Chapter 199: The Absurd Thunderbird, Lightning Rune Amplification
Trunk World.
Leonardo stepped into the space where his thunderbird, Aether, lived.
Aether was wheeling through the clouds, practising high-difficulty twists and vertical bursts. Lightning flared around him, sometimes thick as thunder-serpents, sometimes fine as silver snakes. It tore through the cloudbank and, at the same time, coaxed a torrential downpour into being.
Leonardo wore a water-repelling bracelet, so he did not care if the rain came down harder.
He tipped his head back, watching Aether flicker in and out of sight. His little underling was not just training flight drills at all. He was practising a thunderbird's courtship display. According to this "precocious" thunderbird, the early bird got the cattle and sheep.
The first time Aether said that, Leonardo genuinely wondered whether the Unicorn Blessing had mistranslated something. He had asked Aurelius to help interpret and confirm, and, yes, that was exactly what Aether meant.
Leonardo had also asked why Aether was so obsessed with finding a mate.
Aether's answer had been simple.
"Boss, ever since I became aware, I've felt I'm meant to be king of the thunderbirds. Later I'm definitely going to find loads of partners, lay loads of eggs, and make the flock bigger and bigger. But, ugh, two years ago, I courted a female older than me. She ignored me. Then her mate came and beat me up…"
Leonardo's feelings at the time had been indescribably complicated. So it was not only humans who could be this absurd. If Aether had not followed him, Leonardo suspected this sort of behaviour would eventually get him beaten to death by other thunderbirds.
Leonardo glanced up at the storm-laced clouds and raised his wand.
At the tip, the leaping arcs of electricity shifted from blue-white to a faintly violet tint.
He felt the slightly warm, silver lightning-mark on the pad of his thumb. The Beginner Elemental Lightning Rune was tugging at the lightning element in the environment, guiding it naturally into the spell structure he had carefully built.
He started with the most basic spell, "Arc Spark".
In the past, it had been nothing more than a loud crackle and a small flash. Now, what snapped from his wand was a thumb-thick, twisting violet arc, whipping across the distance like a lash and striking a far-off tree. A scorched black mark spread over the bark.
Next came "Static Barrier".
What used to be a hazy sheen condensed into a crackling, tangible shield, woven from countless tiny lightning-serpents. A leaf blown in by the wind bumped into it and instantly turned into a pinch of ash.
After a string of tests, Leonardo lifted his wand high and let his magic surge like floodwater through a broken gate. The lightning-mark on his thumb flared hot, shining with a clear, bright glow.
"Carcer Fulminis (Thunder Cage)."
Several chains of pure lightning roared from the wand tip. They were solid as long snakes forged from thunder itself, coiling around a boulder and sealing it in place.
After experimenting with several spells, Leonardo confirmed it. His lightning magic really was stronger, roughly by a tenth, exactly matching the loan's description. For the basic spells, it hardly mattered, but for a high-tier spell like Thunder Cage, Lightning Shackles, the amplification from the Beginner Elemental Lightning Rune was genuinely impressive.
"Skreee!"
A sharp cry rang down from above. Leonardo recognised it at once. Aether was greeting him.
He had only just looked up when several thick bolts of lightning dropped from the sky, as if pulled by an invisible force, and slammed straight into the lightning chains wrapped around the boulder.
BOOM!
The chains changed shape in an instant. They were no longer chains. In the blink of an eye, they became a true cage made of heavenly thunder. The blinding light made Leonardo narrow his eyes.
Inside the prison, the boulder fractured with a teeth-grating crack, fissures racing across its surface. Then, in a dazzling flash, it shattered into dust.
The thunder cage slowly dispersed, leaving only scorched earth behind.
A howl of wind swept in. Aether beat three pairs of wings and landed in front of Leonardo.
"Boss, you smell so good!"
Aether hopped forward step by step, still muttering about how good Leonardo smelled. Leonardo's first reaction was a baffled, silent question mark.
But he understood quickly enough. When Aether drew close, Leonardo lifted the wand hand he was holding out and stopped it in front of Aether, then channelled his magic so the Beginner Elemental Lightning Rune on his thumb brightened.
