The days of hanging out at Hogwarts

In the evening, Loren sat by the stove, flipping through the two books she had received during the day, while Grandpa Bates packed his bags.

"The Comprehensive Interpretation of Hieroglyphs" is not an introductory introduction to symbols. The hieroglyphs in the book may refer to the runes introduced in a large chapter in the middle.

The first half of the book contains some occult and alchemical content, which Loren seems to be mostly baseless fantasies. The use of dragon's blood, the use of magical animal materials, and the names of other plants were something Loren had never heard of in his entire life.

When making it, there is also a distinction between the full moon and the missing moon, and the difference between a rainy day with thunder and a rainy day without thunder.

Is this British feudal superstition? Loren thought it would be interesting to read it as a fantasy.

But the second half of the book is more interesting and is the autobiography of a man who calls himself Nico Flamel.

He told how he was born in Paris in the 14th century. In his early days, he worked as a scribe to copy books, letters and wills for various noble figures. Occasionally I get some alchemy content, and Nico takes up alchemy as a hobby.

Ordinary life took a huge turn one day. A man in a black cloak came to his dream and told him that he would receive a magical book. He must study hard and understand it thoroughly to obtain extraordinary and surprising information. strength.

This dream came true.

The book says: I have in my hand an ancient and huge book that was exchanged for 2 florins. It does not use paper or parchment like other books, but is made of fine and smooth young bark. The cover is tightly wrapped in brass and is engraved with words or strange symbols... It has 3 groups of 7 pages, including the first page. The seventh page of each group does not have any text, but there is no text on the seventh page. On the seventh page of one group, there is a drawing of a wand swallowed by a giant snake.

When Loren saw this, he took another book and looked at it carefully.

This should be the "Book of Abraham". The content in the book does seem to be stamped with some kind of metal and then inked. It is not any text that Loren has seen and cannot understand at all.

The book has 21 pages in total, and every seventh page is filled with weird pictures.

The first seven pages depict a simple cane with two unknown snakes wrapped around it, one of which is devouring the other.

The book must be a few years old, and the pages are yellowish. The simple lines outline a picture without color, let alone clear. But when Loren looked at the painting, there were colorful and clear images in his mind.

The cane was a rustic black, and the two snakes had white spots. He could even feel the matte texture of the scales.

Loren guessed that life was too boring, and there was a lot of online film and television information in his previous life, so he made up his mind.

The second seven pages, that is, page 14, shows a cross, but it is not Jesus who is crucified on the cross, but a snake.

Loren looked at this picture. He felt that the snake in this picture was different from the previous one. The snake on the cross seemed to have two small horns on its head.

The third page, which is page 21, shows several clear springs emerging from a desert, and many snakes emerge from the springs.

Loren's impression of this picture was more about the spring water. The scene of the spring water gushing out in his mind seemed to be able to feel the sweetness and coolness of the spring water.

In addition, the fourth and fifth pages were also accompanied by four small pictures. They were too small and Loren could not make up for anything.

In "General Interpretation of Hieroglyphics", Nicol Flamel's opinion on this is that these small pictures are not important, they seem to be in the narrative or some popular mythology, and there is no mention of alchemy.

The rest of the self-report became gibberish, with many spelling errors and nonsense grammar.

Scroll further back to see some travel notes. This Nicolás Flamel has traveled to almost every place in the world and recorded the customs and habits of many places. Of course, there are also some garbled words mixed in. Loren picked it up and read it with gusto. .

Grandpa Bates put away his bundle and looked at the sky through the small window.

Although it was snowing at this time, the clouds were very thin, and a notched moon could be seen hanging low in the sky.

Grandpa Bates closed the small window and stuck it tightly with a wooden stick, "Loren, listen up. I'm going to the mountains tomorrow, and you stay at home, as usual, you know?"

There is a time like this every month, and Loren can’t get any results, “Okay, I know!”

Grandpa Bates may not know that he is no longer young, and the winters of the past two years have been particularly difficult. Especially in the few days after returning from the mountains, I felt as weak as if I had been seriously ill.

Loren occasionally felt that, as the residents down there said, Bates was making a deal with the devil on the mountain.

But after living together for several years, there was nothing strange about Bates. He might have a somewhat withdrawn temperament, but after getting to know him, he was just a slightly stronger little old man, just like an ordinary farmer.

In any case, he decided to secretly follow Grandpa Bates tomorrow to find out.

The next morning, we had breakfast.

Grandpa Bates took the packed baggage and the walking stick made of wooden sticks, and went out to go up the mountain.

Loren was not in a hurry. Even if there was no thick snow on the mountains in winter, it was still difficult to walk.

He slowly finished feeding the sheep and put enough hay and water for the sheep into the fold for several days. Use a wooden rope and a glass bottle filled with water to make a simple timing mechanism. The water in the glass bottle will continue to drip out. The temperature of the sheepfold will not freeze the glass bottle. After enough time, the hay will flow from the rafters. fall down. This is to prevent the sheep from quickly eating up several days' worth of food.

After doing all this, Loren packed a few days' worth of dry food, coarse bread, cheese and smoked lamb, a knife, a windproof lighter and a windproof tarp in his bag.

After thinking about it, he put the fur blanket of the weird old book dealer in it.

After locking the door, it was already after lunch. Loren followed the traces on the snow and the fallen weeds and flowers in the direction of Bates.

The trees were covered with a layer of white coat, and scattered snowflakes occasionally fell on Loren. The wind on the road blew hard and cut Loren's exposed skin like a knife.

He tried his best to protect himself with a hat, gloves, and scarf, but the wind still penetrated his body and bones through the slits between his clothes.

After walking for a while, Loren took out the tarp and blanket and put them on his body, and then put a layer of tarp on the outside to protect Loren's body like a cloak.

The effect is very good, the wind that always penetrates the body is blocked, and the blanket is warm, as if sitting by the stove.

This must be polar bear-type fur, Loren thought.

In less than an hour, I followed the obvious traces into the forest and came out from the other corner. The footprints on the snow extended to a boulder. One side of the boulder was close to a small hill. The footprints were scattered around the boulder. Spread into a piece and disappear.

Loren certainly didn't think Mr. Bates had turned into a stone spirit.

There are some wooden stakes and wooden poles next to the stone to form a simple labor-saving lever. It can be seen that Grandpa Bates did not move the stone with brute force. There should be a cave behind the stone, and there should be similar labor-saving devices in the cave.

After circling a few times, Loren cleared a place in another leeward area and built a shelter with branches and tarpaulin, hoping to hear some sounds in the cave.

Wrapped in a fur blanket, he didn't feel any cold, so he didn't light a fire. It was warmer than a polar bear's fur.

He had eaten something and was quietly waiting for the night to come...