Chapter 417: Technological Development

"I just thought that for that yellow form, we can use a wide-range attack spell to restrict him, preferably Fiendfyre," Pansy naturally picked up the thread. "And for the gray heavy armor form, we just need to further amplify his weaknesses and slow him down."

"We haven't learned a slow-down spell in the general sense, are you planning to invent a new spell?" Luna asked.

"Hmm, I was wondering if a Petrification spell would work, or a tap dance..."

Harry listened to their discussion and felt slightly inspired. Just as he was about to join in, Ron pulled his sleeve.

"Let's go, mate," he said.

Harry shrugged. He decided to prioritize Ron's emotions.

"In just one holiday, such earth-shaking changes have happened outside. Is my Saber a bit outdated?" Ron said with some disappointment. "After all, I can't change forms. If I really face OOO, I have no idea what to do."

"Just like what was said just now, we can ask a wizard to assist from the side," Harry shrugged. "I will..."

Ron's eyes flashed, and he immediately asked excitedly: "Then who do you think we can ask?"

Harry originally wanted to say that he would study spells carefully and try his best to become the best assistant. However, from Ron's strange tone, Harry immediately heard his little thoughts.

"I'll ask Hermione," Harry nodded as if it were a serious matter. "After all, for her now, she does need an admission ticket to keep up with this constantly changing new era."

"Must it be her? I mean..." Ron was still acting coy.

"If she doesn't agree, I'll go find Neville, it's that simple." Harry thought he had completely grasped Ron's psychology. Sure enough, after the answer of Neville appeared, Ron's emotions stabilized immediately, but his eyes began to wander.

"Then let's do that, I'll leave it to you," he kicked his heel with one foot. "I also think Hermione might not agree. Neville is quite reliable—of course, I say this because I think you'll always find your Henshin ability back. Anyway, you have Zhang Qiu's assistance, right, Ha."

"Relax, Hermione might not necessarily disagree, right?" Harry put his arm around Ron's shoulder. "Let's go ask together, how about it?"

Ron seemed to want to break free, but didn't use real force. In short, he seemed to be dragged toward the library by Harry, but with Ron's physique, it was obviously unreasonable that he couldn't break free from Harry's hand.

"Two gentlemen, what's the matter?" Hermione greeted them with a smile after seeing them, but didn't stop her pen.

"I was thinking, we discussed it today," Ron stammered. "I feel I need an assistant."

"To be precise, it's that we discovered during sparring that if there's a wizard's help, the Knight can perform better and it's easier to deal with some specific enemies," Harry explained in detail. "I was thinking, can we ask you to participate?"

"You might as well speak more clearly," Hermione put down her quill with a smile. "You want me to fight with Ron, right, as a wizard—because Mr. Potter himself is also going to become a Kamen Rider."

"Pretty much what I mean," Ron nodded readily.

"Then, do you think this is asking me for help as a friend, or is it more like hiring a consultant? Oh no, I have to participate in your battle, so you want me to be a mercenary?" Hermione smiled brightly. Harry felt she might be in a good mood, even starting to joke.

"No, no, this is a win-win cooperation," Harry gestured. "We need a helper who is good at spells, and you'd also be quite willing to understand the Knight system, right? This will definitely help your project, and the Knight system will also be a very important subject in the future. You can even use it as a research direction for the Doctor."

"Sounds good, but I refuse," Hermione's smile suddenly disappeared. "I have no interest in getting involved for now."

"Ah?" Harry widened his eyes in surprise. "Didn't we just talk about it well?"

"That's just what you thought," Hermione first snorted, then her expression turned into a wry smile. "I'm really busy this year, so if you say it's just helping as a friend, fighting and reciting a few spells, I wouldn't be completely free, but if you take this seriously—then I really don't have that much energy."

"Alright, I knew it," Ron sighed, and then stood up.

Seeing Hermione pick up her quill again, Harry also stood up, one hand on Ron's shoulder, and the two walked straight out.

"She doesn't take me seriously at all, I even suspect she hates me," Ron said in distress. "Clearly, as you said, this is a win-win."

"No, she's not entirely wrong. Hermione is busy enough this year, and we just added one thing to her—after all, our relationship isn't that good."

"What do you mean not that good?" Ron asked eagerly. "Isn't it—oh, alright, it's just ordinary friends anyway."

