Harry Potter and the Secret Treasures - H.P.S.T Chapter 1696: Spellcasting Methods from a Thousand Years Ago

Helping others solve their problems was only possible when one had the ability and time.

At the moment, Evan had a mountain of his own troubles with no idea how to deal with them — how could he possibly spare the energy to help someone else? In the normal timeline, the Dark Witch’s magic and the ritual surrounding the evil god’s statue were still underway. Harry was waiting for him to mount a rescue, and members of the Order of the Phoenix were still locked in battle with the creations of the evil god.

Everything was a mess, a complete disaster!

And that was without even mentioning the fact that Voldemort could return at any moment.

Voldemort would soon realize that he couldn’t get any useful information from Grindelwald, no matter how much he tortured him, it was useless. Grindelwald was actually no less capable than Voldemort, and in some ways, he might even be stronger.

Fortunately, the two of them held fundamentally different ideals, making any alliance impossible!

Otherwise, if Voldemort were to release Grindelwald, the entire world would descend into chaos.

If it weren’t for the Time-Turner, Evan wouldn’t have had the patience to listen to Dalian talk for this long.

The current situation was that, due to some arrangement left behind by Lady Ravenclaw, the Time-Turner had brought him back to this point a thousand years in the past. The trouble he faced was that the Ravenclaw family was in the process of opening the Veil of Death, attempting to summon the evil god sealed within.

Once the ritual to open the Veil began, it could not be stopped by conventional means.

The only way to stop it was through ancient magic left by the Ravenclaw family ancestors — a piece of archaic sorcery so absurdly powerful that Evan found it hard to believe. Its specific effects, casting requirements, and the demands it placed upon the caster, and the consequences of using it were unknown.

Faced with magic of this magnitude, Evan felt that spending ten or even twenty years studying it before attempting to use it would not be excessive in the slightest.

But this annoying guy in front of him actually expected him to cast it now, to put an end to everything on the spot, leaving Evan with very little time to consider and study the magic, because the magical ritual outside was already halfway through.

Moreover, Dalian’s justification for needing Evan to cast the spell was downright ridiculous. Because he himself had no ability to cast magic, he had no choice but to rely on Evan.

This was truly… Evan was not sure what word best described how punchable this guy was.

And just to add insult to injury — this fellow was actually younger than Evan.

Yet he had been complaining nonstop about Evan being too young, not powerful enough, lacking strong muscles and sufficient magic. Was there anything in the world more absurd, more laughable than this?

Evan could tell you with certainty that there was!

That was the fact that he had to help Dalian. If he refused and simply walked away, then the Ravenclaw family’s attempt to open the Veil of Death a thousand years ago would succeed.

Whatever lay beyond the Veil — the despicable soul of Herpo, or something else entirely — would descend into reality.

From that point on, all subsequent history would be rewritten.

Because according to the history of Magic Evan knew, the opening of the Veil of Death had very clearly failed.   

The uncontrolled surge of magic had destroyed the Ravenclaw family, annihilated everything on this land, and not long afterward, the wizards of the Council of Elders arrived, retrieving the Veil of Death and sealing it deep beneath London, under the strictest protection.

From then on, the Veil remained there, along with many other legendary magical artifacts possessing terrifying magical power collected by the Council of Elders, until the establishment of the Ministry of Magic.

That was probably the whole story — wasn’t it clear enough?

The only remaining mystery was who had stopped the Veil of Death from opening that time. Evan had never known the answer. He had made countless guesses and conducted endless research, but judging from the current situation, there was a very high chance that it had been him all along.

“How ridiculous. I’ve been guessing and studying what I’ve done all this time?” Evan sighed. “Damn time magic! On the timeline, this was a magical event that happened more than a thousand years before I was born, but in reality, it’s exactly what I’m about to do right now. If I hadn’t come back or chose to refuse, wouldn’t the entire history of magic change?”

Never before had Evan felt the power of time so clearly.

The crucial point was that he simply couldn’t refuse. He was afraid that if he did, his own existence might vanish along with it.

This, truly, was the most infuriating thing about time magic!

“Alright,” Evan said, taking a deep breath and interrupting the still-rambling Dalian. “Since I apparently succeeded once before, there shouldn’t be any problem doing it again. What do I need to do?”

“What?” Dalian froze for a moment.

“Use this spell!” Evan pointed to the magic statue in front of him and said, “Use this spell left by your ancestors to stop the opening of the Veil of Death outside. What do I need to do?”

“Ah — you’re agreeing?! Are you sure you can succeed? As I said before, this is an exceptionally powerful piece of magic. You need immense magical strength to control and complete it,” Dalian said in astonishment. Noticing Evan’s darkening expression, he hurriedly changed his tone. “Alright… clearly, we don’t have any other choice, do we? First, you need a wand.”

Evan raised his wand. Was this guy actually an idiot?

The Dalian he’d met a thousand years later had seemed mysterious and wise.

“You already have a wand — obviously. Then there’s the spell,” said Dalian, pointing to the ancient runes formed by the floating magic orbs. “The incantation is right there. You just need to read it…”

“I don’t recognize these ancient runes!” Evan exclaimed. This guy was truly an idiot.

If he could read these ancient runes, would he still be standing here listening to Dalian prattle on? He would have studied them himself long ago!

“What? You can’t read these runes?” Dalian seemed to only then realize Evan didn’t recognize the characters. He continued, “You haven’t learned ancient runes? That’s one of the essential disciplines every orthodox wizard must learn! So many spells…”

“In a thousand years’ time, simplified casting is what’s popular,” Evan interrupted again. “Incantations have been vastly refined. A few words are enough to cast a spell. There’s no need for complicated magical rituals or equally complex ancient runes.”

From the way he was going on, it seemed the fellow intended to give him a crash course in spellcasting.

The spellcasting process a thousand years ago was not exactly the same as it was a millennium later; it was much more complex.

For many spells, wizards had to foolishly wave their wands about, chant long and convoluted incantations in odd cadences, and often rely on all sorts of auxiliary materials such as lizard tails, rat fur, and blood, or use elaborate rituals to infuse the magic.

The more powerful the magic, the more pronounced this was!

Translating_Wizard

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