Inside the hall, Lucien's voice was clear and steady as he painted a picture of a future connected by "Instant Speech."
The young students listened intently, and a vision gradually formed in their minds.
Everyone would carry a thin booklet, and with only a thought, they could instantly send their words, voices, and even the scenes unfolding before their eyes to friends far away.
They could chat and share their lives across vast plains, towering mountains, and even boundless oceans, without obstruction and almost in real time...
The contestants who had just competed alongside Lucien also found their thoughts drifting. Some were stunned into silence, some felt inspired, and others found their hearts surging as though they had caught a glimpse of a much broader world.
Fleur stood among the crowd, her gaze involuntarily following the figure on the stage.
Lucien was calmly explaining his ideas, sunlight streaming through the tall windows and casting a faint golden glow around him.
How were boys and girls drawn to one another?
Was it outstanding looks, a clever mind, a distinctive personality, dazzling achievements, or that indescribable sense of attraction?
At that moment, Fleur could no longer tell whether the light surrounding Lucien, making it difficult for her to look away, came from the warm sunlight spilling through the windows, from the confidence and presence he displayed, or...
From the faint ripples quietly shimmering in her own eyes.
On the other side, Riemann silently watched Lucien as he stood beneath the attention, praise, and scrutiny of so many distinguished figures. Intense envy and aspiration surged within his chest.
After spending time together, things such as age, house, and bloodline had gradually ceased to matter to Riemann when it came to Lucien.
Slytherin valued ambition and strength and would only truly be moved by genuine power and glory.
At that moment, several vivid fragments of memory flashed inexplicably through Riemann's mind.
The first time he displayed his magical talent before his family as a child.
The time he wrote to his mother after receiving his Hogwarts acceptance letter and being Sorted into Slytherin.
The first time he followed his father and formally began studying the Selwyn family's Alchemy.
Each time, he had heard words much like these:
"Be proud of your talent, be proud of your bloodline, and then go and pursue your own glory!"
For more than a decade, Riemann had asked himself the same question countless times.
What exactly was true glory?
Was it the praise and admiration of others?
Was it pride in oneself and the sense of standing above the rest?
Riemann raised his head and fixed his gaze once more on Lucien, who stood on the stage presenting a creation capable of changing countless lives while describing an even grander future.
To leave a mark upon the world through something created by one's own hands.
To push an entire era forward.
That was what a person of true glory should be.
On the judges' bench, the eyes of several alchemists gleamed with thought. What they saw was far more than merely a winning entry.
"There is much to be done..." Professor Laurent murmured to himself.
Technical difficulties could be overcome, and funding could be raised. The key still lay in making Alchemy more widespread.
Alchemy was not merely a sophisticated art for exploring mysteries. It was also something that permeated everyday wizarding life, solving problems and bringing convenience.
Wizards could, and should, take the initiative to learn from the excellent ideas developed by Muggles, then use magical means to transform, refine, and absorb those ideas into something uniquely their own, turning them into a driving force for the progress of the wizarding world.
Constant learning, continuous creation, the advancement of magical technology, and the use of alchemical products to improve everyday life and drive social progress.
That was the right path for keeping the wizarding world vibrant and perhaps even leading the age.
Conversely, if they continued to sneer at everything non-magical and stubbornly clung to old ways, then being left behind by the times would likely be only a matter of time.
Or rather, in some areas, wizards had already fallen behind.
This thought caused the expressions of several elderly Alchemy Masters to grow somewhat solemn.
The most obvious example was lethal force.
A wizard's most powerful offensive spell was naturally Avada Kedavra. Anyone struck by it would die instantly, and there was no known way to block it directly.
But how many wizards in the entire population could actually cast the curse successfully and bring out its full power in real combat?
And what about Muggles?
Even the most basic firearms could take a life with nothing more than a tiny bullet, whether the victim was a Muggle or a careless wizard.
Yet even a child could learn how to pull a trigger.
And that was without mentioning the Muggles' weapons of mass destruction: machine guns, artillery, intercontinental missiles, and even those terrifying weapons that seemed to steal the power of the sun itself...
Several of the older wizards had either heard of or personally witnessed the vision Grindelwald had revealed years ago: Muggles would use their technology and weapons to push warfare to an unprecedented scale, making it even more brutal and devastating.
Only a little more than a decade after that prophecy, those horrific scenes had truly unfolded across Europe, and reality had been even worse.
The wizarding population was already far smaller than that of the Muggles, and wizards had always relied on secrecy and magic to protect themselves.
Even in the past, when Muggle technology had been nowhere near its current level, wizards had still been forced to conceal their existence.
So what about now?
In an age when Muggle probes could explore the depths of the oceans and the vastness of space, and their weapons could destroy entire cities in an instant, was the veil concealing the wizarding world perhaps even more fragile than wizards were willing to admit?
At that moment, Lucien's "Instant Speech" no longer seemed to them like merely a tool for communication.
It was more like a symbol, a warning.
If the wizarding world did not want to quietly fall behind, or even drift into danger, then it had to open its eyes, embrace change, and direct the creativity of magic towards learning, progress, and connection.
________
(^///^) Please support this fic and also read 12 chapters ahead at Patreon.com/DrakDevil1