Chapter 142: The Gaunt “inheritance”
Dumbledore smiled, as if sensing the question Vaughn was pondering.
Countless Morfin Gaunts called his name all around, but he paid them no mind, instead looking at the pensive Vaughn with interest and suddenly asking, “My dear, what do you believe talent to be?”
“Hmm?”
Vaughn opened his mouth to speak, but upon careful consideration, he found himself unsure how to define it.
Talent was a very abstract thing; literally, it could be understood as innate ability… but what exactly was talent?
No one could give a concrete answer.
It was not an objective entity; viewed from a material perspective, one could even say it “did not exist.”
Before Vaughn could get bogged down in philosophical speculation, Old Dumbledore asked again, “Then let’s rephrase, where do you think talent resides? In your body, or…?”
Or…
The soul?
This word suddenly appeared in Vaughn’s mind, his pupils dilating, a slight tremor in his gaze betraying his inner turmoil.
Looking at Vaughn, Dumbledore smiled, “It seems you’re beginning to understand. That’s right, what we call talent is not a specific organ in the body, nor is it bloodline, or what Muggles call genes. It cannot be quantified, and it doesn’t even reside on our physical bodies.”
“Talent resides solely in the soul. Spells, transfiguration, divination, dark arts… and alchemy!”
“The sum of these is the ‘flaw’ spoken of in the Golden Soul Theory!”
“Without talent for spells, one cannot access magic; without talent for transfiguration, one cannot understand the relationship between magic and matter; without divination, one cannot comprehend destiny and time…”
“Your pursuit of truth and reality in the materialist view of history, from another angle, is almost identical to the ‘perfection’ sought by the Golden Soul. The ultimate state we pursue is the truth of matter, the essence of the universe.”
“But these various ‘flaws’ prevent us from even glimpsing what ‘truth’ truly looks like. Do you remember the dimension theory you once spoke of?”
Hearing Dumbledore’s question, Vaughn nodded instinctively.
It was a scientific hypothesis he had explained to Dumbledore a few months prior: beings in a lower dimension could not possibly understand a higher one.
Dimensions themselves constrained our vision!
It was like a two-dimensional being; if you placed a ball in front of it, it could never understand what a “ball” was, as it could only see the shadow the ball cast—a black circle.
Thus, in its view, the circle was the ball, it was reality, it was truth!
“The dimension theory is fascinating, especially the ball projecting into a circle; it vividly describes the confusion I and many alchemists experience… Since the real world already exists, what is the meaning of Aether’s existence?” Dumbledore winked playfully, “When I die, I can tell those alchemists who died long ago that Aether and reality are two sides of the same material coin. I hope that will give them peace.”
Vaughn paid no mind to the old man’s untimely jest.
Having received inspiration, his mind was working furiously.
Dumbledore had made it very clear. The so-called “Golden Soul” theory did not describe psychology, but rather used a psychological framework to explain the meaning of magic and the methods alchemists used to observe the truth of the world.
Everyone should inherently be able to enter Aether, but some people can never access it simply because their souls are flawed and they lack the authorization.
Muggles without the talent for spells could never use magic.
Wizards without the talent for alchemy could never access Aether.
The perfection sought by the Golden Soul was essentially an attempt to supplement talent, gain authorization, and provide beings who could only observe projections with eyes that could “see” higher dimensions.
These “eyes” were not in the body, not in the mind, but in the soul!
The soul contained talent, and talent determined authorization and “vision.”
Lost in thought, Vaughn stared blankly. The Morfin Gaunts around them continued to call out. Vaughn’s gaze swept over them, recalling Dumbledore’s scene of pleading for a response in Aether months ago.
That scene was almost identical to when he had summoned Morfin Gaunts not long ago.
The difference was, in Aether, it was Aether that responded to him.
So, what was it that responded to Dumbledore at this moment, summoning the subconsciousness of countless Morfin Gaunts?
What could command the subconscious and serve as a bridge between reality and Aether?
Vaughn suddenly understood—
The soul!
