After-Class Guidance

"It's very simple," Lin An replied calmly.

"Purify the bloodlines of modern Dragonkind and see whether their ancestors were truly the legendary 'True Dragons.' Even if it fails, I want to see what dragons become after their bloodlines are purified."

"Can magic... really do something like that?" Hermione asked in surprise.

"I've never seen anything like it recorded in any book."

Lin An looked at her, his gaze deep and calm.

"Miss Granger, magic is a powerful and mysterious force. Its possibilities are limitless. What truly limits magic is not rules, but ourselves."

After saying that, he paused for a moment before adding:

"Let me give you a piece of advice. If you think memorizing all the knowledge in books is enough to make you a great wizard, then you are terribly mistaken."

His voice was steady and powerful, carrying an air that seemed impossible to doubt.

"True powerhouses, like myself or Dumbledore, think more like scientists in the Muggle world. We view magic through curiosity and observation."

He swept his gaze across the room and spoke lightly:

"Have you ever asked yourselves—what is magic? Where does it come from? Why are wizards born able to cast magic while Muggles cannot? Is magical power some kind of energy, or something deeper? Why are some people extraordinarily gifted while others are utterly ordinary? Why are some animals born with magic while most are not?"

With every question he asked, the air seemed to grow heavier.

"There are too many unsolved mysteries, and the problem is—almost no one asks."

"The Wizarding World is obsessed with its established magical system, yet no longer explores the 'unknown.' That is why it stagnates, solidifies, and declines."

He slowly walked over to the students, lowering his voice.

"I know you are only first-year children. You can count the spells you can cast on your fingers. But it is never too early to start thinking."

The hut was utterly silent.

Hagrid, Harry, Hermione, Ron—every one of them was thinking.

Hermione looked the most shaken. For the first time, she realized that what she had thought was diligence and intelligence was merely mechanical absorption of the knowledge left behind by others. Every magical principle and every definition she had memorized, she had never truly understood why.

Harry simply thought Lin An was incredible; as for those "philosophical questions," he did not care much about them.

Hagrid was still thinking that if they really could create a "True Dragon," how amazing that would be.

Ron, meanwhile, felt somewhat uneasy—he could not understand why no one had ever raised such questions before. He even wondered whether such thinking would be considered "too dangerous."

Only Hermione felt the world in her heart quietly changing.

Lin An glanced over everyone's expressions, the corner of his lips lifting slightly. He could see what they were thinking—

Although he did not often use Mind Reading, an occasional glimpse allowed him to understand the complexity of human nature more clearly.

"Professor, how should we begin thinking about these questions?" Hermione asked seriously, with long-lost enthusiasm in her voice.

Lin An smiled. "Let me demonstrate."

He took out his wand and gave it a light flick. "Start with a spell you know. Pick any one."

After hesitating for a moment, Hermione raised her wand and softly chanted, "Lumos."

A soft glow lit up at the tip of her wand.

Lin An nodded. "Very good. Now tell me—why do you need to chant a spell while some wizards do not?"

Hermione frowned and began to recall what she had read.

"I remember the books saying that every wizard has a Magic Core within them, and their magical power grows stronger with age. Chanting a spell is meant to mobilize the magical power inside the body and guide it smoothly into the wand."

"Correct." Lin An nodded approvingly. "Then for the next step, feel that magical power."

Hermione froze slightly.

"Close your eyes and cast the spell, but do not focus on the result. Instead, sense the changes happening inside your body."

Hermione took a deep breath, closed her eyes, and softly chanted again, "Lumos."

One second, two seconds—

She felt nothing at all.

"I didn't feel anything, Professor."

"That's fine. Try again." Lin An's tone remained calm. "Failure is part of observation."

She tried again. Once, twice, three times...

Finally, on the seventh attempt, she felt a faint vibration in her chest. It was a warm current that slowly emerged from deep within her heart, flowing through her blood vessels and nerves into her right arm before extending into her wand.

"I... I felt it!" Hermione opened her eyes, her voice filled with delight.

Lin An smiled. "Not bad. You were three attempts faster than your upperclassman Susan."

On the day his magical power had run wild when he was six, he had already been able to clearly sense the existence of magical power.

In his view, magic was like a part of the body—hands, feet, heartbeat, breathing—it was simply that wizards had never realized it.

"Next," Lin An continued, "find the source of that magical power. I'll give you a hand."

He raised his wand and lightly tapped Hermione between the brows.

A beam of white light flowed into her consciousness, and in an instant, her perception was magnified.

"Now cast the spell again."

Hermione closed her eyes and slowly chanted, "Lumos—"

Light appeared, and she felt the path of that power within her body, so clearly that it seemed she could touch it with her hands.

"Professor, I saw it!"

She opened her eyes excitedly. "Near my heart... there's something shaped like a cube, and there's light shining inside it. That's the source of magical power!"

Lin An answered softly, "That is the Magic Core. Every wizard's magical power is stored there."

Hermione stared at him, her heart pounding.

At that moment, she felt the reality of magic for the first time.

She was no longer merely a student reciting formulas and incantations. For the first time, she had "touched" the essence of magic.

"Remember this moment," Lin An said. "It is more important than any textbook."

Hermione nodded gently. She began trying to control that power.

Magical power flowed through her body, smooth and gentle. With a light wave of her wand, light, levitation, shields—all the spells she had once struggled to cast were completed in an instant.

She smiled in wonder.

But a few minutes later, Lin An withdrew the amplifying magic.

Hermione's perception gradually returned to normal, and the Magic Core retreated into the depths once more.

"Professor, I... I feel like it disappeared again."

"That is only natural." Lin An smiled. "Your perception is not stable enough yet. One day, you will be able to sense it without outside help."

Hermione nodded solemnly. She had already made up her mind—

She would no longer be merely a "top student who memorized books," but a wizard who truly explored the essence of magic.