Progress Report

"If it's not for the beautiful and charming Miss Granger, then what exactly is the purpose of our organization in recruiting Muggle-born wizard?" Daphne's eyes flickered, and then she asked with a smile.

Skylar let out a long sigh of relief.

This is not really a secret. He just felt that the real reason was difficult to explain to others, especially since the people he needed to explain to were students who had not yet entered society.

He knew that with his current prestige, even if he chose not to explain, no one in the Sleeping Dragon Society would question him.

However, Daphne, Morrie, and the others had been working tirelessly for him and silently supporting him since the establishment of the Sleeping Dragon Society. Coupled with Eleanor's previous situation and now Hermione's involvement, he didn't want to create any misunderstandings that might hurt the girls' feelings.

"Alright, I'll try to explain it to you," Skylar said in a deep voice.

"The Great Britain wizarding world has actually been stagnant since the beginning of this century, and the development of the entire society has almost come to a standstill. Have you ever thought about why?" Skylar asked.

"Well..." Daphne said uncertainly, "Because of the Ministry of Magic's bureaucracy and official corruption? Or Minister Fudge's weakness and incompetence in governing?"

"No," Morrie said, "I think what Skylar means is that class stratification and knowledge monopoly have prevented magic from having opportunities for innovation."

"What you all say is actually correct," Skylar nodded noncommittally, but added, "But none of you have hit the nail on the head."

"Whether it's the various unfair regulations of the Ministry of Magic, the brain drain caused by class stratification, or the academic barriers formed by knowledge monopolies, these are indeed prerequisites for the development of a magical society, but they are not the driving force for innovation and development in a magical society."

"Development, in fact, needs to be driven by a certain supply and demand relationship."

"To put it simply, the most common mode of transportation in the wizarding world is the Broomstick, right?" Skylar continued, "But have you ever considered that the Broomstick isn't necessarily the best mode of transportation?"

"What does that mean?" This piqued the interest of the girls, who listened intently.

"Broomstick involve a huge chain of interests. Wealthy and powerful wizards, in order to maintain their sense of superiority as a class, tightly control the production capacity, keeping the price of Broomstick consistently high. This forces wizards from ordinary families to work hard and save money, eventually spending a large sum of their savings to buy a Broomstick. And by then, various upgraded versions of Broomstick have often appeared, with more functions, faster speed, and more stable performance. Is that right?"

The girls nodded in agreement.

"In this situation, because market demand far exceeds supply, people can only blindly pursue a Broomstick that they can afford. Meanwhile, Broomstick manufacturers are preoccupied with how to make their Broomstick more exquisite and faster in order to seize a larger market share in the competition."

"Human innovation is driven by demand—without sufficient demand, there can be no sufficient potential benefits, making it difficult for anyone to invest the effort, time, and money to explore new directions and innovate."

"Let's imagine another possibility," Skylar said eloquently, "If one day, class distinctions are broken down, or the secret knowledge of making Broomstick is no longer monopolized, and the price of Broomstick becomes more affordable, so that almost every wizard can afford a high-quality Broomstick, then the gap between the rich and poor will narrow. What do you think would happen?"

"It will probably be like food," Morrie adjusted her black-rimmed glasses, adopting her scholarly air of meticulous history study, "When society as a whole escapes famine and the predicament of insufficient food production, people will begin to seek new needs, that is, needs will begin to upgrade, gradually shifting from the need for survival value to the need for emotional value."

"Yes, take the Broomstick as an example. In order to regain a sense of class superiority, or to find a new way to make money, some people will be willing to invest a lot of money in research. Perhaps one day, a completely new mode of transportation will appear, and it may even completely replace the Broomstick."

"That's the crux of the problem," Skylar said. "Most of the wealth in the wizarding world is controlled by Pure-blood families. Ordinary wizards, even if they have brilliant ideas, don't have enough resources to realize them. Not to mention that most of the monopolized industries involve various kinds of knowledge and crafts that are considered family secrets. Without this knowledge and crafts accumulated over hundreds of years as a foundation, it would take an ordinary wizard at least several decades to research them all on their own."

