Wheelchair-Bound War Goddess Speedruns Hogwarts

Kreacher led her out of the bedroom, through the dim corridor, and to an ornate wooden door on the first floor.

The silver handle on the door had oxidized black. Kreacher gave it a gentle push with his bony fingers, and the heavy wooden door let out a teeth-grating creak.

The training room beyond the door was far larger than Vera had imagined, nearly half the size of a Quidditch Pitch. It was clearly the result of an Undetectable Extension Charm.

Several crystal chandeliers that had long gone dark hung from the high vaulted ceiling. The surrounding walls were covered in all kinds of magical traces—blackened scorch marks, deep carvings, and even several marks that looked as if they had been clawed by some enormous beast.

Most eye-catching were the training dummies standing in the center of the room. Enchanted to simulate human reactions, they were excellent targets for practicing combat spells.

Vera wheeled herself before one of the dummies and studied the spell marks covering its surface with a thoughtful expression.

She raised her hand and brushed over a deep slash, feeling the lingering magical fluctuations against her fingertips.

If she used her Magic Circuit to understand, memorize, and learn from these lingering magical traces...

Her eyes lit up, and her usually calm expression finally showed a hint of excitement.

Magic Circuits Were Meant to Be Used Like This

With her fingertips resting against the dummy's scarred surface, Vera closed her eyes and tried to actively awaken her Magic Circuit.

The golden patterns flickered beneath her skin, gradually gathering across her retinas and transforming the lingering spell fluctuations on the dummy into clear trails of mana—

In her vision, those long-dried magical traces gradually glimmered beneath her fingertips: the silver trail left by a fierce Severing Charm, orange-red points of light pulsing within the blackened scorch mark caused by an explosive spell, and even several bizarre purple patterns left by Dark magic...

These magical traces, from different eras and of different strengths, seemed to reactivate beneath the perception of her Magic Circuit, clearly displaying their respective patterns of mana flow before her eyes...

She instinctively narrowed her eyes, wanting to see those magical trails completely. But at that moment, a sharp pain suddenly stabbed from her temples into her brain.

Vera grunted and jerked her hand back, her breathing growing slightly ragged.

"Miss!" Kreacher hurried over in alarm. "Are you all right?"

Vera waved a hand, fine beads of sweat already forming on her forehead. "I'm fine..."

So that was it. With her current Magic Circuit level, trying to see the mana trails of so many spells all at once was still too much for her?

Having figured that out, Vera took a deep breath and gripped her newly purchased wand. "I'd like to practice here alone for a while."

Kreacher hesitated. "But you... Would Miss like Kreacher to prepare some snacks?"

"No." She shook her head and said softly, "If I need anything, I'll call you."

After the House-elves left, Vera rested for a moment before opening her eyes again and focusing on the dummy once more.

This time, she did not greedily try to sense every mark at once. Instead, she concentrated on finding the simplest one—a trace left by a basic Severing Charm.

She carefully extended her hand, her fingertips lightly touching the nearly invisible indentation.

Her Magic Circuit activated again, golden patterns flowing beneath her skin as the mana trail of that Severing Charm clearly appeared before her eyes.

It was a bright pink thread, winding through the air like a living thing before finally disappearing into the dummy.

Vera held her breath and followed the direction of that mana trail with absolute focus, trying to feel the magical principle contained within it.

Suddenly, the crystal near her heart trembled faintly. A warm current surged from it and flowed along her Magic Circuit toward her fingertips.

The bright pink mana trail seemed to be infused with life, abruptly presenting an unfamiliar scene before her eyes—

A tall, thin boy stood before the dummy, his wand carving a sharp arc through the air. "Diffindo!"

The spell's light immediately left a savage gash across the dummy's chest.

The image flashed past. Vera suddenly came back to herself, and the illusion vanished with it.

She began breathing lightly, fine beads of sweat forming on her forehead.

"Was that... a memory from the past?" she murmured, her fingertips still resting on the dummy's gash as her heart pounded.

The crystal near her heart trembled again, and a line of text appeared on her retinas:

[Magic Circuit Skill 3 Unlocked: Mana Tracing: Can read intense magical fluctuations left on an object and recreate fragments of the caster's memories from that time.]

Vera lowered her head and stared at her fingertips, where a faint trace of magical fluctuation still lingered.