He looked at Dumbledore, “Was the magic you just used to plead with Morfin Gaunt’s soul, asking him to respond to you?”
Dumbledore was not surprised and nodded with a smile.
“Then… where is the soul, or rather, what is it?”
Facing Vaughn’s question, Dumbledore thought for a moment and slowly replied, “The Golden Soul Theory divides a person’s spirit into three parts. The first part is the main consciousness, the mental body of the alchemist soaring through Aether. In reality, our memories and thoughts are all part of the main consciousness. If we consider a person’s spirit as an island, then the main consciousness is the part that emerges above the sea.”
“The second part is the individual subconsciousness, which is buried beneath the sea, representing dreams, emotions, and fantasies. It is emotional, so it is not found in the rational mindscape of reality; it can only be seen in Aether.”
Vaughn had memorized these theories thoroughly when he flipped through alchemy texts. However, he did not interrupt Dumbledore, knowing that the old man was bringing this up not as idle talk, but to lay the groundwork for what he was about to say next.
Dumbledore looked at Vaughn, his sky-blue eyes deep and wise. “The remaining part is the third part, hidden in the deep sea, which constitutes the largest portion in the division of a person’s spirit. It is called, the collective subconscious!”
“Collective subconscious…”
A phrase both familiar and foreign.
Vaughn had seen descriptions of it in some alchemy texts, fragmented and inconsistent:
“It is a dark mist, a illusory sea, boundless ocean, scattered islands…”
“Twilight light condensed like amber on the distant horizon, where clear blue and rendered halos formed a bright, curved arc…”
“Shards of light floated in the darkness, waves washed over, bringing not dampness, but a cacophony of whispers by the ears, countless murmurs…”
Abstract!
This was Vaughn’s sole understanding of the collective subconscious after reading those accounts.
Each article describing it depicted vastly different scenes, leading Vaughn to abandon his exploration of it at the time. There was no unified explanation, no specific definition, and not even a method to reach the collective subconscious.
Abstract things could only be set aside for the time being.
Until today, when he heard the phrase again from Dumbledore.
Vaughn found his voice a bit dry, “You mean, the collective subconscious is the soul?”
“You could say that.”
Dumbledore shrugged with a smile, “If we interpret it through your understanding, the tripartite structure of the personality in the Golden Soul Theory actually represents three different ‘spaces’ or three states of matter.”
“The first layer, the main consciousness space, also known as the real space, is rational, material, and objective. Therefore, the rational main consciousness exists here.”
“The second layer, Aether, is the irrational realm. According to your understanding, it can be considered chaotic and disordered. This is not a derogatory term, but rather a compliment to the countless possibilities it contains. The individual subconsciousness is hidden there, evolving into brilliant dreams and fantasies in the boundless gray mist.”
“The final, third layer…”
At this point, Dumbledore paused, as if choosing his words carefully. “…The third layer, it is a place difficult to describe in words. Modern alchemy calls it the ‘archetype’. It contains the beginning of everything, and the end of everything. It is infinitely large and infinitely small. In your words, it is called…”
“Singularity!”
Vaughn murmured.
“Yes, singularity. A very interesting term.” Dumbledore nodded. “Of course, due to differences in philosophical concepts, I don’t always understand your terms. In any case, it is a seemingly void place, not in reality, and not in Aether.”
Before today’s events, Vaughn could never have imagined that the clue to the soul he had been desperately seeking would appear so abruptly before him.
And the person informing him was Dumbledore, who had always opposed his research into the soul.
However, he had no mood to dwell on why Old Dumbledore had changed his mind. Curiosity and a thirst for the unknown made him immediately ask, “Albus, how do I get to the collective subconscious?”
Dumbledore shook his head, “This, I cannot teach you, child.”
“Why?”
Old Dumbledore winked. “For a simple reason: our philosophical concepts differ… When I pleaded with Morfin Gaunt’s soul to bring forth his subconscious, could you understand the magic I used?”
“…”
Vaughn hesitated slightly.
