As Lucien concluded his introduction, the eyes of several judges and professors gleamed with intense interest.
"I'll do it," Laurent Rosier said first, a hint of eagerness in his tone. "I'm quite adept at Apparition."
Back in the day, if his skills at "running away" hadn't been up to par, he would have had a hard time avoiding the turmoil during Grindelwald's peak, especially given the extra "attention" he received from his fellow clan member, Vinda Rosier.
Before his words even faded, Laurent had already risen briskly from behind the judges' table, leaving no time for his colleagues—who were also eager to try—to react.
Laurent strode up to Lucien and took the SwiftSpeak notebook from his hand. It felt smooth to the touch and surprisingly light.
He turned to Madame Maxime at the head of the table. "Headmistress, could you grant temporary Apparition privileges within the school?"
Like Hogwarts, Beauxbatons naturally had protective enchantments against spatial magic like Apparition.
However, before Laurent even finished speaking, an unusually long wand had already appeared in Madame Maxime's hand.
Hearing the request, she waved it elegantly without hesitation.
An invisible ripple spread through the air, surging and then settling in an instant.
Temporary privileges were now active.
Seeing Laurent move so quickly, and the subsequent actions flow so smoothly, the other judges and professors who had intended to test SwiftSpeak themselves remained silent. There was nothing they could do; in such a formal setting with so many people watching, they had to maintain their dignity. Fighting over it would be unseemly.
Besides, casting Apparition back and forth was tiring, wasn't it?
It definitely wasn't because they were too slow to grab the opportunity.
Laurent nodded, holding the book in one hand while reaching into his robes with the other to retrieve his wand—
"Professor Rosier," Lucien suddenly spoke up. "There's no need for you to do it yourself."
Before anyone could react, a strange creature appeared by Laurent's side.
It resembled both a horse and a deer, its body covered in delicate, pale-gold scales, surrounded by swirling bright yellow clouds, with eyes as clear as glazed glass...
Luster's appearance and disappearance happened almost simultaneously.
It merely moved slightly closer to Laurent, and without warning, both man and beast vanished from the spot.
There was no spinning, no uncomfortable cracking sound or squeezing sensation typically associated with Apparition.
Such elegant, silent, and rapid spatial movement secretly astonished the knowledgeable wizards present.
Lucien's expression remained calm. He reached out and opened the copy of SwiftSpeak on the judges' table, tapping his finger lightly on a blank page.
The pages flipped automatically, finally stopping on a completely blank sheet.
The hall was silent. The judges and professors unconsciously leaned forward, their eyes burning as they stared at the blank page.
The few seconds of waiting felt stretched out.
Suddenly, the smooth paper glowed with a faint, sea-blue light that rippled gently.
Then—
"Can you see clearly on that end?... Hmm, Luster, is this the right angle?"
Professor Rosier's voice, carrying a hint of experimental curiosity but remarkably clear, transmitted directly from the page.
But the changes didn't stop there.
Accompanying Laurent's voice, light and shadow began to converge and solidify on the glowing blue page, quickly forming a clear, moving image—
It was unmistakably the iconic iron tower of France.
The image shifted smoothly, cutting to a close-up of Professor Rosier's face.
He appeared to be high in the air, the wind ruffling his silver-gray hair, but his pale blue eyes were filled with a pure, childlike joy and excitement, his eyebrows practically flying up.
The image switched again, this time seemingly adjusted to a perfect angle that captured both Laurent's excited grin and the steel giant behind him.
"I can see you all too! Very clearly!" His voice came through the page, filled with obvious excitement. "Wait, let's go somewhere new!"
The image and sound cut off simultaneously, and the page returned to blank silence.
But everyone's hearts were in their throats, their eyes glued to the page. The wait this time was slightly longer.
A few seconds later, as if an invisible pen were writing on the blank paper, a line of slightly scrawled handwriting quickly emerged:
"Hold on, the photo will arrive in a moment!"
The handwriting seemed to betray the writer's eager excitement.
At the judges' table, several white-haired masters had unconsciously leaned forward to their limit, their breathing slightly rapid, their gaze locked onto the page for fear of missing a single detail.
Ding!
A crisp, pleasant notification sound rang out from SwiftSpeak.
The page flashed with light, and a complete, clear static image appeared—
In the center of the frame, Laurent wore a brilliant, perhaps even exaggerated smile, giving a thumbs-up to the "camera."
And behind him, under the bright sunlight of a foreign land, the ancient and magnificent pyramids stood silently, speaking of the vicissitudes of time.
The crowd was momentarily speechless.
In this moment, the function and potential of "SwiftSpeak" were beyond doubt.