Over on Harry's side, he was already imagining what it would be like after he learned powerful magic.
When Dudley provoked him, he would give him the same calm, faint smile Uncle Mu En wore in the face of trouble.
Dudley would definitely try to lay hands on him. Following Dudley's usual habits, he would first grab Harry's clothes and try to throw him.
Then I would calmly raise my hand, my fingers glimmering slightly, and fling Dudley through the air into the flowerbeds in front of the whole school.
Then I would dust off my clothes and say, "Don't dirty my...
"What are you thinking about?" Mu En's voice abruptly pulled Harry back.
Harry jolted, his face heating up. He coughed twice. "N-Nothing."
Mu En could not help but chuckle. He had vaguely guessed what Harry had been thinking. Actually... he understood. He had liked indulging in such wild fantasies when he was little too.
"Don't get happy too soon," Mu En said with a smile.
At those words, Mu En's "you'll get what's coming to you" smile appeared before Harry's eyes again.
"First, we need to understand what magic power is. Oh, do you need a notebook?"
"Yes!" Harry blurted out instinctively before his butt had even touched the seat.
Mu En got up and headed into the basement. Before long, he returned with a stack of yellow parchment, a fountain pen, and several things Harry could not make sense of, including a small wand.
It was exactly like the wands held by the wizards he had seen in Diagon Alley.
Mu En placed the stack of parchment in front of Harry, then handed him the pen.
"I'm using this to take notes?" Harry asked in surprise.
Mu En wore a mysterious smile. "Using this has style. It makes you look like an ancient master at work."
Harry nodded as if enlightened. So that was how it was.
"Back to the point. Don't write while I speak! After I finish, review what I said on your own, then take notes in your own words. Understand?"
Harry nodded rapidly, his heart full of anticipation for magic. "I understand."
"To get started with magic, one thing you absolutely cannot avoid is magic power." Mu En spoke slowly, leaning back on the sofa like an old man telling a story.
"Magic power is an abstract concept, not a form of energy that truly exists. You can think of it as the physical strength we need when casting spells.
Physical strength can be spent, restored, and increased. Magic power is the same.
"If the laws of the world are strings on a harp, then spells are sheet music, while magic power is the pick that plucks those strings. Without magic power, you cannot connect to the laws of the world, and thus cannot cast spells. Understand?"
"I understand." Harry nodded. It was not hard to grasp.
Mu En nodded, giving Harry time to take notes, then sat upright. "Now that you understand magic power, let's talk about how to use it."
"A wand?" Harry asked.
"Bingo!" Mu En gave him slight praise. "But that isn't entirely accurate. It's just that wands are indeed the mainstream method of casting spells among wizards nowadays."
As he spoke, Mu En spread out everything he had brought up in front of Harry.
There were shriveled, blackened dried lizards, a plump-looking pufferfish, rings, and wands.
Harry even watched Uncle Mu En take off the pile of rings on his hand, then pull from his sleeve the wand taller than Harry himself that he had seen before.
"These are all objects that drive magic power. We can collectively call them—Casting Implements."
After saying that, Mu En divided all the items into two groups, left and right.
"You have magic power in your body. We can be sure of that, right?"
"Yes." Harry nodded. "But I... I can't feel it, and I can't command it."
"That is normal. The overwhelming majority of people cannot control magic power. In ancient times, casters even regarded magic as divine miracles and defined themselves as people who communicated with gods," Mu En said.
"So gods really exist in this world?"
"I don't know about this world. But I encountered one before. I wanted to kill it, but I couldn't beat it... No, don't interrupt me!!" Mu En suddenly caught himself.
"Sorry." Harry quickly lowered his head, smiling sheepishly and not daring to look at Mu En.
"The magic power inside most people is chaotic. So over the long history of magic, Casting Implements have also been divided into two types."
As he spoke, Mu En pointed to the pile on the left: two rings, a small wand Harry had seen before, several bracelets, eyeball pendants, and so on.
"These are guides. They are responsible for drawing out magic power, allowing casters to complete spells normally."
Then he pointed to the other side, which included the rings and bracelets Mu En had worn before, as well as that enormous wand.
"These are amplifiers. They can strengthen a caster's spell effects, achieving twice the result with half the effort."
Mu En noticed Harry's burning gaze fixed on the guides. At the same time, Harry asked expectantly, "So, Uncle Mu En, as long as I use a guide, even someone like me can successfully cast magic?"
Mu En nodded. "That's right. Guides can help casters direct their magic power correctly and complete their spells."
Then his tone shifted as he asked, "Have you noticed the difference between the guides and amplifiers on the table?"
Harry examined them carefully, but could not see any difference between the two. Both came in many forms: wands, rings, bracelets, even some animal products that looked rather bloody.
Likewise, all of them bore different signs of human crafting. None were natural items...
Harry looked and looked, racking his brains for a long while before thinking of a rather strange answer.
Then he answered uncertainly, "These amplifiers all belong to you, Uncle Mu En. And these guides were all brought up from the basement just now."
"That's right!!" Mu En nodded, confirming Harry's answer. Then his expression turned serious.
"Harry, the first thing I need to tell you is that what I say is not absolutely correct. There is no unquestioned authority in scholarship. On the path of magic, everyone has their own views.
"So even with what I say, and the knowledge in books, remember to view it with a critical eye."
"I understand." Harry nodded.
Seeing Harry nod, Mu En swept all the guides aside. "So what I'm saying is, all wizards who use guides are trash!!"
"Huh?" Harry sucked in a sharp breath.
Mu En continued, "Don't set your mind on those guides. If you cannot control magic power on your own, I will never let you touch a Casting Implement."
!!
Mu En's words instantly shattered Harry's little hopes. A bitter expression appeared on his face, but a moment later, he nodded firmly.
"I understand. I'll work hard!"
As he spoke, he wrote in his notebook: "Wizards who cannot cast spells independently are all trash!!"
Harry had clearly taken Mu En's words to heart, changing "use guides" into "cannot cast spells independently."
Mu En looked at what Harry had written and showed an appreciative expression.
This kid was really smart.
In his old world, there had been a detailed process for teaching wizard apprentices how to control magic power. But this world seemed to have chosen another path.
A path dependent on guides.
He had previously seized several wands from the Ministry of Magic for research. How should he put it...
These wands provided very little amplification for their casters. Their cores and rune sections existed to guide and stabilize the magic power inside wizards. As for amplification, it all relied on the wood of the wand itself.
For example, the warlike nature of aspen wood gave a slight boost to certain offensive spells.
Or cedar wood's resilience, which provided some improvement to spell effectiveness in the hands of strong-willed people.
But the amplification effects were all rather ordinary.
Of course, Mu En was not looking down on them. The formation of a world's magical system inevitably had to be traced back to its historical causes, and it had to be viewed from a broader perspective.
Since this world's wands tended toward standardized guides, its wizard population was bound to be much larger, and naturally there would be more capable mid-level wizards as well. After all, everyone could cast spells and participate in magical research.
This had already been proven to him by the Complete Book of Household Charms and by a lowly minion using an Instant Death Curse that touched upon the source of things against him.
If Mu En's former world was pyramid-shaped, then this world tended more toward an olive shape.
With everyone having such useful guides, there naturally would not be too many rookies at the bottom.
What he had said just now... had only been meant to fire Harry up.
After all, he did not want the person he trained to become merely part of the middle of the olive.
As for the sentence Harry had written in his notebook...
Mu En stood and patted Harry on the shoulder. "When you get beaten up at school later, remember not to mention my name."
Before you continue