At this moment, Brog looked like a child who had just made a mistake, his face flushed red with embarrassment.
"I'm sorry, my Lord," he said in a low voice, "I got flustered and forgot."
"Alright, do it again. I'll watch you this time."
Sylas wasn't angry. He simply waved his hand, summoning a spare cauldron and another full set of potion ingredients.
He refused to believe that someone could fail to make such a simple and basic potion as the Boil-Cure Potion.
Another half hour passed, and by then, everyone else had already finished brewing their potions.
The quality of the finished potions varied, but most were passable.
However, when Sylas looked at the contents of Brog's cauldron for the second time, he was met with a pungent odor and a strange yellow-green liquid of uncertain composition.
He took a deep breath and asked in a low, steady voice,
"Brog, can you tell me... what this is supposed to be?"
Brog looked at his Lord's calm expression and, for some reason, felt a sense of danger. He carefully tested,
"The Boil-Cure Potion?"
The corner of Sylas's mouth twitched.
At that moment, he finally understood Professor Snape's perpetual frustration, if one constantly encountered students like this, anyone would lose their patience.
But seeing Brog's nervous and uneasy expression, Sylas could only sigh helplessly and wave his hand.
"Alright, that's enough. Just remember not to blow up another cauldron next time, or you'll be buying your own."
Sylas had already given up.
He had watched Brog follow every single instruction step-by-step, exactly as told, yet the end result was a pot of foul-smelling, unidentifiable liquid.
This could only mean one thing, his subordinate, his strongest warrior, was a "cauldron killer" with absolutely no talent for potion-making.
The only thing that comforted Sylas was that aside from Brog, everyone else, even those with little talent in potions, managed not to make major mistakes.
Their potions were full of impurities, but at least they were successful.
Sylas wasn't surprised. After all, they were adults; naturally, they were much more stable than first-year students at Hogwarts.
Out of a total of 543 students, over three hundred of the Boil-Cure Potions produced were actually fit for use.
Sylas simply stored all of these potions in the infirmary for future use.
And now that he had so many students capable of brewing, Sylas thought that in the future, he'd never run short on potions again.
Besides Potions, Sylas was also responsible for teaching Transfiguration.
In Transfiguration, there weren't many accidents, but everyone's talent for the subject varied.
A few people demonstrated excellent aptitude and managed to complete transformations successfully after only a few attempts.
Sylas took note of these individuals as well, planning to train them further in Transfiguration.
The schedule of the Magic Crash Course was incredibly tight, four classes in the morning, four in the afternoon, and two at night. Each class lasted fifty minutes, matching the intensity of a college entrance exam curriculum.
The goal was to cram as much magical knowledge as possible into their minds in the shortest time, helping them improve their strength as quickly as possible.
With so many lessons, it was impossible for Sylas to attend every class himself, nor did he want his wife, Arwen, to exhaust herself.
Therefore, most of the time, their portraits handled the teaching, after all, the portraits possessed the same memories and knowledge as the originals.
Sylas only personally oversaw the classes that carried greater risks, in order to prevent magical accidents.
To Sylas's surprise, Brog, who had absolutely no talent for Potions, turned out to be extraordinarily gifted in Charms.
In particular, he excelled in offensive magic, performing brilliantly in that area.
There were also a few others who showed outstanding talent in Herbology.
And so, time passed quickly.
In the blink of an eye, a year had gone by, and it was now March of the year 2950.
The students of the Magic Crash Course were finally about to graduate.
Over this past year, all of them had endured an incredibly intensive learning regimen, compressing and force-feeding themselves the knowledge from first through seventh year in Charms, Transfiguration, Potions, and Herbology.
When they were tired, they drank Energy Potions or Cheering Charms to stay alert.
There was also lake water brought back from Hildórien, the birthplace of humankind, which could dispel fatigue and reinvigorate the spirit.
As a result, the students of the Magic Crash Course either studied themselves half to death or competed like their lives depended on it.
Yet this kind of "cramming" method proved highly effective.
By now, every student had mastered the common spells, and their magical proficiency had reached the level of an ordinary wizard in the magical world.
Now, under the supervision of Sylas and Arwen, the students were undergoing their Apparition examinations.
On the wide, flat grassland outside the Castle, Sylas waved his wand and drew two circles on the ground, instructing each student to Apparate from one circle to the other.
Everyone was deeply fascinated by this magic that allowed instantaneous travel, so they participated enthusiastically in the test.
However, the results varied — some lost only an eyebrow, a lock of hair, or a fingernail.
Those who fared worse lost a finger or an ear.
And in the most severe cases, half of a person's body appeared inside the target circle, while the other half remained in the original spot.
The horrifying sight made the surrounding spectators turn pale — they thought the person was surely about to die.
The dismembered student was also terrified and screamed in panic.
"Ah! I'm dying! I'm going to die! I don't want to die!"
"Alright, alright! It's just Splinching — you won't die!"
Sylas, looking completely calm and accustomed to the situation, swiftly waved his wand. A flash of magic merged the two halves of the body together, and he performed a healing spell to repair the damage.
The young man, who moments ago had thought himself doomed, looked at his restored body with utter joy and relief, as if he'd been given a second life.
The onlookers, too, were filled with awe and disbelief at this miraculous scene.
Although their Lord had previously warned them about the possibility of Splinching, seeing it with their own eyes was still deeply shocking.
For ordinary people, such a condition would have been certain death — yet under the power of magic, it was merely a small issue.
This realization both astonished and inspired them, deepening their longing and reverence for magic.
Sylas handed the injured, shaken student over to Arwen to calm and comfort, to prevent psychological trauma, while he continued overseeing the others' Apparition training.
After three months of practice, all the students of the Magic Crash Course successfully mastered Apparition.
With that, the Magic Crash Course officially concluded.
For each graduate, Sylas made specific arrangements.
Bill, who had inherited Sylas's wand-making craft, officially graduated and became a professional wandmaker, responsible for producing wands for everyone.
Sylas also selected another talented student and taught him the craft of broom-making, tasking him with creating broomsticks in the future.
In addition to serving as flying tools for wizards, Sylas even planned to form Quidditch teams, and perhaps, one day, hold a Quidditch Cup.
At the same time, he chose several senior students to establish a Floo Powder workshop, assigning them to take charge of its production.
Furthermore, he selected several students talented in Potions and Herbology to stay in the Castle for further study, to oversee potion production and tend to the herb gardens.
Finally, from among the remaining graduates, Sylas selected one hundred outstanding individuals to form his Auror Corps.
At its head was Brog, serving as the commander of Sylas's "special forces."
They were tasked with guarding the safety of Hogsmeade, Bree, and Isengard, handling severe magical incidents beyond ordinary human capability, pursuing and capturing criminals, and defending against foreign threats.