“It is ancient magic,” Percival said.
“It is an extremely special kind of magic.
When someone uses it, it leaves behind ‘traces’ like the vortexes you described.”
“Ancient… magic?” Isidora repeated Percival’s words, still confused.
“Very few people can use it, let alone see its traces,” said the last of the four.
“And Hogwarts itself is a stronghold of ancient Magic.”
“Then, Professor Bakar, if I can see its traces, does that mean I can use it too?” the girl asked Professor Bakar, her eyes full of excitement.
“Of course, Miss Morganach.” Percival nodded.
“But first, you must receive formal training.”
“Focus on the present, Miss Morganach,” Professor Bakar reminded her.
“Don’t let yourself go too far too quickly.”
“Before you begin practicing this kind of Magic, I think you would do best to master everything you can learn at Hogwarts first,” Percival said.
“Building a solid foundation is the most important thing.”
“If such powerful force were to fall into the wrong hands, it would surely cause tremendous destruction.
It must be held only by a select few,” Headmaster Fitzgerald warned.
“Therefore, we hope you will not speak to anyone about what we have discussed here today.”
“Yes, Headmaster,” Isidora said solemnly, then left the room.
The scene before Ethan dispersed once more.
A dizzying sensation of weightlessness tormented him, and when he came back to himself again, he had returned to the Pensieve chamber.
“Couldn’t this thing… be designed to be a little less awful?”
Ethan gripped the edge of the Pensieve, bent over, and could not stop dry-heaving.
There was no helping it.
Coming out of the Pensieve felt like driving a tractor at two hundred kilometers per hour, drifting in circles down a muddy country road without a seatbelt.
The feeling was beyond sour.
“Hmm… Professor Percival Rackham, Headmaster Fitzgerald, Isidora Morganach…”
Ethan wiped the tears from the corners of his eyes, straightened up, and thought back over the information from the memory.
So Hogwarts was actually a stronghold of ancient Magic.
No wonder something like this was hidden beneath the school.
There were actually people who understood ancient Magic.
And they were Hogwarts professors and students.
Then there were those people called the Ashwinders.
Who were they?
“Hmm.
I’ll have to look into this properly when I get back.” Ethan weighed the heavy book in his hand.
“I hope this book has what I’m looking for.”
The wall opposite the Pensieve had turned into a rippling blue screen of light.
Through it, he could faintly see the circular stone chamber beneath the Restricted Section.
“As expected, there’s always a shortcut back after clearing the dungeon.”
Holding the book, Ethan stepped through the light screen.
…
“Hmm, so this is the light blade magic I just saw… Ah, and this is the portal I learned by watching before…”
Ethan slowly climbed the spiral staircase while flipping through the book in his hands.
The book recorded many methods of using ancient Magic in detail, along with ways to learn them.
From small things like clearing dust, to great feats like summoning wind and rain, it was practically a one-stop textbook.
No, to be precise, it was more like a skill list.
Although Ethan could roughly learn the ancient Magic used by Percival and the others after watching a memory once, that was ultimately an unorthodox approach.
It could not compare to systematic, formal instruction.
For the simplest example, the portal he had opened before could only teleport him randomly within a rough range.
But if he learned according to the method recorded in this book, he could go exactly where he pointed.
The accuracy was absurd.
Of course, there were limits.
The portal could only send him to places he had already been.
On the other hand, this book recorded far too many spells.
If he relied solely on watching memories to learn moves, who knew how long it would take?
“No matter what, the Magic in here is too shocking.
Just in case, I’d better avoid showing off in front of students and professors as much as possible.”
Looking at the cheat in his hands, Ethan firmly decided that he had to keep a low profile from now on.
There was no helping it.
Many of the spells in this book were the sort that could change the entire genre the moment they were used.
For example, condensing a meter-long beam of magical energy at the tip of a wand to cut people down, where anything it touched would be sliced in two.
Or releasing multiple energy blade slashes from a distance.
Or shaping magical power into several phantoms identical to himself so they could cast magic together and gang up on the enemy.
Or firing a powerful energy beam that blasted the enemy until not even scraps remained.
The sense of déjà vu was simply too strong.
And if he really used this kind of Magic on people at school, he would probably get himself a private room in Azkaban that very same day.
By the next day, the Ministry of Magic would urgently revise its documents and expand the explanation of the Unforgivable Curses from one sheet of paper into an entire book.
He did not dare use it.
He absolutely did not dare.
“And this book…”
Ethan flipped to the last few pages.
These pages contained a detailed map of the area around Hogwarts, and the floating traces of ancient Magic on it pointed toward a certain place.
But the two most crucial pages had been torn out, making it impossible to tell where the map was pointing or what was there.
“Ugh.
Stuck on the main quest again.”
Ethan closed the book and sighed.
Missing pages like this were the hardest things to find.
For all he knew, they might have ended up in some toilet wastebasket.
This was rough.
Ethan went up to the second basement level of the Restricted Section.
Faced with the mess of clutter everywhere, the corners of his mouth rose uncontrollably.
Perfect.
He could use this to test the new skill he had just learned.
No more dealing with this pile of torture!
Ethan closed his eyes, calmed himself, and a faint white glow came from his body as he slowly floated into the air.
Under the control of his will, his body drifted over the dust-covered tables and landed beside the stairs leading to the first basement level.
“It’s convenient, sure… but it burns through mana way too fast.”
Ethan gripped the stair railing, panting heavily and drenched in sweat.
Although he could float in midair and fly, precisely controlling his speed and direction consumed a tremendous amount of magical power and energy.
He had only flown such a short distance, yet he felt more exhausted than if he had run ten kilometers, never mind increasing his speed or flight distance.
In a sense, it was not even as good as a Broomstick.
It was only useful in emergencies.
“All right.
Now I just need to go back the way I came.”
Ethan cast a Disillusionment Charm on himself and stepped onto the stairs.
As for why he did not simply open a portal, the problem was where to open it.
The thing caused too much commotion.
If he opened it inside the library, Madam Pince might notice.
The Marble Staircase and Entrance Hall were out of the question.
The portraits and patrolling Prefects were not there for decoration, not to mention Filch and Mrs Norris.
As for opening it in Gryffindor Tower, if even one student woke up early or got up in the night, everything would be exposed.
That was not even mentioning whether he could open one at all.
Hogwarts Castle’s magical barriers might block the thing outright.
Better to just walk back honestly.