The Quality of Magic

Josh was being wicked, though of course, it was only a joke. He had no intention of actually going to Hufflepuff to become the deputy head of house. Mainly because Hufflepuff's house values did not quite match his own, although Josh greatly admired their spirit.

Justice, loyalty, honesty, and perseverance in the face of hardship. Those were entirely knightly qualities. Josh considered himself a mage, and a mage's qualities should be erudition, wisdom, and a love of research. By comparison, Ravenclaw's house values suited him perfectly—wisdom, fairness, shrewdness, erudition, quick wits, intelligence, foresight, strong curiosity, and a love of studying things.

So after giving Crouch a scare, Josh merely told Dumbledore that if he were to become a deputy head of house, Ravenclaw would be the best choice. Dumbledore also thought Josh's choice was perfectly reasonable. After all, traveling through countless worlds purely to learn the magical knowledge of those worlds fully demonstrated a strong curiosity and love of research.

As for how Josh knew all that, Dumbledore simply assumed that Crouch had told him.

"It seems Filius will soon have a like-minded friend. I hope the two of you get along well."

Dumbledore agreed immediately. He did not even ask whether Filius Flitwick was willing to have another deputy head added to his house. But then again, Flitwick, that small old wizard, greatly admired Dumbledore, so there probably would not be any issue. Even if there was, Dumbledore would make sure there was no issue!

"By the way, Lord Augustus, what knowledge do you intend to teach the students?"

McGonagall suddenly spoke up. Josh's magical fluctuations had frightened her so badly earlier that she had not said a word. But now she had thought of an issue that had to be raised. "Your lordship comes from another world, so will your knowledge work in our world?"

Dumbledore froze for a moment as well. He realized that this issue seemed rather serious. If what Josh taught was useless in this world, then did that mean his strength was useless here too?

"Actually, I only intend to offer a Combat class." Josh shrugged. "Because a mage—oh, you call them wizards here, right? Then wizards it is. If a wizard never experiences real combat, then at most, they will become a domestic mage in the future. Sorry, but that is very far from what I consider a mage to be."

"But they are still children. They are far too young to be exposed to such things!" Professor McGonagall immediately objected. In her mind, these students should be safely learning the school's curriculum, rather than fighting others with wands in hand.

"That is merely your opinion." Josh raised an eyebrow. "You should know that ever since I began learning magic, I have always had practical combat classes. And the most I would do is let them spar with one another. That would not only be safe, but also ignite their enthusiasm for learning. Flowers grown in greenhouses wither the easiest."

Josh was not joking. When he had first begun studying magic, he had frequently taken practical combat classes. Though he had little combat experience, that only referred to life-and-death battles. Naturally, his practical classes had stopped after it was discovered that he had no Magic elements he could use—he was not going to challenge genuine elemental magic with zero-level cantrips. That would not be sparring; that would be asking to be beaten up.

"Enough, McGonagall. We should trust Josh, shouldn't we? We should trust that he can keep the students safe. Isn't that right, Josh?" Seeing the two begin to argue, Dumbledore could only step in to calm them down. He also felt that offering practical combat classes seemed feasible—otherwise, how could he have allowed the Dueling Club to appear as early as the second year in the future?

Of course, that club eventually became a joke.

"Of course. I will not let anyone face any danger. Well, life-threatening danger. I will not interfere if they get injured, otherwise this practical combat class would have no meaning." Josh nodded as if it were only natural. "As for whether the knowledge I learned in other worlds can work in this one, I think that is simply a pointless question."

As he spoke, Josh drew his wand and poured powerful magic directly into it. He did not chant at all. In an instant, a silver orb of magic appeared at the tip of his wand. Then Josh pointed at a wall, and the silver orb shot toward it in the blink of an eye.

There was almost no sound. When the orb struck the wall, the wall vanished outright. Or rather, it was reduced to dust by the terrifying Void element. Even the floor formed a circular depression that continued sinking outward.

Of course, it was not over yet. Perhaps because the spell was too powerful, the entire castle began to tremble. Most visibly, the chandelier hanging from the ceiling fell straight down. At the same time, the remaining portions of that wall began to crumble away, and it was only after the entire wall had collapsed that the shaking finally stopped.

"..."

Everyone present except Garen was once again left dumbfounded by Josh. There was no need to mention little Crouch; he was already numb. He even wondered whether he was hallucinating. Dumbledore and McGonagall felt much the same, because they could not recall any spell in their memories that could compare to this one in power.

Sirius Black had once used a spell to blow up twelve Muggles on an entire street, but Dumbledore knew that could not possibly have been done with a single spell. Yet with Josh's magic, let alone twelve Muggles, even twelve wizards gathered inside a house could be wiped out in one blow.

