Regulus of Hogwarts: Lord of the Stars

Chapter 345 Father, do you know about the Manhattan Project?

Orion placed the teacup back on the table, the bottom of the cup making a soft tapping sound on the wood.

"When casting a spell, you must treat the target as a whole in your mind."

As Regulus spoke, his gaze fell on the stack of letters on the table.

"This stack of letters, dozens of them, are of different sizes and paper types, some thick and some thin, but when you look at it, there is only one thing in your mind: a stack of letters."

He looked back at Orion's face: "Lock this up, hit it."

Orion listened without frowning; he understood this—that's how wizards fight.

Casting a spell is simply casting a spell. You have a target in your mind, you cast the spell at it, and the magic will do the rest.

"A wall is a wall, a building is a building, and a manor is a manor," Regulus continued.

"No matter how many rooms, walls, or pillars it has, in the caster's mind, it's just one thing."

Orion nodded.

This wasn't a hurdle for him; it was more like a natural state of casting a spell.

But Regulus's next sentence was a bit unexpected.

"But this understanding is not passive; it can be actively adjusted."

Orion frowned again.

"A building," Regulus said, "you can treat it as a whole and attack it, the Disintegration Curse will affect the whole building, or you can just target its foundation, attack the foundation, and the building will collapse on its own."

He gave another example: "A mountain can be locked down entirely, or only a certain side of the mountain can be locked down, causing that side to break apart."

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He looked at Orion: "The precision of perception determines the scope of a spell's effect. The more precise the lock, the more precise the spell; the larger the lock, the wider the spell's reach."

Orion's fingers rested on the rim of the glass, gently swirling it around.

He always took it for granted that looking at the target and shooting at it was a matter of course, never thinking that the act of looking itself could be broken down and used separately.

Look at the size, the details, and the level.

Regulus took apart something he had been doing for decades, and once he did, he discovered that there was something inside that could move.

"What I just mentioned are things with form and boundaries," Regulus's voice continued from the other side.

"Stones, walls, buildings, mountains—they have outlines and boundaries; locking them up isn't difficult."

He asked, "But what if the goal doesn't have clearly defined boundaries?"

Orion's fingers stopped.

Regulus continued, "What if it were a flame, a body of water, a patch of air, a gust of wind, or even a space?"

Orion's brow furrowed even deeper as he looked at Regulus, his mind racing, categorizing them.

Bounded solids, rocks, buildings, mountains, easy to lock, easy to break, and immediately usable.

Flames are tangible but have no fixed boundaries; they are visible and perceptible. Locking them in requires greater cognitive precision, but at least there are grasps.

Water, being intangible and with undefined boundaries, is even more difficult to define; defining its scope is itself a cognitive hurdle.

Invisible and boundless, invisible to the naked eye, wind and air—what can be used as boundaries?

Perhaps the air in a closed room and the four walls can serve as boundaries, but this is a specific scenario and would not work in an open area.

As for space, that's too abstract.

He tried to focus his mind on the study space as a target, but found that his understanding couldn't reach it.

He can traverse space, but he cannot confine space.

It's not possible right now, at least not.

Orion's expression turned serious; he had realized what Regulus meant by "far exceeding expectations."

This spell is directly related to the caster's own qualities.

The total amount of magic power determines how big you can hit, the precision of magic power determines whether you can hit the target, and cognitive convergence determines what you can target.

The higher the quality, the stronger the spell.

Orion had seen too many spells. Most spells had fixed effects: the Fire Curse was to breathe fire, the Disarming Curse was to knock away a wand, and the Killing Curse was to kill.

The strength of the caster determines the power of the spell, but does not change the nature of the spell.

But this Disintegration Curse is different; it grows as the caster grows, and when used by people of different levels, it can produce completely different results.

Such spells do exist in the magical world, but they are extremely rare.

The Guardian Spell is one example; the stronger the caster's spiritual power, the more solid the Guardian Spell becomes.

The Occlusion technique is another example; the strength of the defense is determined by the caster's will.

But those are all on a spiritual level, directly related to one's inner state.

The Disintegration Curse is different; it only cares about pure cognition and magical qualities, without the involvement of emotions or mental conditions. It is simply a matter of brute force.

Orion remained silent for a long time, then looked up at Regulus.

His earlier judgment has been overturned.

