Roger didn't invest any more attention after noticing this.
Because the confrontation between Harry and Draco in front of Professor McGonagall hadn't happened as it was supposed to in his original fate, Roger was a little worried that his small butterfly effect might cause Voldemort to do something big.
If there was indeed a change in this direction, he would have to inform Dumbledore.
But that wasn't necessary now.
Since Dumbledore had already noticed Quirrell's abnormality, there was no need for him to add anything unnecessary.
A remnant soul without a body, in a situation where the enemy was known and he was known, couldn't cause any trouble in Dumbledore's hands, especially on his home turf.
All he needed to do this year was to eat well and study well.
With his mind at ease, Roger followed the seniors to the Gryffindor common room after the banquet.
There wasn't much to say about this process: the easily disorienting magical moving staircases, the talking portraits, the multi-person dormitories, and the completely unfamiliar roommates.
With the portraits and ghosts considered a continuation of life, or perhaps echoes of death, Roger drifted off to sleep, filled with these questions and anticipation for the next day's classes.
...
...
...
Besides the fact that wizarding magic was almost like a wish-granting machine, and why wizards hadn't developed in the direction of gods and deities, Roger had another question.
In Potions class.
"Potter!" Snape said suddenly, "What would I get if I added powdered narcissus root to a decoction of wormwood?"
Powdered root of what grass into what solution? Harry glanced at his friend Ron, and the academically challenged Ron was just as stunned as he was.
"I don't know, sir," Harry replied.
Snape sneered dismissively.
"Tsk, tsk... It seems reputation doesn't mean everything."
The scene had just ended where the Potions Master, Snape, ignoring Hermione, who was practically raising her hand to the ceiling, eager to display her intelligence, and Roger, who also had a considerable reputation among wizards, had been relentlessly targeting Harry Potter, mocking his undeserved fame.
At the moment, the students were under Snape's guidance, brewing a simple healing potion written about in the first chapter of their textbook.
Slicing ingredients with a blade, grinding them with a pestle, measuring ingredients with a balance scale, pouring water into a cauldron to boil... Roger handled the entire process with fluid grace.
But his past doubts lay within these procedures.
In wizarding society, many procedural steps could be made more convenient and less prone to error by using Muggle technological items, so why weren't they incorporated? Judging from the Hogwarts train and the flying Ford Anglia, the wizarding world clearly didn't reject taking things they found interesting from Muggle society.
Perhaps the combination of magic and science could also be a path to breaking the upper limit of wizarding civilization's power!
This doubt was naturally resolved after he finished his self-taught magical studies, truly enrolled in Hogwarts, attended some classes, and observed the spellcasting details of other wizards during the teaching process.
He had overlooked something important!! Magic is a miracle created by the mind and magical power together.
The spellcasting steps of wizarding magic can be roughly described as...
[I want to cast a spell -> I want it very, very much -> My intention connects with magical power -> The magical power senses the caster's concept and lets the universe handle it -> A magical phenomenon occurs, spellcasting successful]
And for many spells, if the process isn't accurate enough, even the wizard themselves doesn't know the outcome.
Although it might seem like, "Wizards just need to think about it, and magical power has to consider many things."
In reality, the outcome of the spell is still determined by the wizard. Magical power has no consciousness; deviations in spellcasting are influenced by the wizard's own subconscious thoughts, which they can't even detect.
It's very difficult for people to control their stray thoughts. For example, out of the 7 billion people on Earth, it's unlikely that even seven can achieve the feat of "thinking about nothing for three minutes."
Even when unconscious in sleep, a person's thoughts don't stop.
And since a person's will is so important in the process of spellcasting, could a wizard's understanding of the world also have a significant impact on spellcasting?! The answer is yes.
Through observing and interviewing other students and professors about their spellcasting, Roger concluded.
Up to a certain limit, the clearer a wizard's understanding of the fundamental rules of how the world operates, the more their spell power will be constrained.
The reason is that the space for magical power to freely exert itself becomes smaller.
For example, a spell to create high-temperature flames.
If a young wizard, educated in Muggle studies, knows the characteristics of flame temperature but doesn't know how to generate such high temperatures, they will subconsciously develop the thought, "I can't do it," thus self-limiting the power.
They might only be able to utilize three-tenths of their potential.
