Herman felt that he was flawless from any angle.
With a perfect appearance, fluid movements, the ability to cast spells, serve tea, understand commands, and even possessing a pleasing demeanor.
He said sincerely, "It's absolutely perfect, like a work of art."
But after hearing this sincere compliment, Marlene sighed instead.
She put down her teacup, her gaze falling on the puppet, her tone carrying the regret of someone who strives for perfection. "But it's just a work of art, or rather, a toy, a failed creation."
Herman silently complained to himself, "What's wrong with a toy? At least it's a very good toy that both adults and children can play with."
However, following Marlene's train of thought, she still asked curiously, "Is something wrong?"
Marlene pointed to the puppet's eyes and said, "Look closely."
Herman looked in the direction she was pointing.
Those emerald green eyes were open quietly, like two perfect gems set in their sockets. Light refracted on the surface of their pupils, creating a delicate luster, so deep that they seemed to reflect the entire room.
At first, he felt there was nothing wrong with it, and even thought that the eyes were the most outstanding part of the entire puppet.
But after watching for a while, a strange feeling slowly crept up on me.
There was nothing in those eyes.
It's like a mirror, where you can only see your own reflection; it's like a lake, so calm that there's not even a breeze, no ripples or waves, so clean it's chilling.
Herman watched for a while, then suddenly felt a chill on the back of his neck.
He looked away and tentatively asked Marlene, "Is it because you lack energy?"
Marlene nodded, seemingly quite pleased that Herman had noticed this.
"Yes, to be precise, it has no soul; it's just a lifeless object."
Herman watched as Marlene calmly uttered those words, and he was speechless.
People who do research are all crazy, as expected.
Although you are a wizard, the soul is the most mysterious and unpredictable thing in any world. Even Dumbledore and Voldemort couldn't fully understand it.
Not to mention, you're not just playing with souls, you're trying to create them.
Although she was inwardly cursing, Herman still had to play her part well, and said with an innocent expression:
"It seems that's indeed the case. Professor, are you trying to create a soul, to make this puppet more human-like?"
He spoke with perfect control of his tone, carrying the kind of curiosity unique to an eleven-year-old who seemed to understand but wasn't quite sure. His eyes widened slightly, and his gaze shifted back and forth between the puppet and Marlene, as if confirming that he was right.
When Marlene heard those words, he paused for a moment.
The pause was so short that Herman probably wouldn't have noticed it if he hadn't been secretly observing her reaction.
But it did pause for a moment, its fingertips gripping the edge of the saucer, hovering in the air for what seemed like an eternity.
Then she put the saucer back on the table. Whether she realized she had said too much or felt that discussing souls with a first-year wizard was indeed a bit beyond her level, she spoke in a softer tone than before, as if she had inadvertently steered the conversation in another direction.
"I just wanted to make it more flexible." She glanced at the puppet standing beside her, her gaze lingering on its emerald green eyes for a moment before returning to her own. " Alchemy, after all, should always have some aspirations."
Herman listened to this, he repeatedly pondered the words "have some ambition" in his mind.
This is no small pursuit; creating souls is probably the ultimate question in philosophy and theology in the Muggle world, and it is also the ultimate question in the wizarding world, no less so than the Deathly Hallows.
Although Professor Malin phrased it subtly, her meaning was clear: she wanted more than just a moving, spell-casting, and perfectly formed puppet; she wanted a real being with its own consciousness.
However, Herman did not press the matter further.
Professor Malin's move to change the subject was quite obvious; asking any further questions would have been rather tactless.
Moreover, his main purpose in coming here today was not to explore the mysteries of the soul; he had a bunch of questions waiting to be asked in his own notebook.
Marlene probably thought so too. She shifted her gaze from the puppet to the notebook spread out on the table next to Herman. The open pages were covered with dense writing, some with folded corners, clearly indicating that it had been accumulated over a long period of time.
"Looks like you've prepared quite a few questions for me." She sat back down at the control panel, picked up the half-finished teacup, and her tone returned to its normal professorial rhythm. "Let's hurry, I still need to fine-tune this puppet."
Herman quickly picked up the notebook and flipped to the first page, which contained notes on the various problems he had encountered while practicing Dissilio.
He first asked about spellcasting techniques, such as how to improve the fluidity of hand gestures, how to coordinate the rhythm of magic output with the rotational movements, and which characteristics should be observed first when breaking down different materials.
Marlene answered each question one by one, speaking slowly but conveying a wealth of information, each sentence carrying a refined precision.
"There are no shortcuts to Dissilio's hand gestures; you can only practice repeatedly. But you can narrow down your approach to single materials first. For example, practice with wood if you're working with wood, and with metal if you're working with metal. Once you've achieved a stable success rate with a single material, then you can try composite structures."
"Follow your breathing rhythm when you output magic. Start when you inhale and finish when you exhale. Don't stop in between. If you stop, as I said before, the magic will go astray."
"When observing materials, first look at the texture, then the cross-section, and finally the distribution of residual magic. The texture determines its original structure, the cross-section tells you where it started to loosen, and the distribution of residual magic determines whether you can dismantle it completely in one go."
Herman listened and quickly took notes in his notebook, the tip of his quill pen making a dense rustling sound on the paper.
Every point Professor Malin made was far more precise than the vague intuitions he had gleaned through self-study; some were even angles he had never considered before.
He then asked a few more questions about precautions for making simple alchemical items, such as how much to preheat the materials, whether there are any rules about the order in which different materials are fused, and how to deal with the residue after a failure.
Marlene's answers remained concise and accurate. Sometimes she would even demonstrate on the control panel next to her, picking up a small piece of material with her fingertips, spinning it twice in the air to make it float and change its shape, and then putting it back in its original place.