Lin Yuan's Christmas Gift

In the common room, Harry and Ron were excitedly testing the magical cloak. Their laughter and exclamations echoed through the empty room.

Meanwhile, on a single sofa in the farthest corner of the room,

Lin Yuan merely glanced at the so-called "Invisibility Cloak" before looking away.

In the vision of his soul, the cloak's essence was laid bare.

[Item Name: Peverell Family's Inherited Magical Artifact (Degraded Version)]

[Core Laws: Light Refraction, Spatial Distortion, Perception Confusion.]

[Analysis: By weaving in a material known as "Thestral tail feather" that has undergone special alchemical treatment, then combining it with a profound Illusion Charm and Ancient Runes, this creates a miniature domain capable of perfectly guiding the flow of the surrounding light and magical power, thereby achieving "dual visual and magical invisibility." Its essence is not disappearance, but "deception."]

[Evaluation: Ingenious concept and superb execution. However, the energy core is unstable, and prolonged use will produce a slight assimilative effect on the user's soul. It possesses some reference value for researching the "Law of Space" and "Perception Interference."]

"Deathly Hallows, huh... Not a bad toy."

Lin Yuan gave it a flat assessment in his mind before continuing to read Advanced Charm Theory Mathematical Modeling.

Christmas, this mortal holiday filled with both religious and secular significance, was merely a point in time that had been artificially imbued with special meaning in Lin Yuan's eyes.

He had no family to miss and no friends to bless.

After coming to this world, he had long since grown accustomed to loneliness.

Loneliness was the diadem of the strong.

However, at that moment,

a gray owl that looked somewhat weary flapped its wings and squeezed through the gap in the window.

It circled once around the room, precisely ignoring Harry and Ron, who were excited over their gifts, before landing directly on the coffee table in front of Lin Yuan.

A square, not particularly large package wrapped in dark-blue paper was tied to its leg.

The sight made Harry and Ron, who had been roughhousing, stop and look over curiously.

Lin Yuan... had received a Christmas present too?

That was even more unbelievable than Professor Snape suddenly announcing that he would award Gryffindor a hundred points.

A trace of imperceptible surprise also flashed through Lin Yuan's eyes.

He reached out, and the owl obediently handed the package to him. It then rubbed its head against his fingers ingratiatingly, as though it had sensed an aura that instinctively drew it close.

The package was very light and wrapped with meticulous care. Its corners were neat, and even the bow was tied to perfection, displaying a certain scholarly precision.

Lin Yuan's soul swept lightly over the package.

[No residual malicious energy.]

[No curses or tracking spells attached.]

[Gift Contents: A knowledge vessel composed of paper, ink, and cardboard.]

He slowly opened the wrapping with an almost experimental degree of rigor, as though conducting a precise experiment.

A brand-new book appeared before him.

The cover was a deep midnight blue, like the purest starry sky above Hogwarts.

Written across it in elegant gold Spencerian lettering was a title—

<An Examination of Oriental Magical Creatures: From Qilin to Zouwu>

Lin Yuan's movements paused for half a second.

For the first time, genuine surprise appeared in his eyes.

He slowly opened the book's title page.

A line of graceful yet forceful handwriting, carrying the uniquely earnest seriousness of a girl who would not tolerate the slightest mistake, came into view:

"Lin Yuan,

Merry Christmas!

I saw this book at Flourish and Blotts in Diagon Alley and thought you might be interested in it. I hope you like it.

—Hermione Granger."

The ink was still fresh, carrying a pleasant fragrance belonging to knowledge and paper.

The entire common room was so quiet that the crackling of firewood in the hearth could be heard.

Harry and Ron's mouths fell open as they looked at each other, disbelief written all over their faces.

Hermione... had sent Lin Yuan a gift? And a book that looked so profound at that? When had the two of them become so close?

However, Lin Yuan paid no attention to their gazes.

His fingertips gently brushed over those elegant lines of handwriting.

