The Philosopher's Stone

IMPORTANT NOTICE - I would like to point out that I have no hatred for the Chinese or any people or ethnic group. What happens in this chapter is simply a sad truth that really exists in our reality.

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Chapter 6: The Philosopher's Stone

Four years later, somewhere in London

Simon, now 10 years old, was sitting at a table making notes in a notebook while behind him a man struggled mightily on a testing table. Whoever he was, Simon didn't care. He was just another test subject he managed to get, but he had very useful information.

It had been nearly 5 years since he left the orphanage and settled here in this old industrial building. He transformed the entire basement into a small but functional laboratory and devoted himself to studying the philosopher's stone and homunculi.

Simon knew how to do almost everything, but he needed practice with human souls, so he spent 2 years kidnapping people that no one would notice were missing, killing them and then trying to transfer their souls into an old armor that he had obtained.

Unfortunately, it was ineffective. He didn't know if he wasn't paying enough, or maybe it was because the souls in Harry Potter's world behaved differently. Or perhaps death itself was watching him.

Simon persisted for a while longer until he finally managed to create a living armor like Al. The only payment was his magic, which almost ran out, causing him to almost faint. After that, he gave her up for a while.

At least until you manage to stay awake to see the result. 

Frankly, it was a little scary to see an armor running towards him wanting to kill you, but luckily he had the advantage and quickly controlled the armor before destroying the soul seal and soon after paying. 

Finishing his notes, Simon turned and walked over to the young man lying on the table, who stood there watching him approach him. 

- Listen, boy, I really don't know anything. I...

- Shii, there's no need for that Wei, I just want to know when they're going to bring them and who is responsible

- I said, I don't know, please. 

Simon glanced at the young man strapped to the testing table for a moment and sighed a little disappointed. He then left the area and went to an adjacent cage and removed an addict from inside who was tied to a chair and in a lethargic state.

Taking a mouse from a nearby cage where he kept small animals, mostly rodents, Simon removed some blood before injecting it into the tied up man and then began to perform a transmutation in front of Wei.

Wei worked doing some minor work and without a doubt, he had blood on his hands but the scene of the man melting in front of him while the person in charge, a boy no more than 10 years old, was just making some notes was the most horrendous thing he had ever seen.

- So Wei, once again, how about telling me that you are responsible.

- Okay, I'll say it, it's Tao Xing, you heard TAO XING. He leads one of the triad's branches active in Great Britain.

- What more?

- I know that he mainly deals with human and organ trafficking, please let me go.

- Thank you, Wei, I think that's it.

- What? 

- You are no longer valuable, so let's get started. 

- Wait… Wait… HM MM HHMMMM 

Covering the mouth of the young Asian in front of him, Simon went to a small cage and took out a small guinea pig. Placing him on the table, he took a syringe of blood from the piglet and then put him back in the cage. 

- Mmm 

 Approaching Wei, Simon put on a pair of gloves with a circle embedded in them before injecting all the porcupine's blood into his test subject. 

- Now this will hurt Wei, please try to survive. 

- HmmMMMMMMMM 

Simon began to transmute Wei's human DNA and the guinea pig's DNA and fuse them together. Wei's muffled screams sounded throughout the basement, but Simon remained focused, transmuting every part of him. Suddenly blood began to leak out of his orifices, and his skin began to melt, giving rise to pustules that exploded, releasing black blood at the same time as they regenerated. 

The pain Wei felt was so great that he wanted to die right then and there, but Simon insisted on keeping him alive. This went on for about 5 minutes, until finally Wei died. 

- Another failure, fusing human DNA with another, is really complicated. This time, it took longer. 

Simon discarded Wei's corpse inside a vat and then transmuted it into mud before disposing of it in the sewers as usual.

Taking out a pocket watch made of silver, Simon looked and saw that it was almost 2 p.m. Removing his dirty clothes, he threw them away before heading to the bathroom, getting into a bathtub, and starting to wash.

After a good shower, he changed into clean clothes and left the building through an adjacent door that was hidden from everyone's view. After he took the building for himself, he sealed all the entrances to the basement and to the first and second floors.

Sometimes addicts or homeless people would enter seeking shelter, but in the end they ended up as his guinea pigs. After walking for a while, Simon ended up in a very busy Chinatown. Simon walked for a while until he arrived at a family restaurant and ordered a meal. 

 As he eat he looked toward a table where a group of well-dressed men were eating and drinking to their hearts' content. Finishing his meal, Simon approached them.

- Wú? Zhège nánhái shì shuí? (Hmm? (Who is this boy?)

