Understanding Runes

Inside the Alchemy Laboratory of the Fantasy Book, Loren's lips were pressed tightly together, his eyes fixed on the slowly moving tip of the wand at the bottom of the box, paying attention to every turn of the pen, afraid of making the slightest mistake.

This was the umpteenth time he had sketched his first pair of Rune.

The tip of the wand, adorned with silvery-white Unicorn Tail Hair, slowly and powerfully traced a rather uncomplicated, strange symbol under Loren's careful control.

The glowing patterns were imprinted little by little on the bottom of the black leather case, passing through several strange pen spinners, and finally the wand was gently lifted up to use up the last bit of Unicorn Tail Hair in the glowing ink.

As Loren finished writing, the entire mysterious and strange symbol instantly shone with a bright light, finally merging with the Hexagram array base surrounded by double rings into a single whole.

Loren looked at the symbol in front of him and smiled with satisfaction.

After several nights of tireless effort, he had become proficient in sketching the array base and the first Rune. Compared to the double rings and the Hexagram, which used a total of three Unicorn Tail Hair, a single Rune symbol required one feather, and any mistake meant starting over from the rings.

He drew another Unicorn Tail Hair from the floating clouds, and with a tap of his wand, it emitted a pure, silvery-white Magic Power glow. He had become much more skilled with his Summoning Charm.

The Summoning Charm can be considered the predecessor of the Accio, but it does not involve complex magical principles and does not have any incantation.

Compared to the Accio, which can summon objects from anywhere simply by having a target, the Summoning Charm merely summons things within sight. It's not even a spell, and some adult wizards can achieve this effect subconsciously.

However, the fact that the young wizard could achieve the summoned effect so naturally and smoothly indicates that Loren had a more comprehensive control over the Magic Power within him. This would make him more adept at using other spells and would prevent him from losing control of his magic like the explosive genius Seamus.

The wand, guided by the glowing Unicorn Tail Hair, deftly twirled between his fingers, leaving beautiful rings in the air. Loren rotated the suitcase 180° and began to inscribe Rune symmetrical to the center of the first Rune.

The first one is Positive Rune, and the second one is Negative Rune.

Having learned from the experience of the first Rune, the second identical Rune progressed smoothly, and it was almost time to finish the strokes.

Like holding a calligraphy brush, the ring finger gently pressed against the wand, and the tip of the wand pulled the Unicorn Tail Hair upwards, completing the Negative Rune.

Loren gazed at the second Rune, hoping it would resonate with the previously drawn Rune and merge into a unified whole with the double-ring Hexagram array base.

The second Rune emitted a silvery-white light, which, instead of dimming normally, quickly turned a warm yellow. Loren realized something was wrong; the warm yellow gradually deepened into a fiery red. Both Rune disintegrated into the air, scattering into countless glittering fragments.

The Alchemy Array began to emit light and heat, scorching the bottom of the leather case until it emitted white smoke and a foul, burnt smell, finally leaving a black, charred circular mark.

The sketching failed.

Flamel floated behind Loren, glancing at the black circular spot. "Can you recall where things went wrong just now?"

Loren frowned and carefully recalled the process of drawing the rune. He confirmed that every stroke of Rune second Rune was the same as the first. He shook his head and replied, "I can't think of any step that was wrong."

"Of course, there were no problems with the drawing process. But you didn't understand the meaning of the Rune; you only memorized their shape." Flamel took off again, seemingly having anticipated this situation.

"Magic is a reflection of a wizard's inner self; you cannot use Rune."

Loren was puzzled. "But I successfully drew my first Rune."

"When you drew the first Rune, you hadn't used it yet. When you drew the second Rune that corresponded to it, you touched on using it to achieve the desired effect." Flamel moved to face Loren and landed at the same height as him.

Loren still couldn't accept it. "I already know the meaning of this Rune. It's an isolation Rune under the category of space."

"You're absolutely right. It belongs to a spatial domain and serves an isolating function. But that's just your perception of it, not your understanding."

"Then what is understanding?"

"For example, when you see the word 'black,' the image that comes to mind is black." Flamel paused, seemingly feeling that it wasn't intuitive enough, "I'll give you three examples of black things right away."

"Frozen Pear, a magic robe, a magic wand," Loren answered quickly, his mind also drifting to the night sky, the waters of the Black Lake, his hair, and many other black things.

