HPS 110 (Patreon)

Chapter 110: The Grinder is Underway

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For an ordinary wizard, the talent they display in magic is extremely important. A talented wizard understands things instantly, while a lack of talent means pure effort is entirely insufficient.

The wizarding world doesn't emphasize hard work. Hermione studies diligently, but everyone praises her good grades by saying she has "great talent," not that she's "very hardworking." She truly is a genius, learning everything quickly; effort is just icing on the cake.

This means that unlocking a new charm field title is more important because it directly boosts Sean's charm talent.

After unlocking titles through three other Expert-level spells and upgrading his talent, grinding the proficiency for other difficult spells will be twice as effective.

This is what you call—early grinding drives later grinding.

Sean silently crossed out the Disillusionment Charm in his notes and wrote down the Quieting Charm instead.

This changed the combination of spells to be ground to the Expert level in the first row of his notes to the General Counter-Spell and the Quieting Charm.

In the pauses between Sean practicing the Quieting Charm on the Biting Bellowplants, three young wizards gradually appeared in the classroom.

Mr. Owl cried out, "Little wizard! Stupid little wizard!" as he let the group in.

"I heard that in Hogsmeade Village there are giant frozen juice balls, and when you suck on them, your feet float a few inches off the ground," Justin said with a smile. He then took a notebook labeled "Charms" from a sky-blue wooden bookshelf not far from the entrance and placed his "Herbology" notebook back in his bag.

"Hmm, I'm interested in a sweet treat sold at Honeydukes sweet shop in Hogsmeade—Fuzzy-Pegs Mints. The description says they clean the eater's teeth like dental floss when held in the mouth. Sounds decent," Hermione naturally took the Herbology notes and put the notebook labeled "Defense Against the Dark Arts" in its place.

Sean's notes were commonly used in the classroom. Thanks to his powerful ability to summarize and organize, as well as his scientific and precise descriptions, his notebooks nearly eclipsed the fuzzy, vague textbooks that sometimes confused even their writers.

With just one look, the young wizards would toss their old textbooks aside, as if the original teaching materials hadn't been written in English.

If they were, then why couldn't the young wizards always understand them?

"Oh—I really wish we could get to the third year faster," Justin sighed.

"Perfect timing—Sean, is it still the Levitation Charm today?"

"Mhm."

Sean nodded, and the two began their daily charm practice. Justin practiced the Levitation Charm, while Sean practiced the General Counter-Spell.

[You practiced the General Counter-Spell with Expert level Skill. Proficiency +50]

[You practiced the General Counter-Spell with Expert level Skill. Proficiency +50]

...

The small wooden board on the table slowly turned twice before quickly stopping, caught in Justin's hand.

Sean quietly waved his wand, without an incantation, and a chart with headshots of the group flew into his hand.

He wrote "Expert" in Justin's Levitation Charm column, then placed it back on the bookshelf by the entrance, in the easiest place to reach.

Justin grabbed the chart excitedly, muttering, "That's great, I finally reached Expert..."

Below the ExpertLevitation Charm, there was also an Initiate General Counter-Spell and an Initiate Aqua Eructo (Jet of Water) spell.

Hermione pretended to casually peek at it, then walked away with her nose in the air.

'She reached Expert ages ago,' she thought.

The wizarding world doesn't have clear grading for a wizard's spellcasting level. Only in the O.W.L.s (Ordinary Wizarding Level exams) are scores categorized as Outstanding, Exceeds Expectations, Acceptable, and so on.

But this is clearly a comprehensive assessment, and for different wizards, the difference in proficiency for different charms can be too great to compare.

Yet the Ministry of Magic's education system finds it difficult to individually assess the skill level of every wizard's single spell—that would be a difficult and pointless major project.

Perhaps it's because the charm itself is affected by the wizard's state, making its power unstable. Ultimately, it becomes hard for young wizards to judge the level of their spells, which makes it hard to spark an interest in practice.

But Sean had clearly optimized this step. The source of it all was simply his exploration of the General Counter-Spell—he wanted to know, 'what proficiency levels of charms can a General Counter-Spell of different proficiencies terminate?'

It surprisingly produced an excellent result. His grading criteria were based on his own spell performance at different proficiency levels, making them exceptionally accurate. The novel classification of charm mastery stages instantly ignited the young wizards' enthusiasm.

They suddenly felt like a BOSS whose health bar had been revealed, and it seemed a disservice to the wands in their hands not to cast a couple of spells.

"For spells or jinxes of equal difficulty, a General Counter-Spell of the same proficiency can resolve them very easily."

Sean silently wrote a line in his notebook, then added,

"The effect on higher-level spells significantly worsens, and some difficult and powerful spells cannot be terminated with a single General Counter-Spell.

Maintenance is always harder than casting and requires more magic. Simply terminating the flow of magic is unfeasible."

Sean wondered, 'Is that why some powerful spells require a corresponding counter-jinx to be neutralized? For example, Transfiguration and the Reverting Charm, or the Sectumsempra curse and its corresponding counter-jinx.'

The sky gradually darkened again, taking on a hazy, light purple hue.

The chill was still biting. Sean put away his wand beside the warm fireplace. His General Counter-Spell level had gone from (2200/3000) to (2650/3000).

He gained a full four hundred and fifty proficiency points. It looked like Sean would unlock the Expert-level General Counter-Spell tonight.

Unlike the difficulty he faced when learning the Nonverbal Levitation Charm, the Nonverbal General Counter-Spell was much simpler to learn.

The difficulty of nonverbal magic lies in the fact that a wizard accustomed to chanting spells feels very awkward when attempting a nonverbal one.

They have a strong, physical urge to utter the word, so they must use powerful willpower to suppress this urge, resulting in tightened lips or silent mouth movements—which is itself a distraction.

But Sean had already overcome this while practicing the Levitation Charm. Besides, nonverbal magic requires three points—emotion, firm will, and a precise spell concept.

None of these were difficult for Sean.

Therefore, when he stood still, silent, and fluidly waved his wand to completely counter and clear away all of Justin's Aqua Eructo spells, Hermione couldn't help but watch for a long time.

As for Neville, his mouth was wide open, looking like he could fit a goose egg inside.

Then, looking at the pathetic Initiate Levitation Charm on his own chart, a long-lost burst of drive swept through Mr. Longbottom's mind.

"Now that's a wizard..."

Justin's praise was always sincere and from the heart.

"But it's time for the handover with the senior students, Sean. Should we head out now?"