A brave man may not live, but he cannot die

Chapter 286 Ghost (Part 1)
The white porcelain cup holds fragrant black tea, while Basque cake and glassware containing sugar cubes adorn the side, making it a favorite afternoon tea combination among the people of Ron.

The tea had a slightly astringent aroma, the lighting was pleasant, and on either side of a large solid wood desk, Quinn and Amamiya Nene were elegantly sipping tea and chatting. Beside them was a gleaming fish tank with a note on it that read: 'After-school tea party'.

If it weren't for Celia's clumsy piano playing and the unbearable background noise, this scene would have resembled Ron Old Money's afternoon party.

"So, what happened to your friend Takaki?"

Amamiya Nene put down her teacup and asked curiously.

"After graduating, he became an arcanist. He started working hard at the Clock Tower," Quinn recounted, describing a fantasy version of "5 Centimeters Per Second." "He also got a girlfriend, but they broke up after a few years. He could never forget Ms. Akari."

"And what about Ms. Akari?"

She got married.

"Huh, what a normal story." Amamiya Nene hugged the Shiba Inu and scratched its chin with her fair, bony fingers. "Thirteen-year-old feelings, kids don't understand, it's normal for them to go their separate ways when they grow up."

Ultimately, Takaki chose to resign from his job at the clock tower.

"Quit your job at the Clock Tower?" Amamiya Nene was skeptical. "Is the job at the Clock Tower really that bad? Did you get fired?"

"Don't interrupt."

Unable to let go of his longing for Ms. Akari, he returned alone to his hometown, hoping to find his first love whom he hadn't seen for over ten years. Under the protection of the sun god, the two unexpectedly met face-to-face on a certain street one day—

"Wow!" Amamiya Nene covered her mouth with one hand, clearly intrigued. "And then? The classic extramarital affair scene? The sense of immorality...pretty good, huh?"

"There was no extramarital affair involved." Quinn thought to herself, "What books did you read in your teenage years?" "After more than ten years apart, Takaki didn't immediately recognize his former lover, and the two passed each other—"

"Huh?" Amamiya Nene asked, puzzled. "How can someone with such a bad memory become an arcanist? No wonder you were kicked out of the Clock Tower."

"I told you not to interrupt!" Quinn glared at her.

"Takaki felt a sense of déjà vu about the woman walking past. Ms. Akari felt the same way, and both turned to see each other's faces clearly. But just then—" Quinn suddenly stretched out his hand, and a simulated train, like a praying mantis punch, swept past, "an airship flew between them, its massive size blocking their view. When the airship flew away, there was no one left across the street from Takaki."

"Flying, an airship?" Amamiya Nene laughed in exasperation.

"puff"

A faint, suppressed laugh could be heard from the side.

"What are you laughing at?" Quinn glared, picked up a sugar cube and tossed it at the girl, landing squarely on her head. Although he didn't hit her hard, it still made Celia whimper and clutch her head, looking pitiful.

"How many times have I told you? Don't use your wrist! Lower it! Use your fingers to press your wrist down!"

Celia corrected her, sounding aggrieved, "...I said it was the first time."

Quinn was stunned.

This inappropriate posture was a first for Celia.

But it was not unfamiliar to Quinn.

Because that's how Mi Yutong is; when she plays the piano, her wrists are raised really high, like chicken claws.

This was a bad habit left over from practicing the piano as a child. Children don't have enough hand strength, so they use their wrists to help them play. And because Mi Yutong practiced intermittently, this bad habit remained into adulthood, and Quinn couldn't correct it no matter how hard he tried.

A normal piano teacher, upon seeing a student raise their wrist, would definitely raise their paddle and tap it down; after a few taps, the student would behave. But Quinn couldn't be too harsh on his girlfriend, so he could only nag her a few times each time he saw her, and then secretly raise their wrist again after playing for a short while.
Quinn instinctively wanted to look at Celia, but quickly suppressed the thought.

Don't think too much.

Even adults often make this mistake when they first start playing. When your fingers get tired, you subconsciously use your wrist to help support your weight; I did that when I first started practicing too.
"What's wrong?" Amamiya Nene asked, noticing him staring blankly at his teacup.

Quinn snapped out of his reverie and sighed, "I'm wondering if I should be stricter and find a stick to hit him. Usually, a few hits will fix him."

The saying goes, "Spare the rod and spoil the child." This applies to any musical instrument; a happy child can never grow into a performer.

Celia stared at him longingly, not daring to speak, her expression truly pitiful. Combined with her pure and elegant appearance, and considering her status as a British princess, there was a striking contrast.
If she truly had some strange sadistic fetish, then at this moment, the girl would probably be as tempting as a lamb waiting to be slaughtered.

