Everyday Life of a Top Student at Hogwarts

Chapter 251 The Reactivation of the Autonomous Defense System

Chapter 251 The Reactivation of the Autonomous Defense System

Sunday morning, the inner workshop of the Eagle's Nest.

The lead box was placed in a corner cabinet with an additional seal, temporarily left to its owner's "cold treatment." In the center of the workbench, instead, lay a stack of new parchment sketches, several pieces of metal of different materials, several magic crystals of varying quality, and some exquisite alchemy tools.

Karen held a drawing pen between his fingers, the tip moving rapidly across an open sheet of parchment, outlining intricate three-dimensional runic structures and energy circuits. His eyes were focused, the previous solemnity and doubt replaced by a sharp gleam from someone immersed in creative work. The stalemate in the diary needed a new approach to break, and until then, he decided to devote his energy to another long-abandoned research project—an autonomous defense system.

This idea had been brewing in his mind since he was attacked by Selwyn in his first year.

Initially, this idea was shelved due to insufficient knowledge and alchemical skills. The biggest challenges lay in two areas: first, how to give the device sufficient "intelligence" to assess threats and react; and second, how to solve the problem of continuous energy supply. Relying on the wearer to temporarily inject magic obviously negated the meaning of "automatic" and "continuous protection."

But now, things are different. During his summer vacation in France, he studied in depth with Nicolas Flamel. His research on protective badges over the past two years, as well as the "Fire Shield" magic taught by Professor Castor, the core of which is to integrate the imprint of the will to protect into the form of magic, provided him with a new idea for "intelligent" recognition. In addition, the consolidation of ancient knowledge (such as Niven) and contact with soul magic have made his knowledge system richer and deeper.

"Intelligent judgment—" Karen muttered to herself, circling a core rune group with the tip of her pen. "It doesn't need to actually think. It just needs to be able to recognize a few preset 'features.'"

His core concept lies in "pattern triggering." Drawing inspiration from the principle of "Fire Shield," where the imprint of will guides magic to form a specific defensive structure, he plans to pre-inscribe several extremely sensitive micro-magic arrays within the device, each corresponding to a common threat characteristic:

The first is the "malicious perception array." Based on the principles of identifying mental attacks in Mind Control and the malicious perception of the Mirror, it can capture mental fluctuations with strong malice directed at the wearer. This can be used to warn of curses such as "heart-piercing and bone-splitting," or simply someone approaching with murderous intent.

Secondly, there is the "Dark Magic Fluctuation Detection Array". Some designs in the "Resonance Compass" and "Mirror" have been optimized to enable them to sense specific magical spectrum distortions produced when common dark magic (such as the Unforgivable Curse and some powerful dark magic attacks) is released.

The third is "Physical Attack Warning". This is relatively simple, drawing on the vibration sensing principle in Muggle physics and combining it with magic to enable it to sense air fluctuations and pressure changes caused by high-speed physical objects (such as bullets, cursed projectiles, and even wandering balls).

"Energy supply—" Karen put down his pen and picked up a sample of mithril and dragon blood active alloy. This was a material he had successfully refined under Nico's guidance. It had excellent magic conductivity and a certain energy storage property, and had achieved some success in the improvement of the protective badge. "We can refer to the ideas of the protective badges we made before, but we still need to continue to study and optimize it. At least it should be able to maintain the consumption of basic detection functions and the protection consumption for a period of time."

"The choice of trigger mechanism and protective magic needs to be precisely matched—" Karen fell into deep thought. "Different threats may require different strengths and forms of protection. The shield characteristics needed to face curses and physical assassinations are different. This requires more complex runic logic to differentiate and guide—"

He was completely immersed in the world of design. Various magical principles, rune combinations, and material properties collided, combined, and optimized in his mind. When he encountered a problem, he would get up and pace around, or flip through the notes given to him by Nico and Castor, looking for inspiration. Occasionally, he would pick up his wand and conduct a small magical test on a material sample, observing its magical flow and reaction.

Soft incantations, the sounds of materials being cut, and the occasional rustling of Karen's pen as he jotted down his thoughts echoed through the workshop. His movements were fluid and precise, his eyes brimming with the passion and focus of a creator. The frustrations of the past were temporarily forgotten, replaced by the challenge and sense of accomplishment of solving one technical problem after another.

Several hours passed, and the drafts on the workbench grew thicker, the design becoming clearer and more refined. A rough outline took shape in his mind: a device resembling a badge or wristband, worn on the chest or wrist. The main body used mithril-dragon's blood alloy as the base and energy channel, inlaid with a specially cut and treated magic crystal for energy storage and release as the core. Inside, several layers of complex rune arrays were etched using micro-engraving technology, enabling a series of functions such as detection, analysis, energy management, and defense triggering.

The outer shell is to be made of materials that combine physical protection and magical affinity, such as some kind of dragon skin or a gemstone shell that has been alchemized.

This is undoubtedly an extremely complex alchemical creation, far more technically challenging than a simple improvement to a protective badge.

But Karen was confident. He possessed the trump card of the "Eye of Truth," which allowed him to precisely observe and adjust the extremely subtle flow of magic within; he had alchemical knowledge from Nico and black magic defense and combat experience from his teacher Castor; and he also owned a fully equipped miniature alchemy workshop.

Hogwarts seems to have returned to peace this semester, with only Lockhart as a troublemaker. But Peter Pettigrew remains lurking in the shadows, the fragments of his soul hidden in his diary silent and unknown. No one knows where Voldemort's true soul is currently plotting something. He needs to protect himself, and he also needs the power to protect those he cares about in the event of a future crisis.

He picked up a thin obsidian slice and began attempting to etch the first miniature basic circuit of the "Malice Perception Array" onto it using extremely fine magic threads. His mental energy was highly concentrated, and the output of magic was as stable as a precision machine.

Sunlight streamed through the high windows into the workshop, casting warm dappled patterns on the workbench covered with blueprints and tools. In the corner, the lead box containing the diary remained silently in the shadows. Meanwhile, Karen Hawthorne, on his chosen path, focused on building his own defenses and strength, gradually realizing the vision he had conceived in his first year.