Father, Do You Know About the Manhattan Project?

Orion placed the teacup back on the table, the bottom of the cup making a soft tapping sound on the wood.

"When Spellcasting, you must treat the target as a whole in your mind."

Regulus spoke, his gaze falling on the stack of letters on the table.

"This stack of letters, dozens of them, varying in size and paper type, some thick, some thin, but as you look at it, only one thing comes to mind: the stack of letters." He turned his gaze back to Orion's face. "Lock this one up, hit it."

Orion listened without frowning; he understood this—that's how wizards fight.

Spellcasting is simply Spellcasting. You have a target in your mind, you cast the spell at it, Magic does the rest.

"A wall is a wall, a building is a building, and a manor is a manor," Regulus continued.

"No matter how many rooms, walls, or pillars it has, in the Spellcasting's mind, it's all the same thing."

Orion nodded.

This wasn't a hurdle for him; it was more like a natural state of Spellcasting.

But Regulus's next sentence was a bit unexpected.

"But this understanding is not passive; it can be actively adjusted."

Orion frowned again.

"A building," Regulus said, "Can be treated as a whole, and if you attack it, the Disintegration Charm will affect the entire building; or you can target only its foundation, attack the foundation, and the building will collapse on its own."

He gave another example. "A mountain can be locked down entirely, or only one side of the mountain can be locked down, causing that side to crumble."

He looked at Orion: "The precision of perception determines the scope of a spell's effect. The more precise the lock, the more precise the spell; the larger the lock, the wider the spell's reach."

Orion's fingers rested on the rim of the glass, gently swirling it.

He always took aiming at the target for granted, never considering that aiming itself could be broken down and used in practice.

Look at the scale, the details, and the level.

Regulus took apart something he had been doing for decades, and once he did, he discovered that there was Sickle move.

"What I just mentioned are all things with form and boundaries," Regulus's voice continued from the other side.

"Stones, walls, buildings, mountains—they have outlines, they have boundaries; locking them up isn't difficult."

He asked, "But what if the goal doesn't have clearly defined boundaries?"

Orion's fingers stopped.

Regulus continued, "What if it were a flame, a body of water, a patch of air, a gust of wind, or even a space?" Orion's brow furrowed even deeper as he looked at Regulus, his mind racing, trying to categorize them.

Solid objects with boundaries, such as rocks, buildings, and mountains, are easy to lock, easy to break, and immediately usable.

Flame, tangible yet with undefined boundaries, is visible and perceptible; locking it requires greater cognitive precision, but at least there are grasping points. Water, intangible and with undefined boundaries, is even more difficult; defining its scope is itself a cognitive threshold.

Invisible and boundless, invisible to the naked eye—what can define the boundaries of wind and air?

Perhaps the air in a closed room and the four walls can serve as boundaries, but this is a specific scenario and wouldn't work in an open area.

As for space, that's too abstract.

He tried to focus his mind on the Study space as a target, but found that his understanding couldn't reach it.

He can traverse space, but he cannot confine space.

It's not possible right now, at least not.

Orion's expression turned serious; he had realized what Regulus meant by "far exceeding expectations."

This spell is directly related to the Spellcasting's own qualities.

The total amount of Magic Power determines the size of the spell, the precision of the Magic Power determines whether it can penetrate, and Cognitive Convergence determines what can be targeted. The higher the quality, the stronger the spell.

Orion had seen far too many spells. Most spells had fixed effects: the Fire-Making Spell was to breathe fire, the Disarming Charm was to knock away a wand, and the Killing Curse was to kill.

The strength of the Spellcasting determines the power of the spell, but does not change the nature of the spell.

But this Disintegration Charm is different; it grows as the Spellcasting matures, and when used by people of different levels, it can produce completely different results. Such spells do exist in the Wizarding World, but they are extremely rare.

The Patronus Charm is one example; the stronger the Spellcasting's spiritual power, the more solid the Patronus becomes.

Legilimency is another example; the strength of the defense is determined by the Spellcasting's will.

But those are all on Mental Layer, directly related to one's inner state.

The Disintegration Charm is different; it only cares about pure cognition and Magic Power qualities, without the involvement of emotions or mental conditions, it is simply a matter of brute force.

Orion remained silent for a long time, then looked up at Regulus.

His earlier assessment has been overturned.

