Chapter 311: Life-Sized Figurine Arrives

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Durmstrang's Central Tower, 77th Floor, Alchemy Laboratory No. 27. 

This was the laboratory Grindelwald had provided for Harry, allowing him to conveniently modify his Animagus Alchemical Armor. The lower the lab number, the larger its scale—No. 27 was about 500 square meters, a small lab by school standards. However, since Harry's modifications didn't require complex or precision-heavy large-scale equipment, this space was more than sufficient. 

If the modifications were purely alchemical, then anything crafted by Nicolas Flamel would far surpass Harry's own abilities. But that wasn't what he was aiming for. 

The Animagus Alchemical Armor, the prototype for the Super Wizard Implant Armor, had been refined through centuries of iteration, approaching near perfection. While future upgrades would align with advancements in Animagus transformation, the core structure of the armor itself would remain unchanged. 

Its fundamental purpose was to serve as a conduit, constructing an entirely new magic circuit within a wizard's body. This was why the armor had to merge with the user. Unlike the implant armor, which passively fused with the body, the Animagus Alchemical Armor required a wizard to master Animagus transformation at a high level, fully integrating the magical construct into their being—entering an active state of "man-machine unity." 

This process was far more difficult than the passive fusion of implant armor. 

Naturally, wizards who successfully completed the Animagus transformation would experience a drastic power boost. The permanent shift in their appearance when entering Phase Two of the transformation was only the most obvious change. This pinnacle of transformation magic merged a wizard's true form, Animagus shape, and alchemical armor into a singular, tri-faceted entity, drastically raising their individual power ceiling. As transformation phases progressed and the armor continued to upgrade, this potential increase would only grow. 

For wizards of average talent, Animagus transformation offered a direct path to surpassing their natural limitations through sheer effort. 

It was almost universally regarded as a must-learn magic among elite contemporary wizards. Despite its risks and difficulty, the rewards made it well worth the challenge. 

The alchemical armor Harry had custom-ordered from Nicolas Flamel was of no lower quality than Flamel's own. The value of Solar Stones was exceedingly high—currently, fewer than ten had been released from the hands of the Solar Dragon Queen, Daenerys. To Flamel, a Solar Stone was even more precious than the legendary Philosopher's Stone. However, he had not revealed what he intended to do with it, leaving Harry curious. 

When the alchemical armor finally arrived at Durmstrang, Harry was able to confirm something: Nicolas Flamel had impeccable taste. Despite being over six centuries old, his aesthetic sensibilities weren't stuck in the past. On the contrary, he was more open to new ideas than most young people, and his conceptual depth far surpassed that of the majority. His sense of style was cutting-edge. 

The custom-built armor, crafted to fit Harry's height and physique, stood at approximately 2.2 meters tall. Its primary color was pristine white, with sharp, angular lines accentuated by a vivid green gemstone embedded at its core. Deep gray patterns seemed to carve out the armor's shadows, while sporadic blue highlights—specially processed solidified lightning elements—added an electrifying vibrancy. With just a few masterful strokes, the entire suit of armor transformed into an exquisite work of art. 

The armor's structure was composed entirely of Demonhide, which had undergone extreme magical infusion before being merged with the newly synthesized alloy, Dead Star No. 19, in its molten state. Initially, Nicolas Flamel had casually referred to this new alloy as "Life No. 1." However, after extensive experimentation and optimization, he eventually settled on a more fitting name for this material, which possessed unfathomable properties—"Womb."

Although the name might sound strange at first, the alloy's properties are much like a womb, slowly nurturing whatever is enveloped within it. Even now, Nicolas Flamel has yet to fully comprehend its effects. The only note he left in his research journal was a single, hastily scrawled sentence: 

"Perhaps this is something even more elusive and astonishing than magic itself." 

As part of his compensation for crafting the armor, Flamel kept twenty percent of the materials for his own future studies. He had plenty of time to explore the mysteries of what he called a "miraculous creation"—but the first person to experience its wonders would be Harry. 

When the armor's outer shell was opened, what lay inside was not a soft, cushioned interior. The Animagus Alchemical Armor was never meant to be worn like conventional armor. Instead, its rigid shell adhered directly to a wizard's body. More precisely, once the fusion process was complete, the armor became one with the wearer's flesh and blood. 

It was like a second skin—only cold, metallic, and gleaming. 

Inside the armor, transparent vein-like structures ran through its form, resembling blood vessels. These were, in essence, the same magical circuits described in traditional Chinese medicine as meridians—the very same pathways through which magic flowed in all spellcasters and magical creatures. Once the armor was fully integrated, this brand-new network of magical channels became the key that allowed a wizard to cast spells even while transformed. This was the irreplaceable core of the Alchemical Armor. 

Without it, even a wizard who had completed the second phase of Animagus transformation—taking on a half-human, half-beast form—would still be unable to retain their spellcasting abilities. The wizards of Uagadou were a prime example of this. Their hybrid Animagus transformations had no built-in means of sustaining magic. Without relying on their battle-mark system, they would have been incapable of casting even a single spell. Though they retained their magic in transformed states, the lack of a functional circuit meant their abilities remained unusable. 

Every new advancement in magic follows a logical progression. The second-phase Animagus transformation likely drew inspiration from Uagadou's human-beast hybrid transformation techniques. The Alchemical Armor effectively replaced their battle-mark system, eliminating its limitations and elevating this branch of transformation magic to an entirely new level. 

For Harry, this was a crucial breakthrough. His incomplete magical circuits were the reason he struggled to harness abilities in his Phase One Thunderstorm Dragon transformation. So far, the only effects he could produce were purely instinctual, lacking in any real skill or control. For example, the electric storm aura he generated was nothing more than a passive effect inherited from the Thunderbird—essentially, a decorative side effect rather than an ability. As for his plasma breath attack, it was little more than a crude expulsion of converted magical energy, akin to spitting out a highly charged lump of magical phlegm—hardly something that required technique. 

The Awakener's Runes, on the other hand, were an entirely separate system. Unlike traditional spellcasting, which relied on skill and training, this system functioned on a conceptual level. The Awakener's magical energy acted as a unique key, unlocking the latent power of the runes themselves. This form of magic was fundamentally unlike any other, and in many ways, far more direct. 

As Harry stared at the masterpiece of alchemical craftsmanship before him, he reached out and carefully began to disassemble it piece by piece. 

If Flamel were here to witness this, would he fly into a rage, grab Harry by the ear, and yell at him? 

(End of Chapter.)