Inside the Potions classroom.
Lucien toyed with an uneven sphere. As its gears turned, the slots and metal rods on its surface pulsed in a regular rhythm.
At the same time, he used his wand to make minute adjustments to the components inside the sphere. This was a simplified puppet core he had made last night, capable of serving as the power source for a golem puppet or mechanical creation.
Because it was so simple, the power it could provide was limited. It could probably drive a mechanical animal no larger than a cat or dog at most.
Still, that was enough. He only needed to make an alchemical mechanical animal; its size and functions did not matter.
Well, the core itself was fine. It only required basic alchemical forging and mechanical knowledge.
But once it came to assembling the body and making it move, Transfiguration would have to be involved. More precisely, permanent Transfiguration.
Otherwise, only he himself would be able to use this mechanical creation, and he would need to cast spells frequently to maintain the Transfiguration effect.
So it turned out that crafting a mechanical animal and mastering permanent Transfiguration looked like two separate tasks, but were pretty much the same task.
"Lucien, what's that in your hand?"
Lucien raised his head. Ron, seated in the front row, was staring at him curiously—or rather, at the spherical core in his hand.
"Just a little toy I made on a whim. What, are you interested in this sort of thing?"
"You made it yourself? Lucien, you really are amazing. Hehe, my dad likes Muggle technological items, including complicated mechanical creations, so I know a little about them too."
Lucien nodded. Right, Ron's father had modified a flying car, and this kid had been bold enough to drive it