Ivan's face turned red with embarrassment as he thought about how confident he had been when he assured Nick Flamel that he would soon learn this spell.
No wonder Nick Flamel had only smiled and said nothing at the time. It was clear that he knew this particular method of alchemy would not work so easily.
Ivan looked at the discarded items on the worktable and shook his head helplessly. He glanced out of the window at the darkening sky, touched his empty stomach, and put the carving knife down.
Irritation aside, Ivan knew that there was a balance between work and rest.
After tidying up the mess in the studio, Ivan took his book all the way to the living room to enjoy his dinner.
And Nick Flamel was already waiting there.
"What do you think? Any ideas?" Nick Flamel, who was eating a pastry, asked when he saw Ivan approaching with a worried expression.
Yvonne walked straight across the room and sat down. She grabbed a pumpkin pie and nibbled on it.
"I've tried it so many times, but it doesn't work. I feel like something is missing…"
"Ah…is that so?" Nick Flamel said with a smile, not at all surprised.
Guiding and harnessing one's emotions to infuse an alchemical object with one's will was quite a high-end form of alchemy. There were only a handful of alchemists in the wizarding world who could do this.
If Ivan could master it in a little over a month, other alchemists who had studied it for decades would be so ashamed that they would kill themselves.
In fact, seeing that Ivan was in trouble, Nick Flamel felt a little more at ease, because this young wizard had been learning too fast!
Ordinary wizards required months of study, and Ivan was often able to master it within a week.
If not for the fact that he had collected all of this knowledge over the years and kept it to himself, Nick Flamel would have suspected that Yvonne had learned it in advance and was pretending to fool him.
"Sir, is there no trick?" Ivan asked, frowning, not knowing what Nick Flamel was thinking.
Nick's eyebrows shot up and his expression turned serious. "Hales, I need to remind you that alchemy is an extremely delicate subject. You can't make real progress by studying tricks."
Ivan's heart sank, and he realised he had said the wrong thing. He wanted to apologise, but Nick Flamel waved him off.
"You're a little too eager these days… At your age, you have a lot of time to learn. Alchemy requires years of accumulation, not overnight!" Nick Flamel reminded her.
For over a month, while he was amazed at Ivan's ability to learn, Nick Flamel was baffled by Ivan's hard work.
Shouldn't young wizards at this age be more interested in fooling around?
When Ivan asked him about the magical television, he was worried that Ivan would become obsessed with Muggle-made cartoons, but the television has not been turned on once in a long time…
Unable to understand why, Nick Flamel attributed it to Ivan's precocious ability to control his desires.
"I understand, Professor!" Yvonne nodded at Nick Flamel's words, then composed herself. She had been a bit too hasty in the past few days.
However, he could not be blamed for this, as both the pressure of the prophecy and the restless Dark Wizards in Knockturn Alley were forcing Ivan to improve his skills as quickly as possible.
Otherwise, once they encountered a powerful enemy that was difficult to deal with in a short period of time, the combat power that they had disguised with their powerful bloodline magic and strengthened magic runes would be instantly exposed!
At that time, who knew if the Dark Wizards would still be obedient? It would be troublesome if they retaliated en masse or tried to play dirty tricks in private.
Therefore, Ivan felt that the improvement of his strength could not be delayed!
It was just that his mastery of Transfiguration, which he was most proficient in, had become slower and slower after reaching Level 6, and had recently come to a point of near-stagnation, where he could not find his way forward.
It just so happened that Nick Flamel was willing to teach him alchemy, and Ivan was prepared to take advantage of this.
After all, alchemy, like magic, was a method of using magic. The final form of the two was the same: to make a wizard a god who "thoughts are reality"!
The effect of infusing one's will into an alchemical object was similar to the spell-casting state of having one's wishes come true, and Ivan felt that if he could raise his alchemy to Level 7, it would be of great help to other magic.
Of course, Ivan kept these thoughts to himself, and his experiences at Knockturn Alley taught him to keep his mouth shut. Sometimes it was bad form to talk too much in front of a wise man, and one might imagine something extraordinary.
After a few words of caution, Nick Flamel took out a letter and placed it in front of Ivan.
Yvonne looked at the envelope curiously and saw the Hogwarts crest on it.
"It's from Fawkes the Phoenix. I think Albus wanted to remind you not to miss the start of the school year train. You've been living here for a month and a half, and Hogwarts is starting soon," Nick Flamel said with a smile.
"So soon?" Yvonne murmured to herself as she opened the envelope.
It contained the same information as before: a list of books for the school year at King's Cross Station in London on the 1st of September.
School was about to start, but Ivan was not happy about it. At his current level of magic, there was not much Hogwarts could teach him.
Most crucially, without Nick Flamel's guidance, the growth of one's alchemy skills would be slow, and one would have to wait another year to break through.
"Hales, the study of mindless machines does not help you much, much less allow you to experience such intense and pure power, and if you have never experienced it, how can you use it?" Nick Flamel asked.
Ivan was lost in thought.
Nick Flamel pointed to the envelope in his hand and continued, "Hogwarts is the right place, isn't it?"