Once he entered the movie, Wayne understood what was happening. It turned out the plot had progressed to Harry's first day of classes after enrollment, and Amy found herself completely unable to master the spells taught by the Hogwarts professors.
For instance, she was extremely interested in the "Levitation Charm."
After a bit of training, a low-level Mage in World of Warcraft can learn a spell called "Slow Fall." By using a complete "Light Feather" dropped from a bird or fowl as a medium, the Mage can significantly slow their own or a target's descent for a short time.
This spell can be cast repeatedly, meaning that as long as one has enough Light Feathers or casts it in time before hitting the ground, one can leap directly from a mountain ten thousand feet high.
However, a spell like the "Levitation Charm" that can make a target slowly float upward was something most Mages had never heard of, let alone seen used as an introductory lesson for first-year students like in the world of Harry Potter.
Wayne casually picked up a wand from in front of a student and demonstrated with the feather on the desk. Having already managed to lift a heavy refrigerator in the real world, floating a feather in the movie world was effortless.
Wayne: "See? It's very simple."
Amy tried a few more times. Her pronunciation of the incantation was perfect, yet there was zero effect.
Wayne also found it strange and looked closer. "Wait, this curvy thing in your hand... where did you get it?"
Amy blushed and looked at the thin wooden stick in her hand. "This is my personal wand, a Lesser Magic Wand given to me by an enchanter."
Wayne: "Oh, for goodness' sake... items from the real world don't work here."
With that, he handed a movie-world wand to Amy. "Try this one."
Amy took the wand and recited the incantation again, but the feather remained motionless.
Now Wayne was stumped.
He picked up another wand and tried it; the feather floated immediately. But on Amy's side, after many attempts, it still failed.
Wayne: "Tell me about the process when you chant."
Amy looked at the feather on the table with some disappointment. "It's the same as when I usually cast spells. I concentrate, mobilize the Arcane energy within my body... and then... nothing."
Wayne slapped his hands together. "No wonder! Forget your Arcane energy. Here, neither your original skills nor your magic will work."
"Try again, but treat yourself like a Muggle who has never learned magic before."
In the world of Harry Potter, Amy would be the equivalent of a pure-blood witch. With both parents being Mages, she had been imitating their spellcasting movements since she first learned to speak. Utilizing the Arcane energy gathered in her body was as natural as breathing. Suddenly being asked to strip all that away left her at a loss.
Seeing her working hard but achieving nothing, Wayne offered an analogy:
"Have you ever been constipated?"
Amy froze, her spellcasting stopped mid-gesture. She looked at Wayne in shock. "Huh?"
Wayne: "You know, when you push really, really hard, but nothing comes out."
Amy's face turned bright red. She covered her mouth with her left hand, unsure of what to say.
Wayne: "So you have. Well, if pushing doesn't work and it's stuck there making you uncomfortable, what do you do?"
Amy: "What... what do you do?"
Wayne: "Pushing is useless, so stop pushing! Find another way! Where I come from, we have electronic bidet seats to flush things out, or failing that, glycerin suppositories..."
Amy actually followed Wayne's train of thought. "My father... would eat bananas..."
Wayne thought to himself that while this girl looked brilliant and was incredibly beautiful, she became a complete nerd when it came to magic. It was a good thing her old man wasn't here; otherwise, he'd be fuming with rage hearing this.
"Wait here."
Wayne scrambled out of the classroom and returned a moment later holding a lemon. Without a word, he broke it open and shoved it into Amy's hand. "Eat it."
Amy: "This... it's going to be very sour, isn't it?"
Wayne: "It's supposed to be sour. I'd be worried if it wasn't. Hurry up and eat."
Amy complied. Even though it was a virtual reality world, the moment her tongue touched the oozing lemon juice, the extreme sourness forced her eyes into a squint.
Wayne: "Take a few more bites."
Amy endured the sourness and took two more bites. She was so puckered that tears started to well up; she couldn't take any more.
