Regulus of Hogwarts: Lord of the Stars

Regulus thought to himself, then got up and left the window.

Before he left, he took one last look at the row of planting troughs. The remains of twenty mandrake plants still lay in their original places; Agnes would take care of them.

He pushed open the greenhouse door and returned to the main house. Regulus went upstairs, opened the door to his room, and collapsed onto the bed.

Ten days.

He had slept less than twenty hours in ten days, and even with his mental fortitude and physical strength, he felt fatigue seeping from every cell of his body.

Star trail meditation can restore energy, but it cannot replace sleep. Some things must be replenished in the most primal way.

He closed his eyes, and his consciousness sank into darkness.

When I opened my eyes again, it was bright daylight outside the window.

Regulus lay on the bed, staring at the wooden beams on the ceiling for a while.

He felt a heavy sense of satisfaction, the relaxation that comes from a good night's sleep. He moved his fingers, and the magic flowed smoothly through his body without any stagnation.

Get up, wash up, and change into clean clothes.

Agnes was in the kitchen of another cabin when Regulus found her, she was using her wand to direct a bunch of carrots to peel.

Seeing him enter, she put down her wand, turned to face him, and said, "Mr. Black, are you leaving?"

"Yes," Regulus nodded, "Thank you for your help these past few days."

Agnes smiled gently, her eyes crinkling with wrinkles: "It's not much trouble, just delivering meals. I can't help with anything else."

Regulus took a small cloth bag out of his pocket and placed it on the stove. Inside the bag were thirty Galleons, which was much more expensive than the normal cost of food and lodging.

He didn't have to pay for the loss of the twenty mandrakes, but Agnes's labor deserved a reward.

Agnes glanced at it, neither refusing nor counting.

"Let me know in advance next time you come, and I'll tidy up that greenhouse on the east side again."

Regulus nodded and said, "I will. Goodbye."

Then turned and left.

Apparition landed at the door of number 12 Grimmauld Place. He steadied himself, took out his wand, and knocked on the door. The door opened in response.

The portraits of the ancestors on the walls of the hall seemed to be dozing off; only a few raised their eyelids to glance at him before lowering them again.

Regulus went upstairs to his room and took a shower first.

The hot water washed away the smell of the sea breeze that had accumulated over the past ten days. I changed into a clean, dark gray loungewear robe, made of soft fabric.

Then he went downstairs, arrived at the door of his father's study, and knocked.

"Come in."

Push the door open and go inside.

Orion sat behind his desk, holding a document in his hand. He looked up and his gaze fell on Regulus's face.

"I'm back."

"Um."

Orion put down the documents and leaned back in his chair. The way he looked at Regulus was different from usual; it carried something that could be described as expectation.

"How's the magic going?"

Regulus sensed the interest hidden in his father's tone.

His father knew why he went to the plantation: natural magic, mandrake.

In Orion's opinion, the medicinal value of mandrake is undeniable, but its magical value is not high, especially in combat.

The crying is loud and easily heard. If it is heard, you can use the Ironclad Charm or Earplugs to defend against it. The Bubble Charm will also work.

Moreover, mandrake itself is inconvenient to carry; in battle, carrying a potted plant and throwing it out is extremely inefficient.

It's not that no one has studied this before; the magical world has never lacked intelligent people.

Mandrake, this deadly plant, has been studied countless times.

The most common use is to pick up a mandrake, throw it when the opponent isn't paying attention, and then finish them off while they're covering their ears.

But it's rare to hear of an adult wizard being killed directly by mandrake.

So Orion was curious.

He knew his son wouldn't do things that others had already done to death, and for the past six months, he had been looking forward to every magical study Regulus undertook.

He even felt that anything, no matter how common, simple, or habitual, would become unusual after Regulus messed with it.

Regulus looked at him and nodded: "It's done."

Then he smiled slightly and said, "Expectations achieved."

Orion's eyebrows twitched.

He paused for a moment, then gestured with his eyes, as if to demonstrate.

My mind started to race. Was it a violent cry? So loud it would make anyone who heard it dizzy?

Or is it a targeted method of use that doesn't require pulling out the mandrake?

Regulus didn't speak; he simply raised his hand, his fingers twitching slightly.

Orion sensed something instantly; as a skilled wizard, his sensitivity to magical fluctuations far surpassed that of ordinary people.

Just as Regulus's fingers twitched slightly, he sensed a spell emanating from his son.