Before entering the study, he thought that the Disintegration Curse was probably a war magic, powerful and useful, but its function was within the known scope.

He now realized that this thing was not in any known category.

It is a framework, and what can be put in the framework depends on how far the caster can go.

This is a growth-type spell.

Regulus said casually, "Father just asked about the upper limit. If the magic power is strong enough, the reserves are large enough, and the thought is clear enough..."

He looked into Orion's eyes: "Theoretically, there is no limit to this spell."

The study was quiet for a moment, then the flame in the fireplace flickered and crackled.

After a long while, Orion slowly nodded.

Regulus stood up, a smile in his eyes: "Want to give it a try?"

Orion looked up at him, then stood up as well.

Regulus raised his right hand, palm up, and magic surged from his body, gathering in his palm, and a structure began to appear in mid-air.

The main body is thick and bright, with several layers of branches extending upwards from the middle. These branches then branch into even finer ones, with the very end being a tiny point of light the size of a pinhead.

The entire structure resembles an upside-down tree, with roots at the top and branches at the bottom. Every branch is flowing, and magic flows from the trunk to the tip along a pre-designed path.

Orion looked at the model with a serious expression.

Unlike the completely unfamiliar feeling he had when facing the Disintegration Curse last time, he could immediately discern the pattern in this tree-like structure.

Its logic is explicit; there's no need to understand any abstract philosophical concepts.

"A tree-like branching structure." Regulus traced a line on the trunk of the model with his finger.

"The magic enters from the root, undergoes two and a half loops of modulation, narrows and compresses at the end, and then is released, the magic that comes out has a vibrational property."

Orion looked at the magic model, but didn't rush to do anything. He first scanned the structure from top to bottom.

The angle of the main trunk, the location of the branching nodes, the thickness variation of each branch, and the proportion of narrowing at the end.

He built a platform in his consciousness space, poured magic into it, and then ran through it.

The magic traveled halfway through the main trunk, reaching the first fork where it split into a branch, then dispersed within the branch, not completing its journey.

The branching angle deviated by a few degrees, and the magic, once inside the branch, lost its restraint and scattered on its own.

Dismantle it, adjust the angle of the branches, and rebuild it.

Running again, this time the magic completed two and a half laps and reached the end, but the release port did not eject; the magic was blocked at the tip of the needle and retreated.

The narrowing ratio at the end is wrong; it's too narrow, and the magic can't squeeze through.

Adjust the width by half an inch and run it again.

The magic was released from the end, but it didn't carry the vibration attribute; it was just ordinary magic.

The oscillation control at the node was not done correctly, and the transmission level and the oscillation level were mixed up.

He separated the two layers: the outer layer conducts, and the inner layer oscillates.

Running on, the magic starts from the main trunk, travels along the branching path for two and a half laps, completes oscillation adjustment at each node, and finally narrows, compresses, and pops out at the end release port.

The magic that emerged was yellowish-brown, and its edges trembled.

He opened his eyes.

Now that we have the model, the next step is to actually cast the spell, but the convergence window is a problem.

He gripped the wand, chanting the incantation in his mind, rehearsing the range and timing of his wrist rotation, confirming the window of less than a hundredth of a second between the release of magic from the tip of the wand and its contact with the target.

Regulus stood to the side, tapped his finger, and a brass paperweight on the table floated up, arced through the air, and landed on the floor in the center of the study.

The paperweight is small, about the size of an adult's fist, with a polished surface and the simplified coat of arms of the Black family engraved on the bottom.

Orion glanced at it, raised his wand, and aimed it at the paperweight.

The reverse hook, the chop, the wrist rotates half an inch at the lowest point.

"Quassare".

""

A brownish-yellow ray shot out from the tip of the staff and hit the target.

A ring of fine, shimmering light splattered across the paperweight's surface, as if something had exploded on the outside before the rays barely managed to penetrate.

The cracking sound from inside was shorter than expected; a rough crack appeared in the middle of the paperweight, but it didn't break apart, just cracked.

Orion looked at the crack, frowned, and slowed down the closing process.

The magic is still in a diffused state when it touches the surface; most of it is consumed on the surface, and only a portion penetrates inside.

He adjusted the range of his wrist rotation, pushed it forward a little, and relocked the paperweight.

Reverse hook, chop, wrist rotation.

