Chapter 111 Doll
The workload given to Maggie before was not small, but he still completed the task beyond Della's expectations.
Della's slender fingers slowly stroked the metal doll that was taking shape on the bed. She looked at the joint-like protrusions on the doll one by one. Each of these fist-sized protrusions contained a small piece of precisely measured red spirit ore.
Finally, Della's eyes fixed on the head of the doll to be carved. She knew that the brain was also a piece of ore.
The thin eyes, wide nose and plump cheeks made the doll look extremely grotesque, as if it was waiting for her, an equally grotesque person, to bring it back to normalcy.
"This is much better than I thought." Della put her hand on the doll's arm and pressed it gently. She felt the softness and toughness that was consistent with the touch of flesh. "Can Hong Ling also adapt to this material?"
"Hissa-ya (You step back first)." Maggie said to Della, and after watching the girl retreat to the bed, he ordered several large snakes to use their tails to dip the red spirit powder into the doll's arms.
Under the moonlight, the doll's original slightly silvery metal texture suddenly faded, as if it had absorbed the moon's light, and the metal on the arm turned into slightly plumper human skin.
Della raised her eyebrows at the exquisite transformation. She looked down at her hands, then turned to look at the bright half moon in the sky through the large window of the Shrieking Shack, and finally walked closer to the puppet.
"I have to say, you did a great job, Maggie. I think I can do the phase diagram experiment tonight." Della's hand touched it, and as she touched it, some places turned back to their original silver color.
"Hai-sasi-ya (Can we stay here long tonight)?" Maggie swam to Della's side.
"Snape doesn't doubt me that much, and Dumbledore was recently called away by the Ministry of Magic. He probably won't be back until two days before Quidditch starts, so I can spare some time to come here," Della pointed her wand at the empty chest of the doll, "I should do the same. You've gone too far, and now it's my part."
Della waved her magic wand, and the basic phase diagram that she had planned long ago emerged from the tip of the wand. The glowing phase diagram array slowly grew larger and flew straight into the empty space in front of the puppet's chest.
As the light array on the chest flickered, the puppet began to tremble as if it was electrocuted. The thick joints on its body changed rapidly, sometimes swelling as if it was about to burst, and sometimes deflated as if being sucked dry.
After another intense flash of light, the puppet returned to its original state, regaining its thick joints that matched its swollen features.
"If this is the change..." Della pinched the neck of the puppet where the change was most obvious, recalling the veins in the metal skin, "I have to try a few more times."
Maggie watched her pick up the parchment beside her and start writing and drawing, then she tactfully stepped aside.
Maggie had more things to worry about than the vague future lying on the bed.
Why didn't the girl talk to him in Parseltongue anymore?
Yes, admit it, he cares about this more than he thought.
Ever since his gaze, which had never been noticed by the girl, came within her visible range, Maggie began to feel a rare sense of anxiety and loss.
But he also knew that this was what he deserved, what he asked for, and that it would even make things worse, so he had no position to question it, and even had to be cautious in deciding whether to ask a casual question.
Things that are not necessary should not be asked out loud, but he still...
Della started a round of tests. This time, the changes in all the joints were much smaller than last time, and other parts of the doll also became fuller from the inside out.
According to Della's idea, this step is to construct materials and internal passages that are suitable for the Red Spirit. In the past two weeks, Maggie has been controlling his snakes to repeat subtle and trivial experiments. After trying out the most desired synthetic material, he made the current so-called "unpolished jade from the inside out" matrix according to the requirements in the book.
This is what Linkert said. He required the material to be both soft and sticky inside so that the passages inside the doll could be flexibly constructed and changed. At the same time, the outside of the doll should be large and tough so that it would not be restricted when shaping the appearance.
So to create such a stupid appearance with an overly large nose and scary thin eyes, thinking that it might be her own host, Maggie would rather have the freedom to choose a corpse.
But the girl could never accept the idea of "coming back to life from the dead". For her, it was an absolute taboo that could not be touched.
Forget it. It will take a long time before the next step of "coherence" testing, so I can put those thoughts aside for now.
"......" Maggie's scattered yellow pupils gradually focused. He spit out his snake tongue twice, and finally swam to Della's side. He lowered his snake head slightly and handed his handle to the girl, "Hisahai-hi (Why don't you speak to me in snake language anymore)?"
"I'm just communicating with you the way I talk to people." Della replied without even looking up. She continued to modify the photo in front of her, hesitating about a small detail.
If two people care about the same thing, then that thing will not be a bargaining chip for either party, even if it is a handle between the two people.
Hearing Della's unchanged tone, Maggie immediately understood what she was thinking. He felt relieved, but also felt a little ashamed for his concealment and suspicion of the girl.
These emotions were soon put aside by Maggie, who soon began to admire Della's artistic alchemy skills as usual.
Della is addicted to information, and he is addicted to it, but when Della is reading, he reminds her of the time, and when Maggie is concentrating on what Della is doing, there is no one to remind them of the passage of time.
When the moon had set most of the way down and the light coming in was tinged with the white of morning light, the man and the snake were shocked to realize that most of the night had passed and they hurried back.
This time, she felt anxious and the cold wind full of moisture blew, so Della developed a fever during the day. She asked Madam Pomfrey for a tonic, but the fever only subsided for the afternoon and came back more violently in the evening.
The excessive energy that Della had put in at night in the past took advantage of this illness to take its toll on her. After three consecutive nights of fever, Madam Pomfrey no longer wanted to give her any strong stimulants, but only prescribed some mild body-maintaining potions, and also prescribed Della to rest in the infirmary for a week.
Della wanted to protest, but her drowsy brain and weak body told her that she really needed to take good care of herself, so she was forced to enjoy this week of forced idleness, only sketching out the next phase diagram to be tested in her mind from time to time.
However, this illness also allowed her to avoid a troublesome thing. The Quidditch match between Slytherin and Gryffindor was held on the fifth day when she was supposed to rest. To be honest, Della had never dared to imagine Slytherin losing before.
No, no, it's not that Slytherin is so strong that he won't lose, but Draco will definitely be very emotional when facing a defeat involving Harry. If he has a legitimate reason for not being able to watch the game, he will definitely be much easier to comfort...
Of course, it would be great if Slytherin could win...