Chapter 1: Magician or Wizard?
August 1991, the London Coliseum.
At this moment, a wonderful magic show was being performed inside the Coliseum, and the audience seats below were packed with people cheering and jumping for joy.
The performer was Shawn, known as the "genius magician." He was only eleven years old this year, and in the hearts of the audience, Shawn would definitely become the greatest magician in the world.
On stage, Shawn was still a child with black hair and black eyes, delicate facial features, and an extremely elegant and outstanding temperament.
A well-fitted black tailcoat and top hat made him look not too short.
At this moment, surrounded by Shawn were more than two hundred playing cards of various colors. Ordinary playing cards, like butterflies endowed with life, were dancing gracefully.
Matched with the colorful stage lights overhead, this scene was extremely cool.
Shawn raised his hands, his slender fingers as elegant as if playing the piano. The surrounding playing cards swirled up and down around his hands, forming all kinds of incredible puzzles, practically like magic.
Actually, that was right; these playing cards could be directed like his own arms because they were driven by Shawn's "telekinesis."
Of course, the name telekinesis was coined by Shawn himself.
He was a transmigrator who had come to London for two years.
At first, he was just a homeless waif. When cornered and bullied by street thugs on some occasion, he awakened telekinesis.
In his past life, although he was just an ordinary otaku, he was enthusiastic about watching various magic shows and debriefings, always feeling that after learning this skill, it was not only miraculous but also very handsome.
Once he had telekinesis, he awakened a system-well, just standard equipment, routine operation, no surprise.
The crux was that the damn system couldn't be used immediately and required prerequisites.
Thus, he began to imitate Now You See Me from his past life, progressing from one-on-one street close-up magic at the very beginning to slowly becoming the teenage genius magician he was now, using his favorite card magic above all.
Flipping his two fingers, flying cards spun and cut through the air-who could not love that?
The cheers from the audience rose one after another, and the sound of applause almost blew off the ceiling of the hall.
"Shawn!"
"Shawn!"
Amidst the soaring cheers, Shawn clearly heard a prompt tone echoing in his soul.
"Ding, congratulations to the host, you have gathered the faith points of 10,000 admirers. System activated."
"Ding, the system has been activated. Please check for yourself, host."
"Ding, the newbie starter pack has been issued."
Hearing these prompts, Shawn felt a mood that could only be described as unbearably excited, too busy to heed the cheers of the fanatical fans offstage and the assistant's prompts beside him.
He quickly chanted silently, Open the system.
Then a light screen that only he could see appeared.
Host: Shawn. Occupation: Card Magician. Magic Power: 20 (Adult: 100) Skill: Card Throwing. Tier 1 Faith: 10,000. (Like) (Unlocking successively) Tier 2 Faith: 0. (Adore) (Unlocking successively) Tier 3 Faith: 0. (Fanatic) Gacha System: 1,000 / 100 / 10 faith points per draw. Mission System: None. Newbie Starter Pack: Occlumency, one Lightning Elemental Core, random background in the Wizarding World.
After looking over the system, Shawn was somewhat dazed.
The other rewards and settings were all within Shawn's expectations.
Yet what the hell was magic power? So telekinesis was actually magic.
Why was Occlumency so familiar?
Was there really a Wizarding World? HP?
A succession of questions appeared in Shawn's mind, leaving him somewhat baffled.
How did he, a proper magician, end up becoming a wizard?
How vexing-turns out he wasn't the only person with superpowers!
Shawn didn't agonize for long; too excited to worry about the occasion, he claimed the newbie starter pack first.
In the system's exclusive space, he clicked three times consecutively on the two silver and one purple light spheres.
The three light spheres poured into Shawn's body all at once.
The light sphere of Occlumency first brought a burst of clarity to his mind, his gaze turning deeper and calmer.
Meanwhile, the Lightning Elemental Core transformed into a wisp of purple light that coursed through his entire body. Following that, his whole body felt as if it had been electrocuted; his hair and body hair stood on end, and his limbs involuntarily began to tremble.
