Before God created the world, the three realms—Heaven, the Mortal Realm, and Hell—already existed.
Heaven above, Hell below, and the Mortal Realm in between.
The Mortal Realm is the battleground Hell strives to conquer and the stronghold Heaven must defend.
The three worlds are interconnected, yet distinctly different.
Heaven is Light. Hell is Darkness. The Mortal Realm is divided into Good and Evil.
The Mortal Realm is the weakest existence, both in terms of magical quality and the balance of power.
To obtain power, mortals must align themselves with either Heaven or Hell. This is the origin of the distinction between White Magic and Dark Magic.
White Magic belongs to the Light, a power tending toward Heaven; Dark Magic has become synonymous with Hell.
However, the Mortal Realm possesses more than just White and Dark Magic. There exists a third kind, one that combines the strengths of both: Natural Magic.
Is Natural Magic just spells that grow vines or sprout saplings? Don't think of it so simply.
Light and Darkness are parts of Nature. It could be said that everything in the universe is part of Nature.
Heaven is, and the Gods within it are; Hell is, and the demons and Death are no exception.
Humans yearn for the light. This is why the vast majority of wizards today use White Magic—because the magic within them is born that way. Compared to the Light of White Magic, it is exceptionally difficult for humans to acquire the power of Darkness.
However, once a human obtains pure Dark power, possessing both Darkness and Light, they satisfy the foundational requirements to become a Natural Wizard.
Listening to Salazar Slytherin's lecture, Rey was shaken to his core.
What Salazar was describing secretly aligned with the Chinese theories of Yin-Yang and Tai Chi. Although his explanation was somewhat rudimentary, deriving such a theory from ancient legends and his own research into Black and White Magic was a formidable achievement.
The Dao follows Nature!
If one were to summarize Salazar's teachings, these four words would be the perfect fit. In that case, the "Natural Wizard" he spoke of might truly exist.
A Natural Wizard was the ultimate goal Salazar Slytherin wanted Rey and Terence Barrow to achieve. Becoming a Dark Wizard was merely a step in that process.
"Truly a genius!"
At this moment, Rey was genuinely convinced. After hearing Salazar Slytherin's exposition, he bowed deeply to express his gratitude and respect.
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"On account of that bow, I accept you as my student."
Salazar Slytherin looked at the bowing Rey, nodded, and spoke.
Everything he had just explained was the result of verifying various historical legends and careful deduction. Today was his first time teaching it, but the absorption rate of his students was poles apart.
Salazar hadn't held out hope that either of his students would understand.
But Rey's deep bow told him that this student truly grasped the concept.
Rey indeed understood, hence the bow.
If he weren't a time traveler from the modern era, deeply influenced by Chinese culture, it wouldn't have been so easy for him to comprehend.
Terence Barrow, limited by his era and cultural background, was completely lost, his face a mask of confusion. Salazar Slytherin wasn't disappointed by this. Having one student understand was already a pleasant surprise; the other not understanding was simply normal.
"Next, let's talk about Dark Wizards."
"True Dark Wizards come from Hell. The power they use is pure Dark Magic. Hell and the Mortal Realm are merely two worlds with different standpoints. Therefore, being a Dark Wizard doesn't necessarily correlate with being evil."
"Evil is merely a method within the Mortal Realm to darken one's magic."
"To use Dark Magic, one must become evil."
"By changing one's heart, under the corruption of evil, the body mutates. What follows is the fall of the soul, becoming an agent of Hell in the Mortal Realm."
"This is one of the ways humans seek Dark power. However, the Dark Magic obtained this way is impure and chaotic. There is no purity to speak of."
"Of course, to obtain pure Dark Magic, there is another path, a much better one for humans."
"That is through the Specter Bead within your soul."
"A Specter Bead is a crystalline core produced by a spirit that has been nourished by Dark power for a long time."
"It acts more like a container capable of absorbing and storing pure Dark Magic."
"Through it, we can extract pure Dark power, bit by bit, from the chaotic dark energies found in the Mortal Realm."
"Now, I want you to close your eyes. Meditate on your Specter Bead and see what state it is in."
After lecturing for so long, Salazar Slytherin finally assigned the first class exercise.
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Rey had learned meditation when he first arrived at Hogwarts.
However, most of the time, he used meditation simply to relax, fall asleep, or recover magic quickly. In the future Hogwarts, specific cultivation of meditation wasn't part of the curriculum.
Most wizards of the future never obtained a Specter Bead. Only wizards with a Specter Bead could enter the second stage of meditation: Deep Meditation. Only by reaching this stage could one enhance their spiritual power.
Spiritual power is an extension of the soul. Increasing spiritual power through meditation naturally nourishes the soul. A strong soul can command more Dark power.
Meditation is very simple for wizards possessing magic—at least, entering the first layer is.
Taking deep breaths, Rey quickly entered the first layer of meditation: relaxing the body and mind.
As for the second layer, Deep Meditation, one needed to visualize the correct mental world while in the first layer.
Entering Deep Meditation was equivalent to cutting off external consciousness. In other words, one would not perceive anything happening in the outside world until exiting this state.
A person in Deep Meditation has zero defense capabilities. Even if someone were to kill them, they would simply accept it without knowing.
Rey entered the second layer of meditation quickly.
He had entered the mental world of Deep Meditation before. Although he hadn't obtained the Specter Bead back then, he had indeed accessed his own mindscape.
A modern metropolis—that was his mental world.
But the mental world he entered now was many times larger.
If the original world was limited to a single city, this one was an entire world.
The world was divided into two parts by a transparent purple-black barrier.
One side was light, while the other was filled with a faint black mist.
The city was naturally on the light side. The faint black mist in the air on the other side felt incredibly familiar to Rey. The moment he saw it, he knew this black mist was the Dark power from the vampires.
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Exiting Deep Meditation, Rey didn't wake up completely. He was in a liminal state. deep within himself, he seemed to see the Specter Bead in his mind.
It was the size of an adult's fist, with a wisp of faint black mist inside. If that's the pure Dark Magic, that's way too little, he thought.
Before he could observe it more closely, Rey felt a weight on his shoulder. Someone tapped him, and he instantly snapped out of meditation, waking up.
"Well? Did you see the Specter Bead?"
Terence had woken up at some point. Rey, however, had been woken by Salazar Slytherin.
"Yes. A glass sphere hovering in my mind."
Rey answered truthfully. As for the world he saw in the second layer of Deep Meditation, he didn't dare confirm what it meant. If asked solely about the Specter Bead, Rey felt that what he saw upon exiting was the correct answer.
"Very good. You can see your Specter Beads. Now, there is a very long road ahead of you: absorb pure Dark Magic and fill your Specter Beads."
Salazar Slytherin assigned the second task, one that would likely take a very long time.
Upon receiving the new task, Terence Barrow asked in confusion, "Teacher, if we fill the Specter Bead, will we become Dark Wizards in name and in fact?"
"No. If you fill it, that only proves that you are qualified to become true Dark Wizards."
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