- Wǒ bù zhīdào xiānshēng (I don't know sir)

- Bǎ tā dài zǒu (take him away)

- Shì de (Yes) 

Seeing one of the men get up and walk towards him, Simon raised his hand and asked him to stop before taking a letter and a gold bar out of his pocket.

Seeing the gold, the chief of men was surprised before heading towards Simon.

- Who are you kid.

-Just a messenger, Mr. Tao.

- A messenger in? And what message do you have for me?

- This.

Handing the letter to Mr. Tao's guard, Simon took a half step back.

Tao Xing, or Mr. Tao, was, according to Wei, one of the Triad leaders operating in England. He had no doubt that he was being watched, and his presence here had been noticed. But he didn't care at all. He was just an errand boy.

As for what he wanted, good material for creating a philosopher's stone. In other words, people

Tao read the letter in his hand, and after a few moments, he placed it aside. And he continued eating before speaking.

_ Normally, I wouldn't agree to negotiate with someone I don't know, even more so with a little boy like you. However, at the moment, we are in a complicated situation, and your boss seems to know it.

Mr. Tao spoke before taking another break, this time to drink some baijiu.

- I agree to the terms, half before delivery and the rest after.

- I'll pass the message on, Mr. Tao.

Simon left soon after, leaving Tao to finish his meal, and went towards an old warehouse. The place was dirty, but it was out of sight of anyone.

Simon began to draw a large and complex transmutation circle—actually, it was a transmutation array, which covered half of the empty space.

After finishing, he took some iron pieces and transmuted them into some small gold bars before putting them in a suitcase and taking them to one of Tao's men.

Simon chose Tao because, even though he was one of the worst kinds of people, he was respected and said to be a righteous man. In addition, Simon's time was running out, and he needed to create a philosopher's stone and a homunculus before entering Hogwarts.

Two weeks later, in front of the abandoned warehouse, a truck with a large container stopped in front of the place before a strong man got out of the cab and headed towards Simon.

Simon recognized him as one of Tao's trustworthy men. Seeing him approaching, he handed over a briefcase with some more gold bars to the man, who, after confirming, waved to the driver who entered, and after leaving the truck inside, they both left.

Seeing that everyone had left, Simon entered the warehouse and used alchemy to seal all the exits before entering the container.

Inside, there were around 150 to 200 people crowded together, all wearing hand and foot shackles. Simon saw that there were some children among them, and although he was a little uncomfortable, he decided to move on.

After guiding everyone to the center of the circle, Simon walked away a little. Of course, some tried to escape, but Simon showed his alchemy to other people for the first time, and it scared them.

Looking at the people in front of him, mainly the 13 children, Simon took a deep breath before clapping his hands like Ed and channeling as much dystrophic energy as he could to activate the transmutation matrix.

- "For the greater good."

- 那是什麼? (What's This?)

- 媽媽我很害怕 (Mom, I'm scared)

- 沒關係,美美,媽媽來了. (It's okay, Mei Mei, Mommy is here.)

- 請不要 (Please don't)

- 啊啊啊 ( AAAA )

Seeing the light turn on at their feet, people were scared and started to try to move, but they couldn't. Gradually, their bodies began to dissolve and become a red mass.

At that moment, Simon felt that the energy used was not enough and decided to use his magical power so that the transmutation did not fail.

Realizing that his magical energy alone would not be enough, Simon pushed himself to the limit when suddenly strange lines seemed to appear, as if indicating where he should send the energy. 

Acting out of pure instinct, Simon manipulated the dystrophic energy and his magical energy towards these lines, and with that, his effort decreased enough for him to complete the transmutation of the philosopher's stone.

The process lasted exactly 2 minutes before the screams stopped, and in the center of the matrix, all that was left was a red jewel. Simon, still weak, collected the philosopher's stone and set fire to the place before going home to get some sleep.

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The next day, the news talked about an arson attack in an old abandoned warehouse, which luckily did not spread as there were few things nearby.

But what neither they nor Simon knew was that due to the production of the philosopher's stone, a magical outbreak was produced, attracting the attention of the Aurors and that they were the ones who controlled the flames.

Furthermore, even using the Appare Vestigium spell on the spot, they achieved nothing because the magic became very chaotic. In the end, they ended up finishing the case as an unsolved mystery.

While everyone wondered what happened at the place, Simon slept peacefully with the philosopher's stone resting on his work bench, shining and occasionally reflecting faces contorted in suffering and anguish.

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As promised, three chapters delivered. I'm a little tired right now but if I feel like it I'll post another one today.