For some reason, ordinary glass bottles couldn't properly contain raw lightning.
Perhaps it was because this was magical energy harvested directly from nature.
Picking up the vial, Charlie opened the tool pouch by his right hand. Inside lay an assortment of teaspoons and stirring spoons of various sizes.
He selected a long, slender teaspoon, uncorked the vial, and carefully scooped out half a spoonful of lightning.
Crackle—
The little spark proved highly unstable in the open air. Sun-dew and moon-dew would naturally dissipate too, but roughly at the rate of evaporating alcohol.
The lightning, however, acted more like it was actively trying to escape.
"Settle down," he murmured. He stared intently at the lightning, a strange gleam flickering in his eyes.
Ever since he had grown more proficient with intent-driven magic, his Natural Harvest ability had grown significantly stronger.
Even without a wand, keeping this pea-sized drop of pure lightning essence under control was relatively easy.
After transferring the lightning essence into a smaller vial, his eyes darted between the moon-dew and the sun-dew. He ultimately chose the former.
For no other reason than he simply had more moon-dew left.
Plus, he was genuinely curious: what kind of chemical reaction would occur if he mixed the lightning with the moon-dew, which felt distinctly more "magical" in its effects?
Would it explode? The thought briefly crossed his mind.
Whatever. He didn't care.
Holding the moon-dew in his left hand, he struck a match one-handed with his right and tossed the burning stick onto the small stove.
On one side, he uncorked the moon-dew; on the other, he tore open a chocolate wrapper. He carefully extracted a single drop of moon-dew while simultaneously dropping the chocolate into a small pot to slowly melt.
Finally, one spoonful of moon-dew and half a spoonful of lightning went into a thumb-sized vial. He jammed the stopper in and began shaking the mixture like a bartender.
He thought of the vortex mixers and magnetic stirrers from the laboratories of his past life, wondering if different levels of homogenization would alter the final product.
If he ever got the chance, he definitely needed to test that. For now, though, manual shaking was his only option.
Five minutes later, Charlie's arm was aching, and the chocolate had fully melted.
He stopped shaking and inspected the small vial. Silver and blue-purple hues swirled together.
Judging purely by the colors, the two elements hadn't fully bonded. Distinct streaks of silver and purple still remained.
"Damn it," he muttered.
Spongify!
He cast the charm silently in his mind. The next second, the wrist of his right hand holding the vial went completely limp.
Using his forearm to generate momentum, his wrist and hand began spinning in mid-air, whipping around so fast it became a blur.
That saves the wrist joints.
Another five minutes passed. The chocolate in the pot was bubbling gently as he finally brought his spinning hand to a halt.
This time, the liquid inside the vial was a pale blue, and the sharp electrical glare no longer pierced painfully through the glass.
What do I call this? Moon-lightning?
Uncorking the vial, he gently stirred the liquid with a spoon. A tingling, numb sensation crawled up the metal handle and straight into his fingertips.
He pulled out a notebook and jotted down the color, viscosity, and electrical intensity of the mixture.
Next, he divided the melted chocolate into two batches, and did the same with the moon-lightning.
He used the first batch to make three filled chocolates of varying potencies, and the second batch to make three infused chocolates, also of varying potencies.
He was well-practiced with filled chocolates; he carefully controlled the doses to two drops, one drop, and half a drop respectively.
For the infused batch, he divided the chocolate into three portions and thoroughly blended in the moon-lightning at the same two-drop, one-drop, and half-drop ratios.
It was worth noting that the moon-dew's staining power was completely beyond his expectations.
This was Charlie's first time attempting an infused chocolate. As the pale blue of the moon-dew seeped into the mixture, the chocolate itself began to radiate a faint, ethereal blue glow.
Pouring the infused mixture into the molds, he closely observed the differences. The filled chocolates looked perfectly normal, exactly as they always did.
But because the moon-lightning essence was completely blended into the infused batch, merely hovering his finger over the surface sent a faint, prickly static shock through his skin.
That was not a good sign.
Energy didn't just come from nowhere. If it was discharging electricity now, would it even retain any magical effects after sitting in storage for a while?
His worries vanished ten minutes later, however.
Once the outer shell of the infused chocolate hardened, the volatile energy of the moon-lightning seemed to be completely sealed within the solid casing.
Charlie let out a long sigh of relief.
Now came the moment of truth.
After a moment of thought, he decided to test the strongest filled chocolate first.
He popped it out of the mold and tossed it into his mouth. A moment later, the hard chocolate shell began to melt.
Soon, the liquid center flowed out over his tongue.
And then—
Wait, no!!
Spongify!
In the next split second, Charlie's head suddenly ballooned outward like a balloon, looking exactly like Tom the cat right after swallowing a lit stick of dynamite.
