thefictionvixens Chapter 91 Attempting Multiple Casting
Chapter 91 Attempting Multiple Casting
Chapter 91 Attempting Multiple Casting
Friday afternoon at the Eagle's Nest was unusually quiet. Fabian was tending to his Whispering Fern, whose new shoots seemed to have unfurled a little more, and whose light was softer. Ernesto was adjusting his telescope, preparing for Saturday night's astronomy class. Wesley, meanwhile, was scratching his head, working on a paper on the history of magic.
Karen stood in the relatively open space in the center of the room, then placed a table in front of him and closed his eyes to concentrate. He recalled Professor Flitwick's masterful wrist movements in the memory screen, as well as the key points he had explained in the office. He slowly raised his wand.
The first step is not to cast a spell, but to "distract oneself".
He placed his left hand on the table, attempting to write. His right hand gripped his wand, trying to steadily trace the simplest glowing spell trajectory—
A circle. This is more difficult than dipping the wand in ink and turning the pages of a book, because the wand's trajectory requires continuous magical guidance.
The left hand's writing motions were stiff and intermittent, while the right hand's wand traces were crooked and distorted, drawing circles of light that were sometimes bright and sometimes dark, varying in size.
My brain felt as if it had been forcibly split in two, each part acting independently in a chaotic mess.
"Pfft—" Wesley accidentally laughed out loud. When he saw Karen looking over, he quickly covered his mouth. "Sorry, Karen, I didn't mean to! It's just that you look... well, like you've had too much of a slurry."
Karen sighed helplessly and stopped what she was doing. "It's really difficult. It feels like my brain is fighting a battle."
"How about we lower the difficulty?" Fabian suggested. "For example, instead of writing with your left hand, could you turn pages or flip through a book? Or could you change the spellcasting motion with your right hand to something simpler?"
Karen nodded, accepting the suggestion. He turned only one page of parchment with his left hand, repeating the process over and over. His wand, however, remained still.
This time, it felt a bit better. Although his left hand was still clumsy and made a lot of noise turning pages, the trembling of the wand tip in his right hand was noticeably reduced. He tried to distribute his attention evenly between his two hands.
"You've made progress!" Fabian encouraged.
Ernesto also put down his binoculars and observed with his arms crossed: "Keep your breathing steady. Tension will stiffen your muscles and make it harder to control."
Karen adjusted his breathing as instructed, feeling his tense nerves relax somewhat. He continued practicing, sweat beading on his forehead. Time passed slowly, his page-turning movements became smoother, and the stability of his wand tip improved.
Feeling he had calmed down enough, Karen put down his book. He took a deep breath, recalling Professor Flitwick's lightning-fast wrist movements. He focused his mind, concentrating his magic into his wand.
"Lumos!" he whispered, his wrist snapping with a tiny, incredibly fast flick!
Metaphor!
The tip of the wand suddenly burst forth with a light far brighter than usual, like a miniature sun! But this light was extremely unstable, flickering and twisting violently before extinguishing with a "poof," leaving only a brief streak of light and a faint burnt smell of magical overload in the air. Karen felt a tingling numbness in her wrist.
"Wow!" Wesley exclaimed. "Even though it failed, this light is powerful! Much brighter than mine!"
"The magic output is overloaded instantly, and the control can't keep up," Ernesto commented accurately. "The explosive power is there, but the sustainability is zero, and there's absolutely no control over the direction."
Fabian nodded in agreement: "Professor Flitwick's quadruple casting is stable and precise in every spell. What you need is to maintain meticulous control over every stream of magic while unleashing the burst of power. That's incredibly demanding."
Karen shook his numb wrist, staring at the tip of his wand, but he wasn't angry. "At least it proves one thing: through specific wrist movements and magic channeling, it is indeed possible to unleash a stronger magical output in a very short time. This is the foundation of multicasting. As for control and diversification—there's still a long way to go." A challenging glint flashed in his eyes.
That evening, Karen went to Professor Flitwick's classroom. Flitwick had already cleared the space, leaving only a few soft pad targets for practice.
"Good afternoon, Karen!" Professor Flitwick stood on his height-adjustable silver cushion, looking quite interested. "I heard you've been trying out that little trick? How's it going?"
Karen truthfully reported her afternoon practice and failures. "- My wrists are very sore, and I couldn't control my magic; it dissipated all at once."
"Haha, perfectly normal!" Professor Flitwick wasn't surprised at all. "The fact that you were able to unleash a stronger instantaneous flow of magic on your first attempt shows that your talent for perceiving and controlling magic is truly extraordinary! This is already a very good start!"
He jumped off the cushion, walked up to Karen, and waved his wand: "Remember, speed and control are both essential. Now, forget about multicasting. We'll focus on the first step: how to reliably cast a spell while moving at high speed."
He demonstrated an extremely fast but subtle "Expelliarmus" spellcasting motion, the red light striking a padded target precisely, causing it to tilt back slightly. "See that? Lightning fast, yet the spell itself is stable and controlled. The secret lies in the wrist's tremor—not a random exertion, but like a spring, accumulating power and then releasing it precisely at a single point! Simultaneously, your mind must be firmly locked onto the target, guiding that burst of magic!"
