However, this still reduced Kasenhis's workload by a very noticeable amount, roughly… hmm…
About a month. During that month, he only needed to teach the fourth, sixth, and seventh years.
Calculated out, that meant going from working five days a week to four… the increase in rest time was quite substantial.
But while Kasenhis was taking it easy, things on Steve's side were starting to ramp up.
The reason was simple. Neville had an abnormal level of talent in swordsmanship, so… he carried a sword in class, carried a sword after class, carried a sword while eating, and even when he was brawling with Draco, he still carried a sword.
In the end, during one of those fights with Draco, he casually performed a sword flourish that perfectly deflected the poison curses fired by three people, then followed up with a thrust that pierced straight through Draco's shoulder…
Neville had clearly been born into the wrong world. If he'd been born into a Soulslike world, what wolves, what Ashen Ones, what Chosen Undead would even matter? Thirty-six strikes in a single second. Wasn't that basically Yasuo? The combat level wasn't even on the same scale.
As Neville's title of "Sword Saint of Hogwarts" spread, the swordsmanship club also gained a reputation. Even students from Slytherin started signing up.
Draco was one of them.
Mainly because he simply couldn't believe that Neville, who was otherwise average in most areas except for pulling off a few nasty tricks with strange spells, could have such outrageous talent in swordsmanship.
And then, poor Draco was once again brutally crushed by Neville for more than a single round in the swordsmanship club.
It was said that when the club session ended, Neville was completely fine, while Draco, who had fought him for the entire class, had practically turned into a blood-soaked mess.
There was no better word for it than miserable.
…
Meanwhile, the alchemy office presented a completely different scene.
Kasenhis hadn't let Cedric directly go for full bone replacement. After all, when he himself replaced his bones, he could rely on his overwhelming magical power and sheer "it just works" force to keep his body stable even without a skeleton for a short period of time, giving the new bones a chance to be installed.
Cedric's magic, however, was only at the level of an ordinary wizard. He couldn't support that kind of intense magical application.
Moreover, bone replacement was truly a near-death gamble. So for Cedric, coating the surface of his bones was the safer option.
As for how to coat them…
You know how Wolverine gets injected with adamantium?
However Wolverine did it, that's how Cedric did it. The only difference was that Cedric wouldn't suffer nearly as much pain.
And with Kasenhis's tacit approval, Cedric's over-the-top, enhanced, newly upgraded mechanical arm had finally reached its finished form.
How to describe it…
For an ordinary person, like Kasenhis's exoskeleton, it was similar to Spider-Man's mechanical spider legs. When not deployed, they stayed hidden on the back, practically invisible.
But Cedric had truly modified himself toward the level of a Tech-Priest.
With all the mechanical arms curled up, the sheer bulk was so large it couldn't even be concealed by a backpack.
Two permanently enchanted disarming devices, one high-powered magic cannon, an Ender Pearl launcher, a chainsword power hammer, and two pairs of massive power claws…
"You seem… a bit too extreme." Kasenhis kept that thought to himself. There was no way he'd actually say it out loud, and besides…
Wasn't this a kind of great innovation?
Kasenhis looked at the series of mechanical arms laid out on the workbench, not yet mounted onto Cedric's back, and fell silent for a moment. "Then I guess all your clothes will have to be custom-made from now on."
Yes, after holding it in for so long, that was all he came up with. A completely harmless comment.
"It's fine, Professor. I've already calculated it. As long as I arrange them in a fixed pattern, I won't look overly bulky. On the contrary, they'll protect me like an exoskeleton. I might even look more muscular," Cedric said with a grin.
"What about Cho Chang? If she sees you like that, won't she break up with you?"
Kasenhis asked a rather stupid question.
"When I was still using the previous set of mechanical arms, she was actually really happy. When we went out shopping, we didn't need to use Levitation Charms or carry bags anymore. We could hold hands properly," Cedric said, a little embarrassed.
"Oh… wishing you the best." Kasenhis nodded. Since the people involved had no complaints, what else could he do? Of course, he could only applaud his good student for learning to innovate and then offer his blessings.
"So, shall we begin now?" Kasenhis said slowly.
"Mm… Professor, I actually have another idea. I think… connecting all the mechanical arms to the spine, isn't that a bit… rigid?" Cedric said tentatively.
"You've got another idea?" Kasenhis said, pleasantly surprised.
Cedric nodded and slowly took off his shirt.
Then he stepped in front of Kasenhis and showed the body modifications he had secretly carried out on himself.
Two mechanical neural interfaces on either side of his chest. Two more on his shoulders.
On his back, near the shoulder blades, there were two interfaces on each side, making four in total.
As for the spine, there was only a reinforced exoskeletal chain along it, along with a connection port.
"Professor… what do you think?" Cedric asked carefully.
"Damn, that's insanely cool!" Kasenhis praised him from the bottom of his heart.
"Professor, when do we start?" Cedric asked.
"Right now, of course. Are you going to hit yourself with a Stunning Spell, or do you want me to drop an anvil on you?" Kasenhis said, trembling with excitement.
"I'll do it myself, I'll do it myself." Cedric hurriedly pulled out his wand and cast a Stunning Spell on himself.
Meanwhile, all of Kasenhis's mechanical arms sprang out from his back, and he began working with a series of clanks and clangs to install the mechanical arms onto Cedric.
At last, everything was installed, with only the spinal neural chain interface left.
"Hmm… got it!" Kasenhis suddenly came up with an idea. With a casual motion, he crafted two square skulls, one black and one white. Then he placed two amplification beacons inside each of them, channeling their power directly into Cedric's body through the neural link.
The two skulls then floated up slowly in a rather eerie manner…
"Cedric, open your eyes. This is Kasenhis…"
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