Okay but there's something deeply sad about the fact that this is the only Apogee Solstice Caleb (and probably many of the wizards working on all of these problems) will see, a massively powerful arcane event that can be used to do incredible, miraculous things, and because Ludinus had to be an absolute bitch, he's here doing this bullshit where he can't even have fun with magic because there's a dispel running once a minute.
This is Caleb's life's work and it is hugely important to him, and I'm sure he's made his peace with that, but at the end of the day, the fact that he is pursuing this to its end is a duty born of guilt and trauma. It's not simply something he is doing because he wants to, it's something he does because he must, and no one else will or can. Magic is something he loves on such a more fundamental level, from even before Trent, and still now he has to push that aside in order to focus on this.
Caleb Widogast can, must, should, and DESERVES TO chomp Ludinus Da'leth in half as a spellcasting motherfucking dragon.