Chapter 160: Alchemical Talent

At this moment, Wizard Sean was planning to finish reading the five books he currently had.

They were: *The Selection and Inspiration of Alchemical Materials*, *Aether and the Secret Laws of Combination*, *The Power of Ancient Runic Script in Alchemy*, *Runic Engraving and Container Construction*, and *Deep Analysis of Alchemical Rituals*.

Corresponding to materials, combination, runic symbols, runic engraving, and above all, ritual.

The more he studied, the more Wizard Sean felt wizards were hypnotizing themselves.

For example: 【The death and rebirth of the dragon symbolizes the decomposition and purification of matter】,

*The Selection and Inspiration of Alchemical Materials* stated that adding dragon’s blood would make alchemical creations purer and more stable.

But it was hard to say whether the dragon’s blood was truly at work.

For right after that passage, *The Selection and Inspiration of Alchemical Materials* went on to say: dragon’s blood corrupts the purity of alchemical creations—it breaks down their components and infuses them with the dragon’s destructive nature.

So how should dragon’s blood actually be used?

Headmaster Dumbledore then listed twelve uses for dragon’s blood.

These uses were even more contradictory, often presenting wildly opposing methods.

Wizard Sean strangely felt that how dragon’s blood worked depended on what the wizard wanted it to do.

All of alchemy served the wizard; the more a wizard believed in alchemy’s power, the greater power alchemy could grant him.

At this point, ritual became the bridge linking the two.

Thus, alchemy’s ambiguity became inevitable, for at its core it was an art, not a science.

It relied on the wizard’s ever-shifting mental state, ineffable symbolic associations, and personalized magical intuition. Two wizards using identical knowledge and tools, following the same Making Guide, could produce wildly different results—because “belief” could not be standardized or replicated.

After recording his thoughts, Wizard Sean looked outside to find snow falling again.

The snow outside Hogwarts Castle was thick and layered, falling softly and loosely, hardening into cold, rigid masses after days of accumulation, yet still soft on the surface, easily packed into snowballs.

In the Hope Cottage.

Jia Jia Siting was baking cookies with a portable oven, while Wizard Sean silently engraved runic characters.

The seating arrangement in the Hope Cottage was this—Wizard Sean sat at the center, Jia Jia Siting to his left, Hermione to his right.

In front sat Neville, who tended to the plants in the “garden”; there were so many plants they naturally filled the entire podium area, stacked into tiers of varying heights.

Behind them were Harry and Ron, one fond of Transfiguration, the other of spells.

Since Wizard Sean had cast Transfiguration on the chairs to form a semi-enclosed structure, privacy was no concern.

The engraving tool was slightly warm; Wizard Sean knew he had completed the Howler.

【You practiced Howler creation at a skilled standard. Proficiency +10】

【A new alchemical title has been unlocked. Please check.】

【A new wizard talent has been unlocked. Please check.】

Wizard Sean decided to check his alchemical talent last, so he first viewed the alchemical title.

【Title: Alchemy Novice】

【Slightly increases perception of alchemical magic; slightly enhances alchemical talent】

As expected, Wizard Sean held his breath and continued reading.

【Wizard Wizard Sean, Alchemical Talent: Gold. Note: Most wizards are Green.】

【Evaluation: Creator and reformer, explorer of the unknown—you are the irreplaceable pathfinder of alchemy. If you fulfill your talent, you will leave behind a silhouette so distant that future alchemists will chase it in vain.】

So I am worthy of standing beside… Nicolas Flamel?

Wizard Sean froze.

He suddenly understood something.

The affinity between Flight and Alchemy must be very high—if his Flight talent was Gold, his Alchemy talent could not be weak.

After all, a broomstick was an alchemical creation.

Then Wizard Sean recalled the extremely low proficiency requirement for Flight—the jump from Apprentice to Beginner required only 30 proficiency points.

If Flight talent was an offshoot of Alchemy talent, that made sense.

So his true talent lay in Dark Arts and Alchemy?

At that moment, he heard the panel emit its loudest “Ding—” ever.

A line of text appeared beneath the golden Alchemy talent:

【You have unlocked three Legendary talents, successfully expanding the boundaries of legend. One talent cap has been raised.】

What… is this?

Wizard Sean looked down in surprise:

【New Wizard Talent: Red (0/1) (Requires unlocking a Legendary title in any magical field)】

Wizard Sean froze again—he had thought Legendary talents were the limit, but there was more?

Of course. The vastness of magic lies in this: as long as you keep walking, the path ahead never ends.

Beyond Legendary… what would it be?

Wizard Sean knew:

【Expert】 corresponded to adult wizards;

【Master】 corresponded to Hogwarts professors;

【Legendary】 might be Dumbledore and Voldemort.

Then what lay beyond Legendary?

What would it be?

Merely imagining it, Wizard Sean felt his passion for magic rising within him.

As he pondered, a sizzling sound came from beside him—Jia Jia Siting’s cookies had just finished baking.

Seeing the cookies, Wizard Sean realized he had barely begun on the path of combining Transfiguration and Alchemy.

If owl-shaped cookies could be made, then bear-shaped, beetle-shaped, and lion-shaped cookies were all possible.

Their difficulty lay only in whether Wizard Sean understood these creatures well enough.

The paths of Alchemy and Transfiguration were still long; Wizard Sean felt he needed to first master transforming himself into a living creature.

Growing wings or transforming into a shark-head to dive underwater would be quite useful.

Then Voldemort’s flying form flashed through Wizard Sean’s mind—Voldemort could fly as a cloud of black smoke. Was that a special form of Transfiguration?

He waved his wand.

【You practiced Advanced Transfiguration at a skilled standard. Proficiency +30】

The oak bookshelf trembled slightly; the wooden boards, as if receiving a command, expelled a deep green-covered notebook.

Wizard Sean sighed faintly—since reaching 【Expert】 in Transfiguration and surpassing 100,000 proficiency points, the proficiency gained from low-standard practice had dropped sharply.

Just like when he learned Silent Spells—he now needed to explore deeper, more arcane realms.

He took the green-covered notebook; inside were Professor McGonagall’s notes on self-transformation, mixed with techniques for Animagus transformation.

As he stared at the notebook, a phrase from the panel suddenly echoed in his mind:

“Creator and reformer,” “explorer of the unknown,” “irreplaceable pathfinder of alchemy…”

Then, words appeared on Professor Professor Tela’s notebook:

【You will eventually understand, child, why we study alchemy?】

【I write this here, to remind you—and myself—that we must always view things through different eyes.】

【We explore alchemy’s secrets because we are wizards—and wizards are creatures of creativity and passion.】

【We possess magic that can change the world—why then do we settle for mediocrity and stand still?】

【This is my answer. Perhaps it is yours too.】

To all readers: Five chapters will be posted as usual at 10:30 PM.