Lucretia sat on the corner, feeling dejected and defeated. She wanted to cry, but did not feel like giving him the satisfaction of seeing her so weak and vulnerable.
"Co on, princess, Xin'er cannot deal with these ants' carcasses alone," Christian said coolly, and one tear slid down Lucretia's eyes, which she quickly wiped. She stood up and began helping. He then conjured a lump of copper before transforming it into a bracelet he wore on his right hand.
Christian gazed at nes. "Can you use your flower to make a coin pouch?"
"Coin pouch?"
"Yes, a small bag to carry your money or fist-sized items."
nes imdiately understood what he ant and even guessed what he wanted to do. He looked at him in surprise before acting. The process was fast, and in less than a minute, Christian held a leather bag in his hand with a small flower around the head to close it. He wondered why the flower felt like leather but did not ask many questions.
He started to bewitch the pouch with an Extension Charm and a Shrinking Charm to allow large objects to enter. He added a third charm so that the object would always follow him, just like he did to Neville's Rembrance.
'Did he just add three enchantnts to one item? What level of Enchanter is he?' nes thought in wonder, and he was not the only one, as Lucretia, who was secretly observing, had the sa thought.
"We now don't have to worry about carrying large quantities of food," Christian said with a sigh of relief before rembering sothing. "Xin'er, does the armored at have a shelf life?"
"Shelf-life?"
"I an a ti before they decay or go bad, beco inedible."
"Hmm, I don't know for sure, but I assu that just like all at, it cannot be preserved for long unless processed."
"That ans I will need a low-temperature area to preserve the food,' Christian muttered. "Right, please hand over your identity cards so I can keep them inside the bag." The room imdiately quieted down as the atmosphere beca somber. Christian sensed his action would create another argunt that could ruin the team's atmosphere, so he removed the choice from their hands.
He used a Summoning Charm with a swift wand motion, and their identity cards flew into his hand.
"I understand how you're feeling, and believe when I say I hate acting like this, but as I said: this test is more important than my life." Christian glanced at the cards, and that's how he knew Lucretia was 14 and nes was 15. He then entered the new bag of holding to use the Freezing Charm, creating a refrigerator-like area for the food.
"Who is this guy?" Lucretia suddenly asked with ferocity in her eyes.
"Hmm, are you talking about Christos?"
"Of course, who else?' She almost rolled her eyes. "He said he's only 12 years old but knows so many spells, and his competency is so high. Not to ntion, he just displayed Conjuration Magic and advanced skill in Enchanting. Such a talented person should have been heard of — even if he's from the far south."
"He's the first in the Magical Theory Test for a reason," nes said succinctly.
"That's him? No wonder he sounded familiar."
"Are you saying he's the one who defeated one of the four [Golden Treasures]?" Xin'er asked.
"Unless he has the sa na."
"No wonder he's so arrogant," Lucretia sneered.
Christian returned more than five minutes later, and by then, the team had finished gathering the food; they even started a fire and were cooking. "How did you guys start the fla?"
"We are not useless without you," Lucretia comnted.
"That's good to hear," Christian replied. "We need to ration the food in case we don't find any more edible animals or plants."
"nes already suggested this."
Christian nodded. He wished he had learned the Food Duplication Charm since the regular Geminio Charm would not work. However, food is a tricky subject in the field of Transfiguration due to Gamp's Law of Elental Transfiguration, so Christian planned to delve into it next school year during Transfiguration Club.
Once the food was done, he used a spell on his tongue to prevent burning and imdiately tasted it. He winced, not in pain, but because the taste was so terrible. So, he added so spices, but sohow, the taste beca even worse. Christian summoned a piece of an armored ant's carcass from the ground and tapped his wand to transform it into a goblet.
'I thought its innate magic resistance would prevent the transfiguration,' he thought before creating three more goblets and conjuring water. He then transford his water into a black liquid, which was, in fact, soda.
