Regulus's Boundary of Thought

Regulus didn't immediately state the problem; he first glanced at Sirius.

Sirius was also glancing at him sideways, his eyes looking to the side, but his head didn't turn.

The moment their eyes met, Sirius felt a jolt, quickly averting his gaze to his knees.

After a moment, he probably realized that this was wrong and made him seem guilty.

On what grounds?

He turned his eyes back, but his head remained motionless, his gaze drifting from Regulus's face to the picture frame on the wall, then from the picture frame to the quill pen on the table, refusing to settle back in its original place.

Regulus felt embarrassed for him because of his appearance.

Regulus looked away, no longer glancing at him.

He was thinking about something: should he let Sirius stay? After all, he needed to demonstrate something before asking questions.

But then he thought again, Spatial Transfiguration wasn't something shameful; it was just a high-level application of Transfiguration. If word got out, it would only mean that he was good at Transfiguration.

And Sirius probably won't tell anyone, otherwise what would that look like?

Should I tell my friends about my younger brother's situation, and then listen to their opinions, ridicule, or pretend not to care?

That would be so boring and beneath him; Sirius would never do such a thing.

One more thing, Sirius's talent is already very clear: Morphing.

But Spatial Transfiguration is not like that. Its key is the ability to perceive space. Space must be structured, it must be tangible and intuitive, and it must be a cognition that can be altered.

Regulus paused for a moment, thinking of this.

That's not necessarily true. Professor McGonagall is a master of Transfiguration; she can Spatial Transfiguration, but does she possess Spatial Perception?

Regulus was unsure; perhaps he was, perhaps he wasn't.

Perhaps if Transfiguration were explored deeply enough, there would be another path to reach space, without requiring that innate intuition.

Instead, it relies on an understanding of the Transfiguration itself, pushing the logic of material Transfiguration layer by layer upwards, perhaps pushing it far enough to reach space.

But for now, at least for Sirius, and even for Regulus himself, the first step is to perceive space before he can change it.

Regulus didn't know if Sirius had this.

If so, that would be best, as it would inspire him and show him a higher level of Transfiguration.

If not, then he should know that Transfiguration can do far more than just turn stones into birds.

Regulus suppressed these thoughts and looked at Professor McGonagall.

Professor McGonagall directly asked him to state his question, without Sirius out or giving any hints.

Regulus understood what she meant: letting Sirius see it, whether it was a stimulus or an inspiration, was not a bad thing.

Since that's the case, there's nothing more to say. He asked directly, "Professor, after Spatial Transfiguration, if a spell is injected into it, the Transfiguration will become extremely unstable and will dissipate at the slightest touch."

The space either restores itself to its original state or the Transfiguration disturbance disappears directly afterward. I want to know, where is the problem?

After listening, Professor McGonagall raised her eyebrows slightly, glanced at Regulus's face for a moment, and then gestured with her chin toward the desk, indicating that he should demonstrate.

Regulus drew his wand.

The animals were still moving around in the office. He raised his hand and waved, Lion disappeared, turning back into the eraser.

The Stag disappeared, turning back into the parchment; the Big Dog disappeared, turning back into the cushion.

It was spotless, not even a trace of the Magic Power left by the Transfiguration remained.

Sirius showed little reaction when he saw his Transfiguration canceled; he had been silent ever since Regulus asked that question.

Regulus didn't let him go first, which surprised him a little.

In fact, he was prepared for Regulus to tell him to leave, but he was also prepared to stay as long as Professor McGonagall didn't kick him out.

Why should I show it to you, but you won't show it to me?

Then he heard two words: space, and Transfiguration?

Can space even Transfiguration?

Before he could even process what was happening, Regulus had already begun his demonstration.

Above the desk, the air distorted slightly at first, then the area began to change, its boundaries tightening and concave inward, making the spatial outline visible.

The space itself is deformed there, as if someone has twisted a piece of transparent cloth in the middle, creating a distinct crease.

