Moody swaggered toward the Humanoid Target, leaning on his cane with an air of dominance, and drew his wand. Without uttering a spell, he simply raised his hand and unleashed a powerful, heavy blast.
"Bang!"
Struck by the spell, the Humanoid Target toppled backward like a knocked-over roly-poly toy. Its body slapped against the ground with a thwack before it bounced back upright, swaying violently in place. Once the target finally settled, a numerical value appeared on its chest.
358!
"Wow!" The onlookers gasped at the number, and even the department heads and Minister Bagnold looked at Moody with a hint of surprise. They had always known Moody was strong, but they hadn't had a concrete idea of exactly how strong; perhaps his might was equivalent to three Aurors, or even four—no one could say for sure. Presented as a standardized power value, Moody's strength became even more apparent. After all, a regular staff member had only scored 40 just now—wasn't this nine times that?
"Haha, Alan, I haven't even put much effort into it yet. Your young target won't be able to withstand it, will it?" Moody laughed heartily, grinning as he joked with Alan.
Alan secretly wiped his brow. This Moody... Minister Bagnold only asked him to test the product; why did he use so much force? Fortunately, the Humanoid Target brought today was his improved second-generation model, which he had personally tested and found able to withstand spells with a power of up to 500 points. As for anything exceeding 500, he wasn't quite sure, because even he couldn't achieve 500 points with all his might right now.
"Don't worry, the Humanoid Target has excellent self-healing capabilities. As long as you don't use Dark Arts like Fiendfyre to completely burn it, there won't be any major problems." Alan could only force himself to boast now, unsure if there would be issues if the intensity rose much higher.
"That's good. Then I can really let loose and have some fun. Reducto!" Moody grinned, turned around, and intentionally focused for a moment before unleashing another powerful spell.
"Boom!"
A deafening roar, even more jarring than before, echoed through the training hall, causing some wizards to cover their ears. However, the Humanoid Target, which had completely absorbed the spell this time, did not fall backward as it had before; the power of a Reducto is not manifested in its impact force. Instead, the target was now covered in hideous cracks, as if it were about to explode at any moment.
Seeing the target in such a state, everyone assumed it was completely broken. They looked toward Alan, and even Moody cast an embarrassed glance, as if to say, "Didn't you just say it would be fine?"
Amelia took half a step forward, prepared to negotiate with Alan; if this thing was destroyed during the demonstration, they weren't going to compensate for it. However, before Amelia could open her mouth, a sharp-eyed Hit Wizard nearby pointed at the seemingly ruined target and shouted:
"Look! It… it's slowly recovering, and the number has appeared!"
The crowd turned to look. Indeed, the cracks caused by the Blasting Curse were sealing at a steady pace. Within moments, the damage was almost invisible, and a string of vivid red numbers appeared.
489 points!
"Hiss…"
Everyone took a sharp intake of breath, their hearts filled with awe. They were astonished by Moody's strength—the previous score was already impressive, but this was staggering. At the same time, they were shocked by the durability of the target. After taking such a powerful spell, it could still function normally, and it appeared it would be fully restored in a moment.
Alan himself was startled; Moody's strike was truly exaggerated. He usually had to use the God Slaying Slash to achieve such a score during his own tests.
Seeing the resilience of the Humanoid Target, Moody laughed heartily and gave Alan a thumbs-up. "This testing target is really good. Remember to sell me one after the presentation."
The surrounding crowd, seeing that even Moody was impressed, eagerly wanted to step forward and test their own skill levels. Finally, Minister Bagnold raised a hand to stop them.
"Silence. You will have opportunities to train later. For now, let us first finalize the price with Alan." Minister Bagnold dismissed the crowd and turned to him. It was evident she was very satisfied and intended to purchase at least one.
After Moody's display, Alan realized that the demonstration effect far exceeded expectations. It was time to seize the opportunity to raise the price. Originally, he had intended to sell them for 500 Galleons each, but now...
"A Humanoid Target like the one before you has a lifespan of at least five years, and as you've seen, its impact resistance is excellent. Combined with a highly accurate power value statistics system, each one costs 800 Galleons and requires a week's advance order," Alan explained with a slight smile. The need for advance orders was genuine; this item couldn't be mass-produced by a lathe yet and had to be finished by his own hands.
Upon hearing the quote, neither Minister Bagnold nor Amelia tried to significantly lower the price, eventually settling on 750 Galleons each. It seemed the demonstration had set their expectations quite high.
"Ladies and gentlemen, finally, I would like to introduce two of my latest magic items, which I believe can assist you in your frontline duties." Just when everyone thought Alan was finished, he spoke again.
Everyone was drawn to the two items Alan produced: two one-meter-long metal rods. He had finally completed them.
"Oh? I wonder what kind of surprise you can bring us this time." Minister Bagnold was becoming increasingly impressed; despite Alan's young age, he kept producing one remarkable invention after another.
"I call these two items 'Interference Generators'," Alan said, placing them on the table.