15 Manipulation of magic and its forms

Adam took a deep breath and calmed his mind. After returning to his normal self, he focused his attention on the book.

The book was thin, with a red cover. On the cover are several silver runes like the ones in the painting.

Just by looking at the runes, one could tell that they weren't normal.

It was something that had to do with Merlin, how could it be normal?

With a wave of his hand, Adam brought the book into his possession, he was surprised to hold it.

''Weighs nothing,'' he muttered.

The book felt thin, which one would expect it to be light. But what Adam felt was that there was nothing in his hands, as if he wasn't even holding the book. It didn't take long for Adam to understand that there was probably a spell in the book that negates his weight. With that in mind, he began to believe that maybe the size he saw on the outside wasn't what he really looked like.

Adam studied the runes on the cover and back, they were the same as the ones on the painting, he didn't recognize them. Due to his studies of runes, Adam considered himself an expert in common runes, and an expert in slightly more special runes.

''I can't notice even a trace of resemblance to the runes I've studied,'' he muttered, his curiosity rising. ''Not even the fire rune I managed to 'create' looks like this''

No matter how he looked at these runes he could not make out them, the entire pattern was different from what he had seen before.

His curiosity had already reached a level that was difficult to bear. With careful and slow movements he opened the book. Hoping that he could understand its contents.

''At least these I can read '' He sighed calmly when he saw that on the first page there was a sentence in normal runes.

''Your magic,'' Adam read.

''My magic?... Got it'' Adam soon realized what the sentence was asking, he should pour his magic into the book, not a spell.

Just your magic in the pure form of 'energy'.

During his conversation with Merlin, he learned that only those who possessed ancient magic could control the magic in pure form that existed in the Wizard's body.

It was only because of this that he could connect with Air.

That was information that made Adam look at his magic with different eyes. Besides that information made him feel stupid. He considered himself a genius in the field of magic, but for all these years, he never realized that his magic was different from others.

Luckily Merlin showed up to explain about ancient magic and how the magic they had worked. If not for that, Adam couldn't think how long it would take him to figure it out himself.

''Perhaps only when my age was advanced. As with Merlin'' Sighing he thanked Merlin once more. ''Thanks ''

''Merlin said that he had separated the path of a Wizard in ancient magic into two phases, the first was to merge pure magic with anything whether it was material or not, and it was in harmony in a simple way, as when I connected to the air to find the Horcrux, or by forcing your will.''

Adam still didn't understand the second part, and Merlin didn't explain.

''I should probably understand when to increase my understanding of ancient magic''

And of phase two of ancient magic, Merlin told him that if he wanted to understand it, he must get to the end of his Heritage, or find out for himself on the journey.

Adam didn't think much about it, he had barely taken the first step into the most basic level of ancient magic.

Returning his attention to the book, he concentrated the magic in his body and channeled it through his hands to the book.

The moment Adam's magic came into contact with the runes, a silvery light emerged from the runes. The light was reflected in Adam's eyes, who now appeared to be in a complete trance.

An hour passed before Adam blinked again. His body was dripping with sweat and your skin was pale.

''an alphabet,'' he muttered. His chest rose and fell with a mixture of tiredness and excitement.

During the trance moment, Adam could understand what was going on. He was getting an incredible amount of information straight into his brain.

''I feel like if the speed was higher, my brain wouldn't have handled it.'' He shuddered at the thought.

Adam had never read anything about there being magic capable of transferring knowledge. But since it was something that came from Merlin himself, he tried not to be too surprised.

But if he wasn't surprised at how he took the information, he couldn't do anything with what the information was.

He was surprised, now he understood why he couldn't read the runes in the book, they weren't ordinary runes, it was a unique language created by Merlin himself.

''He was really something…'' He murmured smiling.

Adam looked back at the book, now he could understand. Looking at the cover of the book Adam read:

''Ancient Magic - M''

Adam took a deep breath, a book written by Merlin himself, he understood very well the value of such an item, if this became public, wizards from all over the world would come after him.

Of course, Adam didn't intend to let anyone know about this. After your secret about having memories of the afterlife. Now, Adam had two more secrets: he possessed ancient magic, and he had Merlin's knowledge at his fingertips.

No longer containing his excitement, he ventured into the book. At the top of the second page was a question.

''How does it all start?''

