Chapter 108: Transformation Path Report Meeting

Magic Research Institute, First Floor, Report Hall.

The Magic Research Institute has been established for more than a year. In addition to the first batch of more than one hundred talents in various fields, more than two hundred people have successively entered here to work.

Therefore, there are more than three hundred people sitting in the report hall at this moment.

And above the podium, a banner was pulled: "Report Meeting on 'Basic Principles of Animagus'."

On the podium is a movable blackboard divided into four grids, which is convenient for the reporter to write on the board.

At ten past ten, Murphy walked into the hall accompanied by Laura Kruger and Andrew Tooke. Everyone stood up and applauded. It was only after Murphy sat down in the middle of the first row that they sat down one by one.

Andrew Tooke walked onto the podium.

He still wore black-rimmed glasses and a plaid shirt, but unlike a year ago, he had adapted to his current role and was no longer panicked.

"Director, everyone, welcome to the achievement release conference of the Transformation Path Research Group. I am Andrew Tooke, the leader of the Transformation Path Research Group. Today, I will introduce our latest achievement to you: Basic Principles of Animagus."

"Since I stood on this podium more than a year ago and proposed the theoretical vision of the Transformation Path, our research group has worked day and night with extremely high enthusiasm in order to find a feasible plan for the Transformation Path, trying to analyze the mechanism of action of various transformation magic, transformation creatures, and transformation potions."

"Currently, we have some understanding of some things, such as the biological characteristics of vampires, the mechanism of action of Polyjuice Potion, etc."

"However, for the core of the Transformation Path: Animagus, our research has been slow to make key progress."

"The reason for this is actually very simple. Animagus transformation is too difficult."

"Animagus transformation is almost the most difficult of all the magic I know. Its difficulty is not to say that this magic requires high magic attainments or powerful magic power, but that its entire transformation process requires an extremely long time, great patience, and is full of many uncertainties, which leads to the success rate of this magic, even for a transformation master who is proficient in magic, still being small to the point of being outrageous."

"Next, in order to give everyone a concept of the difficulty of this magic, I will briefly explain its general steps."

"A wizard who wants to become an Animagus goes through roughly five steps."

"The first step is to hold a single leaf of a Mandrake in the mouth for a full month from full moon to full moon. At any time, you must not swallow the leaf or take it out of your mouth. Once the leaf leaves the mouth, it is a failure and must start over."

"The second step is to take out the leaf at the full moon, fill a crystal potion bottle with saliva, and soak the leaf in it, letting it receive pure moonlight. If there happens to be no moonlight that night, it is also a failure and must start over."

"Then add a hair of the wizard to the crystal potion bottle shining in the moonlight, and a teaspoon of dew—the dew must be collected from a place that has not seen sunlight or human contact for a full seven days."

"Finally, add a pupa of a Death's-head Hawkmoth. Place this mixture in a quiet, dark place and do not look at it or disturb it until the next thunderstorm arrives."

"The third step is to point the tip of the wand at the heart at sunrise and sunset every day while waiting for the thunderstorm, and chant the spell: 'Amato, Animo, Animato, Animagus.'"

"No matter how long it takes for the thunderstorm to arrive, the crystal potion bottle must be kept completely undisturbed and away from the sun. Sunlight pollution will lead to the most tragic mutations."

"During this period, the wizard must chant to himself twice a day. If he misses it, it is also a failure. If it goes smoothly, the wizard will feel the beating of another heart before a certain chant. The spell still needs to be finished normally."

"The fourth step is finally the day of the thunderstorm. At the moment the lightning breaks through the sky, the wizard needs to immediately go to the place where the crystal potion bottle is buried. If everything is normal, the wizard can find a mouthful of blood-red potion inside."

"The fifth step is to go to a safe place, chant to yourself again, drink the potion, and start the transformation. At this moment, the appearance of the creature you are about to transform into will automatically appear in the wizard's mind, and there is no turning back. Once the transformation is complete, the wizard can switch between animal and human forms at will, and a skilled Animagus does not need a wand to transform."

"To be honest, when I saw these five steps in the book, I didn't feel it was particularly troublesome, and I was surprised why such an interesting magic was not known to everyone in the Wizarding World."

"But until I tried to put a leaf in my mouth for less than a day, I was almost going crazy. I find it hard to imagine how a wizard can talk, drink water, and eat while holding a leaf in his mouth..."

"Not to mention the extremely low fault tolerance rate where any omission could lead to failure, as well as uncertain conditions such as 'waiting for an unknown thunderstorm.' A wizard who can become an Animagus through such complex steps, in addition to extraordinary ability and will, also needs good luck."

"The complexity of Animagus transformation leads to the difficulty of researching it. After all, it is hard to find a few samples, so what kind of research can we talk about."

"But fortunately, the Director has always been extremely supportive of the Transformation Path Research Group. A few months ago, we recruited dozens of wizards in the Wizarding World and let them try continuously, providing us with enough intermediate samples."

"With samples, our research can be carried out."

"First is the first step, saliva and leaves."

"This is the most time-consuming step and has the highest failure rate, so we got a large number of saliva and leaf samples from the first and second days, but in the first three months, we only got ten samples that were truly completed for a month."

"Through the inspection and analysis of these ten completed samples and a large number of intermediate samples, we discovered that the first stage is actually a fermentation process, a process in which saliva ferments and separates certain components of the leaves and purifies some of them. At the same time, it is also a process of the wizard continuously taking leaf components."

"Because this step is too time-consuming, we have been committed to shortening it and trying to reduce its operational difficulty. We tried many times and tried many methods, but found it difficult to shorten the time through artificial intervention, and the whole process is almost inseparable from the wizard's body."

"But we still found some simplified schemes. For example, we discovered that after mixing the leaves and saliva, if the wizard carries them with them and drinks and updates the saliva at regular intervals in a dark and lightless environment, they can also obtain similar effects."

"This method greatly reduces the operational difficulty, so in the last few months of research, we have quite a few more complete samples of the first step."

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 109 =====