In the following days, Fred and George would still often come over to perfect the first product of their Skiving Snackbox series—Fat Tongue Toffee.
However, Kael found the process too dull, so he didn't join them and instead chose to stay in his room reading books.
This behavior left Fred and George quite speechless because they saw a shadow of Percy in Kael.
But the two couldn't say anything.
After all, Kael was now their landlord and an important partner, and only here could they research their invented products with peace of mind.
Of course, they wouldn't really say nothing.
After being refused an invitation once, George elongated his voice and said, "Fred, I think we should order a batch of Filibuster Fireworks right now, to celebrate Kael becoming a prefect in advance."
"But then we would have to celebrate for four years." Fred replied in the same tone, "After all, you can only become a prefect at Hogwarts in the fifth year, and he's only in the second year now."
"Right, it might even be six years." George raised an eyebrow, "Don't forget there's also the Head Boy."
"Yeah, that's right... Tsk tsk, six years of Filibuster Fireworks, that's going to be quite a large expense."
The two of them echoed each other, and both their tone and manner were exactly like a certain Professor of Potions. Someone who didn't know might have thought that there were two Snapes standing by the door.
Kael didn't say anything either. After silently flipping them the finger, he turned his attention back to his desk.
There was a stack of parchment covered in writing.
The content on the parchment was transcribed by him from the Restricted Area.
Kael remembered it was a book related to Alchemy, titled "Magic Products: Change and Fusion".
Originally, he wasn't very interested in this book, and after transcribing it, he left it there and didn't look at it for a long time.
But now it's different.
Helping the Weasley Brothers with the Skiving Snackbox was only a bit of after-class entertainment for him; what he wanted to learn the most now was the Soul Artifact.
Kael flipped through the parchment page by page, especially focusing on the part about integrating magic into ordinary items, which he read very carefully.
After all, this was the only material he could find that was slightly related to the Soul Artifact.
Although the relation was a bit of a stretch, and Kael wasn't sure if the Soul Artifact had anything to do with Alchemy, knowing more certainly wouldn't hurt.
Besides, they all involve fusion; who knows if there might be any cross-references.
Though soul and magic are quite different, it's not entirely impossible after all, is it?
...
Previously, he didn't feel there was anything much, but when Kael looked at it seriously, he realized the content in the book was extremely obscure.
To fully understand these things, Kael ordered many books on Alchemy from Diagon Alley via owl and began teaching himself from scratch.
No wonder they say Alchemy is a money-burning trade. Even the most basic books cost at least ten Galleons, which is even more outrageous than Lockhart; just for this part, Kael spent quite a sum of Galleons.
He continued studying in this way for nearly a month.
One night a month later, Kael, as usual, sat at his desk, but this time, he wasn't reading anything. Instead, he took out a wand and tried hard to control the piece of toffee in front of him, making it float up slowly.
Ottery St Catchpole is a Wizard Village, and using magic here basically renders the Trace ineffective, making it difficult for the Ministry of Magic to track him down.
However, to be safe, Kael only took out the wand at night, which was just when the Ministry of Magic clocked out, as it happened to be the time with the most people.
Additionally, it was not his own wand he was using, but the one belonging to the Witch of Consumption.
When he picked up this wand, he just put it into his robe pocket right away and didn't hand it over to Professor McGonagall or anyone from the Ministry of Magic.
Those Beaters did inquire about the wand, but it seemed like they were just going through the motions; Kael brushed them off by saying he hadn't seen it, and they left.
Perhaps they thought the Forbidden Forest was so big that losing a wand was too normal—maybe some small animal dragged it away.
Ultimately, this wand became Kael's trophy.
It wasn't quite comfortable to use, though, like using a spoon to eat noodles.
But since it was picked up for free, one couldn't have too many demands, right?
Under Kael's control, the toffee began to peel off layer by layer slowly, and after about five minutes, the whole candy turned into sheets of "candy paper" as thin as cicada wings.
The candy paper was very thin, and upon closer inspection, one would find every piece had different patterns.
Kael then took out a small bottle containing light blue Swelling Potion and waved his wand once more.
Two drops of potion floated out of the bottle, stretching, splitting into countless fine but barely noticeable lines in the air, fitting precisely over the patterns on the candy paper.
Subsequently, the new candy paper began to converge towards the center, transforming back into a complete piece of toffee.
This was Kael's achievement after a month—altering material shape and then merging them.
It was somewhat like the enchanting process in a game.
But unlike traditional Alchemy, which directly mounts enchanted gems onto a weapon, Kael's method involved crushing the gem and re-smelting it into the weapon.
The complexity increased by several geometric levels, no wonder it was kept in the Restricted Area.
Kael picked up the toffee and examined it under the light... it looked indistinguishable from ordinary candy.
Even splitting it open revealed nothing peculiar; it seemed just like any typical piece of toffee.
"Should I find someone to test its effect?" Kael murmured to himself.
This was his first attempt at making such a thing, he felt quite uncertain, not knowing whether it counted as successful, and the best way was to find someone to test it.
Kael pondered on potential candidates for testing.
Fred and George would be perfect since they would likely be eager to try, but Kael eliminated them first.
He didn't learn this to help the twins improve their product.
Moreover, if they knew he could perfectly fuse toffee and Swelling Potion, he could forget about doing anything else this summer.
Ron, however, seemed like a good choice... obedient, easy to deceive, easy to persuade, and convenient to shift the blame.
The Savior entering this year, Potter, was also a decent candidate. Spending years in his comfort zone, he was oblivious to the sinister aspects of the Magic Realm, and Kael thought it a great chance to teach him a lesson; it was indeed well-intentioned on Kael's part.
Both were suitable choices, so whom should he choose?
Kael was a bit conflicted.
...