Fortune Favors You

Chapter 4: May the Goddess of Luck Protect You

The mist before his eyes receded in layers, as if space itself were collapsing.

Ian snapped his eyes open.

On his cramped little bed, Ian shifted his body uncomfortably. Outside the window, the bright moonlight draped the room in a layer of silver mist.

A clock hung on the wall.

The hands pointed to 12:07, the second hand ticking away incessantly.

Having entered such a realistic yet psychedelic dream, he hadn't expected that only seven short minutes had passed in reality.

"Whew."

Ian took a deep breath and reached up to wipe away sweat that wasn't actually there.

He simply felt a bit dazed; it was a mental exhaustion.

He thought of what had happened in Limbo and instinctively looked at the back of his hand, where he could see a faint, white mark.

Inside the narrow room, it was still somewhat dim, relying solely on the moonlight.

Ian sat up, walked to his desk, opened a drawer, and pulled a small flashlight from among various hand tools. He clicked it on to illuminate his arm and observed it carefully.

"What is this?"

Ian curiously examined the gift from his friend.

The faint mark flickered with a fleeting luster before completely sinking into his skin.

When entering the dream, he could bring real-world items into it, and he could also bring things out from the dream, just like the chocolate he had given to Ariana.

But what was the purpose of this mark?

Ian didn't know.

He tried to check his skill panel.

Name: Ian Prince Class: Bloodline Warlock Magic Power: Level 4 Skills: Language Mastery (Level 3): 23/400 Biological Anatomy (Level 4): 796/800 Freestyle Combat (Level 3): 85/400 Psychology (Level 6): 42/3200 [Psychology Extraordinary Trait: Thought Perception.]

He felt a sense of anticipation in his heart.

However.

There was no display regarding the mark on the panel.

Actually, when he thought about it, it made sense; this gift from a friend was clearly not a skill. Just as his ability to enter Limbo couldn't be found on the panel either.

Perhaps he would need to search the library at Hogwarts to see if there were any similar cases? That place was said to have the most comprehensive collection of knowledge in the entire magical world—Ian thought to himself as he rubbed his arm on the desk. Soon, sleepiness washed over him, and he returned to his bed, drifting back into a dream.

Time flew by.

The next morning.

By the time the sun rose, Ian had already been at his desk for quite a while, reading language books.

[Successfully learned French word, Language Proficiency +1] [Successfully learned Latin, Language Proficiency +1] [Successfully learned Latin, Language Proficiency +1]

"Whew."

Ian exhaled and rubbed his eyes.

Learning languages wasn't actually simple for him; every word required phonetic notation to pronounce, and beyond that, he had to rely on his memory to firmly grasp the meaning of each one.

Of course.

Hard work always yielded results.

Language Mastery (Level 3): 35/400 (+12)

A morning of practice.

He had already gained 12 points of proficiency.

The day when this skill reached Level 5 and unlocked its extraordinary trait wasn't too far off. On days without spells to learn, the practical skills he could choose from were ultimately limited.

He just wondered what the extraordinary trait for this language skill would be.

He embraced his expectations for the future.

Ian began his day.

After finishing lunch.

He dragged his small cart to his familiar spot and began his daily routine of fortune-telling. To call it swindling might be a bit harsh, but this way of making money ultimately boiled down to telling people what they wanted to hear.

Ian appeared to be fiddling with the divination tools and tarot cards on his table. In reality, he relied entirely on his self-taught psychology and the traits of that discipline to guess what his clients were thinking.

To be honest.

Even if he were truly capable of divination, from a purely financial perspective, it might not be as effective as his current method—sometimes, people aren't always eager to hear the truth.

Following Ian's loud hawking.

Very soon.

Another woman was drawn in by Ian and decided to give it a curious try. Ian observed her attire, the pauses in her speech, and the way her eyes moved when she spoke.

Having a good idea of the situation.

He spoke as if he could see right into her heart.

"Madam, you have been feeling a great deal of pressure lately."

The charlatan-like remark made the woman nod calmly.

This wasn't a difficult thing to guess.

Ian smiled. "Is it about your further studies?"

The woman looked surprised. "Oh, you're quite right."

Ian nodded. "Hmm, your mentor is giving you some trouble. You are about to graduate, but at this rate, it is clear that your mentor will not let you graduate smoothly."

The woman's mouth fell open, and she remained stunned for quite a while before she finally regained her composure.

After this, her voice trembled, and her tone toward Ian became involuntarily respectful. "Little fortune-teller, yes, you are absolutely right. So, what should I do?!"

[Successfully observed psychology, Psychology proficiency +1]

His attribute panel had improved.

Ian, however, remained unhurried. At this very moment, the customer before him had completely entered his "hunting" range.

Relying on his ability to read minds, he could now psychologically control this girl entirely.

However, Ian was a man of principle.

"Miss, I'm afraid you will need to spend a little money to ask the headmaster to smooth things over. But that is difficult. If you had an amulet, you would surely be favored by the Goddess of Luck..."

The woman already trusted Ian implicitly. Looking at the dazzling array of amulets he recommended, she asked.

"How much is one? Can I buy them all?"

He knew she was wealthy, but he hadn't expected her to be this rich—what a fat sheep.

