Chapter 14: Chapter 14: The Lava Behemoth’s Clay Golem
Dumbledore's heart was also stirred. He hadn't expected Regulus Black to know so much. He believed that someone this clever would only uncover more with time.
As for the ownership of the Philosopher's Stone, Nicolas Flamel—the stone's creator—had already grown tired of immortality and had previously expressed his intent to stop using the stone. He had willingly passed it on to Dumbledore.
"Please believe me, Regulus! This isn't a trap set for you."
Dumbledore's tone became genuinely sincere, trying his best to explain clearly that he wasn't as sinister as Regulus imagined.
"I understand! But I still hope that, when the time comes, you'll give me the Philosopher's Stone. When it comes to my body, I want to use the stone in my research as a comparison. Immortality is both a blessing and a curse."
Regulus Black stood up, ready to leave. For now, the conversation had run its course.
"I can wait—as long as it takes for you to trust me. But I must say, I don't fully agree with your methods, Headmaster. Good night!"
Leaving the Headmaster's office and Dumbledore behind in thought, Regulus Black returned to his Room of Requirement.
The Room of Requirement was now completely occupied and configured by him—accessible only to himself.
Upon entry, the space revealed itself as an octagonal room. On the wall directly opposite the door was a massive Hogwarts crest, the size of a door. Pressing on the central "H" and pushing toward any of the four corners would transform the crest into a single house's emblem—each acting as a portal to that house's common room.
The other six walls were lined with empty shelves and cabinets. Various styles of chairs were scattered along the perimeter, salvaged from the Room of Requirement's storage junk. Though originally a pile of broken furniture, once repaired and organized, they gave off an antique and elegant aesthetic.
At the center of the room was a massive square bed. When the four corner posts rose, a pool of the same size was revealed beneath. This way, upon waking, one could simply step down from the bed, turn, and enter the bath area to wash and freshen up.
Regulus Black walked to the left wall and waved his wand to move the desk and chairs aside. He then placed all the cauldrons he'd received today there. The largest of them was the same size as the one used in Voldemort's resurrection.
"Engorgio!"
All the cauldrons were collapsible. When flattened, they looked like plates. Pulling them upward caused them to expand and take shape.
Regulus first set up the largest cauldron.
"Incendio Maxima!"
"Aguamenti!"
Brewing basic potions wasn't Regulus's goal. Even he wasn't sure what exactly would come out of this cauldron, but his instincts told him how to proceed.
He remembered that after returning to his old family home, he had used the Undead Guard from the Black Lake Temple of Soul Potions to brew skeleton soldiers and skeleton mages in groups of seven. The leftover rotting flesh had been used to create Blood Familiars, inspired by a character from another game—Zac from League of Legends.
Even the skill name in the system had changed to: Blood Familiar of the Goo Monster Zac.
Now, Regulus Black was preparing to brew a summoning-type creature from the necromancer system—Clay Familiar.
[Clay Stone Golem]: A stone golem summoned from clay made of bone ash.
The materials used were also a form of waste recycling. Inside the Room of Requirement was a troll specimen—likely discarded because, even when preserved, it still stank and looked filthy, making it unfit as teaching material.
"Wingardium Leviosa! Engorgio! Diffindo!"
With three consecutive spells, Regulus shredded the troll specimen into small chunks and tossed them into the cauldron.
Back when he was a student, potion-making was about precision to earn good grades. But for a professional potion master, the focus was on developing new potions. Regardless of outcome, as long as it had some effect and was stable, it would be worthy of praise, fulfillment, and reward.
It's worth noting that Professor Severus Snape had drawn inspiration from many of the odd and unexpected results in his students' potion mishaps—sometimes even discovering new formulas.
According to rumor, one time, a student brewed a potion so corrosive that it melted through the cauldron and then ate its way through every floor of Hogwarts down to over a hundred meters underground before it was finally exhausted. That potion's recipe was later collected and confirmed by Snape—only to be strictly sealed by Dumbledore's orders.
And because of that incident, the Potions classroom was relocated from the top of the eighth floor down to the dungeons.
Relying on his intuition and deep familiarity with the effects of various potion ingredients, Regulus Black casually tossed the materials into the cauldron.
Though it appeared random and careless, every part of the process was meticulously recorded—the names and quantities of ingredients, the timing, even the number of times the cauldron was stirred and the temperature of the flame. Nothing was left undocumented.
As the potion simmered over a long period, the initial stench had long since dissipated. What now remained in the cauldron resembled a desert-like scene—slowly shifting sand, moving like a gently boiling broth, occasionally bubbling with sandy puffs.
The color gradually changed from white sand to yellow, from yellow to gray, and finally to black sand.
Using the troll's corpse as the main material, combined with over a hundred types of potion ingredients, this cauldron of black sand was finally ready before dawn.
Drawing his Silver-Spun Jadebone Wand, Regulus Black was ready to complete the process.
"Well then! The final step—Scorch and Sear!"
Scorch and Sear was a minor dark curse that could cause anything it hit to radiate intense heat from the inside out, like it was filled with molten lava. For students with average magical power, using it on a person would merely cause a full-body rash.
But when Regulus Black channeled his full magical strength into Scorch and Sear, the result was akin to real magma.
The potion, originally like a paste of black sesame, absorbed the energy of the curse. Flickers of flame began to spark within the flowing black sand.
The entire cauldron of black sand surged toward Regulus Black like a dark tide, absorbed into his soul-bound system.
The icon and name at that slot changed from Clay Stone Golem to Lava Behemoth's Clay Golem.
Lava Behemoth's Clay Golem—this was the potion Regulus Black had aimed to brew. It was also a summoning puppet.
Although the necromancer summoning puppets in the system could only summon one at a time, each puppet would appear at level 7, which was a sort of compensation.
Skeleton Soldiers and Skeleton Mages, though summoned in sevens, were always stuck at level 1.
Even with the cheat-like system he possessed, these rigid limitations still existed. To make the most of them, he had to get creative within the smallest margins.
Naturally, the size of this puppet wasn't limited to what could fit in a cauldron. Since it had inherited the name of the Lava Behemoth from League of Legends, its size would also reflect that—true to the scale of a lava behemoth.
In the future, when Regulus Black summoned this puppet, the black sand would automatically merge with the surrounding terrain, and from it, a mountainous lava giant would rise.
Although there was still some time before sunrise, Regulus Black didn't need to sleep. With a body reanimated as a corpse, his endurance stat had already maxed out. He could go without sleep forever without feeling physically exhausted—though his mind would still feel fatigue.
He lay quietly on the massive bed, contemplating future plans and the upcoming Quidditch match in a few days.
That would be the day Harry Potter caught the Golden Snitch, leading Gryffindor to victory—a moment that would also mark the beginning of the three little lions' misunderstanding of Snape.
Perhaps he could do something about it.
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