On the podium of the conference hall, a said famous alchemist, about sixty years old, was speaking in broken English about the slow development and decline of alchemy in recent years. Albert's eyelids trembled as he listened, and he almost fell asleep.
This morning, Albert still got up in the dark. Even though he had just drunk a large cup of strong tea, he still couldn't stop yawning due to sleepiness.
Isobel, who was sitting next to him, was not in much better condition, and Catherine and Valeria looked like they might fall asleep at any time.
As if to keep themselves awake, many wizards attending the meeting were whispering to each other, and the middle-aged wizard on the stage used a microphone to amplify his voice, otherwise it would be embarrassing.
"Mr. Sera, has Professor Dumbledore basically stopped attending the International Alchemy Conference since he won the Gold Medal for Pioneering Contributions at the Cairo International Alchemy Conference?"
In order to keep himself from falling asleep, Albert planned to find someone to chat with, and he also heard something from the words of the middle-aged wizard on the stage.
"I'm not sure. However, in recent decades, I have never seen Dumbledore attend the International Alchemy Conference." Sera was not too surprised. He could actually guess what the reason was.
The guy on the stage was talking a lot about how to advance the development of alchemy, but were his words really useful
In Albert's opinion, the group of old guys on the stage should bear most of the responsibility for the decline of alchemy.
Moreover, just nagging there for a long time only results in a bunch of nonsense. The leader does not fulfill his responsibilities and does all kinds of disgusting things. Naturally, alchemy has become the terrible state it is now.
They especially like to suppress newcomers. Many older and experienced wizards like this kind of thing, but they forget that they are already old, and a large part of them are not able to accept new things and lack the ability to innovate.
Without innovation and without enterprising people to pave the way for everyone, the development of alchemy would naturally become very slow.
The group of people on the stage are naturally very clear about this, but sometimes for their own interests, some people will do it even if they know it is wrong.
Take the Barnabus Finkley Award for Excellence in Spellcasting that Albert won not long ago. Someone shamelessly filed a formal complaint with the International Confederation of Wizards. If it were an ordinary wizard, he would probably be in a very embarrassing situation.
There is a saying: Underage wizards are not wizards.
Moreover, Albert is still a minor, and underage wizards basically have no say.
However, he had a lot of halos on his head, and he had just announced a spell to restore human form that would help wizards and werewolves solve their problems. The Wildsmith family also used their connections to help him get it done, so the matter ended quietly. Otherwise, who knows what kind of trouble would have happened.
While a few people were chatting, several staff members were distributing a newly published alchemy book to the members in the venue. It was obvious that the International Alchemy Congress was not just shouting slogans on the sidelines, they had rewritten the textbooks related to alchemy.
However, after seeing the price of the book, Albert suspected that these people were trying to make some money by selling the book, because the book was not cheap, at least not as cheap as a textbook.
If alchemy is really to be popularized, the price should at least be cheaper.
Although it is undeniable that the book is actually well written and is basically more formal than the one Albert bought the day before, that is all.
I don't know when, the speaker on the stage changed to a wizard in his 50s, and this time the topic was the application of alchemy. However, I don't know if it was because he was not well prepared or for other reasons, the topic he spoke was very fragmented, and it was very short, about 15 minutes, which was indeed short compared to the previous speaker who spoke for almost an hour.
Albert felt that what this person probably wanted to express was that alchemy should be made practical and applied to life, rather than just being recorded on parchment. He believed that when alchemy was better applied, it would be able to better promote the development of alchemy.
However, to most people these are just empty words, because everyone will try their best to transform their alchemical results into practical benefits that can be seen and touched.
After this speaker finished speaking, and the third, fourth, and fifth speakers finished their nonsense, everyone's patience was almost exhausted, and the organizers themselves seemed to be aware of this. So, the meeting was finally suspended, allowing everyone to eat something, chat with others and take a break, and then continue to announce the excellent works that emerged at this year's International Alchemy Conference.
"Ha, so boring, I almost fell asleep." Valeria muttered softly.
In fact, she had no intention of attending today's meeting, but was dragged here by Catherine this morning to share the same suffering.
"Boring?" Catherine asked.
"Isn't it boring?" Valeria asked Albert and Isobel.
"Not bad," said Albert.
"What do you mean it's okay?" Valeria said dissatisfiedly, "I saw you almost fell asleep."
"Actually, if you can understand it, you'll find it quite interesting," Catherine said meaningfully.
"Understand what?" Valeria asked suspiciously.
"The shamelessness of adults." Albert covered his face with his hands and said, "Oh, I almost forgot, I am the only one here who is not yet an adult, it's really weird. However, it is actually quite rare to have the opportunity to witness the shameless faces of those people with my own eyes."
"Are you trying to imply that we are old?" Valeria asked with a pout.
Just at this moment, an elderly man came over here.
"Congratulations, Mr. Anderson. You have won the Gold Award for Pioneering Contributions at this year's Cairo International Alchemy Conference." The old man smiled and congratulated Albert, but Albert somehow felt that the old man's smile was hypocritical. "However, please keep this secret for now and prepare the speech you will need when you go on stage. We hope that you can share some of your personal insights on alchemy and contribute to broadening everyone's thinking."
