“During his first year, he won the gold medal in the National Primary School Mathematics Competition, achieving a perfect score for the first time in the competition’s history.”
“By his second year, he had swept up gold medals in every subject in the secondary-school division, defeating the very best middle-school students across the entire country.”
“Starting from his third year, he even began displaying extraordinary talent in physical education. Table tennis, tennis, fencing…”
“Charles Evans, everyone in the Muggle world recognizes you as the most gifted student in all of Britain. They say you’re destined to win some kind of Nobel Prize in the future.”
“In other words, you’re the young Albus Dumbledore of the Muggle world, right?”
“Then your brain should be just as precious as Albus Dumbledore’s. What an invaluable research specimen!”
In a dim underground chamber, an old man dressed in black robes stared fanatically at the teenager tied to a chair, as though he were looking at some priceless treasure.
And the young man he called Charles Evans was currently sitting there in a daze, as if he had just been struck by lightning.
Just as the black-robed old man had said, Charles was indeed a genius student famous throughout Britain.
He had just finished giving a speech at his school’s graduation ceremony and was on his way back to the apartment where he lived alone when this black-robed old man suddenly appeared, clutching a wooden stick.
At the time, Charles hadn’t paid much attention to him.
He had simply assumed that some holiday was coming up and that the old man had decided to go outside and play dress-up.
That was, until the very next moment.
When the black-robed old man waved that wooden stick, everyone on the entire street suddenly seemed to have been put under some kind of spell.
They all instinctively walked around the area where Charles was standing.
Only then did Charles realize in astonishment.
The black-robed old man wasn’t playing dress-up.
He was actually a wizard!
The next second, after the old man waved his wand, Charles lost consciousness.
When he woke up, he was already tied to a chair in this gloomy underground chamber.
At this moment, as he listened to the black-robed old man rambling on about Muggles and even heard a familiar name—Albus Dumbledore—Charles felt like his entire world had gone completely to hell.
“Fuck, I thought this was just a parallel world set in the 1990s.”
“Damn system, why didn’t you tell me this was the magical world?!”
That’s right.
Charles was a transmigrator.
In his previous life, Charles had been an ordinary office worker.
Aside from watching TV shows and movies, he didn’t have any particularly special hobbies.
Until one day, a “Transmigration Initiator” came barreling across half a street, smashed through the wall of Charles’s home, and killed him on the spot, sending him to this Britain of the 1990s.
At first, Charles was somewhat worried about how he was going to make a living in the future.
After all, just like most transmigrators, he had become an orphan in this life.
He had no relatives and had grown up in an orphanage.
And in Britain, nobody followed the idea that “heroes are not born to noble families,” nor was there anything resembling compulsory higher education.
If he wanted to attend university, the tuition fees were no joke.
Many of the skills Charles had learned in his previous life were also useless in this foreign country and this different era.
If he wanted to live a respectable life, it certainly wouldn’t be easy.
That was until a ding suddenly sounded inside Charles’s mind.
A system called the Infinite Deduction System had bound itself to Charles, finally allowing him to breathe a sigh of relief.
As its name suggested, the system’s function was infinite deduction.
Any knowledge Charles learned could be deduced to a higher level through the system.
For example, after learning first-year mathematics, he could use the system to deduce and master additional mathematical knowledge derived from it, even using that foundation to deduce advanced mathematics.
Even theories related to sports could be deduced.
For example, the basic theories behind table tennis—ball placement, spin, speed, variations, and so on—could be deduced into advanced techniques such as two-sided loop drives, reverse penhold backhand, and backhand flicks.
And aside from being unable to directly improve his physical attributes, Charles could perfectly master every technique he deduced.
It was precisely because of the Infinite Deduction System that Charles had gradually transformed from an orphan in a welfare home into a young genius who shook the entire country.
Charles originally thought that the trajectory of his life would be to use the system to become a pioneer of human civilization, expanding humanity’s territory and eventually leading mankind from Earth into the boundless stars.