Alice, who had been resting quietly on his head, was blown clean off. She landed on the floor, reverting to her rabbit form, every single hair on her body standing straight up on end.
At the same time, Charlie let out a massive, drawn-out belch, exhaling a thick plume of chocolate-scented smoke.
More wisps of smoke slowly drifted out of his ears and nose.
"What the hell was that? Why did mixing moon-dew and lightning cause that kind of reaction?" Charlie wheezed, speaking rapidly.
Thank God his reflexes were fast enough to hit his own head with a Softening Charm, turning his skull into a rubber ball.
Otherwise, that little explosion would have left him in agony for days.
"This doesn't make sense. Last time, I ate two drops of pure lightning. This time, it was strictly one drop of lightning and one drop of moon-dew."
"The reaction was significantly more violent than last time."
"Last time it just shocked my whole body until it hurt. This time it actually caused a localized explosion."
Rubbing his aching internal organs, he eyed the infused chocolate containing the two-drop dose.
He needed to make one thing absolutely clear: he wasn't scared. Not at all. He just... wanted to take a little break and go watch his mates play chess.
Taking a break after working hard was completely reasonable, right?
Rubbing his head and blinking his heavy eyelids, he quickly made his way down to the common room.
Barely a few steps down the stairs, he heard a roar of cheers.
"Lost again! Carlos is out. Who's next? Who's brave enough to challenge him?"
"Bloody hell, he's a monster at this."
"Anyone else want to try?" Anthony shouted at the top of his lungs.
"I'll go ask the other Houses tomorrow. I think Cedric is pretty good at chess."
"I'll go see if Gryffindor has any experts brave enough to give it a go."
"What about right now? Anyone else stepping up?"
"I'll play!" a girl's voice called out as she pushed her way through the crowd.
Charlie walked over and saw Hector sitting quietly at the chessboard, calmly waiting for his next opponent.
The new challenger was Tina, a fifth-year prefect.
Charlie sidled up next to Anthony and asked, "How's his record?"
"What did you say?" Anthony frowned, leaning in closer.
"I asked, how is Hector's record?"
"What? Speak slow—" Anthony blinked, then quickly nodded. "His record? Undefeated. Not a single person has managed to beat him yet."
"Someone tried to challenge him to a speed chess match earlier, but he played so fast the magical pieces literally couldn't keep up with his commands."
Charlie looked at Hector in surprise, a smile playing on his lips. "That good, huh? Hasn't he had any tough matches?"
"What?" Anthony furrowed his brow again. "Can't hear you, mate. You're talking way too fast. We'll chat about it back in the dorm tonight. Let's just watch this game."
Charlie nodded, turning his attention to the board.
The miniature soldiers on the board were practically vibrating with adrenaline, shouting war cries and taunting the opposing side.
Prefect Tina made the opening move, advancing a pawn. Hector's expression immediately hardened. Playing black, he fired off his counter-command instantly.
His black pawn hopped forward two squares.
However, the black pawn practically shoved its face right up against a white pawn, essentially begging to be hit.
Ask and you shall receive. The next second, Tina's white pawn drove its sword straight through the black pawn's chest, lifting it into the air and launching it completely off the board.
What incredibly dramatic animations!
Charlie's eyes lit up. With pieces like that, anyone would be twice as interested in playing chess.
After tossing the black pawn aside, the white pawn actually wiped its sword against its armor, as if cleaning off the blood.
Hector wasn't bothered in the slightest. Instead, he advanced his knight, aiming it squarely at the smug white pawn.
Seeing this, Tina advanced her own knight to protect her pawn.
Are they going to fight a war of attrition over a single pawn?
It certainly seemed that way. Hector brought his queen forward, slamming his hand down on the chess clock immediately after.
Tina mirrored him, bringing her queen forward and solidifying her defensive formation. She pressed her clock slowly, her eyes fixed on Hector, a satisfied smile on her lips.
She was waiting for him to charge.
But the very next second, Hector's queen completely bypassed the skirmish, leaping across the board toward a totally undefended flank, her sword pointed directly at the white king.
He slapped the clock again with lightning speed.
Tina scrambled to shift her defenses around her king.
The moment she touched her clock, Hector barked out another command and slammed his clock three seconds later, keeping the pressure suffocatingly high.
It was over!
The moment the bell rang out, Hector's queen surged forward. She physically picked up the white pawn blocking her path and chucked it off the board.
The pieces that should have been guarding that spot had already been drawn away to protect the king.
Meanwhile, the rapid-fire ringing of the chess clock was brutally compressing Tina's window to think.
Speed chess was never about who could plan the furthest ahead; it was about who could think the fastest and stay the calmest.
After three or four rapid exchanges, the massive battle that seemed destined to erupt over the white pawn never actually happened. That single white pawn was still standing utterly alone on its starting square.
