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Chapter 1186: Alchemical Conference
🕑 Added 2024-07-29 22:59:41 +0000 UTCAlchemy had a long history and encompassed a wide range of practices, making it the largest branch of magic. Broadly speaking, Alchemy included the transformation of matter, such as turning stones into gold; creating magic items using different materials; constructing spell runes; and processing herbs and other plants into potions, known as magic potions, among other things.
Reaching the level of someone like Nicolas Flamel, one could even perform Alchemy on their own body to achieve immortality.
Because the scope covered was so broad, many branches of Alchemy had become independent one after another, and many branches could not adapt to the development of the times and had gradually been eliminated. Therefore, when people talked about Alchemy now, it generally referred to the processing of different materials to make magic items, constructing spell runes, and using ancient magic texts to create new magic, which was the narrower definition of Alchemy.
But whether in a broad or narrow sense, the biggest difference between Alchemy and other forms of magic had never changed.
Any wizard who had some knowledge of Alchemy knew that its core lay in innovation! Yes, this was a magical field where innovation was more important than sticking to the rules.
In fields such as Charms and Transfiguration, a mature spell or magic might not change for centuries. The spell used by wizards today was almost identical to the one used a thousand years ago. But this was not the case with Alchemy. It was difficult to see alchemical formulas from even a few decades ago, let alone a thousand years ago.
Alchemy was always improving; it was much like Muggle science.
It could be said that the development of science had changed the Muggle world, and so had alchemy. In the past few centuries, the development of alchemy had changed the Wizarding world and the lives of wizards, and the speed of this change was getting faster, and the status of Alchemy was becoming more and more important.
In this context, communication and learning had become the norm for normal Alchemists.
Although the current situation was tense, as the most important exchange activity in the field of alchemy and attracted by the Ruins of Amun Ra, more than ten thousand wizards from all over the world still came to Cairo to participate in this International Alchemical Conference.
Over the next half month, Evan saw thousands of alchemical products he had never seen or even thought of before at the International Alchemical Conference. He was dazzled and his horizons were broadened.
He had never thought that he would see so many alchemical products, many with creative ideas he had never heard of.
Evan also benefited a lot from the lectures of those alchemy masters and learned a lot of knowledge.
Because there were so many events, Evan selected the public lectures and exhibitions that he thought were more important or interesting to attend. For example, topics related to the combination of magic and technology, as well as the creation of magic weapons.
These were subjects Evan was particularly interested in. The combination of magic and technology was a relatively new field. Although wizards had always been conservative about Muggles, believing they knew nothing, it had to be admitted that in the past century, the Muggle world had developed extremely rapidly, and technology had begun to invisibly affect the Wizarding world.
For example, Muggle-made items such as cars, motorcycles, and radios had long entered Wizarding families.
Although mechanical items had various shortcomings compared to magic, their convenience was undeniable.
Against this backdrop, the combination of magic and technology had become an emerging trend.
There were actually quite a few wizards like Mr. Weasley who collected Muggle things and modified cars. However, most of them did it secretly without openly discussing it.
Many alchemists of Muggle origin had also begun to conduct research, introducing more Muggle items into the Wizarding world.
Over the past year, the alchemical items made by Evan had always adhered to the concept of combining magic and technology.
He started by modifying Fred and George's prank products, making various small gadgets and gaining some experience.
But he didn't expect that wizards' understanding of Muggle technology was far beyond his expectations.
Evan attended a lecture by an alchemist from Japan. This guy actually had obtained a doctorate in Mechanical Engineering from a Muggle university and was trying to use alchemy and magic to create complex industrial equipment...
Such a thing would be unimaginable in Britain.
If a wizard dared to do this and publicize it with great fanfare, he would definitely be the primary target of those pure-blood wizards, Voldemort and the Death Eaters, and waiting for him would be either death or life imprisonment in Azkaban.
The biggest opposition to the fusion of Wizarding magic and Muggle technology came from those pure-blood wizards who considered themselves noble. Due to historical reasons, the number, size, scale, and influence of European pure-blood Wizarding families far exceeded those in other parts of the world, especially in Britain, where resistance was the greatest.
It could be said that the entire European Wizarding world tended to be conservative and wizards did not like change.
Not to mention, the change of integrating with the Muggle world made them feel even more uncomfortable!
Therefore, in the field of combining magic and technology, Europe lagged far behind other regions.
European Alchemy was more traditional, and the research directions and concepts of wizards were still stuck in the past.
Their ultimate goal was still to one day be able to turn stone into gold and create the Elixir of Life like Nicolas Flamel.
Things like the twelve uses of dragon's blood were what they studied.
Through attending the International Alchemical Conference and discussing academically with wizards from other countries, Evan felt that the British Wizarding community truly needed reform.
In addition, he also attended several demonstrations of magical weapons.
The making of magical weapons had been a hot topic in Alchemy in recent decades, and in this regard, wizards from the United States were clearly ahead of other countries.
In a product display by a semi-official alchemy team employed by the Magical Congress of the United States of America (MACUSA), Evan saw their newly developed magic items. The team had made a breakthrough in the modification of magic weapons. These magic weapons were not wands, but the transformation of cold weapons.
They had placed spells, alchemical runes, carvings and ancient magic texts on cold weapons such as swords, daggers, bows and arrows.
This was not a new idea. People had been trying to combine magic and weapons since the Middle Ages.
The original idea was to allow Muggles to use magic. Wizards used magic to give weapons effects such as ice and fire, or to make them sharper, but the results were not very ideal. Muggles found it difficult to master these powerful magic weapons, which could easily cause accidental injuries. How to make the magic last longer was also a problem.
After the enactment of the International Statute of Wizarding Secrecy, such modifications became illegal.
Except for Dark wizards, no wizard dared to do this...
After such modifications were banned, the concept of magical weapons disappeared for a long time.
But this alchemy team from the United States used special methods to modify the weapons. Unlike the previous approaches, they made weapons that could assist wizards in using magic like wands. These magic weapons were not intended for Muggles, but for wizards.
While circumventing the Statute of Secrecy, it also freed wizards from their wands, giving them greater attack power...
