Flying Dagger Magic and Spell Chain (Two-in-One)

The gains from the Transfiguration Club were substantial, which made Ezio look forward to the Charms Club tomorrow morning even more.

When it all comes down to it, charms are the fundamental basis for a wizard's survival. Without magical spells, the wizarding world would turn into a place of darkness, and their laziness would no longer be sustainable. This is the most basic and important component that concerns every aspect of the wizarding world.

Before this, Ezio had some shallow understanding of spell-based magic. The spells of the magical world have undergone several transformations, each one making the originally complex casting process more concise and efficient. However, due to the severe lack of history in the magical world—as people in Europe have always been terrible at recording history—their barbaric period lasted far too long, and there was never a truly unified empire in their history.

The Roman Empire once achieved a part of it, but Rome failed to leave behind a legacy. In this land that emphasizes nationalism and bloodline theory, division is the norm, and chaos naturally accompanies them.

The social structure of Muggles has similarly influenced the wizarding world, to the point where something as important as history cannot be pieced together completely, even if one were to flip through every book.

A more accurate statement would be that early wizards used magic runes to cast spells, manipulating magic power through the combination of magical characters. During this stage, magical rituals were prevalent; sacrificial and offering methods emerged one after another. In order to control the supernatural power of magic, wizards adopted quite cruel methods against the Muggles of that time, which is the main reason for the irreconcilable conflicts that later erupted between the two sides.

This situation lasted until the era of the Four Founders over a thousand years ago. That was the Dark Age of the magical world. Ancient, crude magic made it difficult for wizards, who were at a significant disadvantage in numbers, to gain a firm foothold. A large number of wizarding seeds were killed by Muggles, and the survival situation for spellcasters reached its worst point, forcing the reform of magic to begin.

Magic evolved from magic runes to incantations, which greatly increased the speed at which wizards could use magic. Although this weakened the expressive power of magic to a certain extent, the results of this reform gave wizards a chance to breathe. They gradually gained a foothold, began to huddle together for warmth, and started building their own secret bases to cultivate the wizarding seeds they searched for from the outside.

The establishment of Hogwarts was largely to provide a sanctuary for the young wizards of that time. They suffered persecution in the Muggle world, and even if they were lucky enough to survive, their suppressed magic power could easily induce the birth of an Obscurus. Such products of dark magic would bring about huge disasters, further deepening the conflict between wizards and Muggles.

After a large number of wizarding shelters were successfully established, wizards who finally had a place to stay had the time and energy to optimize magic. Because they were influenced by the society of that time, magic no longer pursued powerful destructive force, but instead raced toward the direction of fast casting and quick mastery. As wizards hid their existence and avoided battles and conflicts, wizards who indulged in their comfort zones focused on the development of daily life magic, leading to the deformed state of spell development that exists in the magical world today.

The lethal spells used for combat today are almost all derived from curse magic. For example, the Exploding Curse; its essence is an explosion curse. Although it is included in the Hogwarts teaching curriculum, this magic should actually be classified under the category of Dark Arts. Similar spells include the Reducto, Fire-making Spell, Petrification Spell, and so on; they all belong to Curse magic.

Beyond these mainstream spells, there also exists a type of slang-like magic in the magical world. Most of these spells are circulated among individuals in the folk. The incantations for these spells are also very straightforward, such as "Peskipiksi Pesternomi." Such slang-like charms usually do not have great effects, but since magic is an idealistic power, such straightforward expressions of intent can sometimes play a certain role.

If one is not facing a large number of pixies, then this Pixie-Expelling Spell can be effective. It can probably drive away one or two little guys causing trouble in front of you, but that is the extent of it.

Ezio learned and understood this knowledge in order to learn how to customize his own magical spells. This is a very cool and useful thing, just like the lethal magic Sectumsempra invented by Snape himself. This spell can summon an invisible blade to cut through objects in front, which is excellent in terms of concealment and lethality. Such lethal spells do not exist in the official spell catalog of the magical world today.

If he masters the ability to customize spells, Ezio can completely develop a series of matching magic exclusive to his identity as an assassin. He doesn't like the way wizards cast spells with "BIU" effects; those colorful lights are simply too conspicuous. If he were to expose his existence, he might as well hold his Broken Spear and perform a dance of the Flying Thunder God. The slaughter efficiency of spells is far inferior to his own physical actions.

