"Unbelievable, a guy like you is actually... one of the legendary Executives?!"

Quirinus Quirrell's eyes twitched as he struggled to keep his voice down, not wanting to attract attention.

His astonishment was understandable, considering Gilderoy Lockhart's title was no simple matter. He was ranked alongside legendary wizards, a 魔王(Devil King) Executive who could silently influence the course of civilization.

In the magic world where strength reigned supreme, there was no room for seniority or nepotism.

According to the "Fairy Queen"艾琳娜·卡斯兰娜(Ailiana Kaslana), every "Heaven-sent" Executive possessed world-shattering "power," which was one of the reasons they held that position.

Undoubtedly, Grindelwald, Dumbledore, Nicolas Flamel, Newt Scamander...

The moment he saw the list of new professors at Hogwarts this term, Quirinus Quirrell guessed most of the legendary wizards involved in this endeavor. As the Fairy Queen said, these famous wizards gathered together, even a few casual chats and unintentional attempts could create huge waves in the world.

But...

Quirinus Quirrell glanced skeptically at the smiling wizard with the handsome curls beside him.

Compared to those steady and dangerous "Devil Kings," this carefree novelist looked more like a spotlight-grabbing celebrity in the non-magical world. There was no sign of any "power" capable of harming the world.

As a Hogwarts student of the same era, Quirrell knew Lockhart's magical abilities in school were nothing special.

"Hmm? Quirinus, do you think there's something wrong with that? Can't I be one of the Executives? The real Hogwarts and the magic world are far more dangerous than you imagine. For example, look at the sky?"

"Eh... um... is there something in the sky?"

Quirinus Quirrell frowned and looked up.

"I'm very sorry, I don't see any danger. Your way of changing the subject is too clumsy."

The weather was the same as last night, gray and gloomy, with clouds pressing down as if it might rain at any moment.

Other than that, it looked the same as the scenery he had seen at Hogwarts for the past ten years, with nothing unusual. If it weren't for Gilderoy Lockhart's impressive title, he wouldn't have bothered to look up.

"That's right, that's one of the answers. Your eyes will deceive you, your ears will deceive you, your experience will deceive you... The world you perceive is not necessarily the real world. What if I said there was a city of steel in the sky? Right now, um, right here... its shadow covers most of the Black Lake."

Gilderoy Lockhart wagged his finger, his white teeth gleaming.

"You know? To complete it, I lived with hundreds of wizards in the distant snow and ice for more than half a year. And the most amazing thing is that such a magnificent treasure has never been sung by any wizard. It's amazing, isn't it?"

"What are you talking about..."

Quirinus didn't know what he was talking about. Just as he was about to express his confusion, Lockhart continued.

"I've never been so proud. As a wizard, seeing such a magnificent city in the sky, combining the power of magic and science, transform from a cold steel toy into the greatest art of this era. Of course, I know you don't understand what I'm talking about, but one day, when you look up, you will understand all of this."

"Uh—so, Professor Lockhart, you can be more direct—"

"I'm very sorry, that's meaningless to you."

"Why?"

"Because you don't have the authority to understand all of this yet."

Gilderoy Lockhart glanced at Quirrell, grinned, and said softly with a smile.

"Without enough authority, you don't even have the right to read or memorize this information. Of course, I believe that with your intelligence, you can quickly find the answer yourself—either by inference or by upgrading your authority."

"Authority? The… right to remember?"

Quirinus Quirrell nodded thoughtfully, taking out a silver metal badge from his pocket and caressing it.

【Hogwarts - Grade C Professor - Quirinus Quirrell】

Having lost his magic, Quirrell didn't have many ways to test the badge, but looking closely, it seemed to be an ordinary metal badge, with nothing strange about it except for his name engraved on it.

Even the shallow scratch he had made on the side yesterday was still clearly visible, and it didn't automatically repair itself like a Galleon.

"So, Mr. Lockhart, how should I upgrade my authority?"

"Very simple, complete the tasks arranged by the young lady as much as possible. If you can find your irreplaceable unique value in this process, that would be even better. As for the first step..."

Gilderoy Lockhart winked at Quirrell kindly and pushed open the door in front of them.

This was a spacious hall with smooth stone walls with light brown patterns on both sides. A dozen thick stone pillars carved with countless regular magic runes were scattered throughout the hall, supporting the ceiling above.

Like Hogwarts, magic torches were embedded next to each pillar, so the light was quite sufficient.

The only difference was that the space inside wasn't larger than it looked from the outside.

Perhaps this was a very common thing in the non-magical world, but when it appeared in the magic world, especially next to Hogwarts, it became a little unbelievable. After all, even the cafe in Hogsmeade where young wizards went on dates had its space slightly expanded with magic.

What surprised Quirinus Quirrell even more was that the hall was filled with all kinds of electronic instruments.

Dozens of foreigners dressed like that violent woman the other day were fiddling with the instruments, quickly communicating in rapid Russian with a tongue roll, while recording and writing something on the tablets in their hands.

This was simply impossible at Hogwarts!

