Professor McGonagall stared intently at Ciel. Her usual dignified, steady expression was nowhere to be found. Anyone could see how shocked she was at this moment.
Ciel's descriptions of magical form transformation and nature transformation might not have matched the formal language of Transfiguration textbooks—they sounded more like his own analytical summaries—but Professor McGonagall knew precisely what he was getting at. This wasn't amateur curiosity anymore; he was probing the deepest mysteries of Transfiguration theory.
She never dreamed she would hear such profound questions from a first-year student. Even when she was in her first year, she was nowhere near having such insights. She seemed to only recall that Dumbledore had shown extraordinary talent in Transfiguration class back then. Even after the first lesson, Dumbledore had made the Transfiguration professor at the time declare... this young wizard would absolutely become a monument in the field of Transfiguration.
Professor McGonagall hadn't understood before what it would be like to teach such a student. Today, seeing Ciel, she suddenly understood. That Transfiguration professor's feelings upon seeing Dumbledore in the first class were probably just like this.
But Dumbledore's talent was known to all. In a century, there were probably very few who could match him in magical perception and magical strength. What took ordinary people decades of effort was as simple as eating and drinking to Dumbledore.
But what about Ciel? With his weak talent, being able to gain such insights in Transfiguration in just one semester was even more shocking than Dumbledore's performance back then. Who knew how much blood and sweat lay behind this?
Then Professor McGonagall felt a strong sense of regret. Heaven was truly too unfair. If Ciel could be given better talent, he might become the next Dumbledore.
After a long while, the turbulent emotions in her heart gradually calmed down. She organized her thoughts and spoke to him with appreciation.
"Ciel. What you've sensed is correct. Very few people can have such insights at your age. This proves you have extraordinary intuition for Transfiguration."
Professor McGonagall praised Ciel extensively, leaving the little Hufflepuffs and Gryffindors in the classroom stunned. These words coming from the always serious Professor McGonagall carried tremendous weight. Merlin above. They had never heard her praise someone so extensively. Even Hermione, who was most appreciated by Professor McGonagall, had never received such praise.
Ciel was also somewhat embarrassed by the praise. He knew his own situation. He had no exceptional talent in Transfiguration. It was purely his mastery of several Platinum-tier spells that allowed him to experience the microscopic level of magic early. Then through coincidence, he obtained Shadow. By watching Shadow's slow-motion demonstrations repeatedly, he could observe some aspects of magical nature transformation.
He hadn't expected to be praised by Professor McGonagall as a rare Transfiguration prodigy.
After quite a while, Professor McGonagall stopped praising Ciel and turned to answering his previous questions. "Your observations and thoughts are mostly correct. But there are a few misunderstandings I need to clarify for you. Transfiguration does indeed have two directions for microscopic magical changes."
"One is what we teach in class... turning matches into needles, tables into teapots, etc. Or at higher difficulty, transforming statues and armor into living beings for combat. This direction is called Gamp's Transfiguration in the Transfiguration community. Yes, the same Gamp who proposed Gamp's Law of Elemental Transfiguration. He laid the foundation for classical Transfiguration, so this direction is also called the classical direction."
"As for the other direction, what you described as nature transformation. This manifests as turning sparks into lightning and floods into swamps. More advanced practitioners can transform various things with unique magical properties. For example, creating a shield made of mithril to block most magic."
"This was proposed by the Transfiguration master Toleran centuries ago. Everyone thought Toleran had gone mad... his various concepts ran counter to Gamp's basic laws of Transfiguration. But Toleran claimed that his and Gamp's discoveries were merely different manifestations of the same greater Transfiguration. Over the following centuries, Toleran's assertions were gradually accepted by academia. One hundred fifty years ago, the Toleran Transfiguration direction was officially named. This is also called the modern direction of Transfiguration."
Ciel listened carefully to Professor McGonagall's explanation. This content was never mentioned in the original story. Even first-year Transfiguration textbooks only discussed Gamp, never mentioning Toleran Transfiguration.
