In the Forbidden Forest hollow, a gray-white Acromantula the size of an elephant lay at the cave entrance.
Aragog enjoyed the prey offered by his descendants. His originally blind gray-white eyes had gained some luster. The world in his vision was no longer pitch dark—he could vaguely see blurry shadows.
Aragog felt this should be because of that drop of miraculous liquid the human boy had given him last time. After consuming it, not only did he recover his strength, but even his withered, aged body seemed to surge with a trace of new vitality.
"I wonder what that terrifying human child's name is. He didn't say last time."
Aragog tore and chewed the prey's flesh, muttering to himself.
"I'm called Leo. Leonardo Grafton."
Thud!
That section of prey dropped to the ground with a dull sound.
Aragog's mandibles involuntarily ground together. The aura of those two monsters from last time suddenly appeared in his perception.
Although the ancestor emitted no commanding intent, the Acromantulas of all sizes, the instant Leo and Aurelius appeared, immediately scattered. Fortunately they were all spiders—running on eight legs was very fast.
Leonardo looked at the fleeing Acromantulas and chuckled. "How have you been lately, Aragog?"
Though it sounded like a friendly greeting, Aragog desperately pondered Leo's meaning. "Still alright?"
Hearing Aragog's questioning tone, Leonardo found it amusing—it seems he'd been quite frightened last time.
"That's good. I want to discuss something with you."
"Speak, please speak."
Aragog immediately cried out bitterly in his heart—was he coming for venom again? Would he have to bleed heavily once more?
But thinking there might be compensation with that kind of liquid from last time, remembering that feeling of vitality rekindling, Aragog actually felt somewhat expectant. The older he got, the more he missed that feeling of abundant energy.
"Ask your descendants if any are willing to come with me."
Hearing this, Aragog first froze—it actually wasn't about venom. But immediately after came fear and dread. Was this demon finally showing his fangs, starting to target the Acromantulas themselves?
This time just offspring—wouldn't next time be Aragog himself?
Aragog still remembered from childhood when Hagrid told him that some wizards would use magical creatures for experiments—those were very terrifying, evil things, so he must hide well and not be discovered by human wizards.
Who knew after hiding a lifetime, it still wouldn't be enough in the end?
Seeing Aragog remain silent, Leo thought he couldn't bear to part with his descendants, so he explained, "I don't need many. I'll provide suitable living conditions, occasionally extracting some venom from them."
"No experiments?"
"What?"
Aragog's question left Leonardo somewhat confused. "What experiments?"
"Hagrid told me..."
Listening to Aragog's recollection, Leo's eyes grew strange. Hagrid's words weren't wrong—there were indeed wizards who experimented on magical creatures. But that was already long ago. Especially after Newt vigorously promoted many related magical creature protection laws, these situations greatly decreased.
Hagrid told Aragog these things because he was afraid the spider would run around Hogwarts and be discovered, right? Wasn't this like adults scaring children that there are monsters at night, so don't go out after dark?
After some explanation, Aragog believed Leo's statement. Well, actually, he had no choice but to believe—he couldn't win in a fight and run...
Aragog didn't think his aged body could escape anywhere. As for feeling sorry for his descendants? Sorry, Aragog had nearly thousands of offspring—how could he care about one or two?
At Aragog's summons, some Acromantulas lined up and entered the black flask Leo produced. After collecting these spiders, Leonardo retrieved the flask and prepared to leave. He'd left homework for both Harry and Ron—had to go back and check it.
"Not taking venom this time?"
Hearing Aragog suddenly call him, Leo looked at him puzzled. Why was he actively asking about venom? Last time squeezing out most of a barrel nearly killed him.
Though he'd compensated with a drop of Qilin saliva... Could it be the Qilin saliva worked very well for Aragog, so he wanted more?
After giving Aragog one drop of Qilin saliva last time, Leonardo had left directly without noticing subsequent changes. Carefully observing Aragog now, Leo only now discovered the spider's body didn't seem as withered as last time, and moreover, his eyes seemed to have more light.
"Aragog, after you consumed that drop of liquid last time, how did you feel?"
Hearing Leo's inquiry, Aragog rubbed his mandibles, his aged voice sounding, "Very miraculous. Not only was the fatigue after injecting venom swept away, but I also felt like a bit of new vitality appeared in my body. Even my eyesight seemed to recover somewhat."
It seemed Aurelius's Qilin saliva, besides its healing ability, also had effects similar to supplementing life force. Or rather, that strong healing effect was actually a manifestation of life force being supplemented and strengthened.
The unicorn Selenia had consumed Qilin saliva before and said she felt the foal in her belly become stronger. Perhaps this was because the life force contained within made the little unicorn develop better.
Come to think of it, he hadn't had a chance to try Qilin saliva's effects himself. It's better to brew it into a potion first before experimenting.
Looking at Aragog, Leonardo suddenly became very curious. If he continuously consumed Qilin saliva, to what degree could this aging Acromantula recover? What was the upper limit of life force contained in Qilin saliva?
There was plenty of Qilin saliva anyway—might as well run a little experiment. It wouldn't harm Aragog at all—he might even desperately want it.
While thinking, Leo pulled out a crystal bottle from his robes, extracted a drop of Qilin saliva from inside, and controlled it to fly toward Aragog.
"This is?"
Aragog hesitated, not knowing what Leonardo meant.
"Consider it payment—payment for the experiment."
Hearing "experiment," the hairs on Aragog's body immediately stood up. Wizards really were all evil!
But after a few seconds, Aragog couldn't resist the temptation. As long as he swallowed it, that feeling of abundant vitality would return. Perhaps his blind eyes could recover even more vision.
Aragog swallowed that drop of Qilin saliva. He'd already lived fifty years—more than enough. Experiment or whatever; let it be an experiment. That taste of recovering energy and surging vitality truly fascinated him.
"Alright, what experiment?"
But when Aragog asked aloud, he felt Leo had already disappeared.
"Wasn't there an experiment?"
Inside the Room of Requirement, Harry was brewing a cauldron of potions, finding time to also recite knowledge points. But Ron lay sprawled on the table, alternately using pencil, ruler, and compass, drawing complex structural diagrams.
Ron kept scratching his head—if not for his interest in mechanics supporting him, he would have given up long ago.
"Harry, can you help me look at this?"
Harry walked over, glanced at it seriously, and nodded. "I don't know how."
Ron looked at Harry blankly. "Didn't you say you'd already been learning from Leo for a while?"
Harry pointed at the cauldron matter-of-factly. "I study Potions. You study alchemical mechanics. Using Leo's words, we have different specialties."