As for Kasen, he was troubled by the fact that... the matter was already settled. Should he stay here and continue drinking with the dried fish, or should he pick up the plate, leave, and find somewhere quiet to continue drinking?
In the end, he decided he could not bring himself to do something that shameless.
Mainly because eating someone else's food and then stealing their plate was a bit much.
And so, Kasen stayed.
He took a bite of dried fish, then a sip of alcohol. Slughorn slowly sat down opposite him and produced a bottle of expensive brandy from somewhere.
"Thank you."
Kasen instinctively thanked him as he accepted the glass.
Slughorn nodded. "One of my students gave this to me. It is extremely valuable. There are fewer than a hundred bottles left in the Muggle world. I have no idea where he managed to find it."
"It certainly looks excellent... and it tastes just as good," Kasen said after taking a sip.
"Yes..."
Slughorn paused for a long time before continuing, "Aren't you curious why I stopped being stubborn and simply handed Dumbledore what he wanted?"
Kasen shook his head. "Anything Dumbledore wants will inevitably end up in his hands, as long as it physically exists. No matter how stubbornly you resisted, the only difference would have been whether he obtained it sooner or later. From that perspective, you truly are worthy of being a Slytherin. You handed him the answer before Dumbledore decided to start using verbal abuse. What is that quality called again?"
"Shrewdness and tact. You should not drink so quickly. It has already begun affecting your thoughts," Slughorn said.
"Actually, it's only affecting my tongue."
Kasen finished both the alcohol in his glass and the alcohol in his flask, then slowly stood up. He pulled a bucket of milk from his robes and drank it all in one go.
He then poured Slughorn a glass as well. After taking a sip, Slughorn looked surprised.
"Milk that can remove intoxication?"
Kasen shook his head. "It removes all external forces that do not belong inside your body."
"Does this fall within the field of Potions?" Slughorn asked, relieved that he had not drunk the entire glass at once.
Kasen raised an eyebrow. He had never thought about it from that perspective before, but Dumbledore had specifically given him a lesson on occultism, so...
"This might count as an occult concept. Noble milk, purging all external forces from the body."
After explaining, Kasen teleported back to his office with an Ender teleport.
With everything finally settled, he was at last able to pick up the copied book on occultism and begin reading.
Clay probably had a class to attend, so after returning all the book manuscripts to their original places, he quietly left for class.
Thus, at this moment, within the small office area of Kasen's room, Kasen was the only person present, holding a book.
"What a fulfilling and liberating day."
Kasen slowly opened the book...
"It would be even better if this book were written in English."
Kasen helplessly took out a name tag and slapped it onto the book.
[Copy of an Occultism Book]
[English Version of a Copy of an Occultism Book]
"Perfect."
Kasen opened the book again and began reading.
God said, "Let there be light," and so the sun became the representation of light in occultism.
Later, humanity stole fire from nature, and the representation of light became fire, then lamps, candles, and countless other forms.
However, their essence remained light.
Kasen frowned.
From this perspective, occultism was quite fond of cheating. Something was able to emit light because the concept of light shone brilliantly upon it, rather than because the object itself was naturally capable of producing light.
It could not exactly be called reversing cause and effect. Kasen simply was not good at understanding this sort of causal relationship.
...Continue....
In the evening, Kasen put the book back into the drawer. Over the course of most of the day, he had more or less finished the entire book.
"It feels like I read it without actually reading anything," Kasen commented, inevitably beginning to suspect that Dumbledore had simply handed him some fraudulent book from a random roadside shop.
The book also contained several occult rituals, mainly for locating and refining occult substances. Oh, right, there were also rituals for synthesising occult substances.
However, all these various ritual methods that sounded incredibly badass seemed a little...
Like taking off your trousers to fart.
When it came to locating and refining substances, no matter how he looked at it, using the monocle was far more convenient than performing all kinds of complicated sacrificial rituals.
As for synthesis...
If there were an occult substance representing the concept of synthesis, then surely the thing that best embodied that concept would not be some strange synthesis ritual, but his crafting table.
The kind where you placed four templates together and gave them a knock, or the kind sold for ten Galleons each in Diagon Alley.
Compared to that, occult rituals?
Not even a dog would use them!
"Professor, your dinner! Professor Snape instructed me to bring it to you."
With a pop, Dobby appeared beside Kasen's desk.
Kasen nodded. "Thank you. Would you like some tea?"
"No, Professor. Dobby still has work to finish!"
With another pop, Dobby disappeared.
Seeing this, Kasen began eating dinner. Speaking of lunch...
He supposed he had technically eaten lunch. He had eaten half a plate of dried fish at Slughorn's place. How did that not count as lunch?
After quickly finishing his dinner, he picked up the fruit served afterwards, a green apple.
Just as he was about to take a bite, he suddenly stopped.
Whether in the wizarding world or in mundane legends, apples were regarded as fruits possessing mysterious power.
For example, in Greek mythology, the golden apple sparked conflict among the gods and also symbolised the pursuit of love, beauty, and glory.
In the mythology next door, apples were also associated with knowledge and wisdom, like the forbidden fruit eaten by Adam and Eve in the Bible, representing humanity's pursuit of knowledge and self-awareness.
In occultism, apples likewise contained concepts such as knowledge and wisdom, eternal life and immortality, and the inner and outer self.
The final concept, the inner and outer self, differed from the previous ones because it had to be sought out by people themselves.
This meant that, in a sense, apples could serve as an extremely important focal point in a searching ritual within occultism.
Of course, if the ritual were performed by a wizard with magic, nothing else would even be needed. A single apple would be enough to complete a searching ritual.
"Who said not even a dog would use occult rituals? Dogs might not use them, but I will!"
...
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