In London, John had three laboratories. One at Privet Drive, one at Silver Hand Manor, and one at the school. At this moment, he was in the school's laboratory, conducting magical research.
In the wizard fairy tale "The Tales of Beedle the Bard," there was a story about a warlock's hairy heart. The gist of the story was that a warlock locked away his own heart, making himself cold and heartless. That locked-away heart, deprived of emotional nourishment, became dark.
The warlock took a fancy to a beautiful woman, and when the woman saw that heart, she was deeply grieved and begged the warlock to put that poor heart back where it belonged. The warlock did indeed do so, but the heart had already become uncontrollable, filled with darkness.
After putting it back in his chest, the warlock became extremely greedy. He coveted the woman's beautiful, vibrant heart, killed her, and dug out her heart. At the end of the story, the warlock pierced through his own hairy heart and died embracing the woman's corpse.
"This proves you can't fall in love."
This was John's takeaway from the story. This story was very similar to what John was about to do. Unlike the warlock who dug out and locked away his own heart, John was going to create a magical heart from that furnace that boiled as hot as the sun.
"A heart?" He recalled Alexander's question as he pointed at his chest and smiled. "Interesting question."
That heart would be the supreme creation of alchemy. It would also be a great forbidden art. John crossed his hands and stretched them upward.
"Another grueling job ahead."
Creating a heart with infinite magical power would take a lot of time. Once great alchemists entered a research state, they always lost track of time. He had set up training plans for his students. He left Gerald to supervise.
Thor hadn't come again either. The Avengers were still very busy. Miracle Children began to emerge. The list of the Miracle Six appeared, broadcast comprehensively on television, just like the former Stark Future Technology Exhibition.
Ghost, as captain, was renamed Guardian. Delphi served as the witch. Besides her, the other four were special ability users selected through Department Seven. Determined to rival the Avengers, Mycroft wasn't afraid of being accused of copying.
Although he hadn't poached anyone from John, Mycroft had also found superpowered individuals. That made sense—the superhero era was an age when superpowered individuals emerged in large numbers. It couldn't be ruled out that Mycroft was already conducting serum experiments similar to the super-soldier program.
Guardian had undergone genetic modification, making him proficient with all firearms and possessing rich combat skills. He also had physical capabilities and speed far exceeding what athletes should have. He didn't become a big-chested brother like Captain America, but he was equally handsome. His total muscle mass was astonishing. He could also reduce most lethal toxins.
"A weakened version of Captain America."
If there were copyright disputes, John was certain that the cunning Mycroft had prepared an escape route. After all, Britain's freest organization was now in Mycroft's hands.
The Miracle Six's debut was also quite impressive. They stopped a terrorist hostage situation targeting London's opera house. Not only did they deal with all the criminals, but they also protected all hostages during the explosion. The damage caused by the explosion was also miraculously restored with wizard assistance.
No one died, no buildings were damaged, and no bad guys escaped. This miraculous scene perfectly matched the name "Miracle Children." National trust and sense of security rose rapidly. Friendliness toward wizards also increased again.
John browsed through the information, casually tossing an acorn into the furnace, muttering, "The Magical Kingdom hasn't attended UN meetings either."
He narrowed his eyes. The Magical Kingdom wasn't a country secretly created by wizards but one recognized by the United Nations. It was at that time that John used Washington as leverage, forcing the world's most powerful nation to vote in favor.
However, after becoming a UN member, the Magical Kingdom had never really attended much. Mystery was the best defense. The newly founded Magical Kingdom was internally backward, with barely any wizards capable of combat.
If it hadn't later stolen technology from various countries and then developed frantically, the current Magical Kingdom would still be at the level of not understanding how cars operated.
Oh, so I was the first pirate myself.
John had an epiphany. He almost wrongly blamed Mycroft.
"Come closer, come closer."
Low murmurs came from the furnace, with infinite seductive power, attracting living beings. John glanced over and casually closed the furnace. It wasn't the heart speaking. Rather, it was a craving for life that had developed. It was just transformed into language John could understand.
Once it contacted life, that life's soul would become parasitic evil spirits of the heart.
"Why does this sound like I'm making some kind of curse?" John fell into contemplation.
Evil spirits and temptation didn't sound like what normal magical products should have. Even dark magic products didn't have such things. But because John was crafting something at the divine artifact level, when this world's rules attached to magic, some other products would emerge.
Not particularly concerned, he aimed his wand at the furnace bottom, and golden flames fell from the wand into it. The entire furnace glowed with scorching light, in a state of being about to melt but not quite melted. That voice never came out again. John had crossed that sacrificial stage.
He raised his hand in a sweeping gesture, and three magic books floating in the air automatically turned pages. One was silver, and the other two were black. John multitasked, reading simultaneously. He hadn't neglected dimensional magic either.
Infinity Stones—Mind, Time, Reality, Space—surrounded the laboratory furnace. The cracked furnace quickly restored itself after the Time Stone's green light flashed. Mind and Reality extended energy bonds, continuously feeding energy into it. Space stabilized the laboratory structure, preventing collapse due to the commotion of energy extraction.
John worked with complete absorption. But the outside world never quieted down.
The Avengers' pursuit of HYDRA's Baron Strucker was located in Sokovia. The Avengers immediately proposed conducting a surprise attack. Thor was also called in. Thor had always advocated keeping such dangerous things away from Earth.
After experiencing HYDRA's infiltration of S.H.I.E.L.D., Steve also began leaning toward this idea. Tony and Banner's relationship had remained good since the Battle of New York. Banner assisted Tony in designing a set of anti-Hulk armor targeting the Hulk within him. They named it Veronica.
Used to stop possible Hulk rampage incidents. Smart people always liked to prepare for contingencies, and Tony was such a person.
The Battle of New York and Ivan's weapon box had sparked an idea. Both Tarasov Industries and Stark Industries possessed satellites, making it possible to deploy Veronica from orbital storage.
But Tony hadn't stopped his contingency planning mindset. He had a concept: create a super artificial intelligence that could surpass JARVIS's computational abilities. Ultron. He told Banner about this idea. This idea also took root in his mind.
When Thor arrived, he saw the bustling creation of iron robots in Avengers Tower. He hesitantly pointed at those things and asked, "These are Iron Soldiers."
"No, well, somewhat similar." Hearing Thor's words and looking at the Stark version of Iron Soldiers, Tony could only say, "More helpers."
Unlike Iron Soldiers, these robots were controlled through JARVIS. Used to assist Avengers operations. Thor had an expression that said he understood. This left Tony unable to argue—these things weren't as clunky as Iron Soldiers.
Steve began this operational meeting. Sokovia was a small Eastern European country. Their enemy Baron Strucker had also established a base there. To catch the enemy off guard would better reduce more variables.
An owl that appeared more graceful than other owls flew across the sky. Riddle, who had been resting with closed eyes at the Wick house on Privet Drive, opened his eyes and looked toward the gracefully descending owl.
The owl carried a moon-white envelope in its beak, with a red, ornate wax seal that looked carefully selected and applied. The envelope carried a floral fragrance. The scent was like fleur-de-lis.
Riddle flew over and hopped to receive the envelope. Tom crawled up from the fireplace and ran under the window, wanting to jump up. One look from Riddle made Tom's body freeze, and he sat obediently.
Nodding to that owl, Riddle flew out the window with the envelope. The owl glanced at the restless Tom, elegantly spread its wings, and flew away. Tom still didn't achieve his goal.