Chapter 263: The Seed of Miracles
Chapter 263: The Seed of Miracles
On the first day back from the holiday, the students appeared in class with a renewed vigor.
Felix stood on the podium, looking at the seventh-year students below and said something that excited them: “Today’s class will be a bit different.”
The students’ attention quickly focused on the professor. If there was one thing they missed the most, it was last year’s Ancient Runes class. Back then, the professor had just arrived, and everything seemed fresh and carefree, as they were sixth-year students.
Professor Hup’s classes were filled with novel and interesting experiments, especially the practical runes section. But when seventh year started, all of that was swept away, like leaves in the wind. The reason was the same as for other professors—Newts exam.
But today, the old Professor Hup had returned.
“Professor, are we going to the practical classroom?” a Hufflepuff student shouted excitedly. Privately, the seventh classroom was known to them as the practical classroom for Ancient Runes.
“No need for that. We just need—” He snapped his fingers lightly.
The students were drawn in, their gazes momentarily dazed. But the next second, everything was back to normal, making them wonder if they had imagined it.
They looked around, and the blank expressions on others’ faces clearly showed they weren’t the only ones who noticed the anomaly.
“Alright,” Felix clapped his hands, “next, we need to improve the classroom—”
The students watched as the professor raised his arms, and the space in the classroom suddenly expanded. The walls seemed to stretch out, extending far away. Before they could fully comprehend what was happening, the classroom had grown a hundred times larger, and the distance between each student had widened to about four or five meters.
“Pro-fessor—”
The transformation wasn’t over yet. Lush green grass sprouted from the ground, Wand Trees grew tall, and warm golden sunlight filtered in from somewhere, accompanied by the clear and pleasant chirping of birds in the distance.
The desks in front of the students twisted and transformed into wooden platforms, resembling drawing boards.
One student tentatively picked up a handful of grass from the ground, watching it drift away before his eyes. He sniffed it carefully, and the lingering scent of fresh grass remained on his fingertips.
The podium in front of Felix disappeared, and he stood among the students, saying, “I’ve been researching the impact of emotions. While theoretically, all emotions are equal, positive emotions are clearly more beneficial to mental and physical health. Unless, of course, you’re content to immerse yourself in a black, stinky jar and watch yourself decay and rot.
This is also why people are averse to dark magic. However, I believe that moderate study of it has little impact, as evidenced by the Durmstrang Institute’s more lenient attitude toward dark magic.
To the point, I’ve been trying to create a more relaxed and enjoyable learning environment by altering the surroundings. Not only that—”
He looked at the students, his heart filled with a secret anticipation:
“I also thought, what if you could temporarily possess knowledge that isn’t yours, before you’ve gone through the arduous learning process? Would that make a difference?”
Felix waved his hand through the air, and ancient-looking magic parchments coalesced from the air, gently landing in their hands.
When the wizards’ fingers touched the magic parchments, golden light emanated from the unknown animal skin scrolls. Their minds were suddenly flooded with extensive knowledge about Ancient Runes. One student opened his mouth and spoke a string of obscure words.
Afterward, even he was surprised, as he had spoken fluent Ancient Runes. For a moment, he felt like a true ancient wizard.
The air seemed to still for a moment, then erupted in a cacophony of excited discussion.
“What’s going on? Did I just awaken some hidden talent? How did Ancient Runes become as easy as breathing?”
“I feel like I could easily ace the N.E.W.T. exam now! It seems like there’s no difficulty at all!”
Felix waved his hand again, and the surrounding noise diminished, leaving only his voice clear, “The student who said they could easily ace the ‘Outstanding’ grade, try taking your hand off the magic parchment and see what happens.”
The student did as he was told. The next second, his eyes nearly bulged out of his head, “I, I….”
“What’s wrong? Speak up!” the student beside him urged, growing anxious.
A girl beside him trembled and said, “The knowledge, it’s gone… No, not gone, but it never belonged to us.” She looked at the calm Professor Hup, “This knowledge belongs to Professor Hup.”
Felix nodded gently, his voice filled with a magical charm, “I cannot directly implant knowledge into your minds, but I wonder, if you can experience the feeling of being well-versed at a young age, will you still be content with mediocrity?”
“To me, every wizard is a seed of miracles. If they are only allowed to grow a foot or two before being plucked to adorn a vase, they will never become towering trees. That would be a great pity.”
