Wade secured the bag containing the Lost Mist at his side.
From what he could see, the mist was extremely useful.
This special mist, derived from a Boggart and refined with nightmare magic, could both attack and defend. It was a rare trump card.
At first, Wade had no idea how powerful it truly was.
But after Grindelwald unknowingly helped him complete a test today, he finally had a clear understanding.
If even Grindelwald could be deceived by it, then there were probably very few people in the world who could resist it.
Moreover, when Grindelwald had been affected by the Lost Mist, Wade hadn't even been controlling it deliberately.
If it could achieve such results without control, then its effectiveness under active manipulation would be even greater.
It could be said that the Lost Mist greatly enhanced Wade's nightmare magic.
Now, even though his mastery of nightmare magic wasn't yet deep, he could already use the mist to create illusions in reality.
Of course, the mist had its drawbacks. It was difficult to produce, expensive, and like an Obscurus, it required periodic absorption of magical energy.
Otherwise, it would gradually lose its effect and become ordinary mist.
Ordinary magical power was not enough. At present, only purified "residue" worked best for Wade.
But even his supply of purified residue was limited, barely enough for his own use.
If only this thing and an Obscurus could directly consume unrefined residue, but they were surprisingly picky.
Wade sighed. "Looks like I'll have to speed up research on the converter… I wonder how her progress is going."
At this stage, the converter's purification efficiency was still too low, and the loss was too great.
As for the converter used to purify residue, his senior had already given him the blueprints long ago, and Wade had made several of them.
At present, all the purified "residue" he had was extracted regularly from Dementors.
Thinking of this, Wade used nightmare magic to conjure a sheet of letter paper and wrote a few lines on it. When he finished, he softly cast a spell.
"Prior Incantato…"
The letter instantly turned into a wisp of white mist and drifted out of the tent.
This was the method his senior had left him to stay in contact. Whenever he needed her, he could send a message this way.
"It's been this long. She should have figured things out by now…" Wade shook his head.
He glanced around. Now that the Lost Mist had been withdrawn, the place was nothing more than a slightly larger tent.
With his work finished, he didn't linger. After organizing the documents on the desk and putting them into his pocket, he turned and left the tent.
Behind him, the suit of armor sheathed its sword, then bent down, picked up the strange potted plant, and followed him out.
"Take me with you! Take me with you!" the big red lantern at the entrance shouted after him.
"You're really troublesome…"
With a casual gesture, Wade summoned the lantern. It floated down from the pole, shrank to the size of a fist, and hung from the armor's neck.
Originally, it had only been a simple warning construct, but Wade found it too stiff.
On a whim, he had replicated the magic used on enchanted portraits onto it.
He had hoped to make it more intelligent, but it turned out to be nothing more than a noisy idiot.
As Wade walked back toward the castle with a suit of armor trailing behind him, he attracted attention from everyone around.
Some acquaintances even gathered curiously to watch.
The small lantern hanging from the armor's neck opened its mouth and shouted, "The Grand Leader has arrived! Make way!"
Wade casually cast a freezing spell, sealing the lantern's mouth shut. Unable to speak, it could only roll its single eye around anxiously.
As Wade made his way back to Hogwarts in such a conspicuous manner, Grindelwald quickly received the news in his office.
He guessed that Wade had completed his task.
But… after taking so long without finishing it, it was suddenly done right after he paid a visit?
That was far too much of a coincidence.
The Lost Mist…
Could it be that he had already finished it long ago, and had only waited for him to lose patience and come over, just to help him complete his experiment?
After being tricked too many times, even someone as shrewd and composed as Grindelwald couldn't help becoming suspicious.
At the same time, Dumbledore also received the news. By the time Wade arrived at his office, he was already standing at the door, smiling as he waited.
"A fine suit of armor," Dumbledore said with a smile.
"If you like it, I can let it stand guard for you," Wade replied with a grin. "It's easy to maintain. Just pour a cup of water into the helmet every few days. Juice works even better."
Dumbledore circled the armor with interest. "This is the biological construct you mentioned before?"
"Yes. Aside from using a living organism as its driving force, the rest is similar to ordinary magical constructs. As an enemy in the trials, its difficulty won't be too high."
Wade waved his hand, and the armor immediately strode over to the door of Dumbledore's office, taking its position and entering duty at once.
At the same time, the lantern hanging from its neck was finally unfrozen.
Its large eye rolled around, shifting constantly between Wade and Dumbledore.