"Aether, when you say I 'smell good', you mean this, don't you?"
The moment Aether saw the silver-white lightning-mark on Leonardo's finger, he nodded so fast it looked almost human.
"Yes, boss. It wasn't there before."
So it really was the Beginner Elemental Lightning Rune at work. Thunderbirds were naturally attuned to lightning, and the rune boosted Leonardo's affinity as well. From the tests he had just run, whenever he cast lightning spells, the rune would automatically draw in the surrounding lightning element and weave it into the spell, reinforcing it and pushing its power higher.
And that last Thunder Cage had even tugged at the lightning in the sky, pushing the spell's strength up again.
"Aether, that lightning that came down from the clouds just now, was that you driving it?"
Aether rubbed his beak against Leonardo's palm, or rather, against the rune at his fingertip. The faint violet arcs dancing along it were drawn into Aether's breathing as he sniffed.
"Mm. Yes and no, I guess. When you were casting, the lightning in the clouds already wanted to drop, just a tiny bit. It stayed weak until that last spell. Then it got properly restless, but it still didn't break out of the clouds all the way. So I gave it a little push, let it follow the pull of your magic, and smash into that rock."
Thunderbirds really were absurdly sharp when it came to sensing lightning. So when Leonardo used lightning magic, and the rune triggered, the lightning above responded. And the more complex the spell, the more lightning element gathered, the clearer the pull became.
Still, it had taken Aether's push to make the lightning truly fall and merge into Thunder Cage, Lightning Shackles.
Leonardo glanced down at the lightning-shaped silver mark on his thumb.
This was only a Beginner Elemental Lightning Rune. Maybe its attraction to true lightning was not strong enough yet. If he raised the rune's level, it would not only gather more lightning element to boost spells, it might even directly call lightning down as reinforcement.
In the right environment, elemental runes could clearly do more. Earth with the ground beneath one's feet. Water with lakes and seas.
"Boss, can I have a taste of the lightning magic you're throwing around?" Aether chirped, then stared up at Leonardo with desperate hope in his eyes.
Taste lightning magic?
Leonardo figured thunderbirds really could swallow lightning. It should not upset Aether's stomach. Probably.
He let magic flow into his wand and casually released Arc Spark. The pale-violet arc snapped from the tip.
Aether swallowed it in one gulp, then smacked his beak like a connoisseur.
"Rich mouthfeel, long finish. Rare stuff~~"
Right. Who had taught this bird to talk like that?
Was it instinct? Or was the Unicorn Blessing translating based on Aether's own language sense, memes included?
Leonardo pressed a hand to his forehead and asked, "Well? Can you get full off that?"
"I think I…" Aether began, then froze as if struck by sudden terror.
"Boss, you're not planning to feed me only this from now on, are you?"
"I mean, lightning magic tastes brilliant, sure, but it's not as filling as charcoal-roasted whole lamb, plain steak, spicy stir-fried chicken… that's proper food. We thunderbirds still need to hunt. If you live on lightning alone, you'll make yourself ill!"
Leonardo was often left speechless by his underling. Of all the magical creatures he kept, Aether's devotion to food was easily the strongest.
"Alright, alright. I never said I was cutting your meals."
…
Ravenclaw common room.
"Marietta, could you do me a favour and call Cho for me? I need to talk to her about Quidditch."
As Cho's roommate and close friend, Marietta froze for a beat. Her expression shifted from delighted curiosity to mild disappointment, then she recovered at once. She flashed an OK gesture and jogged towards the girls' dormitory, calling back over her shoulder, "No problem, no problem. No hurry."
Leonardo found a sofa and sat. At Hogwarts, girls could go into the boys' dormitories, but boys could not go into the girls'. In Ravenclaw Tower, two silver suits of armour stood guard by the stairway. If a boy tried to force his way through, he would first have to find out how sharp the axes in their hands were.
Gryffindor Tower did it differently, with a charm on the stairs. If a boy tried to go up, the staircase would turn into a long, slippery slide.
