What the professor gave Kyle was basic material on energy storage chambers, along with practical applications.
Truthfully, basic information regarding energy storage chambers wasn’t hard to come by—Hogwarts’ library had at least five books touching on the topic.
However, reading books alone was a far cry from creating a finished product.
Bridging that gap required years, if not decades, of hands-on practice and research.
The practical examples provided by the professor weren’t overly detailed, of course.
Yet the real-world applications and personal insights contained within would save Kyle years of trial and error.
During his discussion with the professor, Kyle hadn’t revealed his true intentions.
He had expected that, given the professor’s icy personality, his request for research material would be flatly ignored.
Unexpectedly, despite the professor maintaining his usual grim face and impatiently telling him to beat it if he had nothing else to say, Kyle was still immensely grateful.
Taking his leave, Kyle couldn’t wait to hurry back to his dormitory.
According to Slytherin tradition, the year chief had a private room.
That meant Kyle could conduct his research without interference or fear of prying eyes.
In fact, that was the sole reason he had bothered competing for the bloody title of year chief in the first place.
Back in his room, Kyle quickly washed up and eagerly unrolled the parchment given by the professor: “The essence of an energy storage chamber lies in absorbing and storing energy from the environment that is difficult to sense or harness, as well as the excess magic wasted by wizards in their daily lives.
“Free-floating ambient energy in the world is vast, but it is extremely inert.
Wizards find it exceedingly difficult to leverage their own magic and mental power to sway these energies for personal use.
For thousands of years, wizards have pursued the study of this inert energy, vainly attempting to channel it into spells that surpass the normal limits of human capability.
Unfortunately, current results show this to be mere delusion.
“Yet centuries of research have not been entirely fruitless.
Wizards have managed to discover a few methods to utilize this energy in limited ways.
Though hindered by low efficiency, inconvenience, and high entry barriers, it nonetheless represents a major leap forward for wizardkind.
“The energy storage chamber is a product of this research.
A sufficiently advanced chamber not only covers the daily energy demands of an estate, but over time, even its modest surpluses accumulate enough power to turn the estate into an impregnable fortress that no faction would dare provoke.” The opening background description left Kyle slightly somber.
Over the millennia, countless genius wizards had studied how to harness inert energy.
Yet regardless of how they refined energy storage chambers, their progress remained minimal.
Even though Kyle considered himself exceptionally talented and possessed the help of a golden finger system, whether he could achieve anything meaningful remained uncertain.
It was entirely possible he would pour vast sums of money into it only to end up with nothing to show for it.
Sensing his own pessimism, Kyle paused to compose himself before continuing to read.
At the same time, he noticed that as he read, the progress bar in his cheat menu—for improving the methods of utilizing inert energy—was steadily pulsing.
This excited him.
Based on his understanding of his system, this meant his current activity was recognized as effective practice.
It proved his research direction was on the right track!
Suppressing his excitement, Kyle cleared his mind and kept reading.
The text went on to detail the foundational technical knowledge required to build an energy storage chamber.
This included magic arrays, spells, alchemy items, and a reading list covering each relevant branch of knowledge.
Following this guide, as long as one put in enough effort and had a modicum of talent or capital, one could completely replicate a basic energy storage chamber.
This filled Kyle with even greater gratitude toward the professor.
Without exaggeration, this parchment was substantial enough to serve as a prized heirloom for a minor noble family.
Mastering its contents would give such a family a solid foothold in the wizarding world.
After a quick read-through, Kyle began compiling the reading list provided in the text.
It ranged from entry-level foundational texts like *Basic Runes*, *Basic Applications of Magic Arrays*, and *Elementary Alchemy*, to *Advanced Runes Explained* and *Alchemical Applications of Special Materials*, and even included the famous *Secrets of the Dark Arts*.
Supposedly, even the Dark Lord himself had held that dark magic book in high regard.
He categorized the titles and marked which ones he had already read.
Counting them up, there were nearly two hundred books in total.
A daunting figure.
Fortunately, about fifty were foundational texts, most of which Kyle had already thoroughly studied.
But the remaining ones still gave him a headache.
Kyle decided he would head to the library tomorrow to skim through the general collection and see which books could be borrowed directly.
As for the rest, he would have to sneak into the Restricted Section to check for them.
If he couldn’t get them for free at Hogwarts, acquiring the rest would cost him an arm and a leg.
With that in mind, Kyle reorganized his plan once more.
Currently, the initial goal was progressing smoothly.
He had a clear direction for the requisite foundation, leaving only the hard research ahead.
This part was manageable; ever since he had cast Stupefy ten thousand times to raise it to Level 2, his patience for magical practice had skyrocketed.
What gave Kyle the biggest headache was funding.
If he were only studying spells, expenses would be minimal.
But learning runes and alchemy required serious capital.
Everything from basic material costs to auxiliary tools required cold, hard cash.
Especially in the early stages of learning, where money was poured down the drain with zero return, this period would be his most painful.
Thinking about his disposable funds versus the astronomical costs of experimentation, Kyle felt a mounting headache.
Many things could be improvised or skimped on, but lab equipment and consumable materials simply had no shortcuts.
After all, grass snake skin and Basilisk skin were entirely different beasts—there was no replacing one with the other.
Out of sheer necessity, Kyle decided to develop a few commercial products to rake in funds.
Business was second nature to him—he had worked in commerce in his previous life, after all.
From pitching pie-in-the-sky ideas to draw investments to hyping products with flashy advertising, from hunger marketing to bundled sales, making money was a walk in the park for him.
Having decided to raise capital first, Kyle considered his options.
The target demographic was naturally women and children—the two easiest groups to profit from.
Synthesizing his technical capabilities with his target audience, Kyle’s eyes suddenly lit up!
If he couldn’t build a floating city yet, why not make a floating model?
A floating model equipped with defensive barriers, offensive capabilities, flight, and invisibility—no young wizard could possibly resist!
For the design of the model, Kyle considered castles, alchemical golems, and various magical creatures.
In the end, he decided to model it after an alchemical golem.
He would leave a cockpit inside so a young wizard could either command it from the outside or sit inside to pilot it directly.
In short, a magical cross between a Gundam and an EVA.
Thinking of young wizards naturally brought to mind the platinum-haired aristocrat he had met earlier that evening.
Recalling Malfoy’s peacock-like vanity, which was supposedly a family trait, Kyle couldn’t help but chuckle.
It seemed his first investor was secured.