Chapter 7
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nAfter reading the materials, Felix bid farewell and Left.
nOn his way back, he stopped by Diagon Alley and picked up two sets of 3rd Year to 7th Year ancient magic Rune textbooks from Flourish and Blotts bookshop. One set is brand new and the other is a ‘gem’ that he has spent a lot of time picking out from the pile of old books.
nThe old textbooks came from a group of students with different handwriting but with uniformly detailed notes, and he thought he could use them as a reference for teaching the students.
nThe next day, he embarked on an intense course preparation workout, starting by looking through the textbooks – which was surprisingly easy!
nProfessor Babbling, as an expert in ancient magic runes, picked materials that were distinctive: they were mainly based on the current mainstream viewpoint, but with a certain percentage of practical magic runes thrown in.
nThe current mainstream view is that ancient magic runes are ancient scripts, used by ancient wizards to record magic, and modern researchers are tasked with translating what is still left of those Materials.
nThis is only part of the truth, but in fact, as a name suggest ‘Ancient Scripts’, has a very long history – in the distant past, it was used to carry the mystical symbols of wizards, and which was widely used in both ancient magic and ancient alchemy. It was used across the world in various forms.
nAnd it was that ancient magic runes that Felix sought out in order to find the truth to the ultimate way.
nHe then went through the notes of a few old students, and the parts of key points, their thought process, and problems solving were very inspiring to him – it helped him to understand how the young wizards viewed the subject.
nThat’s why he likes the academic top scorers – after all, things fit together.
nWith the notes from the model students and the syllabus he had received from Professor McGonagall, he already has a clear vision of what he needs to teach.
nThe next step is to consider the style of teaching.
nAlthough he already got the teaching job that he had been waiting for, and the thousand-year-old Hogwarts collection is once again at his disposal, still, he knows as a legendary graduate, and he couldn’t return to his alma mater to be criticized for his poor teaching, could he?
nHe couldn’t afford to be embarrassed for this! He doesn’t want to be accused of being a bad teacher.
n“What should I do to attract their interest?” Felix thought about it over and over again, and the first idea that popped into his mind is Quiz.
nAt this point, he knew that he was not alone in this quest! In his past and present lives, the psychological shadow caused by many of these type of tests has hunted him.
nA strange “Jie Jie” laugh came from within the room.
nBack to the subject, Felix took out a piece of parchment and wrote the words “Quiz & Worksheet” on it, which immediately led into two branches, one being the pros, with the words ” quick consolidation of knowledge”, and the other branch representing the cons, with the words “easy to cheat”.
nFelix, of course, needs to make a name for himself, but he also knows the standard of the little wizards out there – and he needs to take it easy if he doesn’t want to overtake Professor Binns as the “most unpopular professor”.
n“The key is to be interesting and informative, but interesting is the opposite of what Quiz & Worksheet can be …” Felix murmured, “Maybe I can make them write a diary and mini-essay in ancient magic runes.”
nTime passes quickly amidst these thoughts …
n“Final exams are also very important, so I might consider adding a practical section.”
nAncient magic runes is inherently boring, but it is actually essential knowledge for delving into the mysteries of magic, linked at one end to ancient magic and at the other to ancient alchemy.
nThe former represents great power and the latter represents the once glorious, wonderful creations.
n“Ancient magic is not desirable, I can’t even control it myself now. But using what they’ve already learned to create, or at least repair, a piece of alchemy is a feasible idea. …” Felix went into some sort of ‘brainstorm’, thoughts and inspirations bursting forth, the quill on his desk moving rapidly. As the quill on the table fluttered and twirled, it created a trail of shadows.
nBy late afternoon, Felix had completed the initial design of the course.
n“Not bad from me.” He looked at his work with satisfaction: three sheets of parchment densely covered with text and flow charts.
nThe only question left is what kind of artefacts to use as the teaching aid.
nThis proved to be a difficult task, as Felix did not intend to prepare five artefacts for the grades he teaches from three to seven – it would be too much trouble and would occupy his reading time.
nInstead, he was going to choose an appropriate product and divide it into different difficulty levels.
nFor example, in Year 3, you will only have to complete a few things such as linking, looping, balancing, and coordinating, similar to the physics experiment of connecting wires and switching on and off switchboards in the item.