However, a young wizard who completely misunderstands the principles of fire, simply believing, "My flames can engulf and sweep away everything," will have more room for magical power to exert itself. Their spell might not only reach the upper limit of temperature their mental power can support but could even carry a "devouring" curse effect.
Of course, if a person fully understands all the underlying principles of fire, they won't be bound by such limitations.
In fact, because their will during spellcasting is incredibly clear and every detail is precise, the mental energy consumed during casting will be greatly reduced compared to other wizards! So, the issue of magical power is a minor one; it's not unfixable, and once they overcome this hurdle, they might even become stronger.
The real reason wizards reject science is something else.
Science is never a specific technology but a way of thinking.
It's a way of thinking that gradually deciphers the fundamental principles of how all things operate through hypothesizing, proving, and practicing.
One could even say that in cultivation worlds, achieving enlightenment is a form of science.
The cultivation techniques are the formulas and theorems they've summarized over generations, artifact refining is materials science research, and refining corpses or soul banners can also be considered applications of life sciences.
The same theory doesn't work when applied to wizards.
The nature of magic is a hurdle wizards can't bypass if they want to embrace science!
In the Muggle scientific community, one can choose to ignore the dark clouds and unsolvable problems looming over physics and mathematics.
Even if the mathematical system itself is incomplete, so what? As long as commonly used conventional mathematics like Euclidean geometry is complete, that's enough.
But in the wizarding world, if you want to pursue science but can't explain what magic is, it leads to an extremely terrifying consequence...
Some wizards with weaker minds, a touch of obsessive-compulsive disorder, and a tendency to get stuck in mental loops will begin to question magic itself.
When wizards start questioning magic, magic will drift further away from them. Magic is a miracle of belief; if you no longer believe in your own magic, you will lose it!
Once this train of thought emerges and begins to spread, then...
It goes without saying.
Roger understood why wizards hadn't adopted the seemingly more advanced scientific thinking. Instead, they remained in semi-isolation from Muggles, clinging to their old ways and trying to find breakthroughs through 'self-modification,' 'rituals,' and 'external objects.'
Because, before wizards become powerful enough to understand magic, researching it will yield no good results.
Magic has no mind, but wizards' own 'inner demons' will defeat them!
It might be an exaggeration for a researcher's brain to explode from a new magic theory, but it's entirely possible to temporarily disable someone's magical abilities.
So... are those who love to delve into truth truly at a dead end in the current wizarding system?
No! Just like that book, "Ritual Magic is More Than Just Blood Sacrifice," wizards of the past with astonishing wisdom have already provided the answers and the path to the future! "Stop!" Roger, who was thinking while brewing a potion, suddenly felt a sense of danger.
Following his instincts honed on the battlefield, he waved a hand and cast a spell.
He transformed the porcupine quills that Neville, partnered with Seamus, was about to put into his cauldron on the adjacent desk into a pot lid.
If the porcupine quills were added to the cauldron without removing it from the heat, the potion for treating boils would turn into a highly corrosive poison capable of burning through the cauldron and causing the toucher to break out in boils! If the potion spilled everywhere, not only would he get splashed, but the class would likely be stopped midway.
The other students around them were baffled by Roger's sudden spell.
Snape withdrew his attention from Harry and looked back.
He glanced at Roger and let out an annoyed snort, "Sharp observation skills, Gryffindor gets one point."
Then he looked at Neville.
"And you, with your idiotic action! Aren't you going to take the cauldron off the heat? Gryffindor loses one point!"
With that exchange, nothing was added or subtracted. If Roger had been a Slytherin, the outcome would likely have been very different.
After Neville fumbled to comply, Roger also dispelled the transformation of the porcupine quills.
Yes, Transfiguration.
This is the path for truth seekers, the magic of the rational!
Roger discovered during his studies that Transfiguration, which seemed unremarkable, actually had terrifying potential.
As the greatest wizard of this century, the chairman of the International Confederation of Wizards, Headmaster Dumbledore's most proficient magic was Transfiguration and Defense Against the Dark Arts; he had even been a Transfiguration professor.
And the current Deputy Headmistress, who would also become headmistress in the future, Professor McGonagall, was also a Transfiguration professor.
Was this... a coincidence?
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