The three of them, carrying plates, turned and walked back to their respective long tables after being subjected to several complex gazes.
Lily sat back in her Gryffindor seat, and a small circle of space instantly appeared around her as several lower-class students looked at her with awe.
Snape returned to the long table in Ravenclaw, where a bespectacled boy next to him subconsciously moved his plate aside.
Kayson plopped down next to John Abott as usual.
John Abbott glanced at Kayson's calm profile, then at Professor Heath's gaze from the High Table —a gaze reminiscent of Snape looking at Harry —and silently moved his plate half an inch to the side. He decided to stay away from Kayson every day...at least a foot away.
The day's classes ended quickly. The three of them met up for a final meal in the Great Hall before heading to their respective detention areas.
Kayson then took over Heath's alchemy office.
Heath's Alchemy office doesn't resemble a room; it's more like a Magical Menagerie -out specimen room and a junkyard.
A shaved unicorn head was nailed to the wall, and several huge, metallic-gleaming Hippogriff were piled in the corner.
On the long table, a crucible emitted suspicious purple smoke, and scattered around it were gears, the dried tentacles of an unknown creature, and half a piece of gnawed Sanji.
The air is a mixture of formaldehyde, sulfur, burnt metal, and syrup pie.
"Sit wherever you like." Heath kicked aside a moss-covered stone basin blocking his way and walked behind his cluttered lab bench.
Kayson looked around. This place could be described as a mecca for maximalists and racists. You could sit anywhere and you might end up sitting on some strange biological organism. He wisely chose to stand.
I must buy a big house someday.
Heath pulled a flat iron can from his robe, scooped out a large lump of dark, paste-like substance, spread it on a loaf of bread, and stuffed it into his mouth, chewing it heartily.
Kayson blinked. "What are you eating? Shoe polish?"
"For dietary fiber? Want some?" Heath pushed the tin towards Kayson.
"Um, I guess I'll pass."
"Tsk, doesn't understand what the body really needs." Heath shook his head regretfully, scooping out another dollop of black ointment.
Kayson: "..." He seemed to understand why Professor McGonagall trembled when she mentioned this person.
Heath devoured the black bread in a few bites, wiped his greasy fingers casually on his robe, and fixed his eyes on Kayson like searchlights. "Alright, Kayson, it's time to show your power, hurry up!"
He clapped his hands, and something covered with a canvas in the corner of the office made a clanging sound.
"Let me see if your claim of being able to manipulate everything with your bare hands is just empty talk."
Kayson nodded. "How do we demonstrate?"
"Let's start with something simple. What can you make, like knives, spears, swords, halberds, axes, hooks, and forks? Or can you DIY anything?" Heath said.
Kayson said "Oh," and waved his hand, causing swords, axes, pickaxes, and hoes to float in front of him. "These are the simplest and most convenient tools. You can have more, but that would be troublesome."
Heath held his breath, his eyes widened, and he quickly stood up.
His eyes were almost touching the tip of the sword. Instead of dodging, he excitedly leaned forward, his nose nearly touching the cold, absolutely smooth blade.
Kayson awkwardly touched his nose. He just stood there watching Heath spout strange nonsense, like "Emei is so tough!" "Biu Te Fou!" "Oh my god!" and other oddities.
Then he raised his head again.
"Can it transform into something else?" Heath asked impatiently. "A shield? Armor?"
Kayson thought for a moment and nodded, "Yes, bro, yes!"
He raised his hand again.
This time, these things appeared directly on him.
A set of silver-white, square iron armor.
"Don't ask why he's square-faced, it's just his personal preference," Kayson explained.
"I respect your love." Heath excitedly pushed a blackboard out.
The blackboard was covered with densely packed blueprints, anatomical sketches, hastily written formulas, and extremely abstract human anatomy diagrams circled in red pen.
Heath grabbed a piece of chalk and began scribbling furiously on the blank space of the blackboard.
"Look here!" He pointed to a stick figure he had drawn. "A real human body, so ridiculous! Even if you built up your muscles to be like that big guy in the Forbidden Forest, you still wouldn't be as good as Muggle excavator! The bones are as brittle as the feelings between a man and a woman, they'd shatter at the slightest touch! Even the internal organs have a Lin Daiyu -like beauty to them!"
The chalk struck the blackboard with a loud thud.
"Therefore, we obtained this..."
With a few quick strokes, he drew a rough, blocky structure on the stick figure's arm.
"Here! Let's just say 'skeleton' in general. What's the strongest material you can create? Well, I'll keep my estimate low: just simple iron! But that's still much stronger than ordinary skeletons, not just in terms of hardness, but also in terms of toughness! Not only that, you can also make its physical properties even more outstanding by adjusting its specific structure!"
Then he started drawing wildly on the spine of the little man.
"If it's the spine, we can replace it with something that has better and faster energy conduction, such as gold or crystal."
The chalk was pointed at the chest cavity.
"Regarding internal organs, such as the heart, the reason why blood flows throughout the body is that I can design a mechanical heart for you. Of course, you can keep the original one. I can design a mechanical heart for you as the first one."
"There are also people who are warm-blooded, and they are very likely to freeze to death or die from heat. We can also modify them to make them immune to cold and heat."
Kayson raised an eyebrow and suddenly hugged a furnace with both hands. "Heat? That's something."
Heath abruptly threw down the chalk. "What's this?"
"The furnace!" Kayson replied.
"To light a fire?"
Kayson nodded.
Heath pursed his lips, and his long-winded speech eventually turned into a laugh. He grinned, and his white teeth gleamed coldly in the dim alchemical lamplight.
A brief silence fell over the office.
The only sound was the bubbling of purple smoke coming from the crucible.
Kayson continued to stare at the stick figure on the blackboard, which was drawn completely unrecognizable and filled with various parts.
He looked down at his outstretched palm.
The lines on the palm are clear.
He slowly clenched his fist.
The knuckles made a slight clicking sound.
Then.
He looked up at Heath, who was snorting excitedly through his nostrils.
"I already know what your first modification should be."
[Requesting a gift]
[Submission area]
Cicadas are not winter cicadas