nAs for Year 7, I’m not asking them to build a rocket, but it’s not that hard for them to build a cart, right?
n“What should the object be? First, it can’t be too simple, otherwise, it’s impossible to distinguish the difficulty; but it can’t be too complicated either, otherwise, I’d be exhausted as well.”
nThere should be 800, if not a thousand, young wizards at Hogwarts, and even if only a third of them chose ancient magic runes, it would be an unbearable amount of work for someone, who wanted to be “innovative in his teaching”.
nFelix had a headache trying to strike a balance between “efficiency” and “quality” …
nFor three days in a row, Felix searched his book collection, but could not find the right starting point.
n“There are so few ancient magic books on the market, and even fewer with a practical focus!” Felix wailed in his heart, which made him long for the Hogwarts collection more and more.
nIt would be his OnePiece!
nFelix had heard all sorts of strange legends when he was at school, such as the four founding heads of Hogwarts each leaving behind mysterious legacies, but it occurred to him that if he could master all the magical knowledge in the library, he would be no less accomplished than any of the Big Four.
nThe greatest treasure is right in front of them, and yet most people were blind to it!
nIt was only after he had missed it that he realized what he wanted – why else would he have been planning to return to Hogwarts for years? Why else would he have been plotting in the past few years to get back to Hogwarts?
nWith nothing to find, Felix walked out of his house and prepared to take a walk.
n“Mr. Hap, I haven’t seen you for a few days!” An elegant lady met him by chance.
n“Linda, I’ve been busy preparing for the new job.”
n“You’ve found a job already?”
n…
nAfter a short conversation, the lady left with a slight reluctance.
nIt must be mentioned that Felix’s gentle personality and attractive looks have always made him popular with his neighbours.
nThe streets of London’s Western Quarter.
nFelix wandered around aimlessly, looking like a world apart from the busy pedestrians on the road.
nThough that’s not a bad way to phrase it.
nIn the middle of his walk, Felix passed by a dental clinic and, looking at the clean and tidy front of the dentist’s place, his eyes paused and a thought that had been on his mind for a long time resurfaced.
nNo hurry, let’s come back in a few days.
nAs he walked on, he finally stopped in front of a children’s activity room and, hearing the familiar words “yo fakkin’ da” and “dog sene”, Felix walked in by accident.
nInside, the light is slightly dim, and a half-dozen teenagers are frantically tapping buttons, tirelessly shaking joysticks, and mouthing bizarre words like ” ha-ha-ha”.
nFighting games, huh?
nFelix feels like he has been returned to his childhood, not this one, but his past life one, of course. The familiar characters on the screen made him feel close to them, especially the poorly costumed girl characters.
n“Fireman’s skill is so cool!!!”
n“Ice Girl’s move is FULL SCREEN, what do you know!”
nFelix laughed in silence.
nHe is about to turn around and leave when a flash of inspiration hit him… Wait, what is that?
nFighting?
nA fighter? Yes, hand-to-hand one!
nFelix’s eyes lit up, he had finally found something that is complex enough for five grades, but not too difficult. Why not a gadget? No, why not a magic golem?
nHe had been thinking about it all along, and he could finally put an end to it.
nA recreated of some characters from the fighting games, using ancient magic runes circuits as a template!
nThis kind of magical golem( hand-sized one) is acceptable for children in the wizarding world, and there is no psychological barrier for the little muggle wizard.
nAs for the difficulty level, it is easily adjustable. For third and fourth-year students, he can just give them a complete magic golem, leaving some nodes and branching structures for them to complete.
nFor the senior students, they need to complete at least one functional structure by themselves.
nThe more Felix thought about it, the more excited he became… he could even start a battle of the knights!
nAfter all, children in the wizarding world are so miserable and the entertainment is so uninteresting, what is so great about Quidditch?
nHe couldn’t stand Quidditch, and it wasn’t because he had failed his first class in flying!
nA image came to Felix’s mind.
nTwo students facing each other, each holding a palm-sized magical golem in their hands, in a classic dueling pose.
nLet’s have a tense and exciting magic duel!
nThe corners of Felix’s mouth curled up in anticipation.
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