Spatial Transfiguration is About Twisting Heads

The second weekend of December, the Room of Requirement.

Regulus sat in his Private Cabin, a small lamp floating above his head, its light not spreading but illuminating only his small area, while the surroundings were completely dark, with only the outline of the walls visible.

He's practicing Spatial Transfiguration.

He's been practicing this since the start of last semester, almost five months now, and he's still far from being able to use it properly.

The preparation time was too long, and the fluctuations in space and Magic Power were too intense. Before the Transfiguration was even complete, the other side already knew what he was going to do.

It's too easy to dodge, or to interrupt with a spell. Once his Magic Power balance is broken, the space bounces back on its own, making it a waste of effort.

Even if you could do what Professor McGonagall did and shatter the injected spell, it wouldn't make much difference.

To disrupt the spell aimed at him, Spatial Warp clearly more practical.

The opponent's spell was halfway through its flight when he opened a portal to redirect it elsewhere, or even sent it directly back to the opponent's face. Wasn't that easier than painstakingly maintaining a Transfiguration zone?

The current stage of Spatial Transfiguration is that it looks good but feels awkward to use.

Regulus leaned against the wall, staring at the swirling mass of air in front of him; this wasn't what he truly wanted.

What he wanted was to Transfiguration instantly; the target didn't need to be large, just a small area on a person's body.

Head, or arms, or legs—think carefully, anywhere else will do.

The space twisted, and his head twisted with it. His bones broke, his blood vessels tore, and his muscles twisted into a knot.

No spells are needed to fly there, no need to consider whether the Shield Charm can block it; the Transfiguration directly affects the target, with no intermediate process.

After Professor McGonagall's demonstration that day, she gave him a direction and showed him which way to go, but knowing and doing are two different things.

He began to try, spreading his senses out and staring at the small space in front of him.

He could feel its structure, that subtle tension so subtle it was almost imperceptible, like a net stretched to its limit, ready to shrink back at any moment.

That's the elasticity of space; it's something tangible, right in front of him, touchable by his Magic Power.

But perceiving is one thing, grasping is another.

He extended his Magic Power, trying to envelop the elasticity and Transfiguration it as an independent target.

But you can't grasp it; it seems to be that's just its nature—the more you try to grasp it, the less you can.

I tried more than ten times, but it still didn't work.

Regulus stopped and began to think.

Professor McGonagall was able to do it because her Magic Power power, the precision of her Transfiguration, her understanding of space, and most importantly, her fundamental understanding of Transfiguration itself, far surpassed his.

She could use Magic Power to suppress that elasticity and forcibly Transfiguration, but he couldn't.

Let's try a different approach. If we can't grasp it, we won't; let's try to push it aside.

He condensed the Magic Power into thin threads, passed them through the middle, and then parted them to both sides.

Success! A crack was created in that elasticity.

The gap is very small and exists for an extremely short time, so short that it can be almost ignored.

But in that instant, the space lost its impulse to return to its original state; it relaxed, softened, and became at his mercy.

Taking advantage of this opening, Regulus channeled his Magic Power and twisted the space to the left.

The space Transfiguration smoothly and without resistance.

Then the elasticity returned, and the space bounced back to its original position; the whole process took less than half a second.

Regulus leaned against the wall, eyes closed, his temples throbbing and his forehead throbbing.

That last move took a lot of his energy.

Magic Perception, Spatial Perception, Magic Manipulation, and mental will—all four must operate simultaneously; the absence of any one of them is detrimental.

One must have keen perception to find that elasticity, precise control to pry it open, and strong willpower to complete the Transfiguration in that instant.

The consumption is outrageously high.

He sat there resting for about ten minutes before slowly recovering and then continuing.

This time it was a little faster. It pried open, Transfiguration, and was done. It still bounced back in less than half a second, but the Transfiguration was a bit greater than before.

Let's try again.