An unfamiliar emotion he had never experienced before, like the gentlest breeze of spring, brushed against his Dao Heart, which had long been sealed tight beneath a vast sea of knowledge and solitude.

Warmth.

In his resource-depleted, deceitful end-times world, knowledge was power, a weapon, and a secret that had to be protected and fought over with one's life.

Interactions between people were filled with schemes and exchanges.

A "gift," especially one so pure and given without seeking anything in return, offered merely out of a desire to "share," was something he had never encountered before.

It was pure goodwill, untainted by anything else.

It was sincere communication founded upon "observation" and "understanding."

That girl named Hermione Granger had noticed his familiarity with Eastern systems of knowledge. Thus, she had used the method she was best at, and the one most sincere to her—giving knowledge—to express her friendliness.

It was an awkward yet endearing method of communication belonging to a "top student."

Lin Yuan slowly closed the book and shut his eyes.

Within his sea of consciousness, the Dao Heart seed that was poised to burst forth, waiting for the first wisp of "spiritual energy" to ignite it, trembled lightly beneath the touch of this pure mortal kindness, as though it had produced the first invisible tender shoot.

A new, tiny "line of karma" was quietly established.

One end of the line connected to him, while the other connected to the brown-haired girl named Hermione Granger, who was far away and perhaps feeling somewhat anxious at that very moment.

This karma was not something he had sought.

Rather, a mortal had taken the initiative to water his dust-covered "Dao seed" with its first drop of sweet spring water.

"Interesting."

Lin Yuan opened his eyes, the corners of his mouth lifting into a faint curve that no one could understand.

He casually opened the book.

The author was a British wizard named Augustus Worm. Clearly, his studies of Oriental magical creatures were filled with the arrogance and assumptions characteristically possessed by Westerners.

"[Qilin]: A rare... hybrid magical creature... mild temperament... Ministry of Magic classification: XXXX (harmless/tamable)..."

Lin Yuan's brows furrowed almost imperceptibly.

"Fallacious. According to the surviving fragments of An Examination of Strange Beasts from the Mountains and Seas, the qilin is an auspicious beast, an embodiment of the law of 'benevolence and virtue' between Heaven and Earth. It does not appear unless a virtuous ruler comes into the world. How could it possibly be summed up by the mere words 'tameable'? To regard it as an ordinary creature is ignorance of the 'Dao.'"

He continued reading.

"[Zouwu]: A gigantic creature... catlike... capable of traveling a thousand li in a day. Temperament... unknown. Danger level: unknown..."

"Even more wrong. The Zouwu is a beast of 'trust and righteousness,' not a spirit of slaughter. Its 'traveling a thousand li in a day' does not refer to physical speed, but to a superficial application of the Law of Space—it can cross mountains and rivers in a single step. To classify it as an 'unknown danger' is practically an insult to the words 'trust and righteousness.'"

Lin Yuan turned the pages one by one. In his eyes, every word in the book was filled with fallacies and baseless speculation.

However, he read with extraordinary seriousness.

Because he knew that this book's value did not lie in whether its contents were correct.

It lay in the thought behind giving it.

Hermione Granger was trying to understand him and draw closer to him.

Lin Yuan solemnly closed the book. Instead of setting it down carelessly as he did other books, he carefully placed it in his travel bag.

"Lin Yuan," Ron finally could not contain his curiosity. He came over and asked in a lowered voice, "Was that... from Hermione? You two..."

"Just an ordinary Christmas gift from a friend."

Lin Yuan answered calmly, using the word "friend" of his own accord for the first time.

Ron's eyes widened even further.

Meanwhile, Harry, who had just recovered from his excitement over the Invisibility Cloak, looked at Lin Yuan's calm profile, and a complicated feeling welled up inside him.

Lin Yuan, this enigmatic classmate who seemed not to belong to this world, also appeared to be using his own way to form some kind of... connection with this world—one Harry could not understand.