A certain broken Hogwarts

Chapter 26 Spells and Wands

Inside the dormitory, the soft silver light cast a half-light, half-shadow on Irving's focused face. Outside the window, the ripples on the Black Lake sounded like a low, soothing whisper, mingling with the swaying water plants and lulling one to sleep.

Owen deftly twirled the utility knife with his fingertips, then tidied up the somewhat messy tools on the table and put them into his black leather bag. He picked up his newly made prop box and examined it thoroughly before pinching his brow.

The afternoon passed quietly, and night fell quickly.

Owen bent down and picked up the briefcase leaning against the table. The briefcase was covered in tough dragon skin, which had strong magical resistance and was not easily damaged. Its design adhered to the Shafik family's consistently understated aesthetic, with a pure black exterior that was restrained and profound. Only on the edge of the briefcase, in an inconspicuous yet absolutely unmissable position, was the Shafik family's black and white crest.

This suitcase, which was fixed with the Seamless Extension Charm, was only as wide as an adult's palm, but its interior was as large as a small bedroom of ten square meters. The contents were arranged neatly and orderly, and were clearly visible from the outside.

One side of the box had a bookshelf crammed with textbooks for the entire year of Hogwarts. Of course, since the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor and textbooks changed almost every year, Owen had chosen the most reasonable set of textbooks from previous years. In addition, there were some reference books he had bought at Flourish and Blotts, as well as several thick books he had brought from his family's library.

On the other side was Owen's luggage, which included several identical Hogwarts robes, a winter cloak, dragon skin gloves for class, and some other miscellaneous items.

Besides that, the majority of the space was occupied by Owen's homemade magic props. All sorts of props, big and small, in a chaotic mix of colors, filled the remaining space. Although many of them were useless in this magical world, magicians always need to be prepared in advance.

With a flick of his wand at the prop box beside him, Owen cast a levitation spell, waved his wand, and guided the prop box into the suitcase, where it landed lightly in a corner.

"The prop box flies in."

With a "whoosh," the red and white box obediently flew out again and was caught by Owen.

"Looks like you've got the Summoning Spell pretty well." Owen stuffed the prop box back in, picked up the suitcase and weighed it in his hand. After glancing at the time, he closed his eyes and entered the meditation space.

The wall-facing space now contains much more; several rows of bookshelves on one side are filled with copies of books from the library. In fact, if it weren't for the fact that most of the magical books in the forbidden section possess a certain amount of magic and cannot be copied at will, Owen would never have minded moving the entire forbidden section in advance.

On the other side of the space sat a cauldron, next to which were many potion-making ingredients. These herbs, which also possessed a certain amount of magic, could be easily replicated, leading Owen to speculate about the differences between them.

"Either it's a matter of the amount of magic, the herbs contain less magic than the books..." Owen's eyes shifted slightly. "Or it's... a matter of mindset. The magic in spellbooks comes from wizards, and its purpose is mostly to test whether the reader is qualified to read it—it's both a test and a protection. It inherently contains a portion of the book's creator's thoughts and will, and even if the creator dies, their ideas are imprinted in the book and passed down through generations..."

"Therefore, they can be said to possess a certain 'thinking' characteristic, while herbs obviously do not. This difference may be the root of the problem." Owen is more inclined to this conjecture, which is also easy to verify, for example, by trying to replicate the corpse of a magical beast one day.

"Alright, we can put these issues aside for now." He drew his wand and pointed to several mannequins used for practicing spells on the other side.

He collapsed to the ground, completely unconscious!

"Obstacles are numerous!"

"Torn apart!"

"Crushed to pieces!"

"Flames are raging!"

"..."

The practice was as monotonous as ever, but Owen's expression was incredibly serious. Mastering spells was the foundation for creating your own and even advancing your spells. Although understanding the principles of spells made learning them much easier, mastering them required nothing less than daily practice.

Through repeated arduous practice, one can grasp the feel of casting spells and the tactile sensation of mental fluctuations, find the subtle connection between syllable pauses, hand gesture changes, and the spell itself, and finally master the subtle and profound magical changes during the casting of each spell. Once one has grasped that "feeling," one can naturally master the casting of a spell without incantation.

This is the simplest and most natural way for ordinary wizards to master spellcasting without incantations: practice makes perfect.

Once a wizard has mastered and studied the basic principles of spells, they can better grasp the variations within them, greatly reducing the difficulty of casting spells without relying too much on arduous training and instinctive memory.

As wizards gain a deeper understanding of the principles of spells, they become qualified to create and improve spells. Just as Muggles who have mastered scientific principles can invent machines, theoretically anyone can do it, but it requires dedicated study, perseverance in the face of repeated failures, and a certain amount of talent and inspiration.

As for casting spells without a staff, it is completely different from casting spells without a spell, and it is also much more difficult.

Wizards invented the wand, much like Muggles acquired firearms. The wand regulated the chaotic and uncontrollable magic within wizards, allowing them to cast spells without relying on lengthy incantations and complex materials, achieving the feat of casting spells simply by chanting.

The wand is undoubtedly the greatest invention in the history of wizarding. It greatly reduced the cost of casting spells, making it simpler and more accessible for wizards to use magic. As a result, wizards grew rapidly, which enabled them to win wars against many magical creatures in ancient times and turn races such as house-elves into vassals of wizards.

However, it is also because of modern wizards' dependence on wands that most of them become "dumb" spells when they lose their wands, unable to even cast the most basic spells.

Enabling a wizard to cast spells after putting down their wand is similar to enabling a Muggle to fire bullets after putting down a gun. The two are not entirely equivalent, as Muggles cannot do it, but wizards possess magic, making anything possible. However, this involves a higher level of knowledge, and the complex spellcasting methods of ancient times are now outdated.

Despite its drawbacks, the invention of the wand undoubtedly represents a leap forward in the magical world, just as magic itself has always been evolving and progressing. Modern people are not necessarily inferior to their predecessors. Even though the existence of the wand may have made some wizards complacent, those with true intelligence have never stopped their pursuit of knowledge. And throughout history, it has always been these same people who have led the way in the development of the times.

When Irving got a little tired from practicing, he sat down at his desk and started working out the principles of the spell.

The principles of spells, much like the laws of science, were discovered and summarized by wizards over a long period of time from nature. Wizards observed magical phenomena in nature, studied the instinctive magic of magical creatures, and combined and applied numerous basic principles in complex ways to create the myriad forms of magic.

These fundamental principles are sometimes referred to as runes or spells; they all essentially mean the same thing. There are currently thousands of known spell principles.

The most basic "Flickering" charm is based on only one principle: "glowing"; while the Levitation charm is based on the principle of "levitation," but many wizards have learned to combine it with the principle of "power," allowing them to control the trajectory and speed of floating objects.

Wizards combine and apply certain principles in complex ways, along with corresponding incantations and gestures, to guide magic and enhance its effects, ultimately resulting in spells.

This is by no means a simple matter of permutations and combinations; it requires a deep foundation of knowledge and creativity, and also involves a certain degree of risk. Just as Muggles know that the principle of a generator is electromagnetic induction, would you ask them to build or even improve a generator based on this phenomenon? Many would say it's not difficult, and indeed, you should congratulate them for creating a generator equivalent to the Illumination Charm, and then tell them, "If you study nuclear fission principles a little harder, you can build a nuclear power plant..."

"Hmm, the principle behind the spell..." Owen closed his notebook, his fingers tracing the smooth hard cover, a faint smile playing on his lips. "Interesting."

(End of this chapter)