At noon, Hogwarts' "Father-Troubler" quartet gathered once again.
George dragged a wooden crate out of his storage pouch... one that looked remarkably like a large coffin.
Kyle could guess what was inside. Anything stored in a "coffin" like that was undoubtedly the alchemic battle armor George had been forging.
Could George's taste really not improve even a little?
Even a wooden slat crate would have been better. Why did he have to make it look like a coffin? Could he really not change his aesthetic?
George patted the large coffin placed beside the dining table. "I've finally paid back what I owed you!"
Kyle threw the "coffin lid" aside, revealing the full appearance of the armor lying within.
"Cool!" Kyle let out a breath of admiration.
The armor was sleek and streamlined. Rather than looking like an Iron Man suit, it bore a closer resemblance to Ma Chao's "Survivor" skin from Honor of Kings.
Forged entirely of metal, its pitch-black paint gave it an aura of immense weight.
In truth, it was heavy. If one were to wear it, they could forget about engaging in close-quarters combat.
The eye-slits of the faceplate were made of high-durability magic crystal. Furthermore, George had specifically added a glowing effect, allowing them to emit a daunting red light in the darkness.
Students from the surrounding area crowded over to eye Kyle's new suit, ninety-nine percent of whom were boys.
After all, mecha is a man's romance.
They looked at the suit with eyes radiating pure envy.
"So, what do you think? Satisfied?"
"It's alright. Not many surprises, though, since I designed the exterior myself."
Kyle's voice sounded very calm, which instantly cast a thick shadow of frustration over George's heart.
It wasn't just the design; Kyle had even paid for the materials out of his own pocket. Otherwise, even if they sold George and Fred to Gringotts, they wouldn't have been able to afford the magical metals required to forge this suit of armor.
Satisfied, Kyle slid the coffin lid back into place and tucked the massive crate into his storage pouch.
His primary reason for having George build this armor was to satisfy his collector's itch. While wearing such heavy armor provided great defense, it also severely reduced his speed.
Until he could maintain the fifth or sixth gate of the Eight Inner Gates as a regular state, he would absolutely never wear this armor into battle.
However, based on Kyle's progress with the Eight Inner Gates, he estimated he might never have the chance to wear this armor in his lifetime.
"By the way, how is the construction of your Chikamatsu's Ten Puppets going?"
At the table, Kyle asked George about his progress on the puppets.
George threw his hands up helplessly. "Seven hundred Galleons was completely insufficient. I've only managed to build five puppets."
Fred, who was busy stuffing his face, paused mid-motion when he felt his brother's gaze.
"Don't even think about touching my share. Improving the Explosive Clay is an expensive hobby too, you know?"
Their conversation completely bypassed Ron. They couldn't let Ron know about this; otherwise, by tonight at the latest, Mrs. Weasley would find out they once possessed over a thousand Galleons.
"How is the Explosive Clay improvement coming along?"
"It's getting there. The magic consumption has been lowered. Now, a tiny bit of magic can trigger a massive explosion."
Fred gestured with his fist.
"A piece of clay this size, when fully infused with magic, can blast through an average wizard's Protego shield."
"That's quite impressive," Cedric joined in. "That's almost on par with the power of a strong Blasting Curse."
Fred grinned proudly.
"That's not all. I can now use Transfiguration to disguise the Explosive Clay as anything and hide it anywhere."
"Unless it's the exact moment I detonate it, no one can detect its presence."
In that case, if someone could be lured into a battlefield Fred had prepared in advance, even Voldemort might be blasted half to death if he wasn't careful.
Kyle took a bite of a chicken leg. "Have you thought about adding various elemental attributes to the Explosive Clay? Like those freezing grenades you guys made."
Fred sighed helplessly. "I haven't just thought about it; I've tried it. But I found I simply can't do it."
"The method I used was adding different elemental magical materials to the clay. But during detonation, they can't imbue the explosion with any elemental effects; they just get destroyed by the blast."
"Even when I added catalysts to help the materials react, it still didn't work."
Kyle thought for a moment. If they used different attributes of magic power instead of magical materials, they might be able to solve the problem.
"It might be because you haven't learned Nature Transformation of magic." He handed a stack of parchment to Fred.
Fred took it, looking confused. "Nature Transformation of magic? What's that?"
George leaned over curiously to look at the contents of the parchment as well.
With just one look, their minds were firmly ensnared.
"This is amazing! Kyle! This will definitely help me solve my current problem!" Fred shouted excitedly.
"Alright, stop looking," Kyle interrupted them. "Study it when you get back. Let's eat first."
He then turned his head toward Hermione, who was sitting beside him. "What's our first class this afternoon again?"
Hermione pulled her schedule out of her bag and took a look. "Defense Against the Dark Arts."
"Eh? Are you a die-hard fan of Gilderoy Lockhart?"
Kyle had spotted Hermione's schedule, where Lockhart's DADA classes had been carefully circled with little hearts by the "Little Beaver."
The "Little Beaver" gave Kyle a bashful, annoyed punch, looking exactly like a fan whose secret obsession had been exposed to the world.
"Professor Lockhart has had so many rich adventures! He must be incredibly powerful. What's wrong with me admiring him?"
Seeing the stars in the "Little Beaver's" eyes as she spoke of Lockhart, Kyle suddenly felt very annoyed.
It was the same kind of annoyance one feels when watching their own silly younger sister mindlessly chasing a star—especially one who can't sing or act but insists on pretending to be a powerhouse "traffic star."
Regardless of how loudly Lockhart's reputation preceded him, Kyle felt he was most likely a fraud.
This was evident just by the textbooks Lockhart required them to buy.
What normal DADA professor would use fantasy novels as textbooks?
Kyle had to admit, based on his extensive experience reading web novels in his past life, these books were actually quite good as fiction.
But as DADA textbooks...
It was like hiring a mediocre sci-fi writer to be a STEM professor at a university.
Thus, Kyle retorted unceremoniously, "No matter how strong he is, he isn't stronger than Dumbledore."
He silently added in his mind: Or Grindelwald.
The "Little Beaver" was momentarily choked up. Kyle was right; she couldn't argue with that.
Seeing Hermione get shut down, Hannah felt a secret sense of satisfaction.
"Professor Dumbledore can't exactly be our DADA professor," the "Little Beaver" pouted dissatisfactorily.
"But we can go to the Headmaster's office to ask Professor Dumbledore for guidance," Hannah replied with a smile.
Ever since they were tricked by a certain unscrupulous Dark Lord into breaking into the Headmaster's office last school year, Dumbledore had allowed their trio of top students to stay in the office until midnight every night.
All three of them knew the password to the Headmaster's office. If they wanted to consult Dumbledore on magical matters, they could do so at any time.
However, Hannah and Hermione felt a bit shy about frequently disturbing the Headmaster, so they rarely went.
Kyle, on the other hand, felt no such hesitation. His "old man" didn't have classes to teach every day anyway.
If he wasn't pacing around the office out of boredom, he was eating sweets.
Such good labor couldn't be allowed to sit idle.
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