Spirituality and Magic

On the way to Diagon Alley, Harley hadn't used Spirit Vision to investigate anything, since she had a demigod-level being with her.

But after Dumbledore left, Harley used Spirit Vision that very night to observe everything she'd bought, except, of course, her wand.

To her surprise, Harley found that Spirit Vision seemed to let her judge the strength of the magic contained in magical objects.

A few of the more expensive items, which were said to be extremely difficult to make, gave off a stronger glow when she activated Spirit Vision. They seemed to contain more "residual" magic.

Moreover, this magical glow looked very much like the glow of Spirituality in Harley's memory. It was almost exactly the same.

The glow from a few other, cheap items was much dimmer. As for the things in the Dursley home, they barely glowed at all.

Now, after activating Spirit Vision, Harley had only meant to look for the entrance, but she clearly saw several people in the crowd surrounded by a glow of Spirituality.

Those people were pushing their luggage trolleys toward the wall between platforms nine and ten. The wall itself gave off an incredibly dazzling light.

Harley watched them pass through the wall, then pushed her own trolley forward, took a deep breath, and went straight through it.

As she passed through the wall, Harley felt an inexplicable force envelop her, as if checking her identity.

On the other side of the wall was another platform, with a sign reading "Platform 9 3/4."

A dark red steam locomotive stood beside the platform. It even made Harley think she'd returned to the Loen Kingdom, since the other trains at King's Cross Station weren't nearly so old.

The people who had passed through the wall ahead of Harley were getting their tickets checked and boarding. Harley pinched her earlobe again to shut off Spirit Vision, then pushed her trolley over.

After boarding the train, Harley made her way to the end of the carriage and found an empty compartment.

It wasn't that Harley disliked socializing. She just had a few things she couldn't quite figure out yet, and needed some time alone.

Today was the first time Harley had used Spirit Vision to observe other wizards.

She had used Spirit Vision to observe herself before, but she hadn't seen any glow of magic or Spirituality around her.

All she could see was her own aura, whose colors were all as they should be. She was perfectly healthy.

As for the dazzling glow she saw on magical objects, Harley couldn't see any of it on herself.

But just now, Harley had noticed the same Spirituality-filled glow on other wizards as she saw on magical objects. Some shone sky blue, while others were as scarlet as burning flames.

That was very interesting. Even a Pathway particularly suited to Spirit Vision couldn't identify Beyonders through Spirit Vision alone.

If that were possible, the Church's dogs would have caught every wild Beyonder long ago.

Yet Harley could see the dazzling radiance within other wizards, just like the residual Spirituality in the materials of supernatural creatures.

That instantly brought another matter to mind: Harley had once been called a genius in the Demoness Sect.

When other people first activated Spirit Vision, they quickly used up all their Spirituality. In a fight, they often found themselves running short.

After all, the Demoness Pathway had many abilities and excelled at keeping its practitioners alive, so it naturally consumed a lot of Spirituality. Running low was entirely normal.

Harley, however, never had that problem—or, rather, she had so much Spirituality that it seemed impossible to use it all up.

Take the most basic ability of a Sequence 7 Witch: unleashing Black Flame. Harley could keep Black Flame going day and night, maintaining it for more than ten times as long as other people.

Other Witches would be panting after a fight, with their Spirituality completely spent.

But Harley could bombard her enemies with Black Flame and frost in turn, then use up the rest of her Spirituality to turn invisible and escape—or simply use Mirror Substitution.

Harley thoughtfully rubbed the long hair beside her ear as she pondered the matter.

Could magic be the same thing as Spirituality? But why couldn't my Spirit Vision identify Beyonders, while it could identify the wizards in this world?

Harley murmured to herself, but she had too little information to reach a reliable conclusion.

Even so, Harley decided to write this down in a small notebook she carried with her.

She still used the script of the Loen Kingdom, to make sure no one could read it or uncover her most important secrets.

After that, Harley took out a book and started reading. Drinking the Witch Potion granted her quite a few abilities, but most rituals and spells still had to be learned. She only had an advantage when studying certain parts of them.

So Harley had always made a habit of absorbing as much knowledge about the mystic arts as she could, and she welcomed it from every field.

That even included Divination, which Witches were notoriously bad at. Harley had picked up a few tricks, though her success rate at Sequence 7 was still worse than that of a Sequence 9 Seer.

After all, she was a loner without many helpers, and the Demoness Pathway was unwelcome among many factions.

During the holidays, Harley had nearly finished reading One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi, and had memorized the properties of its plants.

Quite a few herbs in the book had different names from those on the Northern Continent, but their effects were remarkably similar. Some even looked quite alike!

For example, a material called Crystalline Sun Flower was the main ingredient in the Sequence 9 Bard Potion of the Sun Pathway, which was controlled by the Church of the Eternal Blazing Sun.

Harley had found an herb called Blazing Sun Flower in One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi. It looked quite similar, and its effects seemed close as well.

There were many other materials with the same sort of properties: different names, but identical or similar effects.

This made Harley hopeful. She might be able to recreate many of the potions whose recipes she'd once learned, and her chances of breaking the seal on her body were even better.

The train had already started moving when the sliding door of Harley's compartment opened with the sound of its wheels rolling.

Harley's back straightened instinctively, and she gently set the book in her hands on her lap.

A smile appeared on her face, though inwardly she was a little displeased:

Why are some people so rude? They just open a compartment door without even knocking?

They're just like the commoners on the Northern Continent. Do only the nobles in the kingdom know how to behave properly?

Just then, a red-haired boy walked into the compartment, dragging his luggage behind him.

He was about to say something when he saw a black-haired lady in a white dress quietly gazing at him, an open book resting on her lap.

The boy instantly forgot what he'd meant to say. Then he remembered how rude he'd just been and froze awkwardly in place.

"Can I help you?" Harley asked. The boy had been staring at her without saying a word for quite some time, and she was starting to feel displeased.

Was I that foolish-looking back then, too? It's frightening just to think about.

"H-hello. I'm Ron, Ron Weasley," the boy stammered.

"I just wanted to ask... Is anyone sitting here? Everywhere else is full, and I couldn't find anywhere to sit."

Harley shook her head. "There's no one sitting here, Mr. Weasley. You can stay, as long as you don't make too much noise."

With that, Harley lowered her head and returned to her textbook.

Ron's face flushed bright red. He quietly shoved his luggage onto the rack, then stood there looking completely at a loss, unsure what to do.