The edges of the folds are sharp, and when light brushes across their surface, it bends at a slight angle, making the wood grain of the tabletop suddenly break at a certain angle.

Regulus maintained the Transfiguration, raised his other hand, and gently touched the edge of the Transfiguration space with his index finger, Aguamenti.

The water had barely left the fingertips, and before it even touched the edge of the fold, the Transfiguration space vanished.

The fold seemed to be suddenly straightened from both sides by something, and disappeared in an instant.

The water flowed through the crease where it had been, landing on the table and splashing out a small patch of water.

Regulus continued, space Transfiguration again, and the fold reappeared.

Regulus continued, space Transfiguration again, and the fold reappeared.

He changed the spell, Scouring Charm, and the faint light of the spell just touched the edge of the Transfiguration before the wrinkles disappeared again.

Clean, neat, as if smoothed out by a single hand.

He came again, Disarming Charm. Red light shot from the tip of his staff, flew to the edge of the Transfiguration, and before it even touched it, the space vanished again.

The red light passed through that spot, struck the wall, shattered, and left a shallow scorch mark on the stone wall.

Regulus waved his left hand, and the match on the table exploded into wood chips, scattering fine powder in the air.

One of the fragments floated up, Transfiguration in mid-air, its body elongated, wings extended from its back, and legs emerged from its abdomen.

A small flying insect, with transparent wings and long, thin legs, hangs in the air.

Then it flew forward, reaching the edge of the Transfiguration, and the space disappeared again.

The insect flew past that spot, its wings still flapping, and continued flying forward until it crashed into the bookshelf and died.

Regulus put away his wand and looked at Professor McGonagall.

Professor McGonagall sat behind her desk, her gaze shifting from the disappearing crease to his face.

She nodded in satisfaction. "To have achieved this level of Spatial Transfiguration, Mr. Black, is a very rapid improvement."

Then he asked, "How long can it last?"

Regulus nodded respectfully. "Less than a minute."

Professor McGonagall said nothing more; her gaze shifted to Sirius.

Sirius looked a little dazed, his mouth slightly open, his eyes fixed on the spot above the desk where the crease had disappeared, still lost in thought.

His expression was a mix of shock and bewilderment, as if he had seen something that shouldn't exist, and his mind was still reeling.

Professor McGonagall looked away and turned to Regulus.

She picked up the teacup on the table, took a sip, and put it down. "Mr. Black, have you ever considered how space itself differs from ordinary matter?"

McGonagall didn't let him answer. She continued, "You take a stone, turn it into a cup, and once you're done, the stone doesn't turn back on its own. Why?"

Because the Transfiguration has altered its structure, it is not permanent, but it will not immediately return to its original state once the Magic Power is removed, unless you cast the spell again, or someone breaks the cup.

But space is different. If you distort it, it will come back on its own. Why?

Regulus's mind raced over the problem, and then a word came to mind: Elastic Modulus.

Space is elastic, and its Elastic Modulus is extremely high, so high that it is almost impossible to compare with ordinary materials, and it may not even have an upper limit.

This means that after space is altered, the force that restores it to its original state is extremely strong, and this force persists and continues to exert its influence.

The longer the Transfiguration lasts, the more Magic Power is needed to counteract the elasticity, which is why he can only maintain it for less than a minute.

Regulus went through it and then said, "Once space is Transfiguration, it keeps trying to bounce back. Maintaining the Transfiguration is a way of fighting against this elastic force."

Anything imbued with Magic Power that touches the Transfiguration zone adds a variable to the resistance; once the balance is broken, space bounces back.

Professor McGonagall nodded, the lines at the corners of her eyes deepening slightly. "The elasticity of space, that's a very accurate description."

She then asked, "So, do you think that this elasticity itself can be Transfiguration?"

Regulus fell silent. What was this?

Elasticity is not matter, not energy, not anything that can be directly touched by Magic Power.