This was exactly as Dumbledore expected. “You see, you couldn’t understand it, just as I cannot understand your Persona Embodiment. I still don’t know how you created it. This is caused by our different perspectives on the world and how we understand it.”
“Memory Magic is the most individualistic magic. With different philosophical concepts, if I forcibly taught you, it would only harm you. What could be more terrible than destroying a person’s worldview?”
…
Dumbledore was dragged into an unknowable place by Morfin Gaunt’s subconsciousness.
At least, Vaughn’s infinitely expanding Persona Embodiment could not sense where they had gone.
In Morfin Gaunt’s dark and fragmented mindscape, only Vaughn remained.
His mind was somewhat chaotic.
The concept of “collective subconscious = soul” momentarily clouded his thoughts, and a multitude of ideas flooded in.
Many scientific theories from his past life, quantum mechanics, quantum souls, the law of conservation of matter, the law of conservation of information… various complex scientific concepts continuously surged from the depths of his memory, conflicting with his current cognition, yet also confirming and integrating with it.
“The soul is not in the human body at all…”
This seemingly outlandish statement actually had similar hypotheses in the Muggle scientific community of his past life. With the continuous advancement of quantum mechanics, the concept of matter = information became deeply ingrained. The existence and origin of consciousness and soul, which originated from matter yet seemed independent of it, naturally became linked to quantum mechanics.
And once linked to quantum mechanics, everything became bizarre.
Scientists in his past life had proposed the theory of quantum souls, suggesting that consciousness and soul were born from fluctuations in quantum states. After death, the “soul” would not vanish, just as particles and energy only transform and do not disappear out of thin air.
Some more radical scientists even believed that the “soul” was a higher-dimensional entity, living in the “real universe,” and that our so-called physical reality and physical universe were merely projections and illusions of the “real universe.”
“Projections, reality, perfection…”
Speaking of which, those radical theories from his past life, regarding certain views on the truth of the world, did align somewhat with the Golden Soul Theory.
Vaughn suddenly remembered Dumbledore’s question from a few months ago, after they had explored Aether together:
What is real? What is illusory?
At the time, he thought Dumbledore was asking how to distinguish between reality and falsehood in the superimposed state of Aether and reality.
Looking back now, Old Dumbledore was already trying to guide him.
To make him ponder, were the reality we see and the Aether we traverse truly the face of matter?
Or were they merely projections that we could currently understand?
And now he also understood why Dumbledore had only asked questions and not given him answers, because—
“‘There is no absolute truth in the world, and we can only ever see one side of things.’ I admire that view of yours, Vaughn.”
“Therefore, I am very happy to see you choose a different path from mine, and at the same time, I look forward to you continuing on your own magical journey. Whether you succeed or fail, at least it provides another possibility for the future!”
These were Dumbledore’s parting words.
He encouraged Vaughn to find a way to the collective subconscious himself!
“White Lord’s chicken soup… hmph!”
Vaughn, whose head was starting to ache, scoffed and stopped thinking about it.
He raised his hand, and a silvery-white thread, interspersed with black spots, wound around his finger.
This was the magical knowledge of Morfin Gaunt, extracted from countless memory fragments by Dumbledore using Morfin Gaunt’s subconsciousness and the Persona Embodiment before he left.
Although it had been filtered and purified during the extraction process, the black spots on the thread indicated that this strand of memory still contained the corruption of dark magic.
After carefully observing the black spots, Vaughn frowned, “The negative effects of dark magic are truly stubborn…”
Such memories were certainly not suitable for direct absorption.
Of course, Vaughn had other methods. He stood up, took a gentle step back, and in the next instant, the world spun.
His vision was covered by darkness.
But it was only for an instant before his sight cleared again, revealing the hazy evening sunset of the North Sea, and the warm fire burning in the fireplace of the top common room at Azkaban.
Although it was still summer according to the calendar, the temperature on this harsh, cold island in the North Sea in the evening was as low as late autumn in the Scottish Highlands.
The sea breeze also picked up, whistling eerily around the common room windows.
This only enhanced the warmth provided by the blazing fire in the hearth.
