Ancient magic

Ancient magic is the game’s signature system: a visible residue on the world that the player character can perceive and, in combat, spend. Landing hits builds a meter; the meter unleashes finishers that can end a duel outright. Talents and gear traits bend it toward damage, healing, or faster gain.

In the story, it is the reason everyone is interested in a late-arriving fifth-year. Isidora Morganach’s research — pulling pain from people and storing it — is ancient magic industrialized, and the repositories are the game’s central moral object. The novels have old, deep magics, but not this mechanic. Treat the thread as game canon: a rule that makes the combat sing and the plot move, not a spell from the school books.