NABC Chapter 75 The Challenge of 5 Runes
Chapter 75 The Challenge of 5 Runes
Chapter 75 The Challenge of Five Runes
Morning light streamed through the stained-glass windows of the Ravenclaw Tower, casting dappled blue patches on Karen's blankets. He had woken up early too, the runic structure of the weather forecaster he would be studying that day already forming in his mind. He got out of bed quietly.
Karen noticed that Ernesto's bed curtains were already drawn, indicating that he had clearly gotten up.
"Ernesto?" Karen asked in a low voice, taking a wooden box containing alchemical items from the bedside table.
Ernesto was sitting by the window wiping his binoculars, his gray eyes gleaming with excitement: "Karen, you know,"
This morning, Sirius and Mars formed a perfect trine aspect, which, according to the "Celestial Prophecy," signifies—
Karen listened with a smile as his roommate recounted the astronomical discovery, while examining the quill he had made the night before. The runes on the quill's tip still shimmered a steady blue light under the Eye of Truth, indicating that the magical circulation was intact. He tucked the quill into his breast pocket, intending to use it continuously to test its stability.
"Oh, right," Ernesto suddenly lowered his voice, "after you fell asleep last night, I tried to carve a few more runes using your method." He took out three copper coins from his desk drawer, on which were slightly clumsy but basically formed runes. "The third one is always just a little off."
Karen took the copper coin and examined it carefully. His Eye of Truth could clearly see the flow of magic within the engravings. "The turn here is too sharp," he pointed to a node on the third copper coin. "The magic will form a vortex here, causing the subsequent flow to be obstructed."
Ernesto observed closely and suddenly realized: "It's like losing speed when making a sharp turn in Quidditch!"
"That's pretty much the idea." Karen nodded with a smile. Although Ernesto wasn't as good as him, he did have a talent for alchemy.
During the morning Charms class, Professor Flitwick announced that they would be learning the "Restore" spell. As Karen listened, she unconsciously analyzed the flow of magic in the spell.
After class, Karen declined the suggestion to go to the kitchen to ask the house-elves for snacks and went to the Eagle's Nest alone. Pushing open the door of the abandoned classroom, sunlight streamed through the high windows onto the long table, illuminating the tools and materials he had neatly arranged the night before.
"Let's start with observation," Karen muttered to himself, taking out the glass sphere weather forecaster. The sphere shimmered with a mysterious light in the sunlight, and the metal plate inside trembled slightly with his breathing. Through the Eye of Truth, the pentagon formed by the five main runes was clearly visible, and the connecting patterns within were also fully revealed in Karen's field of vision.
Karen took a deep breath, took out parchment, and began to draw the rune structure diagram. He decided to use a layered drawing method—first recording the position and shape of the five main runes, and then gradually adding connecting lines for each level. This work was much more difficult than expected; the level of detail in the secondary connections far exceeded that of the quill pen's three-rune system.
After some time, Karen's neck stiffened from maintaining the same posture for so long, but the rune network diagram was finally complete. He stretched his aching neck and shoulders, examining his work: a slightly complex rune network covering the entire parchment, with five main runes at the center and thinner lines radiating outwards, forming a multi-layered interconnected structure.
"It's much more complicated than I thought it would be to delete." Karen rubbed his sore eyes and decided to try copying individual runes first. He chose to start with the most basic rune that sensed air pressure and carefully engraved it on the copper plate.
With the first cut, copper shavings flew everywhere. Karen immediately realized the problem—the lines of this rune were much finer than those in a quill pen, requiring much more precise control. He slowed down, the engraving knife advancing almost millimeter by millimeter. Sweat streamed down his forehead, but he dared not be distracted by wiping it away.
When the first rune was two-thirds complete, a slight "click" made Karen's heart tighten—a small crack appeared on the edge of the copper coin.
"Damn it!" He put down the carving knife in frustration. The crack had interrupted the flow of magic, rendering the practice board unusable. Karen rubbed his aching fingers and decided to try a different method. "I'm still a bit nervous. Maybe I can use some auxiliary tools."
He took out the magical magnifying glass Ernesto had lent him and adjusted it to the highest magnification. Under the magnifying glass, the details of the runes at the bottom of the weather forecaster were clearly visible, with tiny serrated edges on the edges of each line, clearly designed to guide the flow of magic.
"I see—" Karen suddenly realized, "These serrations are like dam gates, controlling the flow of magic." He picked up another copper coin, adjusted the angle of the engraving knife, and tried to imitate this structure.