Looking at the still “unconscious” Morfin Gaunt and Dumbledore, Vaughn, in a rare display of humble morality, opened his satchel, took out the blanket his mother had prepared for him, and covered the two centenarians.
He then approached the fireplace, took out a phoenix feather, and threw it into the fire.
Soon, there were two crackles from the fire, and as the ashes swirled, Fawkes emerged from the air and landed in the fire.
“Caw!”
With a hoarse, unpleasant cry, Fawkes glared with its small, beady eyes, first looking around nervously. Upon finding no sudden green lights, it then looked at Vaughn.
Vaughn chuckled, “You little vindictive creature, you still hold a grudge because I used you to block Voldemort’s Killing Curse once?”
“Caw!”
Nonsense!
Fawkes flapped its wings excitedly. It was the only one that had the luxury of being petty; other birds would have lost their lives!
“Alright, don’t be angry. Didn’t I compensate you with Felix Felicis last time? Do me a favor and send Dumbledore’s Pensieve over for me to use.”
“Caw caw!”
“I don’t have that much Felix Felicis for you… You want me to brew a batch? Are you kidding? It takes at least half a year to brew one dose of that stuff.”
“…However, I can help you trade with Professor Snape. He should still have some… What to trade? Anything will do, a few feathers, a bowl of blood, a few drops of tears!”
Hearing this, Fawkes looked down at its own glossy body. While trembling with anger, it also hesitated.
In the end, it succumbed to the delightful taste of Felix Felicis.
It is easy to go from frugality to luxury, but difficult to go from luxury to frugality!
Ever since it drank Felix Felicis last time, the potions Dumbledore prepared for it had become unpalatable. By Merlin, that stuff tasted worse than dung, and it had eaten it for years!
That foolish old man, at his age, could still brew potions so poorly, what a waste!
Fawkes, indignant, had been craving Felix Felicis for the past two months.
Eager to reach an agreement with Vaughn, Fawkes immediately returned to Hogwarts and brought the old man’s Pensieve to Azkaban.
Until it handed the Pensieve to Vaughn, the phoenix suddenly felt something was amiss… Wasn’t it supposed to ask the detestable Weasley boy for payment?
How did it end up that “payment” became it trading its own feathers, blood, and tears with Snape?
So, in the end, the Weasley boy spent not a Knut?
Vaughn paid no attention to Fawkes’ dawning realization of annoyance. Upon receiving the Pensieve, he waved his wand, drew out the silver thread with black spots on its surface from his mind, and gently shook it into the Pensieve.
Silver light and black mist immediately began to swirl and descend in the shallow basin.
Vaughn submerged his face into the Pensieve, and after a while, he lifted it again, his expression peculiar. “Dumbledore actually gave me dark magic?”
The memory thread did not contain much capacity, only a few fragments of Morfin Gaunt practicing a few spells during his youth and early adulthood.
However, despite its limited capacity, the quality was astonishingly high.
There were a total of 4 spells within.
The first was Slytherin’s symbol, Parseltongue.
But it was also the lowest quality of the four spells, as only true descendants of Slytherin could truly “learn” Parseltongue. Without Slytherin blood, attempting to learn it would only result in learning “snake language.”
It would only allow for simple communication with snakes, rather than the ability to command them like Parseltongue!
“A bit of a chicken.”
Vaughn thought regretfully. He had been most looking forward to Parseltongue, not out of any interest in commanding snakes, but simply to understand the spell developed by Slytherin himself, and to glimpse the thought process of one of Hogwarts’ founders when developing spells.
Unfortunately, his wish could not be granted.
Apart from the first spell, Parseltongue, the rest were dark magic, which was why Vaughn found it surprising.
The second was Necromancy.
It was not a single spell, but a series of spells, from the most basic Resurrection Charm （Revivify）, which could resurrect a corpse and turn it into a ghoul.
To the Awakening Charm （Ghoul Awakening）, which awakened a powerful ghoul and transformed it into a Shambler.
And then to the terrifying “Undead Cloud” — a spell that summoned a vast black cloud. Wherever the cloud drifted, all life there would be extinguished and immediately transformed into ghouls.
