicolas Flamel's copying shop welcomed a shifty-eyed customer who appeared to be a thief. He had stolen an old book from somewhere and, in his eagerness to sell it, had sought out Nicolas Flamel, who seemed like a relatively honest copyist.

The moment Nico saw the book, he bought it without hesitation for two French Galleons.

His intuition told him that it was the divine book given to him by the angel in his dream!

This book is unlike any of the books that Nicolas Flamel had copied before. Its cover is not made of paper or leather, but is tightly wrapped in brass and decorated with very delicate patterns and borders.

Its pages were also quite distinctive, resembling those made of fine, smooth tree bark— Nicolas Flamel later learned that they were papyrus, invented by the ancient Egypt and gradually introduced to Europe, but were no longer in use around the 12th century.

The contents of the book were strange. All the pages were divided into three groups of seven pages each, and the seventh page of each group was blank. However, on the seventh page of the first group, there was a picture of a magic wand being swallowed by a giant snake.

In addition, the other pages of the book also have various patterns related to Ouroboros, crosses, angels, and many words and symbols of unknown meaning... What's even more amazing is that they are not written on, but rather imprinted with metal and different colors are applied to the recessed areas.

Nicolas Flamel was completely unfamiliar with the text and symbols throughout the book; the only two lines he recognized were on the title page.

'Dedicated to Abraham the Jew, prince, priest, astrologer, and wise saint, to his fellow Jews exiled in Gaul.'

'Anyone who reads this book, except for priests and scribes responsible for transcribing it, will be cursed!'

As a wizard, Nicolas Flamel could not possibly be a priest, but coincidentally, he was working as a scribe, which was exactly what he did – transcribing and recording documents!

Therefore, Nicolas Flamel became completely convinced that this was the divine book given to him by an angel, and based on the hint on the title page, he named it "The Book of Abraham the Jew."

In an effort to unravel the secrets of this book, Nicolas Flamel and his wife Perenelle consulted countless sources and even traveled throughout every inch of France, hoping to decipher the meaning of those words and symbols... but for the next twenty-one years, they remained completely unsuccessful.

"Looking back now, I was really quite cowardly back then, I never even thought to ask for help." Nicolas Flamel chuckled self-deprecatingly as he recounted his past to Harry, "But back then, there were practically no Jews left in France."

Harry didn't know much about Europe history; he only knew that in the 14th century, the attitude towards Jews in Europe was extremely hostile, to the point that they were almost universally hated.

Therefore, it would obviously be quite difficult for Nicolas Flamel to thoroughly study a work that appears to be written entirely in Hebrew in France.

Fortunately, Nicolas Flamel was lucky enough to meet a Hebrew scholar who helped him gradually unravel the secrets of those words and symbols.

"After that, I followed the steps recorded in the book, spending countless hours collecting various materials, and following some unseen guidance, I sketched out a transmutation circle that could create Sorcerer's Stone." Nicolas Flamel paused here, then looked at Harry, "Doctor, you must have seen similar diagrams in Armenia, right?"

"Hmm..." Harry nodded silently; that array diagram was certainly not a pleasant memory.

"You were scared, weren't you? That's normal, because I was startled too," Nicolas Flamel sighed softly. "But the joy of successfully creating the Sorcerer's Stone quickly took over my mind. Especially after I successfully turned mercury into gold for the first time, my first thought was... I'm going to be rich!"

"Later, it turned out to be true. I gained astonishing wealth through the Sorcerer's Stone, which also granted me alchemical abilities that allowed me to achieve almost anything. I even created the Elixir of Life. These gains made me a legend, and even after Perenelle and I retired from the world, countless people have continued to try to uncover my legend."

Yes, Harry was quite certain of that; his teacher was definitely not in Versailles.

It is said that in what others considered his later years—before his death at the age of 87— Nicolas Flamel donated a total of fourteen hospitals, as well as a large number of homes for the blind, churches, cemeteries, and so on. He also donated a morgue covered with murals in the Holy Innocents' Cemetery.

After he 'died' in 1417, not only were his and his wife's graves dug up, but even the walls of his old house were removed...

This was all done by those alchemists who came from far and wide in search of the Sorcerer's Stone. They dug almost three feet into the ground, but in the end, they all came up empty-handed...

Because Nicolas Flamel didn't die at all; instead, he and his wife embarked on a journey to immortality with the Sorcerer's Stone.

"When Perenelle and I drank the Elixir of Life, we were thrilled, thinking we could finally have long lives... But after a long time, we gradually felt empty. Endless wealth and eternal life—when we actually obtained them, we found they were actually the most burdensome things. At the same time, as I continued to use the Sorcerer's Stone, I finally discovered that the source of Sorcerer's Stone energy was actually..."

Nicolas Flamel stopped there, but Harry knew what he was trying to say.

The Sorcerer's Stone consumes human souls... and even lives!

Chapter 728 The Disqualified Person and the Erased Secret

"Doctor... Logically, I should have passed on that book, 'The Book of Abraham the Jew,' to you as well, but I've been hesitating."

After a long silence, Nicolas Flamel continued softly, "That book, I can no longer decipher it. The words and symbols on the pages have all disappeared... And to be honest, even if you asked me now how the Sorcerer's Stone was made, I wouldn't be able to answer. I only know the ingredients used to make the Sorcerer's Stone; everything else is completely forgotten, even the transmutation circle."

