Path of Longevity Outsourcing Business Opens

After Roger's initial experiments, he determined that using his Microscopic World Transfiguration as an entry point to seek a way to extend life was feasible.

But Roger soon encountered the same problem as the ancient wizards.

The reason ancient wizards did not pursue the path of microscopic transfiguration or use Transfiguration to create things like neutron radiation bursts—

—was that Transfiguration was a rational form of magic. It required not only that the caster possess a clear understanding of what the target was to become, but also that they be able to perceive the target itself.

If their understanding of what it was meant to become was insufficient, it would be like Ron turning a rat into a cup in Transfiguration class, only for the cup to still have half a rat's tail on it—a failed, incomplete transfiguration.

If their understanding of the target was insufficient, the spell would fail completely, and nothing would happen.

Whether you could see the rat directly or feel it with your hands, at the very least, you had to know you were turning A into B. You could not create B when you did not even know what A looked like.

Creating something from nothing fell under the domain of Summoning Charms, which were part of Transfiguration.

With the aid of a microscope, Roger could directly perceive the existence of cells and capture their forms. But the microscope's precision was limited, so Roger's range of manipulation remained at the cellular level.

Like the ancient wizards, being limited by the scale of his perception and unable to cast more precise spells was one thing.

But Roger's other predicament was even more troublesome.

The Path of Longevity Roger wanted to pursue required him to create a kind of microscopic substance that could be controlled by his will while also repairing and modifying his body.

Never mind what substance could help Roger modify his body—simply figuring out how to link his will to microscopic matter was an enormous problem! After studying at Hogwarts for some time, Roger's understanding of the magical world had reached a new level.

Before long, he came up with a method that was barely a method at all.

And another method that he did not know would work.

"Let's try both."

Harry Potter had not expected that after running into Professor Quirrell and talking with him about Roger, just two days later, he would cross paths with Roger again.

"Please, help me." Roger spoke with a serious expression.

He did not feel the slightest bit embarrassed. If asking someone for help could solve a problem better, then that was what he should do.

Trouble?

Relationships between people were built through trouble. You help me, I help you; you demonstrate your value to each other. After enough back and forth, once the sunk cost was high enough, a relationship of trust would naturally form. That was networking... unless you had absolutely nothing to offer in return and were merely exploiting the other person one-sidedly.

When you were not yet powerful enough to defeat the entire world alone, making good use of connections between people was an extremely useful skill.

The difficult part of that skill was judging who was worth trusting and getting close to, and who would instead bring you endless trouble. But such difficulties did not exist for Roger, a "prophet."

"Sure." Harry Potter agreed readily to Roger's request.

After all, it was only a small matter.

After saying that, Harry led Roger toward the other side of Hogwarts Castle, in the direction of the Forbidden Forest.

He was taking Roger to see Hagrid.

Roger could have gone himself, but an introduction from an acquaintance made things easier.

What Roger wanted Hagrid to do was rather complicated. If Hagrid himself had not been someone deeply interested in Magical Creatures, Roger would have found it difficult to get him to agree to his request for help.

When handling troublesome matters, the higher the initial favorability, the better.

And just as Roger had expected, when Hagrid saw Harry bring someone over, he was not displeased in the least. Instead, he was delighted.

Delighted that Harry had made another friend at school.

"...Magical Creatures that can't be seen with the naked eye?" The towering half-giant Hagrid struggled to lift his head from the microscope Roger had brought.

He rubbed his neck, which ached from being bent over for too long.

He roughly understood what Roger meant. Not invisible Magical Creatures, but Magical Creatures small enough to be invisible.

"Yes, and I'm also somewhat interested in breeding bloodlines between different Magical Creatures." Roger nodded.

His idea was simple.

A Boggart was a Magical Creature that could see into your heart and transform into whatever you feared most. It had "once" turned into a Dementor and nearly frightened Harry into fainting.

Among Magical Creatures, there were creatures capable of sensing the thoughts of other living beings.

If there were a creature small enough to sense a wizard's thoughts, yet so tiny that it had no brain and no thoughts of its own, while also being able to transform, then perhaps it could satisfy Roger's needs to a certain extent.

Roger intended to crossbreed such a creature.

But that fell within the fields of bloodline magic and Magical Creature studies, which Roger was unfamiliar with.

It deviated from the Transfiguration path he had originally chosen, and its future potential was also lower than that of his Transfiguration path, so Roger did not intend to switch tracks.

Now, Roger wanted to "outsource" this path that he did not plan to pursue for the time being.

If he truly failed to make the Transfiguration-based Path of Longevity work someday, at least he would have something to fall back on. He would not end up like the old wizard who wrote Bloodline Magic and Transfiguration—Speculations on Future Eras, entering a new field from scratch with too little time left, only to die of old age halfway through.

Roger not only liked to prepare for a rainy day, but also generally made multiple preparations whenever he did something.

And on Hagrid's side, even if Roger succeeded with his Transfiguration path and never needed these Magical Creatures, he would still remember Hagrid's kindness. Besides, successfully cultivating a uniquely special new Magical Creature, if handled properly, would itself be enough to bring Hagrid enormous profits!

"This..." After Roger honestly shared some of his thoughts with Hagrid, Hagrid lowered his head and pondered for a moment.

"Alright! I'll help you!"

He was willing to help Roger cultivate this kind of Magical Creature.

Hagrid was huge and simple-minded. He agreed not because Roger was a prophet, not because of any promises Roger had made, and not because of Harry.

It was simply because creating a Magical Creature that no one had even heard of—one that might even warrant its own separate category in the study of magical creatures—was... too cooool for someone who loved magical creatures as much as he did! This was the coolest thing Hagrid had heard all year! Even cooler than the Philosopher's Stone!

Having received his answer, Harry and Roger ended their visit with Hagrid.

Both left smiling. Roger smiled because his goal had been smoothly achieved, while Harry was happy that he, too, could become someone who helped others.

Then, a sudden cold wind swept past.

Their school uniforms billowed back and forth in the wind.

Roger could no longer smile.

"What's wrong?" Harry, who had been watching Roger, noticed that Roger's expression looked as though he had eaten a lemon.

"...Nothing. Just a side effect of a magical experiment."

Of the two solutions Roger had devised for his difficult problem, one was the path of outsourcing ultra-microscopic Magical Creature cultivation to Hagrid.

The other was also moving forward.

However, because his technique was not yet mature enough, something had gone wrong with Roger's body. Simply put, like Blackbeard after eating the Dark-Dark Fruit, his sense of pain had been amplified many times over.

What had once been a soft school uniform now felt like an instrument of torture. Whenever the wind blew, it was like being put through a brutal punishment.

"A magical experiment?" Although Harry knew Roger was working on things like eternal life, he did not know the specifics of Roger's research.

"Yes. I call it... Magical Neuron Reconstruction Technology."

"Would you be interested in trying it?" Roger revealed a kind smile.