Charm Summary

It had been a while since they left Ollivander's, but Ryan still could not stop running his fingers over his wand. The white-as-jade Aspen Wand was covered in strange patterns. Together with the compact, deadly Black Knight tucked against his chest, they made a perfect pair—one black, one white.

I'll call you White Knight, Ryan silently decided.

His disappointment at being unable to sense traces of magical fluctuations had already been swept away by the joy of obtaining a wand.

"Father, it's getting late. It's time to buy the books. Let's go to Flourish and Blotts."

"Not going to look around some more?" Jack asked with concern. Ever since putting on that Enchanted Hat, even Jack's tone had become much like that of George Smith, the father Ryan remembered.

Ryan could not help spacing out for a moment.

"No." Ryan answered decisively.

The sky had turned yellow by then, and there were far fewer people in Diagon Alley. Young witches out shopping, rough-looking wizards, and noisy goblins all headed toward the Leaky Cauldron, some in a hurry and others at a leisurely pace.

Ryan and Jack arrived at Flourish and Blotts as well.

The bookstore window displayed spellbooks as large as floor tiles, embossed with golden reliefs.

As they entered, the bookstore manager hurried over. "Hogwarts?" he unexpectedly asked. "Here to buy new books?"

"Sorry, not exactly. Here, this is the book list. These are the books I need. Give me one set of each. We'll send someone to collect them tomorrow."

The manager took the list, stared at it closely, and could not help growing excited.

"A Beginner's Guide to Transfiguration"

"Curses and Counter-Curses"

"Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them"

"Magical Drafts and Potions"

"Magical Theory"

"One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi"

"The Dark Forces: A Guide to Self-Protection"

"A History of Magic"

"Standard Book of Spells, Grade 1"

"Standard Book of Spells, Grade 2"

"Standard Book of Spells, Grade 3"

"Standard Book of Spells, Grade 4"

"The Complete Book of Venomous Fungi"

"The Monster Book of Monsters"

"Dragon Breeding for Pleasure and Profit"

"Dragon Breeds of Britain and Ireland"

"From Egg to Nirvana"

"Quidditch Through the Ages"

"Flying with the Cannons"

"The Broomstick Service Manual"

"Gadding with Ghouls"

"Holidaying with Hags"

"I Am Magic"

"Wanderings with Trolls"

"Voyages with Vampires"

"Wanderings with Werewolves"

"Year with the Yeti"

"Enchant Your Own Cheese"

"The Magic of Toasting"

"Conjure a Feast!"

"Unfogging the Future"

"Important Magical Events of the Twentieth Century"

"Great Wizards of the Twentieth Century"

"Major Discoveries of Modern Magic"

"A History of Modern Magic"

"Notable Magical Names of Our Time"

"Recent Developments in Wizardry"

"The Adventures of Martin Miggs, the Mad Muggle"

"Poultry or Pestilence?"

"Potent Potions"

"How Prefects Gain Power"

"The Invisible Book of Invisibility"

"Forgotten Ancient Magic and Charms"

"Omens of Death: What to Do When You Know the Worst Is Coming?"

"A Guide to Medieval Sorcery"—

"You want a set of all these?" the manager asked, trembling.

"All of them. What's the soonest they can arrive?" Ryan asked impatiently.

Had you ever noticed that when you went shopping, you always wanted to browse around before buying anything, as if time were worthless? But once you decided to head home, you would be desperate to return, feeling that anything you did was a waste of time.

Ryan was exactly that sort of person. Right then, he only wanted to get home as soon as possible and take a long, satisfying bath.

"They can be ready tomorrow. I just need to calculate the cost." The manager wiped the sweat from his forehead.

Jack interrupted, "I'll come back at nine tomorrow morning. Here are three hundred Galleons as a deposit. Bring the quotation tomorrow, and we'll settle the difference."

"Of course, of course." The manager replied hurriedly.

"Let's go, Ryan."

"Mhm." Ryan nodded, eager to get everything done and return home early.

Thus, after returning to the Leaky Cauldron and quickly heading upstairs, Ryan returned to the castle in Nottingham Forest with a crisp crack.

The next day, at around ten, Jack had already settled the payment and packed all the books into a small bag, while the bookstore owner beside him looked utterly unsurprised.

Meanwhile, Ryan was practicing magic in the training room.

