NABC Chapter 104 The Mystery Temporarily Shelved
Chapter 104 The Mystery Temporarily Shelved
Chapter 104 The Mystery Temporarily Shelved
When they returned to the Eagle's Nest, their roommates were already there. Wesley was trying to fix a model of a wandering ball onto the table, Fabian was engrossed in a pile of unfolded parchment and plant specimens, and Ernesto was adjusting a delicate brass planetarium looking out the window at the sky. Seeing Karen enter, all three stopped what they were doing.
"Karen! How's it going? What did Professor Victor say? Was he shocked by your new badge?" Wesley was the first to jump up, his face full of excitement.
Karen forced a smile, not wanting to spoil everyone's good mood with her worries. "The professor affirmed the idea, saying it opened up a new direction. But he also pointed out problems: the absorption efficiency is too low, and the environmental magic is too thin." He walked to his desk and carefully put down the documents he had brought back.
“As expected,” Fabian said, his eyes filled with understanding. “The concentration and stability of free magic in nature certainly cannot compare to active spellcasting or the core of magical items. But your concept of ‘passive absorption’ is revolutionary! The protective items you mentioned earlier all require active infusion of magic.” He tried to reassure him.
"Hmph, that Professor Victor, his demands are always frighteningly strict." Ernesto put down the planetarium, his gray eyes sweeping over Karen's slightly tired face. "However, he certainly has the ability. So, what are your plans for solving the absorption problem next? Changing the runes?"
Looking for special materials?
"We should try both approaches." Karen sat down, her gaze unconsciously drifting to the thick experimental journal in the corner of the bookshelf, signed "Nicholas Flamel II." "I also want to study Professor Sinclair's journal more thoroughly."
"That missing Slytherin?" Wesley leaned closer curiously. "Haven't you read his books several times already?"
“Not just that,” Karen’s fingers gently traced the rough leather cover of the journal, feeling the years and mysteries beneath. “His ultimate goal was to replicate an ability similar to the ‘Eye of Truth.’ And a large part of his research was based on the knowledge legacy he claimed to have discovered left by Ravenclaw. And when I was browsing through it before, I remember the journal mentioning several times that he had done some research on the door knocker puzzle in the Ravenclaw common room. I’m not sure if he had acquired Ravenclaw’s knowledge legacy at that time, but this was one of the few things in his journal, besides the records about experiments, that could be related to Ravenclaw.”
"The door knocker puzzle?" Fabian's interest was piqued. "Don't they ask questions every day? Does Professor Sinclair think there's a secret involved?"
“Yes,” Karen opened her journal, finding a page with a bookmark. On it, Lucian had written in meticulously neat yet slightly fanatical handwriting: “Rowna Ravenclaw’s wisdom is far more than just a tool for selecting new students. Every opening and closing of that bronze eagle’s beak, every question posed, is a miniature labyrinth of thought being constructed. The magical logic behind it, the breadth and interconnectedness of its question bank—I’m convinced it hides a unique cognitive magic model, a path that guides thought to higher dimensions of ‘truth.’ This may be the foundation of her ‘wisdom’ legend. I must record all the questions and answers, searching for the patterns and the ‘keys’ within.”
"Wow," Wesley exclaimed, "That sounds amazing! But the door knocker asks different questions every day. How can he record all of them? And even if he did, what patterns could he possibly see? What kind of magical logic could there be in a question like 'which came first, the chicken or the egg'?" He mimicked the door knocker's ethereal voice.
“That’s the crux of the matter,” Karen sighed. “The journal mentions that he spent a lot of time secretly recording numerous questions and answers, attempting to summarize and analyze them, but then there are no more entries on that. Ultimately, he turned his attention to more ‘direct’ alchemy and active techniques like Niven’s resurrected visual magic, and then the journal is empty. But Nico says he did indeed acquire Ravenclaw’s legacy, and in Nico’s opinion, that’s pretty much what you’re certain of.” He closed the journal. “I was thinking, since he believes the puzzle itself is the clue, could we try approaching it from that direction? Maybe we can find something!”
Ernesto pondered, "The idea is good, Cullen. But the workload is too great. The door knocker problem is all-encompassing, ranging from philosophical paradoxes to potion recipes, from ancient runes to Muggle physics laws—there's no discernible pattern. And who can guarantee he's recorded everything? Or that his analytical methods are correct?"
"Perhaps we don't need to record it all ourselves?" Fabian suddenly interjected, his eyes behind his glasses lighting up. "I heard from the upperclassmen that there was a Ravenclaw student who found the door knocker problem very interesting and tried to compile it into a book, 'The Complete Ravenclaw Puzzles.' He never finished it before graduation, but supposedly he left behind quite a few records, which are kept in the library! And when we were looking for information about Professor Sinclair, I think I spotted a thick, dusty book called 'Door Knocker Musings' or something like that? It was near the entrance to the restricted section, on the shelf where 'Hogwarts Historical Miscellany' is kept!"
The news was like a pebble thrown into calm water, jolting Karen awake: "Really? Fabian, are you sure?"
"I think I can confirm it!" Fabian nodded vigorously. "That bookshelf is rarely visited; it's mostly filled with records that aren't of much practical value. I'll go to the library first thing tomorrow morning and check!"
"Great!" Karen felt a glimmer of hope. "If someone has already compiled this, it will save us a lot of time. Wesley, Ernesto, you two help out too. Keep an eye out for the door knockers, especially those that seem particularly profound or strange. Write them down. Let's see if we can find the 'pattern' or 'key' that Professor Sinclair mentioned."
