Lighting the Fourth Star

The Dormitory was silent.

Regulus drew the heavy bed curtains, cast soundproofing and anti-scrying spells, and shut out everything beyond them—praise, gossip, vigilance, schemes, and the lingering fervor from Bellatrix's letter.

He sat cross-legged on the bed, closed his eyes, and let his consciousness sink deep within.

The basic Magic Power circulation followed its familiar paths, gently washing over and nourishing every limb and bone, continuously strengthening every inch of flesh, tendon, membrane, and skeleton.

Then, at the upper layer of his consciousness, his mental power began to gather and weave.

Orion's Belt Stars lit up one after another within the dark Sea of Consciousness, moving with a slow, imperceptible yet undeniably real momentum.

Star-track Guidance Meditation began to operate, and the grand image smoothed away his tangled thoughts.

Once his mind had completely calmed, Regulus attempted to light the fourth star.

Events had developed beyond expectations. He needed to quicken his pace as well.

The synchronization of three stars was merely the beginning, the threshold of Star-track Guidance Meditation.

He directed his consciousness toward Orion's brilliant right shoulder, toward the supergiant called Betelgeuse, radiating a dark red halo.

This required him to incorporate the new point into the entire dynamic system while maintaining the Three-Star Dynamic Model.

Betelgeuse had its own trajectory. Its relative position and movement in relation to Orion's Belt Stars formed the foundation of Orion's upper-body structure.

The difficulty increased sharply.

Simulating such stellar motion was a hundred times harder than constructing a static model.

It required precise calculations, powerful spatial imagination, and absolute control over Magic Power.

Within his mind, he had to simultaneously maintain the precise relative positions of the Light Points.

At the same time, every point had to move slowly in a direction almost imperceptible to the naked eye, yet consistent with the laws of celestial motion.

It was like controlling multiple Light Points in his mind at once, each following a different complex functional trajectory, while ensuring that their overall formation remained intact.

It demanded intense concentration and nonstop calculation.

The slightest distraction would cause the momentum of one point to go wrong, breaking the dynamic balance of the entire model and even causing it to collapse.

That slowness did not reduce the difficulty. Instead, because it had to exist inevitably and be maintained over time, it imposed an even greater mental burden.

Simulating such near-still, ultra-slow motion required absolute patience, precision, and continuous adjustment.

Regulus first attempted to precisely locate Betelgeuse's current position in his consciousness.

A Light Point lit up. A dark red point, slightly larger than Orion's Belt Stars, appeared above and to the right of the Belt.

Then came the task of giving it momentum.

Betelgeuse's proper motion data differed from that of Orion's Belt Stars, and even its direction of movement varied slightly.

Regulus had to devote part of his attention specifically to calculating and maintaining Betelgeuse's movement trend, while also coordinating the dynamic geometric relationship between it and Orion's Belt Stars.

Distance, angle, and direction all slowly changed along with their respective movements.

When he added Betelgeuse's momentum, the previously stable three-star model was immediately disturbed. The trajectories of the three Light Points fell into improper disorder, and the entire dynamic structure teetered on the verge of collapse.

He immediately stopped and returned to maintaining only the three stars. Once it had stabilized again, he cautiously tried once more.

This time, he first added Betelgeuse as a static point, stabilizing its relative static position with the three stars.

Then, with extreme slowness and delicacy, he began to infuse it with the calculated momentum, while simultaneously fine-tuning the momentum of the three stars to accommodate this newly introduced variable and seek a new dynamic balance.

It was an extraordinarily taxing process, both mentally and computationally.

His mind felt like a tightly drawn bowstring, and faint pulses of swelling pain came from his temples.

Maintaining a dynamic model of four stars consumed far more mental power than three, almost increasing geometrically.

Time passed amid silent struggle and adjustment.

After an unknown amount of time, it was as though some invisible gear finally clicked into place.

Betelgeuse's dark red Light Point was no longer an abrupt addition.

Its movement trend reached a certain harmony with Orion's Belt Stars. The simple quadrilateral formed by the four stars began to move in unison through the void of his consciousness, following a harmonious and unified rhythm.