The students stared at the professor in a daze, their minds in disarray.
Seventh-year students had already received career counseling back in fifth year, and some outstanding students had even received recommendation letters from professors. But at this moment, they felt a bit lost.
Gringotts and the Ministry of Magic were almost the top career choices in the Wizarding world. What next, though? Should they just settle for the status quo? Was this really what they wanted? In the past, they had never doubted it, but Professor Haep offered them another path.
He told them, "You are the seeds of miracles, with infinite possibilities."
Everyone was moved, not just by the words themselves, but also because Felix had given them a taste of what it was like to be an expert in Ancient Runes. Combined with Professor Haep’s words, it was like a nuclear bomb had been dropped in their hearts.
Felix clapped his hands, and this time, sheets of paper floated down from the sky. He smiled pleasantly, "Twelve tests, with a staggering number of questions... But for you now, they should be quite simple."
He told the students, "Memory cannot be infused, that's a hard and fast rule, but we can try to circumvent it. In this world of thought, you can temporarily use my knowledge of theoretical Runic Script—just the knowledge itself. Essentially, it just saves you the trouble of flipping through books, but which is more satisfying: slogging through a book or having the answers pop up instantly?"
"But Professor", Percy raised his hand, "if the knowledge isn’t ours, what’s the point of this? Is it just to broaden our horizons?"
Felix patiently explained, "Think about it, when do you learn the fastest?"
Percy had a thinking expression, and the other students were racking their brains.
"When we use it!"
"Exactly. Even though you’re borrowing my knowledge, you’re actually learning much faster. According to my estimates, well... if you don’t slack off, by the time the exam rolls around in six months, you should have learned about 30 to 40 percent of the material. Theoretical Ancient Runes are always simpler because they don’t involve practical exercises."
"Ultimately, it all depends on your effort. The more you use it, the more familiar you’ll become, and the more knowledge you’ll retain."
The students were already wide-eyed and eager, even though they still had to put in the effort. Professor Haep’s words were clear: this could speed up their learning. Was there anything better than that?
Many of them had even bought Brain Boost Potions and consumed Dragon Claw Powder!
Felix was pleased with their changed attitude. He reminded them, "Such lessons won’t happen every time. I’ll keep it to a certain ratio, but I can guarantee that every few classes, you’ll experience this magical feeling..."
They eagerly spread out their papers. In the world of thought, writing became easy, and self-writing quills appeared before them, dancing swiftly.
"The seven types of transformations in Ancient Runes, how simple. Let me think, the first one..."
"The evolution and development of the Runic Script symbolizing thought... Wow, there are eleven variations? If it were the real me, I wouldn’t know! Ha, this is so interesting, I feel like a genius now."
"This question is a repeat, I just did it. Even without the magical notebook, I can recall it... Another repeat?!"
Percy didn’t rush to answer the questions. He placed his hand on the magical notebook and tried to use Ancient Runes to form various sentences. A series of unfamiliar and obscure pronunciations came out of his mouth. A few minutes later, he said in amazement, "I actually translated the entire Care of Magical Creatures textbook, with only a few words missing. Is it because they don’t exist?"
The clear bird songs sounded more pleasant, and flowers of various colors emitted a sweet fragrance.
Felix watched as they enthusiastically tackled the questions on their own. He couldn’t help but wonder: How many of them would dedicate themselves to the study of Ancient Runes?
Even if they were learning theoretical Runic Script, influenced by him, they would naturally be open to practical runes.
He didn’t expect all of them to contribute to the field of Ancient Runes; that would be unrealistic. But in a few decades, when they were established in various professions, who could stop the rise of his practical runes research?
When the class ended, Felix canceled the Mind Chamber Charm. The students looked somewhat disoriented, as if they had suddenly become less intelligent. The feeling of 'losing' knowledge was not pleasant, but many students were fired up, eagerly looking forward to the next lesson.
Felix smiled at them, "Today’s homework has two parts, to be submitted next week. First, write a two-foot essay discussing how you can appropriately utilize today’s lesson.
Second, based on what you’ve learned over the past five years, draw a complete knowledge map of Ancient Runes. In the next class, I will show you these concepts from a different perspective.
Trust me, you’ll have a completely different understanding. Now, class dismissed!"
(End of Chapter)
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