Chapter 271: The Philosopher's Stone?

"Snape…" Voldemort snorted coldly, "Of course he knows, the formula was originally taught to him by me."

"As for the Resurrection Potion," Voldemort said proudly, "It's not very difficult. If you've read 'The Mysteries of Life and Death,' you should have some idea. I can demonstrate it for you now."

"Quirrell, go and fetch the boy, we'll use his blood to brew the potion."

The Mysteries of Life and Death.

Tom noted the name of the book.

Seeing Quirrell preparing to grab Harry, he stepped forward, "Respected master, it seems that Professor Quirrell is harmed by Harry's protective magic. Let me do it."

Voldemort didn't know why Quirrell was hurt by touching Harry, but Tom seemed unaffected, so his request seemed reasonable, "Good."

Tom approached Harry, and while helping him up, he drew out his wand and turned suddenly, pointing it.

"Bang!"

The cauldron brewing the Resurrection Potion exploded, splashing boiling potion on Quirrell, who screamed in pain.

Tom seized the opportunity to grab the Philosopher's Stone from the table, holding Harry, ready to apparate.

But Voldemort suddenly let out an angry roar, and Tom felt as if his head had been hit hard. The spell he was about to cast couldn't come out.

Quirrell seized the opportunity, raising his wand, "Petrificus Totalus!"

Tom blocked the spell, then, "Apparate!"

But Quirrell's next attack almost immediately followed, "Avada Kedavra!"

"Bang!"

The spell hit Tom's body, but at the same moment, the two disappeared from the spot.

...

In the Forbidden Forest, Tom and Harry suddenly appeared but collapsed on the ground as soon as they materialized.

Harry was still unconscious but uninjured, but Tom's abdomen had a large hole.

Moreover, one of his arms, as if torn off by immense force, was missing, replaced by a translucent forearm in its place.

Like before, Tom didn't feel much pain.

Disoriented by Quirrell's spell, apparition went wrong, resulting in dismemberment, and his wand was lost.

He sat up, surveying the surroundings. It was the Forbidden Forest, luckily not too far off.

Then he looked at his severed upper arm and the hole in his abdomen, an odd feeling flashing through his mind.

His wounds were slowly bleeding, and he felt extremely weak, but Tom thought it unlikely to be fatal.

"After all, I've already died once. How could I be killed again?"

Even the Killing Curse couldn't harm him.

He took out the diary from his chest, "Maybe this is my true form."

While pondering, a voice came from a distance, "Found him! He's nearby!"

Voldemort!

Tom was startled. They had pursued him?

He must hide.

But without a wand, in his current state, he couldn't carry Harry.

What to do?

He quickly searched his pockets, finding only goblin coins and the werewolf potion given by Autumn Zhang earlier. The goblin coin's signal was too short, and there was likely no signal here. The werewolf potion also seemed useless now.

Wait, werewolf potion?

That name sounded familiar.

Tom suddenly recalled Lucas's memory from the diary.

Lucas had also used werewolf potion while searching for Hogwarts' ruins in the future. Reportedly, it was left by the Seer.

The Seer...

The prophecy also said, "The Seer will leave the key to him in the Chamber of Secrets."

Tom thought for a moment, then searched Harry's pockets, finding a coin.

The Raven Coin!

This was Murphy's reward!

Harry and the others got this coin from Murphy's trap, not knowing its use until now, found by Tom.

"Could this be the key to him?"

"Master, look here, blood!" Quirrell's voice echoed nearby, "They're here!"

No time to hesitate; he had to try.

Tom grabbed Harry, the other hand clutching the coin.

Unsure of its function, he tried infusing magic into it.

Suddenly, the coin exerted a tremendous suction force.

Then the two disappeared from the spot.

...

Door key! It was a door key!

After a dizzying whirl, Harry and Tom appeared in one of the broomstick rooms.

At the time, Murphy was sipping honey beer alone in the room.

Tom grabbed him, "Professor! It's you, really you."

"What's me?"

"You are... the Seer..."

Having said that, Tom lost consciousness.

Murphy downed his beer, turned Tom over, and opened his clenched hand.

A red stone lay there quietly.

The Philosopher's Stone.

After so much effort, finally obtained.

Murphy sighed in relief.

The Stone wasn't just for brewing the Elixir of Life; it could also transmute stones into gold, transforming stones into elemental gold... This even involved atomic-level changes, which Murphy was eager to understand.

In the Muggle world, humans could only change matter at the atomic level through fusion and fission reactions.

If the Stone could indeed transmute matter, where did the energy involved in those material transformations go? Could it be retrieved and utilized?

Could it be used for other elemental transmutations?

If so, this thing might be used to create the thermonuclear reaction engine from Wandering Earth.

Murphy picked up the Stone, examining it, then suddenly felt something was off.

This thing should be an incredibly powerful magical artifact, but why couldn't he feel any magic from it?

Thinking, he closed his eyes. In his magical vision, the Stone was like an ordinary rock, not emitting stronger magical waves than tables and chairs.

He frowned, infusing a trace of magic into the Stone, which gradually changed from red to a sort of orange-yellow.

Color change due to magic...

This was a regular crystal!

A common red crystal!

Not the Philosopher's Stone!

Then, where was the real Stone?

Murphy had been monitoring Tom and knew he hadn't switched it, nor had Harry or Voldemort; otherwise, Voldemort wouldn't have chased Tom.

The next moment, Murphy understood.

Dumbledore.

The old man had never put the real Philosopher's Stone in the Mirror of Erised from the beginning!

The traps behind the trapdoor were just tests for Harry.

The most important test was whether Harry could obtain the Stone from the Mirror without personal gain.

Since it was just a test and the Stone wasn't needed to brew potions, why put the real Stone there? Just let Harry believe the Stone in the mirror was real.

Thus, whether Voldemort, Murphy, or someone else sought the Stone, they'd fall into this fake trap, getting a fake Stone.

The real Stone was probably always on Dumbledore.

After all, it's just a fist-sized object, easy to carry.

So he left school without hesitation, ignoring Quirrell's movements... Perhaps even without Murphy's interference, Dumbledore had done the same in the original story, otherwise, his contradictory actions couldn't be explained.

Ha, haha...

A rage boiled within Murphy, and he clenched his right hand, crushing the "Philosopher's Stone" to pieces.

Well, headmaster, playing like that, huh?

His mind connected to a raven thousands of kilometers away.

"Rasim, about your surveillance of Dumbledore

's owl, how's the progress? Found Nicodemus's location yet?"

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