"Occultism?" Kasen looked completely bewildered. Fortunately, now that the chaos at Hogwarts had ended, there were not many people in the office. Otherwise, Kasen would not have been the only one confused.
"It is a field of study that vanished into the river of history long ago. Strictly speaking, it does not consist entirely of tangible magic, but rather abstract concepts. For example, this occult resin, which I have no idea where Tom found, represents the concepts of fusion, protection, adaptation, and resilience," Dumbledore explained.
"So, what does it do?" Kasen still did not understand.
Dumbledore tapped the desk where the resin was stuck, but this time, it did not produce its usual crisp sound.
"Touch the desk."
Although Kasen did not understand what Dumbledore meant, he reached out and touched it anyway. The moment he did, he was astonished to discover that the desk had become soft.
"That's incredible!"
Because the resin was stuck to the desk, the desk had also acquired the resin's concepts of adaptability and resilience.
When Kasen raised his hand, he also felt a strange stickiness. The desk clung to his palm and was pulled upwards with it, bending into an extraordinarily peculiar curve.
"And fusion."
He slowly crouched down until his gaze was level with the resin on the desk.
"So the reason Voldemort was able to take on that bizarre physical form was because of this resin."
Hearing this, Dumbledore glanced at the deeply focused Kasen before turning his attention to Steve, who was changing clothes.
"What exactly did you mean by Voldemort's unusual physical form?"
Steve immediately described Voldemort's rubber-like body to Dumbledore.
"Only someone like Tom would dare to do such a thing... He can freely replace and upgrade his own body. An ordinary person would never dare attempt it," Dumbledore remarked.
"So Voldemort used this occult resin to counter Kasen's mechanical arm and physical attacks, as well as Steve's sword. Clearly, however, it did not work," Grindelwald said with a cold laugh as he picked up the resin.
"Exactly. Perhaps he thought he had been improving while I remained standing still," Kasen said, raising an eyebrow.
"Then do either of you have any use for this resin?" Grindelwald asked.
Kasen shook his head.
He had never feared physical attacks, so resin specifically designed to defend against physical damage was of no use to him whatsoever. The things that had always managed to trouble him were strange and unpredictable forms of magic.
It was rather odd when he thought about it. He had been an Alchemy professor for so many years, yet strictly speaking, his main methods of attack were all physical and material in nature.
Whether it was dump trucks, mechanical arms, or the various forms of elemental magic he used, they were all tangible.
As for rule-based magic like that used by traditional wizards, only the newer magical arts and primal essentia truly counted. His level of mastery over those, however, spoke for itself.
"Wait... occultism."
Kasen suddenly realised something and held out his hand toward Grindelwald.
"Grindelwald, let me see that resin."
Grindelwald handed it to him.
Kasen picked up the resin and carefully analysed it through his monocle, only to discover that the two systems of occult power were complete opposites.
The occult power from the Minecraft mod Thaumcraft that Kasen possessed was tangible. Through a Thaumometer, it could be directly extracted from all kinds of objects and used as a source of power.
The power contained within this occult resin, whose history stretched back an unknown number of years, was abstract. Merely looking at it, or even analysing it in detail, revealed no power whatsoever.
Yet it still possessed those unfathomable concepts.
With the support of these concepts, even a solid wooden desk could become like rubber, soft, elastic, and sticky.
"Did you find anything?" Grindelwald asked curiously.
Kasen shook his head. "If you ignore those abstract concepts, it cannot even be considered resin."
Dumbledore nodded. "You are absolutely right. In a sense, it truly is not resin. It is merely a mass of abstract concepts given physical form. Since resin is the thing in nature that best matches those concepts, resin became its outward appearance."
"If there were a concept of explosion, wouldn't its physical form be a bomb?" Kasen raised an eyebrow as he voiced this strange hypothesis.
"Perhaps. For example, the concept of sharpness manifested as cogon grass in ancient times. After humans appeared, it became stone spears, then bronze swords, and steel blades. As for what it has become now, I do not know."
"Occultism is extraordinarily accommodating. Whether wizard or Muggle, anyone fortunate enough can gain its favour. Perhaps it has now become one technological creation after another, hidden away in obscure corners."
Dumbledore spoke calmly.
Kasen nodded. "Do either of you have any use for this resin?"
Dumbledore and Grindelwald both shook their heads. After all, wizards killed with spells. One Avada Kedavra would still kill you even if you had eaten the Rubber-Rubber Fruit, so this resin was of little use to most wizards.
"Okay, then I'll take it back and study it. I'm quite interested in this sort of thing."
Kasen smiled and put the resin away. He was just about to teleport back to bed with an Ender teleport and sleep.
"Wait."
Dumbledore stopped him.
"If you are curious about this field, I have a book here that might help you study it a little."
He rummaged through a drawer and eventually pulled out a thick, shabby book.
Kasen accepted it. "Thanks. I'll return it after I copy it."
Only then did he truly teleport away.
Dumbledore and Grindelwald remained in the office, looking at each other.
"Where did Tom obtain knowledge of occultism? He already knows far too much," Dumbledore said with a frown.
"I thought you would focus on something else, such as his Horcruxes," Grindelwald said, raising an eyebrow.
"We do not even know how many Horcruxes Tom has," Dumbledore replied with a helpless shake of his head.
"That new Potions professor? You went to all that trouble to turn me into a security guard, drag Snape out of the Potions post, and bring that man to Hogwarts. Wasn't it all so you could learn information about Voldemort's Horcruxes from him?" Grindelwald said.
"How did you know?" Dumbledore looked at him. He had never mentioned any of this to Grindelwald.
"All I had to do was compare that professor's teaching years with Voldemort's age. Was that supposed to be difficult?" Grindelwald said smugly.
"Oh. I still couldn't hide it from you."
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