Li Wei's Ambition

"It looked like I was about to start living a different life."

After seeing Dumbledore off, Li Wei waved his wand and restored the wrecked classroom to its original state, then turned to face the twenty-four students behind him.

"Professor, are you leaving?"

Their eyes were filled with reluctance as they looked at Li Wei—just moments ago, his assistant Qiao Weili had told them what had happened.

Li Wei would lead two assistants to Hogwarts to teach. This was the limit of what Dumbledore could accept.

As for the other students, they could only be dismissed on the spot.

There was no helping it. Hogwarts could not accept so many outsiders remaining there long-term, let alone people who were each proficient in magic and capable of matching Hogwarts' finest graduates.

Dumbledore could not guarantee whether their ideas would subtly influence the other students—these were scholars with no reservations whatsoever about studying the Dark Arts.

"Why do you all look so dejected?" Li Wei asked, looking at the students who had spent every day with him. "I'm only going to teach at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. It's not like I'm dead.

"I've already taught you all the methods for exploring the secrets of magic through scientific development.

"Even without me, you can continue improving in the world of magic."

"It's not the same, Professor."

One student could not help speaking up.

"Without you, it feels as though we've lost our lighthouse in a pitch-black ocean. We have no clear direction anymore, we—"

"Then I'll give you a direction, won't I? I'm going there to teach, not to serve a prison sentence.

"Once I've settled in at Hogwarts, I'll write to you immediately. After that, I'll still assign you research topics.

"You didn't think that just because I'm going to a magic school, people like you would get to take it easy, did you?"

Rather than being afraid upon hearing this, the other students wore excited smiles.

After all, Li Wei had personally selected them. They were the group with the greatest passion and patience for magic.

"Nothing could be better, Professor!"

After making an agreement with his students and sending them to another hidden base that had yet to be discovered, Li Wei sat before his desk and let out a soft breath.

"After keeping such a low profile for so long, I still couldn't avoid joining the main storyline, could I?"

Li Wei had the mindset of a typical engineering student. Ever since he had transmigrated, he had instinctively tried to deconstruct magic through scientific principles.

As that deconstruction continued to deepen, he increasingly realized the benefits of doing so.

But in the early days, his progress in learning magic had been far from ideal—compared with Snape, who could create cutting-edge Dark Arts spells while still a student, he had been utterly outclassed.

During his first year, he had witnessed far too much stupidity and arrogance from Slytherin students—at the very beginning, having received no magical education at all, he truly could not compare to those privileged heirs. It had given Li Wei an intense sense of crisis.

The reason he had later managed to surpass the progress of most students was entirely due to his interest in magic and the extreme self-discipline he possessed from living a second life.

While others dated, he studied magic.

While others played Wizard's Chess, he studied magic.

While others chased fame and profit at the Ministry of Magic, he studied magic.

After graduating, he rejected the overtures of pure-blood families and kept his distance from the half-blood factions as well.

He walked the land and disappeared among the crowds.

When Voldemort ravaged the entire British magical world, he took ample food supplies and secluded himself in a remote Muggle village, discussing magic with his students.

Along the way, he had possessed no talent-based cheat. Everything had come from his own effort and constant exploration.

Even so, it seemed that he had reached the end of the road in magic.

After his twenty-fifth birthday, Li Wei's understanding of magic had fallen into a certain stagnation.

If he had not known from early on that a person's brilliance was limited, and consciously sought out talented magical seedlings, his gains over the past seven years likely would not have amounted to much.

Magic seemed to naturally favor young children. Their wild ideas and desires always gave rise to miracle after miracle.

As for wizards like Li Wei, who were about to enter middle age, simply managing not to regress was already an impressive achievement.

But in a world like this, how could he possibly be content with being ordinary?

When the Sorting Hat had sorted Li Wei, it had hesitated between Hufflepuff and Slytherin for a long time.

But in the end, it had still believed that Li Wei's ambition would govern everything.

"You are a unique kind of ambitious person. You do not understand how to scheme for power and profit, nor do you disdain no means to achieve your ends.

"But you are even more disdainful of all else than they are, and far more ambitious!

"You aspire to stand above everyone, to look down upon the development of all things with an infinite lifespan.

"Arrogant boy, embrace Slytherin. There, one day, you will realize your ambition!"

Li Wei neither agreed nor disagreed with the Sorting Hat's assessment.

He could realize his ambition in Slytherin?

Other than living in a room with an ocean view for years on end and trading for certain forbidden knowledge from some classmates, he had seen no benefits.

The average quality of Slytherin students was fairly good.

Unfortunately, most of them were governed by bloodline theory or the influence once exerted by some Dark Lord. Under the influence of their grandfathers and fathers, they did not believe they could create miracles through their own strength. Instead, they were more inclined to cling to the strong.

To some extent, this limited their own development and ran completely contrary to Li Wei's belief that man could conquer nature.

Li Wei wanted to become a Dumbledore in terms of power and a Nicolas Flamel in terms of lifespan. Everything else had to give way to those two goals.

Unfortunately, his first goal had now come looking for him and told him that the one who needed to give way was himself.

"Tap... tap... tap..."

Li Wei's fingers lightly tapped the desktop as he slowly pondered.

Going to Hogwarts as a professor had become an established fact, and his teaching duties would inevitably take up some of his time.

But it probably was not without benefits.

As the school where Harry Potter was set, Hogwarts ought to have something special about it.

Moreover, researching the Dark Arts at Hogwarts would spare him from being disturbed by Aurors every other day. From the perspective of concentration, that would be a tremendous help.

"Knock, knock, knock." A sudden knock sounded at the door.

"Come in."

"Professor, I found the books you needed."

"Mm, thank you."

Li Wei beckoned, and the many books on defense against the Dark Arts floating beside Qiao Weili instantly flew over and piled up on his desk.

Though it was forced upon him, now that he had chosen this path, he could only walk it seriously.

He needed to make preparations in advance for how to teach Hogwarts students of different years, dividing the material into appropriate ranges and stages.

He was fairly good at such things, so it was not troublesome.

As time passed bit by bit, on August 15, Li Wei received a letter from Hogwarts.

Dear Professor Li Wei:

I am delighted that you have accepted Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry's invitation to serve as Professor of Defense Against the Dark Arts.

Please enter the school via Floo Powder at ten o'clock in the morning on August 25 (location: the Hogwarts Deputy Headmistress's office). If you intend to use another method, please inform us in advance.

I will be waiting here at that time to provide an introduction and assistance for the commencement of your teaching work.

Deputy Headmistress Minerva McGonagall