Developing new magic and establishing his own magic system is Ezio's ultimate goal for coming to Hogwarts to study Charms. Learning those common spells is not his purpose for coming to Hogwarts.

When the weekend arrived the next day, Ezio walked toward Professor Flitwick's office with light steps. On the way, he met several classmates who were heading to the same place.

Compared to Professor McGonagall, Professor Flitwick's club had many more members. On one hand, the difficulty of charms is lower than that of Transfiguration; on the other hand, when teaching, Flitwick does not need to customize a study plan for everyone. He teaches casting techniques that are not in the books, and mastering these techniques requires both talent and a flexible mind.

"I am very happy to see everyone here in the new year."

Professor Flitwick stood on top of a high stack of books so that he could be at eye level with the other students.

"Ezio, introduce yourself. Ezio, you are the youngest member here, but everyone should not measure everything by age. As far as I know, Ezio has already self-studied all the standard spells before the fifth year. I hope that students who have not reached this step will take it seriously. You wouldn't want to be easily surpassed by a first-year junior, would you?"

"For every fourth-year student, if you cannot master the technique of non-verbal spellcasting this school year, then I will be angry."

The boys and girls who joined the club last year and were about to become seniors this year had slightly bitter faces. Non-verbal spells are a technique to be mastered in the fifth year, which is indeed a small challenge for them. But before they could wait for Professor Flitwick to select people from the third year, they were met with a first-year newcomer who made them want to scream "monster" in their hearts. You tell me you learned everything that others take five years to finish during the holiday before school started? This makes us look very stupid!

Under the gaze of the twenty or so people in the classroom, Ezio calmly and briefly introduced himself. He saw several familiar faces here. Except for Cedric, everyone he knew from the Transfiguration Club was present. The selection of third-year newcomers had not yet begun, so it was normal for Cedric not to be there.

"Daniel, you are responsible for organizing the students above the fifth year to conduct the opening test." Professor Flitwick named the Ravenclaw male prefect. "The scoring rules follow the previous pattern. If anyone slacked off during the holiday, you record them all for me."

"No problem, Professor." Daniel nodded, turned around, and began to call others to move toward the depths of the classroom, where there were many dummy targets that could be used to practice spells.

"Fourth-year students, your task this year is to learn non-verbal spellcasting and master the advanced casting techniques of at least five spells. I hope you can turn the theoretical knowledge you learned here last year into your own. Charms is an applied subject, and practice is the standard for testing qualification."

After assigning the tasks, Professor Flitwick beckoned to Ezio. "Come here, child. I will give you some remedial lessons separately. Compared to your seniors, you are still lacking many things, but I don't think I need to worry too much about the simpler content. As long as you continue to maintain your practice of basic magic and improve your familiarity and proficiency with them, you will soon be able to keep up with the rhythm."

Unlike Transfiguration, Charms has a saying that as long as it can be used correctly, it is considered a success. Some wizards do not like to delve into the advanced casting techniques of charms, but high spell proficiency allows them to defeat all of the opponent's counterattacks head-on with the simplest means. It is the same Fire-making Spell; some people can only use it to light a campfire, and even if such a person masters all the advanced techniques, it only makes the flames look fancy. However, the Fire-making Spell of some people is truly capable of starting a prairie fire.

There are two focuses for practicing charms: one is to strengthen the power of the spell, and the other is to add casting methods. But truly talented wizards can grasp both and be strong in both.

"However, before we start, Ezio, do you have any questions you want to ask?" Professor Flitwick looked at Ezio with a smile. When he was in class, he had already noticed that Ezio had many things he wanted to understand, but because it was in class, he didn't ask more. After all, Professor Flitwick couldn't keep circling around him during class.

"Yes, of course I do."

Ezio spoke immediately. "What I want to learn most is how to customize spells. I want to develop some combat magic that is more suitable for myself. I hope that one day in the future, I can learn and master it."

Professor Flitwick nodded slightly. He was not surprised by this; during his student days, he also tried to develop spells.

"Also, I want to know how to optimize this way of casting."

Ezio flipped his hands, and four throwing knives appeared in each hand. But compared to the matte black throwing knives used for assassination, the throwing knives in his hands at this moment presented a translucent blue color, like fragile crystal products, emitting a faint light.

