Chapter 425: Reasoning at the Wine Table

"Oh no," Harry revealed a painful expression. "I really don't know where this Half-Blood Prince spread from, but I'm really not!"

"Alright, but the fact is everyone says it's you. I simply can't talk about this topic with girls," Hermione shook her head with a smile. "Actually, I think the Half-Blood Prince thing is quite interesting, if you say it's not you."

"What Half-Blood Prince, what exactly is going on?" Ron asked, completely confused.

"It's that old Potions textbook I took from you guys," Hermione explained patiently. "The inside cover of that book says 'This book belongs to the Half-Blood Prince', and there are many corrections and notes inside."

"So that's it, no wonder you would think Harry is the Half-Blood Prince," Ron nodded. "But if it's an old textbook, it should be Fred or George's, right? It feels like they are the ones who would do this kind of prank."

"Right, I also felt it was someone who liked pranks at first," Hermione looked at Harry seriously. "But I soon discovered that the corrections of the Half-Blood Prince in the book were correct, and Harry was doing it according to the Prince's way, many potions were like this."

"What?" Harry was stunned. "But—"

"Usually, I don't approve of this kind of correcting textbooks, especially when I'm not sure who the Prince is, it's not a wise practice to believe his notes rashly," Hermione continued. "It's just that your behavior, Harry, caused me some misunderstanding. I thought the Half-Blood Prince was a nickname you gave yourself—actually, I heard you and Neville discussing something like the King of Avalon, and I felt it was quite reasonable."

"So, you felt relieved to choose to believe the Half-Blood Prince?" Harry scratched his head. "This is not saying it's okay, but if we talk about it, since I know the Half-Blood Prince is not me, then who he is is a question worth deep thinking, especially, in case he is a bad person, continuing to believe his notes might not be feasible."

"But if this is the case, you have to explain, why is your potion technique exactly the same as the Prince's notes?" Hermione seemed to still think Harry was the Half-Blood Prince, and instead asked back.

"How would I know? My potions were learned normally in school, I have never invented anything myself, let alone thought about refuting the textbook," Harry also felt confused. However, he vaguely felt that he seemed to have fallen into a thinking trap.

"And, the Sectumsempra spell you used in the Triwizard Tournament," Hermione continued. "And this spell appeared in the Half-Blood Prince's textbook."

"No, no, no, the Sectumsempra spell was taught to me by someone from the Ministry of Magic. He said this was once the specialty of a certain Death Eater," Harry decided not to rush to think about the Sectumsempra spell, he had to hurry to turn his train of thought back and grab the inspiration just now.

"Wow, hahahaha!" A strong laugh suddenly interrupted Harry's train of thought. He frowned and looked at where the sound came from, and found it was McLaggen. He brought a flamboyant smile, squeezed to the side of the table very strongly, and said like a loud bell: "What a coincidence, didn't expect to meet you guys here! Hermione, when did you start playing with them?"

"What are you saying! We knew each other in the first year," Ron said dissatisfied. "Today just happens to be..."

"No, let me tell you," Hermione interrupted him, and then used a strange, can be called condescending tone to say to McLaggen, "We are discussing Kamen Rider matters, do you understand? If you don't understand, go ask the big shots you know, kid!"

McLaggen was stunned immediately. He seemed to be startled, but soon he came back to his senses, said "I will find out" unconvinced, and didn't intend to leave, just insisted on staying here.

Now, Harry, Ron, and Hermione were all a bit embarrassed. The topic about the Half-Blood Prince was also completely disrupted, and for a while, they didn't know what to say—but Hermione's reaction was still fast. She decided to just really talk about Kamen Riders.

"Actually, just mentioned Moon Knight, we can start from Moon Knight's fighting style to find his weaknesses. In fact, I feel the advantage of the OOO system and the Double system lies in that once the opponent's weakness is found, targeted forms can be taken out to form restraint, which is the key to victory."

"But Saber can't change forms? Or rather, from Brave Dragon to Elemental Dragon, what I feel is an all-around strengthening. No matter where Moon Knight's weakness is, I feel Elemental Dragon can break it."

"Yes, I also feel this is a very strange thing, did you guys notice?" Hermione held up two fingers. "When Double and OOO change forms, they sacrifice part of their attributes to strengthen another part, while Cross-Z and Saber have complete strengthening when changing forms, without any trade-offs."