Before entering the Study, he thought the Disintegration Charm was probably War Magic —powerful and useful, but its functions were within the known realm.

He now realized that this thing did not fall into any known category.

It's a framework; what can be placed inside depends on how far the Spellcasting can go.

This is a growth-type spell.

Regulus said casually, "Father just asked about the upper limit. If the Magic Power is strong enough, the reserves are large enough, and the thought is clear enough..."

He looked into Orion's eyes. "Theoretically, there's no limit to this spell."

The Study was quiet for a moment, then the flame in the fireplace flickered and crackled.

After a long while, Orion slowly nodded.

Regulus stood up, a smile in his eyes, "Want to give it a try?"

Orion looked up at him, then stood up as well.

Regulus raised his right hand, palm up, Magic Power surging from his body and gathering in his palm, whereupon a structure began to appear in mid-air. The main trunk was thick and shiny, branching upwards into several layers of veins, which in turn branched into finer branches, ending in tiny Light Point the size of pinheads. The entire structure resembled an upside-down tree, with roots at the top and branches at the bottom, each branch flowing with Magic Power along a predetermined path from the main trunk to the tips.

Orion looked at the model with a serious expression.

Unlike the completely unfamiliar feeling he had when facing the Severing Charm last time, he immediately recognized the pattern in this tree-like structure.

Its logic is explicit; there's no need to understand any abstract philosophical concepts.

"Tree-like Branching Structure." Regulus traced a line on the trunk of the model with his finger.

"The Magic Power enters from the root, undergoes two and a half circuits of modulation, narrows and compresses at the end, and then is released. The Magic Power that comes out has an oscillating property." Orion looked at the Magic Power model, not in a hurry to do anything, but first scanned the structure from top to bottom.

The angle of the main trunk, the location of the branching nodes, the variation in thickness of each branch, and the proportion of narrowing at the end.

He built a platform in his Consciousness Space, poured Magic Power into it, and ran through it.

The Magic Power traveled halfway through the main trunk, reaching the first fork where it split into a branch. It then dispersed within the branch, not completing its journey. The fork angle was slightly off, and the Magic Power, having entered the branch, lost its restraint and scattered on its own.

Dismantle it, adjust the angle of the branches, and rebuild it.

Running again, this time the Magic Power completed two and a half laps and reached the end, but the release port didn't eject; the Magic Power got stuck at the tip of the needle and retreated. The narrowing ratio at the end was wrong; it was too narrow, and the Magic Power couldn't squeeze through.

Adjust the width by half an inch and run it again.

The Magic Power was released from the end, but it didn't carry the vibrational attribute; it was just ordinary Magic Power.

The oscillation modulation at the node was not done correctly, and the Conduction level and the oscillation level were mixed up.

He separated the two layers: the outer layer Conduction, while the inner layer oscillates.

Running on, the Magic Power starts from the main trunk, travels along the branching path for two and a half laps, completes oscillation modulation at each node, and finally narrows, compresses, and pops out at the end release port.

The Magic Power that emerged was yellowish-brown, and its edges trembled.

He opened his eyes.

Now that we have the model, the next step is to actually Spellcasting, but the convergence window is a problem.

He gripped the wand, mentally reciting the incantation, rehearsing the range and timing of his wrist rotation, confirming the window of less than a hundredth of a second between the release of Magic Power from the tip of the wand and its contact with the target.

Regulus stood to the side, lightly tapping his finger. A Brass Paperweight on the table floated up, arced through the air, and landed on the floor in the center of the Study. The paperweight was small, about the size of an adult's fist, with a polished surface and the simplified coat of arms of the Black family engraved on the bottom.

Orion glanced at it, raised his wand, and aimed it at the paperweight.

The reverse hook, the chop, the wrist rotates half an inch at the lowest point.

"Quassare."

A brownish-yellow ray shot out from the tip of the staff and hit the target.

A ring of fine, shimmering light splattered across the paperweight's surface, as if something had exploded on the outside before the rays barely managed to penetrate.

The crackling sound coming from inside was shorter than expected; a coarse crack appeared in the middle of the paperweight, but it didn't break apart, just cracked.

Orion looked at the crack, frowned, and slowed down the closing process.

The Magic Power is still in a diffused state when it touches the surface; most of it is consumed on the surface, and only a portion penetrates.

He adjusted the range of his wrist rotation, pushed it forward a little, and relocked the paperweight.