"Mana Tracing..." she softly repeated the name of the newly unlocked skill, excitement glimmering in her eyes.

This ability meant she could touch magical objects and trace back the magical events they had experienced. She could even glimpse fragments of a caster's memories through lingering magical fluctuations.

It was practically like obtaining a key to peer into the past.

After all, there were plenty of objects left behind from the past inside Hogwarts Castle.

Even setting aside the treasures Voldemort had turned into Horcruxes, there were more than enough other things for her to investigate.

The only drawback was that Mana Tracing placed a considerable burden on both her mind and body.

"Looks like I'll need to control how often I use it in the future," she murmured. On the panel in her vision, her mana reserve had fallen to 20/30, while the recovery rate remained 6.5 per hour.

She still had 20 mana points left. Though she did not yet know how much mana casting spells would consume, she was already impatient to try.

After another short rest, Vera slowly raised her wand. The mana trail of that Severing Charm was imprinted in her mind with perfect clarity, every detail vivid.

Her wand tip traced the same arc through the air as she softly said, "Diffindo."

Golden light flashed beneath her skin. A faint beam shot from the wand tip and left a shallow scratch on the dummy.

Success!

Vera's eyes brightened. Though it was far weaker than the spell cast by the boy in that memory, this was indeed the first spell she had successfully cast since coming to this world.

That was the power of the Magic Circuit—there was no need for systematic learning. As long as she had seen a spell once, she could imitate its casting.

When she checked her mana again, only one point had been consumed.

In other words, ordinary spells probably consumed only one point of mana.

As for more aggressive jinxes or curses, or even the Unforgivable Curses, she had no way of knowing for now.

Vera took a deep breath and began practicing the spell in earnest, following the mana trail.

With every cast, she could feel mana circulating through her body, flowing along her Magic Circuit into the wand and helping her adjust her mana output and the angle of her gesture.

The Magic Circuit gave her not only the ability to learn, but also an acute perception of mana flow. It allowed her to clearly "see" the path mana took when a spell was cast and precisely adjust the distribution of every fraction of power.

Those golden threads began at the crystal near her heart, flowed along specific paths to her fingertips, and were then released through her wand.

The sensation was marvelous, like suddenly mastering an innate ability she had always possessed but never noticed.

Gradually, the spell's effect became more and more pronounced. At first, it could only leave shallow marks, but later it could carve deep gashes into the dummy.

"Diffindo!"

With the final cast, one of the dummy's arms snapped off and crashed to the ground with a bang.

Vera let out a long breath and leaned back against her wheelchair, a smile rising on her sweat-dampened face.

At this point, she had gained an initial grasp of the assistance her Magic Circuit could provide.

What interested her more now was the so-called Ancient Magic.

Ancient Magic

Vera stared at the broken arm of the dummy, scenes from her Magic Circuit's Awakening surfacing in her mind.

She gently traced the golden patterns on her wand, looking thoughtful. "If the Magic Circuit is an ability I already possess, then how am I supposed to learn true Ancient Magic?"

The crystal near her heart trembled faintly, as if answering her question.

Vera closed her eyes and tried to sink her consciousness into the core of her Magic Circuit.

In an instant, the golden patterns within her lit up, guiding her consciousness into that Void Space from before—

But unlike the last time she had come here, it now resembled a starry expanse. Countless points of light formed intricate rune arrays that floated in the void.

Most of the runes were dim and lifeless, with only a handful emitting light of varying brightness.

Vera swept her gaze over them, only for her attention to be caught by one particularly bright rune. She instinctively reached out, and the instant she touched it, countless pieces of information flooded her mind like a tide:

[Ancient Magic · Multicast (Beginner)]

[Effect One: Consumes 5 mana points to stack multiple effects onto the same spell. Current stack limit: 2 layers]

[Raise Magic Circuit level further to unlock additional effects]

Vera's breath caught slightly. The effect of Multicast... was practically like a skill enhancement in a game!

She eagerly withdrew from the space of consciousness and raised her wand at another dummy.

"Diffindo!"

This time, she deliberately guided her mana along a specific circuit. The instant the spell was released, the crystal near her heart suddenly turned scorching hot, and she clearly sensed the rune of Multicast lighting up in her consciousness.