Even more terrifyingly, both he and McGonagall could tell that Josh had not used his full strength at all. It was as effortless as casting a simple spell for them. At that moment, they no longer dared to question Josh's abilities.

"I do not need to compensate for that, do I?" Josh asked somewhat embarrassedly as he tugged on the wand that had begun to whine again.

Even he had not expected the spell to be so powerful. He had used one of his inherited spells, Void Orb, but he had also added a Baleful Phantasm into the Void Orb. That was a very simple matter for him, especially since he had excellent control over Baleful Phantasm. He could add as many as he wanted without any problem.

However, he had not expected the result to be so overwhelmingly effective. When he had been on the Muya Continent, he did not seem capable of achieving this kind of effect. It made him start speculating wildly, even wondering whether it had something to do with the world's—or universe's—level. Of course, he also thought that was a good thing.

"Of course not." Dumbledore's mouth twitched, and he drew his wand to cast Reparo on the area Josh had destroyed. But the result was rather embarrassing, because his spell had absolutely no effect, even after he increased his magical output.

"Well, it seems we will have to wait until the influence of your magic fades before we can repair this place."

After trying for quite some time, Dumbledore could only give up helplessly. He could not understand why he was unable to repair it at all, so he even walked over to inspect the damaged area. After coming into contact with the magic Josh had left behind, he vaguely guessed that it might be a matter of magical quality.

If they were truly compared, Dumbledore's magic was low in quality and loose, while Josh's magic was extremely high in quality and tightly condensed. He could not understand why there could be such a difference in magical quality. Could the quality of magic be trained?

He wanted to hold it in, but he found himself feeling as though he had returned to his student days, filled with curiosity and a desire for new knowledge.

So he shamelessly asked, "Please forgive my presumptuousness. I am simply very puzzled, and I hope you can clear up this old man's confusion. Why do I feel that the quality of your magic is so high, while mine, though abundant, is so low in quality? Of course, if this is a private matter, then there is no need to force yourself."

"It is not much of a secret. In fact, I was planning to test it out in this world."

Josh waved his hand carelessly. He had said earlier that he originally only intended to offer one practical combat class, but what he had not yet said was: Since you doubt me, I will open a second class as well. Josh's second class was related to the magical quality Dumbledore had mentioned.

"I do not know exactly how magic is strengthened in your world, but it seems that you let your bodies slowly absorb magic over time to strengthen yourselves, right?" Josh organized his thoughts slightly before asking.

"Yes. Every wizard experiences a magical outburst in childhood and then enters the academy to study. Our curriculum has never changed; it is all about learning how to use magic, while magical power continuously increases with age. Of course, we also use wands to increase our magic."

"Then I was right." Josh nodded, confirming that his guess had been entirely correct. At the same time, he looked at Dumbledore differently. He truly was a genius.

"In our world, it is impossible to rely on age to gradually build up magic. First of all, it is far too slow. More importantly, magic gained that way is also very low in quality. On the Muya Continent—my world—mages rely on meditation to train their spiritual power while condensing magic. It is both a method of forcefully increasing magic and a method of improving its quality."

Josh stroked his chin and continued, "Put it this way: your magic is like wild grass, growing however it pleases. Our magic is like flowers, cultivated through careful watering, so its quality is very high. Of course, once the quality of magic improves, it becomes the essence of life and nourishes its owner in return. If I am not mistaken, your lifespan probably ends at around one hundred and fifty years. In our world, someone with magical reserves similar to yours could live for three or four hundred years without any problem."

"In other words, you use meditation to increase magic while simultaneously training spiritual power and improving magical quality. And it can even extend one's lifespan?" Dumbledore's eyes turned red at once. He felt as though he had wasted more than a hundred years of his life!

"Yes." Josh nodded. "Take me, for example. Even if I stopped cultivating entirely, living three or four hundred years would still be easy. Of course, I intend to test how effective meditation is in this world. Mages in our world all possess this skill, so there is no way to see the difference it makes. That is why this will be the second class I plan to offer!"

"Of course, there is no problem!" Dumbledore answered even more decisively than before. He was not afraid of death; for the sake of the school, he could give his life. But if he could become stronger, protect the school, and live longer at the same time, only someone with something wrong with his head would refuse. Besides, who would not wish to live longer?

"By the way, will people from your world blame you for revealing something like this?" Dumbledore was still somewhat worried. Since Josh could come to this world, then what about others?

"They will not." Josh said indifferently. "Leaving aside whether they can even come to this world, this technique is a basic necessity for mages. Besides, I am a prince. Even if they really came here, they would not dare say anything to me."

"..."

A prince?