Magical Studies at Hogwarts...

Chapter 261 An Unexpected Breakthrough

A soft sphere of light floated silently in front of me, emitting a constant white glow, yet it could only illuminate the single step beneath my feet. Some unknown magic seemed to bind the light firmly between the steps.

Ike tentatively sent the orb of light above the next step, only to have it swallowed by darkness. Descending the steps, he saw light again.

This was quite interesting, a sight Ike had never seen before, even more intriguing than the strange rooms in the Department of Mysteries. Intrigued, Ike waved his hand, sending seven or eight orbs of light flying into the darkness before him.

He hadn't sent them very far, just above the next step. In just a few breaths, Ike had sent dozens of them over, yet there was still no light in the darkness.

He was also going all out. The cost of the Illumination Charm was negligible for him now, even after just finishing a fierce battle. Under these circumstances, Ike was really using the Illumination Charm to his fullest potential. Gradually, the orbs of light were no longer just soft white light. They became dazzling, changed colors, and flickered. All sorts of orbs of light, large and small, kept appearing in front of him, and then being sent into the darkness in front of him that seemed to devour everything.

And so, Ike stood there for more than ten minutes. He couldn't even remember how many Illumination Charms he had cast, and he had even used his wand. This hadn't happened in a long time.

After a while, the darkness before them finally changed. Other colors appeared in the pure black. At first, it was just a tiny dot, easily missed if one wasn't paying close attention. Then, more and more small bright spots appeared, twinkling like stars in the night sky.

Ike stopped casting the spell, lightly waved his wand, and cast a double protective spell on himself. He didn't know how many orbs of light he had sent into the darkness; judging from the current situation, some kind of change he wasn't aware of had occurred.

The bright spots flashed faster and brighter. Suddenly, all the bright spots stopped flashing, and then became blindingly bright. I seemed to hear the sound of shattering glass, and then all I saw was a burst of light.

Ike subconsciously narrowed his eyes, his wand poised to swing forward. Instantly, a series of clicking sounds filled the air as a huge ball of light flew rapidly forward, dispelling all the darkness and revealing the long, pristine white staircase beneath his feet.

He took off after him, running up the steps for several minutes before bursting into a brightly lit room.

Stopping in my tracks, my gaze fell on the ceiling, where a huge sphere of light floated silently, emitting a soft white light. Occasionally, other colors would flash across it, but they would be swallowed up by the white light in the blink of an eye.

Ike seemed to be deep in thought. He slowly raised his wand and gently waved it. The ball of light then spun and gradually shrank until it became the size of a billiard ball. Then it slowly floated down and finally stopped at the tip of the wand.

He reached out and squeezed it, and it actually became solid. He tossed it, and the ball of light flew high into the air and quickly landed in his hand, just like a real billiard ball.

"Hehehe...hehehe..."

Ike suddenly laughed. He never expected that this simple illumination spell would undergo such a qualitative change and give him an unexpected surprise.

The instant the orb of light landed in my hand, a few words suddenly changed on the useless notepad system in my mind:

Illumination Charm LV7, already learned!

It was truly an unexpected stroke of luck; Ike never imagined that the LV7 spell he had been searching for would appear under such circumstances. Although it was just a common illumination charm, an LV7 illumination charm was anything but ordinary.

With a flick of the wand, the ball of light vanished, and with another gentle shake, an identical ball of light appeared. Following Ike's guidance, the ball of light suddenly grew larger, then abruptly shrank. Even after controlling it to the size of a billiard ball, the ball of light hadn't reached its limit; it wasn't until it became the size of a marble that Ike began to feel the strain.

At this moment, the sphere of light had completely changed its appearance; its soft white color now faintly revealed a hint of gold. Touching it further revealed a slight warmth.

It's warm, almost like a hand warmer.

A smile spread across Ike's face as he played with the warm marble, a flood of inspiration and speculation washing over him. A briefcase flew out of his pocket, from which emerged a slightly worn notebook. It hovered in mid-air, opened, and a quill pen flew across the pages, jotting down the fleeting ideas and speculations that had crossed Ike's mind.

After a long while, the quill pen finally stopped, and the notebook closed obediently and flew back into the suitcase. With a casual toss, the bright marble in my hand flew to the ceiling, turning into the size of a soccer ball, and soft white light filled the entire room once again.

Only then did Ike turn his attention to his surroundings. Looking up, he saw bookshelves as densely packed as those in the Hogwarts Library, filled with all sorts of books.

Thick, thin, new, old, large, small—all were well preserved. Ike randomly picked one up; it was a book written in an unknown script, but judging from the illustrations, he could recognize it as the Bible.

I flipped through several books; they contained Latin, Ancient Greek, and even cuneiform. It seemed to encompass all the writing systems that had ever existed on Earth, enough to drive any historian and linguist crazy.

With a flick of his wand, the briefcase opened automatically, and books from the bookshelf flew in one by one. Although Ike didn't recognize most of the characters, he could learn them. With the Time-Turner, he'd eventually learn them.

Although they did not emit any magical fluctuations.

Wandering among the bookshelves, surrounded by a river of fluttering books, Ike slowly made his way into the inner part of the room. Gradually, magical fluctuations began to appear on the surrounding books, very rarely, often only one book on an entire shelf.

With a flick of the wand, the books automatically scattered; the non-magical books flew into the suitcase, while the magical books fell one by one to the ground beside it.

The quantity wasn't large; after Ike cleared all the books from the bookshelf, there were only three stacks, roughly a little over a hundred books. It was still excellent, considering Ike had never seen anything like it before, and some might even be unique or rare editions.

At this moment, Ike arrived at the far end of the room. Where a bookshelf should have been placed, there was now a square marble slab with three thick books on it. One of the books was open, covered with dense text and several illustrations, resembling magic circles.

The book was written in ancient runes, a script said to be used by the legendary elves. Ike didn't know much about it; the ancient runes he had learned were only a simplified version of ancient runes, and there were still some differences. But even so, recognizing the title on the cover was no problem.

A general history of the continent, a dictionary of runes, and this open book is the ultimate purpose of Ike's trip:

"Magic" — #%&@!

(End of this chapter)