He could probably guess the reason. Just like many high school conclusions that get overturned in university. Young wizards' minds weren't mature enough to handle overly advanced, incomprehensible magical knowledge. Starting directly with Toleran Transfiguration would be like teaching calculus in elementary school. Except for one-in-ten-thousand prodigies, probably no one else would develop interest in Transfiguration.
Then Professor McGonagall pointed out his previous misunderstandings. "As Toleran said. Toleran Transfiguration and Gamp Transfiguration are two different manifestations of higher-level transformation rules. It's just that Gamp Transfiguration is more suitable for beginners, while Toleran Transfiguration has higher entry difficulty. But there's no hierarchy between them... neither is more advanced than the other. Reaching the forefront in either Transfiguration direction qualifies one as a Transfiguration master."
"Additionally..." Professor McGonagall waved her wand. A spark burst from her wand tip. Then the spark became lightning. The lightning became frost. She said calmly, "Academia is constantly developing. Toleran Transfiguration's birth incorporated many basic theorems of Gamp Transfiguration. After Toleran Transfiguration's birth, classical Gamp Transfiguration has also continuously absorbed Toleran Transfiguration content."
"So Toleran Transfiguration masters necessarily understand Gamp Transfiguration. Gamp Transfiguration masters generally also dabble in Toleran Transfiguration. Therefore, your understanding that Toleran Transfiguration masters are stronger than Gamp Transfiguration masters doesn't exist. That's a fallacy. Only by truly mastering both types of Transfiguration to extremely high levels will one display jaw-dropping power. That might truly approach Transfiguration's extremes. But it's too difficult, too difficult."
Professor McGonagall sighed. Her face showed longing admiration. "All these years, I've only seen or heard of three people who could achieve such accomplishments in Transfiguration. They all profoundly changed today's magical world. Perhaps some among them were morally corrupt and ambitious. But this cannot overshadow their outstanding achievements in Transfiguration."
She looked at Ciel. "Child. Perhaps you have some hope of becoming the fourth."
As Professor McGonagall's words fell, the classroom also fell into deathly silence. The little Hufflepuffs looked at him with bright eyes, their faces full of shared glory. They couldn't understand what Professor McGonagall said earlier, but they could understand her expectations for Ciel.
Who says we little Hufflepuffs are dumb? In Transfiguration, such a difficult subject, first place goes to our house's Ciel! Professor McGonagall even thinks he will achieve amazing accomplishments in Transfiguration in the future!
At the same time, the little Hufflepuffs became even more convinced of what Ciel had told them before... "believe in yourself." Since he said so, it must be right. As long as we continue mentally repeating "we can do it," perhaps getting Excellent on Transfiguration exams won't be a problem.
The little Gryffindors in class had somewhat complex feelings. Their own Head of House having such high praise for a student from another house wasn't pleasant. Especially Hermione, who was clearly quite frustrated.
However, Ciel had no mind to pay attention to these things at the moment. His gaze fell on the system panel. After Professor McGonagall's detailed explanation of Gamp and Toleran Transfiguration, the Transfiguration text that had just begun showing faint bronze color suddenly expanded the bronze luster by nearly half.
Without such an in-depth yet accessible explanation from Professor McGonagall, a Transfiguration master, relying on his own practice, he probably wouldn't have made such progress in half a month! Uncontainable joy appeared on his face.
Especially when the dismissal bell rang, Professor McGonagall specifically asked him to stay behind, gave him her office password, and told him he could come ask about any Transfiguration problems anytime. Ciel showed even more gratitude, warmth flowing in his heart.
In his past life, when he encountered academic problems and went to his advisor, without exception, the advisor always showed impatience and lectured him. "If you have to ask me everything, what's the point of your research? Are you publishing papers for me?"
