allendalepharm Chapter 298 Revelation from the Stars
Chapter 298 Revelation from the Stars
Chapter 298 Revelation from the Stars
Over the next few days, Karen spent all his free time at Eagle's Nest, repeatedly studying the anomalous data. He meticulously extracted the exact times of each peak and marked them on a huge timeline, attempting to find its inherent pattern. However, these peaks appeared chaotic, sometimes spaced several days apart, sometimes appearing consecutively. From a time series perspective, there seemed to be only a vague, elusive sense of periodicity, as if observed through frosted glass, impossible to truly understand.
"The monitor is definitely fine," Karen tapped one of the data cores, her tone tinged with frustration, "but where exactly is the pattern hidden? What are the triggering conditions?"
Just then, the door to the Eagle's Nest was gently pushed open, and Ernesto walked in. He had come to retrieve something he had left behind at the Eagle's Nest during his previous vacation. He stopped when he saw Karen, her brow furrowed and her face almost buried in a pile of parchment covered with dates and wavy lines.
"Still struggling with the data from the bottom of the lake?" Ernesto asked, his gaze sweeping over the chart in the air filled with sharp peaks.
"Hmm." Karen sighed, rubbing her throbbing temples, and pointed out the abnormal data at the bottom of the lake to him. "Look at these peaks, the intensity is astonishing, but the timing of their appearance—it seems to follow some pattern, yet we can't quite grasp the key."
Ernesto moved closer, his gray eyes scrutinizing the unusual time markers. He stared in silence for several minutes, his fingers unconsciously tracing arcs in the air—a habitual gesture when he was lost in thought. Suddenly, as if remembering something, he looked up.
"Karen," he began tentatively, "do you remember when we discovered a slight anomaly in the magic flow at the bottom of the lake, you wrote to Master Nico and the others, and their reply seemed to mention—the possibility of celestial influence? Could these stronger peaks this time also be related to the movement of the stars?" He paused, then added, "During my vacation at the university, I observed from the Astronomical Tower almost every clear night, recording a considerable amount of data. If you need it—"
Karen jerked his head up, his eyes flashing with sudden realization. His previous confusion seemed to have been shattered by a bolt of lightning: "Astrology! Yes! Professor Nico did mention it in his reply! I've been so focused on the temporal connections that I completely forgot about this! Enne, your reminder was so timely!" He slapped his forehead, his face beaming with excitement. "Your observation records! Yes, your observation records! Could I borrow them for a detailed comparison? This might be the key!"
Ernesto, seeing that his suggestion was taken so seriously, smiled slightly, looking quite pleased: "Of course."
"I'll go get it right away." He turned and strode away, returning to Eagle's Nest shortly afterward, carrying his incredibly thick astronomical observation notebook, its edges worn and frayed. Inside were not only meticulously hand-drawn star charts, but also densely packed records of planetary positions, lunar phases, and any unusual celestial phenomena he observed and their exact times.
"Here you go," he said, turning to the Christmas holiday section of his notebook and handing it to Karen. "This is what I wrote during the holidays. I hope it will be helpful. However, my observations may not be complete, so I'm not sure if it will definitely be of any use to you."
"This is invaluable, Enne!" Karen exclaimed, taking the notebook as if it were a priceless treasure. "With concrete stargazing records, we can perform cross-referencing!"
The two immediately cleared a larger area on the worktable. Karen laid out the parchment marked with the precise time points of the anomaly peaks on the left, while Ernesto opened his detailed observation log and placed it on the right. A cross-referencing task requiring patience and meticulous work thus began.
This task proved far more tedious and time-consuming than anticipated, forcing them to utilize fragmented spare time during their free time, working on it intermittently for several days. Interspersed among these were mandatory Charms classes, Transfiguration, and even Lockhart's frustrating Defense Against the Dark Arts class. But whenever they returned to the Eagle's Nest, the two would immediately immerse themselves in the world of dates, times, and celestial symbols, with Fabian sometimes helping to compare some of the data.
Karen was responsible for precisely reporting the date, time, and hour of each peak. Ernesto, on the other hand, acted like a human calendar, quickly locating the corresponding date page and reading out the detailed celestial phenomena at that time: "December 22, 1992, 3:15 AM."
The moon is at the tail end of Scorpio, with an ecliptic longitude of approximately 208 degrees. The lunar phase is after the waning crescent, and the moon is about 23 days old. At the same time, a planet is in Capricorn, with an angle of approximately—well, close to a square with the moon, but the deviation is significant, and the influence may be minor.
