Vientiane World, Research Laboratory
As Lockhart's home base, the Vientiane World naturally has various buildings and settings. Among them, the Magic Research Laboratory, which is most important to Lockhart, stands out.
To be precise, the research laboratory in Vientiane World is the most expensive and can be regarded as one of the best in the entire Kamar-Taj. There are all kinds of advanced equipment from the world of science and technology, various magical instruments and magical arrays from the wizarding world—you can say that it has everything you need.
Many wizards who study magic live here, as well as a large number of scientists. In Lockhart's understanding, doing research has never been a one-person affair. No matter how smart a person is, they still have limitations. The research of a group is far better than that of an individual. This is Lockhart's experience from doing research in his previous life.
Even when doing magical research, he formed a corresponding research team. He has both scientists and wizards, and he can make such rapid progress thanks to the team's efforts.
In the Harry Potter world, wizards are more or less aware of this, but they simply cannot do what Lockhart does. Because Lockhart spent a lot of resources to build his team.
To put it bluntly, the funds burned every moment in this research laboratory are enough for an ordinary person to live a good life. This kind of life includes traveling abroad at least once a year.
Of course, currently, the entire magic research laboratory has the largest number of scientists. After all, there are too many people in the mortal world. Most wizards are students, and there are very few truly elite wizards and master-level wizards.
As for Lockhart, the main reason why he lets students enter the research laboratory is to cultivate their abilities. These students have better research talents than combat talents. With Lockhart's philosophy of teaching students according to their aptitude, they would naturally not be pushed to fight.
But these scientists and wizards all serve Lockhart's magical research.
At this moment, in the center of this huge, spacious, advanced research room, an extremely complex magic circle slowly activated, emitting lavender fluorescence. In the center, a green-skinned Skrull floated in mid-air.
Under the control of the magic circle, the Skrull changed into a new appearance every ten minutes, including wizards, magical creatures, and ordinary people. Of course, each interval also allowed it to return to its original form for about three minutes. This facilitated observation by the scientists and wizards.
At this moment, around the Skrull, many scientists and wizards gathered together, discussing fiercely.
"They are new magical creatures, their talents are related to the Transformation Spell."
"No, according to the data, they are not a species from the wizarding world, but a humanoid life form."
"Impossible, this is absolutely impossible. How did it simulate the wizard's bloodline? This is not magic."
"..."
"Their genes are very interesting. I just collected part of their green blood for research and found that their genes are very complex and have extremely strong adaptability."
"Aros, I understand what you mean, but it's hard for me to understand. They adopt the method of absorbing foreign genes. Even if their gene tolerance is high, the probability of gene collapse should also increase. This is unscientific."
"..."
At this moment, the two groups, wizards and scientists, were discussing fiercely with each other, constantly sharing their own ideas and arguing at the same time, trying to find each other's mistakes and improve their own theories.
Meanwhile, Lockhart and Grindelwald stood aside, quietly watching the researchers discussing in front of them.
To be honest, the scene before him had a huge impact on Grindelwald. He never imagined that magical research could reach this level.
The magical instruments and magical arrays were impressive. This should be regarded as standard for wizard research, but Lockhart's level was just higher. It's normal to gather outstanding wizards to study together.
What surprised Grindelwald was that there were a large number of ordinary Muggles here. Lockhart actually accepted Muggle scientific ideas and purchased a large number of advanced instruments.
He couldn't understand any of these instruments, but just by looking at the huge shells and complex devices, he could tell how advanced they were. Through these complex instruments, a group of Muggles who know nothing about magic could participate in magical research.
It really refreshed Grindelwald's worldview. He couldn't imagine the scene where wizards and scientists exchanged ideas about magic.
One side spoke of emotion, magic, and spells. And the other side spoke of mathematics, atoms, formulas, and laws. Two completely unrelated fields actually came together. Lockhart was really imaginative.
"Lockhart, how do you usually do magic research?" Grindelwald couldn't help but wonder, and asked: "I know about science, but the gap between it and magic is too big."
After Lockhart heard this, he smiled slightly and said, "I know that up to now, many scientists still cannot accept the concept of magic."
"But I don't need their approval. I just need their research ideas. They use their own methods to understand the origin of magic."
"They take a completely different path from magical study, and many of their ideas are a good complement to mine."
The most typical example is the construction of the dream world, in which this group of scientists played a major role. They have contributed hugely to the structure of the world, as well as some ecological environments, system operations, and more.
Naturally, Lockhart would not explain these in detail to Grindelwald.
After hearing this, Grindelwald still seemed to have some reservations, but he still controlled himself and did not continue the conversation. Instead, he began to change the subject: "Captain Marvel, have you figured out how to deal with her?"
"She should be back on Earth soon."
"Don't worry about her," Lockhart said calmly. "The steps have been given to her, if she really wants to cause trouble."
"It's nothing more than a fight."
"Don't forget, even if we couldn't defeat her at that time, the Sorcerer Supreme is still there."
At this point, a smile appeared on Lockhart's lips: "Besides, S.H.I.E.L.D. will probably try its best to prevent the battle."
Yes, the reason why Lockhart and Grindelwald tolerated Nick Fury's provocative behavior and even simply cleared his memories was to let him go. The most important reason is that Nick Fury sent a signal calling for Captain Marvel to return before Lockhart came or even before Grindelwald explored his memory.
Otherwise, using Grindelwald's methods to make Nick Fury and others disappear quietly would not be a problem at all. The problem is that when Captain Marvel returns, if it is discovered that Nick Fury has really disappeared, the consequences will be difficult to predict.
That's why Nick Fury was let go, just to cleanse his memory. However, even if the memory is cleared, Lockhart believed that Nick Fury would recover before long. After all, Lockhart had already seen Nick Fury's plan for memory erasure.
The mechanical eye had transmitted all the content seen in real time. Lockhart didn't care about this, or in other words, this was the last step for S.H.I.E.L.D.
If they accept that the memory has disappeared and the Skrulls consider themselves to be their experimental subjects, then there will be further cooperation. After all, a large number of instruments in the laboratory include scientists, and S.H.I.E.L.D. is involved in many ways.
If they don't admit it and want to make trouble, then Lockhart will stay with them until the end. After all, although he doesn't want to cause trouble, he is definitely not afraid of it.
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