"Ah, I haven't seen the technique of solidifying spells used by anyone for a long time!"

Professor Flitwick said happily: "This is a magical means born a thousand years ago, used to make up for the shortcomings of wizards in battle. Before Apparition was researched, wizards were often forced to fight at close range because the hit rate of the newly born magic incantations was worrying, and the casting distance was also worrying."

"So, wizards would engrave magic runes on arrows or other things, and then solidify the magic effect, turning them into things like arrowheads to extend the effective distance of the magic and indirectly increase the hit rate."

"But this method has great flaws. The magic arrows made by this means often disappear before they even land. The magic spell begins to consume itself the moment it is released, and a spell that has left the wizard is like water without a source. Their existence time may only be one or two seconds. The closer to the limit distance, the weaker the power of the spell."

"But this of yours... should be made by referring to the way of curse materialization, right? Through close-body storage, maintaining the form after solidifying the spell, and then storing it close to the body, maintaining their form through the magic power naturally dissipated by the wizard, extending the storage time. In the case of not using a physical magic carrier, this is the only means."

"How long can it be kept at the longest?" Professor Flitwick asked with great interest.

"After solidification and shaping, the longest storage time is one day. But if it leaves my body, even if the power of the spell is not activated, it will dissipate within half an hour. If it is activated, the existence time will not exceed five seconds." Ezio had carefully tested it, and he was very clear about these data.

"This is already very good data. The solidification method you use is quite mature. Although there should be room for optimization, I guess that by that period, the prototype of the magic spell in the true sense had already been perfected. After the magic rune magic passed through the most difficult initial period, it eliminated all the casting methods that had been used and became the only mainstream."

"Why do you want to learn this somewhat outdated technique?"

"Because..."

Ezio turned around, then threw them casually. The four throwing knives drew sharp arcs in mid-air and accurately nailed into the hearts of the four dummy targets fifteen meters away, exploding into a burst of magical light.

"Because spells cannot turn corners, but my throwing knives can."

"Incredible!" Professor Flitwick jumped up on the table in surprise, his face full of curiosity and amazement. "This is a method I have never seen before. If you stand on a dueling field, you will definitely be able to catch your opponent off guard!"

Speaking of this, Professor Flitwick's eyes shone. He himself was an honored dueling master, but he had never met an opponent like Ezio on the dueling field. If he really met one, facing this kind of offensive for the first time, he would definitely be in a panic.

"Just some minor tricks, you flatter me." Ezio said modestly; for an operation that anyone with hands could perform, he didn't feel there was anything to be proud of.

"Is throwing knives hard to learn? To be honest, I'm quite tempted." Professor Flitwick blinked, looking as if he really wanted to learn this cool ability. "But now doesn't seem to be the time to talk about this. You're planning to participate in dueling competitions in the future, right?"

"I probably won't participate in dueling competitions. These techniques are considered my family's heritage, and mastering them is just a means of making a living."

"Alright." A hint of regret appeared on Flitwick's face. "If you ever become interested in dueling, I can help you get in touch with competitions or something; the prize money is very generous."

"However, do you have any specific requirements regarding the Solidification Charm right now?"

"Weight." Ezio lined up the remaining four throwing knives on the table. "Although they possess a physical form, they lack weight, which makes them very difficult for me to control when throwing. If they had mass, I could use some relatively more complex throwing techniques, such as mid-air redirection, zigzag throws, and the like."

"Perhaps I have a way to solve this."

Professor Flitwick's research in Charms is fully worthy of the title of master; he only pondered for a moment before finding a solution to the problem.

"We just need to add a little physical carrier, and then use a small trick when casting the Solidification Charm."

"I think you should be able to start learning combo casting now, for example—the combo of Accio and the Levitation Charm."

Professor Flitwick drew his wand and gave it a light flick. While summoning a book, the book hovered quietly in front of him, yet he had only used Accio, not two separate spells.

"Combo casting, also known as Spell Chain, allows us to add an extra follow-up cast containing the effects of another spell after the effect of the previous spell takes hold. Of course, you can also have them triggered simultaneously, like this."

Flitwick waved his wand again, pointing at an unused wooden target nearby. The cold air of Flash Freeze spread instantly, and at the same time, a fiery explosion erupted, turning the wooden dummy into a pile of frosted, smoking debris.