Chapter 172: A New Talent, Nicolas' Surprise
The desert layer of the case world.
Leonardo looked up at the towering emerald tree, now solid enough to seem real.
He pulled his right hand away from the tree's surface. With a soft crackle, a scatter of powdery fragments fell into the sand.
Leonardo lowered his gaze to his palm. A new emerald pattern had appeared there.
It looked like a miniature version of the great tree, yet it was incomplete. The roots, trunk, and branches were all missing sections, as if the mark itself were a broken diagram.
"Alchemy…"
Leonardo began to think through the steps and requirements for repaying the loan.
Within a year, he had to sell thirty thousand alchemical items or potions, earning a total of one hundred and fifty thousand Galleons.
First came product quality and output. Then came distribution.
Production had to be solved first.
In the early stage, both Potions and Alchemy burned money.
Fortunately, his own reserves were deep enough that the start would not be a problem. Once products began turning into profit, the cycle could feed itself and scale up.
Promotion mattered too. He needed to build a name quickly.
A name…
Leonardo suddenly thought of the paper Dumbledore had urged him to write. If his Transfiguration thesis made waves in the wizarding world, it might also help his products sell.
After all, he had to sell under his own name. The fame of the inventor and the reputation of the goods could reinforce each other.
Looks like the thesis needed to move faster.
Making alchemical tools and brewing potions would also take manpower. There was no way he could do it all personally. He would need a large workforce.
Hire wizards, or goblins?
Money was not the issue, but that kind of high-skilled labour was better suited to fine work, producing premium, expensive items aimed at wealthy pure blood buyers.
Puppets.
The word surfaced in his mind without warning.
After touring Nicolas' ship, he had seen several types of alchemical puppets. The ones used for stage performances were finely crafted. In places like factories and farms where the work was repetitive, the puppets were simpler, and there were far more of them.
If he could make puppets to work for him…
The moment the thought formed, something shifted.
All the knowledge he had accumulated, not limited to Alchemy but including Charms, Transfiguration, and Potions, suddenly linked together. It joined, crossed, and locked into place.
Inspiration collided in his mind, and the spark of creation flared.
Problems that had trapped him a moment ago seemed to loosen on their own.
"Yes. The puppet's materials, its structure, its power source…"
One magical material after another flew out of Leonardo's pockets.
At last, a crystal clear ruby hovered in mid-air.
Leonardo tapped this brand-new Philosopher's Stone lightly with his wand. A halo of magic spread outward, slowly expanding.
…
Nicolas lowered his wand and looked at the heavy, white full-body suit in front of him.
"Yes. A Muggle spacesuit looks something like this," he murmured.
"But with magic and alchemy, there is no need to make it so bulky. It can be refined…"
He raised his wand again and adjusted the magical version of the spacesuit according to his ideas.
He did not work for long before stopping to rest, easing himself back onto the sofa.
It was not that his magic was running low. It was fatigue.
The Elixir of Life brewed from the Philosopher's Stone could help Nicolas evade death, but it could not restore his vitality. His body kept ageing, and his energy was painfully limited.
So he worked for a while, then rested. And more often than not, he rested longer than he worked.
Even so, Nicolas was patient. He was not in a hurry.
He had lived for centuries. Time was the one thing he had in abundance.
"Master, Mr Leonardo says he has something he would like to ask you."
Kewby's voice sounded through the room via the communication charm.
"All right," Nicolas said. "Bring him here directly."
The next second, Kewby Apparated in with Leonardo, placing him right in front of Nicolas.
After bowing, Kewby vanished again. Leonardo's attention went straight to the white full-body suit in the room.
His eyebrows lifted slightly. That looked like a spacesuit.
It was lighter than one, though. Probably modified with magic.
So Nicolas really did want to go and see outer space.
Leonardo withdrew his gaze and greeted him properly.
"Good afternoon, Mr Flamel."
Nicolas nodded in return.
"Kewby says you have questions?"
"Yes," Leonardo said. "I have seen you have many alchemical puppets. I wanted to try making one myself, but I ran into some problems."
Nicolas thought the curiosity was natural. Children always wanted to explore whatever was new.
He assumed Leonardo would ask about basic principles: how the puppets functioned, how the materials were refined, and the structure of the body.
Nicolas had already decided that if Leonardo truly wanted to build one, he would give more detailed guidance.
Even producing a simple set of limbs or a rough model would be meaningful practice for learning alchemy.
"I want to use a Philosopher's Stone as the power source," Leonardo said, "but I cannot tell if the issue is with the runes or a flaw in the material. The magic seems to leak away far too much.
"And the puppet's cognition module. It can execute simple instructions, but anything more complex starts producing errors…"
Listening to these questions, Nicolas frowned. The boy was aiming too high. Alchemy was complex and strictly ordered. The truth was to advance step by step, with both feet on the ground.
He was about to offer a gentle reminder when Leonardo reached into his pocket and pulled out a puppet, silver white from head to toe.
A Philosopher's Stone was set into its chest. Magic flowed within it, threading through fine channels that ran throughout the puppet's body, like blood moving through veins.
Leonardo drew his wand and tapped the puppet once.
The puppet immediately began to hop, run, and move. Its actions were remarkably smooth, with no stiffness at all.
Leonardo had it stop, then opened the chest plating, revealing the magic channels inside.
"Here, the leakage is very obvious," he said. "And here. Here as well.
"But other sections do not have this problem, so I…"
"You used materials that are too good," Nicolas cut in. "You do not need soft silver and purple crystal. Brass soaked in Kelpie fluid will do."
At some point, Nicolas had already risen to his feet. His eyes were bright as they locked onto the puppet in Leonardo's hands.
"This, this puppet… did you just make it?"
"Yes," Leonardo said. "I thought of using a Philosopher's Stone as the power source. The magic it releases is extremely pure. It hardly needs conversion before it fits most purposes."
Nicolas stepped closer and examined the puppet carefully.
With his level of skill, he could spot many flaws at once. But he could see far more strengths.
From this puppet alone, it was clear that Leonardo's foundation in alchemy was solid. What he lacked was systematic study, which meant certain details were not yet properly handled.
That was easy to fix. With time, practice, and accumulation, it would come.
But Nicolas had seen something truly precious, something that could not be learned through effort alone. A kind of living intuition.
Talent.
Nicolas lifted his gaze from the puppet to Leonardo himself.
Now there was doubt in his eyes.
Had Albus and Newt been hiding the boy's real level and true talent in alchemy on purpose?
Just so they could hand him a surprise this big.