Meditation Method

Three in the morning, in the dormitory beneath the lake.

Jerry and Geralt were fast asleep. The three of them had been in high spirits the night before and had stayed up chatting until late.

The Sorting Ceremony the previous night had gone as expected.

The Boy Who Lived, whom they had talked about all night, had been sorted into Gryffindor. Hermione and Neville hadn't lost the courage deep within them because of Matthew's interference, either.

Matthew woke in the dormitory. Before going to bed, he'd taken a Sleeping Potion. Professor Snape's improved version worked very well; just two hours of sleep was enough to restore his energy.

Matthew's father had been a schoolmate of Professor Snape's, and the two had gotten along well during their school days.

So when Professor Snape discovered that Matthew had some talent for Potions, he often had him help out after class.

He glanced out the window. On a moonless night, the depths of the lake were shrouded in darkness.

Preserved Egg was sleeping beside the window. He wondered if there were fish from the Black Lake in its dreams.

Matthew sensed the disc in his mind. The Crystal was fully charged.

He focused, and the disc in his mind spun rapidly. A moment later, he was back in the Snowfield.

Chris and Tina were still where they had been before he left.

"Lord Matthew..." Chris looked at Matthew in surprise. "How did your clothes suddenly change?"

Tina, who had just climbed onto the sled, turned to look at him curiously.

Matthew drew his wand and cast a Transfiguration Spell on his clothes, changing them into the Fluffy Cloak he'd worn before. The clothes beneath it changed into the style Chris remembered, too.

Blue Light flickered in Matthew's eyes as he used Legilimency on Chris. He wanted to see what he'd looked like from someone else's perspective when he'd first arrived.

From Chris's perspective, Matthew hadn't moved at all. In an instant, his cloak and clothes had simply changed into the robes he wore at Hogwarts.

It seemed time hadn't passed here while Matthew was away.

Matthew hadn't known whether there would be a Time Difference between the two worlds, so before leaving, he'd told Chris to go ahead and said he would make his own way to Whitestone Town.

"Obliviate." Matthew made Chris and Tina forget what had just happened.

Chris blinked, then calmly took the driver's seat of the sled. "Get on, Lord Matthew. We'll reach Whitestone Town tonight, so we won't have to spend the night outdoors."

Chris was a skilled blacksmith. He had personally modified the stove at the bottom of the Sled's Carriage.

An hour later, Whitestone Town came into view.

No one was at the town entrance. A wooden fence, about as tall as a person, blocked the way, and a Tower stood beside it, slightly taller than the nearby houses.

Chris stopped the sled at the entrance and called out, "Anyone there? Open the gate!"

He took a Wine Pouch from a drawer beside the stove in the carriage and drank some hot wine to warm himself.

A head wearing a headscarf appeared from the Tower.

The man glanced at the sled below, then ducked back inside. A while later, the door at the foot of the Tower opened.

The man who came down was the one wearing the headscarf. He folded his arms and yawned. "Chris, it's freezing out. What brings you here?"

Chris's work was well known in the area, and the Night Watchman had bought weapons from him before.

Chris climbed down from the sled and said,

"Oh, it's you, Jack.

"Things haven't been peaceful in Gemu Village lately. The animals nearby have grown unusually violent and keep attacking the village.

"My Great Uncle left a house in Whitestone Town. I'm planning to move here with Tina."

Jack's face lit up. "You're moving here? Then I won't have to go all the way to Gemu Village to get my blades maintained. You should've moved here ages ago!"

He stepped forward and pulled open the wooden fence.

Chris helped him, asking, "Has Whitestone Town been attacked? Why are you the only Night Watchman on duty? We ran into plenty of trouble on the way here."

As a Night Watchman, if Jack spotted anything amiss, all he had to do was sound his trumpet in the Tower and wait for the guards to come to his aid.

Jack replied, "No, everything's normal. That lazy Bohr is still asleep in the Tower!"

Once they'd opened the fence, he rubbed his hands together. He'd forgotten his gloves when he came down, and in just that short time, his hands were nearly frozen stiff. He just wanted to get back inside and warm himself by the fire.

Chris said goodbye to him, then led the White Deer into Whitestone Town.

The buildings in Whitestone Town were much like those of medieval Europe on Earth, with brick and stone construction.

The streets were quiet and nearly deserted at night. The liveliest place was the tavern not far from the entrance; its noise carried all the way across the street.

The town was small. Before long, the three of them stopped in front of a house.

The house looked rather old, its gray-white brick walls marked by the passage of time.

"My Great Uncle usually lived in the Royal Capital before he died and didn't come here often. I'd come by to clean every now and then." Chris took out a key. "You can look around the study, Lord Matthew. There are some books my Great Uncle left behind."

Matthew was interested. He hoped the books left by a wizard would help him learn more about this world.

Chris led Matthew to the study. It was small, and the desk and chairs took up most of the room. A dozen or so books sat on a bookshelf to the right of the desk.

Matthew took one down. It happened to be the Compendium of Magical Creatures Chris had mentioned.

"You can stay in the room next to the study," Chris said. "I'll go get things ready."

Matthew thanked him and continued reading. The descriptions in the Compendium of Magical Creatures were brief, with just an illustration and a general account of each creature's abilities. The illustrations weren't animated, either. It seemed books in this world didn't usually contain moving pictures.

He found many fascinating creatures, several of which matched what he remembered from his past life. There were Mermaids who used their voices to enchant humans, for instance. But this world had not only human-bodied, fish-tailed Mermaids; it also had Fishmen, with fish heads and human bodies, whose influence in the deep sea was immense. He also saw the Dragon Snake Tree and Phantom Demon he'd encountered before. Their descriptions matched what Chris had told him.

Matthew continued looking through the other books. Most of those on the shelf were travel journals, poetry collections, and histories. He took out his Scribe's Quill, which he'd bought for ten Gold Galleons. It had a spell that copied books automatically, and he wanted to make a copy of every book on the shelf.

After taking inventory, he picked up the only scroll on the bookshelf. The other books had been covering it, so he hadn't noticed it before.

He unrolled it. The words "Aemon Basic Meditation Method" were written on it!

The scroll's author was named Emon, and it recorded a basic Meditation Method.

The Meditation Method trained the mind through meditation, steadily drawing out one's potential and condensing the mind into a Sea of Consciousness. This process could also slowly increase the total amount of magic within the body.

Most importantly, it allowed one to construct a Runic Model in the Sea of Consciousness.

Runic Magic mainly involved two steps: "condensing" and "guiding."

--The first step was to "condense" magic into Runes.

--The second step was to "guide" the Runes into a Spell Model Structure.

After practicing the Aemon Basic Meditation Method and constructing a Runic Model in the Sea of Consciousness, condensing Runes with magic became instantaneous.

A Lightning Bolt spell required thirty-two Runes. Without a Meditation Method, just condensing those thirty-two Runes took five minutes!

Now that he had a Meditation Method, he could quickly condense the Runes when casting Lightning Bolt. All he had to do after that was guide them into a Spell Model Structure, and he could cast Runic Magic.

The whole process had been cut down to about ten seconds.

Matthew was overjoyed. He hadn't expected to find an answer so quickly. Salazar Slytherin had been right: meditation was the key to Runic Magic.

But he had even more questions now. If the "meditation" Salazar Slytherin had mentioned was the Meditation Method, where had he learned about it? And had he practiced one himself?

Matthew was growing more and more curious about that period of history. When he went back in a few days, he'd still visit the Hogwarts library and see if he could find any clues.

He didn't need the scroll to practice the Meditation Method. After copying it, he put it back on the bookshelf.