Under Professor Flitwick's patient and meticulous guidance, Karen practiced this high-speed single-target spell again and again. From "Flickering Light" to "Expelliarmus," and then to the simple "Obstacles." With each failure, Flitwick promptly pointed out the problem: Was the wrist angle off by a fraction of a degree? Was the magic concentration point too early or too late? Did the mental lock loosen at the moment of burst?
Sweat soaked Karen's temples, and the tingling and numbness in his wrists grew stronger. But with each practice session, he could feel a tiny bit of progress: had the flash of light lasted a fraction of a second longer? Was the trajectory of the red light a little straighter? Was the thrust of the Obstacle Charm a little more concentrated?
When training ended, Karen was so tired she could barely lift her arms, but she was unusually excited.
"Fantastic progress, Karen!" Professor Flitwick clapped encouragingly. "Keep this focus and perseverance! Remember how you felt and how focused you were today. Go back and continue to practice your basic distraction drills and wrist strength training. Next time, we can try immediately following a high-speed spell with a stable normal spell to practice the transition!"
"Yes, Professor!" Karen gasped, her eyes filled with gratitude and determination.
Saturday night's astronomy lesson was together with Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff. The astronomy tower atop the castle was bitterly cold, but the starry sky was dazzling.
Professor Sinister guided the students in observing the winter constellations through a telescope and creating star charts. Karen adjusted the telescope's focus.
Searching for the three stars of Orion's Belt. Those distant stars were not only bright, but also seemed to carry extremely faint, ancient magical fluctuations, like the breath of the universe.
"Karen, did you see Betelgeuse? That red supergiant, its position seems slightly off from where it's marked on the star chart?" Ernesto leaned closer and asked in a low voice, his gray eyes gleaming behind the eyepiece of his telescope. He had a pure love for the stars.
Karen turned the telescope in the direction Ernesto pointed and observed carefully. "Hmm, it is indeed slightly west of what the star chart indicates, about -0.2 arcminutes? Perhaps it's a minor error in the star chart itself, or atmospheric disturbance?"
"0.2 AMM? Is your eye made of a protractor?" Ernesto was somewhat surprised, then, somewhat unwilling to admit defeat, he carefully calibrated his telescope. "However, I tend to think it's atmospheric disturbance. The airflow near the ground is rather unstable tonight." He began to diligently record the observation data.
After class, the four of them wrapped their robes tighter and braved the cold wind to return to the warm "Eagle's Nest." The flames in the fireplace danced merrily, dispelling the chill.
Fabian immediately went to see his "Whispering Fern." In the comfortable and stable environment of the "Eagle's Nest," and under Fabian's meticulous care, this miraculous plant had clearly unfurled, no longer a tightly curled bud, but sprouting several small, translucent leaves radiating a soft blue-green glow. As Fabian approached, his heart filled with the tranquility of returning from observation, the glow on those leaves seemed to soften even further.
"It looks really good, Fabian," Karen exclaimed.
"It likes it here." Fabian smiled gently and carefully gave it some water.
Karen walked to the alchemy table, but instead of immediately engaging in complex research, she took out a special grip strengthener provided by Professor Flitwick for practicing wrist strength and stability. It was a small metal ball filled with magical quicksand that would flow irregularly when gripped and pressed, requiring continuous force to control.
As he rhythmically gripped and pressed, feeling the power in his wrists and forearm muscles, he repeatedly "replayed" in his mind every detail Professor Flitwick had pointed out during Friday's training: the angle of the wrist, the point of power explosion, the mental lock—at the same time, Professor Castor's requirements for the mithril basic test also surfaced in his mind: flexibility, conductivity, and magical impact response.
Wesley sprawled on the sofa, watching Karen's focused expression, and sighed, "Karen, I feel like you live in two worlds at the same time."
One is practicing how to cast spells faster, while the other is researching how to build a stronger shield to block spells. Don't you find that contradictory?
Karen stopped using the hand gripper, thought for a moment, and shook her head: "It's not contradictory, Wesley. Just like Professor Flitwick demonstrated in the duel, offense and defense are never separate. A strong defense gives you more opportunities to attack, while a precise and sharp attack is itself a form of defense, capable of dismantling the opponent's offensive."
He picked up his wand and made a swift, feinting thrust. "Rapid and varied attacks will keep your opponent busy, naturally reducing their chances of attacking you. And a reliable trigger shield," he pointed to the notes spread out on the alchemy table, "is your last resort when you can't dodge or block. Ultimately, their purpose is to better control the situation and protect yourself and those you want to protect."
Fabian smiled and said, "Karen is right. The paths of magic are all interconnected. Professor Flitwick's fast attacks require precise control, and Professor Victor's emphasis on the research of basic materials for protective gear also requires extreme precision and rigor. They are all honing your understanding and control of magic."
Karen nodded, gripping the magical quicksand ball tightly again. He felt an unprecedented sense of groundedness. Neither Professor Flitwick's artful multicasting nor Professor Castor's required alchemical foundations were miracles achieved overnight. They both required day after day of tedious practice, rigorous experimentation, reflection on failures, and reverence for the basics.
The road ahead is long and arduous, but every step is clearly visible. Study Professor Castor's notes and conduct the basic mithril tests;
He practiced the techniques taught by Professor Flitwick, honing his distraction control and high-speed spellcasting. These two seemingly different paths, like spiraling staircases, were both strengthening his foundation and propelling him to greater heights.