Why Do Wizards Reject Science?

Roger noticed it, but did not devote any more attention to it.

Because the confrontation between Harry and Draco in front of Professor McGonagall had not happened as it had in the original course of fate, Roger was a little worried that the flap of his little butterfly wings might cause Voldemort to pull off something major.

If things really changed in that direction, he would have to speak with Dumbledore.

But there was no need now.

Since Dumbledore had already noticed Quirrell's abnormality, there was absolutely no need for Roger to meddle unnecessarily.

A bodiless remnant soul could not possibly stir up much trouble in the hands of Dumbledore, who was fighting on home ground with the enemy exposed.

This year, he just needed to eat in peace and study in peace.

With his worries put to rest, Roger followed the older students to the Gryffindor common room after the feast.

There was not much to say about the process: magical moving staircases that could easily get people lost, talking portraits, shared dormitories, and unfamiliar roommates he did not know at all.

Wondering whether portraits and ghosts counted as a continuation of life or an echo of death, and looking forward to the next day's classes, Roger drifted off to sleep.

All along, Roger had held another question besides why wizards, whose magic was practically a wish-granting machine, had not developed in the direction of immortals and gods.

During Potions class.

"Potter!" Snape suddenly said. "What would I get if I added powdered root of asphodel to an infusion of wormwood?"

What root powder added to what solution? Harry glanced at his friend Ron. Ron, another poor student, was just as stunned as he was.

"I don't know, sir," Harry said.

Snape curled his lips disdainfully.

"Tsk, tsk... It seems fame does not represent everything."

The Potions professor, Snape, ignored Hermione, whose raised hand was nearly touching the ceiling as she desperately wanted to display her wisdom, as well as Roger, who was likewise rather well known among wizards. His grand performance of relentlessly questioning Harry Potter and mocking him for not living up to his reputation had just ended.

At the moment, the students were preparing the simple healing potion described in the first chapter of their textbooks under Snape's guidance.

Cutting ingredients with a blade, grinding them with a pestle, measuring their weight with a balance scale, pouring water into a cauldron and boiling it... Roger handled the entire process with smooth efficiency.

Yet his old question lay precisely within those procedures.

In wizarding society, many processes could clearly be made more convenient and less error-prone with Muggle technology and tools, so why were they not incorporated? Judging by the Hogwarts Express and the flying magical car, wizarding civilization clearly did not reject taking things it found interesting from Muggle society.

Perhaps combining magic and science might also be a path toward breaking the upper limit of wizarding civilization's power!

And after ending his closed-door approach to learning magic, truly enrolling at Hogwarts, attending classes, and witnessing the spellcasting details of other wizards during lessons, this question naturally answered itself.

He had overlooked something important! Magic was a miracle jointly created by the mind and magical power.

Roughly speaking, the process of wizard spellcasting was...

I want to cast a spell → I want it very, very badly → my will connects with magical power → magical power senses the caster's conception and lets the universe sort it out → something magical happens, and the spell succeeds.

And with many spells, if the process was not precise enough, even the wizard himself would not know what result the spell would produce.

It looked rather like, 'A wizard only needs to reckon something will work, while magical power has to consider much more.'

But in reality, the result of a spell was still determined by the wizard himself. Magical power had no independent consciousness; deviations in spellcasting were caused by distracting thoughts within the wizard that even he could not detect.

It was difficult for people to control their stray thoughts. Just like asking someone to think of absolutely nothing for three minutes—out of seven billion people worldwide, it was uncertain whether even seven could do it.

Even while sleeping or unconscious, a person's mind never stopped working.

And since human will was so important during spellcasting, would a wizard's understanding of the world also have an enormously significant impact on their spells?! The answer was yes.

Through observing, questioning, and interviewing other students and professors while they cast spells, Roger reached a conclusion.

Before reaching a certain threshold, the clearer a wizard's understanding of the fundamental rules governing the world, the more constrained the power of their spells would become.

The reason was that it reduced the room magical power had to operate freely.

Take a spell that created high-temperature flames, for example.

If a young wizard had received a Muggle education and understood the characteristics of flame temperature, but did not know how to create such high temperatures, they would subconsciously think, I can't do that, thereby limiting the spell's power themselves.

Getting three-tenths of their full power would already be impressive.

