It Was My Mistake to Give You the Illusion That You Could Challenge Me

In front of Li Weide, Tom was actually quite willing to listen to advice.

After Li Weide's analysis, Tom gave up on the idea of joining the Wizarding Supremacists.

Whether Grindelwald could succeed was another matter. Given Tom's age and his currently meager abilities, if he really went causing trouble with that crowd, he might not even get the chance to grow up...

Because of Li Weide, Tom had come to fully recognize his own lack of ability. At this point, he could be said to possess a great deal of self-awareness.

So, the two of them temporarily stayed at the Hog's Head, waiting for school to begin while practicing magic on their own.

During that time, Dumbledore came by personally, seemingly to repair the protective magic that had been broken through in the attic.

After finishing, he hurriedly left Hogsmeade again without staying to take a look at Li Weide and Tom.

Clearly, the war between him and Grindelwald had reached a fever pitch. The fact that he could spare the time to come over was already no easy feat.

Especially since Grindelwald was currently in Britain, making the British Ministry of Magic extremely nervous.

Because Dumbledore had repelled Grindelwald several years ago, the British Ministry of Magic also came to recognize his abilities.

As a result, the British Ministry of Magic could hardly do without Dumbledore's help for even a moment...

In fact, Dumbledore proved just how important he was.

As long as he was present, Grindelwald's Wizarding Supremacists could never gain any advantage.

Because of this, Dumbledore's reputation in the wizarding world continued to rise...

To keep up with developments, Li Weide and Tom both subscribed to The Daily Prophet.

According to reports from The Daily Prophet, Grindelwald's group and the Aurors led by Dumbledore fought seven or eight battles of varying scale in Britain over just two short weeks.

Both sides suffered heavy losses. Yet strangely, while there were many injured on both sides, very few people actually died.

It was as though neither side had truly fought with everything they had.

Finally, after two weeks had passed, Grindelwald—unable to gain any advantage against Dumbledore—led his subordinates out of Britain and vanished without a trace.

People speculated that he had likely returned to Nurmengard in Austria to regroup.

Still, although no victor had been decided this time, Grindelwald's retreat allowed the wizards of the British Wizarding World to breathe a huge sigh of relief.

"Stunning Spell!"

"Bang!"

"Too slow. Your intentions are too obvious... Before you even cast the spell, I can already tell where it'll land. How are you supposed to hit me? Come on, keep going!"

In the woods near Hogsmeade, Tom finally worked up the courage to launch his first official challenge against Li Weide.

After more than two weeks of grueling practice, Tom believed it was time to get revenge on Li Weide.

In his view, after practicing tirelessly day and night, his abilities had definitely caught up with Li Weide, who spent his days loafing around!

So today, he would settle both old and new scores! Unfortunately... things did not seem to be developing in the direction he had hoped...

Tom, who studied seriously and worked painstakingly every day, could not do a thing to Li Weide, who merely skimmed through books before wandering around all day!

To be precise, his spells could not even touch the corner of Li Weide's robes!

And from beginning to end, Li Weide had not even taken the hand holding his wand out from behind his back...

In other words, Li Weide had not fought back at all, yet Tom could not do anything to him! The other boy even had the leisure to critique Tom's movements while dodging his spells!

Thus, the more Tom attacked, the stronger his sense of frustration became...

"Your footwork was too slow. If I attacked at that moment, you wouldn't even have time to duck behind cover."

Li Weide's commentary reached him again, nearly shattering Tom's will to go on.

"Fight back already! Stop nagging! Aren't you annoying enough?!" Tom's resentment and frustration turned into an angry roar.

"Fine..." The moment Li Weide finished speaking, Tom discovered that his wand had flown out of his hand.

By the time Tom came to his senses, he had already been tied up and hung from a tree...

The expression on Tom's face was spectacular—anger, confusion, and shock all mixed together...

He had not even seen what happened before he was defeated!

"You... how exactly did you do that..." Tom could not help asking as he watched Li Weide slowly approach.

"I already told you. You have to cast quickly. If you chant spells at such a sluggish pace, your attacks won't be threatening at all."

Li Weide stood beneath the tree, craning his neck to look at the pitiful Tom hanging above him.

"You... you've already learned Nonverbal spells? Is that why your attacks were so fast?" Tom stared at him in shock.

"What you're surprised about is a little strange, Tom. Nonverbal spells aren't the point! On the first day we met, when I took you down, did I chant any spell?"

Tom was briefly stunned by Li Weide's question.

Before Tom could recover, Li Weide continued, "Back then, when you took down those two human traffickers in the alley, did you... chant any spell at all?"

"Why was your attack so clean and decisive before you learned spells, yet after learning them, your attacks became so much more cumbersome?"

"Though I really don't want to say this... Tom, despite studying so hard during this time, not only have you failed to improve—you've actually regressed quite a lot..."

Tom felt as if he had been struck by lightning on a clear day.

Before learning spells, he had been able to cast Nonverbal spells at will. But after learning spells, he could no longer cast them without speaking... If that was not regression, what was? "Th-this... why is that?" In the end, Tom could not stop himself from seeking advice from the person he had once hated most.

Li Weide shook his head. "Because before you learned spells, you didn't overthink things when attacking. Your intent was extremely pure—you only wanted to take your opponent down. That happened to align with the essence of magic, as well as the conditions for casting Nonverbal spells..."

"But once you learned spells, you had more things on your mind. The pauses between every syllable of an incantation, the arc of every wand movement—all of it had to follow the book exactly..."

"As a result, your spells did look beautiful, but you lost the purity you had when casting before. Along with it, the power and speed of your attacks regressed terribly too."

Tom slumped. "Is that why you hardly read books or study spells? Was I wrong to study spells?"

Li Weide shook his head. "No, Tom. I never said studying spells was wrong. In fact, you should continue studying and learning spells."

"And you should study them thoroughly. Only by understanding the fundamental principles behind those spells can you cast them as you please, without being constrained by technique or the syllables of an incantation."

"Our previous Nonverbal attacks were merely accidental uses of a certain kind of magic. In fact, if we use Nonverbal spells with a complete understanding of that magic, you'll find that their power is far greater than before."

"As for how much greater... You just experienced my Disarming Charm. You should understand."

Hanging from the tree, Tom furrowed his brow and sank into thought.

After a moment, Tom suddenly asked, "Aren't you afraid that if you tell me all this, I'll eventually catch up to you and defeat you?"

Li Weide still wore that gentle smile. "It was my mistake to give you the illusion that you could challenge me. But don't worry. You'll soon stop having that illusion."

Tom glared at Li Weide with a dark expression.

He was seriously beginning to wonder whether this bastard would die if he did not show off!