"Why is this happening... wait, I can't remember either?!" Harry, who was puzzled, finally realized something was wrong. He didn't seem to remember how to draw the transmutation circle either!

All he can remember now is that it was a blood-red circular array, and there was an eye in the center of the array.

He had completely forgotten all the other details in such a short time!

"This is some kind of special magical influence. Even if you have a good memory, you will still forget," Nicolas Flamel explained with a sigh. "Didn't the title page of that book say that only priests and scribes can read it without being cursed? I suppose to remember and be able to use that transmutation circle, you also need to have that kind of status. And I once voluntarily gave up that status. Perhaps that's why I can't pass on the secret of the Sorcerer's Stone."

Harry also knew about this part of the legend. It is said that Nicolas Flamel had left behind the secrets of the Sorcerer's Stone's creation in many places, but those traces all mysteriously disappeared in the end.

Therefore, Nicolas Flamel's past acts of donating churches and cemeteries were actually in line with his identity, or rather, acting as a 'copyist' in the capacity of a priest.

For a time, Nicolas Flamel even felt smug about it.

He was incredibly wealthy and transcended life and death, so he truly acted like a divine messenger, witnessing everything in this world from a superior position.

He even named his House-elf Eliezer, after Abraham, believing himself to be a great pioneer among humankind.

But later, Nicolas Flamel realized she was wrong.

A scribe is just a scribe; he will never become a true priest.

As a wizard, he shouldn't have had anything to do with the so-called 'god' in the first place.

What truly matters is alchemy, not the Sorcerer's Stone. The latter may be a gem of ancient alchemy, but it should not be used as a symbol to subtly promote divine authority.

So when he stopped seeking out those ancient monasteries or churches, and stopped replenishing the Sorcerer's Stone with energy, some people—perhaps even the angels he had dreamed of—judged him as a departure from the responsibilities of a priest.

Immediately afterwards, a specific spell took effect, erasing all secrets about the creation and birth of the Sorcerer's Stone, ensuring that it would never be revealed!

"The only thing I remember now is... that the Sorcerer's Stone is a substance composed of four uniform properties and three uniform forces. It is extremely precious, insoluble, and cannot be burned. It can be refined into any substance in the world."

"And those four uniform properties are actually the four elements of earth, water, fire, and wind; the so-called three uniform forces refer to the theory of the three elements of matter, namely sulfur, mercury, and salt... Paracelsus later summarized this part of the theory, you should remember it, right?"

"Hmm." Harry nodded seriously when he heard the teacher's question.

von Hohenheim Paracelsus was also a very famous alchemist in the Middle Ages. When Nicolas Flamel first gave Harry his introductory lessons on ancient alchemy, Harry memorized a lot of information about this person.

Of course, if you really don't like medieval alchemy, you can use the image and setting from a certain anime to replace it slightly... at least it will look cooler.

In short, based on the four elements, this person summarized the three basic elements of matter: sulfur, mercury, and salt.

These three purest substances can respectively represent the soul, spirit, and body of matter...

Putting them together actually refers to humanity.

Coincidentally, Paracelsus is also the only alchemist in history who created a perfect life form—the homunculus Homunculus.

If you have a hard time understanding what Holm Cruz is, try watching another anime instead... the little man in the flask from a certain masterpiece~

Therefore, it seems that the principle behind the formation of the Sorcerer's Stone is not complicated; it is simply the four elements plus the necessary... human pillar.

Now Harry knows why the transmutation circle was red.

Using the power of the transmutation circle, the human sacrifice was broken down into absolutely pure sulfur, mercury, and salt, which were then combined with the four elements to form Sorcerer's Stone...

This might be why I felt guilty when using the Sorcerer's Stone, because some 'people' had indeed completely disappeared.

But... on the other hand, isn't that also a kind of liberation?

Back to Harry himself, he absolutely refused to believe that his teacher had actually created a human vessel, because Nicolas Flamel had once said... he was just following the instructions in that book and collecting 'materials'.

The key is those who have already been trained into human pillars and can provide him with the 'materials'.

Of course, Harry was simply analyzing the origin and significance of the Sorcerer's Stone; he didn't intend to bring up past history to argue about right and wrong.

The origins of those human sacrifices used as building blocks are unverifiable, and it's difficult to say whether they were entirely innocent; while the "God loves the world" that some clergy claim to love is actually only for those who wholeheartedly believe in them, which is not inherently problematic.

"In short, that's my story with the Sorcerer's Stone... After obtaining it, it took me a long time to realize that my pursuits were actually contrary to its purpose..." Nicolas Flamel sighed softly, his cloudy eyes filled with regret. "I once used the Sorcerer's Stone to pursue wealth and immortality, but in the end, I found that they were nothing but worthless things; that book once guided me into the world of ancient alchemy, and while I gained endless enjoyment, I also wanted to pass on what I had learned, but I discovered... the existence of the Sorcerer's Stone will only lead to the further demise of ancient alchemy."

"So... I finally started to think that maybe I should destroy this thing. But I can't. Perenelle and I are like we're bound; we can't destroy the Sorcerer's Stone directly, and we can only ask others for help..."

"It must be the Headmaster..." Harry said softly.