By the time Midgard turned and went back inside, Leonard had already repaired the large hole in the wall. He was now studying the burst of magic that had just erupted from Claudia.
Midgard did not understand anything about magic, so she marched to the desk as if facing death, picked up the book she had tossed aside earlier, and started reading in earnest.
Leonard looked at her in surprise. "What's this? You suddenly have the confidence to read again?"
"None of your business. I'm being very serious about this," Midgard said.
"Oh, all right then." Leonard nodded casually, took out his pocket watch for a glance, and continued examining Claudia.
Before long, Midgard threw the book aside again and sat down next to Leonard to watch him check on Claudia.
Sensing her move closer, Leonard glanced at his pocket watch again. "This time you lasted five minutes. That's an improvement."
"Shut up!" Midgard snapped, embarrassed and annoyed. "How is reading more important than Claudia? Tell me how she's doing."
"She's fine. She just released some magic. Unicorns are naturally powerful. The impact of their magic alone is enough to produce tremendous force."
"That's great. So Claudia's going to be really amazing in the future, huh?" Midgard said, gently stroking Claudia's hair.
"No. Having strong magic is a good thing, but it also limits Claudia's abilities. She can't control that magic well enough to form spells. She can only guide it as it bursts out." Leonard shook his head. "Without actual magic, no matter how strong the magical power is, it doesn't mean much."
What was the use of having raw magical power alone? A wizard's true strength lay in unpredictable actions and wondrous spells. No matter how strong raw magic was, it still was not stronger than a nuclear bomb.
"But it's enough for self-defense. I wasn't expecting Claudia to help me do anything anyway," Leonard said, patting her hair as well.
Claudia immediately looked unhappy and pouted. "I want to help Leonard too."
"It's okay. Leonard is very capable. He doesn't need Claudia's help," Midgard comforted her.
Leonard nodded and was just about to say something when the Ancient Sprout wrapped around his arm suddenly stirred.
It slowly spread and grew, winding itself around Claudia's arm as a faint silver glow appeared.
At the same time, a silvery-white light lit up in Claudia's eyes.
Leonard froze, staring uncertainly at Claudia and the Ancient Sprout.
In only a few seconds, the Ancient Sprout seemed to be completely drained. It slowly shrank back, then lazily coiled around Leonard's arm again to recover its magic.
The silver light in Claudia's eyes faded as well, and a thoughtful look appeared on her face.
"Claudia, how do you feel?" Leonard asked with concern.
Midgard looked completely lost. She could not see the Ancient Sprout, so she had no idea what had just happened, but Leonard's reaction told her that something subtle had definitely occurred.
After thinking for a long while, Claudia finally said, "Just now, I suddenly felt like I learned a lot of things... Is that what you mean by magic, Leonard?"
"Learned a lot?" Leonard thought for a moment. "Then can you use it?"
Claudia thought about it, then nodded.
"Try the simplest spell you can. Something with the smallest possible range," Leonard said.
Claudia picked up her wand and pointed it at the poor wall that had only just been repaired. She gave it a wave, but nothing happened.
She stared blankly at the wand in her hand, then looked at Leonard in confusion.
"Take it slowly. Don't rush," Leonard said.
Claudia's powerful magic made it difficult for her to control it and produce an effective response, but ancient magic had always been a rough kind of magic to begin with. What mattered was talent and the amount of ancient magic power, so there was no real barrier to using it.
Claudia nodded and tried several more times. At last, her wand released a faint purple glow that drifted lightly onto the wall.
A hole opened in the wall without a sound. A clean breach appeared there, and its shape was exactly the same as the purple glow Claudia had cast.
It really was ancient magic, and it was the same ancient magic Leonard had obtained the second time from the ancient magic ruins.
Claudia truly had gained the ability to use ancient magic, and not by borrowing an outside force, but through her own power.
Leonard glanced at the Ancient Sprout on his arm, and a trace of gravity entered his eyes.
Was there some connection between Unicorns and ancient magic? Otherwise, Claudia should not have been able to use ancient magic, and there was no reason for the Ancient Sprout to approach her on its own and pour knowledge of ancient magic into her.
The last time the Ancient Sprout had reacted strangely, it had also been because of a Unicorn. Back then, it had actively helped Leonard communicate with the Unicorn leader.
Seen that way, perhaps ancient magic and Unicorns really were connected after all.
But that was not the important thing right now. What mattered was Claudia's situation.
Leonard himself had never actually inherited the talent for ancient magic. The reason he could use it was because his own talent allowed him to control plants.
The one who truly possessed the talent for ancient magic was the Ancient Sprout wrapped around his arm.
The results looked similar when the magic was used, but in essence, they were still different.
But now, there was a true inheritor of ancient magic, and that was Claudia.
And Raven had the ability to temporarily wield the power of ancient magic. The organization Dumbledore had mentioned, the one suspected to be connected to Raven, was also searching for an inheritor of ancient magic...
If this continued, Claudia would be in a very dangerous position.
"Claudia." Leonard looked at her solemnly. "From now on, unless I give permission, you must never use this magic casually. And you absolutely must not mention it to anyone else."
Claudia looked confused. She had only wanted to help Leonard, so why would he not allow her to use this magic?
Even so, Claudia had always been very obedient. She nodded at Leonard and said, "Claudia will listen and behave. I definitely won't use this magic."
"It's not that you can never use it at all. If you're alone and run into danger, then you should still use it when you need to." Leonard smiled and rubbed her head. "All right, go play. And remember to put your wand away properly. It isn't food."
"Okay." Claudia happily ran into the inner room and started playing with her Unicorn doll, muttering words only she could understand.
Leonard withdrew his gaze and turned to Midgard.
"This is important," he said seriously. "What happened just now absolutely cannot get out."
"Don't worry." Midgard nodded, then pointed at the wall. "But fix the wall again, would you? What is wrong with you people? Why do you all love using walls as targets so much?"
"Uh... about that. It can't be repaired. This magic was made specifically to counter repair charms," Leonard said awkwardly.
"Fine, then we'll just tear it down and rebuild it." Midgard shrugged, completely unconcerned.