It was practically a tool for creating an undead army!
Of course, the entire series not only involved creating ghouls but also contained two curses.
One was called the “Witherling Curse,” which used powerful dark magic to create a blighted land. Within the blighted area, soil, water, and even air would be cursed and contaminated. Touching any of these would result in a curse, causing life to gradually wither.
The other was called the “Time Curse,” which, in Vaughn’s opinion, was a very powerful and sinister spell.
It could “steal” the time of the cursed person!
Initially, this curse showed almost no adverse effects, much like the human body aging over time. The ill effects would begin with the internal organs. By the time the cursed person noticed problems with their internal organs, it would be too late; their organs would have rapidly degenerated due to aging.
This would then manifest outwardly, with the person aging at an unbelievable speed under the combined effects of the curse and internal organ failure, quickly leading to death!
“…A terrifying curse!”
Images of Morfin Gaunt practicing the curse on snakes flashed in his pupils. Watching those snakes age and decay at a visible rate, Vaughn sighed.
Fortunately, this curse was not an Unforgivable Curse. It had a counter-spell and was also restrained by “All Spells End.” Some potions that could replenish vitality could also delay its onset.
The conflict between white magic and dark magic had never ceased since magic was born in this world.
From the perspective of the entire history of magic, dark magic should be considered the earliest form of magic in the world. After all, thousands or tens of thousands of years ago, human survival environments were vastly different from today.
Primitive Muggles had to contend with harsh natural disasters and countless fierce beasts.
Wizards were not much better off. Magical creatures such as goblins, house-elves, and fire dragons, born with magic, were the true rulers of nature and the wizarding world.
For humans to survive and expand their living space, they had to engage in armed competition with those powerful magical creature tribes.
Therefore, in the early stages of human civilization, there was no concept of a struggle between dark and white magic.
In that era of savagery, the more brutal the magic, the more it helped humans gain an advantage in competition.
It was not until humans established a higher social order, emerged from ignorance, and shifted from outward expansion to internal integration, that brutal magic began to be used against fellow humans. Only then did the concept of dark magic first appear.
Correspondingly, the spells developed to counter and defend against dark magic independently formed another system called “white magic.”
This schism was beneficial and harmless to the entire wizarding world. For thousands of years, the confrontation between dark and white magic led to a relationship akin to convergent evolution, allowing the wizarding world to continuously progress and prosper.
However, the overall trend in their evolution has always been an offense-and-defense dynamic, with dark magic on the offensive and white magic on the defensive.
Generally speaking, dark magic appeared first, and then other white wizards developed corresponding counter-spells and preventive spells based on the dark magic. This has been a pattern continuing since ancient times, with only a few exceptions—such as the Patronus Charm’s restraint on Dementors!
Or, the existence of the Unforgivable Curses.
Some dark magic simply cannot have counter-spells.
The most well-known are the Killing, Domination, and Cruciatus curses.
This is because they act directly on the soul.
Consequently, other spells that act directly on the soul also do not have counter-spells, they are just less famous, or their effects are not as ferocious or ruthless as those three notorious curses.
For example, the third spell Vaughn obtained from Morfin Gaunt’s memories—the Soul Steal spell （Furantur Animarum）!
As the name suggests, this is a magic that steals souls; it can “steal” the soul of the cursed person.
However, this spell is not part of the modern spell system but is an ancient magic, so its practical significance is limited.
Nevertheless, for Vaughn, this magic is even more valuable than the preceding Necromancy series!
“All along, what I’ve lacked has not been simple offensive or defensive capabilities. With the magic I currently know, I’m already capable of handling most battles. The few situations I can’t handle are complex; learning a few more spells wouldn’t fix them… Instead of improving combat effectiveness, what I should be doing most right now is increasing my accumulation of advanced knowledge.”
“For instance, researching the soul, which I’ve been unable to find…”
Images of Morfin Gaunt learning the Soul Steal spell flashed in his pupils. Vaughn thought this, but he didn’t learn the magic immediately.
