Christian returned to the common room and rested since he was not in the mood to do anything. He saw Neville on the side when he reached the Fat Lady's portrait.
"Neville? Did you forget the password?"
"No, I'm waiting for you."
"Did someone else bully you? Tell me who it is."
"No, I just wanted to apologize."
"For what?"
"For getting you in trouble with Snape."
"Oh, don't worry about this since it's not your fault," said Christian. "Snape is a garbage teacher, and maybe even a human being; there is no need to blame yourself. Come on, let's go in." Christian stated the password and entered through the portrait hole.
"C-can I ask you a question?"
"Sure."
"How can I be more like you?" asked Neville.
"Like me?"
"Yes, confident and strong."
Christian paused. This was not an easy problem to solve."How about you join our morning meditation?"
"What do you mean?"
"You want to build confidence, right? Then meditation might help."
"Really?"
"I would not lie about something like that."
"But I don't think I can remember to wake up that early."
"I'll wake you up."
"But wouldn't I be wasting your time?"
"Of course not. Don't worry, we will start tomorrow morning."
"Thank you."
Neville went to do his homework, and Christian wanted to nap before heading for the Room of Requirement. However, Percy approached him.
"Why did I hear we lost 50 points because of you?"
"It's Snape's fault, not mine."
"You know how he gets by now? You should have just endured it."
Those words immediately irked Christian, "Why do you care how I act? I'm the reason we are leading in points, so who cares if I lose a few? I can just get them back."
"But–"
"I don't have the time or patience for your nonsense today," said Christian before walking away. Then, he paused and turned to the shocked Percy, "Your unbridled ambition and tendency to soothe people of authority to further your objective will one day lead your life to a dark path. You should watch out for that."
After saying these words, he walked away. Percy's face turned red with anger and embarrassment, and when he noticed some people pointing and laughing, he walked away.
Christian saw Lee Jordan in the distance and approached him. "This is this month's payment. I apologize for forgetting."
"No, it's alright. It's just…"
Christian frowned, "Do you want remuneration for the late payment? I guess that's fair, but I'm only willing to pay a few Knuts."
"That's not it." Lee Jordan shook his head. "I was wondering whether you could pay by telling me what will happen in the next issue?"
"No."
"But."
Christian stuffed the money in his hand before walking to his room. As he lay in bed, he took out his Two-Way Mirror to call his mother.
"Zed, are you okay?" asked Tiara as her face appeared in the mirror. "Do you need something?"
"No, I just had a terrible day and wanted to talk to you."
"Oh, it's good that there is no emergency."
"Are you busy? I can call another time."
"No, it's fine," replied Tiara. "Tell me what happened."
"It started with Neville…"
"I understand your frustration. One of my criticisms of the headmaster is how laissez-faire his education policies are."
Christian sighed, "Sometimes I feel there is an unknown force in the world that makes these adults purposefully incompetent."
"Oh, that's harsh."
"Maybe. Let's not talk about this. Did you ever read that occult book about summoning demons? What's the result?"
"I did, and it's undetermined."
"What do you mean?"
"The book is a real magical book," explained Tiara. "The theories used involved advanced tribal magic with other forms of magic. However, after trying the content, I failed."
"Do you know why you failed?"
"Two possibilities: I did not fully comprehend the content and missed something, or it was due to the substitution of certain materials for the summon."
Christian frowned, "Why the substitute?"
"They were rare or extinct."
"So, this book is useless?"
"No. As I said, the theories used are advanced and greatly helped me with my tribal magic."
"That's indeed good news. About the other book Eleanor sent me as a second gift?"
"That one is fake. Interesting to read but still fake."
"That's unfortunate, but we can't win them all. How is your expedition going?"
"We hit a stumble as we discovered this ruin contained Innate Curses," replied Tiara.
"What's that?"
"Do you remember when I talked about Geomancy?"
"Yeah, you said certain locations are a trove of intense magical energy, like where Hogwarts is built."
"Tombs or any places with dead bodies naturally release negative energy, and when this energy comes into contact with those troves of magical energy, they mutate and form Innate Curses."
"So, are Innate Curses more powerful than the ones placed by people?"
"Not necessarily," replied Tiara. "I've been to some tombs with truly sinister wizards, and the curses placed to protect them are no joke. Meanwhile, some innate curses could be dealt with by simple counter-curses. The strength of innate curses is determined by the amount of negative energy present, how much magical power is stored in the location, the mutation, and the age of the tomb/ruin."
"So, the most powerful innate curses are old places where thousands of people were buried and located at a prime magical energy bed?"
"That's a succinct way of putting it, but yes."
"So, what level of innate curse are you dealing with?"
"I don't know yet since we just encountered the first one," replied Tiara. "However, from my experiences, there should not be too much negative emotion, but the magical energy in this place is enormous."
"I see." The concept of magical energy quantity perplexed Christians. He knew magic did not function like mana; he did not have a Mana Pool, wouldn't be tired after using too much mana, or could grow his mana. Magic is more based on [Focus] and [Imagination]. Few spells will tire a person, but that's most spiritual fatigue instead of a lack of mana.
The closest explanation he can come up with is Ancient Magic, as portrayed in the Hogwarts Legacy Game that Jim played. The protagonist in the game, who can see Ancient Magic, cannot overuse his Ancient Magic as it works similarly to a Mana Pool that will decrease with use.
Additionally, if the protagonist wishes to increase his pool of Ancient Magic, he must absorb it from specific locations. Not to mention, Ancient Magic seemed to exist in the environment but in scarce quantities, as mana is portrayed in many media.
'I remember the game said Hogwarts was built by ancient magic and on a hotspot of this power. Could it be that in this world, ancient magic acts like mana?' thought Christian; the more he thought about it, the more feasible this idea became.
"Zed, what are you thinking?"
"Oh, nothing, just lost in thought." Christian realized this was not the time to be worrying about that. If the game is true, ancient magic was slowly dying, so he decided to worry about this lost form of magic after mastering the more modern and mainstream ones.
"If you say so. Alright, I have to leave. Take care of yourself, and don't fuss too much about school or potion class."
"I'll try. Take care, and don't forget to check on Aunt Eleanor: force her to come home if she's too tired."
"I will."
Christian exhaled. After this talk, he felt a lot calmer. So, he decided to train in the Room of Requirement. Tomorrow, after his detention, he will blow some steam on the Slytherin students during Dueling Club. However, before heading to the seventh floor, he wrote Entry 24 in his journal about his theory about Ancient Magic and its possible correlation with Mana before heading out.