Runic Magic

Matthew had returned. This time, there was none of the discomfort from his previous crossing.

The crystal on the metal disc had dimmed considerably, the energy stored within it completely drained.

Matthew had chosen to cross back to his original world before reaching Whitestone Town.

His crossing this time had been too rushed; he'd only brought his wand, planning to make some preparations before contacting the human society of the other world.

With a wave of his wand, he transformed the thick cloak and clothes back to their original state.

The bundle containing the Phantom Demon's corpse had also been brought back.

Preserved Egg was still in his original spot.

"Preserved Egg." Matthew picked up the cat and stroked his fur a few times.

A blue light flickered in Matthew's eyes as he cast Legilimency on Preserved Egg.

From the cat's memories, he could see that the metal disc in Matthew's hand had suddenly vanished, but he himself had remained in place.

It seemed that after Matthew crossed to that other world, time here had stopped.

Setting Preserved Egg down, Matthew took out the wizard's notebook Chris had given him.

It recorded an Ancient Runic magic called "Lightning Bolt."

"Lightning Bolt" could shoot a bolt of lightning to strike a target, its power affected by the user's magical strength.

The magic of this world was different from what he'd learned at Hogwarts.

The spells he'd learned were driven by emotion and will, which heavily influenced their power; insufficient conviction could even cause a spell to fail.

In the other world, magic required first constructing a spell model, then infusing it with magic power, using the model to release the magic in a special way.

The basic units for constructing a spell model were Ancient Runes condensed from magic power!

The spell model was like an engine, the Ancient Runes the parts that assembled it, and magic power the fuel. Magic power, transformed through the spell model, would ultimately convert into other forms of energy. That was the principle of Runic Magic.

Matthew extended his right hand, concentrating magic power in his palm, and condensed an Ancient Rune with the meaning of "light."

The Ancient Rune for "light" was like a pure pearl, crystal clear and translucent, emitting a faint glow in his hand.

Matthew frowned, dispersing the magic power in his hand, and the Ancient Rune formed from magic power dissipated from his palm.

It had taken Matthew over ten seconds to condense "light." With practice, he might shorten it to around ten seconds.

But a single "Lightning Bolt" spell required condensing thirty-two runes.

To cast a Runic Magic spell, just condensing the runes with magic power would take several minutes or even over ten minutes. Was it really this difficult for wizards in the other world to use magic?

Perhaps there was some way to speed up the condensation of runes.

After flipping through the "Lightning Bolt" section, Matthew's expression shifted. He noticed that the handwriting on the last page of the notebook was blurred.

Drawing his wand, he pointed the tip at the notebook: "Reparo!"

The blurred handwriting, as if time had reversed, gradually restored itself to its unworn state.

There was only one sentence on it:

--I walked through the dim woodland, heard the drumbeat, and saw the Shadow Skin.

"Shadow Skin?" An inexplicable sentence. Matthew frowned slightly, unable to glean any useful information from it.

Having no leads, he put the notebook away, left the sundries room, and arrived at the study door.

Matthew knocked gently and said warmly, "Good afternoon, Grandfather."

"Matthew, it's naptime right now." A languid voice slowly came from a portrait inside the study.

In the portrait sat a gentle, scholarly old man with a kind face. This was the Magic Portrait of Matthew's grandfather, Alfat Black.

Although his grandfather had passed away before Matthew was born, Matthew's early education had been completed through his grandfather's portrait.

Before his death, Alfat had synchronized all the knowledge in his memory into the portrait.

Matthew had also learned Ancient Runes from Alfat's portrait. During his lifetime, Alfat had been a famous scholar of Ancient Runes in the Wizarding World.

In this life, Matthew's father was an Auror, and his mother was a Muggle. Both had died at the hands of Death Eaters.

The one who killed them was none other than Matthew's aunt, Bellatrix Lestrange.

Matthew retorted, "I don't recall you having a habit of napping."

In the painting, Alfat took a bottle of red wine from the wine cabinet behind him. "When I was alive, I did."

"Grandmother isn't here again?" Matthew asked curiously.

Alfat removed the cork, brought his nose close to the bottle's mouth, and gently fanned the air with his hand. "You know Lina likes to visit people. She has portraits left in many places."

Matthew nodded in understanding. "Grandfather, I'd like you to take a look at this."

He extended his right hand and condensed an Ancient Rune with magic power.

Alfat held a wine cup, swirling the freshly poured red wine. "The magical application of Ancient Runes—I believe I explained it quite thoroughly in the Compendium of Magical Symbols."

Matthew said, "Of course I've read the Compendium of Magical Symbols. But I've recently discovered that runes seem to have a deeper level of application."

With that, Matthew condensed all thirty-two runes of "Lightning Bolt" one by one in his hand, then used magic power to guide them into a specific structure.

"Zzzap!"

Light blazed as the runes and magic in his hand coalesced into a bolt of lightning, shooting forward and instantly punching through the wooden wall.

Matthew waved his wand, restoring the wall to its original state.

"Is this a spell formed from Ancient Runes?" Alfat's face was full of astonishment.

He knew there was a connection between runes and ancient magic, but after studying Ancient Runes for years, he had only come across a few scattered mentions in old texts—he never expected Matthew to have already mastered a runic spell.

After listening to Matthew's explanation of the principles behind runic magic, Alfat said thoughtfully:

"No wonder it took you a few minutes to cast that spell. I thought it was just lack of practice, but now it seems runic magic is missing a key component."

Matthew said helplessly, "Exactly. Using magic to condense runes takes too much time."

Alfat suddenly recalled something. He took a sip of the red wine in his cup and said, somewhat uncertainly:

"I once saw in a manuscript by Salazar Slytherin the line, 'Meditation is the key to runes.'"

Matthew said in surprise, "'Meditation' is the 'key'?"

Alfat continued, "I have no clue either. That manuscript only recorded the meanings of some Ancient Runes. I referenced parts of it when I compiled the Magical Phonetic Table."

"The manuscript should still be stored in the Hogwarts library. You might want to go look for it."

Matthew nodded, filing the matter away in his mind.

At this moment, an ethereal, crisp voice came from outside the window.

"Matthew~ Are you there?"

Matthew walked to the window and leaned out, seeing a girl with Dark Golden Brown Hair downstairs waving at him.

"Luna! Wait for me!" Matthew called down to the girl.

He turned back and saw Alfat winking at him, saying, "Keeping a lady waiting is hardly the behavior of a gentleman~"

Matthew rolled his eyes and said, "We're still kids!"