Chapter 5

At eleven o'clock at night, for wizards who lacked any nightlife, it was already very late.

But for Tver, this was merely the second phase of his reading time.

Out of habit, he stayed up late and took out one of his collected books—Origins of Curse Magic.

After returning home from Durmstrang, it seemed the only difference was that he had changed locations to read?

Finally realizing this strange phenomenon, he decided to try something different.

The Welfare Family's collection was quite extensive. It might not compare to the library at Hogwarts, where he would soon be heading, but it contained more books on ancient magic.

That was also because modern families had long since become complacent and no longer devoted themselves to studying magic.

Fortunately, there had been no wastrels in the family, and the family business had flourished, so there were no signs of decline.

Tver left his bedroom. The house was silent, with only a few candles still burning in the corridor.

The study was not far from his bedroom—or rather, his bedroom had been specifically chosen for its proximity to the study.

Because among the three members of the Welfare Family, only he enjoyed reading.

"Creak."

The study door was rarely opened. Over the past two years, only Jeff had entered occasionally to clean it.

It was larger than Tver's room and held even more books. A large bookshelf and a smaller one stood on either side, crammed with books of all kinds.

The whole room carried the scent of old books, like freshly cut herbs, awaiting Tver's arrival.

There were two kinds of books here. One kind was written in English or Latin and placed on the bookshelf to the left; the other was recorded in ancient runes and placed on the other side.

Tver had finished reading the first kind two years ago, so his target tonight was the books written in ancient runes.

Durmstrang offered courses in ancient runes, and many records of dark magic were written in them.

It could also be said that ancient magic was more powerful and less constrained in its methods than modern magic, so it was often considered dark magic.

There were fewer books on this side, and they were visibly more worn. Some had even lost their covers entirely, bluntly exposing their titles—

The Four Elements of Magic.

What an odd title.

The idea of elements did not hold true in this world. Tver could cast Aguamenti, and he could also use the Fire-Making Spell; the strength of both depended on his understanding of the spells.

In other words, while elements existed, they did not affect the casting of magic.

The notion of four elements was even stranger.

In Muggles' eyes, the four elements were an ancient Greek scholars' understanding of the world. They believed the world was composed of air, water, earth, and fire.

But in wizards' eyes, that was merely a primitive notion from ancient wizards attempting to understand the origin of magic. It was a mandatory topic in Durmstrang's History of Magic, something Tver had learned in his first year.

So seeing this book here made Tver intensely curious.

You have successfully caught my attention.

The book was not thick, with only a dozen or so pages.

Pulling it out, Tver deliberately lit the study's candles and sat down on the floor.

If this book was nonsense, he would put it back and choose another one.

Opening to the first page, he found that, as expected, it was written entirely in ancient runes, with traces of magical activity lingering over the text.

It was not that ancient runes could preserve magic for such a long time—that was impossible. After such an interval, it would have faded away long ago.

The magic on these pages came from certain ancient runes that could draw in magical power. As Tver read, they absorbed his magic and protected the book from damage.

That was why books written in ancient runes could be preserved for so long.

Of course, this protection had its limits.

Tver froze for a moment, then sifted through the knowledge of ancient runes in his mind.

Since it did little to improve his strength, he was not particularly skilled in the subject and had only treated it as a tool for reading.

Fortunately, the content above was not complicated.

"Every spell follows no more than four principles: magical power, form transformation, lasting effect, and casting speed."

"Magical power is called earth. There is no substance more solid and weighty than the vast land.

"The earth beneath your feet is no longer a restraint, but your loyal servant. Every spell you cast may carry the heaviness of the land."

"Form transformation is called water. Water has no fixed shape; it all lies within a single thought.

"Magic takes countless forms. Its transformations are like water for you to mold as you please. If you wish it, fire like water and earth like wind shall all be under your control."

"Lasting effect is called fire—the fire of the soul, endless and unceasing.

"Those who reach this level are no longer bound by their physical shells and possess souls that are almost eternal."

"Casting speed is called wind. All things move with the wind, going wherever the heart desires.

"Those who reach the pinnacle in this aspect can make their thoughts a hundred times more active and return to the essence of magic."

This was the first time Tver had encountered such a theory.

These four principles were the foundations of the magical world, and all four depended on a wizard's understanding of a spell.

The deeper one's understanding of magic, the faster it could be cast, the more its form could be altered, the longer its effects could last, and the greater its power would become.

No one had ever considered separating these four foundations and improving them individually. That would be a complete waste of time.

Yet this book seemed to suggest that mastering one key point could improve one aspect of every spell, without needing to understand each spell individually.

It was like understanding that one plus one equaled two, and therefore naturally knowing that A plus A equaled 2A.

But the 1 and A in magic were not the same!

Curious, Tver turned the page.

However, the later content offered no explanation, nor did it say how one could overcome the differences in understanding between different spells.

It mostly described the power of these four aspects, even claiming that once all four reached their limits, one could break free from the shackles of time and space and become a god wandering the world.

Tver immediately lost interest. He had basically decided that this was a book of nonsense, filled with ancient wizards' shallow understanding of magical power.

If it were given to a History of Magic professor, it could probably be used to make an exam question, but to him, it did not even qualify as casual reading.

Yawning, he regretted wasting his time on this book. He might as well go back to sleep.

He stood up and rubbed his slightly sore thighs. At some point, the candle on the desk had gone out, and sunlight had streamed in through the window, draping the room in a veil of gold.

But Tver shuddered.

He clearly remembered reading only one page carefully. He had merely skimmed through the rest. There was no way it should have taken an entire night!

"Young master?" Jeff opened the study door at that moment and smiled happily when he saw Tver.

"I didn't see you in your room, so I came over to check. Sure enough, you were in the study. But you really should take care of yourself—"

"Jeff, what time is it?" Tver searched through his memories. For a master of Legilimency, that was effortless.

Jeff paused. "It's seven in the morning. I get up at this time every day."

Eight hours.

He had spent eight hours reading a single page.

The last time he had felt like this was when his teacher had controlled his mind.

Back then, his thoughts had been incredibly sluggish, yet the knowledge his teacher taught him had been deeply imprinted in his mind, as if he had been born knowing that spell.

His mind had been controlled again!

Tver picked up the book once more.

The title had not changed, but there was now another line beneath it.

"This is valuable material worthy of my lifelong study. I leave these words in anticipation of the next person capable of understanding it. —Rowena Ravenclaw."