The Nature of Magic

After seeing the owl off, Tierra lay back down on the bed.

Now that he knew he was in the world of Harry Potter and that there was another, safer, more secure path to magic, Tierra no longer felt quite so urgently drawn to Merlin's dangerous, thorn-filled path.

Besides, with teachers to guide him, why struggle through it alone? One careless mistake and there went another finger.

Tierra rested both hands behind his head and let his imagination run wild.

He wondered whether Hogwarts was really like it was in the movies, which House he would be sorted into, and what if he got sorted into Gryffindor...

He wondered whether he would meet the famous Harry Potter.

Harry Potter...

Harry...

Ha...

Fuck.

This was 1991. By the count, it was exactly the year Harry Potter enrolled. If this really was the world of Harry Potter, then he would definitely meet Harry this year.

First year, fighting Voldemort over the Philosopher's Stone.

Second year, fighting a Horcrux and a Basilisk.

Third year was dangerous but ultimately uneventful. Sirius Black, the only one who seemed remotely dangerous, was actually a good guy.

Then came fourth year... Voldemort returned at full strength.

Fifth year, he reunited the Death Eaters.

Sixth year, seventh year... he began openly purging Muggle-borns.

Muggle-borns...

Tierra's parents, both in this life and his last, had been non-magical people. Of that, he was one hundred percent certain.

In other words, Tierra was the purest kind of Muggle-born.

Pure beyond purity.

At that thought, Tierra sprang out of bed and sat back down at his desk.

He still had to study. He still had to learn this damn stuff.

Tierra picked up his pen again and began writing and drawing on another blank sheet of parchment, continuing to construct the second layer of Spiritual Walls.

This was a type of magic Merlin had developed in his later years to block the corruption of the Outer Gods. It involved using the instant when Huris Potion heightened one's mental strength to carve this magical structure into the Spiritual Dimension.

The Spiritual Walls had seven layers in total. Before drinking the Huris Potion, Tierra had already completed his analysis of the first layer. The first through third layers could only gradually deepen the connection between Tierra's Spiritual Dimension and spiritual dimension, strengthening his control over his own magic.

The fourth through sixth layers could expand the spiritual dimension, in other words, increase the accumulation of magical power.

The seventh layer required the aid of a Great Old One, allowing one's Spiritual Dimension and spiritual dimension to undergo a qualitative transformation.

As for constructing magical models...

According to Merlin's Notes and the Dark Magic Principles section of the Necronomicon, the essence of magic was dimensions.

Three dimensions in the physical sense referred to the directions of space.

But the three dimensions of magic were the Material Dimension, spiritual dimension, and Spiritual Dimension.

The Material Dimension was the length, width, height, and directions of space in traditional physics.

The spiritual dimension was the source of a wizard's magic: what Hogwarts called magical talent, and what cultivators called spiritual roots.

The Spiritual Dimension was the essence of thought in all intelligent life.

Wizards were three-dimensional beings, existing simultaneously in the Material Dimension, spiritual dimension, and Spiritual Dimension.

The dimensions of matter, spirituality, and mind were interconnected and influenced one another.

Wizards generally needed the assistance of wands and incantations to use magic.

A wand was a product of the fusion of the Material Dimension and spiritual dimension. It helped wizards stabilize their magic and more easily release the power of the spiritual dimension.

Incantations, meanwhile, were simplified spell models.

Every kind of magic that existed today had been simplified from ancient ritual magic.

Everything ritual magic did in the Material Dimension—shamanic dances, piling up stones, lighting bonfires, even blood sacrifices—was intended to construct a spell model in the material world and thereby draw upon the power of the spiritual dimension.

These rituals had been simplified step by step. By now, most magic had reached the point where it could be cast simply by speaking an incantation and using a wand capable of connecting to the spiritual dimension.

Of course, neither incantations nor wands were strictly necessary. As long as a wizard could construct a magical model flawlessly within their Spiritual Dimension, they could cast magic without speaking an incantation.

Other wizards chose lengthy and complicated Ancient Runes. Merlin chose a simpler method of construction—mathematics.

Merlin had lived rationally on Earth for more than seven hundred years, from the early eleventh century until the late eighteenth century. During that long life, Merlin encountered a genius named Newton.

From then on, Merlin converted all magical structures into multivariable calculus...

Fortunately, Tierra had been a science student in his previous life. Because he had prepared for postgraduate entrance exams, he had not forgotten all of his advanced mathematics. And due to the limitations of Merlin's ancient way of thinking, all the magical structures he provided were merely basic calculus structures, supplemented by a few simplified Ancient Runes incantations. At his current stage, the learning was not too difficult for Tierra.

Over the past few years, Tierra had not spent all his time constructing the first layer of Spiritual Walls. While studying Merlin's Notes, he had also tried constructing spell models for several minor spells, such as the Flash Spell, Flame Charm, Repair Charm, and, of course, the Levitation Charm he used to guide his magic.

Through constructing these minor spells, Tierra had further deepened his understanding of the entire theory of magic's three dimensions.

After all, although he had Merlin's Notes, many of its descriptions made no sense to Tierra due to the era Merlin had lived in. And while this library contained countless books, Tierra did not dare browse them carelessly. To this day, he had only read the Dark Magic Principles section of the Necronomicon and the General Treatise on Alchemy.

According to the Dark Magic section of the Necronomicon, a creature's dimensions were not completely unchangeable.

Two-dimensional beings could evolve into three-dimensional beings, and three-dimensional beings could evolve into four-dimensional beings by obtaining the coordinates of a divine dimension.

The Muggles wizards spoke of were two-dimensional beings who existed only in the Material Dimension and Spiritual Dimension. They lacked the spiritual dimension, which served as the source of magical power and could influence both. Therefore, Muggles could not use magic, nor could they see magical creatures such as Dementors, which existed only in the spiritual dimension and Spiritual Dimension.

Yet through the properties of their Spiritual Dimensions, Dementors could in turn drain the souls of Muggles.

It was also very simple for Muggles to acquire magical power. They only needed to construct a magical model simultaneously in the Material Dimension and Spiritual Dimension, achieve resonance in the Spiritual Dimension with some mysterious existence, and then connect their minds to obtain a spiritual dimension.

That mysterious existence could be a powerful demon, a god of a foreign faith, an extraordinary wizard, or even... a mad Outer God.

Of course, such mental connections were extremely dangerous. A powerful demon would seize the chance to occupy your body and descend into the Material Dimension. Foreign gods and wizards would turn you into puppets. And as for Outer Gods...

Tierra had already experienced that. His left pinky still felt strangely empty.

Tierra even suspected that he might have been a Muggle from the very beginning, relying entirely on a mental connection with the being behind the Profound Lord's Seven Chapters Secret Scripture to obtain a spiritual dimension.

After all, he had never received an admission letter from any magic academy in his previous life, and there had been nothing unusual in this life's memories either—nothing like an accidental magical outburst.