It is invisible, inaudible, and devoid of any color or light.

But it did happen.

The spell spread outwards like ripples from Regulus as its center.

high speed.

The speed is certainly fast, about 340 meters per second, just like the sound.

Since incantations use sound waves as a medium, they naturally possess the speed of sound propagation.

The ripples struck Orion's body, penetrating his skin, seeping into his flesh, and spreading throughout his limbs and bones.

The ripples struck Orion's body, penetrating his skin, seeping into his flesh, and spreading throughout his limbs and bones.

Orion frowned slightly; he sensed something was amiss.

It was an indescribable discomfort, like eating something bad, with your stomach churning and your throat feeling tight.

Even wizards can get sick from eating bad food. To make a comparison, imagine eating a piece of blue cheese that has maggots growing on its surface. That's the feeling.

I feel nauseous and want to vomit, but I can't.

A thought flashed through Orion's mind: Is that all?

This doesn't even have any real impact; it's just unpleasant. If Regulus could produce something like this in ten days, then indeed—

The next moment, the discomfort intensified.

But it wasn't that Regulus amplified the spell's intensity; the ripple struck the walls of the study, bounced back, and overlapped with the existing spell within his body.

The combined amplitude is greater, the magic is stronger, and that nauseating feeling is doubled.

Orion realized instantly that the spell would bounce off within the enclosed space, and its power would continue to accumulate.

If you stay in a small enough room and the spell lasts long enough, it can theoretically be strengthened indefinitely.

interesting.

He mentally considered practical applications of the spell, such as luring his opponent into a confined space, creating a sealed chamber in conjunction with a sealing spell, and so on—

Before Orion could finish his thought, Regulus increased the spell's magic output.

Orion's feeling instantly changed from nausea to dizziness, like sitting on a broom for too long, or like the dizziness after Apparitions three times in a row.

The things in front of me began to sway slightly, my sense of balance became dulled, and my brain felt like it had been injected with a cheap magic potion.

He recalled a time when he was young, chasing a rival wizard. He Apparated five times in a row, and when he landed, he fell straight to the ground. He lay there for ten minutes before he could get up. That was the feeling.

Continue layering.

After three consecutive rebounds, the dizziness became difficult to ignore.

Orion's magic began to gather automatically, a skillful wizard's instinctive reaction to a persistent threat.

He's considering casting the Ironclad Curse.

Regulus increased the intensity again.

This time the feeling was different; in addition to nausea and dizziness, there was a violent shaking sensation.

It felt like being trapped in a sealed iron box, with someone outside smashing it with a sledgehammer.

My internal organs were shaking, my brain was shaking, my eyeballs were trembling in their sockets, and although the pain wasn't severe, my whole body felt like it was falling apart.

Orion's expression finally changed.

He realized that this thing actually had some merit.

He raised his hand, but before he could even lift his wand, the Ironclad Charm had already been activated, and a semi-transparent barrier unfolded in front of him.

The sound waves struck the Ironclad Spell, blocking most of the magic; only a small amount penetrated the barrier.

However, the sound waves themselves were not completely blocked. The Ironclad Curse is not the Bubble Curse; it cannot isolate air, so it cannot isolate vibrations, and therefore it cannot isolate sound.

Even with the head-soaking spell, you need to soak your whole body; just soaking your head isn't enough.

Sound waves are merely a medium, yet their effect extends to the entire target body.

The ripple passed through the barrier and continued to affect him, but the magic that penetrated it was less, and its power was greatly reduced.

Orion sat in the armchair, his breathing a little heavier than before.

Regulus looked at him, a slight twitch at the corner of his mouth, and with a slight movement of his fingers, he withdrew his magic.

The magic that had permeated the study vanished instantly, and the sound waves disappeared in sync, leaving only the air still vibrating slightly before returning to calm.

Orion kept his hand raised for a few seconds before lowering it.

He sat there, his expression hard to describe.

His brows were still furrowed, his lips were pursed, and his throat bobbed as if he were swallowing back the nauseating feeling.

A few seconds later, he slowly exhaled, his breath long and deep.

Regulus stood there, a slight upturn at the corners of his mouth, a hint of a smile in his eyes, looking at his father.

Orion felt the spell completely dissipate, but the lingering discomfort in his body hadn't completely subsided. He cast a healing spell on himself, a regular one, to relieve the dizziness and calm his stomach.

He paused for a few seconds before raising his eyes to look at Regulus.

That look in his eyes was a bit complicated.