Inside the classroom transformed from the Room of Requirement, after hearing Leo's words, Ron stood lost in thought, speechless.
As a member of the Weasley family, Ron's relatives were all wizards who could use magic. No one thought being able to use magic itself was anything remarkable.
Ron's brothers—some excelled at curse-breaking, some possessed superb Quidditch talent. Those twins were masters at pranks and very popular among classmates. Among the Weasley sons, only Ron appeared the most ordinary and unremarkable.
Ron had never thought that being able to use magic was already something special.
"Being able to learn is itself lucky?"
"Yes."
Leonardo nodded, his eyes serious. "Learning fast or slow is normal. What's important is the act of learning knowledge itself. And honestly, you have talent in mechanics. You grasp theory very quickly. As for Transfiguration, I'm confident I can teach you."
Hearing Leo's assessment, Ron found it hard to believe. "You said I have talent in mechanics?"
This was the first time Ron heard someone praise him for having talent in something! The first time!
Watching Ron's joyful expression, Leonardo understood that encouragement worked. But this wasn't enough. Kids this age needed not only reasonable encouragement but also clear goals.
"You're learning mechanics and Transfiguration to master alchemical mechanics. This is your interest, your established goal. So don't give up casually. I don't want to hear 'stop learning' again. Understood?"
Hearing Leo's suddenly serious tone, Ron immediately straightened up. "Understood!"
"Good. Now back to Transfiguration."
Leonardo snapped his fingers. "When casting Transfiguration, or rather when casting any magic, you must not hesitate. Don't think about what if this magic fails; don't worry about whether the wand fits. Magic is certainty; it is belief—believing you can definitely cast it. Forget your worries, forget your anxiety, and wholeheartedly envision this magic..."
Ron listened to Leo's guidance while attempting to release Transfiguration. Even Harry, who'd finished his test, listened carefully from the side. This was universal spellcasting knowledge—couldn't be missed.
Watching Ron continuously attempt transformation, that match gradually took on silver needle characteristics. Leonardo nodded gently. Honestly, Ron's talent couldn't be changed, and the wand probably couldn't be replaced in the short term.
But this world's magic was idealistic. A wizard's own emotions and beliefs greatly influenced magical release. Someone always self-doubting, hesitant, and insecure could never become an excellent wizard.
This wasn't like mathematics or physics, where not knowing meant not knowing—desperately convincing yourself wouldn't help. But with magic, believing you could do it really worked.
So Leo needed to help Ron build confidence, using the interest point of alchemical mechanics to guide his learning and attempts. The wand's influence was still significant, though.
The wand's incompatibility with Ron couldn't be changed for now, but repairing the wand's damage to reduce this influence... If Ron could quickly master Transfiguration, he could more quickly attempt creating alchemical mechanics.
When Ron demonstrated substantial learning results to his brother and family, he'd gain recognition and approval. With sufficient trust, he might be able to borrow more valuable books from the Weasley family and learn more magical knowledge.
One step at a time.
After teaching a while longer and seeing the time was right, Leonardo let Harry and Ron return to rest. After they left the Room of Requirement, he pulled out a small booklet with scales, feathers, spikes, and other materials covering the binding.
The Chimaera Manual.
Flipping to a page with biological information and dissection diagrams, Leo read for several minutes. Taking out his wand, he aimed at the desk.
The creature's characteristics and structure rapidly flashed through his mind.
Pop—
The brown desk instantly twisted. "Baaa~~"
A soft sheep's bleat came. The original desk disappeared, replaced by a white fluffy sheep. As it moved, the soft fur wobbled.
Inanimate-to-animate transformation really wasn't difficult. The key was understanding the biological information of what you wanted to transform. This Chimaera Manual was truly invaluable. The data recorded inside was extraordinarily detailed.
Honestly, to achieve their goals, powerful wizards had truly strong capabilities. They could easily obtain desired experimental subjects, whether the target was inanimate or animate.
Especially in ancient times, in that cold weapon era, Muggles fundamentally couldn't resist wizards' magic. Some regions and dynasties were even established and led by a wizard or wizard group.
No wonder in previous eras when wizards didn't need to hide themselves, Muggles feared wizards, resisted magic yet also worshipped it.
Flipping through the Chimaera Manual's records, Leonardo memorized while also pondering. The contents were research results from an ancient-era wizard but also recorded some spells, potions, and alchemical methods used for observation and analysis.
The precision those methods could produce was completely comparable to modern technology. This was wizards; this was magic's convenience—without following technological progress patterns, they could develop unimaginable methods through leaps and bounds.
After reading through one set of notes, Leo pointed his wand again. That sheep was twisted in form, becoming a large white pig. This was transformation layering—transforming the same object multiple times.
With each Transfiguration layer added, the difficulty multiplied several times. But Leonardo's use of transformation layering was very easy, showing no signs of effort.
Letting that pig snort around the classroom, Leo flipped to the next species' information. With a light wand wave, the white pig transformed again into a mooing water buffalo.
Leonardo would read the manual awhile, then cast Transfiguration once. After layering five transformations, what finally appeared was a massive python quietly coiled in the corner.
Creating Chimaeras—a major difficulty should be transformation layering. The loan required transforming a "Chimaera" containing at least five biological characteristics—requiring at least five transformations.
Perhaps directly using animate transformation could reduce one layer? After all, only five biological characteristics were needed—just preserve the original creature's features.
Leo rotated his wand, coordinating magical power flow according to the manual's method. Almost instantly, that large python's form underwent dramatic changes.
Horns sprouted from its head, the nose became a pig snout, sheep wool grew between scale gaps, and bat wings emerged on its back.
Looking at this mixed, twisted monster on the ground, Leonardo frowned. It indeed combined several biological characteristics, but only superficial appearance.
Not enough. He could attempt more changes and modify more details. From skeleton to muscles, then to surface skin, scales, fur, limb structure...
Leo flipped through the Chimaera Manual's records, feeling there was still knowledge not fully explored. The Chimaera's limits shouldn't be such a simple thing.
Still not enough...