There Was Still So Much to Learn

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

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

"I'm still a child!"

"Heh..."

Charles was speechless. At Jack's request, he had to master Silent Casting before he could be considered qualified.

Jack told him, "Focus your attention. Grasp that sensation you get when casting a spell. Once you find that feeling, you'll be able to cast without a wand. Practice more. I'm going to buy groceries."

Charles watched Jack leave using Apparition, then continued practicing the Levitation Charm and Stupefy Charm with Jack's wand, using the two spells to smash rocks.

The mana consumed by the Levitation Charm and Stupefy Charm was directly proportional to the weight of the object they acted on. The rocks Jack had prepared weighed over a ton, and Charles could currently only make them float about a palm's height off the ground.

He had asked Jack about mana before. The Old Man had pointed at Harry, who was watering the lawn in the garden outside, and said that a wizard's mana was like a water tank. The amount of mana depended on the size of the tank, but how much mana one could use at a time depended on the thickness of the pipes. Harry had decent talent; both his tank and pipes were quite impressive. It was no wonder he had gone to the trouble of moving here just to watch the fun.

Charles had also asked how his own talent was, but the Old Man always said, "Not as good as mine."

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

"How do you want them cooked?" he asked Charles. "I'll make them tonight."

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

Jack nodded and told him to keep practicing while he went to prepare the spider legs.

There were simple and complicated ways to cook spider legs. The simplest was to pour liquor into them through the broken ends, marinate them for two or three hours, then roast them over charcoal. They were eaten with salt and pepper. That fellow Dudley could eat the equivalent of two legs every time.

A more complicated method was to remove the meat, mince it, and make meatballs—for example, boiling them in soup. Harry rather liked that.

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

After dinner, Jack said to Charles, "In battle, physical coordination is just as important as spells. You can't stand there foolishly and let people hit you. You have to learn how to dodge."

Charles replied while eating caramel pudding, "I'm pretty confident in my ability to dodge. My coach always said that my reactions and footwork were very quick."

Jack shook his head. "Wizards don't fight like boxers. In a boxing ring, you can let your more durable body parts take a couple of punches from your opponent. But being hit in the toe by Avada Kedavra has the same result as being hit in the head."

"So starting tonight, you'll practice rolling every night and dodge my spells."

Charles nodded. The Old Man understood magic far better than he did, so he had to take his advice on staying alive seriously.

When practice began, Charles shouted, "Are you trying to kill me?"

Jack said indifferently, "It's just Avada Kedavra. If you dodge, you'll be fine."

"Again. Avada Kedavra!"

Charles hurriedly rolled to the side and dodged the dark-green spell.

"Hmm..." Jack frowned and thought for a moment. "Starting with Avada Kedavra really isn't very suitable. Let's switch to another one."

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

He froze for a moment and failed to dodge this time. The red beam struck him in the butt.

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

He stood up, rubbed the spot that had been hit, and said strangely, "It doesn't really hurt that much. It's only a little more painful than getting an injection."

"Silly child." A kindly smile appeared on Jack's face. "The Cruciatus Curse only works when the caster genuinely wants to gain pleasure from torturing the victim. I didn't really want to torture you just now, so how could it have any effect?"

Charles gave a foolish chuckle.

However, Jack suddenly turned hostile the next second. "Who was it that told those ladies this spring that he wanted to find me a partner?"

"Cruciatus Curse!!!"

Charles was instantly covered in cold sweat. He used every ounce of his strength to dodge the attack. It was obvious that the Old Man really wanted to beat him this time.

Charles received excellent training from then on.

The days passed. Charles used the Levitation Charm and Stupefy Charm combination at least a thousand times every day, growing increasingly proficient with them, and then developed Carpal Tunnel Syndrome.

Fortunately, it was a common ailment among wizards. Jack knew some healing magic and solved the problem in an instant.

A few days later, Charles could finally cast spells with his wand without saying the incantations aloud, though his lips still moved unconsciously.

Jack set up a table and Tea set nearby. He drank tea while reading The Lord of the Rings, occasionally checking on Charles's progress.

At lunchtime, Jack said, "Starting this afternoon, I'll teach you the Accio Charm and Projectile Charm. Keep using those rocks for practice."

Charles nodded while eating a sandwich.

He felt that when the Old Man had previously said he only needed to learn three spells, he had actually meant three types of combat techniques. The Levitation Charm was for control, the Projectile Charm was for disrupting the enemy's spellcasting, and the final one was naturally for offense.

Jack continued, "In battle, the Accio Charm can pull things from a distance, such as rocks, enemies, and Petrified enemies. Then you can use the Projectile Charm to hurl them at your opponent. Sometimes the damage will be greater than that of magic itself. You must master Silent Casting for these two spells."

Charles's face went from confusion when he heard about smashing enemies with enemies to bitter misery when he heard that he had to cast without a wand. Scratching his head, he said, "Isn't that a little too difficult?"

Jack shook his head and asked, "Did you use a wand when you Apparated?"

Charles froze and shook his head.

Jack continued, "The three principles followed by Apparition—destination, determination, and deliberation—are themselves used to learn Silent Casting."

"The process of Silent Casting is the same as that of Apparition. First, focus your consciousness on your destination. Next, make up your mind and think that you absolutely must cast a spell at the target. Finally, grasp the sensation of casting and release your mana calmly. The spell will come out."

Charles felt as if he were a poor student listening to a top scholar explain a problem. All he heard were things like "as can readily be seen," "obviously," "the proof is straightforward," and "the converse follows."

The Old Man was decent at teaching the basics, but he was not suited to teaching advanced material.

Charles had no choice but to search for a way through endless rock-smashing.

During dinner, Charles suddenly slapped his thigh. "Oh, right! I still have to buy all those things from my textbooks in Diagon Alley. You're pretending to be a Muggle now, so there's no way we can know how to get to Diagon Alley!"

Jack froze as well and said, "That's right. I'm a Muggle now, so where are we supposed to find Diagon Alley? We also need to go to Gringotts to get... exchange some coins. We'll go back after dinner. Maybe Hogwarts left us a clue."

After dinner, the two of them sat in the cave, drove a car, and arrived at a nearby road with a "whoosh." Then they drove back to 3 Privet Drive.

They found a letter in the mailbox asking them to wait for someone at Charing Cross Road in London at noon the next day, who would take them to Diagon Alley to buy their school supplies.