Wingardium Leviosa! Ryan silently chanted. At the same time, he flicked and swished his wand. At last, the feather rose from the table and floated four feet above Ryan's head. "Nonverbal Spellcasting really is troublesome. I finally succeeded once."

Ever since acquiring the new books and wand, Ryan had also discovered the inconvenience of the Black Knight. The successful casting of common modern spells mainly depended on three parts.

First, the incantation had to be spoken according to specific requirements. For example, the Levitation Charm required Wingardium Leviosa—the "gar" had to be drawn out long and clearly. If pronounced incorrectly, one might end up like Baruffio, who said an "f" instead of an "s" and found himself lying on the floor with a buffalo standing on his chest.

Second, the wand had to be moved in a specific manner. The Levitation Charm required a flick and swish while chanting the spell.

Third was confidence: firmly believing that you could do it. This could replace the casting requirements for most spells. Except for certain advanced spells, such as Avada Kedavra, which required a strong and definite desire to kill, and the Patronus Charm, which required powerful positive emotions.

A small number of advanced spells only required the first and third steps, or the second and third. Or rather, their creators had deliberately raised the requirements for casting, intentionally omitting certain steps or never creating them in the first place.

In fact, as long as all three parts above were complete, and the emotional requirement—the third point—was not too demanding, even a first-year wizard could cast the spell successfully. This was also the path of modern magic's development.

As magic advanced, incantations became shorter, and specific wand movements were added.

This lowered the requirements for casting and improved stability. At the same time, magical power consumption decreased. Every casting would succeed at worst with insufficient power, rather than resulting in incidents where a single spell drained all one's magic or even life force.

Could you imagine it? In the past, casting magic required performing a fixed dance and making strange hand gestures.

With that much spare time, one might as well use a sword. Otherwise, another wizard would have chopped them to death long ago.

Modern magic changed all that. It was safe, swift, and efficient.

Once one understood and mastered a spell well enough, the first two requirements could gradually be omitted.

Casting with the Black Knight was somewhat strange. Waving a wand before aiming was in line with people's stereotypical image of wands.

But waving a gun around a few times before firing... for some reason, Ryan found it a little embarrassing.

Although Ryan could also recite Guthara Magic Gun with a blank expression.

Ah, what a hard life. I need to work harder and get most common spells to the Nonverbal Spellcasting stage, especially by omitting hand gestures whenever possible. Otherwise, the Black Knight can only gather dust—or rather, only dead people will ever see me cast spells with it, Ryan secretly thought.

It had been roughly three days since Ryan returned from Diagon Alley. Over those three days, he had mainly studied "Standard Book of Spells, Grade 1," "A Beginner's Guide to Transfiguration," and "Curses and Counter-Curses."

In his spare time, he had also read "The Adventures of Martin Miggs, the Mad Muggle" and "Holidaying with Hags."

"The Adventures of Martin Miggs, the Mad Muggle" was a comic series, Ron's favorite in his second year. It had several volumes, and its first issue had been published in the 1960s.

It told the story of Martin Miggs, a French Muggle dressed in a beret and striped shirt, accidentally entering the magical world. It was quite interesting, especially from an ordinary person's perspective. Wizards laughed at the Muggle, while Ryan, an ordinary person in his previous life, laughed at the wizards.

The author of this book was truly interesting. Hopefully Ryan was overthinking it.

As for "Holidaying with Hags," Ryan had specifically selected it from several of Lockhart's works. Its title was more appealing.

After reading it, Ryan found that Lockhart truly had some skill. The plot rose and fell dramatically, weaving otherwise dull facts into the story without making it boring in the slightest. Also, the hags were really pale—ah, no, really fierce.

Ryan no longer planned to go out. He intended to study magic at home until enrollment. Below were Ryan's latest stats.

Race: Wizard

Strength: 10 (the limit for ordinary people is 10)

Constitution: 27 (the limit for ordinary people is 10)

Magical Power: 18 (the limit for ordinary people is 10)

Skills: Thinking lv.2 (91%) Body Modification lv.3 (35%) Alchemy lv.2 (26%) Charmcraft lv.1 (89%) Potion-Making lv.1 (55%) Transfiguration lv.1 (43%) Gun Kata lv.1 (92%) Martial Arts lv.1 (86%)