'It actually works,' Christian thought. 'The essence of magic is visualization.' He had a conversation with his mother, and this was one of their conclusion. He looked at his food. Christian tried to turn the disgusting ant at into a juicy and succulent steak. Theory-wise, it should work since he was not breaking Gamp's Laws by conjuring more food, but instead changing the nature of his food.
'Failed? But why?' His actions followed sound magical theories. He was trying to change the form of his food while retaining its essence, which is essentially a piece of highly nutritious at. In other words, the food would taste like steak, but its nutritional value would still be that of an ant's leg.
'Could it be that water is a less complex substance, thus making it easier to manipulate?' He suddenly found the study of food in transfiguration a fascinating subject.
"Why is your liquid black?"
Christian woke up from his deep thoughts. "Why do you care?"
"I just think it's unfair if you get to drink sothing else, but we get nothing but water," Lucretia countered.
"Fair point." Christian looked at Xin'er. "You're too young for wine, so you get fruit juice. nes, you can have wine, but not too much since we still want you sober." He changed the contents of their cups before continuing to eat.
"What about ?"
"You get water."
"You!"
"Hmm, why is this fruit juice so sweet?" Xin'er comnted, but she could not stop drinking. "Is this sothing from your holand?"
"You could say that."
'Even the wine tastes strange,' nes thought, but he still found it delightful.
"Can I have so more?" Xin'er asked, slightly embarrassed that she drank everything in one go. "No problem."
"Are you really not going to help ?"
"What do you think?" Christian rolled his eyes at this woman's audacity.
"Fine, I'll rember you," Lucretia gritted her teeth.
The team ate their terrible food in silence. Luckily for them, they had decent drinks to force it down with. Once everybody was full and satiated, Christian spoke first:
"Xin'er, can you use any spells?" He asked this question because he noticed she hadn't even brought a wand. Xin'er lowered her head after hearing this question.
"It's fine if you can't, but I need to know to prepare."
"I…I know the Hymn of Protection."
"Can you show it to ?"
"Hmm, sure…🎵Sa🎵" Xin'er's voice hit a specific note before a green shield appeared before her.
'3 seconds cast, flat B notes, the incantation is the Egyptian Word for protection, and the shield is green instead of blue. I don't know whether it's better when using Incantation Magic, but such a thing doesn't really matter as much as the caster's skill.' Christian swiftly analyzed.
"Taking as much as 5 seconds for a basic Shield Charm? Do you have a death wish coming to this test?" Lucretia asked, and Xin'er was even more embarrassed.
"She probably spent all her ti studying for the comprehensive test," Christian said to reassure her.
"That's right. My mother said I would have plenty of ti to learn and practice spells after mastering the foundational knowledge."
"Even so, wasn't she worried about you participating in the third trial, given how dangerous it sotis is?" Although the rules were never as strict and dangerous as this year's test, accidents usually occurred in the third test.
"She said the last one is usually an open-field practice test for applying knowledge and skill. So, as long as I show my team my extensive knowledge, they will prioritize my protection."
"And she was correct," Christian said. "nes, make her a plant crown and ring. Lucretia, you should be able to summon magical weapons. Can you lend her one?"
"How did you know?"
"Can you?"
"I can only summon two magical weapons and need both."
"In that case, conjure an ordinary dagger, and I'll enchant it."
Christian imdiately bewitched all three items before handing them to Xin'er.
"The crown is enchanted with an invisible but permanent Shield Charm." He waved his hand to attack, but his spell bounced back. "The shield can only protect from weak to dium strength spells and jinxes, but it's always there and can buy you ti in an ergency.
"The ring has a more potent Shield Charm, but you must concentrate and actively activate it. The dagger has three enchantnts. If you tap the hilt with one finger, it will use a Fla Charm. Two fingers and you will activate the Cutting Charm for sharp damage, and three fingers for a powerful, large-scale spell. Do not use three fingers unless it's a last resort, and don't do it while we are still around."
Christian placed a potent Bombarda Maxima Charm with the three-finger tap, so he needed to warn her.
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