It is a property of matter, the ability of space to return to its original state after being subjected to force.

How are attributes Transfiguration?

A stone can be transformed into a cup, and a cup into a bird, but what about the hardness of the stone?

Changes in hardness are a result of Transfiguration Transfiguration, not their goal.

He never cast Spellcasting hardness; the stone simply changed, and the hardness changed accordingly.

The same applies to the elasticity of space; as it alters the structure of space, the elasticity naturally changes accordingly.

But the force of space bouncing back is still there; it hasn't been truly changed, only compressed and suppressed. As soon as the Magic Power is withdrawn, it bounces back.

Is this reasonable?

Regulus looked up at Professor McGonagall, his tone hesitant and filled with obvious uncertainty. "The elasticity of space can also Transfiguration?"

Professor McGonagall's lips twitched slightly upwards, a small curve, but Regulus was certain he saw it.

Professor McGonagall stood up and raised her wand.

She first pointed to the space above the desk, and the space began to Transfiguration, just like Regulus had done earlier, with a fold hanging above the desk.

Her wand remained pointed, and another Magic Power seeped from its tip.

"What you just did," she said in a steady voice, as if explaining standard Transfiguration in class, "Transfiguration the shape of space; this is the first layer."

The appearance of space has changed, but its elasticity remains. Elasticity is another property of space, separate from its form. To stabilize the Transfiguration, both aspects must be addressed simultaneously.

She put her wand away, but the wrinkle remained; it didn't disappear or bounce back on its own, it just hung there.

Regulus stared at the fold, spreading his senses.

Two layers of Transfiguration are stacked together, one deeper and the other even deeper.

He could sense the elasticity of that space existing there as a tangible thing.

His perception deepened to a new level, regarding the properties of space.

Previously, he only knew that space was elastic and would recover on its own, but that was physics knowledge, not something he could perceive.

Now he sensed that it was no longer an abstract physical concept, but something concrete that could be touched by Magic Power.

Professor McGonagall didn't give him time to think it over; she raised her wand again and cast a Lumos at the crease.

The ball of light floated out from the tip of the staff, flew into the Transfiguration space, entered, and was then pulverized within that warped space.

Countless tiny Light Point collided wildly in the folds and crevices, like a swarm of trapped fireflies, unable to fly out.

Professor McGonagall put down her wand, sat back in her chair, picked up her teacup, and took another sip.

When the rim of the cup touched her lower lip, her eyes narrowed slightly, as if she were savoring something delicious.

"Any other questions?" She stared at the teacup, not looking at Regulus.

"That's all," Regulus stood up and bowed slightly. "Thank you, Professor. This was very enlightening."

After saying that, he felt it was probably not enough, so he added, "It's not just inspiration, it's opening a door."

Professor McGonagall glanced up at him, a slight smile playing on her lips, before lowering her head to continue drinking her tea.

After a while, she looked up and asked, "Is the problem solved?"

Regulus's expression became even more respectful. "No, but I have a plan. Just now, I sensed something deeper in space. I couldn't do it before, but now I know how."

Professor McGonagall looked at him and nodded. "Don't cast spells inside until the Spatial Transfiguration is fully developed."

"Clear."

"Thank you, Professor." Regulus stood up and bowed deeply.

Professor McGonagall gave a soft hum and said nothing more, her gaze already fixed on the parchment on the table.

Regulus turned and walked toward the door. Sirius remained seated in his chair until Regulus opened the door, at which point he jerked to his feet as if pricked by something.

The two left the office, closing the door behind them.

The sun sets early in late November, and the Corridor darkens. Torches are lit on the walls, one every few steps.

It's almost lunchtime, and the Corridor is almost empty at this hour; everyone's gone to eat.

Regulus walked ahead, with Sirius following behind, a few steps apart, and neither of them spoke.

Regulus was still thinking about what had just happened in the office.