Ian immediately replied, "Yes, of course you can. The amulets are only 5 pounds each."

Ian took out 20 amulets and laid them on the table, leaving the choice to her.

"I'll take them all! Twenty times the luck!"

Watching the lady buy all 20 amulets and pay a full 100 pounds, he realized he had made a killing.

Those twenty handmade amulets were essentially just a foreign version of paper talismans.

On yellow paper, he had scribbled the word "luck" in English, looking like nothing more than chicken scratch. That was all.

Nevertheless, Ian still put on a show and said to the lady, "May the Goddess of Luck bless you."

"Thank you!" The woman clasped her hands together, looking incredibly devout.

A short while later, watching the customer depart.

Ian finally broke into a smile.

"It seems my luck has turned around too. I've finished my task in just one outing; I might as well head back early today!"

One hundred pounds was a large sum of money with significant purchasing power, equivalent to about one thousand RMB—and that was 1990s RMB.

The purchasing power was self-evident; it was almost equal to two months of Ian's living expenses.

"I'll close up shop early today."

After pocketing the money and packing up his fortune-telling stall, Ian pushed his cart away. Passing by a restaurant, he thought for a moment, went inside, and bought several pots of soup.

Just like that, pushing his small cart, he returned to the orphanage.

"Wow, Ian, what is that?"

As soon as he returned to the orphanage, the children saw him coming back with so much food. Seeing Ian's cart, they were drooling all over the ground.

It wasn't just the little ones; even the older children couldn't help but run over.

"Hey, Ian!"

They greeted him, their eyes burning as they stared at the soup pots, suppressing their hunger as they watched.

Ian chuckled, picked up the soup pot, placed it on the table, and said to the children, "Alright everyone, go find some utensils, and wipe that drool off your faces while you're at it!"

Hearing Ian's remark, the group burst into laughter.

Soon, after following Ian's instructions and gathering the utensils, the children began to feast like a whirlwind.

As they ate, someone spoke up, "Ian, I'm so envious of you. You're going to study at a noble school. I heard from Ms. Elena that the headmaster of the school invited you personally!"

"Wow, I want to go too."

"Tom, don't even think about it, okay? Even here at the orphanage, Ian studies and reads all sorts of books every single day! Do you even study?"

"The reason a noble would take an interest in Ian is precisely because of his intelligence!"

Listening to the group's chatter, Ian was initially stunned—what noble school? But he quickly realized this was the power of the Confundus Charm.

He smiled and listened to their discussion, only offering an occasional response.

Just then, a girl's voice suddenly sounded beside him.

"Ian, I know you aren't going to a noble school. You're going to Hogwarts. That old gentleman with the white beard said it's a school for wizards who can conjure candy."

Ian was thrown off by the sudden voice, his mind momentarily blank.

He turned his head to look at the blonde little girl in front of him.

The girl's expression was conflicted, and taking advantage of the fact that no one was paying attention, she spoke to Ian in a pleading tone.

Looking into the little girl's longing eyes, Ian suddenly felt as if he had triggered some sort of ability. A ringing sound filled his ears, and amidst the noise, he seemed to hear the girl's urgent cry.

"I want to go to Hogwarts, too! I want to learn magic that can conjure candy out of thin air! If I could do that, I'd definitely be the Candy Princess!"

Ian shook his head, and the sudden voice vanished.

This was the effect of [Thought Perception]; occasionally, he could directly hear the most urgent thoughts in others' minds.

At this moment, everyone else was happily playing and eating from the soup pot, while the little girl before him continued to gaze at him with longing eyes.

Looking at her, Ian quickly realized that this girl likely possessed magical talent, rendering the Confundus Charm ineffective on her.

That had to be the reason; otherwise, Dumbledore's magic wouldn't have had such an oversight that allowed a Muggle to hear it.

"Can I, Ian?"

Seeing the girl's eager expression, Ian finally recovered from his shock and smiled calmly, "Of course, Catherine, but you must be obedient and keep this a secret for now."

"Hogwarts only admits obedient children."

The blonde girl named Catherine was so overjoyed she wanted to celebrate right then and there.

Ian quickly stopped her, "Catherine, we agreed—this needs to be kept secret."

Catherine immediately covered her mouth, "I'm a good girl, I won't say a word! Even if the matron breaks my legs, I won't tell!"

Ian: "."

At night, in the orphanage kitchen, Ian swung the blade in his hand, slaughtering chickens and ducks.

The two cooks nearby kept praising him, "Thank you for your help every time, Ian. With you here, we save so much time."

The children needed to build up their strength, so they had to eat meat, and Ian came to the kitchen to help every night.

It was precisely because of this that he had gained the trait for biological dissection.

[Successfully slaughtered a chicken, biological dissection proficiency +1]

[Successfully slaughtered a duck, biological dissection proficiency +1]

[Successfully slaughtered a duck, biological dissection proficiency +1]

However, tonight was different.

[Ding! Congratulations, biological dissection proficiency has reached its peak, successfully leveled up.]

[Biological Dissection (Level 5): 1/1600]

[Congratulations, skill has broken through to Level 5, obtained extraordinary trait...]