Chapter 220

"Why are you still not dead?"

In the darkness, only a head remained.

The body had been cut clean, the heart had been removed, the tongue had been cut off, the eyes had gone blind, he couldn't see anything.

Opposite that head, a mass of pitch-black viscous silt changed its form, "You can't speak, you can't see, you can't eat, you can't move, and you can't enjoy anything. Everything happy has nothing to do with you. All that's left is pain. Why don't you let go?"

"Give up, this is despair, you have no possibility of turning the tables!"

【No】

"Alright, then let's deprive you of your hearing, and take away your sense of touch. There will only be silence and stillness in this world. You are just a brain in a vat."

The voice went away.

The last sense of touch also disappeared.

In the void, only one consciousness was buzzing.

【I am still thinking.】

【I still exist.】

【Even without a body, without a heartbeat, only a head left, I still exist.】

【I understand.】

【This is not a reality.】

【This is a hallucination.】

Crack.

A crack split in the darkness.

【That thing called despair can deprive me of all my senses and cause endless pain, but it can't stop my thoughts.】

【Because this is the deepest part of self-consciousness, the singularity of the idealistic world. It is within the horizon of the mind's black hole.】

【Here, I am the absolute master.】

【I am the only rule of this idealistic world.】

【Then……】

【Let there be light.】

……

On the ring, Professor Sprout looked at Murphy and Snape drinking the potion one after another, worried.

Murphy stood still after drinking the potion, while Snape breathed violently, as if experiencing great pain.

And this pain seemed to be radiating outward. Dark magic power spread, and the flowers and plants around the ring withered and decayed visibly to the naked eye, and even the sky was covered with dark clouds.

"Is this... a magic riot?" Professor Sprout, in addition to being surprised, hurriedly let the students retreat and stay away from the ring to prevent being accidentally injured by the two's violent magic.

"Madam Pomfrey, what should we do now?" Professor Sprout was a bit indecisive, "Should we find a way to wake them up?"

"Alright, let me think of a way. That potion is very dangerous. If it drags on for too long, I'm afraid it will cause terrible psychological damage..."

However, before she finished speaking, she saw Murphy suddenly open his eyes.

"Let there be light."

He said.

Suddenly, a ray of sky light broke through the clouds, like a sharp sword sweeping away the haze, shining on everyone. The temperature seemed to be raised by a few degrees instantly, making everyone's originally worried mood inexplicably relaxed.

Murphy let out a long breath.

He glanced at the timer on the table. In that illusion, he experienced a lifetime, but in reality, only a few minutes had passed.

"Professor Darkholm, how do you feel?" Sprout asked hurriedly.

"I have no problem," Murphy said, looking at Snape who was already sweating profusely and seemed about to faint at any time, "Madam Pomfrey, prepare to treat him now."

With the power of Memory Potion plus Despair Potion, for someone like Snape who had significant psychological trauma, it was almost fatal.

Even if he could survive the effect of the potion, he might suffer from severe depression after waking up. If he didn't hurry to treat him, this old boy might be ruined.

……

However, even with Madam Pomfrey's utmost treatment, Snape didn't wake up until evening. During this period, although he was woken up, he was still immersed in endless sadness, and the whole person was almost exhausted from crying.

Fortunately, due to Murphy's suggestion, he was transferred to a separate ward in time, avoiding embarrassment in front of the vast number of teachers and students.

Murphy undoubtedly won the gambling duel, but at this moment he didn't have the energy to show off in front of Snape.

In the mental illusion formed by the Despair Potion, he realized a unique philosophy.

"Assuming that the essence of magic is truly idealistic, then the range of its complete idealism must be very small and cannot interfere with other wills."

"But within this absolute idealistic domain that doesn't interfere with other wills, it is a wish-fulfilling machine that makes things happen as one wishes."

"This singularity of absolute will is a domain where will is higher than everything and determines matter."

"Within the horizon of the mind, everything outside will lose its meaning, whether it is matter or magic. Nothing can invade this domain—unless actively accepted by the will."

If this hypothesis holds—and it has a high probability of holding—then is it possible to establish a path to godhood based on this?

This is a completely idealistic path, very different from the Transformation path and the Spell path. Its essence is "nothing exists outside the mind."

This path, Murphy intends to call it the "Mind Path."

Its path direction is also very clear. As long as the "Mind Horizon" of the "Absolute Will Singularity" is expanded, allowing it to encompass a wider area, it can extend "wish-fulfilling" to the larger outside world, thereby allowing the external world to be arbitrarily changed by one's own will.

This thing is actually like the so-called "domain" common in those fantasy novels.

Assuming the range of "Mind Horizon" is a physical range, it might be very small, perhaps at the molecular, atomic, or even quantum level.

But since it is a range extended from an idealistic singularity, it doesn't necessarily have to be a physical range; perhaps it can also be seen as a conceptual range.

For example, a living being is a concept. This concept is in a certain sense larger than the concept of an animal, and the concept of an animal is larger than that of a mammal, mammal is larger than human, human is larger than Homo sapiens, Homo sapiens is larger than British, and British is larger than Londoner.

But from this perspective, concepts also have ranges of size.

Perhaps, one can start from the conceptual range of a small scope to expand one's own "domain."

For example, Murphy can control lightning based on the power of the Thunderbird now. If he expands the concept of lightning to the "electromagnetic phenomenon" beside it, can he also directly control various electromagnetic phenomena? Like Magneto?

This kind of conceptual range expansion is definitely not as comprehensive as the expansion of physical range.

Assuming the Mind Horizon can be expanded to a physical range of two meters, these two meters are his small universe, and the laws of all things within these two meters are determined by his words. Its comprehensiveness and strength are not something that conceptual range expansion can achieve. But in terms of operational difficulty, perhaps conceptual expansion is easier.

After all, if understood from the perspective of the Mind Path, magic, spells, etc., can actually be seen as the cross-effects of various different mind domains.

That is to say, all existing magic can be seen as the application of the Mind Path.

It is not impossible to even directly divide the six major magic domains by the six-dimensional attributes of magic power.

And compared to the Transformation path and the Spell path, the understanding threshold of the Mind Path is very low. To a certain extent, it can replace the Spell path that wizards find difficult to understand, providing programmatic direction guidance for wizards' research.

In this way, he can even utilize those waste materials.

Truly congratulations.

……

After the gambling duel incident, Murphy spent several days perfecting the theory of the Mind Path. He prepared to form a paper and publish it in the Magic Weekly, so as to summarize the fragmented magic research in the wizarding world into the framework of the Mind Path.

But before the paper was finished.

He received news from the Soviet Union.

Barty Crouch Jr. bowed respectfully to him in the crow's vision, "Great Master, we have found an opportunity."

"The substitute plan can be implemented."

(End of chapter)