Reverse hook, chop, wrist rotation.

"Quassare."

This time, no light debris was scattered when the ray hit, and the surface remained intact.

Before Orion could even frown, a series of faint, crackling sounds emanated from inside the paperweight. It wasn't loud, but it was very frequent. Then the brass split open from the middle, its cross-section jagged, breaking into seven or eight uneven pieces.

Orion put down his wand, looked down at the pile of broken pieces, and remained silent for a moment.

Then he raised his wand and pointed to a stone slab at his feet. "Quassare."

This time he didn't stop, continuing to unleash his attacks.

The yellowish-brown rays struck the stone slab's surface. A fraction of a second later, a muffled sound emanated from within the slab, the surface bulged, and then the entire slab crumbled into powder and fragments, which mingled together and spread across the ground.

The powder was very fine, grayish-white, and it floated a few times in the firelight of the fireplace before slowly settling.

Orion put away his wand, looked at the puddle of powder on the ground, and a faint smile appeared on his face.

Regulus looked at the effect of his father's Spellcasting and nodded. "Father is amazing."

Orion looked up at him, a hint of amusement flashing in his eyes, as if to say, "Don't give me that crap."

He spoke in a relaxed tone, with a hint of a smile, "This spell does require a high level of Magic Manipulation, but it's not too difficult. The closing step requires a lot of practice; at the beginning, you can't balance speed and precision."

Regulus nodded. "You'll get used to it after a few tries."

Orion went back behind his desk and sat down again.

He had already mastered the basic form; breaking the paperweight and stone slab earlier caused almost no damage—it was just normal Magic Power output.

But Snell Rock, a granite island the size of half Quidditch Pitch, would require a total amount of Magic Power power that, even if not all of his own reserves, would be nearly as much.

In other words, Regulus's current total Magic Power power, even if it hasn't caught up with his, is not far behind.

Orion leaned back in his chair, looking at his son across from him.

He remembered sparring with Regulus in the Training Room six months ago.

That duel wasn't easy, but it wasn't difficult either; he won with about 70-80% of his strength.

Only six months have passed, and the gap has already been closed to this extent.

At this rate, it won't be easy to defeat him next time we face off.

He looked at Regulus, a complex emotion welling up inside him.

There is pride, of course; among the generations of the Black family, this son's talent is undoubtedly the greatest.

I also have some emotions. At the age of thirteen, no one would believe me if I told you this.

There's something else that's hard to describe, like watching a kite you personally launched fly higher than you expected, the string still in your hand, but you no longer need to pull it.

He felt regretful when he failed to learn the Severing Charm last time, but also relieved.

His son has reached places beyond his reach, which is regrettable, but the fact that he couldn't reach them means his son has gone further than him. What has a father to complain about?

This time was different. He learned something new, and besides feeling gratified, he also gained a sense of real satisfaction.

A single spell won't take him any further; he's already a fully-fledged wizard, but it has certainly broadened his repertoire.

In the future, when encountering situations requiring the dismantling of hard targets, there will be no need to painstakingly bombard them layer by layer with Exploding Charm.

He looked at Regulus, wanting to say something, but then felt there was no need to.

Last time, when he felt the Severing Charm was too much to handle, he realized he had finally grasped it.

What she touched wasn't just the incantation, but also something her son handed her.

He never hid his Magic from him; he taught him about Spatial Warp, Severing Charm, and Disintegration Charm, even teaching him step by step. These three spells, if they were to enter the family's Heritage Chamber in the future, would become new additions to the Black family's foundation.

This item was not on the ancestors' inventory; it was developed by the current heirs themselves.

The Black family's wealth increased even further during his generation.

The thought that the investors had received their returns flashed through his mind, and he almost laughed out loud.

Two Whomping Willow, an initial investment of 100,000 Galleon —now his son has not only created new Magic himself, but has also taught it to him.

As he was thinking about these things, Regulus spoke up.

"Father."

Orion looked up at him.

Regulus's smile widened, and his eyes shone.

"What you saw just now was how the spell looked when it was fully formed."

Orion's interlaced fingers tightened slightly.

The appearance when it is formed, meaning its initial form.

There's more above.

Regulus's tone remained relaxed, but his gaze lingered on Orion's face for a moment before he asked, "Father, do you know about the Manhattan Project?"