"When I first left home, Qiao Weili and I both had trouble adjusting. The unfamiliarity brought intense stimulation, and during that time, Qiao Weili's spellwork improved almost every week.
But for me, only the first three days held any real enjoyment.
Once I adapted, those so-called adventures and journeys were merely another form of repetition. Well—perhaps it was because I did not particularly enjoy traveling to begin with.
I visited Mithril mines in France and spent some time studying the resonance between ancient Runic symbols and ley-line magic, trying to find the commonalities within them. Yet I discovered that those commonalities had long been hidden within the hundreds or thousands of spells I had learned before.
Later, I came into conflict with several ancient wizarding families in Northern Europe—I observed their magic, and aside from their hopelessly antiquated beliefs, it had no distinguishing features whatsoever.
As for what came after... the fire dragons in Bulgaria were rather imposing, but dragon hunting was strictly forbidden. I did not want to cause trouble for myself, so I never fought one head-on."
As he spoke of this, Li Wei's thoughts drifted somewhat—on careful reflection, there seemed to be very little in the past fourteen years of his life that was worth remembering.
Even all the sights and experiences from his travels could no longer stir his heart when he looked back on them now.
"I once proudly believed that even without studying the Dark Arts, as long as I possessed an exceptional understanding of magic, I could still reach a realm no predecessor had ever seen through spells and Transfiguration alone. An unstable thing like the Dark Arts simply was not worth the risk of learning.
But after wandering in circles and wasting several years, I only came to understand one thing with ever greater clarity—magic was utterly unreasonable.
Spells, targets, conviction, imagination... beyond all those things, there had to be something I had never foreseen.
If I wanted to touch upon the essence, I had to take risks.
I had to explore deeper and more difficult places, even the most dangerous and forbidden domains."
Li Wei's eyes gleamed.
"Two years ago, I finally made up my mind. I led a group of students back to Britain in secret and officially began learning the Dark Arts from scratch.
But because I did not understand the Dark Arts well enough, along with a few accidents, my students were caught leaving clues by the retired Mad-Eye Moody. After that, he hounded us like a madman."
"And then—you came along."
As he said this, the light in his eyes dimmed again. He helplessly spread his hands before Dumbledore, looking rather resigned.
Dumbledore had still been immersed in the journey Li Wei had described earlier. Seeing him suddenly make that expression, a gentle smile uncontrollably touched the corners of his eyes.
"I must say, Li Wei, you lived a remarkably wonderful life after graduating."
"Wonderful? For fourteen years, I did little more than practice magic."
"No—absolutely wonderful."
Dumbledore shook his head, utterly firm in his stance.
"From the surface, perhaps it was as you said. What you experienced was no more than a cycle repeated day after day.
But in my view, what was precious was not merely that persistence—though that alone was quite remarkable. What was even more valuable was the thought and exploration you devoted to magic throughout your studies.
Li Wei, to reach your current heights in magic after only twenty-one years of learning was unquestionably an extraordinary achievement. You had every reason to be proud."
"Thank you for the recognition, Professor."
Being acknowledged so highly by the strongest wizard of the age, Li Wei would have been far too hypocritical to claim he felt nothing at all.
True, his efforts in the past had neither had nor needed an audience.
But that belated applause, so full of affirmation, had come at just the right moment.
Still, compared to joy, Li Wei felt more caution at this moment—because Dumbledore had not finished speaking.
Thinking of the topic they had begun with—how to increase magical power—the more important words clearly lay ahead.
Sure enough, just as Li Wei thought this, Dumbledore suddenly delivered a crucial "but."
"But you lack something extremely important."
Thump!!!
Li Wei felt his heart suddenly constrict.
His throat abruptly became unbearably dry and itchy, as though the hot cocoa he had drunk earlier had all turned into dry powder, clogging his throat and desperately trying to block his airway.
"What is it—"
He looked at Dumbledore, his mind racing.
But as if repaying him for the earlier jab, Dumbledore deliberately kept Li Wei in suspense at this moment.
"In my view, as a wizard, you truly have achieved something quite remarkable. But Li Wei, have you noticed that it is precisely because of this perfection that you have lost something even more precious?"
"What do you mean?"
Li Wei's brows drew tightly together, and he felt his head beginning to ache.
What was he lacking??
Ever since coming to Hogwarts, all those scattered, vague realizations were stirred up by Dumbledore's single sentence at this very moment. Yet he was always missing that final piece, like scratching an itch through a boot.
He seemed to have realized something, but no matter how he thought, he could not find the answer.
And at that moment, Dumbledore solemnly pressed down upon the chaos in Li Wei's mind.
"Li Wei, you were undoubtedly an exceptional wizard.
But I must say, beyond being a wizard, beyond magic itself—
as a person, as a student, as a complete living being, you have utterly shortchanged yourself! I can tell just by looking at you how much effort you have put in along the way, how many people who admired you that you turned away.
You suppressed your emotions, ignored your own needs, and under immense pressure, handed every part of yourself over to magic.
That was good. You undoubtedly accomplished it with extraordinary perfection!"
"But what was the price?"
"Li Wei, have you ever considered the price you paid to obtain this power?"
Boom!!!
In that instant, it felt as though hundreds and thousands of electric currents surged through every cell in Li Wei's body!
Dumbledore's question made his mind explode completely in that instant.
Amid the trembling of his soul, dust-like particles of information wildly gathered in his mind. Past conversations continuously echoed within it, gradually turning into fragments waiting to be assembled.
He suddenly heard so many voices.
"Li Wei, you should have been an interesting fellow. Stop fiddling with those basic spells all day. Join us, and you will definitely discover more of magic's fun."
James Potter, thank you for the invitation, but I happen to be the most boring person there is. I have no interest whatsoever in the fun you talk about. Please do not disturb me again.
"Your name is Li Wei, right? I have been watching you for a long time!
You are different from them, different from those idiots who do nothing but grin foolishly or scream all day.
You understand what truly matters most!
Let us join forces, just you and me!
We can research those powerful spells together and master power they will never be able to reach in their entire lives! We will make every one of those arrogant, foolish people pay the price!"
Severus Snape? I am sorry, but I am probably completely different from what you imagined. I have no interest at all in the powerful magic you speak of. Please do not disturb me again. I do not want anyone to mistake me for someone associated with you.
"Li Wei, I like you. Would you be willing to visit Hogsmeade Village with me this Christmas?"
Sorry, I do not have time for romance.
"Li Wei, I am making a special exception and allowing you, a half-blood, to join our Quidditch team. We Slytherins must always be number one!"
Thank you, but I hate Quidditch.
"I never thought you would actually become a teacher at Hogwarts—ha! A solitary freak!
Of course, you can keep doing what you always did: ignore everyone and immerse yourself in your own world. That is how you have always been, isn't it?"
*...*
"Professor, you seem to be in a good mood?"
Yes. Perhaps somewhere deep within my heart, I had actually longed to return here.
"Professor, regarding the fifth stage you mentioned today, I actually have the answer now. It is emotion, right?"
"So I was thinking... perhaps wizards should experience different things and feel different emotions. Maybe that would be better than shutting themselves away to study spells all the time?"
Past words struck his heart like spells, and his once-blurry thoughts suddenly became clear.
As his mind trembled, Li Wei's gaze passed beyond Dumbledore and pierced through Hogwarts Castle. He saw his eleven-year-old self.
When he received his Hogwarts acceptance letter, his eyes had shone with life for the first time.
Back then, magic had been a gift.
It had been a miracle.
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