Chapter 129: The Origin of Magical Runes
Chapter 129: The Origin of Magical Runes
The room fell into a brief silence. Albert hadn't expected Professor Broad to be so straightforward about this, but he nodded, indicating that he understood. Indeed, ancient magical runes were largely obsolete unless one needed to decipher old texts.
As for using them to cast spells? In Albert's knowledge, perhaps Dumbledore had such an ability. Whether others could skillfully use them was questionable.
It was like when he first learned English in his past life: the sentences in the English books required looking up each word in the dictionary to barely piece them together and guess the original meaning.
“Can I take a look at the runes on the parchment?” Albert pointed to the parchment on the desk and asked Professor Broad.
“Of course,” Professor Broad seemed quite curious about Albert's proficiency in runes. He didn't expect Albert to understand, so he didn't stop him from browsing through the parchment, as the runes on it were quite fragmented.
With Professor Broad's permission, Albert picked up the parchment and read it carefully. He found the runes on it very strange. Albert immediately recognized what they were—they were similar to the runes he had used not long ago.
Unlike the Muggle world's runes, these magical runes were interconnected, requiring individual study to decipher.
Albert noticed that some runes had annotations next to them, likely left by Professor Bathsheba or Professor Broad.
They meant... eyes, tree, spring...
Just a few brief words, but they made Albert frown slightly. He felt he was onto something but couldn't quite grasp it.
“Are these runes... scrambled?” Albert asked uncertainly.
“Yes, they are scrambled,” Professor Broad nodded. “As you can see, these runes are difficult to translate.”
“Indeed, they need to be taken apart and studied to be understood,” Albert said seriously.
Could it be that all ancient magical texts are like this?
No, Albert had read books on ancient magical texts before; the ones before him were clearly runes.
But who would be so idle to arrange a bunch of runes like this?
Albert didn't say this out loud, but he did think it. Few people could understand runes in the first place, let alone deciphering runes that were then compiled into a text. How many could truly understand it?
Or were these runes actually created by Professor Bathsheba for Professor Broad to practice ancient magical texts?
As Albert pondered, there was a sudden knock on the office door.
Katrina MacDougal appeared at the door of the Defense Against the Dark Arts office, looking surprised to see Albert standing at the desk, reading the parchment. She blinked, curious about how he ended up here.
Albert also looked up when the door knocked and met Katrina's gaze as she entered. He just nodded slightly at her and then continued focusing on the parchment.
The more he deciphered the runes on the parchment, the more Albert felt that something in his memory was loosening, but he couldn't quite figure out what it was.
“I just played two games of Wizard's Chess with Mr. Anderson. His skills are quite good,” Professor Broad said, noticing Katrina's puzzled look. “However, Mr. Anderson seems interested in ancient magical texts. Katrina, why don't you sit down and play a game with me?”
Professor Broad thought highly of Albert.
Katrina had already guessed this. After all, Albert was a genius, and geniuses were always treated specially.
“Focus,” Professor Broad reminded Katrina, noticing her distraction. “Don't mind others too much, just concentrate on your own tasks.”
“Mm!” Katrina refocused on the chess game. However, she ultimately lost the game. When she looked up in a daze, she saw that Albert was sitting at Professor Broad's desk, writing something.
“How dare he...”
“Professor, the runes on the parchment aren't complete, are they?” Albert had spent nearly half an hour translating most of the runes, relying on his grasp of runes.
“Oh? What makes you say that?” Professor Broad asked curiously. Albert was right; the runes were only a part.
“Well, after translating, they don't form a complete sentence.” Albert walked over with a parchment filled with letters. “I think this might be two famous verses from 'The Sayings of the Gods.'”
“The Sayings of the Gods, what's that?” Katrina asked, looking at the parchment in Albert's hand with curiosity.
“It explains the origin of runes,” Albert said simply. “Odin traded one of his eyes for the water of wisdom... In pursuit of higher wisdom, he hung himself on a tree for nine days and nights, piercing himself with a spear. His blood formed the runes on the ground.”
Albert translated the runes into text through a mix of guesswork and connecting them to what he had seen before, roughly estimating the content.
Initially, he couldn't quite react while translating. However, as he deciphered more runes, Albert could piece together most of the content.
Katrina looked confused, but she knew what runes were.
Compared to Katrina, Professor Broad was shocked and incredulous.
He hadn't expected Albert to decipher them.
Guessing? No, that was unlikely.
“Are you sure you just self-studied runes recently?” Professor Broad's face twitched, internally shouting, “You dare say you can barely understand?”
If this was barely understanding, what about others proficient in runes?
“Professor Broad?” Albert called out, puzzled. Only then did Professor Broad snap back and smile, explaining, “I'm not sure either. I'm just trying, but I think I'm right.”
“Professor Bathsheba would be delighted if you chose ancient magical texts. If you're interested, write to her, or perhaps...” Professor Broad thought for a moment, feeling that Albert might not even need lessons.
Honestly, there were still many runes left on the desk. Albert had deciphered, translated, and pieced them together without using a magical dictionary.
Professor Broad wasn't sure if Professor Bathsheba could do it, but he certainly couldn't.
(End of this chapter)
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