There Is Much to Learn

"Isn't this a bit beyond the syllabus?"

"It's not like I'm asking you to cast spells without a wand."

"I'm still a child!"

"Heh heh..."

Charles was speechless. As Jack requested, he had to achieve silent casting to be considered proficient.

Jack said to him, "Concentrate, grasp that feeling you get when casting spells. Once you have the feeling, you can cast without a wand. Practice more. I'm going to buy groceries."

Seeing Jack leave using Apparition, Charles continued to practice the Levitation Charm and Stupefy Charm with Jack's wand, using these spells to hit rocks.

The Levitation Charm and Stupefy Charm consume magic power proportional to the weight of the object being acted upon. The stones Jack prepared weighed over a ton, and Charles could only make them float a palm's height off the ground.

He had asked Jack about magic power before. The old man pointed to Harry watering the lawn outside and said that a wizard's magic power was like a water tank. The amount of magic power one had depended on the size of the tank, but how much magic power could be used at once depended on the thickness of the pipe. Harry had good talent; both his tank and pipe were quite impressive, making it worthwhile for him to move over just to watch the fun.

Charles had also asked about his own talent, but the old man always replied, "Not as good as mine."

Less than half an hour later, Jack returned, with eight spider legs floating behind him.

"How do you want to eat them?" he asked Charles. "I'll cook tonight."

Charles immediately replied, "Let's roast them."

Jack nodded, told him to continue practicing, and went to prepare the spider legs.

There were simple and complex ways to prepare spider legs. The simplest was to pour wine into the severed end to marinate for two to three hours, then roast them over charcoal. They were eaten dipped in salt and pepper. Dudley could always eat two legs' worth.

A more complex method involved extracting the meat and making meatballs, for example, to be added to soup. Harry quite liked this.

Of course, neither of them knew what kind of meat they were eating.

After dinner, Jack said to Charles, "In combat, besides spells, physical coordination is also very important. You can't just stand there foolishly to be hit; you need to learn to dodge."

Charles replied while eating crème brûlée, "I'm confident in my dodging. The coach even said my reactions and dodging are very fast."

Jack shook his head and said, "Wizard duels aren't boxing matches. In the boxing ring, you can take a couple of punches on your more resilient parts, but the Avada Kedavra hitting your toe has the same effect as hitting your head."

"So, starting tonight, you need to practice rolling every night to dodge my spells."

Charles nodded. The old man's understanding of magic was far superior to his own, and the life-saving skills he spoke of were important.

As they began practicing, Charles yelled, "Are you trying to kill me!"

Jack said indifferently, "It's just the Avada Kedavra. You'll be fine if you dodge it."

"Continue, Avada Kedavra!"

Charles quickly rolled to the side, dodging the dark green curse.

"Hmm..." Jack frowned and thought for a moment. "Using Avada Kedavra right from the start might not be ideal. Let's switch it up."

Charles, who had just breathed a sigh of relief, immediately heard, "Cruciatus Curse!"

He froze for a moment and didn't dodge this time. The red light hit his backside.

"Ah..." Charles let out a scream, "Huh?"

He stood up, touched the spot where he was hit, and said strangely, "It doesn't seem to hurt that much, just a little more than a shot."

"Silly child," Jack said with a kind smile. "The Cruciatus Curse is only effective if the caster genuinely derives pleasure from torturing the victim. I wasn't truly intending to torture you just now, so how could it have any effect?"

Charles gave a silly laugh.

However, Jack's expression suddenly turned grim the next second: "Who was it that told those ladies this spring that they should find me a companion?"

"Cruciatus Curse!!!"

Charles instantly broke out in a cold sweat, dodging the attack with all his might. It was clear that the old man genuinely wanted to punish him this time.

Charles received excellent training during the following period.

Days passed. Charles practiced the combination of the Levitation Charm and Stupefy Charm at least a thousand times a day, becoming increasingly proficient, and then developed Carpal Tunnel Syndrome.

Fortunately, this was a common ailment among wizards, and Jack knew some healing magic, which quickly resolved the problem.

After a few days, Charles could finally cast spells with his wand without speaking the incantation, though his lips would still move subconsciously.

Jack set up a table and tea set nearby, drinking tea and reading The Lord of the Rings, occasionally checking on his progress.

At lunch, Jack said, "Starting this afternoon, I'll teach you the Accio Charm and the Projectile Charm. Continue using those stones for practice."

Charles nodded while eating his sandwich.

He felt that the three spells the old man had mentioned earlier were actually three combat methods. The Levitation Charm was for control, the Projectile Charm was for disrupting the enemy's casting, and the last one was naturally for offense.

Jack continued, "In combat, the Accio Charm can grab distant objects, such as stones, enemies, and even petrified enemies, and then use the Projectile Charm to hurl them at the enemy. Sometimes the damage will be greater than magic. You must master wandless casting for these two spells."

Charles's face went from bewildered at the thought of using enemies as projectiles to a grimace upon hearing about wandless casting. He scratched his head and said, "This difficulty level is a bit high."

Jack shook his head and asked, "Did you use a wand for Apparition?"

Charles blinked and shook his head.

Jack continued, "The three principles of Apparition – destination, determination, and deliberation – are themselves used for learning wandless casting."

"The process of wandless casting is the same as the process of Apparition. First, focus your consciousness on your target, then make up your mind, thinking that you must cast the spell on the target, and finally, grasp that feeling you get when casting, and calmly release your magic. The spell will then be cast."

Charles felt like a failing student listening to a top scholar explain a problem, with phrases like "obvious," "clearly," "self-evident," and "conversely" flying past his ears.

The old man was fine for basic education, but not suited for teaching advanced concepts.

Charles had no choice but to grope his way forward through endless rock-throwing.

While eating dinner, Charles suddenly slapped his thigh and exclaimed, "Oh no! I still need to buy my textbooks from Diagon Alley. Since you're pretending to be a Muggle now, how are we supposed to know how to get there!"

Jack was stunned this time and said, "That's right. I'm a Muggle now, so where am I supposed to find Diagon Alley? I also need to go to Gringotts... to exchange some gold. Let's go back after dinner; maybe Hogwarts left us a clue."

After finishing dinner, the two sat in the cave, and with a "whoosh" sound, the car took them to a nearby road, and then they drove back to Number 4 Privet Drive.

They found a letter in the mailbox, inviting them to meet someone at Charing Cross Road in London at noon tomorrow to be taken to Diagon Alley to buy school supplies.