As the incantation left her lips, two nearly overlapping pink beams burst from her wand tip and struck the dummy in a fan-shaped spread. The first severed its neck, while the second cut its waist cleanly in two.

The dummy's three pieces hit the ground almost simultaneously. Its upper body even exploded outright, scattering wood chips everywhere.

Vera instinctively raised an arm to shield herself, but several fragments still cut her cheek.

Warm liquid slid down her jawline, but a faint golden glow immediately appeared over the wound, and it healed in the blink of an eye.

Vera's chest rose and fell violently. That strike had consumed six mana points at once—one for the base spell and five for Multicast.

But the effect was indeed astonishing. If used in actual combat, it would be an unstoppable weapon.

Only four mana points remained in her reserves, no longer enough to try Multicast again.

Vera took a deep breath and calmed her racing heart.

She wheeled herself closer to the dummy she had completely destroyed, lightly brushing her fingertips over its uneven severed surfaces and feeling the lingering magical fluctuations.

This was the power of Ancient Magic.

Her lips curved upward in a satisfied smile.

Then, she lightly pressed a hidden pattern on her wheelchair. It was specially used to summon Kreacher and belonged to a form of elf magic.

As long as she was not somewhere like Hogwarts, where special magical wards blocked such things, Kreacher could sense it and arrive immediately.

"Miss!" Kreacher appeared in the doorway almost instantly, his tennis-ball-sized eyes widening in terror. "There's blood on your face! Are you hurt?"

"It's nothing. It's already healed." Vera took out a handkerchief and casually wiped away the remaining blood from her face. There was no sign of injury left there.

Only then did Kreacher breathe a sigh of relief. He eyed the wreckage in the room suspiciously, his gaze lingering on the broken dummy. "Did Miss cause these marks... Kreacher can feel a very powerful magical aura."

Vera did not respond to that assessment. She merely said softly, "Can you help me clean this up?"

"Of course!" The house-elf immediately sprang into action. With a casual gesture, the dummy's remains and scattered wood chips swiftly gathered together and returned to normal.

Vera quietly observed from behind him, watching magical traces unlike those of wizards, yet somewhat similar, flow from Kreacher's fingertips.

House-elves' magic was completely different from wizards' magic. Their mana flowed in a more primal and direct manner. They needed no wands and not even incantations; a single thought was enough to accomplish complex magic.

Vera watched those mana trails thoughtfully.

Perhaps... House-elves' magic was closer to Ancient Magic?

It was just that her mana was depleted now, so she had no way to test it.

Vera silently tucked the thought away. Once everything had been cleaned up, she quietly wheeled herself out of the training room.

Kreacher followed close behind, occasionally casting worried glances at her slightly pale face.

"Miss needs rest," the house-elf said stubbornly. "Kreacher prepared warm milk and blueberry muffins... and today's potion."

Vera's expression stiffened, but in the end, she did not refuse and allowed Kreacher to push her back to the bedroom.

Outside the window, the sky had already darkened. The last light of the setting sun slipped through a gap in the heavy curtains, casting a golden streak across the floor.

Seeing her return, Nox immediately jumped down from the bookshelf and lightly leaped onto her lap.

"Miss worked too hard today." Kreacher muttered as he placed the warm milk and muffins on the bedside table. He then took a small crystal vial from his pocket, filled with emerald-green potion. "This is today's potion. The apothecary just delivered it."

Vera accepted the vial, her fingertips lightly rubbing over the cool glass surface.

With the assistance of her Magic Circuit, she could clearly see the mana faintly flowing within the potion, as well as the pathways through which its various ingredients interacted.

"Thank you, Kreacher." She set the vial aside, her voice gentle but leaving no room for argument. "I'd like to rest for a while before drinking it. Go tend to your work."

After the house-elf left with his head drooping, Vera raised the vial before her eyes and observed the mana flowing within through the emerald-green liquid.

Those tiny mana trails had nowhere to hide from her sight—there were herbal extracts that repaired muscle damage, as well as several ingredients she could not identify for the time being...

Honestly, this small dose of healing potion had some effect, but it was more of a placebo than anything else.

After all, with her current constitution, she could not take potent potions like the one from before every day.

Vera returned the vial to the bedside table, wheeled herself over to the desk, and took out a sheet of parchment and a quill.