Chapter 192: The Proposal

In the wizarding world, most wizards lack imagination and curiosity. As a result, in the magic research institute, the wizards he recruited could only cooperate with Muggle researchers, finding it difficult to work independently.

On the path to exploring magic, his fellow travelers turned out to be mostly Muggles, with only a few wizards, which was truly peculiar.

The lack of talent was certainly due to a problem in education.

Hogwarts' educational approach focused more on familiarizing young wizards with existing magic to deal with various difficulties in life and work.

Its educational policy tended towards caution and conservatism, not encouraging, and even suppressing the curiosity of young wizards about magic and the unknown.

The reason was understandable. For inexperienced spellcasters, magic was indeed dangerous.

A slight mispronunciation in a Levitation Charm could result in being crushed by a cow, and a careless Shadow Shift could lead to disintegration. Not to mention spells that were inherently offensive.

Hogwarts' educational goal was not ambitious. It merely aimed to enable young wizards to control their own magical power, preventing mishaps.

Such an educational policy might be beneficial for the continuity of wizards' existence, but for someone like Murphy, who aimed to explore the boundaries of magic, it was too conservative.

In the past, he was powerless to change this. But now, having the opportunity to personally train young wizards, Murphy wanted to try.

So many young wizards, already possessing magical abilities, were a tremendous asset.

Even if he could convince just four or five to become independent wizard researchers, the speed of his magical research would increase significantly.

With this in mind, Murphy asked, "What do you want to use magic for?"

"I know most of you have parents and siblings who are wizards. You've grown so accustomed to magic that it's no longer surprising."

"The majority of the students are half-blood wizards, with a few pure-blood wizards remaining, and wizards like Hermione who come entirely from Muggle backgrounds are very rare, not even making up 10%."

"But, I still want you all to remember the moment when magic first fascinated you."

"What was that most urgent wish when you first realized it was a power that could do almost anything?"

"Don't be limited by your current fixed understanding of magic."

"Imagine magic as a wish-granting machine. What wish would you want to make?"

The students looked at each other, and one of them raised a hand, "Teacher, does wishing for a pile of gold coins count?"

Laughter erupted from the crowd.

Murphy also smiled, "Of course. In fact, that's a very common wish. When I was a student, I spent every day figuring out how to conjure gold."

Encouraged by the acceptance of such a mundane idea, the students became bolder.

Someone said, "Does flying count? I mean, without using a flying broom."

"Of course, that's actually a very challenging topic."

Inspired, the students began to raise their hands enthusiastically.

"I want to grow taller."

"I want to become more beautiful."

"I wish to bring my grandma back to life."

"I want to be smarter."

"I also want a lot of money."

"I wish I could turn into a fish."

"I want to travel the world."

"I want to be a singer, I really like Weird Sisters!"

Before long, the discussion went off-track. Murphy snapped his fingers, and a large clock-like object appeared beside him. He picked up a mallet and struck it.

The bell's "ding" silenced the room.

"Great, everyone has some interesting ideas," said Murphy. "So, do you want these wishes to really come true?"

"Of course, but is that possible?" someone asked.

"Of course, it's possible. Magic is a very versatile tool. It's like a master key. Theoretically, anything you can think of, it can achieve."

Dean Thomas stood up. He was the student who had earlier expressed the desire to fly. "Professor, are you going to teach us a spell for flying?"

"No, I won't teach you any spells, or any magic. That's the job of the other teachers."

"What I want to teach you is a method."

"A method to identify a problem and then solve it."

"Not everything we want to do has a corresponding spell. Some spells might not have been developed yet, or are only known to a few. Like flying, for example."

"In such cases, we might need to create our own key."

"How to make this key is what I want to teach you."

"First step, you need to learn to ask questions. Pose a precise, detailed question."

"Dean," Murphy called out to the dark-skinned boy, "you want to fly, right? Can you describe it more specifically? What kind of flying? Like a bird, or in human form?"

"I, I think... probably in human form?"

Murphy nodded, "Good. So, without relying on a broom or other objects, like flying clothes or shoes?"

"No, I just want to say a spell and fly into the sky."

"How high do you want to fly?"

"This... as high as I want?"

"Unlimited height? Even to outer space?"

"Uh, no, I mean, as high as an airplane is fine."

Dean's mother was a Muggle, so he was relatively familiar with the Muggle world.

"Do you mean a passenger plane?"

"Yes... I think so."

"So not higher than forty thousand feet," Murphy said.

"What about the speed? How fast do you want to fly?"

"As fast as an eagle."

"Oh, do you mean the cruising speed of an eagle, or its sprint speed, or perhaps its diving speed?"

"…I, I don't know…"

"Um... let's just say 50 miles per hour, then. Thank you, Dean, you can sit down."

"This is how you refine a question," Murphy explained.

"Flight is a very general term."

"But through refinement, we understand that what Dean wants is unassisted flight in human form, below forty thousand feet, at a speed exceeding 50 miles per hour."

"Only through such refinement can we realize that riding on a dragon's back is not the effect he wants, nor is turning into a bird."

"Only by asking detailed questions can we identify the difficulties and think of targeted solutions."

"Alright, young wizards, I believe you understand the method of refining questions now."

"Starting now, form groups and discuss. Each group should pick a wish you most want to realize, then refine it."

"Submit a proposal to me before the next class, and I'll review it."

"Once approved, this wish, this topic, will be the entire content of your practical classes for the coming year."

As Murphy finished speaking, the students were abuzz.

"We're just first and second-year students, some of us are even new students who haven't started learning spells yet. Are we really supposed to research such challenging topics?"

"Professor, is any topic acceptable?" someone asked.

"It can't break the law, must be related to magic, and you can choose easier topics. But I hope you'll follow your true desires."

"Even topics like resurrecting the dead?" someone suddenly asked.

Murphy looked over and saw a boy with round glasses standing there.

"That's also a frequently discussed topic," Murphy said. "Why not? There's no law saying it can't be done."

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