In the Potions Professor's office, Felix and Snape were playing a game of wizard chess.

Felix started with the white king and pawn, while Snape started with the black Sicilian Defense. When the chessboard reached the middle game, they fought and exchanged pieces, but neither of them was focused on the chessboard.

"How is the mucus of the blasting-tailed slug larvae?"

"Not bad, it seems that some unknown changes have occurred. I personally think it is benign..." Snape commanded his black pawn to move forward, and whispered: "This may be an idea, using magic with different properties to process materials in order to 'kill' some unnecessary but stubborn material characteristics."

"Isn't there also a situation in potions where materials neutralize each other? Oh... I see." Felix said, and at the same time commanded his queen to move forward two squares, sweeping the black pawn out of the chessboard.

Snape dispatched the bishop slowly, "Most mediocre wizards cannot distinguish the difference in subtle details, which is an important factor in determining whether he can achieve success in the field of potions..."

Felix's white knight trembled under the threat of the black bishop, and kept shouting to Felix: "Come and save me! Come and save me!"

Felix gave the order coldly, and his white king moved forward three squares diagonally with an expressionless face, his eyes moving back and forth between the two black pawns in the diagonal and vertical positions. Snape concentrated on thinking for a few seconds and gave up the vertical black pawn.

At this time, Felix moved the white knight deep into the black territory. "Charge!" the chess piece shouted enthusiastically.

"That's right." Felix said, responding to Snape. "But we also have to take into account the basic deviations of some new wizards."

"We have already considered it. The potion ratios for the first year are extremely simple, leaving them ample time to adapt." Snape said slowly, "Unless they are illiterate or have no logical ability at all."

Felix thought about it and it was indeed the case. There were only a few recipes in the first-year potion textbook. Most of them were introductions to common potion materials, precautions when brewing potions, and a summary of the characteristics of common potions. Even the remaining dozen potion recipes were described in great detail. Even the stirring and the reaction were described in detail, and common mistakes and corrective measures were attached at the back of the page.

At this time, Snape's black knight approached the center of the chessboard and attacked the central position. Felix mobilized the castle to fight. The smell of gunpowder on the chessboard became stronger and stronger, but the two people outside the chessboard chatted leisurely.

"Recently, many students have been discussing the use of ancient magic words to amplify modern magic. Some students have already researched a lot of things." Snape said softly.

"I know..." Felix stared at the chessboard and felt that the center pawn was not right. After a moment's hesitation, he keenly discovered a hidden trap. He glanced at Snape. Want to distract me by talking?

He decisively let the White Knight retreat. The Black Pawn immediately followed, the White Bishop stepped forward to sweep away the Black Pawn, the Black Knight counterattacked and ate the White Bishop, then the White Queen suddenly rushed out to eat the Black Knight, and the Black Queen followed closely to fight, and finally Felix used the remaining White Pawn to eat the Black Queen.

After a fierce exchange of pieces, Felix breathed a sigh of relief.

"In fact, the fusion of ancient magic runes and modern magic is a dead end."

"Dead end?" Snape looked at him in doubt, not caring about the chess pieces in his hand.

"Well," Felix thought seriously, "a more accurate statement is... a fork in the road is like a tributary of a river. At the end, it still has to merge into one."

"I've never heard of this statement." Snape said slowly, twisting a struggling Black Knight in his hand.

Felix smiled and explained in detail: "Take the 'Water Flow' rune and the Water Creation Spell as examples. Some of their magical concepts overlap, so the rune has a strengthening effect on the spell, but you will find that this amplification cannot be suitable for all spells, and I guess the specific effect will vary from person to person..." "

Vary from person to person?" Snape pondered the word.

"That's right. For example, the mastery of the rune and a deep understanding of the rune are the most basic prerequisites. Although you can take shortcuts, someone must be willing to teach... You also have to choose the right spell. The students are experimenting vigorously, and they should be able to test out some results before their enthusiasm is exhausted... There are also problems such as casting time and activation time."

Felix continued: "This is just the fusion of a single rune and modern magic. What about later? Integrate two or three runes? Rune circuits, rune sequences, ancient magic? You will find that the more you go back, the heavier the proportion of ancient runes will be, so it doesn't make much sense."

"Then why do you..." Snape took a breath.

"I was thinking in the wrong way," Felix said calmly, "I wanted to climb up and appreciate the mysteries of higher places, so some obviously unsuitable routes were naturally abandoned. For example, I knew the follow-up and end point of this idea was to transform modern magic into ancient magic and break through various tangible and intangible restrictions. But obviously, this is not what I want."

Especially after having the Book of Runes. Felix thought.

