The First Lesson of Perfection

Instantly, the entire classroom was dazzled by the Pure Gold Lectern that had appeared before their very eyes.

"How about it?" Kayson said with a smile. Beneath the lectern stood a pair of red-haired twins; he remembered their names but had trouble telling them apart, so for now he'd just call them the Weasley twins.

One of the twins had eyes that gleamed with shock, while the other had already raised his hand high.

"Professor Kayson, is this really turned into gold, or is it just an illusion?" he asked.

"Rest assured, would a professor like me use an illusion to fool you? This is genuinely real gold, and this lectern—if I don't interfere with it—will remain gold forever," Kayson explained.

"So, Professor Kayson, it won't turn back into the original wood?"

"Of course not, otherwise what difference would there be from Transfiguration... If you don't believe me, you can come up and take a bite, if you don't mind it being dirty."

Hearing this, the twins immediately charged toward the lectern, each taking a corner, and began biting down with all their might.

Too bad... well... they couldn't bite anything off, since it was just too thick.

"Oh my god... can we do that too?"

A dark-skinned young wizard, seemed to be called Jordan... anyway, he sounded like he was really good at sports.

He stared in stunned amazement.

"Do you want the truth or a kind lie?" Kayson said with a grin.

"The truth!"

"Ah no, Professor, I think the lie's fine, just let us be happy, that's enough."

Kayson shrugged helplessly at the two completely different answers.

"Alright... I think you can do it."

"So, Professor, is that the truth or a lie?"

Angelina raised her hand and asked.

"Mhm, you guess," Kayson said with a smile.

"Alright, this can only count as a brief introduction to our alchemy, but I still have to tell you—don't get any ideas about this desk, like sneaking it away when the classroom's empty."

"Many people can use alchemy to turn mercury into gold, but only I can freely transform matter like this. Still, we all share one thing in common."

"We don't suddenly pull out a huge lump of gold, because after all, it's still a form of currency. If some foolish alchemist goes crazy converting gold, in the end they'll devalue it to nothing, and the one who suffers is themselves, understand?" After saying this, Kayson looked at the young wizards before him.

"Alright, I don't think you get it. Never mind, I'll handle it myself." He tapped the lectern again, and in the next moment, branches and vines made of tiny gold bars sprouted from its corners.

"No problem now, you can't take it away anymore. Of course... I know you're all eyeing this big pile of gold, aren't you?"

The young wizards below were practically drooling from their eyes.

"...This is a little perk for you. Don't tell anyone else." At this moment, Kayson's phrasing was just like a university teacher marking key points.

Though the difference was, a university teacher might genuinely favor one class and give them a little extra help.

But Kayson's hidden message was: "You all better spread the word! Promote it for me! You can't take the money and not work!"

As for the money, it was the Gold Cubes slowly forming in his hand, each about one ounce, just enough to give one to every student in the class.

After handing them out, as the two show-offs bit heavily into their gold blocks, a stream of positive emotions surged toward Kayson like freebies.

[From Fred: Favorability +10]

[From George: Favorability +10]

[From Jordan: Favorability +10]

A string of favorability boosts did Kayson a lot of good, until he spotted one that was out of place.

[From Tracy: Adoration +10]

!!!

He quickly looked over at Tracy—a cute little girl with blonde hair, blue eyes, and fair skin, staring at him with sparkling eyes.

"No, no, no, adoration won't do here. Favorability is enough, favorability is enough, really!" he shouted inwardly.

Seriously, this was Hogwarts. If it were the Muggle World, this girl wouldn't be coming at him with adoration—she'd be coming for his job security.

Terrifying.

The class period passed quickly, and after it ended, the twenty young wizards who had received his gifts lived up to expectations, spontaneously becoming unpaid promoters.

All of Hogwarts, from the first-year students all the way up to Dumbledore, knew that this new Hogwarts Alchemy professor had pulled off a big stunt.

This kind of money-flinging behavior made the young wizards who had signed up for Alchemy class feel absolutely delighted.

It made the younger students look forward to it, thinking that maybe when it was their turn for class, Kayson would fling money at them too.

And the most devastated ones were probably those third-years who hadn't chosen Alchemy.

As for whether they could still catch up now?

Don't be ridiculous. You don't even need your head—just using your toes to think, you'd know this was definitely a first-class perk.

They had already missed their chance at an ounce of gold!

"Wretched!"

That was Ron's wail.

He'd been like this ever since he saw the two gold bars from the Weasley twins, from afternoon all the way into evening.

"Those are your brothers, isn't this a bit much?" Harry said awkwardly, trying to comfort him.

"Harry, you don't understand. Sure, I can't bear to see them suffer, but I can't bear to see them prosper either. An ounce of gold—I've never seen that much in my whole life!"

This kind of "fear of brothers in hardship, fear of brothers driving a luxury car" behavior left Harry with nothing but a hollow laugh. If you asked whether Ron had any ill intent, absolutely not.

It wasn't even jealousy. He was purely sour.

Human nature, everyone gets it.

Meanwhile, on the other side, Kayson sat in his office. To be honest, he regretted it.

He shouldn't have shown off in class. Now, thanks to the little wizards' big mouths spreading word far and wide, the entire magical world knew about this alchemist who had transformed a lectern into gold.

But everything had two sides.

Take the good side, for instance: he had gained fame, firing the first shot to make a name for himself in the magical world.

The golden lectern and those gold cubes were all proof of his alchemical prowess, just like Professor McGonagall was proof of Transfiguration's greatness.

Or Snape was proof of Potions' mastery.

He had become another of Hogwarts' trademarks: Kayson, the alchemist extraordinaire.

Of course, there was a bad side too.

Leaving aside the risk of being kidnapped by Dark Wizard criminals, Just look at the letter in front of him—it was from Gringotts.