Meanwhile, the entire backline of Tina's defenses had been single-handedly slaughtered by Hector's black queen.
A moment later, when Hector issued yet another command and slammed the clock in under three seconds, Tina finally snapped.
She stood up abruptly. "Alright, alright, I resign! That bloody ringing is driving me mental."
"Sorry," Hector mumbled, ducking his head and rubbing the back of his neck apologetically.
"He hasn't shown a single person any mercy," Anthony whispered wickedly into Charlie's ear.
Then he raised his voice again. "Anyone else want to give it a go?"
The older students all shook their heads or looked at each other, hoping someone else would step up to the slaughter.
"If no one's playing, I suppose we'd better get to our homework," Anthony said.
But just as he spoke, a figure sat down directly opposite Hector.
"Oh? A new challenger approaches—wait, when did you get over there?"
Anthony stared at Charlie sitting across from Hector, then looked at the empty space beside him.
Is the bloke really that fast? I didn't even register him moving.
"You'll have to play a bit slower with me. I've never actually played a real game, just studied a lot of matches in newspapers and books," Charlie said to Hector.
"No problem," Hector nodded. He reset the chess clock.
Charlie was playing white, and he didn't plan on holding back.
He opened by advancing a pawn and immediately tapped the clock.
Hector gave Charlie a surprised look. It was the exact same opening move from the last game. After a brief pause, Hector advanced his black pawn in response.
However, less than a second after Hector hit the clock, Charlie slammed it right back.
Looking back at the board, Charlie's white pawn swung its sword and cleaved Hector's black pawn to the ground.
Seeing this, Hector immediately built a defensive formation around his remaining pawns.
Just like the previous game, Charlie mirrored the exact same defensive setup.
And so, Hector once again leaped his queen deep into the backline.
But this time, the pawn standing directly in front of Charlie's queen jumped out, physically blocking the black queen's path.
Ding—
Charlie's speed was terrifyingly fast, as if he didn't even need to process his moves.
Hector's competitive spirit flared. He advanced his knight, moving it one step forward.
I see. You want to bait my queen in and trap her.
After giving the command, Hector lightly tapped the clock.
Ding—
Ding—
On the board, Charlie's knight suddenly reversed direction, brutally trampling Hector's knight to pieces.
Before Hector could even react, he ordered his queen to smash Charlie's knight into rubble and toss it off the board.
Ding—
Ding—
Likewise, wasting virtually zero time, the chess clock rang out twice in rapid succession.
At the exact same moment, Charlie's bishop struck from the shadows, launching the newly repositioned black queen clean off the board.
Hector's brow furrowed, his expression turning deadly serious. He sacrificed a pawn to buy some time.
On Charlie's side, with his knights and bishops freed up, his rooks and queen finally entered the fray, glaring hungrily at Hector's remaining forces.
"Bring it on, then."
Hector muttered under his breath, barked a command, and slapped the clock.
The pace between the two of them grew faster and faster, the exchanges increasingly violent.
Hector had forced himself to calm down. He knew he had fallen for a trap earlier.
Charlie's opening had simply been a continuation of the previous game's sacrificial pawn trap. He had feigned ignorance, lured Hector in, and used his blistering speed to disrupt Hector's focus.
As Hector regained his composure, Charlie found it harder and harder to advance. His pieces were slowly being ground down by a series of traps.
Of course, Charlie didn't just sit there and take it. He constantly probed for weaknesses, ruthlessly eliminating Hector's pieces whenever the opportunity arose.
Minutes later, Hector's final pawn struck down Charlie's last remaining rook.
The board was left with only Hector's King and a single pawn against Charlie's lone King.
"He won! He finally won!" Roger yelled excitedly. He rushed over, grabbing Charlie by the shoulders and shaking him enthusiastically.
"We are the champions!" another student cheered, grinning ear to ear.
Charlie looked utterly bewildered. "Isn't this a draw?"
There was nothing left for Hector to do that could force a checkmate, and Charlie, with only a King, couldn't do anything either.
"Yeah, exactly! Which means you won!" Roger said, acting as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.
"We are the champions~" Charlie heard someone singing off-key in the background.
He looked over at Hector, who was watching him with a bright, genuine smile.
"Fair enough. Forcing a draw against you feels like a massive victory," Charlie smiled back.
"What did you say?" Hector leaned in closer.
"Ignore him, he's just too hyped up. He's talking way too fast," Anthony interjected.
Hearing that, Charlie froze. He turned his head, looking around the room.
Wait a minute...
Why does everyone keep saying I'm moving and talking too fast?
Could it be...
He looked up at the large clock hanging on the common room wall.
One second. Two seconds. Three seconds.
Tick—tock—tick—tock—
The second hand ticked twice.
Did I miscount the seconds, or... has time slowed down?!