The speed of the prying apart increased, the Transfiguration became smoother, and the gap created by the prying apart seemed slightly larger and lasted slightly longer than before.

Let's try again.

For the entire afternoon, Regulus stayed in the Cabin practicing this repeatedly: prying open, Transfiguration, waiting for it to recover, then prying open again, and Transfiguration again.

Later, he was able to complete the entire set of movements in one second, with the Transfiguration range stabilizing within a fist-sized area, and he could twist it to half a turn.

There was no visible change in appearance; it was still Spatial Transfiguration. However, the elasticity had indeed been processed, enough to allow external Magic Power to participate.

Regulus withdrew his hand and leaned back against the wall.

His head was still a little throbbing, but much better than before. He closed his eyes to rest for a while, then stood up and pushed the door open to go out.

On the Training Ground, Avery and Alex are competing against each other.

The two were about ten meters apart, exchanging spells back and forth, fighting quite fiercely.

Avery unleashed a barrage of spells, one after another.

Alex didn't confront him head-on. He dodged two attacks to the side, took one hit with the Shield Charm, and then threw out Slowing Charm from the side.

Avery was grazed on the shoulder, staggered a couple of steps to the side, swore after regaining his balance, and then retaliated.

Both of them had sweat on their faces and their robes were wrinkled, but their eyes were very bright.

Hermes sat in a corner by the Training Ground, legs crossed, arms resting on his knees, head bowed, as if asleep.

He didn't watch the two fight, nor did he practice Magic. He just sat there, his breathing and Magic Power steady, as if he had entered a low-consumption standby state.

When Regulus came out of the Cabin, Hermes followed suit.

He raised his head, opened his eyes, and his previously steady Magic Power seemed to have been switched on, instantly becoming active and flowing through his body, ready to erupt at any moment.

He switched from standby mode to combat mode.

Regulus glanced at him and understood that Hermes wanted to fight him again.

He trained harder than anyone else these past few months. When his Magic Power was depleted, he trained his physical strength, and when his physical strength was exhausted, he waited for his Magic Power to recover before continuing to train.

He wanted to become stronger, but he also wanted to know just how big the gap was.

So I just waited there, maintaining my composure, until I came out on my own.

Regulus looked away, not in a hurry to pay him any attention.

He walked to a bench by the Training Ground, sat down, took his wand out of his pocket, and held it in his hand.

Hermes stood up, took two steps toward them, then stopped. He opened his mouth but made no sound.

Avery and Alex noticed Regulus had come out, stopped their incantations, and walked over.

Avery wiped the sweat from his face with his sleeve and asked, panting, "Finished practice for today?"

Regulus nodded. "Hmm."

Alex sat down next to him, unscrewed the water bottle cap, drank some water, and then handed it to Avery, Avery slapped it away with a look of disgust.

Hermes was still standing a few steps away, his gaze fixed on Regulus's face. He didn't say anything, just watched.

Regulus glanced at him. "Wait a little longer."

Hermes nodded, stepped back, stood against the wall with his arms crossed, and never took his eyes off Regulus.

Avery looked at Hermes, then at Regulus, as if about to ask something, but Alex at his sleeve, making him swallow his words.

After resting for about twenty minutes, Regulus stood up and walked to the row of Wooden Dummy in the middle of the Training Ground.

The dummy is about 1.8 meters tall, made of wood, with Magic Circuit engraved on its surface, and can simulate basic wizarding reactions.

It's used for practicing the accuracy and power of spells; if it gets damaged, a Repairing Charm can fix it and it can be used again.

Regulus stood three meters away from the leftmost dummy.

He raised his wand, the tip pointing at the dummy's head.

Perception spread out, locking onto the small space where the dummy's head was located, finding elasticity, Magic Power condensed into fine threads, passing through the middle and pushing to both sides.

The next moment, a gap appeared.

The space where the dummy's head was located instantly lost its elasticity, and Regulus's Magic Power surged in, twisting that space to the left.