Later he learned better... asking senior classmates was much more reliable than asking the advisor. Looking at Hogwarts professors, which one wasn't a towering figure in academia? Without comparison, there really was no harm.
Then Ciel left the Transfiguration classroom, looking at the much richer bronze luster on the system panel's Transfiguration display, his mood increasingly pleasant.
Just then, a letter from Hagrid made him even more joyful. Following the batch of Goldfish Vines that had matured when he was cultivating Shadow Thorns, another batch had matured. He quickly headed to Hagrid's hut, harvested the newly matured Goldfish Vines, and felt reward orbs flowing into his body.
His magical perception became clearer, and on the system panel, the golden luster of Magical Perception Enhancement was more brilliant than before. His eyes sparkled.
"The trolls' catalytic effect on Goldfish Vines is still quite significant. Now I can steadily harvest a batch every week. Though decay is already severe, each harvest still provides considerable improvement. Continuing like this, advancing to Platinum tier is just a matter of time."
Then a thought appeared in his mind. "If I could tame more trolls, this process could be greatly accelerated."
He felt somewhat impulsive, wanting to search the Forbidden Forest again for troll settlement traces. According to Hagrid, the troll settlement they'd tamed before was very small. In the vast Forbidden Forest, Hagrid had seen settlements of seven or eight trolls. By estimation, the total number of trolls in the Forbidden Forest was no less than fifty.
If all could be tamed by him, the Goldfish Vine yield would be at least ten times the current amount! But after a moment, Ciel dismissed this idea. Currently in the Forbidden Forest, Quirrell was still searching for unicorns. The commotion from taming trolls would definitely be noticed by Quirrell.
Though he had made Quirrell suffer several times, that was all within Hogwarts' bounds, where Quirrell had many concerns. In the Forbidden Forest, Quirrell could act freely... the situation would be very different. He wouldn't be so arrogant as to think he could really contend with a professor in magic.
Moreover, taming trolls had an unavoidable problem... these creatures were incredibly voracious! The current three adult trolls and two juvenile trolls were already his and Hagrid's limit. If he wanted to tame as many trolls as he imagined, probably all the castle's food wouldn't be enough for them!
"I'll have to wait until summer when food in the Forbidden Forest is most abundant. Or until I mass-cultivate some magical plant that can fill trolls up. Only then can I try taming more trolls."
Shaking his head, his distracting thoughts gradually dissipated. Then he took a deep breath and moved his body. Crack, crack. Clear sounds rang from his joints. Ciel picked up his beater's bat and walked toward the trolls. He crooked his finger.
"Same as before. Come on."
The trolls looked at each other, then all let out excited roars. Each picked up their clubs and charged at him. He neither dodged nor evaded, veins bulging all over his body as he swung his bat powerfully, colliding with the trolls' clubs.
Each collision brought intense impact and recoil. The trolls staggered backward. His form also swayed slightly, feeling his arms go numb. But simultaneously, on his system panel, both Legendary Vitality and Legendary Strength glowed slightly brighter than before.
Even just a trace made his eyes burn with intensity. During this period when his magical abilities hit a bottleneck, Ciel came here daily to clash with trolls, tempering these two legendary abilities. Though daily tempering brought almost imperceptible progress in legendary abilities, it still gave him some hope.
The path to Mythical tier was fraught with difficulties, but at least he was on the road.
"Again! Again!"
He roared, continuing to wrestle with the trolls without pause. Each collision, each recoil force transmitted, made Legendary Vitality and Legendary Strength slightly brighter than before. This made him feel like an iron ingot being tempered in a forge... a hundred refinements making steel!
Boom. Boom. These low collision sounds continued endlessly, startling birds in the Forbidden Forest. Only when the trolls were exhausted did it cease. At the same time the next day, the booming sounds would resume.
Day after day, Ciel struggled forward on the path toward Mythical-tier vitality and strength. In the blink of an eye, another week passed.
[Chapter Complete]
***
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