He had been struggling with that elasticity.

He knew that space would bounce back after being altered; this was common sense in physics, the Elastic Modulus, and the tendency of Spatial Structure to recover.

He accepted this fact and then tried to fight it, suppressing it with Magic Power and supporting it with his spirit, maintaining the Transfiguration space and preventing it from bouncing back.

He struggled quite a bit, managing to maintain it for less than a minute, consuming a great deal of Magic Power and mental energy.

But Professor McGonagall did it completely differently. She didn't fight the elasticity; she transformed it, treating it as a specific problem that could be solved with Transfiguration.

This made Regulus realize that he was too used to using rational thinking to break down problems.

He treated this as a physics problem, analyzing, calculating, and counteracting the elasticity of space as an abstract physical concept.

Every step is logically clear and has a theoretical basis.

He did the right thing, but it was exhausting.

In his preconceived notion, the elasticity of space is a physical property of space itself, an abstract attribute.

Treating it as the target of Transfiguration is an idea that simply wouldn't naturally emerge from his logical framework.

But he forgot one thing: Magic is not physics, and physics is not Magic. Sometimes Magic contains elements of physics, but more often they are clearly distinct.

Physics is a language that describes how the world works, and so is Magic.

Using physics to solve Magic problems sometimes works, and sometimes it doesn't.

This approach didn't work, but the physical analysis was correct; the mistake was that he used a physical approach to limit the problem.

His path in Magic was already set: he would walk it with both reason and emotion.

But confirming something is one thing, encountering a specific problem is another.

When encountering a problem, the first reaction is still to analyze, break it down, find patterns, find causes, and find solutions.

Rational thinking dominates; it's almost instinctive.

This instinct has its value; rational thinking has taken him very far.

This is how the Severing Charm is derived, how Space Magic is calculated, and how the underlying logic of Light Magic is deduced.

Those achievements were made possible by rational thinking; without rational thinking, none of these things would have come about.

However, his rational thinking led him astray on the issue of Spatial Transfiguration.

He transformed a problem that required an emotional breakthrough into a technical challenge.

But Professor McGonagall demonstrated to him that this wasn't a technical problem, but a problem of approach.

He reached a boundary on this issue; rational analysis clarified the problem, but he couldn't find a solution.

Because the solution lies in the realm of emotion, in the realm of Magic, in the realm of treating abstract things as targets that can be directly addressed.

The two sets of thinking are not contradictory; he always uses both, just with different emphases on different issues.

This time, I focused on the wrong things, getting too caught up in the physical analysis and losing some of my Magic intuition.

Regulus's method of solving problems was always to dismantle, break it down, examine it carefully, and solve it one by one.

This method is effective and will remain effective, but it cannot only dismantle.

Some problems, after being disassembled to the end, reveal that you recognize every single part, but you just can't solve them.

At this point, we need to change our approach. Instead of continuing to dissect, we should look to the side and see what others are doing.

Just like this time, he understood it instantly after Professor McGonagall finished her demonstration.

But that's not a bad thing; rational thinking is his strength, and he won't give it up.

He just needs to add something to his advantages: when he encounters a boundary, he needs to know where to look.

Regulus walked on, his pace neither hurried nor slow, lost in thought as he went.

Sirius followed behind, remaining silent the entire time.

Just as Regulus had almost forgotten that someone was behind him, Sirius suddenly spoke, his tone deliberately casual. "Regulus."

Regulus turned his head to the side.

Sirius quickened his pace, walking alongside him without looking at him, his eyes fixed on the Corridor ahead. "Want to chat?"

Regulus glanced at him.

The torchlight shone from Sirius's side, illuminating half of his face while the other half remained hidden in shadow.

His expression wasn't exactly serious, nor was it relaxed; it was more like he was saying, "I'm just saying this, you can just listen casually."

Click to begin your wondrous journey in <Hogwarts: Regulus Lord of the Starry Sky>.