Fred suddenly sat up straight, his eyes shining remarkably bright, and he turned his head to say: "George, look at me! I have an idea..."
George turned his head, a knowing smile on his face, saying: "What a coincidence, I have an idea too..."
Fred waved his arm, pointing at those contestants who were immersed in calculations and quietly drawing, saying:
"Look at them, all cut from the same mold! Calculating, drawing, repetitive testing... Merlin above, of course, it's important! It's effective! But it's also too..."
"...too boring!" George said: "Absolutely no surprises!"
Fred nodded vigorously: "So why can't it be more direct? More... um... intuitive?"
"In the 'Weasley' way, skipping those hair-pulling steps, directly moving into experiments, adventures, and then there's..." George pointed at his temple: "...a little bit of crazy inspiration!"
"Exactly exactly!" Fred said seriously: "So we don't just follow the conventional alchemy, we can forge our own path!"
George emphasized: "Crazier! More direct! More fun!"
"Agreed!"
The twins said in unison, clapping their hands in sync.
"Wow..." Harry watched the two of them, after a long pause, he said worriedly: "Can it really work?"
"Of course it can!"
The twins simultaneously gestured an "OK" sign to him, and Fred added: "Absolutely no problem! That's how Canary Cookies were born!"
"Damn it, it's not okay!"
Moody suddenly reached out and slapped both of their heads, yelling: "You two idiots! With your approach, you'll blow yourselves to pieces sooner or later!"
Lupin was originally laughing, but after hearing Moody's furious shout, he couldn't help but touch his nose and also advised:
"Respect magic, kids. It's precisely those boring and rigid processes that ensure their success rate isn't too low and death rate isn't too high. Alchemists getting killed by their own creations aren't just one or two."
"Um... excuse me?"
A polite voice came from not far away, everyone turned their heads to see a young man in his twenties, carrying a large bulging bag, standing on the floating platform outside the box, peeking inside.
"What do you want, kid?" Moody frowned and asked.
The young man came in, a bright yellow "FMC" logo printed on the front of his vest, he smiled and said:
"Good afternoon, everyone. Feeling bored with the match below? Need something to pass these long hours?"
Fred's eyes lit up, he hurriedly asked: "What do you have?"
The young man placed the bag on the ground, promptly opened it, revealing various gadgets inside.
"Have a look!"
He took out a palm-sized mirror, and surprisingly, what's playing inside isn't the match, but the currently popular wizard talk show "Pot Talk", bursts of laughter emanating from it.
The young man said: "A small Flow Mirror, renting for a day only costs five Galleons! Guaranteed laughs, absolutely not boring!"
Then, he picked up a blue-green intertwined quill, saying: "Daydream Quill, one Galleon! Dream-making time lasts up to thirty minutes, designed by Flow Mirror's inventor Mr. Vid Gray! Absolute quality assurance!"
Next, he showcased portable Wizard's Chess, Gobstones, and other traditional games, and said: "Prices are absolutely reasonable! Cheaper than buying from Echo Alley!"
The crowd hardly hesitated, as soon as the young man finished speaking, Harry and the others were eager to take out pocket money.
Moody snorted, not stopping them, but he didn't purchase anything himself—he would never allow himself to be distracted by entertainment in such a crowded, chaotic place.
Lupin, on the other hand, gently smiled, taking out money to rent a Flow Mirror; otherwise, with the boredom continuing, he suspected he might unknowingly fall asleep.
The salesman reaped a considerable profit, his face blossomed with a smile.
Even a few kids in the box were wealthy enough to spend money on something fun, unlike a box he passed by earlier where ten people spent money to rent just one Flow Mirror.
Of course, small Flow Mirrors could be magnified with a magic spell, but aside from products inherently possessing zoom functionality, other small Flow Mirrors become quite blurry when enlarged, and the overall viewing experience isn't great.
——For all Flow Mirrors sold externally, only thirty percent of the magic on them comprises Vid's designed core functions, the remaining seventy percent are restrictive spells added by Machioni's research department, ensuring every Galleon he could earn doesn't slip away.
FMC's salesman deftly collected the money, re-strapped the package, and before leaving, pulled out several colorful pamphlets from his pocket, handing them to Michael who was closest to him.
"Large immersive experience game—Little People Country Adventure is about to be released, welcome everyone to try it; guaranteed to be more thrilling and fun than the match below!"
He blinked, bowed politely, and left the box for the next one.
"Little People Country Adventure?"
Originally preparing to weave himself a daydream, George immediately put down the quill, curiously took a pamphlet from Michael's hand and said: "Let me see what's this about?"
He opened the cover, casually reading aloud: "Large immersive experience game... letting you see the world from a brand new perspective... experiencing the real feelings of insects..."
"Sounds interesting! Like the fun stuff we would do in the future..."
Fred leaned over to take a look, but his voice suddenly halted.
Michael had already distributed the rest of the brochures to the group, then Hermione read: "Brilliant alchemy master Vid Gray meticulously crafted... opening the epic door to Little People Country for you?"
"No way, Vid is involved in this too?" Harry's mouth dropped open, looking at Michael: "Did you know this?"
Michael shook his head, waved the brochure in his hand and said: "The address is in Diagon Alley, officially open on August 10th! When we go back, I definitely want to try it, what about you guys?"
"Do we need to ask? Of course, we'll go!" Fred said without even looking up, flipping through the pamphlet: "Leaping over blades of grass, ascending book spines... When humans become as small as beetles, the world becomes so dangerous and beautiful? Ha, I'm already excited!"
"Is it a Shrinking Potion?" Lupin pondered: "Has FMC already managed to produce stably effective Magic Potions?"
"Could be the Shrinking Spell." Moody said disdainfully: "To become so small, a sparrow could eat you, only a madman would want to experience that!"
"Normal people would be interested, Alastor."
Lupin laughed and contradicted: "Nowadays, everywhere we walk we can see Vid's shadow... his influence has already unknowingly seeped into every corner of the Magic World. It really is... really is..."
He reminisced about the first time meeting, the boy sitting in a chair with feet barely reaching the ground, in the moment, he didn't know how to describe his feelings.