"No problem!" Wesley patted his chest. "Leave it to me. I might not understand the complex questions, but writing them down is no problem!"
"Sure," Ernesto nodded reservedly. "Consider it a good way to train my memory and expand my puzzle repertoire."
Over the next few days, the Eagle's Nest team split up. Karen used her spare time to repeatedly study Lucian's journal, trying to find even the slightest hint about the "key to the puzzle" between the lines. Fabian plunged into the library, meticulously searching through dusty corner shelves. Wesley and Ernesto, on the other hand, carried notebooks with them, diligently recording the questions posed and the accepted answers whenever they entered or left the common room.
However, progress was not smooth.
Karen discovered that the last entry in Lucien's journal about his research on the puzzle was filled with confusion and self-doubt. "...A pattern? Perhaps it's just wishful thinking on my part? Ravenclaw's wisdom is as vast as the starry sky; how can it be confined by mundane logic? Maybe the 'key' doesn't lie in the problem itself, but in the 'process' of the solver's thinking? But how can this be captured and quantified?" These frustrated words, along with Karen's own lack of discovery, cast a shadow over her mood.
Fabian did indeed find the thick, roughly parchment-bound book, *The Door Knocker's Musings (Unfinished Manuscript)*. The author was listed as "RJ Flitwick," which surprised Karen slightly; she hadn't expected Professor Flitwick to have such an endeavor in his youth. However, upon opening the book, while the number of questions and answers was considerable, they appeared disorganized. Aside from being sorted by date, there was no trace of analysis, categorization, or attempt to find patterns. The only bright spot was Professor Flitwick's personal insights or rants on certain questions, written in extremely small print on the margins of each page when he was still a student. For example, next to "What do you receive more of the more you give?" (Answer: Love), he wrote: "Enough already, what love is a door knocker talking about!"; and next to "How can you magically make a stone float forever?", he drew a small question mark and a hastily written "What is this, a permanent levitation spell?"
This booklet provides numerous samples, but fails to offer any methodology for solving the puzzles, and there are no discernible patterns.
This did little to help Karen's goal of finding the "key to the Ravenclaw legacy".
Wesley and Ernesto's notebooks were soon filled with all sorts of strange questions and answers:
"If a person uses a time-travel converter to go back in time and kill his grandfather, will he still exist?" Answer: Logical paradox.
"What is the most powerful magic?" Answer: It depends on the definition. Love, will, knowledge, and even fear can all be valid in different contexts.
"Please state the complete cycle of the movement of the hidden staircase in Hogwarts Castle." Answer: There is no fixed cycle; it is affected by the castle's magical pulse and the number of students on the day, requiring observation and perception. "How to prevent the mandrake from being fatal when it sings?" Answer: Perfect soundproofing magic or permanent removal of its vocal organs before it matures—the latter was deemed "too cruel and not the way of Ravenclaw" by the door knocker.
Looking at these diverse and seemingly impossible problems with a single "key," Karen rubbed her throbbing temples and had to admit that Ernesto's initial assessment might be correct; it might be a dead end. Lucien's persistence might indeed have led him astray.
Ravenclaw's intellectual legacy may be hidden elsewhere.
"Perhaps Professor Sinclair didn't find it through this?" On Friday evening, Fabian looked at the pile of "Door Knocker's Whispers" and their own parchment notes spread across the table and said somewhat dejectedly, "The purpose of these questions seems to really be to filter out students who are quick-witted, knowledgeable, or have unique insights, rather than to hide any code."
Wesley scratched his reddish-brown hair. "I knew it! It's tiring enough to rack your brains to answer questions every day, and now you have to find a treasure map inside? Mrs. Rowena Ravenclaw certainly didn't think it was that complicated! Besides, some of the questions didn't even exist in Mrs. Ravenclaw's time."
Ernesto, relatively calm, elegantly tapped the tip of his quill on his notes: "Not entirely without value, Cullen. At least these questions themselves have greatly expanded the boundaries of our knowledge and trained our ability to think from multiple perspectives. This is a treasure in itself for wizards, especially alchemists. As for the 'key' Sinclair is seeking, perhaps the time is not right, or perhaps the direction is wrong. There's no need to force it."
Karen nodded silently, carefully gathering Lucien's diary and the pile of notes about the puzzle, placing them in a corner of the bookshelf. A hint of disappointment flashed in his grey-blue eyes, but more so, a sense of relief. He couldn't waste too much time in a maze with no end in sight. Professor Castor's curse waited for no one, and the optimization of the protective badge was urgent. Perhaps, the mystery of Ravenclaw's legacy...
It has to be put on hold for now.
"You're right." Karen took a deep breath, her usual calm returning to her face. "The puzzle research is temporarily on hold."
This weekend, let's relax a bit. Eagle's Nest hasn't had a tea party in ages, how about it? Let's celebrate our safe return from our forbidden forest adventure!
Let's also celebrate the successful completion of the initial prototype of the protective badge!
"Great!" Wesley was the first to cheer. "I want one of those raspberry cream puffs Bobby brought over last time!"
“I agree,” Fabian’s eyes lit up. “It’s a good opportunity for me to share with everyone the initial draft of the Forbidden Forest Plant Atlas and my experience in processing the collected specimens.”
Ernesto's lips curled into a slight smile. "That's a good suggestion. I can show you the newly drawn chart of the main constellations for spring. By the way," he glanced at Karen, "you could also give us a proper introduction to your alchemical inventions?"
"Of course!" Karen laughed. "It's settled then. Tomorrow afternoon, at the Eagle's Nest tea party!"