"Should be two ways of using the Knight system," Harry nodded. "According to current information, Cross-Z and Saber should be the ideas recommended by China, the core element should be to constantly become stronger through growth; while the ideas of Double and OOO are developed by the White House, they are prepared to utilize existing conditions to the extreme."

"However, I want to say, but," Hermione's eyes were a bit bright. "This shows that the two ideas are compatible. In other words, Saber or Cross-Z should also have some derivative forms that can be replaced and have different focuses; and Double and OOO should also be able to unlock some special, all-around strengthened forms through growth."

"Aren't Fang Joker and Pteranodon Combo just that?" Ron asked back.

"No, because both of these only strengthen attack power, and don't strengthen defense power. Your Elemental Dragon should be more comprehensive," Hermione continued to speculate. "This shows that they should also have further room for improvement."

"Right... I also feel so. Elemental Dragon doesn't just rely on guidance, it also has to do with his new mental state, or it can be called truly figuring out something," Harry added. "Actually, you have been thinking about it before, right, Ron? The meaning of Knight power, etc."

"Yes, the birth of Elemental Dragon is half the credit of the trigger, and the other half also has to do with my own determination."

"So, if the Henshin users of Double and OOO can also make some kind of determination, they can truly unlock their strongest forms. This way, one of my confusions is answered." Hermione nodded. "One, you mean there is another one?" Harry asked. "But since Saber and Cross-Z already have strengthened forms, I think they shouldn't need derivative forms, right?"

"Although that's the case, the derivative forms of Saber and Cross-Z are not what I want to say. My other confusion is actually, since the Chinese are willing to release the Knight system, then they must have mastered core technology and will not let us obtain power beyond their control."

"This is also a reasonable inference of common sense."

"And then we noticed one thing, the codenames of Kamen Riders are all single words, among which Moon Knight (Kiva), this is a non-existent word, generated from abbreviations. What do you think this means?"

"It means the codename of Kamen Rider must be a single word," Harry quickly understood what Hermione wanted to say. "And considering language differences, maybe this restriction lies in that it must be two to three, or four syllables."

"Then, what is the rule based on?"

"Ah?" Harry didn't quite understand this. "Is this important? I feel you are thinking a bit too jumpy."

"Actually, I am thinking, everyone knows the full name of the belt is the Build Driver, but is it possible that the so-called Build is not an ordinary word, but the codename of another Kamen Rider?" Hermione said seriously. "The strongest Kamen Rider used by the Chinese to control the situation, Build?"

Harry and Ron were both silent. Harry thought further. Zhang Qiu said she wanted to cultivate Ron into the strongest Knight, then what was going on with Build? If standing from Master Master Xuanjun's perspective, indeed, the issuance of the Knight system was based on the Chinese mastering the strongest Knight, sufficient to control the situation. Then if they were willing to let Saber become the strongest Kamen Rider, this was a bit strange.

So, either Zhang Qiu's information had deviations, or... the Chinese had already led everyone by two, three, or even dozens of steps in this arms race of the wizarding world: they not only mastered Kamen Rider technology, but also mastered some technology that could counter Kamen Riders, and even mastered technology that could counter this counter-technology, and even various technologies to deal with various counter-technologies.

Harry shook his head, trying to throw that inexplicable sense of frustration out of his brain. No matter what, the Chinese attitude was still friendly, so just seize the time to develop himself.

After a slight dullness, Hermione revealed a smile that eased the atmosphere again: "Then these things are just groundless speculations, let's go back to the Half-Blood Prince. I feel if this matter can be figured out today, it is a harvest."

Ron also smiled. He remembered the appearance of McLaggen in the middle of the conversation, because he felt he couldn't understand and couldn't insert a word, and could only leave in a gray way, and couldn't help but reveal a very low-quality, mocking smile.

Ron also laughed. He remembered how McLaggen, feeling he couldn't understand or join in the conversation halfway through, had to slink away, and he couldn't help but show a very tacky, mocking smile.

Harry, for his part, showed an unprecedented look of smug satisfaction on this issue. In fact, when Double Riders were repeatedly mentioned just now, he had thought of Cui Ge, and subsequently recalled the conclusion Cui Ge had once reached but which the girls had collectively refuted. Without a doubt, that conclusion was the correct one: the true identity of the Half-Blood Prince was Severus Snape.