Then the system began prompting again.
"Host's wizarding world random background selection in progress. You will leave the ordinary Muggle world in one minute and be teleported into the hidden wizarding world. Please prepare yourself, host."
Shawn was speechless once again, as it did not give him even the slightest bit of preparation.
Looking at the still-enthusiastic audience below the stage, he found his vanity quite satisfied, yet he still quickly spoke into the bronze microphone at the front of the stage.
"Ladies and gentlemen, next I will perform a living person disappearance trick for you as tonight's grand finale."
Then Shawn quickly whispered instructions to the capable, bald-headed middle-aged assistant behind him.
"Albert, I'll be gone for a few days after the performance, so you don't need to look for me."
Albert panicked slightly and wanted to ask why, because ten days from now, Shawn still had a tour stop scheduled.
Without time to explain, Shawn gracefully bowed slightly to the audience, and with a wave of his hand, hundreds of cards scattered on the ground flew up into the air, forming two dazzling pentagram patterns that slowly rotated and blocked Shawn from front and back.
A few seconds later, everyone only heard a "bang," and the playing cards burst apart one after another, falling like a sky full of stars, while the center was completely devoid of Shawn's trace.
The scene instantly fell into silence, but more than ten seconds later, all the audience members, including the backstage staff, burst into cheers.
The closing "living person disappearance performance" was simply miraculous, and even Albert the assistant was somewhat dazed for a moment-when had Shawn practiced this kind of uncanny magic? There truly were no trapdoors beneath the stage.
Beneath the tranquil moonlight, in the Scottish Highlands, the ancient castle of Hogwarts appeared exceptionally hazy.
Albus Dumbledore, the greatest white wizard of the age, was writing upcoming acceptance letters inside the Headmaster's Office.
Suddenly, an invisible and powerful magical energy rippled from far to near, and thick dark clouds instantly rolled across the sky with thunder and lightning.
From within a tower on the school grounds, a rhythmic pulsation came forth.
Dumbledore's expression could not help but change; his figure instantly blurred, and after a flash of fire, he had already arrived inside the tower where the pulsation originated.
Inside the tower, an ancient book bound in black Dragon Hide was opening automatically, and the faded quill beside the silver ink bottle stirred twice, flew out of the bottle, and landed upon the parchment to begin writing.
This was precisely the Book of Admittance and the Quill of Acceptance, which covered all of England and selected young wizards for enrollment.
Dumbledore looked at the name emerging on the parchment, his pupils suddenly contracting sharply!
"Shawn Black."
Dumbledore slowly read aloud the name.
"Aside from Sirius in Azkaban, I didn't expect the Black family to still have direct descendants drifting out in the world."
At that exact moment, Deputy Headmaster McGonagall, who had likewise sensed the magical fluctuation, hurried over as well.
"Albus..."
Before she could finish her sentence, Dumbledore had already vanished within the tower, leaving behind only a parting instruction in the air.
"I will trace the magical trajectory along the way to check what is going on. Sorry for the trouble, but please continue writing the enrollment notices for the young wizards."
McGonagall could not help supporting her forehead; she had finally gotten Albus, that hands-off manager, to do some actual work, yet she had not expected him to find another excuse to slip away.
Yet when she saw the name on the Book of Admittance, she too was somewhat lost in thought for a moment.
At the same time, Austria, Nurmengard Tower.
The words "For the Greater Good" above the doorway of the tower appeared particularly mottled at this moment.
Inside a spartan prison cell at the top of the tower, the emaciated old man on the wooden plank bed was hugging his knees and dozing.
Suddenly, he seemed to sense something, his silver pupils flashing with ripples of light as though foretelling visions of the future.
After a long while, the old man murmured.
"It is different. Everything is different. There is finally a glimmer of hope amidst despair!"
Then came the old man's hearty laughter.
"Albus, I haven't lost yet!"
(PS: Although the protagonist of this book has a system, it is also for passing manuscripts; later on, the system's role will fade, and reasonable explanations and origins will be provided.)