"Quassare".

This time, no light debris was scattered when the ray hit, and the surface remained intact.

Before Orion could even frown, a series of fine clicking sounds came from inside the paperweight—not loud, but very frequent.

Then the brass split in the middle, with an uneven cross-section, breaking into seven or eight uneven pieces.

Orion put down his wand, looked down at the pile of broken pieces, and remained silent for a moment.

Then he raised his wand and pointed to a stone slab at his feet: "Quassare."

""

This time he didn't stop, and continued to unleash his power.

The yellowish-brown rays struck the surface of the stone slab. A fraction of a second later, a muffled sound came from inside the slab, the surface bulged, and then the entire slab crumbled into powder and fragments, which mixed together and spread on the ground.

The powder was very fine, grayish-white, and floated a few times in the firelight of the fireplace before slowly settling.

Orion put away his wand, looked at the puddle of powder on the ground, and a faint smile appeared on his face.

Regulus nodded, observing the effect of his father's spell: "Father is amazing."

Orion looked up at him, a hint of amusement in his eyes, as if to say, "Don't give me that."

He spoke in a relaxed tone, with a hint of a smile: "This spell does require a high level of control over magic, but it's not too difficult. The closing step requires a lot of practice. At the beginning, you can't balance speed and precision."

Regulus nodded: "You'll get used to it after a few tries."

Orion went back behind his desk and sat down again.

He had already mastered the basic form; breaking the paperweight and stone slab earlier caused almost no damage, it was just normal magic output.

But Snell Rock, a granite island the size of half a Quidditch stadium, would require a total amount of magic power that, even if not all of his own reserves, would be nearly as much.

In other words, Regulus's current total magical power, even if it hasn't caught up with his, is not far behind.

Orion leaned back in his chair, looking at his son across from him.

He remembered the last time he sparred with Regulus in the training room; that was about six months ago.

That duel wasn't easy, but it wasn't difficult either; he won with about 70-80% of his strength.

Only six months have passed, and the gap has already been closed to this extent.

At this rate, it won't be easy to take him down next time we face off.

He looked at Regulus, a complex mix of emotions welling up inside him.

There is pride, of course; among the generations of the Blake family, this son's talent is undoubtedly the best.

I also have some feelings of感慨 (gan3kai3, a feeling of mixed emotions, often including regret or disbelief). At thirteen years old, to be at this level, probably no one would believe it if I told them.

There's another kind of feeling that's hard to describe, like watching a kite you personally launched fly higher than you expected, the string still in your hand, but you no longer need to pull it.

When he failed to learn the Disintegration Spell last time, he felt regret, but also a sense of relief.

His son has reached a place beyond his reach. It's a pity, but the fact that he can't reach it means that his son has gone further than him. What does a father have to complain about?

This time was different. He learned something new, and in addition to feeling gratified, he also felt a sense of reality.

A single spell won't take him any further; he's already a fully-fledged wizard, but it has certainly broadened his repertoire.

In the future, when encountering situations where hard targets need to be dismantled, there will be no need to painstakingly bombard them layer by layer with explosive spells.

He looked at Regulus, wanting to say something, but then felt there was no need to.

Last time, when he tried to break the curse, he felt he couldn't reach it; this time, he actually got a hold of it.

What she touched was not only the incantation, but also something her son handed her.

He never hid his magic from him; he taught him about space warp, disintegration spells, and collapse spells, and even taught him step by step.

The three incantations, if they are later entered into the family's secret inheritance chamber, will become a new part of the Black family's heritage.

This item was not on the ancestors' inventory; it was developed by the current heirs.

The Black family's wealth increased even further during his generation.

The thought that the investors had received their returns flashed through his mind, and he almost laughed out loud.

Two Willow Trees, an initial investment of 100,000 Galleons, and now his son has not only created new magic himself, but also taught it to him.

As he was thinking about these things, Regulus spoke up.

"Father."

Orion looked up at him.

Regulus's smile widened, and his eyes shone.

"What you just saw was what the spell looked like when it was fully formed."

Orion's interlaced fingers tightened slightly.

The appearance when it is formed means its initial form.

There's more above.

Regulus's tone remained relaxed, but his gaze lingered on Orion's face for a moment before he asked, "Father, do you know about the Manhattan Project?"

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