He had succeeded.

The Four-Star Dynamic Model had been preliminarily constructed.

Regulus maintained that state and carefully sensed the changes.

The consumption of mental power was indeed enormous, but at the same time, he felt a deeper sense of tranquility and a faint fullness, as though his soul had expanded.

After lighting the fourth star, the meditation state seemed to gain another level of depth and stability, and his perception of the ambient Magic Power around him seemed to grow slightly sharper.

He slowly withdrew from the deep meditative state and glanced at the Magic Timer by his bed.

From beginning his attempt to light the fourth star to achieving preliminary success and stabilizing it, the entire process had taken nearly two hours.

And this was merely the time required to add one star on the foundation of already mastering the Three-Star Dynamic Model.

It was foreseeable that as the number of stars in the model increased, their dynamic relationships would become ever more complex.

Every new star added and integrated into the overall dynamic system would require time, computational power, and mental burden to increase at an astonishing rate.

But it was equally foreseeable that as his meditation deepened, his mind would become increasingly resilient and vigorous under the continuous high-intensity tempering, while his computational ability and spatial imagination would improve as well.

In turn, this would gradually speed up the lighting of subsequent stars. It was a spiraling ascent—difficult and slow in the early stages, then accelerating once the foundation had been firmly laid.

However, the greatest challenge was not lighting more stars, but solidification.

Movement was the essence of this method, as well as its greatest difficulty.

Every time he meditated, he had to recalculate, construct, and maintain this dynamic model. He could not form instinctive Magic Power pathways like those created by solidified meditation patterns.

To bring this dynamic Star Orbit Model to the solidified state of "the mind moving of its own accord while walking, sitting, lying down, and standing" was as difficult as reaching the heavens.

Solidification usually meant remaining fixed and unchanging, yet what he was trying to solidify was a system in perpetual motion.

This required the deepest layer of his mind to form an active structure capable of automatically processing complex dynamic changes and making minute synchronized adjustments.

The road ahead was long, but the light was already visible.

Regulus closed his eyes again and did not continue to challenge the fifth star.

Tonight's success with four stars was already a breakthrough. He needed to consolidate it and make this Four-Star Dynamic Model more stable and natural.

The extension of the Star Orbit quietly continued through each breath, each calculation, and each synchronization.

News of Regulus crushing fifth-year Alger Travers exploded through Slytherin and even the entire pure-blood circle of Hogwarts like cold water dropped into boiling oil.

Slytherin revered strength, as well as the wisdom to wield it. When those two came together and were displayed in such a dramatic fashion, the shock was immense.

Overnight, Regulus's standing within Slytherin underwent a subtle yet fundamental change.

The older students no longer looked at him with the casual attitude reserved for a promising junior. Their gazes now held greater seriousness, even faint wariness.

No one said anything foolish anymore. The pure-blood little wizards who had once kept some distance from the Black family because of family alignments or the Sirius incident also began to reassess this young heir.

"Perhaps the Black family is really going to rise this time," a seventh-year quietly said to his companion over breakfast.

"Think about the power he displayed, and how unfazed he was by the Dark Arts. That appeals greatly to certain people."

"What matters is strength," his companion replied seriously. "He's only a first-year, yet he can toy with a fifth-year Travers. What about when he graduates?

"Lord Voldemort is at the height of his power. If the Black family produces someone this ruthless, their future standing..."

Similar conversations took place in many corners.

Pragmatism was one of Slytherin's rules for survival. When the balance of power began to tilt so visibly, adjusting one's attitude and reassessing relationships was inevitable.

The owl post became especially busy over the following days.

Many Slytherin students, especially older ones with close ties to their families, wrote home in droves, describing the duel in detail and the formidable strength Regulus Black had displayed far beyond his years.

On Thursday morning, just after Transfiguration Class ended, Regulus was stopped by a seventh-year student.

"Black, Professor Slughorn would like you to visit his office." The older student's tone was polite, even carrying a trace of barely perceptible flattery.

Regulus nodded, packed up his things, and headed toward the Underground Classroom.