"From today on, you'll guard the door for Professor Dumbledore," Wade gave the order.
"As you command, great leader!" the lantern responded at once.
The armor seemed to echo it, striking its left chest with its right fist, producing a dull thumping sound.
Wade found the pair rather noisy, but Dumbledore appeared quite pleased, especially with the talking lantern. He even chatted with it for a while.
After entering the office, Wade handed a stack of documents to Dumbledore.
"The trials are all complete. This contains all the documentation."
Dumbledore took it and began reading. "Does Grindelwald know yet?"
"I haven't told him," Wade said. "I wanted you to review it first before passing it on."
"Pass it on to him? Let him come and collect it himself," Dumbledore said casually.
Wade didn't press the matter. He pulled over a chair and sat down quietly to wait.
Dumbledore took out a box of sweets from his drawer and pushed it toward him.
Wade glanced at it. After confirming there was nothing outrageous like Cockroach Clusters, he cautiously picked one that looked less sweet and put it in his mouth.
The moment it touched his tongue, an overwhelming sweetness flooded his senses.
After a while, Dumbledore finished reading the documents.
"Excellent. Very well designed. Much safer than Grindelwald's original setup," he said with satisfaction, setting the papers down. "However, the firearms used by the combat constructs… are they truly safe?"
"The guns are real, but the bullets are not. They won't cause injury," Wade replied. "Of course, to meet Grindelwald's requirements, I filled the tips with a pain-inducing potion. The fragile casing breaks on impact, releasing the potion… so whoever is hit will feel quite a bit of pain. Other than that, there are no side effects. The pain lasts about five minutes."
Dumbledore nodded thoughtfully. "That's a very reasonable compromise."
Wade then took out another set of documents and handed it over.
"This is the strategy guide for the trials. It details the weaknesses of the creatures and constructs I've included… naturally, this doesn't need to be given to Grindelwald."
Dumbledore immediately understood.
With a smile, he placed the guide into his drawer. "Very good. You've worked hard on this. I'll handle the negotiations with Grindelwald from here on. The magical contract you signed with him can be concluded as well."
Wade readily agreed. That way, he wouldn't have to worry about what came next.
With Dumbledore's intelligence and his deep understanding of Grindelwald, as long as Grindelwald intended to keep his word, the negotiations would proceed smoothly.
"By the way, Professor, I ran into some difficulties while studying alchemy. When you have time, could you take a look?" Wade asked.
"Of course. But that will have to wait until I've dealt with this matter. You're not in a hurry, are you?" Dumbledore said.
"Not in a hurry." Wade said as he handed over another sheet of parchment. "The problem is written on it. I'll be going now."
"Very well."
Wade stepped out of Dumbledore's office and let out a long breath.
He had spent quite a bit of time over the past period working on those trials for Grindelwald.
Now he could finally relax and focus on what he actually wanted to study.
With that thought, he hurried straight toward the Slytherin study.
"Farewell, great Commander Wade!" the little lantern called out loudly behind him.
Inside the office, Dumbledore heard it clearly.
Smiling, he raised his wand and conjured a pure white phoenix.
The white phoenix landed before him, tilting its head curiously.
Dumbledore leaned in and whispered a few words to it. The phoenix then flew out of the window, heading straight toward Grindelwald's office.
While waiting, he picked up the parchment Wade had left behind and began reading.
Dumbledore was, after all, a master of alchemy. Naturally, he intended to help resolve Wade's questions.
But as he read, he gradually became absorbed.
"A Gubraithian Fire energy core? Interesting…"
Outside, Grindelwald approached Dumbledore's office with a stern expression.
Compared to coming in person, he would much rather have had the documents delivered to him.
However, the moment he reached the door, the little Halloween lantern began shouting again.
"Ah ha! Old thief! You again? Here to steal something? Sir Armor, draw your sword!"
With a sharp motion, the armor unsheathed its blade and pointed it at Grindelwald.
Grindelwald's face darkened. Wasn't this thing supposed to be at Wade's tent?
Why was it here again?
"Shut up!" he snapped, ready to silence it with a freezing spell.
"Come in. There's no need to argue with a small construct. Little one, let him enter."
Dumbledore's voice drifted out from the office.
The lantern snorted and fell silent. The armor scratched its helmet, then sheathed its sword and stepped aside, clearing the way to the office.
---
o(*￣▽￣*)ブSupport and read 12 Chapters ahead of WN at-
Patreon/Captain69