Kasenhis seriously read through the manual for a while, and before long, he found his next target.
—or rather, "target" wasn't quite the right word. It was more of an inevitable next step.
After all, his current understanding of elementary magical crafting was… mildly embarrassing. For someone like him, it was the kind of thing you couldn't bring yourself to toss out, but also had no appetite for.
For example, among the Tier-1 magic sigils was one called the Dispel Sigil, which could nullify all external effects on the human body. Great idea — except his enchanted milk already did the exact same thing in like five different ways.
Then there were things like Ignite, Merge, Place, Interact — all of which felt, to him, like wearing your trousers just to fart through them.
It wasn't that they didn't work. It's just that he always had simpler — and, frankly, cooler — alternatives.
As for the ones that did seem decent, they were useful, sure, but seriously underpowered.
So, for Kasenhis as he was now, researching enhancement sigils was as essential as lasagna is to Garfield — absolutely non-negotiable.
It didn't take long before he spotted the ultimate all-purpose sigil in the manual: the Empowerment Sigil.
And going by the golden rule that "the simpler the name, the more broken the effect," especially when it came to conceptual magic beasts, this one instantly caught his eye.
He flipped through the manual — the requirements were: magical clay, diamonds, and a sigil stamper.
The diamonds were a total non-issue — he could casually scoop out a handful any time. As for magical clay, not impossible to make. It wasn't something you'd just find lying around in nature, but hey — he had an Infusion Altar.
Infusing magic into regular clay — who's to say that doesn't make it magical clay?
No sooner thought than done — he pulled out a ball of clay and tossed it onto the Infusion Altar. In no time, the dull gray lump turned into a purple mass that shimmered faintly with red light.
Magical clay: achieved!
With both key materials ready, he glanced back at the manual. Sigil Stamper — required: one iron block, one piston, and two… any old rocks?
"What the hell is an Arcane Stone?"
He tapped the entry for Arcane Stone. Eight regular stones plus one magic gem would give him eight Arcane Stones…
So… what's a magic gem, then?
Kasenhis was forced to confront his shame — falling silent.
That said, luck was still on his side. If the last time he unlocked a module it had been Magical Arts instead of Thaumcraft, he probably would've been stuck at the magical clay stage.
But now? After spending a whole year knee-deep in Thaumcraft, Kasenhis was not the same man he once was.
Sure, past-Kasenhis had told himself to ease up on the Thaumcraft obsession, but… well, it's not like he's overdoing it if there's a legit reason. A few minor relapses didn't count!
He pulled out an emerald and tossed it onto the Infusion Altar. With a flash of purple light and a successful infusion, a brand-new magic gem was born.
Afternoon...
"Today I'm going to teach you a magical sigil — and no, it's not a runic character, so would all Ravenclaws kindly put away your Rune textbooks."
In the advanced class, Kasenhis scribbled an entire section of text on the board. While the Empowerment Sigil didn't require more than three strokes for him to draw, it was a nightmare of complexity for the students.
After crafting the sigil that morning, he'd done a quick test of its strength — and that's what gave him the idea to make it part of the advanced class curriculum.
Because honestly, the thing was insanely cool.
"Now, I'll need one magically capable young wizard to assist me in demonstrating the effects of this sigil. You there — Cedric. Don't hide. Get over here."
Kasenhis grabbed Cedric, who had buried his head in his book in a failed attempt to disappear.
"P-Professor,, the last time I volunteered... You know.. Snape's still holding some grudges.."
"Relax, we're not in that previous alchemy class just above the Potions class anymore. What are you so afraid of?" Kasenhis pointed toward a training dummy in the distance. With a wave of his hand, he drew an Empowerment Sigil in mid-air.
"Cast any spell you like — just make sure it passes through the sigil and hits the dummy," Kasenhis said, giving Cedric a pat on the shoulder.
"Anything at all?" Cedric asked.
"I'd prefer you didn't go with Avada Kedavra. If you do pick that one, I can only say you've made two terrible choices in my class… although, depending on how you look at it, it might just be your one last terrible choice," Kasenhis snarked mercilessly.
"What do you mean, Professor? I would never use such dark magic!"
"You shouldn't be so quick to say that out loud. As for learning spells that can cause death — to protect yourselves — I'm not actually against that. But there are plenty of spells that can kill, and not all of them are as extreme or absolute. There's room for choice. Personally, I don't support you lot using something like the Killing Curse."
"The reason the Avada Kedavra curse is considered unforgivable isn't because the spell itself is unforgivable, but because any wizard capable of casting it is unforgivably bad. That's a distinction you must understand," Kasenhis explained.
"I get it — what you mean is, a person who isn't bad enough can't cast the Killing Curse in the first place?" Cedric nodded as he asked.
"Not exactly. Killing intent comes in many forms — there's the intent to end someone's suffering, the intent to get revenge, or even the intent born of mercy at someone's pleading. But if you ever encounter someone who can casually muster the kind of hatred required to cast Avada Kedavra on an innocent person — stay far, far away."
As Kasenhis spoke, he gave Cedric a pat on the shoulder. "Anyway, I'm getting off-topic. Let's begin."
Cedric nodded, stood behind the sigil, pulled out his wand, and cast a basic Dark spell.
"Diffindo Maxima!"
The spell passed through the Empowerment Sigil, its color instantly deepening — and then it struck the training dummy.
A spell that should have instantly turned the dummy into a reenactment of Kento Nanami's fate… instead, absolutely nothing happened.
"Professor, what's going on?" Cedric asked, completely baffled.
"Kerry, blow on the dummy."
A girl named Kerry stepped forward — she happened to be the closest one to the dummy.
She walked over casually and gave it a light puff of breath. "Fuua~"
In the next second, the dummy practically disintegrated like it had just been hit by a Wither — crumbling into a pile of powder.
"Merlin's saggy socks, that was fucking awesome!" Cedric exclaimed in shock.
"I remember you used to be... pretty polite," Kasenhis said, raising an eyebrow at Cedric with a suspicious look.
"Heh, well, we're familiar now, right?" Cedric grinned and scratched the back of his head.
"…Fine." Kasenhis was… somewhat satisfied with that answer. Just barely.
With that, he waved his hand to signal the students to return to their seats. "Alright, alright — now take out your notebooks. I've got some heavy foreshadowing to drop on you. For this one-hour class, you're going to be writing notes for forty minutes at the minimum. Now, move move move!"
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