One reason was his cautious attitude towards dark magic.
The other reason was that the fourth spell was more aligned with his immediate needs—
Slytherin Bloodline Transplantation!
This was also a series of spells, including the Vitality Charm, Bloodline Charm, and Slytherin Blood Fusing Charm. From Morfin Gaunt’s constant practice of killing snakes, it could be seen that this set of magic primarily targeted bloodline transplantation from snake-like magical creatures.
And the learning difficulty was extremely high; Morfin Gaunt had not mastered it even by the time he was framed and imprisoned by Voldemort.
“Of course, it’s more likely that Morfin Gaunt’s talent was rather poor.”
Immersed in the memory, watching Morfin Gaunt fail repeatedly, Vaughn recalled Voldemort’s socket-like nose:
“Voldemort’s transformation into that grotesque form is inextricably linked to bloodline transplantation. According to Dumbledore, Voldemort’s appearance began to change within a few years of his graduation. It was also for this reason that Dumbledore and Headmaster Dippet refused his application for a position at Hogwarts…”
“In just a few years, even with Voldemort’s genius, he couldn’t have developed a mature transplantation magic that he dared to experiment on himself, nor could he have learned it elsewhere. He most likely obtained this bloodline transplantation technique from Morfin Gaunt’s memories!”
As for where the Gaunt family obtained the bloodline transplantation technique.
Vaughn suspected it was not a family heirloom, as, to his knowledge, no member of the Gaunt family for the past thousand years had exhibited any snake-like physical features.
They likely obtained the bloodline transplantation technique from Slytherin’s Chamber at Hogwarts in more recent times.
For a period last year, Vaughn was very interested in the secrets of the four founders and consulted a considerable amount of information. During this time, he discovered that Hogwarts had undergone several major renovations, and on each occasion, members of the Gaunt family were involved.
The most recent was in the 18th century, when the Hogwarts sewer renovation project was led by a man named Corvinus Gaunt.
Based on the timeline, Corvinus Gaunt was approximately Marvolo Gaunt’s grandfather’s generation, meaning Voldemort’s maternal grandfather’s grandfather…
Of course, Vaughn had no interest in becoming Socket Man 2.0.
In his view, he was more cautious about bloodline transplantation than learning dark magic. While there were successful cases of resolving dark magic pollution (（ Dumbledore and others ）), if the body mutated accidentally, whether it was reversible was uncertain.
Therefore, he had little interest in the most crucial spell of the entire set, the “Slytherin Blood Fusing Charm.” Instead, he was quite fond of some of the more basic spells within it.
These were not particularly remarkable spells; they could even be considered minor charms. However, they were specifically developed by Slytherin in the past for bloodline research.
The scope of the magic included observation, analysis, and vitality maintenance.
Of course, due to the immense age of their development, these spells were very different from the modern spell system, belonging to a transitional system from ancient magic to modern spells, making them difficult to learn.
However, having them was better than not having them!
As Morfin Gaunt’s memories flowed through his eyes, Vaughn silently said, “System!”
A panel appeared before Vaughn. He quickly scanned the various data statistics and looked at the task bar:
【 Side Quest ③: Research the magic of all fire dragons and understand their basic principles （ In Progress ）】
【 Progress: 0/10】
【 Reward: 100 Magic Power Scale, Spell Development Module】
Looking at Side Quest ③ on the panel, Vaughn’s previously gloomy mood suddenly brightened.
“With these spells, Side Quest ③ only lacks experimental materials…”
In fact, Side Quest ③ had always been a source of considerable headache for Vaughn.
Obtaining experimental materials was one issue; another was experimental tools. Due to the prevalence of idealism in the wizarding world, experimental tools born from methodology had developed very slowly in the magical world.
The experimental tools referred to here included both instruments and spells.
As is well known, Muggle instruments cannot observe magic. Therefore, do not expect to find any trace of magic by simply using a microscope.
Since the appearance of the fire dragon research side quest, Vaughn had been contemplating how to develop a minor charm to aid his research.