"That's understanding, you understand the meaning of black." Flamel looked into Loren's blue eyes.

"Then how should I understand the Rune? Is there anything that can be visually represented?"

Loren believed that one must have seen many black objects before forming a unified understanding of black in one's mind, and what tangible expression could Rune possibly convey?

"Think about its meaning, and you will notice it in real life." Flamel did not give a specific answer, and then drifted away, leaving Loren to ponder.

"Spaces are isolated from each other..."

The empty Alchemy Laboratory, with glowing Rune flowing across the red brick walls, casts a pensive shadow.

Gryffindor Common Room.

Loren leaned back on the bench, his eyes darting across the ceiling, muttering, "Space, cubicle..."

Harry and Ron searched everywhere for Hermione, carrying their Transfiguration Class, hoping Hermione would grade them. They circled the house several times, even asking Parvati Patil, but she didn't know where Hermione was either.

Since discovering that most of the young wizards had essentially forgotten everything they learned in the previous school year during the Christmas break, Professor McGonagall has almost doubled the amount of homework she assigns. Some of it is homework to review from the previous year, and some is material for the next school year.

This is tough on some of the young wizards who write slowly and have a tendency to procrastinate.

The two sat down dejectedly on the bench, completely unaware of the invisible Loren beside them.

"What has Hermione been up to lately? I haven't seen her at all," Harry complained.

"She's Hermione, we can't find her anywhere she's reading," Ron said, seemingly less worried. "Or we could ask Loren."

"Sigh~" Harry sighed, "Loren will just let us copy his homework."

He paused for a moment and then said, "It's not that it's bad, but I still feel more at ease making it myself by referring to the book."

Since many people failed to Snuffbox in the Transfiguration Class, Professor McGonagall was very disappointed but did not blame anyone. Many young wizards felt guilty about this and their attitude towards learning became more correct.

Loren pulled his attention away from the Rune and overheard the conversation between the two, vaguely guessing where Hermione was.

"I can also help you mark the wrong answers." It's not a big deal, and there's no reason for Loren not to help.

Harry and Ron were startled by Loren's sudden voice.

"Damn it! When did you get here?" Ron looked at Loren sitting to the side in surprise.

"Is it possible that I was sitting here from the very beginning?" Loren's tone was tinged with feigned grievance. "As my roommates, you didn't care about me at all."

The two looked uncomfortable, as if they had eaten Cockroach Clusters and were speechless with unease.

To interrupt Loren's performance, Harry quickly handed over his homework, saying, "Could you please correct my Transfiguration Class homework?"

Loren, abandoning her resentful demeanor, took the parchment. Looking around, she couldn't find an ink bottle or a quill, and instinctively began to scribble on Harry's homework with her wand. After a few strokes, she realized there was no Unicorn Tail Hair, and the wand couldn't draw anything.

Turning his head, he saw Harry and Ron staring at him blankly. Loren raised his wand and tapped his head, realizing he had been drawing Rune in a daze.

Without looking for a quill, Loren used Transfiguration on Harry's handwriting, extracting some ink from the original words, making them lighter in color. The extracted ink formed circles around the incorrect answers on the parchment, and next to them, it coalesced to form the page numbers of the correct answers in the textbook.

Loren handed the corrected homework to Harry. "My Transfiguration won't last long. You'll have enough time to find the correct answers by tomorrow night."

"Oh!" Ron exclaimed. "I think your Transfiguration has improved again."

He then handed the homework to Loren.

"You'll improve if you use the time you would spend playing chess to practice," Loren said. The two of them had become obsessed with Wizard's Chess since the start of the new school year. Harry enjoyed the thrill of evenly matched battles and the joy of victory, while Ron watched to see how many moves Harry could predict.

Ron didn't respond to that. "Speaking of which, do you know what Hermione's been up to lately? You don't see her anywhere except in class all day."

Loren's gaze remained fixed on Ron's homework, without looking up. "I practiced a new spell recently, Hermione wants to catch up with me."

"Tsk!" Ron clicked his tongue. "She never wants to fall behind; she always wants to be number one."

Harry said thoughtfully, "If you ask me, this isn't a good personality trait. We should help her."

"Do you have any ideas?" Loren asked.

"In chess, Hermione only loses when she plays chess, which is good for her," Harry finally revealed his intention.

He might genuinely have ideas to help Hermione, but he also has his own ulterior motives.

