Chapter 94: Tehom, Alchemy, and Sub-Zero (1/2)
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The link is also in the synopsis.
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[The chapter is edited by my Editor: Alan_Loo/AlanL]
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”Tehom, literally 'the Deep' or 'Abyss',” read Quinn from another old tome in the Hogwarts library.
After having a scare of a lifetime inside the second trial, Tehom's Delight, Quinn's first course of action was to see who or what Tehom in the title was?
”Refers to the Great Deep of the primordial waters of creation in the Bible,” hummed Quinn as he summarized the information he had been able to get on Tehom. ”An entity from the Christian pantheon mentioned in the Old Testament Bible, Book of Genesis, Genesis 1:2”
Tapping his finger on the table, Quinn thought about his experience of no sight in the second trial room. The complete darkness had taken him by surprise. Being robbed of the sense that he used the most was something deeply unsettling.
”The entire vault is revolving around water, and then there was the word 'law' in the text. The trials are definitely based on something that can be found in water.”
Quinn glanced down at the word 'Tehom' on the parchment of the tome.
”There is no light in the depth of an ocean, and Tehom symbolizes deep or abyss. Having no light must be the reason I wasn't able to see anything but darkness,” theorized Quinn. ”That meant that my sense of sight was okay, but there was no light. Thus, I couldn't see. Ah, that is just plain annoying~. I respect that.”
Another thing that Quinn focused on was the ambiance of the second trial room.
”I was inside a water-filled region with no surface beneath my feet,” remembered Quinn, while closing his eyes to relive that moment. ”Calm water with no violent, turbulent flow like the first room. The temperature; slightly cold.”
Even though he had been only inside the second trial room for less than thirty seconds, Quinn ended up having some questions.
”What's the aim of the second trial? Do I need to find another entrance? How do I navigate there? Is there something in there other than me? What danger there is?”
But spending mere seconds inside the second trial room wasn't enough to answer any of the questions. If Quinn wanted to get answers, then he would need to dive in there and get the lay of the land.
Then his thoughts went further beyond the second trial room.
”How many trials are in the third vault?”
The third vault was still covered in mystery because Quinn couldn't see the end, and that unknown element slightly excited Quinn.
Mystery creates wonder, and wonder was the basis of man's desire to understand the world. And Quinn wanted to understand everything. It was in his nature.
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Alchemy was a branch of magic; an ancient discipline that involved studying the secrets of composition, structure, and magical properties of the four classical elements, as well as the transmutation and transfiguration of substances and, thus, it was connected intimately with potion-brewing, charms and transfiguration.
Of course, Quinn didn't believe in the four classical elements because of the atomic theory. But he did believe in the fifth element, which he considered to be magic itself.
Back to alchemy. The branch of magic was a beautiful conjugation of various magics: transfiguration, transmutation, potions, herbology, metallurgy, charms, and other magics used to supplement it according to its needs.
Alchemy was said to be the ultimate transformation magic. Alchemic counterparts were many times more potent than their potion counterparts. Properties could be permanently added to objects: something that was extremely difficult with charms. It could convert materials into completely different states from their initial forms; something that could only be a work of transfiguration but permanent.
Today, inside the Room of Requirement, Quinn was in the middle of performing alchemy. The young alchemist was in the midst of one of his long-term projects. The project was still in its initial stages, but Quinn was making some progress.
”Project sub-zero. Series one (1), formula number twenty-seven (27),” announced Quinn, reading from a sheet of paper that had 'S-1 F#19' written on it.
「Project Sub-Zero.」
Absolute Zero was the alchemic material that Quinn had found inside the first vault, the Icy vault. It was an alchemic material that was at a perpetual temperature of zero Kelvin (0 K). The paradoxical material contained cold energy capable of dropping the temperature of anything it came in direct contact with to zero Kelvin (0 K).
It was the physical incarnation of infinite cold.
And while Quinn couldn't get it out yet, he wasn't going to miss the chance to research it. So twice or thrice a month, Quinn would go down into the vault and collect samples of the cold energy for research.
There was no information on Absolute Zero except the description. Quinn had scoured the Room of Requirement library to find any information on Absolute Zero but couldn't find a creation methodology or a clue to get started.
It was a magic lost to the world.
Project Sub-Zero was Quinn's attempt to study Absolute Zero. So that one day, he could create the alchemic marvel himself. It was an experimental approach where Quinn began at two hundred and seventy-three Kelvin (273 K) and made his way down to zero Kelvin (0 K).
He had divided the project into six stages.
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Stage One (S-1) - 273 K - 224 K
Stage Two (S-2) - 223.99 K - 175 K
Stage Three (S-3) - 174.99 K - 126 K
Stage Four (S-4) - 125.99 K - 77 K
Stage Five (S-5) - 76.99 K - 28K
Stage Six (S-6) - 27.99 K - 0 K
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The first five stages had a forty-nine Kelvin (49 K) range, the square of the most magical number; seven.
But in the last stage, S-6 had the remaining twenty-two Kelvin (28 K), which was in a seven times four (7 x 4) range. It had the power of seven and a stable foundation of four. The sixth stage signified that, after six stages, Quinn would reach the perfect seventh stage and obtain the paradoxical yet stable Absolute Zero.
Quinn chose the above stages as each would be a milestone in his quest to create Absolute Zero.
Seeing that Quinn was operating on [S-1 F#19] meant that he was still in the initial leg of the project.
”F#18 showed the temperature of 209 K / -63.15°C. Five degrees lower than F#17,” recited Quinn as he took notes under [S-1 F#19] paper. ”But, F#18 was unstable and broke down in under ten minutes (10 mins). F#19 is the attempt to solve the instability of F#18 and create a stable formula with the temperature of 209 K / -63.15°C or below.”
Quinn lit up a fire and placed a potion cauldron on it. Alchemy, or at least the alchemy Quinn knew, closely resembled potion brewing as it required a cauldron.
Slowly Quinn added the ingredients into the cauldrons according to the formula. There were a lot of processed ingredients, like liquid essence extracted from plants, magically treated plant roots, frozen animal organs, transfigured filings of metal, and other ingredients that Quinn had chosen for [S-1 F#19].
After adjusting the heat and stirring at predefined times to activate the ingredients, came some steps that set apart alchemy from potion brewing.
When the mixture inside the cauldron was at the optimal state for the next step, Quinn took a deep breath and raised his hands over the cauldron, and magic flowed.
Potion brewing didn't have a place for spells because they could incite instability in the in-flux mixtures brewing inside the cauldron. But alchemy did precisely that and introduced external magic into the mix.
Quinn, with the utmost caution, injected his magic through alchemic transformation spells. His eyes observed the mixture for any signs of deviation. Any signs of trouble could cause the mixture to deteriorate into instability. The worst outcome would result in the cauldron exploding, which would heavily harm Quinn in the process.