Chapter 281: After the Match and Changes
Chapter 281: After the Match and Changes (Request for Subscriptions, Favorites, and Votes)
When Liam walked into the tent, most people were already there. Harry stood up and greeted Liam, "That move of yours was amazing, Liam."
"You too", Liam smiled at Harry. "It was very clever, and you were the fastest."
Just as the two of them were exchanging compliments, the tent's curtain was pushed aside, and a person wrapped in white bandages, looking like a mummy, slowly rolled in on a wheelchair. The tent fell silent at once.
"Is that Krum?" Harry whispered to Liam in a surprised tone.
"Probably", Liam nodded slowly. "I heard from Madam Pomfrey during the medical check-up that Krum was completely burned by dragon fire. I saw Healers from St. Mungo's come over when I went out to check the scores. Dragon fire isn't easy to treat."
Noticing the tense atmosphere in the tent, Bagman quickly said, "Krum's injuries have been examined by professional Healers from St. Mungo's, and they confirmed that he will fully recover within a week. So, please don't worry about safety issues. The Ministry of Magic has invested sufficient resources to ensure the safety of all participants, and we will guarantee that everyone can successfully complete the tournament."
Bagman was indeed passionate and engaging in his speech, but the mummy-like Krum in the wheelchair significantly undermined his persuasiveness. When he finished, the participants only gave a polite smile in response.
Bagman clearly noticed this and moved on to the next task, "Although we have ranked the participants in this match, remember that there are three events in total. So, don't overemphasize the results of the first event."
After a brief summary of the previous match, Bagman finally began to discuss the next event, "Alright, I only have a few words to say. The second event will start at 9:30 AM on February 24th next year. Before then, you will have a long break. Look at the Golden Eggs in your hands; you will notice a seam. Now, open them."
"What? Open the Golden Eggs? This—has the event changed?" Liam was startled, realizing that the butterfly effect of his actions had already had a wide-ranging impact.
At that moment, everyone started to open their Golden Eggs, even Krum, who extended his heavily bandaged hand to pry open the seam. Liam quickly snapped out of his thoughts and began to open his own Golden Egg.
Opening the Golden Egg was not difficult. Once opened, a transparent crystal pillar, faintly glowing with a milky white light, was revealed inside.
"Alright, now hold onto this crystal pillar", Bagman called out. Everyone followed his instructions, and soon the glow of the crystal pillars dimmed, turning into a soft golden hue.
"Very good. Keep these crystal pillars safe, as they will be used in the next event. Don't lose them. Now, hand me your Golden Eggs."
The six now empty Golden Eggs were passed to Bagman one by one. He carefully placed them in a wooden chest with grooves behind him—Liam was curious about the content of the next event, as the changes in the plot made it impossible for him to guess. After all, the Triwizard Tournament had too many historical events to choose from.
Once all the Golden Eggs were in the chest, Bagman locked it in front of everyone and had two staff members carry it away. Then, he signaled that Liam and the other participants could leave. As he escorted them to the tent's entrance, Bagman mysteriously told them that the content of the next event would be revealed at the appropriate time.
"You'll still need to tell us then", Liam muttered to himself as the participants dispersed. He walked with Harry and a group of classmates toward the castle.
“Liam, please wait a moment.” As they were halfway through their journey, a voice called out from behind. Liam turned around and saw Charlie running up to him.
“Go on ahead. I think Charlie needs to talk to me about something.” After sending his classmates off, Liam stood there, and soon Charlie caught up to him.
“Thank you so much for what you did back there.” Charlie panted. “Sasha is safe now, and we’ve noticed she’s much more obedient. She cooperates with us immediately during check-ups now. In Romania, she was a huge problem. This scar on my arm is from one of her burns.”
“It’s nothing. After all, this was my fault, so I had to make amends.” Liam thought the dragon’s sudden change in behavior was because dragons are highly aggressive creatures that only submit to those who defeat them. By overpowering it, Liam had taught it to respect wizards.
Just like the dragon in the Gringotts vault, once defeated, it would naturally develop a conditioned fear. However, the dragon in Gringotts was submissive to the clinking of the coins, while this one was submissive to the wizard holding the wand.
“By the way, this is for you.” After expressing his gratitude, Charlie pulled out a large crystal bottle containing a full pint of red liquid. Liam could feel the energy emanating from the liquid.
“This is too valuable, I can’t accept it.” Liam declined. He recognized it as dragon blood, and a jar like this would cost around 300 Galleons. After all, this was real dragon blood, far more valuable than the dragon-derived products sold in Diagon Alley.
Yes, the dragonhide gloves and dragon liver sold in Diagon Alley were not from fire dragons. Otherwise, dragon liver wouldn’t be so cheap, costing only 17 Sickles per ounce. Genuine dragon products were incredibly expensive. For example, a few years ago, Liam had bought a vial of real dragon blood, and 20 milliliters cost him 10 Galleons. To his disappointment, growing fire dragon plants did indeed produce dragon flames, but not a single drop of dragon blood. This led to the failure of Liam’s plan to cultivate dragon blood on his farm.
Seeing Liam’s hesitation, Charlie immediately understood and quickly added, “This isn’t a personal gift from me. It’s from the head of our dragon reserve. We know a small vial of the alchemical elixir that can save a dragon is very expensive, and we don’t have much cash, so we’re offering this as payment. Oh, and our head asked me to inquire if you have more of that elixir. If you do, we’re willing to trade some valuable items for it.”
“Profit,” Liam thought. The only ingredient needed for the elixir was sunlight crystals, which he had in abundance in both worlds. However, he knew this business needed to be sustainable, and setting the price too high wouldn’t be wise.
After a moment of thought, Liam pulled out two test tubes identical to the one he had used earlier and handed them to Charlie. “The materials are expensive and the process is complex, so I can only make one or two vials a month. I’ll charge 200 Galleons per vial, but since you’re a friend, I’ll take 150 Galleons for each. These two are samples for you. If you find them useful, feel free to come back for more. By the way, this elixir can be used by humans as well. Theoretically, a third of a vial can fully restore one’s life force. The only issue is that it only replenishes life force and doesn’t heal injuries.”
“Thank you so much,” Charlie said, accepting the test tubes with a hint of embarrassment. “Often, when dragons are injured, potions aren’t effective in time. With this, we can buy enough time to treat them properly.”
After a brief exchange, they said their goodbyes. Charlie hurried off to the dragon trainers’ tent, while Liam hummed a tune happily as he walked back to the castle.
(End of Chapter)
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