"Maybe not even friends, just ordinary classmates," Harry shrugged. He knew he had compromised too much with Donald, to the point where he sometimes felt he owed Hermione.

"Yeah, she doesn't owe us anything," Ron walked toward the dormitory with a sad face.

Ron didn't mention Neville, but Harry thought of him quickly. However, thinking back to his promise to Neville to find an opportunity to help him explore the secrets Dumbledore left in the Department of Mysteries, and this promise hadn't been fulfilled yet, he couldn't help but feel guilty and didn't dare to speak to Neville.

When they walked to the dormitory door, Harry thought of another excuse that was still passable.

"I was thinking, why don't I assist you first," he said. "If I can find my Henshin ability back—I feel two Knights are stronger than a Knight plus a wizard, and we still have Zhang Qiu."

"Zhang Qiu hasn't come to school yet either, this period is really difficult..." Ron sighed. "For you and for me."

However, Ron was afraid of OOO before they even fought, and didn't practice swordsmanship, just wallowing in self-pity here. Ron's own problem was also very big. Harry thought so, but didn't say it, just sighed along with him.

Originally, he still hoped to hear some good news from Snape later, but Snape was just discussing the Queen with Mia repeatedly. They were speculating whether the Queen's blood had any special properties, which was equally useless for the predicament Harry was facing.

Returning to the dormitory again, Ron's bed curtains were tightly closed. Harry didn't disturb him, but gently opened his box. The second set of belts and empty bottles that Zhang Qiu helped him ask for were lying quietly on the dress.

Harry stared at them for a while, but finally didn't move to take them. He pulled a robe to cover these things, and then lay down on his bed.

Early the next morning, Harry suddenly said during breakfast: "I'm going to find Hermione again."

Ron's originally listless eyes brightened slightly, then quickly dimmed again. He said in an indifferent tone: "Go ahead."

After breakfast, Harry left Ron and walked toward the library alone. His worry in his heart was even greater: if Hermione could no longer attract Ron's attention, then what was he depressed about?

However, when he walked into the library, these worries were soon replaced by greater horror—he found Alan Harris sitting beside Hermione, the two talking very intimately.

He walked toward his usual seat calmly, pretending not to notice their rendezvous. Then, while opening a book and pretending to read, he added a eavesdropping spell.

"... So you haven't realized this point before, have you?" he could vaguely hear Hermione's voice.

"Yes, but I don't understand why he can exert elements not contained in the full bottles."

"Perhaps this is the beauty of combination and matching. Of course, this can be studied slowly later. The urgent matter now is that you want to defeat Cui Ge."

"Can you help me?"

"I probably can't go to the scene, but I can provide you with some ideas. For example, your previous choice of Orca-Eel-Octopus to counter his Heat-Metal was completely correct, but you might not have fully exerted the electric eel's ability. You know, metal is conductive."

"But what if he changes to Luna-Metal? Luna seems to have turned metal into soft rubber."

"Luna represents mysterious power, it shouldn't change the conductivity of metal. Magic won't change physical properties that wizards don't understand. So when countering Luna-Metal, you can focus more on leg techniques, first use Octopus to entangle, and then find an opportunity to shock him."

"Then Cyclone..."

"Cyclone and Metal shouldn't be used together. Even if he forces it, both strength and agility will be greatly reduced. You can easily win by changing to Rhino-Gorilla-Elephant."

"But I really haven't fought any form with Cyclone, and I'm just speculating now."

"I haven't either, I'm just reasoning from the manual. I think you can actually spar with him again. You both need to use more flexible fighting ideas to make up for the lack of basic attributes. Sparring is good for both of you."

Hearing Alan say goodbye politely and leave, Harry realized belatedly that the relationship between the two was far from as intimate as he had thought. Hermione was just doing consultant work providing suggestions as usual.

He didn't mind Hermione helping outsiders. What really concerned Harry was the manual she mentioned. That manual seemed to contain a lot of information about Double, which only had one possibility: the person who gave Cui Ge the belt compiled this manual and gave it to Alan.

In other words, Alan and Cui Ge were behind the same person. After excluding the possibility of the Magical Congress contacting Cui Ge, the truth was that Alan was instructed by Donald. And his task might be... targeting Ron's mentality, completely shutting him out of the world of the strong.

I'm afraid he's not far from success, Harry sighed again. ===== CHAPTER 418 =====