Adam couldn't help himself when he saw the contents of the book. He thought it was a book like any other, bearing the results of a study. But it wasn't that, it was something better.

The hand holding the book trembled, he could hardly believe it, it wasn't just a book written by Merlin, it was a book containing his magical knowledge. There were the questions Merlin had asked himself, and the thoughts that had led him to an answer.

Adam sat in the armchair and thought about everything he learned that night.

'' In short, the four founders left Heirlooms hidden at Hogwarts destined for their heirs, but you took advantage and hid your inheritance divided between them, for your successor?'' Murmured Adam, as if he was still talking to Merlin.

''I bet the founders would come back from their graves if they could'' He can't help but laugh at the thought of it. But he didn't feel bad for them, that was better.

''After all, now everything can be mine''

Adam trembled with excitement, he couldn't even imagine how much he would earn when he got all the inheritances. No matter what the founders or Merlin had left behind, they would surely be relics. Even simple notes would be something amazing when coming from Wizards and witches as amazing as they are.

Adam couldn't hold back any longer, he cleared his mind and started reading the book, making sure every word was etched into his mind.

''How does it all start? ''

'' Spells are a manifestation of magic…but what is a spell really? How to create a spell? the answer I found ….''

From that day on, Adam spent all his time reading the book, even during classes his mind was going over his previous reading and seeking a better understanding.

The first year classes didn't deserve his attention, he could answer any question without any problems. I had already learned about all the early years material a long time ago.

For the next few days the only information other than the book he absorbed was that Harry and the others had survived the dark forest. But something there had scared the boys.

Knowing that Harry was fine, Adam didn't care about anything else and could just focus on his study.

''If nothing new happens. Harry's last challenge this year is the two-faced one in the room under the trapdoor ''

Adam didn't want to be involved in this latest event. And the reason was simple, it would do no good to interfere.

There was no way to kill Voldemort now.

Voldemort couldn't touch Harry.

There was no point in interfering, and in fact it was the original script that would prove important years later.

That way he can relax and focus on studying Merlin's book.

Adam was even lonelier now, no one saw him outside his room or the library, he never attended Quidditch games or participated in student games.

Of course this didn't go unnoticed by the teachers, but they didn't mind too much, Adam was still going to class, all his grades were perfect and he still came to ask questions from time to time, always friendly.

Teachers also noticed how their questions became even deeper than they already were. It just showed them how far above his peers Adam really was.

The teachers were well aware of Adam's deeds on Halloween night, they understood that Adam was a special kind of student.

What Adam had no idea, was that there was a certain director who started to pay more attention to him, watching him with deep eyes….

During his conversation with Merlin, Adam had laid out his rationale behind training to exhaustion, his focus on wandless magic, and many of his other observations, even his doubt about ancient runes to which Merlin had only laughed.

Merlin confirmed to him that one of the ways to increase his core magic was with the logic of exhaustion, working the 'core' like a muscle. But he reminded to him that this method was only really effective during adolescence.

If Adam wanted to keep increasing his magic core, he had to find another way.

Merlin hadn't explained how he could increase his magical power, that was something for Adam to find out for himself.

With that, Adam continued with his daily routine, but now he spent his reading time only with Merlin's book.

Today Adam had free time and he was in the exact room, among a dozen training dummies.

He was only wearing pants, his upper part was bare, sweat was pouring down his chest which even boyishly was starting to build muscle.

Adam didn't make any of his usual movements, there was no snapping of fingers or wave of hand or wand, he just stood there, connecting with his surroundings.

With his eyes closed, he felt the air inside the room, and let his magic merge with him, little by little, trying not to lose control.

Adam then opened his eyes and in the next moment three blades made of air came out from three different directions, and attacked the targets in the room. The first dummy left, smooth and fast. After breaking the first target, the blades broke into smaller blades, and went towards the other targets, attacking at the height of their throats.

Shortly after nine heads fell to the ground

''That'' he said satisfied. But then his expression changed and he dropped to his knees, breathing hard.

His chest rose and fell with each breath, sweat was pouring, his hair was soaking wet.

'' So this is my current limit ? '' him murmured disgruntled, but still satisfied with the progress had been making.

Adam wasn't using a cutting spell at that moment, he was fusing his pure magic with air and shaping the blades, the power was greater than that of an ordinary cutting spell. In addition to versatility, he could change the shape of the air at any time.

