Designated Alchemy Segment
After two rounds of written tests, the competition moved on to the first practical stage: designated alchemy.
Beauxbatons designated a side room as the venue for today's game.
Although it was a side hall, the space was still quite spacious for the school connected to the palace complex, enough to allow six large and fully equipped alchemy workbenches to be placed without interfering with each other.
Unlike the previous two written tests, the practical test not only required more space, but also allowed some students to observe on-site.
Most of the people sitting in the audience were upperclassmen from Beauxbatons.
Although Alchemy Class were offered here early on, only a few wizards possessed the talent and perseverance to study them in depth.
Madame Maxime sat upright on the judges' panel. With her present, the students remained quiet and dared not discuss anything casually, but curious eyes couldn't help but dart back and forth between the six contestants.
Of all those gazes, the most and the longest lingered on Lucien.
This is understandable, though. Even though Lucien is taller than his peers, the age difference is still obvious when he stands next to other players in their sixth or seventh year.
Moreover, many Beauxbatons students have noticed in recent days that this representative of Hogwarts is occasionally seen walking with Phoebe.
Given Phoebe's notoriously proud and picky nature in Beauxbatons, it's rare to find someone who can get along with her peacefully or even befriend her, which has aroused much curiosity and interest.
In addition, there were quite a few Beauxbatons girls in the audience, whose eyes lingered on Lucien's face.
His dark green eyes, in particular, appeared exceptionally deep under the hall's lighting, as if they could draw one's gaze into them.
The six alchemy tables are ready.
After the contestants from the three schools took their places on the stage, Madame Maxime waved her enormous hand.
In an instant, materials of exactly the same type and quantity appeared neatly on everyone's workbench.
"Today's designated item for crafting is— Microclimate Bottle," Madame Maxime's booming voice echoed in the hall. "Three sets of each basic material are available. If you run out, you can request replacements. The competition has a five-hour time limit; failure to complete within the time limit will be considered a failure."
She paused briefly, her gaze sweeping over each contestant to confirm they all understood the rules, before announcing loudly:
"The match begins now!"
The atmosphere suddenly tensed as soon as he finished speaking.
The contestants immediately sprang into action, and the hall was filled with the sounds of clinking utensils and rustling materials moving around.
Lucien moved swiftly and methodically, setting up his work area in an orderly fashion.
At the same time, information about "Microclimate Bottle" flashed through his mind.
This is a high-difficulty alchemy tool within the scope of N.E.W.T. Examinations. Its function is to adjust and control parameters such as temperature and humidity within a small range, thereby simulating a specific natural climate environment.
The reason it was chosen as the exam question is that the quality of the finished product is immediately apparent – one only needs to observe whether the final bottle can stably and realistically simulate several different climates to roughly judge the skill level of the refiner.
This stage primarily assesses the contestants' speed in completing complex alchemical creations within a specified time, as well as the final product's completeness and quality.
Five hours seems like plenty of time; "unlimited" materials also sound very generous.
But those in the know understand that this "unlimited" offer is more of a psychological comfort.
Alchemy is a complicated and time-consuming process. If a major mistake is made along the way, not only will precious materials be wasted, but also irretrievable time will be lost.
If you fail two or three times in a row, there may not be enough time left to recreate a high-quality piece.
Lucien's gaze fell on a milky white crystal, its interior seemingly shrouded in mist. This crystal would serve as the core of the Microclimate Bottle. He gently brushed his fingertips across the crystal's surface, and the elemental runes on his fingertips lit up one by one.