Hogwarts was surrounded by strong magic fields that strongly interfered with electronic equipment, so Muggle electronic instruments and equipment couldn't be used at Hogwarts, which was well known. Judging from the behavior of these strange foreigners and the scrapped equipment piled in the corner, they obviously understood this as well.

"Well, this is our task for the next period of time..."

Lockhart waved his hand casually at the hall and said in a relaxed tone.

"As you can see, we will act as one of the academic representatives of the magical side, assisting these researchers in building a laboratory at Hogwarts—a scientific laboratory that allows those iron gadgets to operate normally and maintain stable values."

"That's impossible! Unless we tear down Hogwarts!"

Quirinus Quirrell shook his head with a strange expression and replied without thinking.

"Or we can convert them all into magic-powered devices, such as magic radios and magic ovens. Otherwise, even Professor Dumbledore can't make Muggle devices work within Hogwarts."

"Well, you're right..."

Gilderoy Lockhart shrugged and skillfully took off his robe and hung it on a nearby hanger.

"To be precise, it's difficult for Professor Dumbledore alone, or rather, the power of the magic world to do this. Even if we convert electronic devices into magic devices, the prerequisite is that we understand their true results. But if we have the help of these top scientific researchers from the non-magical world, it's not as difficult as you imagine..."

"But—"

"Hey, Bofna, Klief, the new guy's here!"

Lockhart didn't continue to explain, but turned around and greeted several former Soviet scholars who were walking towards them with a smile, pointing to the somewhat dazed young wizard beside him and introducing him enthusiastically.

"Quirinus, Quirinus Quirrell, a top student of Hogwarts from the class of 1981, one of the official professors. Former professor of Muggle Studies and Defense Against the Dark Arts at Hogwarts—his foundation in magic theory is much more solid than mine. See who he can help first? My personal suggestion is that you can chat with him first."

"Hmm, I know this gentleman's name. So, you are really a wizard?"

Arsipovna raised her eyebrows, curiously looking Quirrell up and down, and generously extended her hand.

"Let me introduce myself again, Arsipovna, former senior researcher at the Landau Institute for Theoretical Physics. I'm really sorry about yesterday. If possible, please help me solve the magic energy supply problem first. Klief, your ternary computer has to be built on a stable functional basis, right?"

"Landau... Institute for Theoretical Physics?"

Quirrell repeated in confusion, wondering what the others meant besides the institute.

"That's right, the Landau Institute—in my opinion, the most advanced physical shrine of human civilization."

Looking at the confused young wizard, Arsipovna puffed out her chest with some pride and said softly.

"Let's put it this way, it's roughly similar to the status of your Hogwarts in the magic world. Of course, we don't teach students, we are pure academic research, and the subject I am currently in charge of is mainly magnetic energy analysis. In a practical sense..."

Arsipovna raised her thumb and gestured towards the pile of instruments behind her.

"Our task is to bring those babies back to life and find ways to run faster, more stable, and more accurate than before—in a way that science can understand, rather than a superficial handicraft workshop."

The magic world wasn't without Muggle industrial products.

From small items such as cameras and watches, to large items such as cars, trains, and ships, with the development of the Industrial Revolution and the impact of modernization on the human civilized world, wizards naturally couldn't completely disconnect from this world.

However, they adopted a more idealistic and strange approach.

The simplest example might be the principle of wizard radio—those so-called "wireless devices" weren't powered by electricity, but by magic. They were more like strange black box products that were reverse-engineered from the results.

In the magic world's processing, the production process of a magic radio was roughly like this:

First, purchase a radio from the Muggle side, then cast a spell on it to allow it to receive the "magic signals" emitted by the magic radio station, and finally wave a wand to make it "learn" how to make sounds.

Regarding the detailed principles in this regard, Ailiana had some unconfirmed speculations.

This was like the different difficulty levels of Transfiguration when transforming matter. If turning a tree stump into a wooden table was at the beginner level, then turning it into a stone table was obviously more complicated, and turning it into a Venomous Tentacula was even more complicated...

So, by analogy, the most demanding thing was naturally to create completely new things out of nothing.

After several months of attempts, Ailiana, Dumbledore, and other representatives of the magical side, as well as Arsipovna and the other researchers from the former Soviet Union, quickly realized one thing—if the energy problem wasn't solved, then all cooperation and integration would only be superficial imitation or a jigsaw puzzle-like assembly.

The most direct example was that a wizard might be able to start a computer normally within Hogwarts, but couldn't give it the correct algorithms, computing power, or even the most basic code and data flow.

And the solution was simple...

Either let a wizard gradually understand the knowledge hidden behind the electronic components.

Obviously, this was also the reason why Gilderoy Lockhart had been catching up on lessons during this time—Lockhart's skilled memory magic could help him accelerate this process.

The other method was to deconstruct, from a Muggle perspective, with the assistance of magic knowledge, a portion of the black-box theories about the magic world and the formation of magic.

From the current point of view, Quirinus Quirrell, who had temporarily lost his magic, was undoubtedly the most suitable candidate.

After all, in today's magic world, it was difficult to find another erudite "pseudo-Squib" who once had remarkable magical power, could see and feel magic, but didn't generate any magic fields.

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Goo ah~