Professor Brian's Spiritual World -
Harry murmured, looking at Hermione in confusion, only to find that the usually all-knowing Hermione had a look of uncertainty on her face that mirrored his own. He thought 'the spirit world' was something reserved for higher years of magic, so he shifted his gaze back to Cedric Diggory, but the look in Cedric's eyes told Harry that he wasn't any more knowledgeable than he was.
Gazing at the crowd of nervous young wizards, Professor Brain smiled faintly,
"You might still feel confused, well, I can take a little more time to give you an explanation--"
Professor Brain has his hands behind his back and is looking at this pristine world with admiration,
"The world is not real, it is a false world that I have created, this is a world - only thought can enter, I deprived you of thoughts, and put it in the concrete, into this world, and your true body still in gym class classroom --"
The young wizards still had their mouths slightly open, they could not fully understand what Professor Brain had told them, but they did understand some of it.
Firstly, the place where they are, is a world created by Professor Brain with magic.
"Creating a world with magic--"
Hermione murmured, suddenly feeling a desire to cry, because at that moment, her knowledge of magic was nearing collapse. She couldn't think of any single spell that could possibly do all this.
"False. Thought"
Harry lowered his head and looked at his hands. His palms clenched and then opened repeatedly, and he stared in disbelief. The incredible clarity of touch made him unable to believe that he was now false!
"But why did you bring us here? You created this world, aren't we supposed to be learning magic, Professor Brain?"
Slytherin second year witch, a pureblood witch from the eighth of the 28 houses of Gryffindor, was invited to the Sports class in Augusta. She was the only first year wizard who was invited in, Astoria asked in a delicate voice.
"Does that mean learning magic in this world will bring us convenience?"
"You guessed right, miss Greengrass -"
Professor Brain looked at Astoria with a fleeting glance, and then spoke to everyone,
"Ladies and gentlemen, all of you have experienced studying spells for a period of time. I imagine you must understand the difficulties that come with learning a spell you've never encountered before. Time – first of all, precious time; you need to spend a great deal of time practicing repeatedly in order to master a new spell. Out there, with just two classes a week, it's difficult to reach the pace I require. However, in this spirit world, theoretically, time can be significantly accelerated; that is to say, spending just a few hours here may only correspond to a few minutes outside."
Theodore Notts clenched his fist in his sleeve and looked at Professor Brain with great respect.
The Nott family has mastered ancient magical arts and they know how to manipulate time. They are the only family in the magical world that knows how to make a Time-Turner, though they handed over all of their Time-Turners to the Ministry of Magic and claimed that the art had been lost.
And it was because of his mastery of this art that Theodore knew just how terrible and difficult time magic could be. Yet, to his astonishment, Professor Brain had actually developed a form of magic capable of stealing time! It was unimaginable!
"Of course, I must remind you -"
Seeing Hermione's eyes shine with excitement, Professor Brain said seriously,
"The reason time speeds up is because the speed of thought increases, and this has strong side effects, placing a great burden on your bodies. So, do not indulge in the temptation of having more time."
Hermione mumbled a few times in disappointment, but also felt it was inevitable. She had once used a Time-Turner, using multiple ways to go back to the original time point to gain more time for study. But this method, if there were any mistakes, the consequences would be terrifying. And indeed, as Professor Brain said, it would bring great burden to the body.
"There is also another benefit to learning magic within the spirit world--"
After dispelling all unrealistic fantasies, Professor Brain began to speak again.
"I believe that in Professor Flitwick's Spell class, most people have experienced this, that is, even though they already know the spell and casting gestures of a spell, they still cannot master it--"
Poor Neville nodded frantically with a heavy heart.
"That's because a spell's success is not solely determined by the spell and the incantation, there are other subtle elements like the stability of the magical force within your body that's been drawn out by the spell, like the fluctuations of mental power behind focus, these are difficult to teach in class and can only be adjusted through repeated practice. However, in this spirit world, these issues will be even more intuitive--"
Professor Brain looked over each of the spell-enthusiastic students with his eyes, turned around, took out a spell.
As the spell was waved, one by one, wonderful three-dimensional structures, each glowing with a different color, were released from the wand tip. These structures were simple, consisting of a few lines, and complex, with as many as dozens of lines. Each mysterious structure hovered in mid-air, rotating itself continuously and emitting an incomprehensible fluctuation.
Harry stared at these various shaped structures, he could not understand, but still able to feel a sense of beauty from these structures, it's hard to describe. If a description must be made, Harry thought this was——the beauty of magic!
"Magic configuration!"
Hermione covered her mouth in surprise and said.
"Hehe, you know this, miss Granger."
Professor Brain chuckled and said,
"Indeed, in Professor Flitwick's first lesson on spells, he will tell you about the core of spells – magic configuration. But aside from that, he won't tell you much more, because it's quite a niche piece of knowledge. And for most people, this kind of knowledge is obscure and useless. But if you're aiming to improve a spell or invent new ones, you must understand this."
"I don't understand, Professor Brain--"
It was still Astoria who spoke earnestly, saying,
"Our purpose is to learn offensive magic, not to invent or improve spells, is it not?"
"Don't worry, miss Greengrass -"
Calling dozens of young wizards into the constructed spirit world and carefully ensuring that they will not collapse due to their accelerated mental speed, is a challenge for Augusta. After rubbing his eyebrows wearily, he continued to explain.
"Here in the spirit world, when you practice spells, the spells will not have any effect, but they will manifest the magic configuration of that spell. This allows you to visually see where your problems are. Different mistakes will cause different issues in the magic configuration you build, which means that with simple guidance, you will know how to adjust your casting."
Looking at a group of confused young wizards, Professor Brain spoke calmly,
"Don't worry, after trying it, you will understand disarming spell, knocking out spell, petrifying spell, obstacles spell. These simple spells, we think you must master——"
Professor Brain looked up, flicked his fingers, and many of the previously glowing structures dissipated in place. Four structures, each made up of about a dozen magical corridors, floated in front of the young wizards.
"My requirement for you is that these basic spells must be able to be cast silently."
"Silent casting?" Harry leaned forward and whispered to Hermione, "What does that mean?"
"It means casting spells without saying the incantation. It's very difficult, Harry. Even among adult wizards, not many can manage to do this."
Hermione looked at the wind-light and carefree Professor Brain, as if he was just giving them a piece of advice, not to make any noise when eating, and subconsciously rubbed her temple. Only then did she realize that they were just phantom images existing in the constructed world of Professor Brain's mind, they wouldn't even sweat.
Silent casting is a skill that will only be touched upon in NEWTS level exams. Among the young wizards here, only a couple have learned about this technique and have not yet managed to master it. Professor Brain's request made all the young wizards feel pressure, but no one raised any objections. By now, the value of this class needs no explanation.
"Then, let's start practicing. I believe you have all encountered one or more of these spells. First, get familiar with this way of learning, and then we can talk about the next things."
Professor Brain clapped his hands and smiled and said.
(End of this chapter)
