High School of Demon Hunting

Chapter 1879: Chapter 100: Discoveries in the Laboratory

”I can see quite a lot.”

The Dean of Jiuyou Academy responded cheerfully, ”Black robes, busy figures, withered skulls, parchment filled with spell formulas, and... oh, my goodness, is that a Book of Thoth? I always thought your lab only researched special bloodlines and advanced magic script, didn’t expect you’d delve into Tarot cards... Aleister Crowley is not favored by those big shots in the Alliance. You should keep your distance from him.”

He stared at a book placed on the edge of the cluttered desk belonging to the laboratory’s owner, raising an eyebrow with a hint of surprise in his eyes. Clearly expressing some level of concern for Professor Montreya’s incautious behavior.

Aleister Crowley was a renowned master of black magic, skilled in various dark arts and black magic rituals. The Book of Thoth is a work authored by him concerning Tarot card divination.

”Playing with Tarot cards during breaks can help soothe the spirit and doesn’t necessarily mean you have to see something in the cards. Of course, Aleister is indeed quite evil, but that book is not evil.”

While handling the corpse on the lab table, Professor Montreya answered calmly without lifting his head, ”There’s a phrase by Crowley that I agree with—’Magic is the science and art of causing change to occur in conformity with the will’—I want you to see that in this institute, on this island, in this world, countless focused and serious eyes are exploring the path in the darkness.”

”I should have a deeper understanding of darkness than you.”

Professor Yao, biting a smoking pipe, smiled and exhaled a smoke ring, ”Alright, alright, this isn’t your classroom, and I’m not your student. I came today to see if you’ve found any clues on that special ogre...”

”Fool, do you want to destroy this corpse?”

Professor Montreya interrupted the Dean of Jiuyou Academy’s inquiry, yelling angrily at a black-robed assistant standing on the other side of the lab table, ”How many times have I told you, when removing subcutaneous runes, only use the brass knife! Brass! Not silver! Do you want silver ions to corrode those fragile runes completely clean?!”

”S-sorry!” The black-robed assistant, sweating, bowed his head, repeatedly apologizing.

”Shut up!”

The laboratory owner sternly spoke, ”My lab doesn’t need apologies, just correctness, precision, and accuracy! If you make such a basic mistake again, you don’t need to come next time... what did you just ask?”

He turned back to look at Professor Yao, his tone instantly much softer, as if the furious lion from moments ago was another person entirely. The Dean of Jiuyou Academy watched this scene with a smile, unruffled by Professor Montreya’s outburst, nonchalantly repeating his previous question:

”I was asking if you’ve found any clues on this ogre?”

”What does Professor Yi think?” Professor Montreya countered, ”Shouldn’t diviners be more convenient and accurate than us at finding clues?”

”Old Yi found nothing.”

Professor Yao, biting his pipe, shrugged helplessly:

”In fact, as soon as the body was brought back to the school, we had the school’s diviners do their calculations, but the diviners quickly discovered that the clues on the ogre that could be used for divination seemed to have been cleansed, as clean as a newborn baby... you should know this ogre was captured from the Black Prison, that world is undergoing drastic changes, so the diviners speculate this strange situation might be related to the peculiar environment of that world... In short, I can no longer expect Professor Yi to glean any more information from a crystal ball or charred bones than the age of this ogre.”

As Professor Yao rambled on, Professor Montreya leisurely took off his silk gloves, picked up a stack of reports hanging on the edge of the lab table, and began jotting down notes with a feather pen.

Once the guest ceased talking, the master of the laboratory spoke again:

”We’ve detected some components of bold hemp, edelweiss, and deer feeding grass in its body... The inscriptions beneath its skin are very complex, including parts of Rune Text, Ruen runes, Marduk Text... and some symbols I’ve seen in the Voynich Manuscript. It’s hard to describe their true effects, but overall, these inscriptions serve some sort of control and bind function.”

”So, it really is an experimental subject?” Professor Yao interrupted Professor Montreya, his expression turning somewhat unsettled.

With an unchanged expression, Professor Montreya nodded slightly, ”We can roughly infer that.”

”Can you guess who is conducting the experiment?” Professor Yao inserted the pipe back into his mouth, taking a deep breath, ”Huff... No need to worry about guessing wrong, just give your experienced judgment.”

Professor Montreya glanced at the newly ascended Legendary Great Wizard beside him, not answering immediately but instead mimicking a diviner’s cryptic manner, ”Good judgment comes from experience, but experience often leads to bad judgment.”

”You just say, and I’ll just listen.” Professor Yao exhaled a stream of smoke, waving his hand.

This time, the master of the laboratory did not refuse again. Reopening the report by his side, he carefully examined it for a while before quietly analyzing:

”It’s difficult, but we can make some simple conjectures... Bold hemp is an herb often used by ancient Persian shamans. Besides having some stimulating and anesthetic effects, it can also enhance the user’s ability to communicate with nature, in other words, it’s a very effective magic power amplifying potion.”

”Bold hemp also has another name, Soma, it’s the Wine God in ancient Indian mythology; of course, we know there are no such divine spirits there... When bold hemp is prepared under moonlight, pressed with a millstone, then filtered through black sheep wool, it can be called ’Soma’. It’s a very powerful revitalizing potion... Some wizards believe the ogre’s strong regeneration ability is thanks to its long-term consumption of Soma, and I find that quite plausible.”

”Besides, deer feeding grass can prevent undying and zombification; edelweiss, or alpine woolly grass, also has calming and soothing effects.”

”...We also found specially treated toads in its neck and armpit lymph nodes, wrapped in a thin white mesh-like structure, slightly smaller than soybeans... When discovered, these toads were still in a living state, only closer to semi-dormancy...”

”We all know dried or smoked toads can stop bleeding, ward off evil, and detoxify. And toads processed in mystical ways are even more favored by black magic rituals. Its uses are so wide-ranging that even professors specializing in black magic at school may not fully enumerate them... Of course, for this case, we’ve already sent assistance requests to Professor Blake at the Kabbalah Life Magic Laboratory and shipped samples to the Ruber-Leck Institute of Magical Creatures.”

”So far, we haven’t received their replies yet.”