Leonardo had read in a Hogwarts history book that this was designed by Ravenclaw's founder, Rowena Ravenclaw, because she believed boys were less trustworthy than girls.
It did not take long for Cho to appear in the common room. Her nose was a little pink, and as she reached Leonardo, she turned her head and sneezed softly.
Her voice was distinctly nasal as she spoke, a bit embarrassed. "Sorry, Leonardo. I was just about to go to the Seventh Workshop to buy some cold medicine. The potion you invented works so well, and it doesn't taste strange. Most importantly…" She paused, sounding relieved. "After you drink it, you don't start puffing steam out of your ears like Madam Pomfrey's Pepperup Potion."
Tomorrow was Ravenclaw versus Hufflepuff. Cho did not want any misty "special effects" added to her match.
Leonardo stood. His wand slid into his palm, and he murmured a spell. A clean, gentle white glow flowed from the tip and settled over Cho.
The lingering heaviness and blocked nose sensation vanished instantly. She felt clear and refreshed.
"Thank you, Leonardo. Your healing magic works so fast!"
Leonardo suspected that was the Unicorn Blessing at work again. Whether he cast healing magic or received it, the effect always came out stronger.
"Marietta said you wanted to see me, about Quidditch. Don't tell me you've changed your mind and decided to join the team?" Cho's eyes brightened with hopeful excitement.
Ravenclaw's Quidditch strength was the weakest of the four Houses. Their numbers were smaller, and for years they had skewed heavily female. Being able to scrape together seven players at all was already an achievement. If Leonardo joined…
Leonardo cleared his throat. "Ahem. Cho, the match against Hufflepuff is the day after tomorrow. I want you to make your entrance on the pitch with the real 'Eastwind' broom."
As he spoke, he pulled the final version of the East Wind broom out of his pocket.
Hearing that Leonardo still did not mean to join the team, Cho could not help but feel a flicker of disappointment, but she adjusted quickly. Leonardo always had his own projects. Her attention snapped to the broom almost immediately.
"Is this the one the Gryffindor and Slytherin Seekers used? It feels similar, but not exactly the same. It seems more restrained now?"
As for the fact that Leonardo had drawn a full-sized broom from his pocket, Cho barely blinked. This term alone, Leonardo had invented so many unbelievable things that it hardly felt strange anymore.
Leonardo nodded and handed it to her. "Yes. This is the final version. Stability has improved across the board."
Cho's eyes lit up, eager and excited, as if she wanted to try it that very second.
"Leonardo… how do you even come up with all these magical items? I heard Alchemy only starts in the sixth year. Don't tell me you taught yourself?"
Because I need to repay loans…
Leonardo kept that to himself.
"Calling it self-taught would be an exaggeration. Over the summer I met a very good teacher. He taught me a lot, and it was all incredibly valuable."
"And I invent these things to make money as well."
Cho looked at him with open suspicion. Make money? He did not look as if he lacked it.
When she voiced the thought, Leonardo lifted his chin at a forty-five-degree angle towards the ceiling and sighed dramatically. "I just enjoy the feeling of earning it. And, yes, I want to make studying a bit better for everyone."
Cho stared at his solemn face for a moment, then let out a laugh. "So after you graduate, do you want to be a shop owner or a professor?"
"Honestly, I'd rather be Headmaster or Minister for Magic. That's the only way to push educational reform in the wizarding world. The current system…"
Something in Leonardo's eyes made Cho feel he was not joking. She stopped smiling and said warmly, "Fine. I'll vote for you one day."
She hesitated, then added, "Leonardo, before I use the new East Wind in an official match, could you… could you practise with me? I want to get familiar with how it handles."
Leonardo agreed without much hesitation. "Sure. Can you wake up at four o'clock?"
Cho blinked, genuinely stunned. "What time? Four in the morning?"
"Yes. Hogwarts at four in the morning is wonderfully quiet."
After a long pause, Cho said in a faint, haunted voice, "Leonardo… are you sure you don't want to reconsider joining the Quidditch team? With discipline like that, you'd be legendary."
Leonardo rubbed his chin. "Best not. I'd rather not splatter."
Cho stared. "What?"