#63 - Rune Workbench

"Alright, then we'll have to find another place. Looks like the space I set up won't work." Lily shrugged.

The two quickly moved to the study. Lily wasn't sure how much Anduin knew about Runology, so she asked him, "Runes, or rather, magical runes, are mainly composed of ancient runes. How much do you know about this?"

Anduin had read some books on ancient runes before, so he honestly replied, "I've read 'A Simple Introduction to Ancient Runes,' and I have a 'Runic Dictionary' and a 'Table of Magical Phonetics.' I can barely recognize all these characters. Right now, if I refer to the dictionary, I can do some simple translations, but I'm still completely clueless about how to combine ancient runes into runes."

"Anduin, your diligence and erudition are always so surprising. You know more than most third-year students. In that case, what's your understanding of runes and Runology?" Lily looked at Anduin with considerable surprise. Ancient Runes was an elective in the third year, and someone already knew so much about it in less than a year after entering school.

Anduin recalled what he had seen in books and added his own understanding, saying to Lily, "As far as I know, ancient runes are magical characters, so they are also called magical runes.

It is said that the runic characters currently existing in the magical world were learned from the bones of some magical creatures. Some scholars believe that this is a script created by a god. After years of learning and research, wizards have gradually mastered their respective meanings and functions.

In the course of history, many runes have been lost or become extinct. Runes are formed by combining ancient runes in a certain way, and runes have more specific and powerful magical abilities. In my understanding, if ancient runes are like letters, then runes are like words. If ancient runes are words, then runes are phrases or short sentences."

After listening to Anduin's explanation, Lily's eyes lit up, and she nodded and said, "It seems that your understanding of Runology is quite profound. That's right, most runes are composed of runes, and many spells are translated from single or multiple combinations of runes into incantations."

Anduin nodded to show that he understood. He also learned about this in Professor Flitwick's Charms Club, and Quirrell, a senior in the club, even tried to invent a spell called 'Amplifying Charm,' which was constantly combining and modifying runes and then translating them into spells.

Lily nodded and continued, "That's right. If you want to study runes, you must first master and learn ancient runes, and times are also developing. Many new runic characters have been discovered, or some lost characters have been restored by archaeologists."

This was the first time Anduin had heard of new characters being discovered, so he listened attentively.

And Lily was very happy to see Anduin's focused expression. After all, teachers always like students who love to learn, and she continued, "Similarly, many spells or runes have been passed down, but the runes that make them up have been lost. Many scholars are also working on restoration. Mr. Edgar Bones, whom you know, is a leader in this field. He once restored a new character from the 'Ice-Making Charm.' That character has the meaning of 'loss,' and he also developed several different rune combinations."

Oh? Anduin had never heard of this before. He didn't expect that the bearded uncle he had met before had this ability.

Lily continued, "The study of rune combinations and the study of mutual combinations between runes are even more profound. Many runes themselves contain multiple meanings, just like this character." Lily drew a character on a piece of parchment and then explained, "This character itself has the meaning of 'fly,' but it also has the meaning of 'leave' and 'go.' It is also one of the characters that make up the Levitation Charm."

Anduin nodded and kept this character in mind.

"If you combine it differently, you can form the 'Summoning Charm' or the 'Banishing Charm.' The Muggle Repelling Charm also has this character in its rune combination. This is a very practical character," Lily patiently explained to Anduin.

"In the runes or rune combinations that make up many spells and alchemical items, we usually have to determine a core character first, which we generally call the underlying character, and then combine other runes on the core character.

The combination of magical runes is not like writing, with restrictions from left to right. The combination of runes is varied. Some form a circle, some form a rectangle, some even overlap, and many characters themselves are three-dimensional and require three-dimensional combination. At this time, we need to use a tool for studying runes, which is the rune workbench."

"Rune workbench?" Anduin had never thought that there were so many tricks in this. To study it in depth, he even had to use professional tools?

"That's right, now I'll show you." Lily said, took out her wand, and tapped lightly in the air. A cabinet-like piece of furniture in the study opened left and right, and a workbench decorated with exquisite hollow patterns protruded from it. It looked like a beautifully carved art table, but the complex structure proved that it was definitely not that simple.

Then, Lily took Anduin to sit in front of the workbench. When he took a closer look, Anduin realized that the tabletop of this workbench was not flat. The whole was slightly concave, and there were many hollowed-out places on it. He could faintly see a faint magical halo. Needless to say, this table could not be used for writing.

"Next, I will demonstrate it to you. This is a very complete workbench with the functions of recording, embodying, combining, and testing. We can record some runic characters, including three-dimensional characters, and embodying can call out the recorded characters, like this." Lily said a sound, and then a runic character appeared on the workbench. It was the 'fly' character that Lily had just shown.

Anduin couldn't help but marvel at the magic, not only for the workbench, but also for the complex knowledge in 'Runology,' which greatly broadened Anduin's horizons.

"Then we can try to do some combinations." Then Lily called out several characters and skillfully combined them together. It looked like a relatively simple combination, completely composed of planes, without forming a three-dimensional combination.