Exploring Runes

After finishing his reflections, Ryan picked up another book.

Runes—What Are Runes? described them this way: a ladder by which mediocre people learned magic.

Ryan was a little curious about why they were considered mediocre. But in his view, for ordinary wizards to learn or create magic without a system, relying solely on repeatedly practicing simple spells, was nothing short of a fantasy.

Creating magic was even more difficult.

Aside from those geniuses who could easily discover what they excelled at, produce phenomena, and name them.

Throughout history, some ordinary late bloomers had also managed to invent spells.

And what these people—whom the author of What Are Runes? called mediocre—mentioned most often was magical writing, especially Runes.

Runes were the same as Runes.

They had been born when Odin, Father of the Gods, hung himself from a tree for nine days and nine nights, contemplating the mysteries of the universe.

Each Rune represented the name of a certain phenomenon.

Ryan found a book about Runes that he could read at his current level: Odin? The Secrets of Runes.

The cover depicted a one-eyed old man in ornate armor. When Ryan opened the preface, he found a poem. He had seen it back when he was Zhou Yi, from the Poetic Edda's Sayings of the High One.

Hung for nine nights upon the wind-tossed tree,

Wounded by a spear; I was offered to Odin,

Myself sacrificed to myself, upon the great tree no one knew!

No bread to fill my hunger, no drop of water to quench my thirst.

I looked below and seized the Runes,

Crying as I seized them, then fell from the tree.

Huh. Ryan could not suppress his look of surprise.

It seemed those so-called experts from his previous life did have some skill after all. The "High One" mentioned here really was Odin himself. This was his own account of creating the Runes.

The book described the magic of Rune script. Its author even called it the secret of the universe, claiming that every wizard could find the Rune that belonged to them, resonate with it, discover their own understanding, and wield magic never seen before.

But in Ryan's view, it was more like that wall created by Font Smith in Alchemy Cabin. It tested a wizard's magical essence, except its creator had been far too powerful, leaving it saturated with traces of his magic.

Ordinary wizards could use it as a key to sense the corresponding magic, learn it, and create with it.

It was like going to a designer in his previous life. The less capable ones would usually show you a huge batch of pictures, have you pick the ones you liked, and then create something based on them.

The magic created through Runes was merely the work of low-level designers making secondary creations from images selected by clients.

It might be quite powerful, but the true power belonged to Odin, or to the later users of the Runes.

After being used by generations of wizards, the magic contained within the Runes had reached an unimaginable level. This did not refer to their destructive power, but to the point where any wizard who studied seriously could use them to learn and create spells.

As for why other magical scripts had not been passed down like Runes, from a conspiracy-theory perspective—

Perhaps the ancient wizards behind those scripts had not all died out yet.

After all, Odin came from Norse mythology, the only mythology with Ragnarok, where all the gods died.

Odin, that powerful wizard who could be called a god, had probably died completely.

And Ignotus Peverell, the wizard mentioned in the original story who might have been Death himself, probably had his own magical script as well.

Runes were truly convenient. Although it was an elective course only offered in the fourth year at Hogwarts, that did not mean it was difficult. In Ryan's opinion, the likeliest reason was that a stable regime did not need so many strange spells that no one except their creators could counter.

They were all destabilizing factors. You could not guarantee that something newly invented would not be Dark magic.

And a brand-new, unknown spell was a spark hidden in the haystack of peace.

Besides, Hogwarts had always favored happy education. Not that many young wizards could reach the level required to study it anyway.

Ryan also checked Easy Introduction to Ancient Runes, Runes Dictionary, Collection of Magical Glyphs, Magical Phonetics Chart, and Advanced Runes Translation—the textbooks for Runes class. Not a single sentence in them mentioned inventing or creating magic.

They were all massive volumes on origins and meanings, things meant to be memorized by rote. They were fine for book lovers looking to pass the time, but truly mastering them was practically a dream.

Advanced knowledge was all hidden in pure-blood homes. Hogwarts might have it too, but without a professor's recommendation, how could you be sure that what you found was not another equally superficial popular science book?

And when Ryan studied magical writing, he not only had the panel, extraordinary talent, and extensive knowledge—more importantly, the skill Detection made him even more formidable.

For ordinary wizards, learning Runes was like digging through a wall with a spoon. Ryan, however, was smashing through it with a hammer.

Ryan suddenly thought that if Hermione—or Harry, who possessed a talent for sensing magic—could learn knowledge suited to them, they would not have suffered as much as they did in the original story.

But these books were hidden away in pure-blood libraries to begin with. Perhaps even their owners no longer valued them, caring more about Galleons instead. Maybe only pure-bloods from Ravenclaw backgrounds, like us Smiths, would be different.

After Dumbledore took office, he had also deliberately moved some books he considered dangerous into the Restricted Section. It was truly difficult for Muggle-born wizards to rise in the magical world.

It was not just the pure-bloods. Even the Muggle-friendly Dumbledore had carried out a series of actions to restrict knowledge for the sake of the political climate.

As expected of a Gryffindor. He placed more importance on purity of heart and courage. If someone from Ravenclaw had become headmaster, they would never have done something like this.

Dumbledore's way of raising students could be seen from Harry Potter.

From the beginning, he had never intended to teach Harry much magic. Instead, through Harry's upbringing and one trial after another, he constantly maintained Harry's purity and courage, giving him what he called love.

In Ryan's view, Harry, with his exceptional talent, was better suited to Ravenclaw's path.

Ryan wondered whether anyone else had noticed that Harry, before entering Hogwarts, had actually been very insecure. Yet even under those circumstances, he had dared to say that he was good at schoolwork—and that was without having received a particularly good educational environment.

Dumbledore was not a qualified headmaster. At best, he was a qualified politician, just not one close to the political arena.

If Dumbledore had not developed that strange political aversion after his sister's death—refusing to hold power—then by the fifth installment, what business would the Ministry of Magic have had? He would have become Minister long ago and gone after Voldemort. Even if Voldemort had revived, he would have had no chance to rise again.

That was also why Ryan had never planned to give Dumbledore the guide.

Dumbledore always wanted to give others one last chance, and he was never decisive enough when it came to acting. If he gave the guide to Dumbledore and something went wrong because of that strange aversion of his, what then?

Ryan set down the book in his hands and could not help slipping into another distant condemnation of Dumbledore.

Sigh. There were drawbacks to having an upgraded mind as well. It was far too easy to let his thoughts wander.