Snape was silent for a while, "So, do you think it will be more effective if you take it out now?"

"It was Diggory who reminded me, and I just went with the flow." Felix shook his head slightly, stared at the chessboard for a moment, and said, "Of course, think about it carefully, it is indeed very beneficial for me to promote ancient runes..."

The situation on the chessboard entered the endgame stage, and the scene began to become clear. The previous competition of pieces took him a lot of thought, especially since he didn't plan to cheat with the mind hut or mind acceleration magic.

Felix lazily leaned on the back of the sofa, watching Snape thinking intently, and continued the previous topic: "Although I don't need it, Diggory's unexpected discovery also reminded me of one thing: the ancient runes may come from me, but I hope that after me, there will be a flourishing of all kinds of magic, so I encourage them to submit articles to the magazine."

Snape raised his head suddenly and looked at him in surprise.

"Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of the combination of ancient runes and modern magic, as well as some good cases... I designed a set of paper structures, and they will complete it in this way, plus a little luck, and they can publish it in the magazine." Felix explained. "Of course, I mean the members of the Rune Club." He added. At the same time, he commanded his white soldiers to move forward, and the white soldiers drew their scimitars to exaggerate and intimidate the other side's knights. "I also suggest that the students send them out in two copies, one of which is designated to the Ancient Rune Association."

Snape showed a look of understanding.

The relationship between this student of his and the Ancient Magic Code Association has never been good. Those old scholars who have studied the changes in the shapes and meanings of characters for a lifetime find it difficult to accept Felix's theory. Their general view is that ancient magic code is a language that just borrowed some of the "appearances" of predecessors.

Now it seems that it is not impossible to form a "New Ancient Magic Association" after these students grow up. Or, it is almost inevitable. More than half of the graduates of Hogwarts this year have chosen ancient magic, and more than one-fifth of the entire grade have taken advanced classes in ancient magic. Their understanding and experience of ancient magic are just as Felix hoped.

A terrible fact is that Felix has only been in office for less than three years. In other words, the students who graduated in the past two years did not learn from him at the beginning. If we follow this standard, only the fifth-year students who are preparing for the OWLs exam are the first batch of people who have received Felix's ancient magic education since the third grade.

And those old scholars can only speak out in the corners of some newspapers to denounce this behavior, or consider nominally splitting out those "practical" ancient magic, not acknowledging their existence, and dividing it into two. Anyway, the proportion of this part of ancient magic is not large...

This should be the best way. Snape thought, it's like a gecko's short tail to survive. Although it's ugly, it at least saves itself.

Felix fiddled with a chess piece and said with a smile: "I have made new discoveries recently. Some runes that we thought were purely translation runes may be simplified and deformed versions of some practical runes. Well, perhaps the degree of deformation is quite large..."

This is also the feeling brought to him by the Book of Runes.

Snape was speechless.

Even the last step was blocked. Apart from admitting defeat, what else can the Ancient Rune Association do?

...

The headquarters of the Ancient Rune Association.

Compared with large organizations such as the Extraordinary Apothecary Association and the St. Mungo Magical Medical Association, the headquarters of the Ancient Rune Association looks particularly shabby. There are only a total of thirty members, and this is the result of the association's repeated relaxation of requirements over the past few decades.

"Did you see it? It is normal to publish a valuable article in the field of ancient runes every few years, but in the past half month, six or seven groundbreaking papers have been sent to me..."

"Does the stuff they are studying have anything to do with us?" A grumpy old man slammed the table.

"Old Vera, don't bring in personal emotions. Your granddaughter's job at Future World cannot affect the fairness of our association no matter what."

The old man looked at his friend angrily.

"You have to think about it. These papers have been published in the Daily Prophet and Wizard Weekly, and even attracted the attention of the Ministry of Magic

." "What does it have to do with them?" The old man asked with wide eyes.

"Ha! This matter involves at least three departments, the Experimental Spells Committee, the Wizard Examination Administration, and the Auror Office." The man said slowly, "I heard that they are also planning to compile a booklet on ancient magic under the leadership of Felix Hep, so it may also attract the attention of the publishing department..."

"Will the people from the Wizard Examination Administration go there too?" The old man asked.

"Originally, Griselda was very patient and planned to wait and see the results this year... But things changed too quickly, and she couldn't sit still. This is almost a subversion of modern spells!"

"Is it that exaggerated?" The old man looked unconvinced.

"At least it is a supplement. I have already made a concession, and you can't refute it!" The man said with a glare.

"Okay," the old man smacked his lips and remained silent for a long while, "Do you know Professor Marchbank? Ask her to take me with her!"