Hogwarts Card System Chapter 055

In the entire magical world, there are a total of 11 universally recognized magical academies.

For instance, the three in Europe have had frequent contact through events like the Triwizard Tournament.

Additionally, the Bear Country also has one—Koldovstoretz.

However, the Bear Country will soon split into two. At that time, the magical world there will undoubtedly face great chaos.

After all, although the magical world wishes to separate from ordinary people, it’s actually impossible to do so.

There are only a few hundred thousand wizards in the entire world, scattered across various countries, making it difficult to form a complete society.

For example, the British magical world doesn’t engage in much production.

General food and raw materials are imported by the Ministry of Magic from Muggles through exclusive channels.

They even maintain contact with the Muggle Prime Minister.

Besides the Bear Country’s school, there’s also the Eagle Country’s Ilvermorny. In the movie Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, that’s where the main action takes place.

It seems that Slytherin’s wand turned into a big tree at that school~

There’s also the Little Sun Country’s Magical Institute.

According to Ted’s imagination, it should be something like the Onmyōryō? Specifically teaching Onmyōji and mages? Are there miko? He doesn’t know.

And the entire continent of Africa has only one magic school—Uagadou. It has the largest number of students, as it’s the only wizarding academy on the whole continent. As long as it’s not Wakanda~

Then there’s Castelobruxo in Brazil, built in the Amazon rainforest. It’s said they are very skilled in Herbology and Magical Creatures.

The remaining three are unknown, with very little external communication. They are likely teaching institutions that adhere to a principle of seclusion, like Kamar-Taj in the Himalayas~

Alright, just kidding. If that really appeared, it would be a tragedy!

And ancient regions like the Celestial Empire and India certainly have mysterious institutions that teach “magic” or something else by another name.

However, based on Ted’s understanding of the Celestial Empire, it must be divided into various sects.

The same goes for India, with many factions, some of which are quite legendary, like the Shaktism!

They advocate that particular act to enhance power, the more people, the larger the scale, and the stranger the object, the better!

So, things like monitor lizards and crocodiles… I won’t say more, just experience it for yourselves~

In those ancient regions, many traditions are apprentice-based.

In Europe, the apprenticeship system has largely died out in recent years.

How could an individual’s teaching level be higher than an entire school’s? The only benefit is one-on-one instruction, but specialization would definitely be severe.

Through conversations with the twin sisters, Ted learned a lot about the magical concepts in India, especially concerning will, magic, and faith.

The Eastern “magic system” is almost entirely different from the European one.

Especially regarding faith. Indian faith is incredibly diverse!

The Celestial Empire is already chaotic enough, claiming to believe in whatever works, but India is even more outrageous, a tangled mess.

But they also admit that gods did not exist at first—but, but friends, but when more people believed, gods were born!

Gods are man-made!

So, over there, many of their gods are truly effective! Some people can indeed draw upon “divine power”!

This is very perplexing.

If I believe in the Flying Spaghetti Monster, will a great Flying Spaghetti Monster really be born, and then pasta won’t be overcooked?

This is somewhat similar to the concept of the “Chaos Faction.” After all, they can “seek help” from “gods” like Doraemon and Ultraman Tiga.

That “spirit summoning” theory of self-made gods is very similar to India’s.

Ted’s foundation is still too shallow; encountering too many fundamental things easily confuses him.

But even without considering the issues of faith and gods, the mere “appearance of magic” is enough for Ted to ponder.

In fact, Ted had already seen three or four hypotheses in the library.

Many wizards throughout history have researched the origin of magic.

Where does magic come from?

Where does the magic within a wizard’s body come from?

Some believe it comes from bloodlines, that bloodlines inherit magical power.

This is why most of the time, a wizard’s child is also a wizard. Even a Squib’s descendants may have the chance to be born a wizard many years later.

But there’s a problem: where did the first wizard, or the first generation of wizards, inherit their magical bloodline from? And where did this magical bloodline come from?

Could it be, like the Monitor Lizard faction, I mean the Shaktism, that it came from humanoid magical creatures?

It’s not impossible.

But wizards also have their pride; such a guess is truly unspeakable.

Some also believe that magic comes from a wizard’s will, that magic is born within the will.

Others say it originates from the soul, believing that a wizard’s soul is different from a Muggle’s.

