Chapter 5
After ordering a steak and a glass of mead, Aisen filled his stomach with a simple meal and then began studying. At seven o'clock in the evening, Aisen closed the book Magic Theory and let out a long breath.
After reading through the entire book, Aisen gained a general understanding of magic in this world.
Combining his memories from his previous life with the contents of this book, he realized that for wizards to successfully cast spells, aside from requirements for the magical power within their bodies and the wand-waving motions, there was one more crucial factor, a wizard needed to have strong emotions.
With this understanding, Aisen finally comprehended why many adult wizards struggled to effectively cast certain advanced spells. In his view, casting magic in this world was quite a difficult endeavor.
For example, when Professor Flitwick at Hogwarts taught young wizards the Levitation Charm, the incantation "Wingardium Leviosa" required the "gar" sound to be pronounced longer and more clearly.
Even getting the incantation right wasn't enough; there were strict requirements for the young wizards' wand movements—a swift swish and flick. Only with these prerequisites could the wizard's emotions be stirred, allowing the magic to be released.
This emotional mobilization was most evident in the Unforgivable Curses and the Patronus Charm. To cast an Unforgivable Curse, one had to draw forth intense malice toward the target from the depths of their heart—malice so explicit that it aimed to kill the opponent. Only with malice of that degree could the full power of the Unforgivable Curse be unleashed.
The Patronus Charm, on the other hand, required summoning extremely positive emotions to be cast. When young wizards learned it, they were instructed to recall their happiest memories while casting the spell, as this was indeed the best way to evoke positive emotions.
Of course, Aisen had some speculations about this: the emotional mobilization required for casting magic was likely just an expression of inner will. This inner will, channeled through emotions, combined with the wand and magical power, would then release the magic.
The reason for this guess stemmed from the manifestations of magical outbursts in young wizards. Take Harry Potter, for instance: before entering Hogwarts, he couldn't cast spells consciously, yet he managed to make the glass at the zoo vanish.
Clearly, the magical power within him had sensed his strong desire and was directly mobilized, casting a spell that temporarily made the glass disappear.
As for the process of young wizards strictly following steps to learn spells, Aisen believed it was likely a system long organized by Hogwarts. This helped young wizards gradually gain control over their own magical power.
If young wizards strictly followed the professors' teaching progression, by the time they graduated from Hogwarts, they would have full mastery over their magical power. Casting spells by incantation would then gradually become instinctive.
As a result, after graduation, casting spells would become easier and more casual. There would no longer be strict requirements for wand movements, or even for speaking the incantation. This was the origin of the high-difficulty technique known as silent and wandless casting.
However, the technique of silent and wandless casting was indeed extremely difficult, and very few adult wizards could achieve it. In Aisen's opinion, this was because they hadn't studied deeply enough during their school years.
Figures like Dumbledore and Voldemort were clearly exceptional in this regard.
After gaining a rough understanding of magic in this world, Aisen recalled some details he hadn't paid attention to before. The spells in this world were quite peculiar: some had been passed down through generations of wizards, while others were directly invented by individual wizards.
For example, Professor Snape had invented a powerful spell—the Sectumsempra curse. This spell could only be countered by its specific counter-curse; no other counter-spell would work.
So, the question arose: how did Snape invent this spell? Aisen speculated that it must have been closely related to Snape's profound expertise in charms, potions, and dark arts. With sufficient foundation, combined with some intensely mobilized emotion, such a spell could be created.
But obviously, all of this remained mere speculation for Aisen, who hadn't yet begun learning magic.
Setting the Magic Theory book aside, Aisen picked up the book Standard Spells, Elementary and continued studying. For a complete novice wizard, it was only natural to start with the simplest spells.
He then tore a page from his notebook, calmed his emotions, and drew his wand.
"Wingardium Leviosa!" Aisen waved his wand and pointed it at the torn page. To his surprise, after reciting the incantation, the page slowly floated up with the motion of his wand.
He then set the wand down and tried pointing at the page with his finger instead, finding it worked just as well. Succeeding in casting the spell twice in a row filled Aisen with indescribable joy. After all, this meant he had truly become a wizard.
With a thought, his character panel appeared before him. As expected, although he had learned the Levitation Charm, no skill section had appeared. This finally convinced Aisen that the skills he acquired wouldn't show up on the character panel.
However, when his gaze fell on the magic power value, he wore a puzzled expression. He noticed that his 10 points of magic power remained exactly 10 points—even after practicing the Levitation Charm twice, there wasn't the slightest consumption.
Just as he noticed this, Aisen recalled a unique aspect of this world. Indeed, wizards here seemed to cast spells without any magic power consumption.
Whether in the First Wizarding War or the Second, Aisen had never heard of a wizard being captured or killed due to magical exhaustion.
From his memories of his previous life, he vaguely recalled that to prepare for the first task of the Triwizard Tournament, Harry Potter had practiced the Summoning Charm using quills, books, chairs, and other objects—from after lunch until two in the morning.
Yet even with such intense practice, once Harry learned the Summoning Charm, he could still use it normally. This suggested that casting spells truly didn't consume magic power! However, Harry appeared quite tired after his practice session. From this, it seemed that casting spells consumed mental energy instead.
But thinking about it another way, anyone focusing intensely on a single task for over ten hours would naturally feel exhausted. Regardless, wizards did not consume their internal magic power when casting spells.
Reaching this conclusion, Aisen found it rather strange. If casting didn't consume magic power, then what determined who was stronger? Why had his system quantified mana power values?
After pondering briefly, a look of realization crossed Aisen's face. He remembered that Barty Crouch Jr., disguised as "Mad-Eye" Moody, had said while demonstrating the three Unforgivable Curses to students that the Killing Curse required powerful magical strength as a foundation.
He had even claimed that if the young wizards pointed their wands at him and recited the Killing Curse, he would at most get a nosebleed. Clearly, this showed that for the same spell, the amount of magic power greatly influenced its effect. In other words, the quantity of magic power directly equated to its strength.
This was why adult wizards were generally more powerful than young ones—their magic power was evidently greater and stronger. Put another way, the magic power value quantified by Aisen's golden finger didn't merely represent quantity; more directly, it represented intensity, and the two could be considered equivalent.
Why say this? Because if casting spells didn't consume magic power, then the power of the magic couldn't possibly depend on how much was expended. In Aisen's view, successful spell release depended on casting technique and appropriate emotional feedback. The total amount of internal magic power, however, determined the spell's power once released.
With this conclusion, many of Aisen's doubts cleared up. Feeling relieved, he relaxed considerably.
His Mana power increased by 10 points every day, meaning his magical strength grew daily as well. Perhaps it wouldn't be long before he could even surpass Grindelwald and face Voldemort when the time comes