"Achoo!"
Albert suddenly sneezed and rubbed his nose.
"An opening!"
Katrina, who was sparring with Albert, immediately seized the opportunity and launched an attack at him from what she considered a tricky angle.
Faced with the incoming spell, Albert merely raised his wand and gave it a light flick, easily blocking Katrina's attack and sending the spell rebounding toward a target on the right.
After stopping Katrina's attack, Albert corrected her. "What you should be doing now is practicing how to cast spells silently in a duel."
"Got it."
Katrina did not think Silent Spells were particularly useful. Casting silently greatly weakened a spell's power while making it far more difficult to cast. Some more advanced spells could not be used silently at all. Even if ordinary wizards mastered Silent Spells, it was hard for them to capitalize on their advantages in actual combat. Casting aloud remained the norm in the wizarding world.
"You need to remember that combat is not just combat."
Albert seemed to have seen through Katrina's thoughts and reminded her seriously, "If all you can do is stand rigidly in place and trade spells with your enemy, that's far too crude. Combat is nowhere near as simple as you think. Most Aurors are really only third-rate at best. Once you've systematically learned the fundamentals of combat from me, you won't need to worry about the vast majority of Dark Wizards. They won't be your match anymore."
"If even Aurors are third-rate, then what does that make everyone else?"
Katrina's lips twitched almost imperceptibly. She knew Albert had every right to make that assessment. Whether as a dueling champion or as one of the handful of people standing at the very pinnacle, he was qualified.
"Children playing in the mud. To make management easier, the Ministry of