Seeing the ambassadors suddenly grow so eager, Tver could not help smiling helplessly.
Don't be so impatient. The real show had not even begun yet.
"Third, eliminating the impact."
This time, Tver did not raise his hand. Instead, he reached into his pocket, and a wand as white as jade appeared in his grasp.
"I know there is a saying among you: destruction is always easier than construction. The same is true of magic."
"But that only applies when we are talking about the destruction caused by magic."
"I think…"
He lifted the wand in his hand. Although none of the ambassadors present knew magic, they could all feel a heavy pressure, as though the air itself had frozen.
"None of you have truly seen much of magic yet. In truth, the true strength of magic does not lie in destruction, but in creation and restoration."
"Welcome to the world of magic."
The ambassadors watched as Tver suddenly swung his wand. There was no flash of light like the briefing materials had described, and nothing shot toward any one person.
Instead, the grinding creak of stone came from every direction, surrounding them, as though every piece of stone in the room had come alive, shoving, squeezing, and crashing against one another.
Then it burst forth.
First came the beautiful dome. The many glittering stones embedded in it peeled away one after another.
The once-beautiful ceiling instantly became bare, but fortunately, in the next moment, it turned as deep and vast as the universe.
Those stones cooperated perfectly, flickering with multicolored light until they had completely become a starry sky.
Just as the ambassadors' attention was drawn to this wondrous sight, the floor beneath their seats suddenly trembled.
The tables and chairs did not change, but the floor beneath them seemed to stretch out like a giant hand, steadily lifting each delegation to waist height in the air.
The clever part was that these giant hands, together with the seats, slowly transformed.
Some became lotus thrones. Some took the shape of cars. Others became elephants floating in midair.
No matter the form, each one more or less matched the culture of the ambassador's country.
In less than half a minute, the place had changed from a solemn conference hall into a magical scene where the seats floated in the air like stars orbiting the sun.
In disbelief, the ambassadors touched the seats beneath them. The smooth, solid texture reminded them every moment that this was real.
Looking at the hundred or so little planets before him, Tver spread his arms in satisfaction.
"Ladies and gentlemen, this is the creativity of magic, and…"
As the magic was withdrawn, the stars gradually closed together and returned to their places in the dome. The ambassadors' seats also slowly descended under their regretful gazes and returned to their original form.
It was as if everything just now had been nothing more than an illusion.
"Its power of restoration."
"Do you mean any damage can be repaired with magic?"
This time, the one who asked in surprise was the American ambassador. He was certainly not going to fuss over a small matter like what had happened earlier.
"No," Tver answered coldly.
Tver knew exactly what this ambassador was thinking, so naturally he would not give him what he wanted.
Moreover, magic's ability to repair things also had limits. Everything just now was closer to transformation magic.
"Only small-scale buildings and objects that have not been too severely damaged can be fully restored. A wizard's ability to repair something is closely tied to their own strength and their understanding of the Mending Charm."
"In other words, as long as you have not caused deaths, as long as there has been no large-scale war, and as long as the damage was an unintended result of dark wizard interference, we can help restore everything to exactly how it was before."
Tver had deliberately added a pile of restrictions, precisely because he feared these ambassadors would think they could cause destruction without restraint as long as the Mending Charm existed.
But that sort of ambition belonged only to certain restless great powers. Most countries had no objection to this point.
"For example, half a year ago, Voldemort personally took action and destroyed many buildings on Whitehall in London. I imagine you all still remember that incident?" Tver had no qualms about using it as an example.
That had been Britain's greatest scandal in recent years, and also an important incident that forced them to raise their assessment of wizards' destructive abilities.
Naturally, the secret materials passed over by their own countries contained observations about that part of the matter.
"At the time, there were almost no intact buildings left on Whitehall. But by the next day, apart from several houses that had been severely damaged by dark magic…"
Tver paused.
Half of those houses were Dumbledore's doing, while the other half were his own.
"Everything else had been restored completely. Even with a microscope, you would not have found a single trace of damage."
After finishing everything he had planned to say, Tver watched as the ambassadors hurriedly consulted with their teams. He knew his words had at least affected them, or rather, the national wills they represented.
He also knew it was time to deliver the final blow.
"Ladies and gentlemen, from warning, to protection and handling, all the way to final restoration, the magic world has a complete system for responding to the challenges brought by dark wizards."
"All you need to do is trust the wizards. Give us the authority and responsibility to protect you, and give your countries the strength and mechanisms to restrain yourselves."
Tver spoke calmly, and there was even a trace of the arrogance and indifference of someone in power looking down at ordinary people on his face.
"But the greatest obstacle is you. It is the petty calculations of your governments, your disrespect toward magic, and your arrogant, overestimating attempts to pry into it."
"I can tell you frankly that the magic world can simply stand aside and watch. We have no need to divert Aurors to protect you, and no need to spend effort communicating with you."
"We could simply watch as you are controlled by Voldemort, starting one meaningless war after another and plunging countless people into misery."
"But I am also a member of humanity, and wizards are also members of humanity. We do not wish to see innocent lives slaughtered. That is why we want to work together with you."
"I know that what I have actually said today differs greatly from the contents of the prepared speech, and that you cannot make the decision immediately."
"But I have even less desire to waste time watching what you will argue over. In any case, the magic world's position and response plan are right here."
Tver began coldly gathering up his brand-new speech notes. "You may continue meeting and discussing until you tell me whether you agree to the magic world's proposal."
With that, he strode down from the stage.
However, when he reached Cynthia's side, he seemed to think of something and suddenly stopped. In a voice clearer than any microphone, he said, "One reminder. Our shared enemy will not waste time like this."
This time, after saying that, he simply nodded to Cynthia. In an instant, the two of them disappeared from where they stood, leaving everyone staring at one another.
Wait, were normal meetings not supposed to involve endless arguing, then gradually working from the strong down to the weak, taking each country's actual interests into account, before finally producing a resolution full of restrictions and conditions?
If he just left, what were they supposed to argue about?
The Secretary-General watched the flustered ambassadors while hiding in a corner and laughing happily to himself.
The United Nations lacked the foundation of real power, so naturally it was pushed around by these countries.
But wizards, or rather, the International Confederation of Wizards represented by Tver, were different. They were not people these ambassadors could manipulate at will.
As for the discussion in the following meeting, he was not worried.
Just as Tver had said, whether they discussed it or not, and what result they produced, did not matter.
In reality, countries with requests would certainly seek out their own Joint Operations Office in private. The United Nations merely played the role of a communication platform in all this.
Perhaps in the future, if countries wanted to launch a war, they would first have to communicate through the United Nations and confirm that both sides were using military force through reasonable means.
Although that certainly could not eliminate war, at the very least, meaningless and inhumane wars would no longer happen so easily.