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Chapter 136 — Ghost Book
"In the void, chants and spiritual power resonate with the elements, forming spells. It's incredibly difficult. I can hardly imagine how the powerful wizards of ancient times managed to cast those overwhelmingly powerful spells."
George knew that his mental strength had already been altered by the Blessing Potion. Compared to the other students, his spiritual power was exceptionally strong and extraordinarily stable.
It was precisely because of this remarkable mental strength that he could grasp the casting techniques of ancient spells. Someone like Kate, even with a bit of talent, found it extremely difficult to master even the foundations of ancient magic.
"Fortunately, we're still young. Compared to the magical apprentices of ancient times, we're practically children. Meditation can't be neglected. Its usefulness goes far beyond ancient spells alone. You can reduce the time spent practicing ancient magic itself—perhaps once your meditation reaches a higher level, those spells will naturally become easier to control."
George had no better solution. This was less a method and more a helpless guess.
Kate looked discouraged as she muttered vaguely, "That must be it…"
Her feelings toward ancient magic had shifted quickly—from astonishment, to numbness, and finally to frustration.
That was the problem with it.
An invisible kind of progress, an invisible kind of reward, could rapidly drain a person's motivation and break their will.
It had nothing to do with self-discipline or diligence. People could only continue learning through endless pages of text for so long. Once they could no longer feel the meaning behind it, then no matter how reasonable or "important" it sounded, they would never truly convince themselves to continue.
George thought for a moment before speaking again.
"If you're interested, my latest research is actually far more meaningful than ancient spells."
"Interesting!" Kate said immediately.
She had assumed George's recent research must have involved some kind of ancient curse. She couldn't imagine what could possibly be more meaningful than ancient magic, and her curiosity instantly flared.
George pulled his stool closer and sat beside her.
With a casual wave of his hand, the curtains suddenly shut. Several candles in the room lit themselves naturally, bathing the room in a dim golden glow.
He rolled up his sleeves and waved both hands back and forth, indicating that they were completely empty.
Then he extended one palm.
"Look at my hand."
George's actions, the darkened room, and the flickering candlelight all caught Kate off guard.
The atmosphere felt strangely warm and unfamiliar.
She didn't dare look directly at George's face. Instead, she lowered her head and stared fixedly at his palm, feeling her ears grow hot.
His hand was empty.
She had no idea what he wanted to show her, but she was too embarrassed to ask.
His hands are big… but they're actually kind of handsome…
The thought lingered in her mind, making her ears burn even hotter.
But suddenly, all her thoughts vanished.
Her attention was completely seized.
She forgot her embarrassment and stared intently at the strange phenomenon unfolding before her eyes.
She saw it.
Tiny points of light gathered within George's palm.
They resembled faint starlight, or moonlight scattered beneath water.
The glowing particles continuously appeared from nowhere, flickering silently into existence from the empty air.
The lights slowly converged, crystal-clear and radiant, condensing into droplets of water one after another until they formed something like a miniature galaxy.
Fluorescent light shimmered across George's palm as though he were holding an entire star system in his hand.
The sight was breathtaking.
And the transformation did not stop there.
The galaxy continued compressing inward.
Eventually, all the light and droplets fused together into a thin, semi-transparent book.
Unable to resist her curiosity, Kate reached out and poked it gently with her finger.
The translucent book floated quietly above George's palm as though drifting in empty space. Through its transparent pages, she could clearly see her own slender fingertips.
"An illusion?" Kate guessed uncertainly.
"Guess again." George signaled that she was wrong.
"Magic?" Kate blurted out, not even sure where the word had come from.
George rolled his eyes.
"How could a stage magician create something out of thin air? Is it really that hard to guess? You see examples of this every day."
"A curse… a ghost?" Kate guessed again.
She had never seen anything remotely like this before.
She simply couldn't imagine what else it could be.
"This is a ghost book," George said directly, clearly having no intention of building suspense.
"You can create ghosts?" Kate felt as though her worldview had shattered.
"At the moment, I can only create ghost-like objects. They can't interfere with reality yet," George answered honestly.
Even so, creating ghostly objects at all was already astonishing.
And in the future, truly creating ghosts might not be impossible.
"But how could humans create something like ghosts?" Kate murmured in disbelief.
Unlike fantasy worlds filled with necromancers, this magical world had no such thing.
And even in worlds with necromancers, creating souls was impossible. Necromancers merely killed people, then enslaved corrupted spirits through torture and pollution.
In this world, ghosts were unique existences—fragments left behind by witches and wizards consumed by overwhelming emotions after death.
Ghosts could neither be created nor controlled.
At least, that was what wizards had always believed.
But now George had broken that rule.
George lightly tapped Kate on the forehead. Watching her clutch her head indignantly, he said seriously:
"A wizard is someone who turns the impossible into reality."
Then he continued:
"Just because something didn't exist before only means we didn't understand it. Since ghosts already exist naturally, then naturally they can also be created artificially. Wizards exist to turn impossibilities into possibilities. So why shouldn't we be able to do what ghosts themselves can do?"
"But wizards aren't ghosts…" Kate whispered.
Yet the evidence was right in front of her.
Although the revelation overturned everything she believed, she quickly began reasoning through its implications.
Just as ancient magic could be rediscovered and mastered by modern wizards, perhaps modern wizards could also eventually acquire the powers of ancient wizards and use their spells.
Even if the process was incredibly difficult and time-consuming, once the necessary conditions were met, success would become inevitable.
Like buying lottery tickets—no matter how low the odds, if the conditions were fulfilled enough times, eventually someone would win.
If wizards could create ghostly objects, then ultimately they might also create ghosts themselves… perhaps even souls.
And once that became possible, those artificial ghosts could naturally interact with other ghosts, harm them, enslave them—
Even manipulate souls themselves.
And that was something so terrifying that not even the maddest dark wizard had ever achieved.
(To be continued.)