Chapter 283: Gathering
Chapter 283: Gathering
Dragon Blood was indeed a valuable resource. After obtaining it, Liam took the time to visit the worlds with Supernatural Power that he controlled, trading the Dragon Blood for a multitude of benefits.
For instance, he exchanged it for a large quantity of high-quality Alchemy materials from Teacher Luo Zhen, obtained several decent magical artifacts from Uncle Kiu, and even got some freshly cultivated Doom Mushrooms and Frost Mushrooms from Dave. In short, this vial of Dragon Blood brought him a wealth of benefits and laid a solid foundation for his upcoming Alchemy research.
While he was immersed in learning various new knowledge, the weekend Study Group gathering began. Today, the Study Group welcomed two new faces: Main and Celia, both first-year students from Ravenclaw.
"Why are there so few new members?" Liam asked Hermione, who was standing beside him.
"There's no help for it. We need people who love learning, knowledge, and have an inclusive and somewhat collectivist mindset. Such individuals are rare. After all, we've always preferred to have no members rather than accept people just to fill the numbers. Otherwise, if we were to open up recruitment, your admirers could fill this classroom this year."
"You're right; it's better to have a few good members than many mediocre ones", Liam nodded in agreement.
Soon, the Study Group's regular Q&A session began. With everyone's help, the new members, Main and Celia, quickly adapted to the atmosphere. Liam noticed that their performance was no different from that of the veteran members.
However, this time was different. Recently, because Liam had been participating in the Tournament, everyone had held back their curiosity and refrained from asking him too many questions during the free Q&A time. Now that the first Tournament was over and the second was still two months away, people began to ask Liam about the things they had been wondering about.
To avoid a chaotic and noisy situation, Liam asked everyone who wanted to ask a question to write their most pressing query on a piece of paper. He would then answer them all at once. Soon, a stack of paper slips was handed to him. Liam reviewed them, then moved to the podium at the front of their activity classroom to begin his responses.
"I see that most of you are asking how I managed to pass the Age Line and what methods I used to defeat the Dragon during the Tournament. Actually, I can answer both questions together: it was through Alchemy. I used Alchemy to achieve these goals."
"But I've never seen Alchemy on the Hogwarts curriculum", Justin asked loudly. "So, what should we do if we want to learn it?"
"First, Hogwarts does offer Alchemy", Liam explained, "but it's only available in the sixth year. To qualify, you must achieve an O in Ancient Runes, Arithmancy, Transfiguration, and Potions in your O.W.L.s exams in fifth year, and then apply to the school to take the Alchemy course."
"Wow!" "That's impossible!" "I think only the leader and the head of the group could manage that", murmurs of disbelief rippled through the crowd. Liam quickly raised his hands to quiet everyone down and continued, "Second, I am willing to share the secrets of Alchemy, but those who wish to learn must first demonstrate their proficiency in Ancient Runes, Arithmancy, Transfiguration, and Potions to my satisfaction."
"Why do you have to do that? Can't we just learn directly?" Fred asked.
"Unfortunately, no", Liam said firmly. "If the foundation in Alchemy is not solid, the consequences can be severe, potentially endangering everyone's life. Let me demonstrate, and you'll understand."
After finishing his explanation, Liam retrieved two similar pieces of wood from a pile of old furniture in the corner of the classroom. He then took out a bottle of pre-prepared Magic Potion from his pocket and began drawing symbols on the wood. Everyone in the classroom was drawn to this activity.
Ten minutes later, both pieces of wood were covered in runes. Liam then took out two identical crystal orbs, each the size of a ping-pong ball, and embedded them at the top of each piece of wood. He placed the two sticks on the podium and said, "Now, come up and check if you can spot any differences between these two sticks."
The members of the Study Group began to come up one by one to inspect the two sticks, but they couldn't find any differences. After his inspection, George said, "You must be joking. I saw you make these two sticks using the same technique. The materials and methods are the same, and I can even feel the magic power they emit is almost identical. So, I think they should be the same."
"Really?" Liam asked the audience. "Is that what you all think?"
Most people nodded, and Liam's lips curled into a slight smile. He then said, "Neville, please come up and help me."
Neville, a bit shy, walked up to the podium. Liam handed him the two sticks and said, "Drop these two sticks on the ground."
"Huh?" Neville's mouth opened in surprise, but he quickly followed the instruction. When the two sticks hit the ground, one made a metallic clinking sound and bounced a couple of times, while the other shattered into pieces like glass.
"What's going on?" Fred's shout echoed everyone's confusion, as they had all seen Liam do exactly the same thing to both sticks.
"This is what I meant when I said that Alchemy requires a solid foundation", Liam explained. "These two sticks may look similar, but they are actually different. During the process of drawing the runes, there were subtle differences in many of them. If you're not familiar with Ancient Runes and Arithmancy, you wouldn't be able to spot these differences."
Liam then picked up the fragments of the shattered stick and compared them to the corresponding parts of the intact stick. "Look, the angle of this rune is greater than the other one because the surrounding wood grain is different, affecting the spell distribution calculation. This is in line with the third formula of Magic Balance in Jabir ibn Hayyan's Book of Balance—"
As he delved into his area of expertise, Liam spoke eloquently for about seven or eight minutes before concluding, "In this case, even though the differences may seem minor, they can produce completely different results. That's all for my explanation. Did you understand?"
Liam scanned the audience and noticed that some, like Hermione, had a blank, confused look, while others, like Neville, were already dozing off.
"Alright, Liam, we get it. We understand the importance of a solid foundation", Zhang Qiu stood up and said. "You're right. Alchemy is not something we can learn at our current level. For now, we should focus on understanding the Ancient Runes and the knowledge in our textbooks."
"Indeed", "That's true", "We were a bit too proud of our small achievements", various voices echoed from the crowd.
From then on, until the meeting ended, everyone focused on learning the textbook knowledge or studying new runes. No one brought up the topic of Alchemy again.
"This gathering has shown everyone that the beginning of learning is having a humble heart in the face of knowledge. It seems this meeting was quite meaningful after all", Liam thought happily as he walked back to the Tower with the Gryffindor students.
(End of Chapter)
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