Chapter 272: Loans Pouring In
Inside the private alchemy workshop Beauxbatons had set up for the competitors, the air carried that faint, particular glow left behind by magic in motion.
The various precision instruments had all gone still. At the centre of the workbench, the slim notebook, its cover shimmering between dark silver and a deep, mysterious blue, gave off a gentle flicker of light.
Leonardo stood at the bench, his wand tracing a few final, steady arcs.
Pure, refined magic streamed from the tip of his wand in visible silver threads, sinking gently and precisely into the dizzyingly intricate magical inscriptions etched around the notebook's edges.
The lines lit up one after another, like veins suddenly filled with life, before finally converging at the centre of the cover into a stable, harmonious composite rune array. A flash of light flared, then faded away, leaving behind only a colour of remarkable depth and richness.
"Almost done."
Leonardo set down his wand, murmuring quietly to himself.
That meant both that the final free-crafting stage was nearly over, that once the competitors handed in their finished pieces and the rankings were judged, this trip to Beauxbatons would draw to a satisfying close, and that repayment on the Emerald Tablet Fragment loan was nearly finished too, its progress closing in on the end.
Looking back, this annual loan hadn't proved particularly difficult for Leonardo anymore.
The task called for selling a set quantity and value of potions and alchemical artefacts.
The Emerald Tablet Fragment had raised his talent in Potions to S+ and Alchemy to SS+, both of which had already reached truly extraordinary levels.
More than that, Nicolas Flamel's unreserved teaching had allowed Leonardo's progress in alchemy to advance at a pace that sometimes left even Leonardo himself a little dazed.
So over these past six months, he'd put most of his energy into developing and mass-producing alchemical artefacts, with potions serving more as a supplement.
During that time, one novel, practical alchemical artefact after another had come into being at Leonardo's hands, flowing out into the market through the right channels.
With no shortage of funds, expertise, or connections, the progress bar on the Emerald Tablet loan had already climbed to around two-thirds.
Leonardo's gaze settled on the soon-to-be-finished magical communication notebook on the workbench, his fingertips brushing across the cover.
So long as the pricing strategy was sound, once this device, one capable of revolutionising how the wizarding world communicated, made its formal debut, sweeping the market was all but certain.
At that point, the remaining loan progress would be filled in with ease.
Once the competition wrapped up and he was back home, he could use something like Valentine's Day as an opportunity to roll out a whole line of beauty potions and finely made alchemical accessories aimed at the female market, and with all the other odds and ends of income on top of that…
Paying off the Emerald Tablet Fragment annual loan in full wouldn't take a full year at all.
The thought brought a small smile to the corner of Leonardo's mouth.
In an ideal environment where his development speed was maxed out, his starting capital was plentiful, and there was no system or management holding him back, success seemed to follow naturally enough, so long as he could pin down what the market actually wanted.
His thoughts returned to the piece in front of him.
The magical inscriptions were now perfect, and the earlier functional tests had all passed; it was time to give it a proper name.
Almost without any deliberation at all, the word "Instant Word" drifted naturally into his mind.
Carrying words and thoughts instantly across the distance of space.
The name captured its instant-messaging function while still holding on to the sense of delivery that a traditional letter carried, simple and just right.
"Let's call it 'Instant Word,' then."
He lowered his head slightly, gazing at this piece that held both his effort and his hopes for the future, and, out of habit, began running through what came next, murmuring to himself.
"Once the Emerald Tablet Fragment annual loan is finished, there won't be any long-term burden left for the time being. As for the monthly and weekly loans, those are minor mat—"
Ding!
A crisp, faintly cheerful system chime rang directly through Leonardo's mind.
[Host has triggered a loan: Seed of the Apple of Youth (Annual Loan)...]
Leonardo: "..."