The second upgraded ability of the Mystic Eye of Distortion was simple—pure distortion.
But it wasn't limited to distorting physical matter.
Rules, targets, temperature, gravity—anything that existed could be distorted.
With strong enough mental power, Louis could even reverse the properties of lava and make flowers bloom from it, or twist the nature of fire so that it froze things instead of burning them.
This near-omnipotent ability came from a single magic eye—enhanced by the Eyes of Fate Observation, no less!
"But the mental energy it takes to maintain the distortion is ridiculous," Louis muttered, testing the reversed nature of fire and checking how much energy it drained. He could barely hold the effect for half an hour.
And that was just for a small flame—if it were a whole lake of lava, he'd be lucky to last a few seconds.
"Whatever, this ability is so broken, I'll just be quietly grateful," Louis said with a shake of his head, grabbing his toiletries and heading to the bathroom.
Time to keep using his Dragon Blood Body Wash and Concentrated Spirit-Form Mutagen.
Was there anything more torturous than midnight classes in this world?
Packing up his textbooks, some spare parchment, and his quill, Louis also grabbed a thick coat. Yawning, he stepped out the door.
But this was Hogwarts. The only time the sky was clear enough for astronomical observation was at midnight.
And since classes were allowed at that hour, curfew basically didn't apply. Legalized night roaming, one might say.
Grumbling, Filch led a group of students through the castle, each carrying lanterns, forming a long, winding snake of flickering light as they headed to the Astronomy Tower.
"Good evening, Louis." Before long, Hermione came up beside him, looking a bit worried. "Are you alright?"
"Me? What could possibly be wrong with me?" Louis replied with a hint of amusement.
"You didn't tell me your broom went out of control." Hermione sounded a little upset. "I heard it from Padma—she said you crashed into the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom and several people near the window were badly hurt."
"Oh, that? Just a minor thing. Thanks to those poor unlucky souls, I didn't get hurt at all," Louis shrugged. "See? Totally fine."
"I just wish you'd share things like that with me," Hermione said earnestly. "We're friends, aren't we?"
"You're right. That makes sense," Louis nodded seriously.
The September night breeze was already sharp with chill. A sudden gust made Hermione shiver in her light robes.
"Why'd you come out in the cold dressed like that?" Louis said, taking the coat he'd brought and wrapping it around her. "Don't catch a cold. Just think of those Potions ingredients—weird as they are, I bet they don't taste any better brewed as cold medicine."
"Thanks," Hermione mumbled, blushing slightly as she pulled the warm coat tighter around her.
Before long, the students arrived at the Astronomy Tower. Professor Aurora Sinistra was already there, adjusting the telescopes.
"Class, Astronomy is a very important subject. Tracking planetary movement will greatly benefit your studies in other magical fields," she said. "Let's begin by identifying the major planets…"
Wizard astronomy wasn't much different from Muggle astronomy—just drawing planetary positions on parchment. The main difference was a little magical symbolism.
For Louis, this was easy. Stuff like this was already basic knowledge in the Muggle world. Only wizards still needed to be taught it.
Through the convex lens atop the tower, the night sky was ablaze with stars—something even the clearest Muggle night couldn't compare to.
As Louis gazed skyward, the starlight in his eyes seemed to resonate with the stars above.
"Louis, do you know about Uranus…" Hermione began, lifting her head to ask a question.
But then the moonlight hit Louis's face. His slightly tousled brown hair framed a gaze so deep, it looked like the entire cosmos was reflected in his eyes—mysterious and dazzling.
Hermione froze mid-sentence, staring in silence.
Only when Louis turned to her and asked, "What were you saying, Hermione?" did she snap back to reality.
"N-nothing," she stammered, quickly lowering her head and scribbling on her parchment to hide her flushed cheeks.
Louis tilted his head, puzzled by her reaction. Not getting it, he turned his gaze back to the stars as if seeking some kind of revelation.
"Great fortune lies in the East; grain of sand becomes a tower, drops of water a sea," he murmured, the words rising unbidden in his mind.
The Eyes of Fate Observation had a special feature: granting the user all prophecy-related talents.
From fortune-telling to stargazing, Tarot cards to crystal balls—even ancient turtle-shell divination—everything was included.
And when Louis had looked up at the stars just now, he'd felt a powerful intuition, like a sudden burst of insight showing him the best path forward.
"Great fortune lies in the East… does that mean Qi Magic?" Louis thought, peering inward with his enhanced vision and seeing the small seed of Qi Magic floating near his heart.
Other than his soul/Talismans, Qi Magic was probably the only "Eastern" thing about him.
He hadn't paid much attention to it since getting it. He'd been planning to try it out during Potions class to see if it helped with brewing. Beyond that, he hadn't thought much about it.
But his mind still held fragments of knowledge—lessons that had come bundled with the Qi Magic seed itself.
"Looks like I need to start practicing Qi Magic," Louis muttered to himself. Then his face twisted awkwardly.
He suddenly remembered all those Qi magic rituals from the anime he'd watched—his upright Taoist dad waving around lizards and blowfish, chanting weird incantations like some back-alley shaman.
Ugh, just thinking about it gave him a headache.
As for the "grain of sand becomes a tower, drops of water a sea" part… it sounded like slow and steady effort pays off?
"But Qi Magic isn't really like wizard magic. Compared to this world's spells, it's too conservative. It doesn't have that sense of wonder, and it's nowhere near as destructive as the Mystic Eye. Nor as bizarre as illusion magic. So… what's the point of it?"
Louis was filled with doubt—but still resolved to try it out.
Better to train than do nothing. And Hogwarts didn't have that heavy a workload.
After class ended, Professor Sinistra assigned some homework, and Hermione practically sprinted out of the room.
Louis had been planning to say goodbye, but was left standing there as she bolted. He stared at her retreating figure for a long moment.
"Was that… her just needing the bathroom?" he said, confused.
---