Lichtenberg Wand
The last two wands were the most interesting, one was carved out of bone and was a little bit charred, it somehow gave a very chilly and dark feeling.
'Well, I think I know what you are best at.' He thought as he held the wand. If he knew any dark magic, he would have been able to test his theory.
Then there was the last and most interesting one. This wand had shallow scorch marks running along its fourteen inches of alder wood, drawing a lightning tree on it. It was as if the wand was hit by lightning and somehow survived.
Despite the Lichtenberg scars on the wand, it was the least damaged one out of all. Ben felt that it was the most suitable one. When Ben cast different spells with it, he could feel that its nature was very fluid.
The wand was very obedient to his magic. Wands usually had certain personalities of their own. They were said to be quasi-sentient. After choosing its wizard, a wand grows alongside him and over time starts to reflect more of his personality. Every used wand will have some traces of its previous user, it was inevitable.
This Lichtenberg wand did not have any such traces, his magic flowed through it effortlessly, and gave an intimate feeling. He felt his magic flow not only through the magical core of the wand but also along the lighting scorch pattern on the wood, it was like having two magical cores in one wand.
This was going to be his main wand, he stored all the other wands in their boxes and placed them on the shelf for safekeeping. He then took his wand to the workbench and looked for something to mend the damage.
'Honestly, I'm loving the lighting scorch pattern on it.'
While polishing the wand using the supplies he found in the cabinet, he noticed that the wood had hardened along the lighting pattern and had sort of crystallized. After polishing, the wand had a beautiful appearance. The light-brown alder wood had a slight red tinge to it and the lighting scorch running along its body now gave a slight shine. The char had turned a little crystalline.
'This was definitely not a regular lightning strike.' He thought looking at the wand.
Ben took out his original wand and gave it a polish too, it chose the original Ben and was loyal till the end. Ben placed it in the box of his new wand and left it on the shelf. Maybe it will find a new master one day, but looking at the number of wands stranded in the previous room, it was very unlikely.
There was still some time left before his Herbology lesson, so he decided to practice spell casting and level up his Destruction skill. He got out of the room and again walked back and forth in front of the wall, this time requesting a room to practice spells. He pushed the giant polished door open and entered the room again.
This time the room looked a lot like the one he saw in the movies, it just wasn't as big. There were bookshelves containing books related to spell casting, a nice study table with a comfortable chair near the fireplace and several training dummies.
Ben tried a few basic spells first, he levitated a spell book from the bookshelf to the study table and back with ease, he then tried the spell that had troubled him the most in the past week, the softening charm.
Although it was one of the most basic charms, Ben had trouble controlling it in the past. He had tried casting it on the bottom of his shoe but had ended up softening the whole shoe. With the new wand, he was able to precisely target the sole and also the degree of softening. It took a lot of work to not turn his shoe into a sponge with his old wand. It took considerably less effort now.
Satisfied with the results, Ben moved the fire-making charm.
"Incendio"
A small jet of flames flew out of the tip of his wand and landed on the wooden dummy.
"Stinguo"
He quickly used the countercharm to extinguish the fire.
Ben heaved a sigh of relief when the fire was successfully put out, he had been nervous about the fire-making charm since the incident at the Herbology Greenhouse. He had not been able to use the countercharm then and had spent a lot of time practising its wand movement and incantation after that.
Now that he had gained some confidence, he decided to take it up a notch.
Ben attacked the dummies with [Flames],[Frostbite] and [Sparks] to level up his Destruction skill. Instead of waiting for his Magicka to recover, practised the severing charm and the mending charm on the dummies. Once his Magicka recovered, he went back to levelling up his Destruction skill.
"Diffindo"
"Reparo"
The severing charm was like the "Swiss Army Knife" of the wizarding world, it could be used in many ways. Even though it was easy to learn this spell, it took a lot of practice to master it. With enough mastery, a wizard could cut things in all sorts of shapes and with great precision. It was widely used in the medical field.
The mending charm, on the other hand, was the duct tape of the wizarding world. It too was easy to learn, but hard to master. It looked easy but required immense concentration from the wizard, as he must focus on all the components that are to be mended together. It was not only used for repairing things, but also for mending different things together to make something new.
Although this training method was very efficient, it was also mentally exhausting. Ben could feel himself getting tired, not only did spell casting take a lot of concentration, but Ben's body also absorbed the surrounding magic to recover his Magicka.
Magic was everywhere and in everything in this world, there was an endless amount of it. On the other hand, there was no Magicka here. If magic was like natural, pure water, then Magicka was like sparkling water. There was not much difference, but it had a little bit of extra 'oomph' to it.
After spending a good half of an hour torturing the poor practice dummies, it was time to go. Ben used the healing spell on himself, and an orange glow spread throughout his body and rid him of all fatigue.
There were only a few minutes left before class, he focused hard and channelled his need to get to the Herbology greenhouses and a passage formed at the back of the room. He followed through the dark-narrow passage and found himself in a small room full of gardening tools, watering cans and fertilizers.