"On January 3, 1993, at 4:50 PM — the moon entered the Pisces region, with an ecliptic longitude of approximately 335 degrees. The lunar phase was just past the new moon, and the moon was about 2 days old. — the star was located in Scorpio at this time, forming a near sextile aspect with the moon."
This process required an extremely high level of concentration, and Ernesto was able to respond so quickly thanks to his profound knowledge and familiarity with the starry sky. Karen, on the other hand, rapidly recorded this information and filled it in one by one on another huge reference table.
Then came the more complex calculation and elimination phase. Karen used some astrological analysis techniques she had learned in her arithmetic divination get out of class to try to build a mathematical model between peak intensity and various astrological factors. They first eliminated the astrological aspects corresponding to time points that did not show peaks, and then focused on analyzing the commonalities among the peak points.
Initially, they examined the lunar phases or the constellations associated with the moon in isolation, finding some correlations, but there were too many exceptions, and the correlations were not significant. Next, they tried combining the "lunar phases" and "moon signs."
"Look here, the peak on December 22nd, the moon was 23 years old, and the moon was in Scorpio."
"This one was born on January 3rd, is 2 months old, and has the Moon in Pisces."
"And then there's January 7th—the moon is 28 years old, and it's back near Scorpio."
"January 10th, age 12, Moon in Pisces."
Karen listed the examples and marked them on the chart. A model began to emerge: almost all the significant magic peaks occurred when the moon was in a water sign, especially in specific intervals of Scorpio and Pisces, and the lunar phase was mostly around the new moon or full moon.
"But it's not precise enough," Karen mused. "Some time points that meet this criterion don't show a peak. There must be other factors involved."
"Planetary aspects," Ernesto noted, pointing to his notes, "look at the positions of Neptune and Pluto. They are the ruling planets of Pisces and Scorpio, respectively, or associated planets. Peaks seem to occur more easily and are stronger when the Moon enters these signs and forms specific aspects with these planets. You see, on January 3rd, the Moon was in Pisces, sextile Pluto. On January 7th, the Moon was in Scorpio, conjunct Neptune—well, at this point, Neptune's position forms a slight trine tendency."
Karen immediately added "the harmonious aspect between a specific planet and the Moon" as a new variable to the calculation model. He waved his wand, and complex arithmetic and divination runes appeared in the air, and the digital stream began to calculate at high speed again.
This time, the result was completely different!
"Look here! And here too!" Karen jumped to his feet, his voice slightly raised with excitement. He pointed to the perfectly aligned comparison charts that had finally formed in the sky. "The peak intensity and lunar age are concentrated in the first 1-3 days of the new moon and the last 27-29 days of the full moon, plus the moon being in Scorpio/Pisces, and Neptune or Pluto in a sextile or trine aspect." The correlation for this combination is over 0.93! Enne, your data is crucial! It's practically the deciding factor!"
On the chart, the red markers representing the peak times of anomalies almost without exception fall precisely within the blue time intervals representing the specific celestial conditions mentioned above, with an astonishing degree of overlap.
Ernesto was genuinely pleased that his hobby could provide such crucial assistance, a rare, clear smile spreading across his face, but he maintained his usual rigor: "This is indeed very strong evidence. Water signs govern emotions, intuition, and the deep subconscious, and are also closely associated with liquid environments, which sounds very fitting for the possible existence of that ancient magical structure at the bottom of the Black Lake. However," he added, "we need more observational data over several cycles to further validate and optimize this predictive model. But based on the data from this holiday, the model's fit is indeed very high, sufficient to explain the occurrence of those anomalous peaks."
The mystery that had perplexed them for days was finally beginning to take shape. While the specific purpose and internal details of the entrance remained unknown, they had grasped its active cycle and celestial movements, particularly the strong correlation between the moon's movement in a water sign and its aspects with related planets. Karen gazed at the complex chart of constellations and magical fluctuations in the sky, her heart filled with a powerful desire to continue exploring the deeper, grander mysteries of the magical world.
"When will these astrological conditions be met next?" Karen asked Ernesto, her eyes gleaming.
Ernesto barely glanced at his notes, as if he had already calculated the problem: "According to the astrological chart, the next time the Moon enters Scorpio and forms a favorable trine with Neptune—it will be about a month from now, around mid to late February."
Karen nodded thoughtfully: "Mid-to-late February—that's plenty of time. Enough for us to make more thorough preparations." A plan to take advantage of the next astronomical window for active exploration began to take shape in his mind.