Skylar was actually talking about was basic knowledge of economics and sociology in the Muggle world. Although it was only basic knowledge, it was more than enough for a wizarding society where the financial and monetary system was still linked to precious metals.

The girls stared wide-eyed, completely taken aback.

"Uh, although I didn't quite understand, what role did the Muggle-born wizard play in it?" Daphne asked persistently.

"As I said, innovation and development are driven by demand. Opportunities for innovation and reform only arise when the gap between classes—whether Pure-blood, Half-blood, or Muggle —is narrowed to a certain extent, especially when that innovation is revolutionary enough to bring about revolutionary change," Skylar patiently explained. "Therefore, we cannot abandon Muggle-born wizard; the advancement of new magic requires the participation of the entire society."

"Actually, I have another idea," Skylar said. "Muggle-born wizard grow up with Muggle education, and their exposure and way of thinking are very different from ours. For example, they place great importance on calculation and logic, and this difference in thinking is an important source of inspiration."

"I'll say it again: the innovation of the magical world requires the joint efforts of every wizard. Every talent is invaluable, and discrimination based on bloodline will only lead to the loss and waste of talent," Skylar concluded.

"Alright, you pass." Daphne smiled mischievously. "We believe your decision to win over Muggle-born wizard has nothing to do with Granger, so you won't have to come up with another long-winded argument later."

Phew, finally passed.

Skylar shook his head before saying, "Let's not talk about that. Is there any recent progress from the Sleeping Dragon Society that you need to report to me?"

"Susan asked me to pass on some intelligence— Peter Pettigrew has made contact with the Silver Spear Organization and successfully joined the Bounty Hunters Guild. He will be going to a Middle East country embroiled in war and civil war for training soon," Daphne said.

"Okay, I understand. Anything else?" Skylar said casually.

"The three heads of the vassal families of the House of Selwyn and House of Yaxley — the House of Bletchley, House of Quigley, and House of Cadwaladr —formally signed magical contracts pledging allegiance to you yesterday and have already sent you the documents. Would you like to review them?" With that, Daphne pulled a stack of parchment from her pocket, which emitted a faint magical aura.

"No need, I trust you to handle things." Looking at the densely written contract clauses on the document, Skylar said softly with a touch of heartache, "Thank you, Daphne."

Skylar knew that dealing with the complex relationships between these Pure-blood families was not easy, but fortunately he had Daphne, his girlfriend whom he trusted completely, to share the burden.

"There's one more thing. After we received Cadwallader's pledge of allegiance, Yurig Cadwallader, a sixth-year student still studying in Hufflepuff, has joined the Sleeping Dragon Society through Susan, at the behest of his family."

"He is Chaser on the Hufflepuff Quidditch Team and is highly respected in Hufflepuff House. His close friend, Summerby, also a substitute Seeker on the Quidditch team, has joined with him. I have arranged for the two of them to join Susan's Dragon Eye Group to share the intelligence work with Susan and to recruit upperclassmen from Hufflepuff to join the Sleeping Dragon Society."

"Well done," Skylar praised, "But we still need to carefully assess the abilities and loyalty of the new members."

Of the three houses— Slytherin, Ravenclaw, and Hufflepuff —Slytherin is self-explanatory, Ravenclaw has Cho Chang, but Hufflepuff's upperclassmen have always been a difficult area for the Sleeping Dragon Society to penetrate. Now, with the addition of two new members, this gap has been filled.

"Cadwallader's loyalty is beyond question; it's included in the magical contract their patriarch established—if Yurig acts out of line and harms the organization, it will have serious consequences for his entire family," she said, turning her gaze to Morrie. "That's about it. I have nothing else to say."

Morrie said, "Skylar, I've assembled suitable members and established two dedicated project teams for the Black Bowtruckle and the active storage fluid you entrusted to me. They officially began their respective research work last night."

"Yes, we should prioritize researching the Black Bowtruckle. If this research is successful, it will greatly enhance the safety of the Sleeping Dragon Society members."

"Okay, I understand."