Injecting thoughts into a Magic Golem wasn't an easy spell to master, but Bode had been an excellent Ravenclaw graduate with "Outstanding" NEWTs in several subjects, so he ultimately managed to complete it successfully.
The Magic Golem slowly opened its eyes, initially expressionless, then its demeanor gradually softened, even carrying a hint of reclusive melancholy, making it look somewhat like Bode.
Bode waved his hand in front of it, then, seeing the Magic Golem's bewildered gaze, he withdrew his hand and asked, a little nervously, "Hello? Do you know who I am?"
"Master," the Magic Golem said slowly.
"OK!" Bode then asked, "Explain the potential risks of irreversible deformation... Oh, and tell me the seven elements of spatial magic, as well as the calculation methods for constructing magical space."
Wade glanced at Bode and nodded inwardly.
The first question was at the NEWTs exam level; the latter two were topics not covered in school, possibly even research findings from the Department of Mysteries known only to a select few.
Bode was using this method to test how much of his own knowledge the Magic Golem had inherited after thoughts were injected into it.
After the Magic Golem answered each question, Bode was so delighted he almost jumped.
"Did you hear that, Wade? He knows everything! Even better and more organized than I thought! Merlin, this is the best Magic Golem I could have imagined!"
"As long as you're satisfied." Wade leaned against the wall, arms crossed, and chuckled, "Give him a name?"
Bode seemed to have already thought of one, saying without hesitation, "Caspian."
Wade said, "Caspian Sea?"
"Yes, also the 'Guardian of Jewels'," Bode said expectantly. "He will be a huge help to our research."
Wade motioned for Bode to step aside, then whispered to him, "I need to remind you, Mr. Bode, that while Caspian was created to assist your research, you should not treat him harshly."
Bode nodded. "I understand. He's like your own child to you, right? Don't worry, I'll take good care of him."
"It's not just for that reason," Wade corrected. "The reason we never sell custom large Magic Golems like this is to prevent unfortunate incidents from happening."
Bode: "...Unfortunate incidents?"
Wade looked at him and asked, "Mr. Bode, can you guarantee that your own thoughts will never betray you?"
Bode wanted to say "No" decisively, but after a moment of hesitation, he shook his head.
He had witnessed many unbelievable phenomena in the Department of Mysteries and heard about various bizarre incidents handled by his colleagues at the Ministry of Magic.
Bode knew that human thoughts were diverse. Even for the same person, their reason and desires, morals and emotions often ran contrary to each other. There could be many contradictions within each person's thoughts, constantly negating and betraying themselves.
"See, that's the problem."
Wade said, "For the products sold by magic workshops, we've actually put in many restrictions to ensure the Magic Golem won't harm or betray its master. But you requested a very high level of intelligence, and I had to reduce some of those restrictions, so he..."
"He might betray us?" Bode asked, his face grim.
"No, it's not that easy. He's like a child you raise yourself; what he becomes depends on how you treat him."
Wade said, "Most children won't betray their parents, but if you constantly abuse and harm him, giving him only negative emotional feedback... I can only say that a Magic Golem's loyalty won't be higher than a House-elf's."
Bode, who had been full of worries, relaxed a little after hearing this. "I understand... Wade, even if you don't trust my character, you should trust my wallet—I don't have a second Galleon to buy a new Magic Golem."
Bode made a joke, shrugging. "So... of course, I would never intentionally cause him any harm."
"In fact, even with House-elves, I've never punished them... I know some of my colleagues enjoy it, but I've never done that. I find it cruel."
"Cruel?" Wade paused, then asked, "What did they do?"
Bode shook his head. "Don't ask, you wouldn't want to know... In any case, thank you very much for your help with our magic research. Here's the agreed-upon payment... and the necklace."
He placed a leather bag on the table, opened it, and reached his entire arm inside, fumbling for a moment, then pulled out several heavy money bags and placed them on the table, followed by a very old-looking wooden box.
Wade first opened the wooden box. It was lined with black velvet, and compared to its soft luster, the stone necklace inside looked like something a mischievous child had casually strung together.
He first cast several monitoring Spells to confirm it wasn't some dangerous Dark Magic item before picking up the necklace for a closer look.
The flat stones varied in size and shape, reminding Wade of Fiona's metal box filled with various buttons.
Both sides of the stones were carved with ancient runes that Wade couldn't understand, so he asked directly, "Do you know what these runes mean?"
"My colleagues have deciphered it and believe it might be an ancient Spell, like this—"
Bode held the necklace and whispered, "Ohmaygen, Fatda, Tehmorgen, Rayuta, Newpslangayuta..."
He mumbled a string of words, and the stone necklace emitted a faint glow, then quickly dimmed as if running out of power.
"See? It's too old; it can only do this much. We haven't found a way to re-imbue it with magic either."
Bode said helplessly, then suddenly realizing this would make the necklace seem worthless, he quickly added, "But a long time ago, it should have been a protective or healing magical item of some kind."
Wade took the necklace and lowered his head to examine it.
Bode rummaged through his bag again and pulled out a thin booklet. "These are our old research notes; I'll give them to you too. They should be of some help."
Wade said in surprise, "I remember that the Department of Mysteries' research isn't supposed to be leaked?"
While no one knew for sure if it was leaked, there was indeed a rule. Not only could research materials not be leaked, but Unspeakables generally didn't discuss their work with others.
Bode chuckled. "It's not this kind of content that needs to be kept secret. After all, this necklace... well..."
"Isn't that important," Wade finished the difficult words for him.
Bode sighed in relief and said, "That's right."
Wade flipped through the notes, picking out the analytical notes written by the Unspeakables that he could understand, and finally got a general grasp of things.
