Chapter 14
"Of course, the gift of predicting the future through divination is an extremely rare talent. There aren't many people in the entire wizarding world who possess it." Aisen continued speaking, but from his observations, he noticed that the young wizards showed no signs of great disappointment.
After a moment's thought, he understood their mindset. Clearly, for the young wizards, Divination was also a class for easily earning points, so practically none of them took the idea of predicting the future through divination seriously.
"Back to the topic—Astronomy can be said to be one of humanity's oldest disciplines. Millions of years ago, the moment our forefather began looking up at the starry sky, the seeds of astronomy were already sown."
"Millions of years ago?" The young wizards erupted in surprise, finding it hard to believe.
"Exactly. You all know that the current year is 1991. So, how did this calendar come about? I can tell you definitively: it was established by the ancients after observing the sun, moon, and stars, based on their movements.
"I know that some wizards think Muggles are stupid and look down on them. In fact, this is a common view in the wizarding world—that Muggles, who don't understand magic, are a weak group. So, let me ask: in the wizarding world, has anyone landed on the moon so far?" When discussing attitudes toward Muggles, many young wizards nodded, but Aisen followed up with a question.
For a moment, the young wizards looked at each other, unsure what Aisen meant by asking this.
"Ron, has anyone in the wizarding world landed on the moon? Could Professor Dumbledore do it?" Harry whispered to Ron beside him.
"I've never heard of it. Why is Professor Aisen asking this? Could it be that Muggles have already landed on the moon?" Ron shook his head, then seemed to remember something and showed a shocked expression.
Harry and Hermione nearby both suddenly understood.
"See? Wizards wield powerful magic and know how to cast spells, but Muggles landed on the moon long ago—and it was just over twenty years ago. I believe some of you already knew that." Aisen nodded, a meaningful smile on his face.
"Yes, Ron, the first Muggle to land on the moon was an American," Harry whispered to Ron, but Ron still looked incredulous.
"Muggles used their technology to invent rockets and then used those rockets to reach the moon. So, how do wizards plan to get there? Perhaps some of you are thinking we could just Apparate!" After the young wizards recovered, Aisen continued.
"Then, I have a question: Can Professor Dumbledore Apparate directly from Britain to America? Or to Africa?" None of the young wizards could answer.
"Unfortunately, the shortest distance from Earth to the moon is over 360,000 kilometers, while the distance from Britain to Africa is less than 10,000 kilometers. In other words, even the distance between Earth and the moon far exceeds your imagination." Sometimes, without comparison, it's hard to clearly convey a concept. Aisen directly provided the data.
"Oh, right—perhaps some of you have thought of another way: we could ride broomsticks to the moon. Please, even on the fastest Nimbus 2000, it would take you nearly two months to get there." When Aisen said this with a teasing tone, some young wizards looked like they wanted to laugh but held back, appearing particularly awkward.
"Alright, now that you know the distance between Earth and the moon, we can better understand just how vast this world truly is!" At this point, Aisen drew his wand and waved it, casting a beam of light onto his outstretched left hand.
Then, using advanced Transfiguration, he transformed the light, projecting a model of the solar system into the air. The holographic-like image appearing before the young wizards instantly widened their eyes.
Indeed, after discussions with Professor McGonagall, Aisen had mastered elemental transfiguration. Of course, this was only simple single-element transformation, not turning matter into elements.
For example, he could transfigure the light summoned by the Lumos spell, but he couldn't directly turn furniture or books into light.
"The distance from Earth to the moon is over 360,000 kilometers, while the shortest distance to the sun is more than 147 million kilometers. If we scale it out further, the diameter of the solar system reaches 11.8 billion kilometers." As Aisen spoke, the solar system model in his hand rapidly shrank, and the young wizards' perspective zoomed out accordingly.
"But this calculation takes Pluto as the boundary. If we include comet orbits, the diameter would expand more than 150 times." The model continued to shrink, and a comet shuttled back and forth along the edge.
"Looking even farther, we find countless star systems, just like our solar system, located on spiral arms. Each arm is composed of innumerable stars and nebulae—the Orion Arm, the Sagittarius Arm, the Perseus Arm, and so on—forming the Milky Way galaxy. The diameter of the Milky Way is 100,000 times that of the solar system." Lights flickered as Aisen controlled the boundaries, flashing points representing stars, then rapidly shrinking to reveal the Orion Arm and the full appearance of the Milky Way.
"Of course, there are even larger structures like the Local Group and the Virgo Supercluster, but you only need a basic understanding of these concepts." Aisen then dispersed the celestial model in his hand.
By this point, everyone wore expressions of shock—even the Muggle-born students like Hermione.
"Wow, that's awesome!"
"Is what Professor Aisen said true?"
...
After a while, the young wizards who had snapped out of it began whispering among themselves. Some looked at Aisen with admiration, though it was unclear whether they admired his vast knowledge or his effortless magical display.
"Alright, the reason I told you all this today isn't for any grand purpose—it's simply to let you know how vast the world is. To understand how tiny we are in comparison to the entire world and universe." Having stunned the young wizards, Aisen revealed a satisfied smile.
After concluding the class he felt his performance in this class was decent—at the very least, on the surface, he had achieved his goal of making the young wizards appreciate the vastness of the universe.
As for whether it would truly inspire awe in them, Aisen wasn't confident. Honestly, he thought it unlikely. While this method could shock them, he felt it was at best like taking them to watch a movie; after some time, they might forget it entirely.
Of course, if Aisen were capable of actually taking the young wizards on a tour through space, the effect would be extraordinary. Unfortunately, his strength was still far from that level.
Fortunately, Aisen hadn't expected to completely overturn their ingrained views. In future lessons, he planned to slip in a bit of his own perspective while they observed the stars. This subtle influence might have some small effect.
Finally, as class ended, Aisen— for a certain purpose—assigned the young wizards homework. The assignment was nothing else but the topic from class: to use their imagination and think about how one could reach the moon.
After class, returning to the faculty quarters, Aisen finally relaxed completely. Thinking about the trajectory of events in this world, although he wasn't particularly worried, he still felt a slight sense of urgency. With a thought, his character panel appeared before him.
Character: Aisen Turner
Talent: Mana (Activated)
Mana Value: 4240 (Increases by 10 points daily)
Extraordinary Trait: Fine-Level Casting Trait (Affinity 115%) (Fused)
Miracle Trait: 1 portion (Automatically gains 1 portion per year)
His magic power had reached over four thousand points, meaning Aisen's mana reserves had reached the level of an adult wizard. Why say that? After comparing with some professors at Hogwarts over the past few days, they all agreed that Aisen's magic power was slightly stronger than that of an average adult wizard.
Thus, in Aisen's view, his magic power level had at least reached a passing standard. However, in terms of practical combat, Aisen was still very inexperienced.
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