He looked down at the little golden figurine in his hand—the same one that the civil-official version of Kasenhis had given him when he'd traveled back in time to save his own sorry life.

"Well, saving a life is saving a life, no matter whose it is," Kasenhis muttered, curling his lip. He tossed the Totem of Undying into the duplication machine in his office, sealed the original inside the beacon, and threw the duplicate into the near-death teleportation pool.

Once everything was done, he left his office and grabbed a random Gryffindor student in the corridor. "Koss, go tell Harry to come to my office, will you?"

"Who the—" Koss turned around, saw it was Kasenhis, and nodded. "Of course—but I don't know where he is right now."

"No rush. Just let him know whenever you see him," Kasenhis said.

"Got it, Professor."

Kasenhis nodded and headed toward the staircase. Recently, the alchemy rail system had been fully installed under his supervision with the help of the students. What remained now was the big project.

Professor McGonagall had previously objected to conducting the construction in front of outsiders, saying it would make Hogwarts look shabby—like a castle falling apart or lacking magical protection.

But after his persistent arguing, she'd reluctantly agreed to the "speed-over-elegance" policy.

After all, watching Hogwarts's Alchemy Professor orchestrate an incomprehensible, borderline-chaotic alchemical operation was, in its own way, quite a spectacle—one that would surely leave a deep impression on visiting students.

Who knows—maybe they'd even go home and stab their own Alchemy Professors in the chest out of sheer frustration.

McGonagall: How delightful!

Heh heh heh!

Just like that, Kasenhis swaggered his way to the base of the Gryffindor Tower. Ten mechanical arms, plus his two original ones, got to work on the "wall removal project." Of course, it wasn't ordinary demolition — he was embedding alchemical pistons inside the walls.

And not just the walls; even the foundations of the tower had to be taken apart and reworked.

His plan was to make the Gryffindor Tower serve as one of the legs of the Hogwarts Titan. Naturally, it needed to be able to stand and move independently...

As for the other leg, that would be Ravenclaw Tower — but that was a problem for later.

Once the foundation beneath the Gryffindor Tower was broken through, it revealed a massive structure of sticky pistons and giant mortise-and-tenon joints, both tightly fitted into the separated foundation.

Next came the reinforcement of the outer walls. After all, these stone-brick buildings were plenty sturdy while resting on the ground, but once lifted into the air, things would be different.

It wouldn't do for the castle to finally stand tall and majestic, only for the bricks to start crumbling off the walls before anyone could even be impressed — that'd be downright ridiculous.

Fortunately, the alchemical rail system he'd previously installed could perfectly solve this issue.

Honestly, ever since Kasenhis stepped into the wizarding world, this was by far the most magical mod he'd ever worked with — even more magical than Thaumaturgy itself.

If one were to deconstruct Thaumaturgy Reborn, it really wasn't all that magical. It functioned more like a tool mod. Thaumcraft, on the other hand, was completely different—truth be told, even now, Kasenhis still hadn't fully figured it out.

Of course, he didn't dare to fully figure it out either. Thaumcraft was far too abstract—and far too dangerous. Still, some of its basic elements were extremely useful.

For instance, he had previously crafted a batch of Mana Orbs.

Most of their functions could be replicated directly with raw mana elements, but one particular type—the Guardian Orb—would come in handy right about now.

He rummaged through the storage inside his ring for a while before finally finding the long-forgotten Guardian Orb. He installed it onto the tip of his ..wand. As for how he installed it exactly...

…Let's not talk about that.

The Guardian Orb's magic began to flow through the alchemical rails spread across Hogwarts, gradually filling the entire castle with energy. Now, he could finally begin working on the real deal.

Up until now, everything he had done was merely to strengthen the castle's structure. What he was about to do next was what would truly make the castle move.

The original support columns of the Hogwarts towers had already been hollowed out by Kasenhis, and inside them he had built massive engines powered by mana-induced stress, meant to drive the pistons supporting the whole structure.

Soon, the engines were complete, and the connecting gears were all properly aligned.

"All that's left is a simple test…" he said, connecting the hollow-core engine to his handheld remote with a length of redstone wire.

"Let's see how I programmed this thing again… up, up, down… left, right…"

Rumble...

A terrifying roar thundered through the air as the engines transmitted their immense power. The force ran through the drive shafts connected to the foundation pistons, which extended outward with a deafening boom.

Bang!

The main transmission shaft responsible for lifting the entire foundation exploded violently—straight in Kasenhis's direction.

"What the—?!" Kasenhis shouted in disbelief. But his mechanical arms reacted faster than he could, snapping forward and weaving themselves into a rather drafty-looking shield.

Yet the expected massive impact never came.

Instead, a solid surge of magic caught the shattered drive shaft midair, freezing it in place before it could hit him.

On the other side of the room, Viktor Krum—who had managed to grab the flying debris with a well-timed spell—let out a quiet sigh of relief. The moment he arrived at Hogwarts, he had recognized this particular Alchemy Professor.

It was the same man who, during the Quidditch World Cup, had shouted "Refund Geneva!" on camera after Krum's narrow loss. Since the professor was apparently a fan, Krum felt it was only right to return the favor and protect him a little.

Besides, he'd be attending this professor's Alchemy class for more than half the term—no harm in building a good relationship early.

By now, Kasenhis had retracted his mechanical arms and looked toward the owner of that magic. The student was wearing a Durmstrang uniform.

"…Who was that again?"

"…" He swallowed hard.

Krum looked at the silent professor in mild confusion, but quickly understood — ah, of course, a fan too excited to speak upon meeting his idol. Perfectly normal. So, deciding to take the initiative, he extended his hand.

"Viktor Krum."

A smile instantly spread across Kasenhis's face. Finally, he knew the name of the vaguely familiar young wizard. Honestly, if it had been anyone else, he could've just asked directly.

But this was different. Even though they hadn't met before, Kasenhis had watched half of Krum's match. The guy was a famous player — it would've been way too awkward to admit he didn't know his name now.

After all, Kasenhis prided himself on having quite a high emotional IQ.... ehm...

He smiled warmly and extended his hand in return. "Kasenhis, Hogwarts's Alchemy Professor."

He hadn't been feeling great lately, so his handshake was… a bit on the sloppy side.

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