Distorted Knowledge!?
[February 27, 1665.]
[I'm about to begin. I'm going to cast the Flesh-Stitching Curse on myself.]
[I've been hit by Petrificus Totalus and the Cruciatus Curse before. The distinct sensation those spells caused came from a particular flow of magic. I need to experience this one firsthand.]
[Yes, that's right. To analyze a spell, I have to experience it myself. Only by understanding how it works and how it feels can I formulate a potion with a similar effect.]
[I used my own flesh. The result wasn't great, but I sensed the flow of magic stitching my body together. The sensation wasn't clear enough. Damn it, if only I could see the magic flowing.]
[I need to experience that sensation repeatedly. I've planned a series of trials with the Flesh-Stitching Curse, but first I need to cut off this excess flesh again.]
A thought struck Will. See magic flowing? He could already do that.
[March 11, 1665.]
[I stitched on twice as much flesh as last time, but my perception of the magic still wasn't enough. I can't clearly track its flow. Damn it, what should I do?]
[I've noticed that Muggles react more strongly when flesh from another species is stitched to them. They seem to suffer more. Does that mean the magic would be easier to sense with foreign flesh? What if I stitched Magical Creature flesh to Muggles?]
[March 22, 1665.]
[I obtained several Cornish Pixies and two Kappas. I stitched their flesh to Muggles. Every Muggle involved died. Perhaps because they had no magic in their bodies?]
[I need to try again.]
[March 28, 1665.]
[Some plague seems to have broken out in London. They call it the Black Death. Muggles are fleeing in droves, and I've captured a group of them.]
[Only one of the seventy-six Muggles survived.]
[I need some wizards for my experiments.]
[May 8, 1665.]
[I captured three wizards.]
[Wizards really are more likely to survive having Fantastic Beasts flesh stitched to them. Two died, but the last one survived the procedure completely. I used the Imperius Curse to make him tell me everything he felt. What did he mean when he said, "The magic burned through my body like lava"?]
[To my delight, he can draw. He sketched the flow of magic he sensed when the flesh was stitched together.]
Illustration:
Will studied the drawing. It was a simple sketch of a human body, with a large patch of magic-infused flesh on the figure's left arm.
The drawing wasn't detailed, but it gave a rough idea of how the magic flowed. It looked much like what Will saw with Wizard's Eye, though Wizard's Eye let him see the flow far more easily.
If he conducted an experiment like this himself, it would be much easier.
Will read on.
[July 2, 1665.]
[I'm having Cole test potions over and over and record everything he experiences.]
[December 5, 1665.]
[I did it! I invented the Flesh-Stitching Potion!]
[After he drank the potion, the wound on his body showed an intense tendency to "devour" flesh. It quickly pulled in and stitched itself to the prepared experimental material!]
[But it isn't perfect yet. According to him, the magic's reaction when he drinks the potion differs from when the curse strikes him.]
[December 12, 1665.]
[Cole is dead. Before he died, he recorded everything he experienced after testing the potions and drew diagrams.]
Will examined the drawings one by one. The figure gradually changed from a human into a strange creature covered in stitched-on lumps of flesh. According to Ethan Abdullah's notes, Cole had adapted to the flesh of the different Fantastic Beasts even after becoming a monster, turning into something else entirely. Ethan had nearly lost control of the Imperius Curse several times.
[I've worked out an improved formula for the Flesh-Stitching Potion. The final two experiments before Cole died proved that the potion and the curse have almost identical effects on wizards!]
[I need more experimental subjects!]
[February 21, 1666.]
[I found a pair of Muggle twins. One will be used exclusively to drink the potion, while the other will be subjected exclusively to the curse.]
What followed was an account of inhumane experiments. Ethan Abdullah transplanted large amounts of beast flesh onto the two children, both in their teens. He had also raised a number of beasts specifically for the experiments and took flesh from their blood relatives as well.
He did not draw, but months later, he wrote that clear differences had appeared between the children. No matter how carefully he transplanted the flesh, the potion and the Flesh-Stitching Curse still produced different results. He still could not turn one into the other.
[The twins now differ in some way. The Flesh-Stitching Potion seems to stimulate the body to devour foreign flesh. So although the overall results are similar, many details remain quite different. The Muggle twins have become Half-Beasts. They can no longer communicate with me normally. Damn it, I can't find a pair of wizard twins. I may have to devise a more direct experiment.]
[Now it's my turn to experience it firsthand.]
[A spell is a potion! A potion is a spell! People turn spells that are too broad or difficult to use into potions, or replace the missing ingredients of a potion with a spell—]
[No, that's wrong. Spells come from Runes. Do potions come from Runes too?]
[No. Something is definitely wrong. Perhaps I've taken my research in the wrong direction. Why use a spell to invent a potion?]
[Compared with devising a potion formula, constructing a spell is more straightforward. Building one from a Runic structure is difficult, but it's more stable than combining pharmacological effects.]
[A potion should be fixed into the form of a spell!]
[Yes! Fixing the potion into a spell! I should adjust the spell's structure based on the potion!]
Will's expression turned strange. So Ethan had ultimately turned some kind of potion into a spell?
Just then, a system notification appeared.
[You gained a large amount of Distorted Knowledge concerning Charms. Charms experience +34]
[You gained a large amount of Distorted Knowledge concerning Potions. Potions experience +51]
Will shuddered. He had long since tested how the system awarded experience: only useful knowledge counted. Some of the incorrect information in magic books he had bought in Diagon Alley years ago had given him no experience at all.
In other words, Ethan Abdullah's research was headed in the right direction. His theory was correct!
Distorted, yet correct?
Will began to question whether the rules governing magic in this world were themselves distorted at their foundation...
He read on. Much of the manuscript that followed was abstract. Ethan Abdullah had drunk the Flesh-Stitching Potion he invented, then used his experience of its effects to make targeted improvements to the Flesh-Stitching Curse.