But only now did he realize that fate had played an enormous joke on him.
He had spent ten years putting points into science, only to discover that the world itself wasn’t scientific at all.
What the hell?!
This was the Harry Potter world?!
The magic of this world had absolutely nothing to do with science.
The Summoning Charm could bring distant objects flying through the air.
Apparition could allow people to travel through space.
And then there were absurd things like Time-Turners that involved manipulating time itself…
What kind of science could accomplish any of that?
If the Trisolarans knew how to Apparate, what the hell would they have to fear from Earth’s technological explosion?
Charles was on the verge of tears.
He had spent ten years investing in science in the magical world.
Could anything be more ridiculous than this?
Oh, right.
There was one more thing.
He had also been attacked and kidnapped in broad daylight by a crazy old wizard.
And judging from the situation, the old man seemed very interested in his brain.
Once Charles realized his current predicament, he temporarily put aside the collapse of his worldview and focused on the immediate danger.
The black-robed old wizard was looking at Charles with a puzzled expression.
“Come to think of it, are you really as intelligent as Dumbledore?”
“You look rather dull. You don’t exactly seem very clever.”
“If that’s the case, then you’re not much use to me.”
Charles forced a difficult smile onto his face.
“Mr. Wizard, I think whether someone is intelligent can’t be determined simply by looking at their appearance.”
“Or rather, the smarter someone is, the less intelligent they might appear, and they may even seem a little crazy.”
“The Albus Dumbledore you mentioned—if he really is as intelligent as you claim, then I’d bet he must look rather eccentric and crazy. He probably has quite a few strange habits too, such as having a particular fondness for eating bizarre-looking things…”
As soon as he said this, the black-robed old wizard froze.
Then his eyes lit up, and he nodded repeatedly.
“What you’re saying actually makes quite a bit of sense.”
He then looked at Charles.
“What about me? What do you think of me?”
Charles answered smoothly.
“I think you look a little crazier than Dumbledore.”
“But you have to understand, geniuses always appear insane in the eyes of ordinary people. How could ordinary people possibly understand the mind of a genius?”
“So, the crazier an ordinary person thinks someone is, the more of a genius that person must be.”
“Based on that logic, you should be slightly more of a genius than Dumbledore.”
“And compared to me, the difference is even greater.”
“I, Charles Evans, am merely an ordinary man born in an era without someone as extraordinary as you.”
“If you intend to conduct research on a brain, then from the bottom of my heart, I believe that only the brilliant mind inside your own head is truly worthy of such an honor.”
“Am I worthy?”
“Hell no!”
The black-robed old wizard looked utterly intoxicated by Charles’s words.
“Yes! You’re absolutely right!”
“You’re completely right!”
“Charles Evans, although you’re a Muggle, your insight is far superior to those old fossils in the Wizengamot!”
“Those stubborn old fools actually laughed at my genius theories and called them the ramblings of a madman!”
“I’ll prove it to them! I’ll show them that my theory is the most genius design in history!”
“Tracing the origin of magic, the ascension of the soul, the most primordial form of magic…”
The black-robed old wizard seemed to have entered a state of self-intoxication—or perhaps another bout of madness—as he continuously muttered a series of obscure and convoluted terms.
Then his gaze turned back toward Charles.
“Charles, you actually possess the extraordinary insight to recognize my genius.”
“I, Dark Sed, acknowledge you!”
“Among all the ordinary people other than myself, your mind, Charles, is undoubtedly the strongest!”
“Although there is no second me in this world for me to study, your brain must be far superior to those seventy-three idiots from before!”
“And it has much greater potential for ascension!”
The next moment, the black-robed old wizard pulled out a bottle of bubbling green potion that looked suspiciously like some kind of fel energy.
Without giving Charles any chance to resist, he immediately forced the bottle toward Charles’s mouth.
“Come on! Drink this bottle of Ascension Potion!”
“Your glorious evolution awaits you!”
(End of Chapter)