Quinn walked over and gently tapped her wrist with a chopstick. Only then did the tense Celia reveal a silly smile, which sounded like she was being coquettish.

“If there’s a next time, it’ll be a stick,” Quinn said, feigning sternness.

"hey-hey."

"Hurry up and memorize the sheet music. get out of class is over when you've gone through it once. Don't press your little finger against your ring finger, keep it straight and don't press it down—"

Time flowed by amidst the stumbling, halting piano music.

"So, you got the inspiration for this piece of music from your friend Takaki?"

Amamiya Nene asked Quinn, who was sitting at the table across from her.

He was intently flipping through a book about body doubles, nodding absentmindedly as he turned the pages.

"Yes, actually my surname is 'Hans,' and my full name is Quinn Lonely Hans. I was born to be a music arranger."

Amamiya Nene didn't believe it at all, and feeling utterly bored, she stirred the sugar cube with her silver tongs as if she were drawing circles to curse someone.

Quinn had told her that these scores actually came from Earth and that he had no interest in being a pretentious copyist. Amamiya Nene, however, was only interested in the stories behind the music. She didn't hear any sadness or regret in Celia's playing; instead, it complemented the somewhat convoluted yet ordinary love story, both rather incomplete and ambiguous.

"It's almost 6:30, aren't you going back yet?" Quinn asked.

In the past, Amamiya Nene would have already left work and made a quick getaway by this time.

She has many evening activities: shopping, buying things, walking her dog, and enjoying royal skincare in a mansion the size of a palace. The only thing she doesn't study is arcane arts. Heaven knows how she became a magician.

"I'm not going back today; I'm staying at the academy."

"Hmm?" Quinn looked at her warily. Was this wicked woman going to take over his bed again?
"Why are you looking at me?" Seemingly sensing Quinn's wariness, Amamiya Nene said with an annoyed expression, "I'm spending the night in the library."

"You? The library?"

Quinn's eyes were like those of a working-class person who volunteered to work overtime.

"I need to look up some information. Also, it seems like Wangcai is about to molt, so it's better for him to stay at the academy."

She stroked the fluffy little dragon in her arms. Wangcai's expression didn't look like he was enjoying himself; rather, he looked extremely tired and about to fall asleep.

"I've been with the company for almost half a year, and this is the first time I've heard you say the words 'researching information'," Quinn said, praising his boss's diligence.

Speaking of which, when I went to her house last night, even though she was on her period, Amamiya Nene was still reading books. There was a small mountain of ancient books on theology, which Quinn remembered very clearly.

"So what are you looking at now?"

As Amamiya Nene sipped her tea, she glanced at the arcane book in Quinn's hand, "An Analysis of Arcane Circuits," one of the most recognized classics in the arcane world. The author was a genius arcane tuner who had served as the monarch of the Clock Tower six hundred years ago. The book's approach to disassembling and maintaining arcane circuits is still used today, and even arcane mages who are not arcane tuners can use the methods in the book to maintain their health.

"I'm thinking"

Quinn's gaze slid over the line 'Once the arcane circuits collapsed, they cannot be restored by human means'.

"If all the arcane circuits in my body are burned out, can I recover?"

That day, when he accompanied Celia home, the little tavern hidden in the alley was as unbearable to look at as the academy's barrier that reversed day and night in the eyes of the Demon King—this feeling was also given to the Eye of Grindelwald when it was fully loaded, which meant that the building possessed at least the mystery of a ninth-order arcane. The quality of an arcane mage's workshop was closely related to their ability. Quinn was not a Muggle and did not believe that a useless person with only theoretical knowledge could create such a terrifying workshop.

“Burned, an uncommon word.” Amamiya Nene replied casually, “If it’s just a depletion of mental energy, it can be cured by generating mana through the circuit itself or by overloading the circuit to run high-level arcane magic, although it’s troublesome. Blockages, misalignments, loss of control are common problems.”

These are problems that are almost impossible to solve outside, but here in Grindelwald. Although Amamiya Nene is not a matchmaker, her words carry enough weight.

"It's not that kind of problem. It's about burning, using some forbidden magical potion to forcibly stimulate potential, allowing the human body to reach the strength of an arcane artifact in order to continuously cast high-level arcane spells."

“Ah, I know this medicine—” As soon as Quinn mentioned it, Amamiya Nene understood. She recalled, “Professor Barbas from the History Department has it. It’s said to be a product of ancient ruins in the underground city, related to witchcraft. Drinking it can greatly increase mana conversion rate and mental resilience, and it also has pain-relieving and stimulating functions, which can do what you said.”