After analyzing the runes, the Unspeakables concluded it was a necklace for healing mental trauma or protecting against external mental harm.
In ancient times, people faced many dangerous and powerful Dark Magic creatures. Some didn't harm the body but devoured human souls. Wizards also used Spells far more evil than the Imperius Curse to attack each other, so they needed to wear special items for protection.
But with the passage of time, many magical creatures have completely vanished from the Earth, becoming mere legends. After countless years, this necklace too had worn down into something resembling a glowing lightbulb.
After reading, Wade looked up. Seeing the subtle guilt in Bode's eyes, he chuckled, "Then I'll keep this necklace. It just so happens I've been researching some mind-related magic lately."
"That kind of magic is very dangerous," Bode warned, unable to help himself. "Unless you get permission from Professor Dumbledore, you'd best not dabble in it lightly."
"I know," Wade said, putting away both the Galleons and the necklace. "Pleasure doing business with you. I should head back to school now."
He bid farewell to Bode, nodded to Caspian, and turned to leave the room.
The Magic Golem Caspian had been silently sitting in the chair, watching the two converse. It wasn't until Bode saw the young wizard out that it raised its eyes, focusing intently on the person who created it.
*Bang!*
The wooden door closed. After Bode turned around, Caspian returned to its calm, unruffled state.
...
Wade spent the remaining few days studying the necklace.
After all, he had just been affected by a mind attack not long ago, and his vigilance against such attacks was at its peak.
Although Dumbledore had helped him resolve the issue this time, what if someone used the Brain Room again in the future to send invisible commands to the entire world?
Well, even Voldemort probably wouldn't find that easy. But if the Brain Room's magic only affected one or two people, its power would certainly be much stronger and harder to guard against.
If he could restore the necklace, or learn the runic magic inscribed on it, perhaps he wouldn't be so passive.
The people in the Department of Mysteries seemed to think it was worthless, but Wade didn't agree. When he used his second sight, he found that the magical patterns around the necklace were still in a nearly perfect arrangement, and the ancient runes were even more fascinating.
But it had run out of energy. The same runic arrangement, carved on stones of the same material, or on gemstone or metal necklaces, had no effect. Clearly, the correct Spell was needed for it to work.
Wade had fully reconstructed the sequence of Spells Bode mentioned. The necklace obligingly glowed for two seconds, but otherwise had no other effect.
Then, Wade discovered a problem—the runic Spell carved on it seemed to have a beginning and an end, but it was actually a circular rune. This meant that what Bode said was the beginning might not be its true beginning; the Spell could start at any point within the runic sequence.
Moreover, how to punctuate when reciting the Spell, where to lengthen the tone, where to put emphasis—these crucial elements affecting the magical effect were not indicated on the necklace at all.
Using exhaustive permutation and combination, this Spell could have hundreds of thousands of recitation methods.
After studying it for several days with the aid of a Time-Turner, Wade had to glumly admit that the Unspeakables had a point in considering this thing trash. It would be better to invent something similar himself than to spend time trying to "revive" it.
Wade casually put the stone necklace back on the storage shelf and left the Wardrobe Space.
Soon after, a sneaky figure floated in.
The cloak picked up the necklace, pretending it had a head, and wore the necklace around its collar, securing it with the collar, then proudly floated out.
The Rubik's Cube Golem, currently busy with spatial renovations, saw this fellow float back and forth in front of it three times and irritably said, "Why aren't you tidying the library? What are you messing around with here?"
"Look!" the cloak proudly displayed its new accessory. "I have a necklace too!"
"Put it back! Put it back quickly!" The broom swatted the cloak twice, saying, "This is something the master values highly recently. What if you break it?"
"I'm just wearing it casually, it won't break!" The cloak dodged the broom's attack, saying, "Besides, I think the master doesn't like it anymore; he didn't even put it back in its box today."
The Rubik's Cube Golem shook its head and went back to its own work. However, the Firebird Mihail was attracted by their squabbling and flew over, watching curiously.
The cloak and broom wrestled for a bit, and the necklace, not properly secured, fell to the ground with a clatter.
"Oh no!" the cloak cried out.
"I didn't break it!" the broom immediately flew away.
"It's not broken! It just fell on the ground."
The cloak used its hem to poke at the necklace, found it was still intact, and breathed a sigh of relief.
Just as it was about to pick it up, the Firebird Mihail suddenly lowered its head and pecked at it a few times.
The stone necklace flashed with red light, looking as if it was about to be melted by Mihail. The cloak dared not play around anymore, quickly picked it up, and hastily put it back on the shelf.
*Clink!*
With a soft, crisp sound, one end of the necklace swayed and hit something below it, which immediately cracked.
The Magic Golems looked at each other, and a moment later, scrambled out, as if afraid of being left behind to take responsibility.
...
Wade circled the castle, checked his final grades, and unsurprisingly, achieved very high scores in every subject.
The exams for fifth and seventh-year students were also over, and the entire school was in a state of carefree celebration. The end-of-term feast was as lavish as ever, satisfying everyone's appetite.
Of course, Wade also had to temporarily return the Time-Turner to Professor McGonagall. Sometimes he truly wished Professor McGonagall would forget about it, but after asking, he learned that she didn't have the authority to keep it either. During the holidays, Professor McGonagall also needed to send the Time-Turner to the Ministry of Magic's Department of Mysteries.
"This is just a study aid. While useful, you shouldn't become obsessed with it."
Percy, in the tone of a senior, lectured, "Wade, being able to take all courses simultaneously is proof of your excellence, but you must also be careful not to make mistakes in such details. Don't try to exploit loopholes in the rules."
Wade: "..."
Only when he returned to his dormitory, smelling of food, and entered the Wardrobe Space, did he see several Magic Golems lined up, waiting to be reprimanded.
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