But the difficulty was just as high, not just using the spell, keeping it stable and functional, was the most grueling part.

He felt that the mental toll of using magic this way was more than ten times that of an ordinary spell.

Adam sat cross-legged on the floor and picked up a notebook where he wrote about his understandings. In this case he was describing the three types of forms of magic he possessed.

''First, the most practical way to cast a spell: using a wand and reproducing the spell and gestures correctly, in addition to having the will to perform it. That way, the spell will be 'calculated' automatically, even ordinary wizards can do it as long as I do everything correctly.''

Next to the description he wrote the pros and cons of the common form of spells.

'' Creativity is unimportant and ends up making the spell more obvious. An attentive Wizard can predict the spell by the initial sound of the words or the beginning of the gestures. The only advantage is that the mental, physical, magical wear is low.''

''The second way, without gestures or incantation: You still think about the spell you want to use, but skip the gesture and incantation part. In this way, it requires the wizard to mentalize the spell well and do the process of casting the spell manually, his intentions need to be clear and the loss of focus during the process can make the spell incomplete.''

''Having a good understanding of the spell is of utmost importance. You can lessen the wastage of magic by getting a minor trigger gesture, like snapping your fingers, or you could use your wand, but you don't have to follow the spell's gestures, a simple wave can serve as a trigger. The waste of magic is high for those who don't master this form of spells well, the mental wear to reason the spell is much greater than the mode with enchantment and gestures.

The biggest advantage is that this way of using spells is difficult to predict, and by not using gestures and enchantment, your spell evasion will be as fast as you can calculate.''

Adam understood this second way of using spells well. That was the way he used magic.

When he was more comfortable he would just make a simple hand gesture or snap his fingers, these were the triggers he usually used.

But there was also the way he fought the troll, waving his wand. It wasn't a gesture of a spell, it was just a nod, a simple movement. That way he still did all the calculations for the spell himself, but used his wand to channel the spell.

And then finally there was the form he'd been training for the last few weeks.

''Third way, don't use any spells. In this form of using magic, I connect my magic with the environment, and force my will upon it. Similar to transfiguration, I can change something's original form. The difference is that I do not change the original material in any way, I only model its external appearance.''

''Creativity is of utmost importance. There are no limits to how much of your magic you can deposit in a single move. There is no need for movement or words, even small gestures are discarded. By connecting with the environment, everything under your control can be molded to your will, with no limitations other than having enough magic power.

''Weak points; it takes a lot of magic power, it's like maintaining a tug of war against the natural force of the element or the world? I still don't know. Physical and mental wear are very high, almost making it unfeasible. ''

After finishing the notes, Adam felt that for now he should continue with the second mode of magic. At least until he could increase his magical, physical, and mental power, until that happened, using the third mode would be self-sabotaging.

''Unless the situation demands it, I should avoid using ancient magic outside of training'' He sighed at the thought of how much he had been suffering during training,

Adam was training less than half the time now and he was already exhausted. A few times his vision became blurred and he almost fainted. It was a horrible feeling, and only the future projection of what he could do by mastering this method kept him going.

By spending less time training, Adam spent more time reading. In this way he advanced a great deal in Merlin's book.

As he progressed through the book he understood the depth of knowledge Merlin had about spells and magic itself.

The world itself was magical, if you could connect with the natural magic that controlled the laws of the world, you would reach a frightening level of power.

''If I could connect with all the air in Britain, wouldn't a single thought of mine make everyone unable to breathe? '' He trembled at this idea.

If he could connect with the whole world, wouldn't he be a god?

''I'm glad I'm the one with that power,'' he celebrated, just thinking about someone else holding the power capable of controlling the world was capable of bringing fear.

'control the world…' Adam shook his head and stopped his daydreams, whatever absurd idea he had couldn't cloud his mind. What he needed now was to better understand his magic and draw up plans to strengthen himself.

He knew it would be a slow journey, but he was more than willing to take it.

With this new addition to his training, Adam barely saw the time pass, soon the end of the school term arrived and the time feared by most students, the end of school year exams.

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Hello, this was a difficult chapter to write. I had a hard time putting into words my idea of the three ways to use magic. If you understood what I wanted to convey and have better words to explain each one of them, could you comment in the paragraph with your explanation? I would appreciate it.

Thanks everyone for reading.