Quinn narrowed his eyes slightly, Barbastyrecia.

"That's it."

“That won’t do, it’s hopeless.” Amamiya Nene shook her head and said decisively, “The biggest problem with witchcraft is that it has no respect for mana. The effects of potions that forcibly modify the human body are not lasting and have serious side effects. This is not just overloading the arcane circuits, but causing them to self-destruct. After the fireworks dissipate, the person is finished. Drinking too much will kill you.”

“What if we absolutely have to save them?” Quinn asked.

"There's no way to save him," the little witch said with certainty. "Arcane circuits are part of the soul. The more powerful the arcane mage, the deeper the circuits are bound to their spirit. If the circuits are destroyed, how can the soul escape? And the mana stored in his body will also go out of control. Even if he doesn't go mad, the mana will automatically flood in and burst him."

"Use your imagination. If a seriously wounded soldier in the above situation were brought to the academy, what would the academy do?"

"Then let's use an artificial circuit. The prerequisite is that the soul can withstand it," Amamiya Nene said casually. "However, research into artificial circuits is strictly prohibited, so I'm not entirely sure."

Quinn's brow furrowed deeply.

"Well, there are also the methods of the cult, or some other random methods. There were many such cases during the era of the demon-slaying war. There were more failures than successes. In any case, it was very difficult."

"Could you help me find it?"

Quinn closed the book in his hand. "Anyway, you're going to the library. If you can find a case study, that would be best."

Healing a mage whose arcane circuits had burned out would, in Grindelwald's habit, be a case that would be discussed repeatedly in class. However, the reality is that no one knows whether the Dragon Sage from fourteen years ago ever returned to the academy.

Amamiya Nene looked at his serious face and remained noncommittal.

She neither agreed nor refused, but instead picked up Wangcai and got up to go to the library.

"Let's go, Xiaoxi."

"Okay! Bye-bye, Nene-sensei!" Although Celia's playing wasn't very smooth, she still said goodbye to Amamiya Nene with great energy.

Where is my goodbye?

Quinn had barely finished asking the question when the woman slammed the door shut.

Tsk, I thought the relationship between the two of them, who had gone through life and death together after returning from the abyss, would be better, but nothing has changed.

He didn't seem to care much and stood behind Celia to examine the girl's finger technique.

After the previous criticism, her ten fingers have become much more standardized when playing the piano. She was visibly tired, but she still gritted her teeth and maintained the standard.

Not bad, better than Mi Yutong.

There is no shortcut to learning a piece for beginners. Geniuses are few and far between. If you want to avoid making mistakes, you can only make mistakes again and again, correct them again and again, and go through it again and again until your hands and ears develop a conditioned reflex.

With repeated practice like water dripping on a stone, one can develop a musical mindset, begin to analyze and improve one's weaknesses, and thus progress more quickly. If one can maintain a humble and patient attitude, repeatedly going through this tedious process, one will eventually become an outstanding musician in the eyes of others.

As the sky grew darker, the girl finally played "5 Centimeters Per Second" for the first time in its entirety. Although it was still clumsy, she managed to play it.

Quinn nodded. "That's enough for today."

“I thought Mr. Quinn would praise me.” Celia closed the piano lid dejectedly. “I didn’t expect to regress. I’m sorry for the boast I made.”

"It's not exactly a regression."

Quinn sat down next to the girl, her faint fragrance wafting into his nostrils, and he held her hands in his own.

He could feel the two small hands he was holding tremble slightly, and Celia's pretty face flushed slightly: "Mr. Quinn."

"Don't move, let me massage it for you. It might hurt a little, but it won't be sore tomorrow."

It wasn't about taking advantage of the young girl, but rather using massage techniques to help her relax her tense muscles.

"Actually, you've made great progress today. I might have been a bit too strict before, but judging from 'Sunny Day,' your level is already beyond that of a beginner. You deserve praise, Xiaoqian."

Unlike Xia Dai'er's soft hands, Celia's small hands were more slender, with little flesh, and you could feel the bony texture unique to girls when you touched them.

Although she wasn't very fleshy, she didn't look bad at all. Her fingers were quite elegantly proportioned. The ancients described beautiful hands as "soft shoots," comparing them to tender grass that had just sprouted, straight and beautiful, just like the small hands in Quinn's hands.

He could feel her heartbeat gradually quickening.

Her breathing also gradually became heavier.

Whether it was due to the change in the massage pressure or because they were too close and she could feel the man's scent and warmth, it was hard to tell.

Quinn stared intently at the little hand in his hand, then lowered his head and asked softly:
Why did you choose this song?

(End of this chapter)