Sectumsempra

"It had been three days since the trip to Hogsmeade. On the second day, Kate somehow found out my address—an address Smith specifically used to receive letters—and joined the letter chat group.

But that also let me learn a lot of gossip that had never been mentioned in the original story.

And something else happened that made me happy. Kate told me that their trip to Hogsmeade had been reported, but surprisingly, Professor Filius Flitwick did not punish them, although the person who reported them had no evidence.

According to Kate's investigation, the person who reported them was named Percy, a redhead with the surname Weasley. This Percy often kept an eye on Penelope, which was very strange.

And after Penelope learned it was Percy, she deliberately played a nasty prank on him. Kate refused to say exactly what she did, so it looked like she had helped out too.

In the original story, given Penelope's personality, after feeling lonely, she would probably have left the common room filled with books and gone to read in the library. Percy had probably struck up a conversation with Penelope that way.

But now, hahahahahahaha."

It was another busy day of reading. Ryan could not help finding it a little strange. He had gone through

"A Beginner's Guide to Transfiguration"

"Curses and Counter-Curses"

"Magical Theory"

"Standard Book of Spells, Grade One"

"Standard Book of Spells, Grade Two"

"Standard Book of Spells, Grade Three"

"Standard Book of Spells, Grade Four"

"Major Discoveries of Modern Magic"

and other books, and discovered something very strange. Aside from brief incantations and the ways to wave one's wand while casting, everything else was rather idealistic.

The strangest was Transfiguration. There was only one incantation; translated into Chinese, it meant, "Change for me." The books related to Transfiguration were full of precautions, the consequences of dangerous operations, and theories summarized by previous practitioners.

And "Magical Theory" was filled with contradictory statements:

Incantations were merely keys and not important.

A single spell could have multiple incantations.

The more widely circulated an incantation was, the easier it was to learn.

It was best to learn the incantations of other countries locally.

Names were the shortest incantations.

In short, they were all observations born from experience. Ryan had actually sensed this long ago, since it had been reflected in the original story, but he had not expected it to be so idealistic.

Just like Sectumsempra, created by Snape, the Half-Blood Prince, in the original story. It was simply the words "Sectumsempra," with nothing else, and it had even been written in a Potions Class textbook.

Yet after Harry Potter learned of it and recited the incantation, he successfully cast it. How strange. It was not as though there was some magical network.

"Jack, find me some books about developing incantations."

"Yes, Young Master Ryan."

About ten minutes later, a large stack of books was placed before Ryan.

"Teach Yourself to Create Your Own Charms"

"The Book of Spells"

"Magic Decrypted"

"Stan Smith's Magic Teaching"

Teleportation, creating fire, parting water. We are all gods, wielding omnipotent power. We name our own authority and call it spells. We classify and name all phenomena, spread them abroad, and call those names magical script.

Mediocre people study magical script, explore themselves, create phenomena, name their wishes, and spread them.

So this was magic. No wonder one spell could have multiple incantations. They were merely different names, just as death had countless forms and wind had many names.

Sectumsempra was merely the name given to the phenomenon of invisible harm. But it had been created with malice, so no one other than its creator could lift the curse. After all, there was no way to know what dark emotion had given birth to the spell.

Just like George in the original story. His ear had been accidentally injured by Snape using this spell, while Tonks and the Weasley family could only stare helplessly, unable to heal him.

Ryan could not help recalling Snape treating Malfoy after Harry had wounded him with Sectumsempra. What emotions and phenomena did that long string of strange, almost songlike incantations represent?

"Sectumsempra." Ryan softly recited the incantation. An invisible blade flew out. Crack! The cup shattered.

At that moment, inspiration struck Ryan. Using the skill Detection to perceive it, he found that this incantation contained intense regret and the desire to harm and destroy someone. His Thinking skill began to operate. In the memory palace, "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" continuously flipped through its pages, stopping at Chapter Thirty-Three, "The Prince's Tale":

James raised an invisible sword. "'Gryffindor, where courage buried deep in the heart lies!' Like my dad."

So Snape had once wanted to go to Gryffindor too. He regretted going to Slytherin because of ambition and being separated from Lily, Harry's mother. As for the object of his hatred, it had to be James, Harry's father.

An invisible blade—no, an invisible sword was more fitting. The poison contained within wounds that could not heal unless the curse was lifted was the deep hatred he bore toward James—no, toward the four Marauders.

That made sense too. Years later, when Snape saw Lupin again, the twisted expression on Snape's thin, sallow face as he looked at Lupin had greatly startled even Harry.

That expression had gone beyond anger. It was loathing.

It was the expression Snape wore almost every time he looked at Harry's face. That made sense too. If the loathing had not been so obvious, how could Harry, whose ability to read people was maxed out, have wrongly suspected Snape in the first book? Of course, that was also because Snape was skilled at concealing his emotions, and because Harry had stopped being so cautious after entering the wizarding world.

Then Ryan suddenly recalled Harry's description of Malfoy's wound. Blood had gushed from Malfoy's face and chest like a fountain, as if he had been slashed by an invisible sword. Sure enough, Harry Potter was far too sensitive to magic. This could no longer be explained by simple intuition.

At that moment, Ryan felt as though he had connected to something. A long string of strange, almost songlike incantations spilled from his mouth.

He signaled Jack, who had repeatedly failed to restore the cup, to stop. Ryan recited the countercurse, then followed it with a short, "Restore!"

The cup returned to its original state. Charmcraft lv2 (49) → lv3 (59%) ↑

I've mastered the most brilliant way to lift curses, Ryan thought.

*But that's also because I have a god's-eye view. If I had to lift curses through the incantations alone, the Detection skill would need to level up several more times.

*Especially when I just had the thought of analyzing Avada Kedavra. The instinctive sense that death was imminent made me abandon the idea.

*What exactly did this magic contain beneath it?

*In the summer of his sixteenth year, Voldemort left the orphanage he had to return to every year and went in search of his relatives in the House of Gaunt.

*It should have been around the end of fifth year, close to sixth year. During that same summer, he also used Avada Kedavra, killing the Riddle family with the wand of his uncle, Morfin Gaunt.

*I originally thought Voldemort had invented this spell at that time and used it to kill his relatives.

*But after truly transmigrating here and gaining the Thinking skill, details I had not noticed before surfaced in Ryan's mind.

*In 1717, the Ministry of Magic classified the Killing Curse, Cruciatus Curse, and Imperius Curse as the 'Three Unforgivable Curses.'

*Therefore, the Killing Curse must have been invented before 1717.

*And Voldemort, Tom Riddle, was born on December 31, 1926.

*Hmm, I need to read more books.

But putting that aside, I just went all out, and Charmcraft only reached lv3?"

Ryan opened the status to check. lv3 (59%) Sectumsempra lv5, Protego lv2.

So that was it.