Chapter 97: Spell Expansion

It was a simple bar chart. The horizontal axis consisted of: Creation, Protection, Cognition, Transformation, Energy Shaping, and Control. The vertical axis was a scale from 0 to 70.

The chart also marked the values for Murphy, Alex, and Selica. Murphy's bars were solid black, Alex's were hollow white, and Selica's were hatched.

Murphy glanced at his own: "Creation 27, Protection 42, Cognition 58, Transformation 35, Energy Shaping 30, Control 26."

He then glanced at Selica's: "Creation 37, Protection 10, Cognition 34, Transformation 29, Energy Shaping 10, Control 21."

Finally, Alex's: "Creation 10, Protection 18, Cognition 10, Transformation 10, Energy Shaping 27, Control 10."

"Are these values based on a ratio?" Murphy asked.

"Yes," Haldane said. "For example, your Cognition-type magic value is 58, which indicates that under identical conditions, the power of the magic you use in this category is 5.8 times stronger than Professor Alex's."

In that case, his magic power was indeed stronger than both Selica's and Alex's, significantly so in every dimension.

This put Murphy in a much better mood.

He had always felt his talent for magic was mediocre, which was why he had been so diligent at school, but perhaps he actually had a little bit of talent after all?

Oh, not necessarily; it might just be because this pair of siblings was too useless.

Especially Alex... tsk, it was simply pathetic and lamentable.

It was a pity this magic power tester hadn't been created sooner; otherwise, by comparing them, he could have known if his so-called "Second Awakening" was real.

"This thing is extremely useful for magic research," Murphy said. "Hurry up and produce some finished products, preferably the kind that can be promoted throughout the Wizarding World. We need to collect data from many wizards for these values to truly have meaning."

The values currently displayed were actually based on Alex and Selica, but these two might not represent the true situation of the Wizarding World.

A large amount of data was still needed, and only after analyzing the distribution and characteristics of that data could he understand what level his magic power was actually at.

"Understood. This is just a prototype device; we plan to miniaturize it. If possible, we could also use some spells to replace part of the mechanical functions. We already have some ideas, and we can probably produce a usable finished product in a month or two."

"Very good."

Murphy nodded. This sort of thing probably didn't have much commercial value, but when the time came, he could have the clerks at his potion shop or security shop test it. Collecting a few dozen data points would be enough to serve as a simple small sample to estimate the overall level of the Wizarding World.

"By the way, my perception of magic power seems to have improved..." Murphy roughly recounted what he had encountered in the village and mentioned that he had had a strange dream. Upon waking, he discovered his perception of magic power seemed to have strengthened.

"Do you remember what kind of dream it was?" Haldane was also very curious.

"I don't remember the specific content very clearly," Murphy said, not intending to reveal his past-life memories. "But I basically felt very stifled, as if I couldn't do anything. Later, I wanted to use a spell, but I couldn't cast it no matter what. I was very angry, and I tried with all my might to cast it, and then I succeeded. Oh, right, I seem to have made a house float, and it was wandless magic."

"That is indeed astonishing," Haldane said.

"We have studied the power of spells. Generally speaking, without a wand, the power of a wizard's spells is very limited. Even with a wand, being able to make a house that might weigh several hundred tons float is an incredible feat."

"However, this does indeed look like the signs of an 'awakening' as you described. Among the materials in the library, there are quite a few cases of children's magic awakening, some of which are very special. For example, ordinary wizards find it difficult to fly autonomously, but among children with magic awakening, manifestations of floating or flying are not rare. There are also children who unconsciously complete high-difficulty transformation magic, such as transforming others."

"And in these awakening cases, the wizard children did not use wands."

"Do you think the use of a wand actually limits a wizard's potential?" Murphy asked.

"No. Judging from the materials, wands make a wizard's spells more standardized and the effects more controllable, which is beneficial for increasing the power of spells," Haldane said. "But how children manifest those abilities that exceed ordinary spells is something we do not yet know."

"As for the situation you described, it might be that the pressure you suffered in that dream made you feel the same predicament as in your childhood, and you subconsciously and spontaneously used your magic power. But this point is also very incredible; in the library, there are no examples of a Second Awakening."

Murphy thought for a moment. Uh, could it be due to the setting of "a transmigrator having two souls"?

The magic awakening in childhood had nothing to do with him; when he transmigrated, the original body was already a young wizard.

So, was this awakening his own magic awakening?

This question couldn't be answered for the time being, so Murphy changed the subject.

"I previously tried to improve the Copy Spell, which basically verified your Will-guided Hypothesis," Murphy said. "That time I used the Copy Spell, it made me feel that perhaps we could also provide some guidance for other spells, making them exert effects different from their usual ones."

The specific effects of some spells in the Wizarding World are actually quite arbitrary.

For example, the Force Release Spell can open chains binding a creature, but it can also be used to untangle vines or make someone using a cross-arm lock on another person let go.

This is actually quite strange. If making a person release their strength is considered the original function of the spell, then making chains open is actually only conceptually seen as 'force release'.

This means that perhaps many spells can achieve the goal of expanding their scope of utility by changing some preset conditions or proposing paths that can be conceptually associated with them.

"I want you to conduct some exploratory research into the possibilities of this aspect."

"For example, can the Enlarge Spell enlarge what is seen? Thereby expanding a wizard's field of vision?"

"Or the Lock Opening Spell—can we use it to crack passwords?"

"And the Copy Spell. I think this spell has great potential for research. It can copy physical entities, so can it copy only specific information of the entity? After all, the amount of information in a physical entity is far greater than the amount of specific information it possesses."

"I am even very curious to know if it can... copy memories?"

Murphy had always kept Haldane's description of the Spellcasting Path firmly in mind. Increasing magic power currently had no leads, but Murphy felt that the two points of strengthening perception and increasing knowledge might be solved using these ready-made spells.

If he could use the Enlarge Spell to turn his eyes into a microscope, he would naturally be able to see finer things, which would provide the possibility of manipulating them.

And if he could copy memories, he could directly stuff the top-tier knowledge of Muggles into his head without any effort.

When that time came, with the knowledge of the world serving him alone, why worry about the great cause not succeeding?

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 98 =====