Wayne: "Recite the incantation, quickly!"
Amy set down the lemon, swallowed the remaining juice, and pointed the wand at the feather. Haltingly, she uttered: "Win-gar-dium Le-vi-o-sa."
The feather twitched in front of her, then drifted slightly upward, hovering just above the desk without rising further.
"Ah?!"
Amy let out a small cry of surprise and joy, but the feather fell back down as she stopped the spell.
Wayne: "Do you feel it? Because the intense sourness broke your absolute focus, you couldn't habitually drive the Arcane energy in your body with your will while your mind was trying to think of the incantation."
"So, when pushing doesn't work, we change our perspective. Don't beat your head against a dead-end wall."
At this point, Wayne worried his "magic-idiot" logic was too crude and not profound enough, so he added: "An old senior who lived in seclusion on Mount Hua once said: when practicing the swo... practicing magic, the key is to be as fluid as floating clouds and flowing water, letting it go wherever your will desires."
After saying this, he caught a glimpse of Amy from the corner of his eye to see if the lines from his martial arts novels actually worked.
Amy tried again. This time, although the sour taste had faded, she visualized the feeling from a moment ago. She shifted her attention to the wand and her mouth—anywhere, as long as she didn't habitually trigger the Arcane energy in her body. Sure enough, the feather truly floated up.
Amidst her excitement, Amy began to seriously reflect on Wayne's words. "Fluid as clouds... following one's will... but my father taught me from childhood that practicing magic requires reciting and drilling incantations over and over. Only by thoroughly understanding every word in a spell can one delve into deeper magical effects."
Wayne waved his hand dismissively. "No, no, that's not right. 'If you read three hundred poems by heart, you can chant even if you can't compose.' By memorizing others' verses, you might manage a few meagre poems, but if you can't create from your own inspiration, can you ever become a great poet?"
This line was also borrowed from that old man named Feng.
Amy, who loved reading, thought about it carefully and found Wayne's words to be very logical.
She told Wayne that her father, Marlin, had conducted extremely deep research into the defensive spells "Fire Ward" and "Magic Dampening." He had modified several suffixes in the incantations, resulting in a slight increase in spell effectiveness. After certification by Dalaran, all Mage trainers now use his father's improved versions when teaching apprentices these two spells.
Because of this, Marlin was awarded the title of Archmage by Dalaran, but his combat strength wasn't enough to be selected for the Kirin Tor, which consisted of the elite.
Wayne understood immediately. It was like a university professor back home; once a person had enough seniority as an associate professor, published enough papers in renowned journals, mentored enough postgraduates, and participated in writing textbooks, they could apply for full professorship.
But was a full professor necessarily stronger in academic skill than an associate professor?
Who knew.
In that sense, while Marlin wasn't great at fighting, he had at least contributed a small step forward for the world of magic.
However, Amy also realized that after receiving this honor, her father had tried everything to further improve the effects of those two spells. Yet, several years had passed without any further progress.
"Exactly. He's already an Archmage. If he tried to invent something new, the worst that could happen is he ends up with no progress, just like now. But if he succeeded, he'd be a legendary Mage whose name goes down in history."
Warming up to the topic, Wayne plopped himself down on the teacher's podium and continued:
"People must never fall into a dead loop of sticking to old ways. Back in my day, many Mages thought Warriors were easy targets, but I loved dueling Mages because their next moves were always so predictable."
"What do they do after a Charge? One hundred percent, it's a Frost Nova plus a Blink. And then? Seeing you frozen, they immediately start casting Frostbolt followed by an Ice Lance."
Hearing Wayne say this, Amy's eyes instantly lit up. "Dueling? You mean a trial of arms? You've dueled Mages?! And Ice Lance—what is that?!"
Wayne: "Uh..."
He realized he had slipped up. Just as he was about to make up a lie about reading it in a novel, he heard Little Thais calling him in the real world while pulling on his arm:
"Boss! Boss! Wake up! A fierce old man says he's going to burn the shop down!"