Inside a quintessential Baroque-style library, a blond boy sat at a massive wooden table in the center, quietly flipping through the book in his hands.
European classical ceilings and long corridors, antique wall-mounted bookshelves, and row upon row of densely packed shelves formed the main body of this library.
"Thank you, Alfred." Accepting the fruit and hot tea handed over by the old butler, Kyle immersed himself once more in the world of magic.
Ever since Kyle had arrived at this castle nestled in the Alps, two weeks had unknowingly slipped by.
During this time, Kyle had learned quite a bit from the old Dark Lord.
However, since Kyle had no magical foundation beforehand, the only thing he truly mastered—aside from the old bat's Severing Charm—was a mishmash of ninjutsu he had cobbled together himself.
So, following Grindelwald, the only things he could learn were some very basic theoretical knowledge.
For someone considered one of the most powerful dark wizards in history, being a fledgling wizard's magical enlightenment tutor was frankly beneath Grindelwald's talents.
Yet Grindelwald, utterly absorbed in mentoring the boy, was enjoying himself immensely.
At the same time, Grindelwald was astonished by Kyle's natural talent.
For European and American wizards accustomed to using wands, wandless magic was an extremely advanced casting technique.
Mastering wandless magic allowed wizards to cast the spells they needed more quickly and nimbly.
In battle, even if disarmed, a wizard proficient in wandless magic could continue fighting, delivering a fatal counterattack that caught their opponent off guard.
Kyle's pioneering wandless magic—the Rasengan—had left Grindelwald mildly surprised.
With his vast experience and broad perspective, ordinary magic could not stir even the slightest ripple in his heart.
The Rasengan, then, could probably be considered no ordinary magic.
Beyond the Rasengan, many of Kyle's magic concepts still in the planning stage had also brought Grindelwald no small amount of delight. For example, the Lightning Release: Chidori, which he had successfully cast once but at the severe cost of injuring himself.
Trading the destruction of an arm for a single-target attack that wasn't even particularly devastating—the cost far outweighed the gain.
Among the dark magic Grindelwald knew, there were no fewer than ten that could exchange an arm for tremendous power.
But the Chidori could not be evaluated from such a simplistic angle.
It was a key—a key to unlocking all subsequent Lightning Release ninjutsu.
If one could successfully master Chidori without being burned by its intense current, the Chidori's coverage could extend from the palm to the entire arm, and even the whole body.
This was the derivative ninjutsu of Chidori—Chidori Current.
Building on Chidori Current, it might even be possible to develop something like the Raikage's Lightning Release Chakra Mode, which comprehensively boosted offense, speed, and defense.
Kyle really wanted to know: when a squishy, low-health, low-defense wizard faced a tanky daddy who, after activating Lightning Release Chakra Mode, could slug it out with the Eight-Tails—and that daddy had mobility skills and high burst damage…
Ahem. Why did that sound a bit like describing Honor of Kings?
Anyway, just get the gist of it.
If he could master Lightning Release Chakra Mode, Kyle really wanted to know: faced with his Chidori Sharp Spear and Hell Stab, would any wizard be able to react before being killed?
Grindelwald was also deeply intrigued by the Lightning Release Chakra Mode Kyle described.
However, the vast majority of magic required a medium to cast. Even wandless magic did not mean the casting process required no medium at all.
The medium for casting Lightning Release Chakra Mode was the caster's own body. If the caster could not withstand the utterly berserk lightning, the most likely outcome of forcibly casting Lightning Release Chakra Mode was—
Turning into a pile of charcoal even one's parents wouldn't recognize.
Of course, certain special magics could isolate the effects of lightning.
But in that case, with Lightning Release Chakra Mode unable to act on the human body, it couldn't provide the caster's body with maximum enhancement.
At best, it would be a slightly tougher turtle shell; against physical attacks, it might at most provide a thorns effect.
Grindelwald's advice to Kyle was to start with the tiniest current stimulation, allowing the body to be tempered by the current and gradually adapt to lightning.
Of course, this process was far from simple.
The physical constitution of people in the Harry Potter world was, after all, vastly different from the overpowered freaks in the two major shōnen manga, Naruto and One Piece.
No matter how much a wizard improved their lightning resistance, they could never reach the level of Sasuke, the Raikage, or that certain god who ate the Rumble-Rumble Fruit and got pummeled by a rubber man.
So, in addition to lightning body forging, other magic was needed to assist in strengthening the body.
This was why Kyle was now spending entire days holed up in the castle's library, poring over materials.
Kyle irritably closed the thick book in front of him and stretched.
He had spent most of the afternoon in the library flipping through magic books related to physical enhancement, and the harvest had been quite substantial.
It just took a bit too long.
Kyle felt that, compared to theoretical study, he was much more adept at learning through practice.
Gulping down the afternoon tea Alfred had brought, Kyle lowered his head to look at his fingertips, experimentally gathering a small amount of electric charge.
The faint static made his fingers tingle, causing Kyle to instinctively pull back and shake his hand.
Kyle carefully adjusted the current's intensity, slowly controlling the lightning to spread across his body—of course, only on the surface. He wasn't suicidal enough to give his internal organs electrotherapy.
Summoning a curtain of water to serve as a mirror, Kyle looked at his reflection. Good grief—every strand of hair standing on end. Hair raising in anger probably described his current state perfectly.
After fiddling for a while, his hair finally stopped standing up.
Otherwise, if he went fuzzy-haired every time he activated lightning body forging, how was he supposed to maintain the forging state for long periods in daily life?
After enduring the electrotherapy for a bit, Kyle felt the soreness and fatigue in his lower back and shoulders—caused by maintaining the same posture while reading for so long—completely swept away.
As for improvement in physical strength, the electrotherapy session had been too short to show any effect.
But judging from how the current could dispel fatigue, it should be effective, right?
And current stimulation boosting cellular activity, temporarily enhancing the user's physical qualities during activation—like how Sasuke caught up to Rock Lee's speed in just one day…
Kyle felt nothing at all. He wasn't sure if the stimulation was insufficient.
The lightning intensity Kyle was using to stimulate his body was the minimum current he could control. If he increased it even slightly, his body would feel sharp stings.
He would have to adapt to this current intensity before gradually increasing it.
This was a process that required a tremendous amount of time, but Kyle's body was actually only eleven years old—he wasn't short on time.
Moreover, during this process, he could use potions to assist in improving his physical fitness, which would be much faster than relying solely on lightning body forging to build lightning resistance.
Another point was that maintaining the forging lightning consumed his magic power. With his magic reserves, the rate of consumption for this low-intensity current didn't even outpace his recovery speed.
If he could maintain lightning body forging even while sleeping, he could train twenty-four hours a day, without a moment's pause.
Just give him ten or eight years…
Back then, Might Guy nearly kicked out the grand finale with one foot. I, Kyle Grindelwald, kicking Lord Voldemort to death with one foot wouldn't be a problem.
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