Lady Ravenclaw's Gift

What was the concept of magic?

Jon was truly not very good at debating philosophical questions. Back when he had taken the Postgraduate Entrance Examination, Marxist philosophy alone had tortured him half to death.

So in this life, he had worked hard to study philosophy, but his ability to reason and debate had not improved much. Once a question went beyond what he knew, he could no longer continue thinking about it.

However, not knowing the principles did not mean he could not make use of magic.

Brilliant magical radiance appeared within his field of vision, and in reality as well. Kaledi could not hide his excitement, and her eyes were full of anticipation as she looked at Jon.

Jon gave Kaledi a look, signaling her to remain calm.

He was about to speak, but in the instant he raised his eyes, he fell into the daze brought on by the magical light.

Then, within his vision, the walls around him abruptly vanished.

A distant bright moon rose from the horizon. Moonlight broke through the barriers between heaven and earth, illuminating his eyes at that moment.

Then his viewpoint rose, and when he lowered his gaze again, he saw the world.

Starting from where he stood, a spiderweb-like network formed of moon-white threads spread in every direction, connecting points of light that glowed like fireflies.

Those were the locations, within Jon's field of vision, of wizards and all other living beings that possessed magic.

Towers, tombstones, alchemical forms, crystals, Philosopher's Stones, books, flames... Countless peculiar shapes appeared in Jon's vision, each declaring its existence in a different way. From time to time, a strong or faint fluctuation would arise somewhere, then spread outward.

That was magic being cast.

Magic Factors scattered throughout the magical network and across heaven and earth entered wizards' bodies through those spiderweb-like threads, then traveled back and forth between magical institutions. That was how the Wizarding World's High-Magic Environment came into being, how the Wizarding World's various means of transportation could function, how the magic of magical portraits was constructed, and much else besides...

Jon also saw that where he stood, a long, thin thread was constantly entwined by white magical factors before extending into the distance. This should have been Helga's "Magic array" at work, linking this magical environment to the next one. At the other end, it should have been Hogwarts.

Jon withdrew his gaze and continued observing the Magic Factors around him.

"They" were a mysterious force spread throughout every corner of this world, omnipresent yet invisible to wizards.

They were part of this world, having existed within it earlier than humanity, earlier than life itself.

Whether soil, flowing water, flames, the atmosphere, or even the human body, all contained their components.

Just as Ollivander had said, "The wand chooses the wizard."

That was not a meaningless statement.

"The wand chooses the wizard," "the spell chooses the wizard," "the magical creature chooses the wizard"... in the end, it was all magic choosing the wizard.

From the very beginning, from the moment a wizard was born into this world, he was being chosen by magic. For example...

Jon's head suddenly felt as though it had been pierced by a silver needle. Pain violently dragged him out of the glasses' wondrous field of vision. His head hurt as if something were tearing it apart, and his limbs were ice-cold. Kaledi was gripping his hand and sending magic into his body, while somehow finding a little hot water to feed him.

Then he heard a familiar voice again.

"Your Mana Overdraft is severe. What were you doing just now?"

As he closed his eyes to ease the headache, Jon heard Helga's voice coming down from the wall. He forced himself to raise a hand and remove the glasses.

Although the glasses had automatically stopped drawing magic when his magic had run dry, Jon still felt lingering fear about that state.

This was not the first time he had known magic to be wondrous and magnificent, but what he had just experienced was truly his first real glimpse of that magnificence.

It was like a researcher seeing the world of cells through a microscope for the first time. When he was shaken by that marvelous new world, one that even words would make seem pale by comparison, he forgot himself at once.

Such a state was naturally a good thing for a researcher. Like the enlightenment spoken of in ancient Chinese sayings, it was something one could encounter only by chance. But from the perspective of a living being, such a state could easily lead to sudden death.

Jon had only been forced out of that state because his magic had run dry. Fortunately, the Magic Glasses had automatically cut off their intake of magic. Yet in many cases, magic could only be cut off by its user, not by its recipient.

So wizards could die suddenly too, Jon thought, having narrowly escaped death.

Kaledi had only sent him a little magic, because too much at this time would instead cause secondary harm. Under Helga's guidance from the wall, Jon leaned back in his chair and recovered on his own for quite a while.

Only after the needle-like sensation in his head became a dull ache did Jon barely manage to open his eyes.

Of course, he still felt some regret.

He examined and stroked the glasses on the desk, recalling the sight he had just witnessed. Helga on the wall had also guessed that Jon had experienced something extraordinary. Her expression within the portrait shifted from worry to calm as she quietly waited for him to speak.

Jon was still thinking it over.

Why had that happened?

There was no reason he should have been able to see a scene that touched so closely upon the essence of the magical world. These glasses did not have such powerful capabilities—though they were excellent, they were merely an auxiliary magical item.

And he knew clearly that if it happened again, he would not see that scene from before.

That was a more essential form of the magical world. Even though he had seen it rather vaguely, even merely seeing its form was not something he could do at his current level.

Otherwise, the observation would not have been forcibly stopped due to magic depletion and overdraft.

What had that scene just now resembled?

It was like when he had first learned about his bloodline. Helga had told him that he was actually a descendant of Hufflepuff's bloodline. Even with the facts before him, everything had still felt unreal.

It had been the same just now.

It was as if he had borrowed someone else's eyes to observe this world. What he had seen was really a cheat opened for him with someone else's help, allowing him to glimpse the world's appearance.

Who that "someone else" was was obvious.

Thinking of this, Jon said to Helga with a helpless smile, "Just now, I received another gift from Lady Ravenclaw."