Suitcase World.
Inside the spacious magic practice room, another "Lucien" stood opposite the real one.
They shared the same brow, eyes, and build.
The only difference was that the "Lucien" opposite him had empty eyes with no focus deep within the pupils, resembling a carefully carved puppet.
Black vortices surfaced in Lucien's eyes as his Arcane Sight activated.
He stared at the magical circuit inside the "self" opposite him—a peculiar and complex map of veins almost identical to his own.
Raising his wand, the tip tapped lightly, tracing an extremely fine trail of light in mid-air. Simultaneously, various magical materials flew out, merging into the light trail. Finally, this trail was carefully "embedded" into the magical node at the right shoulder.
Faint silver light spread slowly from the modification point, like ripples from a stone thrown into a calm lake.
Lucien's eyes brightened slightly.
However, in the next moment, a small cluster of flames burst from "Lucien's" hair without warning, spreading rapidly!
Lucien immediately waved his wand. Water lashed out like a whip, accurately extinguishing the flames.
His hands didn't stop; he quickly restored the minute magical circuit adjustment he had just made.
The silver light receded, the source of the fire was cut off, and peace returned.
"...Transfiguration of the magical circuit is still very difficult."
Sighing softly, he put down his wand and took out a notebook, recording the process and the details that triggered the loss of control.
The "Lucien" opposite him, currently automatically repairing itself, was actually the Metamorphic Flesh Puppet.
More precisely, the Metamorphic Flesh Puppet·Modified.
The Metamorphic Flesh Puppet was a loan item Lucien had obtained last Halloween: a flesh puppet capable of transforming into any non-magical creature, suitable for practicing living Transfiguration.
However, as his Transfiguration skills improved, this puppet had been left gathering dust in the System Warehouse.
During the exchange competition, Lucien triggered a very easy Weekly Loan. Upon completion, the System upgraded this old item.
The upgraded Metamorphic Flesh Puppet·Modified added a key ability: Replicating Magical Circuits.
And Lucien had another loan item on hand: the Circuit Lithograph.
Its function was to record and store samples of different types of magical circuits.
Combining the two items created an excellent experimental subject—
First, use the Circuit Lithograph to store a specific magical circuit, then use the Metamorphic Flesh Puppet·Modified to replicate it into its own body.
Then, Lucien could attempt to adjust and transfigure the magical circuit on this "double."
Lucien himself was already an Animagus. Thanks to the faceless nature of Loki, he could freely transform into multiple different animals.
He could also transform into magical creatures that possessed magical circuits.
But to transform himself into a magical creature with magical talent, he had to simulate and convert the wizard's original magical circuit entirely into that species' racial circuit.
This wasn't just a matter of difficulty, but of risk.
A tiny error could mean severe injury, mutation, or even death.
So this path had remained stagnant.
That was until he exchanged knowledge on Veela magic with Fleur at Beauxbatons. He witnessed with his own eyes the partial deformation of her magical circuit when she cast racial magic.
That gave Lucien a brand-new train of thought.
Since complete transformation was too risky, why not start with partial transformation?
Mixed-blood wizards like Fleur and Hagrid, who possessed magical creature bloodlines, had magical circuits that naturally carried certain "characteristics." They could partially switch to that creature's magical circuit form.
This was a naturally existing, bloodline-verified "feasible path."
The corresponding risks and difficulties would be greatly reduced.
The accidental loan upgrade this time provided Lucien with a safe research method.
What he just attempted was replicating the characteristics of the mixed-blood Veela magical circuit inside Fleur.
It was a preliminary attempt, merely shifting a few related magical nodes inside the flesh puppet slightly toward the Veela structure.
The resulting burst of flame was the answer.
Lucien added another line of annotation to his notebook, his pen pausing.
Actually, he was curious about another question.
If he successfully achieved partial transformation of the magical circuit, simulating the circuit characteristics of a half-Veela or half-giant, then aside from likely gaining the corresponding racial magical talents—
Would there be incidental effects on the body itself?
For instance, like a Veela hybrid, would one gain some kind of supernatural charm or a subtle optimization of appearance?
Or like a giant hybrid, would one gain increased strength and a larger stature?
Lucien closed the notebook and looked up at the completely restored flesh puppet.
Those empty eyes still stared blankly ahead, offering no answers.
No rush.
The path of magic was long and complex, but Lucien could always see the direction, and he had the desire and the capital to keep walking it.