Before, no one could beat Ron at chess, including Hermione. Now Harry feels that he can play against Ron to a draw, which means he's at the same level as Ron. If he could beat Hermione...

Thinking of this, Harry couldn't help but smile.

Loren understood this mentality. It wasn't about being superior to anyone, nor was it about proving who was better than whom. It was like two close friends walking down the street; if one suddenly jumped up and touched a leaf, the other would want to touch an even higher leaf. It was a strange, competitive mentality unique to friends.

Ron remained silent, waiting to see how many mistakes he had made in his Transfiguration Class.

"Um..."

After grading Ron's homework, Loren looked at Harry's silly grin and didn't know how to advise the silly boy. "Let's wait for Hermione to come back and ask her for her opinion."

Loren didn't expose Ron. Exposing Ron would cause two people to lose their happiness, while keeping it a secret would allow two people to continue to be happy. In order to maximize happiness, he ultimately chose to keep it a secret.

With some time before lights out, Hermione leisurely returned from outside the lounge. When she saw the three sitting together, her eyes lit up, and she ran over, her soft brown curls bouncing with each step.

Hermione sat down gracefully next to Loren. "I can use a honey jar to hold pebbles now!" The little Witch was delighted with her progress in the Untraceable Extension Charm.

Before Loren could speak, Harry interjected, "Hermione, we have an idea to share with you."

The group told Hermione about their earlier discussion about how playing chess could help Hermione relax.

Hermione pondered for a moment. It seemed that striving to be number one in everything wasn't exactly a good hobby, but it was something she was used to doing. She had clashed with her classmates at Muggle school because of these things, and it wasn't until she met Loren at Hogwarts that she wasn't isolated and made a group of friends who accepted her personality.

"Okay!" Hermione agreed, regardless of whether it would work or not, she would treat it as a casual game after practicing the spells.

Ron found the chessboard and used his family's heirloom pieces, which were older than him. Harry hesitated for a long time before letting Hermione use his brand-new pieces.

"Knight, advance!"

"Queen Chess Piece, kill it."

The game remained deadlocked for a long time, until finally, when both sides had almost exchanged all their pieces, Ron won by a narrow margin.

Hermione frowned slightly, a strange feeling creeping over her. Whenever she made a bad move, Ron would make a similarly bad move within a few moves, leading to a stalemate.

Harry stood by, eager to try, believing he had several opportunities to seize and win.

"It's my turn! It's my turn!" Harry squeezed Ron into his seat, turned the chessboard around, and used the brand-new pieces while Hermione used Ron's old ones.

Hermione hesitated before starting a new game with Harry.

The situation was appalling.

Hermione had just finished a game and was in great form. Harry, on the other hand, had been playing Baby Chess, which Ron had been feeding him, and his skill level was getting worse and worse.

"Checkmate." Hermione finished the game easily, without much feeling.

Harry stared, mouth agape, at the unfinished game on the chessboard in disbelief.

Harry looked at Hermione across from him, then turned to look at Ron beside him. This wasn't how he expected it. A huge question mark filled Harry's mind.

"The chess pieces, Hermione used your pieces to beat me, and they're starting to disobey you." Ron quickly interjected to reassure Harry, not wanting him to realize how good his sparring partner was.

"Is that so?" Harry asked, still somewhat skeptical.

"It's just winning or losing a game of Wizard's Chess, what's so special about that?" Hermione looked at the two of them with suspicion, then turned to look at Loren, her eyes conveying, "Is there something I don't know?"

Ignoring the conman and the limp man, Loren pulled Hermione by the sleeve and led her to the window.

Outside the window, the clouds in the sky were shrouded in the glow of the moon and stars, and in the distance, there were sparse fires in the forest—the campfires of the Centaur tribe.

"Pursuing first place and being competitive are not bad habits that need to be changed." Loren gazed into the distance.

Hermione understood that this was referring to what had just happened. She rested her head on her hand on the windowsill, the light from the sky and the forest reflecting in her brown eyes. "Maybe a change would make me more sociable," she said cheerfully.

"You don't need to change yourself to fit in, just be yourself."

"Hermione is Hermione, the Miss Know-It-All who always gets an O on her assignments, the one who seizes every moment to use the Untraceable Extension Charm to catch up with me, such a competitive Hermione." Loren looked at Starlight beside him.

"Hmm." Hermione looked at the firelight against the blue background.