Professor Laurent looked closely, staring intently at every subtle elemental flow and rune resonance within the bottle, clicking his tongue in wonder.
The more closely he looked, the more he felt that the level of Alchemy displayed in this work had already exceeded the scope of a student.
The Professors exchanged a few words in low voices but did not announce Lucien's specific score on the spot.
All scores would be announced together after the other contestants' works were submitted and the five-hour competition time had fully ended.
This was originally intended to avoid affecting the mindset of the contestants still working and to maintain a fair competition environment.
However, Lucien's early completion, nearly two hours ahead of schedule, still inevitably affected the moods of the other contestants.
Riemann and Fleur, who were more familiar with Lucien, were fine. They had seen Lucien's Alchemy level long ago.
Riemann only looked up for a moment before lowering his head again and focusing on the bottle already taking shape before him. In any case, he did not feel any pressure to win the championship. He only needed to perform at his normal level.
Fleur's lips curved almost imperceptibly after a brief glance, then she also composed herself and continued guiding the silver-red magical flow interwoven within her bottle.
But for the other three contestants, the impact was much more obvious.
One of the boys from Durmstrang clearly became a little restless after seeing the Professors begin their review.
He was eager to adjust his progress, and when pouring Magic into a half-formed component, a slight fluctuation occurred in his output.
Crack.
A slight but exceptionally clear sound echoed through the now silent hall.
Several fine cracks instantly spread across the surface of the component in front of him, and the cold air condensed inside dissipated, forming a small patch of white frost on the Alchemy table.
At the judges' bench, the stern-faced Professor leading the Durmstrang team furrowed his brows, his expression darkening slightly.
It was only when he saw the student take a deep breath after a brief moment of panic, decisively wave his wand to clear away the ruined component, and quickly take a second set of materials to begin refining again that the Professor's brow relaxed slightly.
It could only be said that, fortunately, the damaged part was not the most central or time-consuming component. If he hurried, there was still time to make amends.
The Durmstrang Professor couldn't help glancing again at the micro-climate bottle quietly changing on the judges' bench, then at the pile of materials waiting to be processed on his student's table, sighing inwardly at the obvious gap.
Only a little over three hours of the competition had passed, and Lucien had already sat down in an empty seat among the Beauxbatons students at Maxime's gesture.
Going from contestant to spectator all of a sudden caused the watching Beauxbatons students to look over one after another, with curious, inquiring, and admiring gazes constantly falling upon this young genius from Hogwarts.
Lucien found a seat in the audience and sat down, his gaze sweeping over the remaining contestants still working hard, while his thoughts drifted to his next arrangements.
Once today's session ended, only the Free Crafting portion would remain. He needed to refine the final details of the magical communication book...
Hmm. After the competition ended later, he should go to the library.
During his few days at Beauxbatons, he had seen most of the sights worth seeing, but the place Lucien frequented most was still the library, with its rich collection of books.
As one of the three major magical schools in Europe, Beauxbatons' collection, whether in quantity or scope, did not disappoint Lucien.
It was a pity that he only had half a month and could not read many books.
In the future...
A fleeting thought suddenly entered Lucien's mind.
Should he apply for Professor positions at magical schools around the world in turn after graduation?
He could teach students while reading books, then move to the next school once he had finished.
Or was there a kind of Magic that could create clones, placing one in each region?
That would surely increase his learning efficiency greatly...
As Lucien's mind wandered, time quietly slipped away.
Madame Maxime glanced at the magical clock. When the hour hand pointed to the scheduled mark, her sonorous and clear voice echoed through the hall once again.
"The competition time is over. All contestants, please stop your operations and leave the Alchemy stations."
Hearing this, the contestants on stage stopped one after another.
Except for the Durmstrang contestant who had made a mistake midway and had to remake some components, leaving him looking slightly hurried, the others had plenty of time and were mostly doing final checks and stabilisation work.
The Professors' review and scoring proceeded very quickly.
The judging criteria for the micro-climate bottle were already clear and intuitive: the variety and stability of the simulated climates.
Without any suspense, the work submitted by Lucien, with its indisputably excellent quality, earned a full score of thirty points.
At this point, three stages of the Three-School Alchemy Exchange Competition had been completed: two written examinations, each worth a maximum of twenty points, and one designated Alchemy practical, worth a maximum of thirty points.
Lucien had swept the first three stages with full marks, and his total score was already far ahead of the rest.
Maxime immediately announced the rules for the final and longest stage.
"Next will be the Free Crafting stage. Each contestant will have an independent Alchemy classroom that no one else may enter. The classrooms will be enchanted with corresponding Magic to ensure the crafting process is not disturbed..."
The contestants would have a full week to independently complete an Alchemical item of their choice.
Furthermore, Beauxbatons would no longer provide any materials. All required materials had to be sourced by the contestants themselves.
Alchemy and Potions were disciplines capable of creating immense value, but studying them first required the investment of resources.
To put it bluntly, one had to burn money to make money.
The ability to obtain suitable and rare raw materials was itself a reflection of the comprehensive capability of an outstanding Alchemist or Potioneer.
This week was not only a test of skill, but also a test of resource planning.
"A week from now, all works will undergo a unified review. At that time, besides us," Maxime gestured to the Professors from her own school and the other schools beside her, "we will also invite several prestigious Alchemy Masters recognised by the Magical World to serve as judges, ensuring an objective and fair assessment of different types and approaches."
The choice of the micro-climate bottle for the designated project just now had been suitable for judging by the Professors of the three schools because the standards were uniform.
But Free Crafting was unrestricted and lacked a uniform yardstick. Introducing a broader, more authoritative third-party judging panel was undoubtedly the best way to ensure fairness and authority.
After the rules were announced, the contestants below had varied reactions, but most no longer showed a strong desire to compete for the championship.
With a monster like Lucien ahead of them, who had taken full marks in all three stages in a nearly crushing manner, the ownership of first place in the total score had long since lost its suspense.
They might as well treat second place as first place. That was still worth striving for!
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