Chapter 400: Uncertain Future

Ivan looked at the smoke in front of him, slightly distracted.

In the rising smoke, Flamel's words seemed to come from a place far away.

In fact, he did not understand the specific working principle of the silverware.

Through the smoke, he could see a certain range of scenes...

This was beyond his knowledge of magic, and required a mixture of many spells.

Then he thought of the Marauder's Map, which was the closest thing to the alchemical instrument in front of him.

Ivan once asked Sirius carefully, knowing that when they made the Marauder's Map, they had not only the magic of names and Transfiguration, but also many principles of alchemy, which was the key to the success of the map.

As Flamel said, alchemy was truly amazing.

"Alchemy can help you do many things, but it is not omnipotent. No matter how powerful the props are, they must follow the basic rules of magic." Looking at the stunned Ivan, Flamel warned, "Like this thing in front of you, for example. As long as the one on the other side is prepared, they can keep you from peeking out. There are many other places protected by magic that you can't see."

He tapped the silverware and a lot of smoke came out again.

But this time, the smoke was so hazy that nothing could be seen in the vast white.

"This is the girls' dormitory at Beauxbatons. The protection magic outside the room interferes with its functioning." Flamel continued. "So, unfortunately, I can't help you see that girl in the room in the dormitory now."

Ivan was speechless, but his silence was not out of regret.

He had no intention of spying on Gabrielle, much less sneaking into the girls' bedroom with Flamel. Such behavior was too perverted.

However, Flamel's observations were quite impressive.

As long as she wasn't in a magically protected place like Hogwarts or Beauxbatons, there seemed to be plenty to do with such an alchemist's product....

"Well, if you don't have anything else you want to see, we can go ahead and look at my next work." Flamel led Ivan forward.

Then, under Flamel's introduction, Ivan saw a statue of a magician spewing colorful bubbles.

These bubbles floated around. "If you burst one, there would be a classical opera resounding down the hall."

Indeed, Nicolas Flamel was the most loyal lover of opera.

Driven by this fondness, it was natural for him to make such a magical product.

In addition, there was a piece of crystal called "Star Antimony" by Flamel.

It was said to be able to change the composition of substances that touched it, such as making a stone switch back and forth between gold, silver, black iron, brass, wood, and so on.

However, in this process, he needed unimaginable amounts of magic!

Ivan suspected that even Dumbledore would not be able to use the crystal at will.

Moving down the corridor, Ivan saw many magical objects.

Among the many alchemy products, the magical accessory that mattered most to him was supposed to aid in divination and prophecy.

It was a huge stone basin filled with silver liquid, and the stone basin was engraved with complex magic symbols. It looked like the pensery.

"This is the latest work I have been refining. Just like going into a dream, it can help you see the future clearly, instead of looking at those ambiguous memories." In his unique and ancient voice, Flamel said slowly, "The wonderful combination of alchemy and divination, although the predictions are not accurate, but divination is inherently illusory, very few people can make real prophecies."

Ivan nodded and thought of Professor Trelawney.

Sometimes he might actually see the future, but if he believed in these things too much, the most likely outcome was that she would go mad first.

"Well, do you want to try it? Flamel motioned Ivan to stand in front of the stone basin, "look at the liquid inside, relax, relax..."

Flamel waved his wand and muttered a spell that Ivan could not understand.

A dark, flickering gray light erupted from the end of his wand, and the silvery liquid in the pile of stone before him began to swirl rapidly to form a vortex.

Ivan felt his soul being sucked in. His eyes were blurry, and he blinked vigorously.

In the next second, he saw a huge space in the stone basin, which was covered with huge rough black stones, with the surrounding area clouded over.

Ivan didn't understand, what the hell was going on? was that his future?!

Just as he was about to ask Flamel, the scene in front of him began to change rapidly.

In the stone basin, he was running forward with all his might, and his vision was advancing rapidly.

Then, when the image turned around, Ivan saw the figure of a man appear in the stone basin.

This man was very large and he could not see his face clearly.

With him looking so far away, the details of what was happening were difficult to see.

The misty fog was getting thicker and thicker. With intuition, Ivan could sense that the man was doing something terrible, but he couldn't see it clearly.

He could only vaguely see that the man's head seemed to be changing.

It looked like he had done something, and then slowly turned away....

At the most critical moment, the image stopped abruptly.

The liquid in the stone pile returned to calm, as if nothing had happened.

"The man who just appeared seems to be preparing to apply some black magic. You should be careful." Flamel looked up and said slowly, "Of course, you don't have to worry too much. As I just said, this is very inaccurate. It can't accomplish real divination. It only shows what is in your mind."

"But I'm sure I've never seen that man before!" said Ivan.

"Who knows?" Flamel did not stop in front of the pile of stone and kept moving forward. He didn't seem to care much about Ivan's future. "Maybe he failed. That's normal. To use a product of alchemy to speculate on fate, that is madness in itself; an unrealistic reverie of an old man who has lived too long."

Nicolas Flamel paused and turned to look at Ivan. "But when this thing was first refined, it consumed much of my efforts. It was the final crystallization of my knowledge of alchemy." He paused and continued, "Although I'm not very skilled in divination, I'd say it might work from time to time."

This sentence sounded very unpleasant. Flamel seemed to be telling Ivan to accept his bad future in a euphemistic way.

"Who else used the stone basin?" he asked hastily, "What did you see?"

"Besides me, you're the second person to use it." Flamel looked at Ivan, "and I saw..."

In the silvery moonlight, Ivan couldn't help squinting.

He looked silently at the old wizard before him and the deep wrinkles on his face.

He didn't know what Flamel had seen, but from his serious expression, it was definitely not something to be happy about.