The classroom at Beauxbatons had been temporarily converted into an examination hall.
The atmosphere was completely different from the first round of the written examination. A heavy silence permeated the room, broken only by the rustling of quills across parchment and the occasional anxious intake of breath.
The second round of the written examination assessed true advanced knowledge of Alchemy.
Lucien unfolded the test paper, his gaze quickly scanning the questions, and his brows furrowed slightly.
Difficult.
But not for him.
The reason Lucien frowned was that it was too difficult for the vast majority of the participating students.
Many of the knowledge points clearly exceeded the regular school curriculum, and some were even quite obscure.
Lucien picked up his quill, and smooth ink began to spread across the paper.
With Nicolas Flamel's unreserved personal instruction, along with the ability to freely borrow rare secret texts long lost to the outside world, the obstacles on the test paper felt more like interesting puzzles to verify what he had learned.
However, the others in the examination hall were not so composed.
Riemann felt his scalp tingle. The knowledge points covered by the test questions seemed familiar, but once he tried to write, he found them extremely difficult.
He took a deep breath and forced himself to calm down.
If it was difficult, it was difficult for everyone. Maintaining composure was the key to performing well.
When he skimmed through a particularly long question prompt, Riemann's eyes suddenly lit up.
"Given that the precision of Runic engraving directly affects the activation efficiency of material properties, if runes are to be engraved onto a Venomhorn Beast Tear Crystal to achieve the goal of activating only the paralysing property while shielding the distorting toxicity, please specify the core rune selected, the engraving sequence, and the Runic pitfalls that must be avoided."
Surprise appeared in Riemann's eyes, for no other reason than that Lucien had discussed similar topics with him before.
Riemann vividly remembered several theoretical points Lucien had raised, and after organising his thoughts, he began to write.
The clock ticked on.
Lucien answered the questions at a steady and efficient pace, encountering almost no real obstacles.
His gaze fell on the last question of the test paper.
The question roughly asked: from the perspective of Alchemy, propose an idea or concept to alleviate the pain and symptoms of ferocity during a werewolf's full moon transformation.
Lucien's pen tip paused slightly.
This question was less about assessing specific Alchemical knowledge and more about posing a challenge far beyond the curriculum. It aimed to examine the students' imagination, understanding of complex magical creature problems, and awareness of cross-disciplinary innovation.
Werewolves...
This was a group entangled by a curse.
Those born as werewolves were extremely rare. Most were poor souls infected after being bitten by a werewolf.
The uncontrollable transformation on the night of the full moon, along with the mindless bloodlust and ferocity, not only brought them pain but also caused them to be feared and ostracised by the entire Wizarding society, often leading to a vicious cycle of poverty and isolation.
Wolfsbane Potion, a breakthrough in Potionology, had been invented and generously publicised by Damocles Belby.
It allowed the user to maintain a clear mind during transformation, making it an undeniably great invention.
However, its preparation process was extremely complex and costly, and those capable of supplying it steadily were few and far between.
For most werewolves struggling on the poverty line, Wolfsbane Potion could be considered a luxury item.
Being unable to obtain the Potion meant an inevitable loss of control on the night of the full moon, which further exacerbated social discrimination. That, in turn, made it harder for werewolves who wished to reintegrate into Wizarding society to find work, creating an almost insoluble vicious cycle.
Lucien also fell into contemplation.
The loan requirement of the Emerald Tablet Fragment was to sell Alchemical items or Potions of a certain value.
Wolfsbane Potion undoubtedly belonged to this category.
A complete cure for lycanthropy might be unattainable, but if he could somehow improve the existing Wolfsbane Potion formula or process, simplify the steps, and lower the strict requirements for key materials, thereby significantly reducing its production cost and accessibility threshold.
...
In the temporary dormitory arranged by Beauxbatons for the Triwizard Tournament participants, the air was filled with the bitter yet fragrant scent of Potion ingredients.
On the workbench in front of Lucien, steady blue flames burned beneath two cauldrons.
He had just precisely dropped the processed wolfsbane into the cauldron on his left, glancing at the notes floating beside him, where a quill was automatically recording the brewing steps and phenomena.
After the written examination concluded and Lucien received a perfect score, he returned to his dormitory and immediately began attempting to brew Wolfsbane Potion, eager to put some of the inspiration he had gained during the exam into practice.
Of the two cauldrons, one was brewing a standard Wolfsbane Potion, with the materials and steps followed exactly.
The other was Lucien's experimental modification, with slight adjustments made to the types and quantities of a few ingredients.
The bubbling of the Potions rose and fell.
As the Potions in both cauldrons entered a stable boiling stage, they took on different colours and textures.
Just as Lucien was observing the changes in the Potions, waiting for them to enter the final sedimentation stage...
Ding!
A crisp sound rang out.
But this was not a system notification.
Lucien pulled a notebook slightly larger than his palm from his pocket.
It had a soft navy-blue cover, with a clear crystal embedded in the centre.
At that moment, faint green lights were pulsing rhythmically inside the crystal.
"A message has arrived," Lucien muttered to himself, tapping the crystal with his fingertip.
He opened the notebook. Although it appeared quite thin, it made a rustling sound as he flipped through the pages, the number of sheets inside clearly far exceeding what its size should allow.
It stopped automatically at a certain page, the blank surface rippling like water after a stone had been thrown into it.
After a second or two, a face struggled to emerge from the ripples: messy jet-black hair, round-rimmed glasses, and a pair of emerald-green almond-shaped eyes.
It was Harry.
But Harry's image remained frozen for three or four seconds, then the screen was suddenly blocked by a blurry palm, accompanied by a few tapping vibrations.
After another seven or eight seconds, a stuttering, static-filled voice faintly emerged from the page.
"Hello... Lucien... can you... hear... me..."
Lucien shook his head. Once the distance increased, this signal issue was exposed.
He would have to find a way to solve the relay station problem...
Lucien temporarily suppressed his technical thoughts, lightly tapped the paper with his wand, and Harry's image faded away. A clear input box and cursor appeared on the page, switching to text-message mode.
"Harry, let's use text messages for now. Did you finish handing out the questionnaires?"
The reply this time was much faster. Almost two or three seconds after Lucien finished writing, Harry's handwriting appeared below, a little crooked but legible.
"OK! All sent out!"
Behind the handwriting, there was also a simple line-drawn smiley face.
Immediately after, new handwriting appeared, filled with excitement.
"I also wanted to try this little magical notebook you gave me! Can it really talk to people remotely?! Like a telephone? That's so cool!"
This time, it was followed by a surprised emoticon with starry eyes.
Lucien looked at the words and those emoticons on the paper and couldn't help smiling.
This kid's acceptance of the magical mobile phone and his speed in picking it up were unexpectedly high.
That's right. What they were using was precisely the first-generation remote communication device Lucien had designed and built with Alchemy during this period.
Within the same county, it could support real-time text and image communication relatively stably.
But for communication across countries like this, image transmission suffered from severe delays and lag. Text-message mode was relatively better, but there was still slight latency.
The farther the distance, the more obvious this attenuation and delay became.
To achieve truly smooth magical communication, on one hand, he could continue improving and updating the notebook. On the other hand, he could build a magical signal relay station, but that would be another massive and complex Alchemical project...
Lucien looked at Harry's message on the paper and began calculating in his mind.
However, just presenting the current version of this magical mobile phone would already be enough to win the Alchemical Tournament.
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