Mysterious Journey

Chapter 1052 Nick Nick Nick

In the magical world, delayed-effect spells are not uncommon.

In fact, the vast majority of "cursed objects" are essentially magical traps that seal evil curses.

As for Aileen and the others, they simply optimized and improved the activation method based on the original physical trigger, and upgraded the magic's entry and exit channels, directly turning the originally profound magic storage and release into a fool-proof loading and launching process.

On the other hand, considering the limitations of the manufacturing process, there were many restrictions on the spell slots attached to the first batch of "magic books."

First of all, it cannot bear magic that is too powerful—for example, the full-power strike of a wizard like Dumbledore.

Secondly, even though Aileen and the others used the Philosopher's Stone during the formation of the "spell slots," they still couldn't solve the problem of magic power dissipation.

As time goes by, the power of the spells sealed in the "spell slots" will gradually weaken until it completely dissipates.

Especially after 48 hours, the dissipation rate will suddenly increase sharply—according to previous experimental data, the effect will rapidly decay from the original 80% to about 15% to 20% within a day, almost turning Voldemort's Avada Kedavra into a nosebleed curse.

Finally, and most crucially.

While omitting the incantation and gestures, the "spell slot" activation requires greater control over the spell.

Apart from non-directional spells like "Protego," "Lumos," "Aqua Eructo," "Protego Totalum"... almost all directional spells, without exception, require specialized casting practice when activated, otherwise, there is a high probability that they will explode directly next to the wizard casting the spell.

Unlike other young wizards, Aileen, as a Veela hybrid, naturally possesses wandless magic abilities.

In other words, when she guides the release of magic, even her fingers or hair can mostly play the role of wand-like directional constraint.

In contrast, Hermione, Hannah, and Luna obviously couldn't replicate the "inhuman dumpling" approach. They received three recommendations in the novice tutorial: try to choose non-directional spells as much as possible, use a wand to guide the release of spells in the spell slots, and practice casting spells with the magic book diligently.

Regarding the selection of spell recording, Aileen couldn't offer too much good advice either.

After all, whether it was the "student personal terminal" or the "spell slot loading," these were all appearing for the first time.

One of the reasons why Hermione, Hannah, and Luna were able to receive custom-made models was also to collect user data and verify the effect during actual use, which was undoubtedly a very huge test for Hermione, who had some decision-making difficulties.

Compared to the other two little witches, she wanted to record too many spells.

After leaving the Great Hall, Hermione was thinking seriously. When they passed through the long corridor and arrived at the Charms classroom, she hadn't figured out what magic to record in the "terminal." However, she finally came back to her senses because it wasn't Professor Lockhart standing by the Charms classroom podium, but a familiar Hogwarts ghost—Gryffindor's resident ghost, Nearly Headless Nick.

"Si-Sir Nicholas?! Why are you—"

"Professor Lockhart has some important personal matters to attend to, so I will be temporarily teaching in his place during this time."

Nearly Headless Nick adjusted his raised ruff somewhat uncomfortably, and gave the little wizards gathered at the door an elegant rather than friendly smile. "Oh, come on, children—we can't have class in the hallway, can we?"

Some important… personal matters?

"So soon? I thought we'd have to wait until the end of the semester…"

Hermione frowned, glanced at Mr. [World], and subconsciously turned to look at Aileen.

As a reserve [Justice] Ms., she naturally knew what Nick meant by "personal matters."

But in her mind, such a thing should at least wait until the end of the semester to smooth out the problem using the spare time of the vacation, instead of detonating it directly during the semester—exposing a scandal while teaching at Hogwarts would cause no less pressure than a press conference during the holidays.

"Soon? I thought it was a little late—"

A hint of cold light flashed in Aileen's lake-blue eyes.

"The interest generated by debt is constantly increasing every day." she said, as if talking about Gringotts' debt, "Pacifying things and quietly dealing with black history is the breeding method of the Mimbulus Mimbletonia. The primary condition for Nirvana rebirth is fire and heat."

"But... if the fire is too fierce, aren't you worried that it will—"

"There's no danger to life, that's a matter of course—as for the others, if a person does something wrong, they have to bear the consequences."

"So, do you have any secret plans that you haven't told me?"

"About this? I'm afraid not, no."

The two talked in riddles as they walked to their seats with their bags.

Gilderoy Lockhart would leave Hogwarts sooner or later. As an outgoing, confident, and expressive young wizard, he wasn't very suitable for the job of Hogwarts professor. Perhaps he would return to school in the future, but in the short term, he was more suitable for the outside world.

But before that, Lockhart had to face the stains of the past, otherwise Dumbledore might be more inclined to smother him to death at the school.

Of course, there were many other possible branches, but Aileen didn't intend to explain them to the Calculating Machine Ms. one by one.

As the class bell rang, Sir Nicholas floated from the door to the front of the podium.

"Before Professor Lockhart left the school, he briefly introduced your class's learning progress to me…"

Nearly Headless Nick glanced around the class, his gaze passing over the white-haired dumpling in the front and looking at Harry and the others in the back row.

"I noticed that Professor Lockhart's teaching content mainly focuses on modern narrative and the novel field, but he has neglected some traditional poems and classics, especially the appreciation of some ancient literature. Therefore, during the next period of time, I will focus on strengthening this part of the teaching."

"Sir, we don't have any poetry textbooks, we only have these—"

Dean Thomas raised his hand and shook the book *Break with a Banshee* in his hand.

Other students in the class also whispered in agreement, looking confusedly at the Gryffindor resident ghost floating in front of the podium.

At Hogwarts, ghost teaching is not uncommon.

However, even Professor Binns's History of Magic was based on Bathilda Bagshot's *A History of Magic* to assist in teaching, and from what Nearly Headless Nick meant just now, the content he was about to teach was obviously not related to the "Lockhart series."

"Don't worry, in the long years, those words have been firmly imprinted in my mind."

Nearly Headless Nick replied with a smile, his tone elegant and appropriate, making people want to continue listening.

"And I don't have much teaching content. I mainly selected three classic articles in history as references. Now, you can take out your notebooks and quills and prepare to write down the names of the three articles we will be learning next. I will introduce their significance one by one—"

"The first is the *Nibelungenlied*—the story of the wizard Siegfried and his wife Kriemhild."

"And after that, we will learn the romantic legend of *Sir Gawain and the Green Knight*. Of course, I hope you can look at the literary descriptions critically and rationally during the learning process, and don't have any absurd ideas that knights are better than wizards."

"Finally, if there is time, we will focus on studying Thomas More's work…"

Nearly Headless Nick paused almost imperceptibly for half a second, his gaze sweeping across the face of the "Miss Fool" sitting in the front of the classroom.

"*Utopia*," he said softly.

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Hooray!