Bones chuckled. "ly. I just wao see if you could even hold the orb in the first pce. Most students ye either ’t grasp it or end up breaking it by act. But when you mentioned sensing the magic within, I adjusted the orbs a bit to test something.”

  "So, my rea… is unusual?" Alex asked, beginning to grasp the significe.

  "Yes, very," Bones replied with a small smile. “Your trol ic is impressive for ye—better than most older students. Even more impressive is your ability to sense magic itself. Have you heard of the term ‘magisitivity’?”

  Alex nodded. “Professor Flitwick mentio to me. He said my sensitivity to magic was unusually high, which is why he invited me into his magic club. I’ve been training it for a long time.”

  Bones hough internally he was shocked. Magisitivity was typically sidered an inborn trait, not something that could be trained. He made a mental o discuss it with Flitwick ter. For now, he returo the lesson.

  “Since you have strong trol aivity, you might be ready to learn advanced skills like silent and wandless casting,” Bones said.

  At that, Alex raised his hand toward the ink bottle oable. Without a sound or even a whisper, he made it float, h gently between them.

  Bones’ eyes widened, his words catg in his throat. Alex had not only mastered silent casting but could also perform wandless magic, a rare skill even among adult wizards. Bones could barely tain his excitement, realizing that Alex was a truly gifted student.

  “Alright, I see you’re even more skilled in magic than I thought,” Bones said, smiling as he opened his desk drawer and handed Alex two thick books. “These should help with your studies.”

  Alex looked at the covers: 49 Spells: Dismantling and bining Formus and The plete Guide to Aggregate Ruhe first acked with advaheories on modifying spells, while the sed was a foundational text on runes.

  “Thank you, Professor,” Alex said gratefully, holding the books as if they were treasures.

  “With your abilities, theoretical books might not be enough to keep you challenged. Practical guidance would be better for you.” Bones paused, then asked, “By the way, have you thought about which area of study you’d like to focus on—spellcasting or alchemy?”

  Alex tilted his head, sidering. “Is there a big difference?”

  Bones smiled, rexing. “Both fields are simir, but they differ too. Fog on spells involves knowing how to develop, optimize, dismaranste, and cast them. Since you’re already skilled with silent and wandless casting, that part will be easier for you. But if you create a new spell or modify an old one, you’ll o uand the nguage of spells.” He tinued, “For instance, my specialty lies in dismantling, rest, and optimizing spells. Creating new spells is tough, but I have experience breaking down unfamiliar ruo figure out the spells within.”

  Alex remembered that Lily had told him Bones worked with a runes and had once restored an a rune spell, which had fasated him.

  Bohen expined alchemy. “Alchemy, oher hand, is about spell development, entment, and material knowledge. It requires steady hands, a good sense of space, and patieraits highly valued among alchemists.”

  “A sense of space?” Alex asked, curious.

  “Some spells o be engraved within plex, often curved objects. Even a tiny misalig make the spell fail—or worse. Many alchemists have seen their work explode because of small mistakes,” Bones said, raising his eyebrows at the memory.

  Alex nodded, beginning to uand. “I’m ied in both, but I’ve been leaning toward spell development. In the charm club, I’m actually w on a sound-based spell.”

  Bones’ eyes lit up with curiosity. “A sound spell? Tell me more.”

  Sitting up straighter, Alex shared his idea. “I’m calling it an echolocation spell for now. It’s inspired by how bats navigate. Bats send out ultrasonic waves that bounce back when they hit something, allowing the bat to ses surroundings. I want to make a spell that works the same way.”

  Bones was intrigued but also a bit lost ieical details.

  Alex tinued, “I noticed most sound-based spells use the ‘trol’ rune as the base. It seems to be essential for sound spells. Why is that?”

  Bones rexed, gd to be ba familiar ground. “Good observation. The ‘trol’ rune is essential because it’s used for spells that need guidand preany on spells—like the Levitation Charm and Shield Charm—are based on trol.”

  He went on, “Other spells, especially ones involving physical ges, use the ‘ge’ ruhis rune haransformations—like with the Shrinking Charm or Extension Charm. It’s also key in Transfiguration spells.”

  “For spells that release elements, like Aguamenti or Indio, the base rune is ‘element,’” Bones expined. “The effect you waermihe base rune, and then you add other runes around it.”

  Alex thought this over, nodding. “So, if the spell doesn’t ge an object’s shape, it uses ‘trol’ as the base; if it ges shape, it uses ‘ge,’ and if it’s elemental, it uses ‘element.’ Are there more types?”

  Bones smiled. “Yes, there are. Memory-reted spells use the ‘thought’ rune, while darker magic, like the Unfivable Curses, use ‘soul’ runes. Soul-based magic is highly plex and dangerous, which is why it’s restricted.”

  With his questions answered, Alex returo his spell idea. “So, I’m using ‘trol’ as the base, but sihe spell o send and then receive sound waves, I added ‘sound,’ ‘emission,’ ‘indu,’ and ‘present’ ruo create a positioning effect.”

  Bones raised an eyebrow, intrigued. “Show me how you’ve bihem.”

  Alex began arranging the runes oable, carefully pg eae. Bones watched with growing respeoting Alex’s precision. O was set up, he examihe structure.

  “Have you tried casting it?” Bones asked.

  Alex nodded, looking slightly disappointed. “I tried, but it just made a buzzing sound without any feedback.”

  “What do you thi wrong?” Bones asked, encing Alex to reflect.

  “I think it’s because the frequency of the sound waves wasn’t high enough to mimic ultrasonic waves,” Alex replied, sharing his theory.

  Bones nodded. “You’re on the right track, but there’s a small error here.” He poio a part of Alex’s ruup.

  “Is something wrong?” Alex asked, puzzled.

  “Yes. Your spell sends out high-frequency waves and receives them, but what will you do with the feedback? How will you ‘see’ the information it gathers? Through sound ht?”