In the dormitory, the group of students who had just finished their astronomy class were now huddled around George's bed, flipping through "Simple Alchemy" and discussing its contents.
Albert never imagined that "Simple Alchemy" would have such an appeal to Fred and his companions. Perhaps it has something to do with the fact that the author is Joko from the comedy shop.
Although the title suggests alchemy, the content of this book is anything but simple for first-year students. Without sufficient prior knowledge, understanding the book's contents will be quite challenging.
In Albert's view, Fred, George, and Lee Jordan's extraordinary enthusiasm for "Simple Alchemy" was entirely due to their association of alchemy with Joko's joke props.
I wonder what an alchemist would think if they knew about this.
Albert questioned "Simple Alchemy" mainly because after reading the book, no alchemy-related skills appeared on his skill panel.
As is customary, listening to, reading, or actively learning relevant knowledge will cause related skills to appear on the panel. The absence of skills means the book doesn't contain alchemy, or the alchemical knowledge isn't sufficient to form a skill.
As Albert pondered, he stirred the milk tea in front of him, looked up at the three whispering figures, and took a small sip.
This is a good start, I guess!
I only gave them a gentle push, what will happen in the future?
I am actually quite curious.
"Aren't you going to eat?" Albert asked, waving a half-eaten cookie in his hand. "By the way, can you understand that book?"
"It's barely passable. I never expected that Joko would be an expert in alchemy." Lee Jordan remarked with some emotion, adding that being able to publish a book shows that he has a good level of expertise in this field.
"I wouldn't call him an expert, but he does know a little about alchemy, otherwise he wouldn't have been able to make those quirky props." Albert finished his biscuit, downed his milk tea in one gulp, stood up, stretched, and prepared to rest.
"You've finished reading that book, cough cough... water!"
Fred took a cookie from the plate, handed it to Jordan Lee, took a bite, and then choked while talking.
"I've finished reading it. I'll return the book to the library tomorrow." Albert poured Fred a glass of water. "If you want to read it, come with me. You can borrow it yourself."
Fred took a big gulp of water before he recovered.
"Okay, I'll go with you tomorrow," George said, picking up a cookie from the plate Lee Jordan handed him, taking a bite, and then asking after a moment's thought, "Have you thought about…"
"I don't want to," Albert interrupted.
"I haven't finished speaking yet…" George looked at his roommate speechlessly.
"It's not hard to guess what you're thinking." Albert gave him a look that said, "Don't think I don't know what you're thinking." He reminded him, "Alchemy is at least a third-year subject. It's too difficult for you guys right now. I dare say you might not even be able to understand that book."
"I don't believe you can't understand it?" Fred said, pursing his lips.
If he truly couldn't understand it, Albert obviously wouldn't have finished reading the whole book, because struggling with a book you can't understand is undoubtedly an extremely painful experience.
The guy on the other side obviously doesn't have that kind of fetish.
"Understanding something and being able to do it are two different things," Albert cautioned. "Alchemy is not as simple as you think; that book is just a joke."
"We didn't say we wanted to learn alchemy," Fred said slyly. "We just wanted to…"
"Alright, the alchemy you want…" Albert thought for a moment, then took a rough cross from the pocket of his robe and tossed it to George. "It's an amulet I made to protect you from dark creatures. If you want to learn, first master the Cutting Charm, and then I'll teach you."
"You're trying to fool us again!" Fred said, his face full of disbelief. "Besides, don't you think this cross is ugly?"
Albert said in a serious tone, "This thing is worth two Galleons."
"Two Galleons." Fred and George's voices rose a few decibels as they looked the rough cross up and down, seemingly trying to figure out why this piece of junk was worth that price.
"You were able to sell it beforehand, weren't you?" Upon hearing this, Li Qiaodan couldn't help but roll his eyes at Albert. After spending a month together, he had a better understanding of his roommate's personality. When it came to deceiving others, six parts truth and four parts falsehood could leave unsuspecting people completely bewildered.
"That's right," Albert said. "This thing works just like the amulet in that book, and it's made from the wood of the Guardian Tree. Most amulets sold on the market are made from the Guardian Tree, they just come in more styles and are more finely crafted, but they're really nothing special."
"Does this thing even work?" Fred asked skeptically.
"On the contrary, this thing is... extremely ineffective." Albert paused, then continued, "According to the description in that book, as long as you soak the cross in garlic, take it out and dry it after a few days, and then repeatedly pickle it several times, you can get a cross that smells like garlic."
"That's a good idea. You can give me the crosses; you can make a bunch of them anytime."
"But where are we going to get garlic?" Fred seemed very interested in this. A garlic-flavored cross? He'd heard it even had the effect of warding off dark creatures.
"You can write it down on parchment first, and then try it out after the Christmas holidays." Albert's lips twitched. He was just joking, but he didn't expect these guys to take it seriously.
He didn't want these guys to fill the whole dorm with the smell of garlic.
As for what kind of trouble the twins cause when they get home during the Christmas holidays, that's none of his business.
"There should be garlic in the school kitchen!" George suddenly said. "Maybe we can ask the house-elves for some."
"If you want garlic, the house-elves would certainly be willing to give you some, but if they knew…" Albert's face revealed a malicious smile, "even if they were willing to give you garlic, would you dare to waste it like this?"
"Okay!" Fred shrank back. If Professor McGonagall knew they were wasting so much garlic at school, his family would probably send a screeching letter to the school.
George had a brilliant idea: "We can get garlic from the kitchen and then borrow Hagrid's vegetable garden to grow garlic, so we won't have to worry about a shortage of garlic."
"That's a great idea!" The others nodded in agreement.
What kind of crazy move is this?!
When Albert heard that the three of them were planning to plant garlic, he was so astonished that he couldn't close his mouth. For the first time, he felt that he and his roommates were not on the same wavelength.
"Are you really planning to...grow your own garlic?"
"Of course," the twins said in unison.
"Do you know how to grow garlic?" Albert asked tentatively.
"I don't know, but Hagrid definitely does."
Albert's face twitched twice, but he didn't ask any further questions. He figured Hagrid probably wouldn't agree to let them cause trouble in his vegetable garden.