The dummy's head spun almost halfway around the space, the wooden structure cracking with a hissing sound, cracks spreading from the neck to the head, wood chips exploding, and fragments flying in all directions.

The whole process took less than half a second; the space bounced back to its original position, and the dummy's head was gone.

Above the neck, there was only an irregular crack, with jagged wood stumps and a crooked cross-section, as if something had stirred it up from the inside.

Regulus put down his wand, took two steps back, and sat down on the bench.

Avery stood to the side, his mouth slightly agape.

He saw Regulus point his wand, and the space around the dummy's head seemed to twist, then the head shattered, but he didn't understand why.

Alex didn't understand either. He wasn't even sure if Regulus had Spellcasting or not. When the wand was pointed at the dummy, no light came out from the tip of the wand, nothing at all, and then the dummy's head exploded.

The two looked at each other, both seeing confusion in each other's eyes, but neither asked.

Regulus was so exhausted that he sat on the bench with his eyes closed, a fine sheen of sweat on his forehead; it wouldn't be appropriate to ask him anything at that moment.

The two walked over and sat down next to him, one on his left and one on his right.

Alex glanced at Regulus, saw that he had his eyes closed and was not speaking, then looked away and lowered his head to play with his wand, twirling it between his fingers.

Avery couldn't sit still; he leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees, his fingers interlaced, changing his posture every now and then, and then again.

The two started nudging each other.

Avery poked Alex with his wand, and Alex poked him back.

Alex glared at him, Avery grinned, but neither of them said a word.

Regulus didn't open his eyes or move. He just sat there, breathing steadily, as if he were resting or thinking.

Hermes stood a few steps away, his pupils contracting slightly.

He couldn't figure out what Regulus had done either. There was no spell light, no Magic Fluctuation, and not even Spellcasting motion; it was just a tap.

But he sensed it.

The moment the space around the dummy's head distorted, he sensed something extremely dangerous.

Even from that distance, I could feel a chill run down my spine, and my hand was already on the wand handle.

Avery and Alex's understanding of Regulus's power remained at the level of skill.

The speed, accuracy, power, and combat awareness of spells are all things that can be seen, imitated, and mastered through practice.

They thought Regulus was formidable because he knew a lot, trained hard, and was intelligent.

But Hermes vaguely sensed something else— Regulus's Magic was on a different level from his own.

He walked over to the bench and sat down on the other side of Regulus.

The four people sat side by side, and no one spoke.

Avery and Alex continued whispering across Regulus from the other end of the bench, their movements quiet and discreet, not disturbing him.

Hermes sat on the far side, his arms draped over his knees, his gaze lowered, lost in thought.

Regulus closed his eyes, mentally reviewing what had just happened.

There are still many problems if we want to use this method in actual combat.

First, there's the distance. He was standing three meters in front of the dummy, and it took him almost two seconds to lock onto the target and complete the Transfiguration.

In actual combat, the opponent will not stand within three meters waiting for him, much less give him two seconds to prepare.

Secondly, there's the issue of locking onto a dummy. A dummy is easy to lock onto if it doesn't move, but a real person can move, dodge, and Spellcasting to interfere.

Locating the spatial location of a moving target becomes several times more difficult.

Then there's the cost; that one snap of his wooden head just now left him like this.

If it were a real person, the cost would at least double.

But if all of these can be resolved--

Regulus opened his eyes and looked at the headless dummy in front of him.

The value of this method lies in the fact that it has no process; as long as the Spatial Transfiguration acts on the target, the opponent has no chance to dodge.

The only limitation is his own skill level; he still needs to practice.

Twenty minutes later, Regulus stood up, stretched his shoulders, and felt much better.

Hermes also stood up. He didn't speak, but the light in his eyes was no longer concealed.

Regulus looked at him, a slight smile playing on his lips, "How do you want to compete?"