Alchemy Engine

"Malfoy, save me!"

As Bole Anrera cried out, Malfoy, who had been watching from the sidelines, suddenly jolted.

He knew nothing good would come of staying here. On one side was Kane, whom his father had told him to befriend; on the other was his status as Slytherin's big brother.

As the best-born, most talented, and most human-like young wizard in this year's Slytherin, he had naturally become the head of this year's Slytherins. Now that one of his underlings had been beaten up, if he, the boss, did not stand up for him, he probably would not be able to keep being the boss.

And if he chose to scold Bole Anrera for the sake of his friendship with Kane and the others, the consequences would be even worse. It would be like a little brother eating a spoon for his boss, only for the boss to think that was not satisfying enough and hand him a bowl as well.

If that happened, never mind remaining the boss—whether he could continue to hold his ground in Slytherin would be a problem.

"Ugh, I really don't want to shoulder this responsibility." Draco Malfoy muttered in a voice only he could hear as he stepped in front of Bole Anrera.

"Kane, Bole is my friend. I hope you'll do me a favor." Draco Malfoy played the face card, speaking with what could barely be called resolve.

"Just make him promise never to have any contact with me again and to avoid me whenever possible." Kane did not make any excessive demands. After all, all he really wanted was a peaceful, stable life at Hogwarts.

Draco turned back to Bole. "Can you do that?"

Bole Anrera immediately nodded like a pecking chicken. "Of course! Of course!"

"Also." Kane suddenly remembered something. "Mr. Anrera, how many Galleons do you have in your pocket right now?"

Bole Anrera instantly felt his wallet tighten. "What are you trying to do? Malfoy, hurry up and help me! If my money gets taken, don't expect me to call you boss again!"

Draco fell silent. This was another dilemma. If he made Bole Anrera hand over money, his status would be ruined. But paying on Bole's behalf did not feel right either.

He could treat Kane to food and drinks for the sake of friendship, but in this situation, giving Kane money would be nothing less than admitting defeat.

"Kane, didn't I say to do me a favor?" Malfoy's voice gradually turned stern.

"Otherwise, why do you think I'm negotiating with him here? We were friends on the train, after all. I have no reason to target you. You just need to step aside." Kane spoke calmly.

Before school began, he had made a Science Machine, but that machine could only craft things from the Eternal Realm. If he wanted to use the Eternal Realm's magic, he still needed to climb the tech tree and make an Alchemy Engine—and the materials for the Alchemy Engine still required gold...

It really was quite a coincidence. The moment he had the need, Mr. Bole Anrera appeared right before him. Wasn't this practically a walking god of wealth?

After a moment's thought, Draco decided which side he should stand on.

Compared with Kane's friendship, which had nothing to do with him, the Anrera family, who had been friends of the Malfoy family since the seventeenth century, was far more important.

"Of course not." Draco Malfoy abruptly pulled out his wand. He was not a worthless fool like Bole, and he would not let Kane slam him into a wall in one move.

Kane raised an eyebrow and, without the slightest hesitation, flicked his wand. A blue glow shot forth and heavily smacked Draco Malfoy against the wall.

Magic was just that wonderful. It always turned the impossible into possible.

The instant Kane made his move, Harry and Ron immediately joined the fight. Their wands were already in their hands.

Meanwhile, Malfoy's two lackeys, Goyle and Crabbe, clearly did not possess such reflexes.

Thus, right under everyone's noses, they watched Kane take nearly fifty gold Galleons from Bole Anrera.

Of course, Draco... considering that he had treated them to Willy Wonka Chocolate on the train, Kane spared his Galleons.

After Kane and the others took the Galleons and swaggered away, Snape finally emerged from the classroom and saw the wreckage in the corridor.

"So? You got into a fight with Gryffindor and lost?" Snape naturally guessed what had happened, his face darkening.

"Yes, Professor." Malfoy got up from the wall and lowered his head.

"Copy the potion notes from class three times each when you return. And I need the names of the Gryffindors who beat you into this state," Snape said.

"Kane Hiss," Draco answered.

"And?"

"Only Kane Hiss."

Hearing that infuriating name, Snape could not stop himself from pinching the bridge of his nose.

So many Slytherins had a conflict with one person, yet two of their own had been slapped onto the wall so hard they nearly could not be peeled off, while the other Slytherins merely watched.

And the instigator had charged in and out like Zhao Zilong, as though he were entering and leaving his own bathroom...

"Copy it six times... no, nine times. Copy it nine times." After saying that, Snape left the corridor in a foul mood, leaving behind a mountain of Slytherin-targeted homework.

Meanwhile, in the Gryffindor common room.

"My dad said Galleons have goblin magic in them. They're not that easy to melt," Ron reminded them as he looked at the neatly arranged Galleons in the small cauldron.

"Don't worry. I'm not using ordinary fire." As Kane spoke, he ignited his shadow, then tossed the mass of shadowy flame directly into the cauldron.

Ron's mouth instantly formed an O. Nearly fifty Galleons melted into liquid gold in an instant, like ice cream in summer.

Harry hurriedly picked up the cauldron and poured the liquid gold into the molds in two batches.

Ron used tongs to grip the molds and tossed them directly into the basin of water beside them.

And just like that, after wasting two or three days at Hogwarts, they had finally gathered enough gold for two pieces.

Kane immediately used an Unfeeling Iron Hand to scoop the two pieces of gold out of the water, then ran to the Science Machine nearby. Sitting on the floor, his hands flew like he was weaving cat's cradle, and in an instant, he crafted two electronic components resembling motors by hand.

The most important parts were done. He still had leftover wooden boards from before, so the only material left for making the Alchemy Engine was stone bricks.

Unfortunately, it was getting late. There was probably no time left to go outside and dig up stone.

Luckily...

Kane's gaze fell upon the stone-brick floor in the corner of the dormitory.

"Hogwarts, I love you."

As if he had some peculiar fetish, Kane did things that hurt Little McDonald while repeatedly declaring his love for it, then casually pried up a stone brick.

Harry and Ron had been playing Wizard's Chess when they suddenly heard a sound like renovations again. They looked up.

"What is that round, lumpy machine that looks like it was pieced together from rusty sheets of metal for?" Harry asked quietly.

"This?" Kane patted the large machine's metal shell. "I call it the Alchemy Engine."