This time, progress was much smoother. The first rune, once completed, shimmered with a healthy blue light under the Eye of Truth. Karen was greatly encouraged and immediately began working on the second rune—a node that sensed humidity. This rune was more complex in shape, resembling a series of overlapping water droplets.
Just as he was engrossed in carving, the door to the Eagle's Nest was suddenly pushed open. Karen's hand trembled, and the carving knife made an unwanted mark on the bronze plate.
"I'm sorry!" Ernesto stood in the doorway, his gray eyes filled with apology. "I didn't know you were so focused—"
Karen let out a long sigh and put down his carving knife. "It's alright, I should take a break." He stretched his stiff shoulders. "Is stargazing over?"
"Hmm, the weather's going to change tonight; the clouds are starting to gather." Ernesto walked to the table, looking curiously at Karen's work. "These are—the runes for a weather forecaster?"
Karen nodded and pointed to the glass sphere: "The first is a barometric pressure sensor, and the second is a humidity sensor. I have completed the basic replication of these two." He proudly displayed the results on the copper plate.
Ernesto leaned closer to examine it, then suddenly pointed to a detail on the second rune: "The number of serrations at this bend seems to be less than in the original?"
Karen was taken aback, then quickly grabbed a magnifying glass to compare. Sure enough, the original rune had seven tiny serrations in this position, while he had only carved five. "Merlin, you have such sharp eyes!" he exclaimed sincerely, "You can even spot such a subtle difference."
"It's from astronomical observation," Ernesto said with a rare smile. "Need any help? I can take care of checking the details."
The two then worked together, with Karen handling the main carving work and Ernesto checking every detail with a magnifying glass. By dinner time, they had successfully replicated the first three runes, twice as efficiently as Karen had done alone.
"Fantastic!" Karen looked at the three gleaming copper coins, a sense of accomplishment welling up within her. "At this rate, we can try to make a complete predictor tomorrow."
At dinner, Karen briefly recounted the day's practice to Fabian and Wesley. While Wesley didn't quite grasp the complex rune theory, he was very interested in its weather prediction function.
"If we could predict the weather during Quidditch practice," he mumbled, his mouth full of mashed potatoes, "I think it would be a hit with the Quidditch captains!"
Fabian, however, was more interested in the technical details: "What is the working principle of the five runes? How do they collectively arrive at weather conclusions?"
Karen briefly explained the principle to her companions, and then said that they could go to Eagle's Nest to take a look at the runes after dinner.
The four quickly finished their dinner and headed to the Eagle's Nest. Karen laid out three replica copper plates on the table and began explaining how the weather forecaster worked.
"Each of the five runes has its own function," he tapped the coin with his wand. "Air pressure, humidity, temperature, wind speed, and this one I'm not entirely sure about, maybe it's the concentration of atmospheric magic?"
Ernesto suddenly interjected: "The fifth one is the lunar phase sensor. I noticed that the movement of the metal plate matches the lunar cycle."
"I see!" Karen's eyes lit up. "That explains it. After the five sensors collect data, they perform integrated calculations through a secondary connection network."
He picked up a quill and drew a complex decision-making flowchart on parchment. Fabian was mesmerized, occasionally asking technical questions; Wesley, though not fully understanding the principles, offered several practical suggestions for improvement.
As the discussion was in full swing, footsteps suddenly sounded outside the door. The four of them immediately fell silent and looked warily toward the door. The footsteps paused for a few seconds outside the door before fading away.
"It might be Filch," Wesley whispered, but Karen noticed Ernesto's expression turn serious.
"No, I saw a shadow," Ernesto said in a low voice, "a student, wearing a green-trimmed robe—"
Karen's heart tightened. Selwyn? It shouldn't be him. He shouldn't dare to show his face near him again recently. However, just to be safe, they decided to end their research early and return to the lounge together.
Back in his dorm, Karen lay on his bed, replaying each of the day's discoveries in his mind. The five-rune weather forecaster was more complex than he had imagined, but with Ernesto's help, progress was going better than expected. Tomorrow he would tackle the most difficult part—replicating those spiderweb-like secondary connections one by one.
The moonlight outside the window was obscured by the gradually gathering clouds, and just as Ernesto had predicted, the weather was changing. Karen thought of the unfinished silver pocket watch; how complex must the network of runes inside it be? With this thought, he fell into a deep sleep, his dreams filled with flowing runes and shimmering magical light.