Chapter 266: Second Place Is the New First!
Leonardo settled into a seat among the spectators, his gaze drifting across the competitors still absorbed in their work, while his thoughts had already moved on to what lay ahead.
Once today's round was over, only the free-crafting stage would remain. He still wanted to refine a few final details on the magical communication notebook...
Right. Once the competition's over, I'll stop by the library.
Over the past few days at Beauxbatons, he'd visited most of the places worth seeing, yet the one he had returned to time and again was still the library, with its extensive collection.
As one of Europe's three great magical schools, Beauxbatons certainly hadn't disappointed him. Whether in the size of its collection or the breadth of its subjects, its library was exceptionally well stocked.
Unfortunately, half a month was nowhere near enough time to read more than a fraction of it.
Perhaps one day...
A passing thought suddenly occurred to him.
What if, after graduating, I travelled from one magical school to another as a teacher? I could teach while working my way through each school's library, then move on to the next. Travelling ten thousand miles and reading ten thousand books, all at the same time.
Or perhaps there's some kind of magic that lets someone split into multiple copies, leaving one in each part of the world? That would make learning far more efficient...
As Leonardo's thoughts wandered, time slipped quietly by.
Madame Maxime glanced at the magical clock. As the hour hand reached the appointed mark, her clear, resonant voice rang through the hall once more.
"Time is up. All competitors, please stop what you are doing and step away from your workstations."
At once, every competitor laid down their tools.
Apart from the Durmstrang student who had been forced to remake a component after his earlier mistake and now appeared slightly pressed for time, the others had all finished comfortably, using the remaining minutes to carry out final inspections and make minor adjustments.
The judging and scoring proceeded swiftly. The criteria for the microclimate bottle were already well established: the variety of climates it could reproduce and the stability with which it maintained them.
There was no suspense whatsoever.
Leonardo's entry received a perfect thirty points, its quality beyond question.
With that, three stages of the Triwizard Alchemy Exchange Match had been completed: two written examinations worth twenty points each, and one practical designated-alchemy challenge worth thirty.
Leonardo had claimed a perfect score in all three events, putting him comfortably ahead of every other competitor.
Madame Maxime then announced the rules for the final—and longest—stage of the competition.
"Next comes the free-crafting stage. Each competitor will be assigned a private alchemy classroom, and no one besides the competitor may enter. The classroom will be protected by the appropriate magical wards to ensure the crafting process remains undisturbed..."
The competitors would have an entire week to complete an alchemical creation of their own choosing.
From this point onwards, Beauxbatons would no longer provide any materials. Whatever a competitor required, they would have to obtain it themselves.
Alchemy and potion-making were disciplines capable of producing immense value, but they also demanded a considerable investment of resources.
Simply put, you had to spend money to make money.
The ability to obtain suitable and rare materials was itself a measure of an outstanding alchemist's or potion-maker's overall capability.
This final stage would test not only technical skill, but also foresight, planning, and resourcefulness.
"Once the week is over, all completed works will be judged together. At that point, in addition to the professors from the three schools," Maxime said, gesturing towards the judges beside her, "we'll also invite several widely respected masters of alchemy from across the wizarding world to serve as guest judges, ensuring a fair and impartial assessment of every type of creation and every approach."
For the earlier designated challenge, the microclimate bottle had been chosen precisely because it provided a uniform standard, making it perfectly adequate for the professors from the three schools to judge it alone.
The free-crafting stage, however, placed no such limits on the competitors. With every piece likely to be different, there was no single standard by which to measure them. Bringing in a broader panel of distinguished third-party judges was undoubtedly the best way to ensure both fairness and credibility.
Once the rules had been explained, the competitors' reactions varied.
But on most faces, the fierce determination to fight for first place had already faded.
With Leonardo—that "monster" who had swept all three previous events with perfect scores, leaving everyone else far behind—standing at the top of the leaderboard, the overall champion was already all but decided.
In that case, they might as well treat second place as first.
That was still something worth fighting for.