"I understand." Albert nodded to show that he understood.
"My name is Richard." The old man did not seem to intend to leave immediately, but took the initiative to chat with Albert. "Maybe, you don't know me, but I heard other French colleagues mention you."
"Hello, Mr. Charles." Albert raised his eyebrows slightly, as if recalling where he had seen this name.
When he saw Isobel pointing at the book in her hand, Albert remembered who this person was.
Charles Brick.
The author of the textbook "The Development and Research of Modern Alchemy".
"The Development and Research of Modern Alchemy?" Albert asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Yes, that's what I wrote. What do you think of the book?" Charles was very satisfied that Albert recognized him.
"There is no alchemy course at Hogwarts." Albert said suddenly, "Although most wizards have heard of alchemy, they don't know what it is, just like wizards who have never learned Transfiguration will mix up spells and Transfiguration."
Charles raised his eyebrows slightly, but was still prepared to listen to Albert's words. Maybe the other party's words were not compliments, but at least he expressed his views more clearly.
"The Development and Research of Modern Alchemy is too superficial for those who understand alchemy, but it is really difficult to understand for those who have not even started learning alchemy." Albert simply expressed his feelings after reading the book.
"You think "The Development and Research of Modern Alchemy" is useless?" Charles' expression became a little subtle. "Do you have any suggestions?"
"I suggest you publish a simpler alchemy book to introduce alchemy to those wizards who don't know it, so that they can open the door to alchemy. Then this book can be placed in the middle, and then you can publish a more difficult alchemy book. It can be regarded as a set of teaching materials."
"You seem to know a lot about this." Charles was a little curious and was not angry at Albert's words. He was also considering the feasibility of the suggestion.
"My girlfriend is currently compiling teaching materials on ancient magic, and I am helping her organize these things." Albert said with a smile.
Charles glanced at Isobel, nodded slightly at Albert and said, "I will consider your suggestion carefully."
Richard had to admit that what Albert said made sense, because except for the countries around Egypt, many schools actually did not have alchemy courses. Even France, which had produced alchemy masters like Nicolas Mellor, did not have alchemy courses.
"You don't seem to like him very much." Sera asked with interest as she looked at Richard's departing back.
"He gives me a very hypocritical feeling," Albert commented without hesitation.
"You're right, he's a hypocritical guy. In fact, most people are hypocritical." Nicholas was not surprised at all. "As long as you are valuable, they never mind being hypocritical. That guy is also the honorary vice president of the Alchemy Research Center. He helped write the book "Modern Alchemy Development and Research". Although it looks more formal, to be honest, the book is really mediocre. However, you have to thank him for the Pioneering Contribution Gold Award. They originally wanted to let Aria win the award."
The other people were no longer sleepy. Their curiosity was aroused and they all came over to listen to the twists and turns of the story.
"Mr. Richard thinks your alchemical achievements are valuable and may be used in some places in the future. Aria's magic transmitter is difficult to be widely used. Of course, it is also related to what happened yesterday. They all realized that you know a lot of famous alchemists and have countless dazzling halos above your head. They gave you the Cairo International Alchemy Conference Pioneering Contribution Gold Award. This can be used as a gimmick for publicity. You are the youngest winner in history. Just like when you won the Barnabus Finkley Excellent Spellcasting Award last time, you can use this to increase the popularity of the International Alchemy Conference."
"Of course, the most important thing is that you are still young and worth investing in. At least you are a good candidate for a friend. It is undeniable that someone like Mr. Richard is worth making friends with."
"The adult world is so complicated!" Albert couldn't help but tease.
In the afternoon, no one continued to waste everyone's precious time on the stage. They neatly displayed the alchemical results of the twelve contestants.
Albert came in seventh.
The first contestant was a middle-aged man who used alchemy to extract and create a small pill similar to a sedative. It was not as effective as a sedative, but the pill was easier to store and carry, and was equally effective and could be used to deal with more urgent situations.
The second contestant is a man in his thirties who used alchemy to create a pair of multifunctional glasses that allow the wearer to see objects clearly in the dark and are said to have the ability to see through invisibility. However, these technologies have actually existed for a long time and are not considered by many to be the results of alchemy.
The third one was a witch in her thirties. She extracted essence from gilly grass and concocted an alchemical potion that claimed to allow people to breathe underwater. However, many people thought that this was an extremely wasteful use of gilly grass, just like taking off pants to fart, which was unnecessary.
The fourth one is Aria. His magic communicator is favored by many people because it seems to be able to transmit information across long distances and is very helpful for cross-border communications.
The fifth, sixth, and even the seventh Albert, had his portrait and alchemical results played on the projector. There was a sudden murmur from the audience. The flying ointment was indeed novel, but that was all, because there was no apparent use for this thing at present, but it was undoubtedly useful.
However, most people were not concerned about the flying ointment, but Albert's age, because he was actually not yet an adult.