Becoming the Protagonist?

"You understood spells correctly, but..." Your understanding was simply too correct—far too advanced, even.

Eileen looked a little troubled.

It was certainly a good thing that Manus had such keen insight into Charms, but she was not his Charms professor.

Eileen had used those two spells as examples because she wanted Manus to see that there was some intangible difference between ordinary spells and advanced spells, a difference that did not lie in rigid steps such as incantations and wand movements.

She had then hoped to use that to help Manus understand that advanced potion brewing likewise contained something similar, something that did not exist within the brewing steps themselves. That was the true core of Potions.

But Eileen had not expected Manus to skip over that hazy stage and directly grasp the core difference between spells and advanced spells... In that case, could he still use spells to understand Potions?

Unlike Charms, many wizards had studied this field. No matter what direction they took, they would eventually come to recognize this difference. What Manus had just said had long since been discovered by others.

Yet no one had managed to properly summarize that intangible difference in Potions. At least, she had never seen it in any book, and she herself could only do it without being able to explain it.

So things were rather awkward now. Eileen was not sure whether her method would still work, so she chose to...

Hand the question over to Manus, who had just shown himself to be extremely clever. Later, she would demonstrate the brewing of advanced potions for him, just as she had demonstrated spells, hoping that he would notice the difference in Potions as keenly as he had noticed the difference in spells.

Ahem. In any case, she had already taught Manus everything she knew about this subject. Whether he could learn it was not something she could force. After all, this already involved the core knowledge of advanced Potions courses.

Back at Hogwarts, anyone who earned an E (Exceeds Expectations) in the O.W.L. Potions exam had a chance to enter advanced courses and learn this point of knowledge. But even among those who studied all the way to the end, were there really more than a few who could grasp it?

Eileen had no experience as a teacher. She had merely instinctively guided Manus based on her own circumstances, helping him do better. Only now did she realize that this point of knowledge was far too advanced.

After listening to Eileen's explanation, Manus nodded and sincerely thanked her.

When there was something good, Aunt Eileen truly did not hold anything back from him!

As for that intangible thing in Potions, if this world's magical system truly belonged to Fairy-Tale Magic, and even possessed the characteristics of Fairy-Tale Magic, then he might have some idea.

But that still needed verification from several angles. At the very least, he had to wait until he had watched Aunt Eileen's demonstration.

There was no rush. Since Aunt Eileen had already said this was beyond the curriculum, then even at the magic school in the future, only a tiny minority of those students especially gifted in Potions would be able to learn it.

That meant that, in the construction of a Potions master's abilities, mastering this knowledge was about as difficult as Scarpin's Revelaspell—perhaps even something learned later than Scarpin's Revelaspell.

If that was the case, he could simply wait until Griffin and Aivina lifted the restrictions on his access to spell knowledge, or even wait until he entered magic school before researching it.

By then, he could also ask a Potions professor with more professional expertise in education, rather than rushing to figure it out himself and even setting aside the research projects already on his hands.

He had to research magic from other systems himself because he could not expose it, and because others could hardly help him. But if he still stubbornly researched this world's magical system alone instead of making reasonable use of resources, would he not just be making trouble for himself?

After completing half a day's Potions lesson, Aivina came to take him home.

Since this one-on-one teaching had already continued for over a year, Aivina did not exchange pleasantries with Eileen for long. After chatting about a few everyday matters, she led Manus away.

As he walked home, Manus reassessed everything he had done in the past.

If this world's magical system truly followed the style of Fairy-Tale Magic, then many unscrupulous things were not merely things he should avoid as precautions against the unknown. They were things he genuinely ought not to do.

Because in such a world, if one consistently upheld virtuous behavior, one could truly live a better life. Only then would one qualify to become the protagonist of a story.

That better life did not simply mean smooth sailing. From some perspectives, it could even be said to be the complete opposite of smooth sailing. After all, what protagonist in a fairy tale lived an ordinary, uneventful life?

An uneventful life was reality and a mundane chronicle. Dramatic conflict was what made a fairy tale or an epic.

Yet such conflict was not entirely a bad thing. Although it would make life more turbulent and affect Manus's research time to a certain extent, it would also bring benefits.

Rare and precious knowledge, artifacts, wealth... These things often appeared around the "protagonist" alongside such conflicts. They were opportunities, but also trials.

If the "protagonist" wavered because of them and displayed negative traits such as greed or faithlessness, then they would instead lose any connection to those things. They might even pay a painful price and become a cautionary example warning people not to act that way.

But if the "protagonist" could continue standing by their principles and meet the requirements of those virtues, then those things would ultimately fall into the protagonist's hands as rewards, or provide the protagonist with help.

This does conflict somewhat with the role I originally assigned myself...

Based on his Pure-blood background, Manus's original plan had not been to join the Death Eaters and preach Pure-blood supremacy, but it was obviously still far removed from someone who could become the protagonist of a fairy tale.

He did not intend to give up the benefits his background could bring him, whether connections or resources. Therefore, he needed to integrate into the rules of interest exchanges among Pure-bloods. He would not be unscrupulous, but he certainly would not belong to the lawful good camp either.

As for the rule-abiding behavior he had shown before then—he could integrate into that set of rules after coming into contact with it, but he could not appear overly familiar with it beforehand.

But now, it seemed that while this path of development was more stable, it would also leave him without the adventures that belonged to a protagonist.

For now, I still have plenty of freedom to choose. Then I'll assume this world follows the rules of Fairy-Tale Magic and see what happens.

Manus finally made his decision:

In any case, being a good person will not cost me much, especially when I'm still only a child.

A good person qualified to be a protagonist could choose to go along with the crowd and become an ordinary person in the story. As long as they did not go too far, or lose control only when faced with treasure, they probably would not encounter misfortune.

But for someone who had already gone along with the crowd to regain the qualifications of a protagonist, the trials they would have to face would be far from ordinary.