Still others say it comes from nature, a kind of “beneficial mutation.”

There are even those who say it’s starlight—that’s right, some wizards who practice astrology and divination believe this. After all, the stars in the sky do have a great magical influence.

From the origin of magic, the origin of spells naturally follows.

Were spells invented by wizards, or discovered by wizards?

After comparing the data, Ted concluded that they were invented by wizards!

It’s important to note that young wizards causing various phenomena during magical outbursts do not need incantations, or even wands.

In other words, the earliest wizards might all have cast spells silently and wandlessly.

Later, to achieve more and more complex effects, and to reduce the difficulty of casting and learning, spells were summarized through long periods of use.

Ted’s understanding is: a spell is a kind of self-suggestion to the wizard, making them firmly believe that after performing these actions and words, the result will definitely occur. Perhaps a spell is even a kind of self-suggestion to one’s own magic.

This train of thought also suddenly reminded Ted of what Helena had said before—“In her final years, Mother indeed put aside runic spellcasting and many ancient magics, turning instead to researching some unusual magic.”

Runic spellcasting still exists, but it’s very rare now.

Because it requires very profound research into ancient runes, although it has advantages in some aspects, it’s not worth it when compared to the difficulty of learning.

So, in recent centuries, very few people have learned or passed it on.

Even the subject of ancient runes is only studied by alchemists—they need it for alchemy.

As for ancient magic, there’s even less to say. Since it’s called ancient magic, it’s contrasted with modern magic.

Most of it has been lost!

It is said that both the underlying principles and the casting methods are vastly different from modern magic. And their power and effects are astonishingly great.

Such power generally cannot be widely disseminated, for fear of causing upheaval and chaos.

It’s worth noting that Hogwarts now barely teaches any dark magic, let alone some highly destructive spells.

The Ministry of Magic, furthermore, does not allow non-Aurors to master overly powerful magic, as it is detrimental to their rule.

Think about why the Celestial Empire prohibits guns, and then look at the annual casualties from shootings in the Eagle Country, and you’ll understand.

In Rowena Ravenclaw’s era, roughly the tenth century, ancient magic should not have been completely cut off. At least for beings like the Four Founders, they must have had some contact with it.

So what kind of wondrous power could have made Lady Ravenclaw abandon her research into ancient magic?

…

Ted bid farewell to the twin sisters and returned to his dormitory, pondering left and right without finding a solution, feeling like he was just a tiny bit short.

Since becoming a psychic and mastering psychokinesis, he hadn’t experienced such a negative state of mind, this feeling of anxiousness and uncertainty, for a long time.

He calmed his mind and began to meditate, not allowing negative emotions to affect his state.

It was Christmas break, and his roommates had all gone home. Only Ted and Ansu remained, making the room exceptionally quiet.

Slowly, his consciousness began to spread outwards, quickly reaching the common room…

There was still that statue, and within it, the faint, indistinct cluster of thoughts.

Psychokinesis could perceive thoughts, whether from students’ pets, wandering ghosts, or even those magical portraits.

However, the sensations were completely different.

Pets’ thoughts were simple but lively and agile. Ghosts were similar but ethereal and very scattered—in reality, ghosts also found it hard to concentrate, often zoning out for days.

Portraits were different again.

If a person was a brightly colored, intricately composed oil painting, then a pet with simple thoughts was a simple watercolor painting with ordinary brushwork.

A ghost was a sketch with maximum detail but overall blurriness. And a portrait was a stick figure—simple lines, which let you know what it was, but couldn’t be called a good painting.

So what were the thoughts within the Ravenclaw statue like?

It was like a “bundled 3D image.”

The 3D zone can’t be without Tifa, just as Hogwarts can’t be without magic… Pfft~ I got distracted.

However, this train of thought still brought Ted some insight.

Now, looking at this cluster of thoughts in a special state, Ravenclaw’s final research must have achieved something. However, time was not on her side, and she eventually fell gravely ill for some unknown reason, not even seeing her daughter one last time.

It might have even been caused by a problem with her magical research.

Throughout history, countless wizards have died researching magic, especially when exploring completely unfamiliar areas that no one had touched before.

Since it was a “bundled 3D image,” what if he unbundled it and restored it to its original state?