But if a young wizard knew nothing about the principles of fire and simply believed, My flames can devour and sweep away everything, magical power would have far more room to act. Not only would the temperature of the spell reach the limit their Mental Power could sustain, it might even carry the curse-like magical effect of "devouring."

Of course, if someone fully understood every underlying principle and rule of fire, they would not be restricted in this regard.

In fact, because their will would be incomparably clear while casting and every detail would be exceedingly distinct, the Mental Power consumed by their spells would be vastly reduced compared with other wizards! So the issue of magical power was merely a minor matter. It was not as though there was no remedy; once one crossed that hurdle, one might even become stronger.

The real reason wizards rejected science was something else.

Science had never been any specific technology. It was a way of thinking.

A way of thinking that gradually analyzed the fundamental principles behind the workings of all things through hypothesis, demonstration, and practice.

One could even say that in a cultivation world, comprehending the Dao counted as a form of science.

Cultivation techniques were formulas and theorems they had summarized generation after generation; artifact refinement was research into materials science; refining corpses and refining Ten Thousand Souls Banners also counted as applications of life science.

But applying the same theory to wizards did not work.

The nature of magical power was a hurdle wizards could not avoid if they wished to embrace science!

In the Muggle scientific community, they could pretend not to see the clouds hanging over physics and mathematics—the unsolvable problems.

So what if the mathematical system itself was incomplete? As long as commonly used conventional mathematics such as Euclidean geometry was complete, that was enough.

But in the wizarding world, if you wanted to pursue science yet could not explain what magical power was, it would lead to an extremely terrifying consequence...

Some wizards with weaker minds, a touch of obsessive-compulsive disorder, and a fondness for getting trapped in mental dead ends would begin to doubt magical power itself.

When a wizard began doubting magical power, magical power would gradually drift away from them. Magic was a miracle of belief. If you did not even believe in your own magic, then you would lose it!

Once such a school of thought emerged and began to spread, what followed...

Went without saying.

Roger understood why wizards had not adopted the seemingly more advanced scientific mindset, but instead continued clinging to their old foundations in semi-isolation from Muggles, seeking breakthroughs through three paths: "self-transformation," "rituals," and "external objects."

Because before wizards became powerful enough to understand magical power, researching magical power would lead to no good outcome.

Magical power had no thoughts, but wizards' own "Inner Demons" would destroy them!

It might be an exaggeration to say that a paper proposing a new theory of magical power could make a researcher's brain explode, but temporarily crippling someone's magical ability was entirely possible.

Then... did people who loved pursuing truth truly have no path forward in the current wizarding system?

No! Just like that book, Ritual Magic is More Than Just Blood Sacrifice, the wizarding ancestors of astonishing wisdom had long provided the answer—and a road to the future! "Stop!" While handling his potion and pondering these questions, Roger suddenly sensed danger.

Following instincts honed on the battlefield, he swept one hand out and cast a spell.

He transformed the porcupine quills Neville, who was partnered with Seamus at the neighboring table, was about to put into the cauldron into a pot lid.

If porcupine quills were added before the cauldron was taken off the fire, the potion for treating boils would turn into a highly corrosive poison capable of burning through the cauldron and covering anyone it touched with boils! The potion would spill all over the floor, and aside from getting splashed himself, the class would probably have to stop midway through.

The other students around him were baffled by Roger's sudden spell.

Snape, however, pulled his attention away from Harry and turned around.

He glanced at Roger and gave a displeased snort. "Sharp observation. One point to Gryffindor."

Then he looked at Neville.

"And you, idiotic handling! Why haven't you taken the cauldron off the fire? One point from Gryffindor!"

One gained and one lost, leaving no change at all. If Roger had been a Slytherin, the outcome would probably have been very different.

After Neville hurriedly did as he was told, Roger also undid the Transfiguration on the porcupine quills.

Yes, Transfiguration.

This was the path belonging to seekers of truth, the magic of rational people!

Roger discovered during his studies that Transfiguration, though seemingly unremarkable, actually possessed terrifying potential.

As the greatest wizard in the United Kingdom of this century, chairman of the International Confederation of Wizards, and Hogwarts headmaster, Dumbledore excelled most at Transfiguration and Defense Against the Dark Arts. He had once served as a Transfiguration professor.

And the current deputy headmistress, Professor McGonagall, who would also become headmistress in the future, was likewise a Transfiguration professor.

Was this... a coincidence?