Hogwarts: Becoming the White Lord from Breathing

Chapter 187 Alchemy and Divination
When get out of class ended, Lemaître kept Damon with him, and the two had their first real face-to-face conversation.

Prior to this, they had corresponded by letter, but that was when Damon published Wright's Law.

Flamel was amazed by Damon's ingenuity and talent, and offered many suggestions and hopes for Damon's research projects from an alchemical perspective—he believed that White's Transfiguration would not only change Transfiguration, but also completely change alchemy.

Some complex but tiny materials no longer need to be painstakingly extracted; they can be directly transformed using metamorphosis—something Flamel could only do with the help of magical stones.

However, Damon did not understand alchemy at the time and had limited mastery of transmutation, so he politely declined Lemaître's idea—he did not have the energy or time to focus on alchemy at the moment.

Lemaître felt very sorry about this, but he also completely understood it—the person who could study such a law must either be completely devoted to Transfiguration or be loved by Transfiguration, so how could he easily dabble in other branches?

“Master White.” Lemaître looked at Damon with a warm expression.

"Just call me Damon, Professor Lemaître."

"Then please call me Professor Nico."

Without much small talk, Nico took out a piece of parchment with a magic circle drawn on it and handed it to Damon.

Damon took it and saw that it was a complex alchemical diagram.

"This is the culmination of my life's research, the Magic Mapping Matrix. My goal for the next year is to teach you everything in this matrix. Once you learn how to set up and utilize this alchemical matrix, you will be a master in alchemy."

"It looks complicated. I don't even understand the function of the first node."

“It’s okay, we have a year—I’ll teach you properly.”

Nico smiled and took out a stack of parchment, pulling out the top sheet and handing it to Damon.

"This is the first assignment I'm giving you. I hope you can use magic and transformation to change the conventional material extraction process—if this idea can be realized, this matrix can be optimized quite a bit."

Damon followed Nico's train of thought and continued reading—it's no wonder he's an alchemy master; even the tasks he assigned were full of STEM logic.

Nicholas can break down a complete and complex alchemical matrix into individual rings, and then further break those rings into individual points, so that Damon can learn from them.

This gradual approach not only reduces the difficulty significantly but also makes learning much clearer.

However, no matter how scientific the method is, a lot of rote memorization of alchemy content is inevitable—even though Damon has devoted a lot of time to it during the summer vacation, he has not mastered even one-tenth of the knowledge, and this is based on the fact that he has raised his alchemy talent to LV4.

"Alchemy has never truly combined with Transfiguration, because the former seeks stability and purity, while the latter is full of uncertainty and fluidity. But you have found a bridge between them."

Flamel, his aged hand resting on Damon's, said gently:
"Although there are no more Philosopher's Stones in this world, if you complete this final concept, you can artificially create this effect with magic even without the Philosopher's Stones. At that time, you can completely inherit my mantle and achieve immortality."

“I have been on the path of alchemy for so long that my brain has rusted—I expect you to find a new path.”

Light and shadow seemed to freeze in the air, silently conveying a tradition spanning hundreds of years.

Damon couldn't understand this purity, but he was still moved by it.

"I will."

After finishing the unique alchemy class and having a private chat with Nico, I rushed off to my transfiguration class.

Damon walked along the path to the auditorium without feeling tired at all, and was in a very pleasant mood.

He enjoys this simple life, free from any worries about life's difficulties, where he can focus solely on learning and relish the process of self-improvement.

Nico's legacy has brought him some pressure and challenge, but so far it's still within his tolerance level, and he finds it interesting. "What are you all arguing about?"

Sitting in the seat Ron had reserved for him, Damon picked up a bowl of beef soup specially made for him by the house-elves and sipped it slowly—he would give the house-elves gifts every Christmas, and these easily satisfied little creatures had now become Damon's appendages.

"Divination class! Professor Trelawney performed a divination for Harry, and she foresaw something ominous! She predicted a large, ghostly dog ​​wandering the graveyard!"

"Come on, Ron, didn't Professor McGonagall already say that Professor Trelawney loves to scare students with sensationalism? At the beginning of each semester, she predicts the deaths of several students—why should we take such nonsense to heart?"

Hermione suddenly appeared opposite the three of them and retorted to Ron.

Wow! When did you get here?!

Ron was startled—Hermione hadn't been here at all.

"I've always been here; you just didn't notice me."

Hermione responded quickly, her eyes flashing.

Ron ignored her, scooped a spoonful of condiment into his plate, picked up his fork, but didn't start eating.

“Harry,” his voice was low and serious, “you didn’t see a big black dog anywhere, did you?”

“No, I saw it,” Harry licked his lips. “The night I left the Dursleys, I saw a big dog on the corner of Magnolia Crescent Street.”

Ron's fork clattered onto the table.

“It’s probably just a lost dog,” Hermione said calmly.

Ron looked at Hermione as if she had gone mad.

“Hermione, if Harry sees an ominous sign, then—that would be terrible! My—my Uncle Billiers saw one, and then—and then, he died twenty-four hours later!”

"Just a coincidence," Hermione said casually, pouring herself some pumpkin juice.

Ron was practically going crazy over this, and even felt that Hermione was a bit cold.

Damon listened from the side and found it amusing—it was strange that Ron was so superstitious about divination.
"Professor Trelawney says your aura is off! You just don't like that you're not good at something."

Ron touched Hermione's sore spot after a long time.

She slammed the arithmetic and divination book onto the table with a loud thud, so hard that bits of meat and carrot flew everywhere.

"If getting good grades in divination means I have to pretend I see an omen of death in a clump of tea leaves, then I might as well not take the course at all! Compared to my arithmetic divination class, this course is complete garbage!" She grabbed her bag and left.

Ron watched her go with a furrowed brow.

"What is she talking about? Her arithmetic divination class hasn't even started yet."

"Perhaps she's already been with him."

Damon put down the beef soup, forked a piece of steak, and put it in his mouth.

If it weren't such a waste of time, he would have been quite interested in Trelawney's divination—even though nine times out of ten her predictions were nonsense.

(End of this chapter)