"Everyone has their own strengths in the end. Lockhart is lucky—he managed to find his," Kasenhis said as he prepared to leave Professor McGonagall's office, only to be stopped by her.
"Oh, right, Kasen. Remember to help those two children study the golden egg they brought back."
Kasenhis nodded. "No problem. It's part of my duties after all."
Sure enough, when Kasenhis returned to his office, the two young wizards were already sitting neatly on the sofa, side by side.
"Cedric, your methods were a bit too violent. What I meant back then was 'kill the competition,' not 'kill the dragon.' Harry deserves praise—passing through ten thousand flowers without a single leaf touching him," Kasenhis said as he poured each of them a cup of tea.
"Professor, I thought…" Cedric said awkwardly.
"Alright, alright. I know you misunderstood. I've already shouldered the charge of brutally killing the dragon for you, so don't worry," Kasenhis explained.
"Thank you, Professor," Cedric said, his face flushed red.
On the other side, Kasenhis looked at the golden egg the two had placed on the coffee table. "So, what's the deal with this thing?"
"How about you twist it open and take a look, Professor?" Harry said with a mischievous grin.
Kasen looked at Harry's expression and shook his head. "No. Just tell me what the problem is."
"It's said that the clue for the next task is inside this golden egg, but after we opened it, all that came out was this incredibly unpleasant, ear-destroying sound," Cedric explained.
"I really haven't dealt with this thing before," Kasenhis said, giving a casual wave of his hand. Six small sponge blocks appeared and clattered onto the coffee table.
"Plug your ears."
After all three of them blocked their ears, Kasenhis picked up one of the golden eggs and twisted it open with a click.
A baffled, shrill scream burst out instantly, making him frown. "This sound really is kind of… underworld-tier."
Muttering to himself, he closed the egg again, then pulled out an enchanting table and extracted all of the egg's attributes and base code.
He didn't know which alchemist had made this golden egg, but one thing was certain—the murderous noise was definitely not the clue the egg was originally meant to convey.
By checking its base code, he could find the method used to encrypt the clue.
He studied the enchantment book for a long while before finally finding the symbol.
"Water…" he murmured. He immediately placed down a brewing cauldron, filled it with water, and put the golden egg inside.
…Nothing happened.
He reached in again and twisted the egg open. The next moment, eerie singing gurgled out from within.
"This should be the real clue, then. The question is—what is this sound?" Kasenhis said.
"This sound…" Cedric frowned. He seemed to remember something…
"Mermaids?"
Harry was a little surprised by the answer. "Mermaids? The ones in the Black Lake?"
"Very clearly. But what exactly are they singing about? And what do they mean by 'our most important treasure'?"
"No idea. Maybe it's your treasure in the traditional sense. Or it could be something abstract—like your girlfriend," Kasenhis said with a smile.
Being reminded of that made Harry feel a bit down. But then again, admitting he didn't have a girlfriend sounded pretty embarrassing—it felt like an insult to his own attractiveness.
But if he put it another way, then it wasn't that he lacked charm. He simply didn't like the idea of being all lovey-dovey baboon when his life was in danger because of this tournament, preferred being alone, enjoyed solitude. Now that sounded much cooler—like a sigma male…
After rapidly completing his self-hypnosis, Harry put on a so-called sigma male look—the kind that said he wasn't unable to find a girlfriend, he just didn't want one. "But I don't have a girlfriend, so what's my treasure?"
"Not necessarily. For example, your treasure might be someone like Ron," Kasenhis said with a shrug.
Harry turned bright red at that remark, embarrassedly rubbing the corner of his robe with his fingers.
"Holy—" Kasenhis stared at Harry's suddenly shy, maiden-like reaction, completely dumbfounded, a hint of panic rising instinctively.
He hadn't accidentally unlocked some unknown attribute in Harry, had he?
Harry quickly composed himself again. "So, Professor, do you mean the next task will most likely involve fighting the mermaids in the Black Lake?"
"Maybe you'll even have to rescue what you love most… uh… your treasure," Kasenhis said, sounding a little awkward. After seeing Harry blush like that just now, bringing this up again felt unsettling no matter how he looked at it.
"But Professor, how are we supposed to breathe underwater?" Harry ignored Kasenhis's odd expression and continued asking.
"That's in the domain of charms. If I remember correctly, there's a spell called the Bubble-Head Charm. You can try that," Kasenhis said, then looked at the two young wizards.
Harry stared at Kasenhis wide-eyed for a moment, then turned to Cedric. Cedric shrugged. "I know the spell, but it's a bit complicated. It involves some spatial magic and teleportation magic."
Harry instantly wilted. "I don't think I'll be able to learn such a complicated spell before the second task…" He paused, then continued, "…but Sirius and the others have said before that I'm very talented in Dark Magic or offensive spells. Is there a spell that can kill water and make it drop oxygen instead?"
"Unfortunately… that's really not something you should be asking me. You should ask Dumbledore. Or Merlin, if you can manage it," Kasenhis said awkwardly.
"…Alright then," Harry said, looking dejected.
"But there's no need to worry too much. I can still help you a little in the field of alchemy," Kasenhis tried to reassure him.
"Professor, you yourself said I don't have any talent in alchemy," Harry said suddenly, sounding ..resentful.
"…Are you holding a grudge?" Kasenhis asked.
"Oh, of course not. How could I possibly be holding a grudge? I just genuinely don't have any talent for alchemy. How could I dare be resentful or angry?" Harry immediately turned sarcastic and sour at the memory.
Kasenhis rolled his eyes, looking helplessly at Harry as he threw a tantrum. "Well, naturally, if you're capable of handling this yourself, I'd be very pleased… are you ready—"
"Yes!" Harry replied without hesitation.
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Ok.. My sleep cycle is definitely cooked💀 I thought I'd sleep after working on John Wick.. but here I am...
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