After saying that, Kasenhis looked toward the massive infusion altar standing not far away and casually shrugged. "No problem… you just need to add some candles."
The Weasley twins scratched their heads. "Regular candles, or some kind of special candles?"
"In theory… regular candles won't work. But in theory… regular candles can work," Kasenhis said, as a candle appeared in his hand.
"Professor, what you're saying is getting a bit hard to follow," the twins said, looking confused.
"Open your arcane manuals. You should be able to find how to improve the stability of the infusion altar. It says you need magic candles made from magical tallow, and making magical tallow is quite complicated, so we can cut a few corners."
As he spoke, Kasenhis placed the ordinary candle he had just taken out onto the infusion altar.
With a flow of magic infused into it, a magic candle was produced just like that.
"Just… that simple?" the Weasley twins said in astonishment.
"Don't overthink everything. It's not like you're building a nuclear bomb, there's no need to be that precise. This works just fine, and the effect is no different from magic candles made with magical tallow. So why not use it?" Kasenhis shrugged as he explained.
"We just didn't expect…"
"Professor… we thought you'd be the kind of person who…"
Listening to the Weasley twins' hesitant words, Kasenhis spoke up directly, "You thought I'd be the kind of old-school academic? The type who takes their final trick to the grave and refuses to allow any innovation?"
The twins quickly shook their heads with awkward smiles. "No, no, of course not… we just didn't expect it."
Kasenhis gave a soft hum. "It's best that way. And I don't want you to become that kind of person either. I'm not too worried about George and Fred. It's mainly you, Cedric. You mustn't turn into that kind of person, treating the rigid and conservative experiences of the previous generation like gospel. That would hinder your own development."
Kasenhis shifted the focus of the conversation to Cedric. When it came to innovation, he wasn't worried about the twins at all. Saying it to them was just routine.
The real focus was Cedric.
The guy was a bit too upright. Too upright.
If this wasn't addressed properly, he might end up turning into some rigid, rule-bound figure.
After teaching the Weasley twins how to "cheat" their way into making magic candles, Kasenhis brought Cedric back to his office.
He found an open space and built a Tinkers' Construct smeltery, then handed everything over to Cedric. After all, Cedric already knew how to make mechanical arms, including Netherite ones. There was no need for Kasenhis to interfere.
Otherwise, if Cedric made even the slightest mistake, Kasenhis wouldn't be able to stop himself from pointing it out.
And if Cedric made a mistake at every step while Kasenhis did nothing but criticize, wouldn't that just bring things back to blindly worshipping authority, blindly relying on Kasenhis again?
Rather than that, it was better to hand over full control of the process to Cedric.
Besides, he had already grown enough.
Even if what Cedric ended up making this time was complete garbage, Kasenhis would still pinch his nose and call it… an egg tart.
Just pure praise. The more wild and unconventional Cedric's creation was, the more he would praise it.
After leaving the office, Kasenhis glanced at the clouds outside. Thick and heavy, it looked like it might start snowing soon. And recently, aside from teaching, Hagrid hardly stayed in his hut, while the other professors were all busy people.
"Sigh… might as well go find Dumbledore. Maybe I can get him to make me some mulled wine," Kasenhis hummed as he headed toward the Headmaster's office.
…
Creak.. door opening
"Dumbledore, do you have any—what the hell are you doing?"
The moment Kasenhis pushed open the door, he was greeted with a scene so absurd it nearly broke him.
Dumbledore was wearing boxing gloves, sparring with the skeleton Kasenhis had taken apart earlier.
"I swear, why didn't I just burn this skeleton to ashes back then!" Kasenhis said, both speechless and exasperated at the ridiculous sight.
"Don't be upset… Hogwarts doesn't exactly have biology or dissection classes. There wasn't really any classroom to use your skeleton as a teaching aid, so it ended up here with me. At least it can spar with me. Isn't that nice?"
Dumbledore spoke calmly, shifting his footing as he threw steady punches.
Kasenhis's skeleton didn't embarrass its owner in the slightest.
After all, its bones were covered with a layer of metal, and under the drive of magic, even without tendons or muscles, and wearing oversized boxing gloves, it was still able to fight Dumbledore to a standstill.
"I think… with how tough this skeleton is, just letting it be a casual sparring partner is a bit of a waste, don't you think?" Kasenhis said, completely ignoring Dumbledore's gaze as he pulled out a bottle of fine wine from the cabinet, let it breathe for a moment, then took a sip.
On the other side, Dumbledore gradually slowed down as well. With a wave of his hand, the skeleton froze in place. "What… are you thinking? Go on."
Kasenhis revealed a gentle smile. "Perhaps I can turn it into a different kind of training partner for you. For example… something that can train your ability to dodge spells."
Dumbledore raised an eyebrow, puzzled. "A skeleton that can cast magic? To be honest, I think that would be rather difficult."
Kasenhis shook his head. "That's because you know nothing about alchemy." As he spoke, he grinned and pulled out an enchanted bow.
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