Erma Pince was the librarian. Tom and Hermione had just walked a few steps into the library when she appeared in front of them. Mrs. Pince was a thin, elderly woman who looked like a malnourished buzzard.
She glanced at Tom and Hermione and said sternly, "Hogwarts students may read or borrow books here for studying their respective subjects or for leisure. The library closes at eight o'clock in the evening."
"Borrowed books must be registered and returned on time, and there should be no damage to the books. Please refrain from making loud noises in the library."
After Mrs. Pince explained the library rules to them, she intended to leave. However, when she saw Tom and Hermione heading deeper into the library, she hurried over to inform them that the area further inside was the Restricted Section, and young wizards were not allowed to borrow books from there without a professor's permission.
"Have you ever read the books in the Restricted Section, Madam?" Tom couldn't help but associate the role of a librarian with many things.
"No need to call me 'Madam,' just call me 'Mrs.,'" Mrs. Pince replied with a stern expression. "The library's collection is as vast as the grains of sand in the Ganges River. How could one possibly read them all?"
"So, you've read quite a few?" Tom muttered to himself.
Although it was only the first afternoon of the school year, there were only a few scattered students in the library, and most of them were Ravenclaw students. Thanks to Mrs. Pince's strict management, the entire library was quiet, unlike Muggle libraries where there were always noisy children running around.
Tom and Hermione found a corner to sit down and began to organize their notes from today's classes. Tom wasn't exactly organizing; he was feverishly copying Hermione's History of Magic notes, while Hermione compared them with Tom's Potions notes to see if there were any discrepancies. Since Tom's quill didn't require ink, he could write quite quickly, and he finished copying in no time.
Once they had finished organizing the content from today's classes, both of them started on their own tasks. Hermione took out a book titled "Standard Spells" and began practicing the spells she would be learning in her Charms class the next day, while Tom pulled out the "Beginner's Guide to Transfiguration" that Professor McGonagall had given him and continued his "meditation" on Transfiguration.
Silence prevailed. An hour passed quickly, but Tom had only flipped through a few pages of the book. The book was quite old, and its sentences were somewhat archaic, combined with the peculiar magical vocabulary, making it challenging for Tom to read.
After an hour of reading, Tom's head was pounding. He pressed his fingers to his temples and felt he needed a break. So, he accessed his system panel, appearing as though he was lost in thought while taking a break.
[Tom Riddle (Wind)
Occupation: Wizard Apprentice
Magic Skills: Armor Charm 0 (99/100 - Pending breakthrough?), Illumination Charm 0 (78/100), Healing Charm 0 (99/100 - Pending breakthrough?), Levitation Charm 0 (99/100 - Pending breakthrough?)...
Knowledge Theories: [Potion-making 0 (10/100)], [Transfiguration 0 (2/100)]
Magical Items: Wand (Acacia wood, Horned Serpent horn, 13 inches) Compatibility: 97%, Bogart's Soul Ring (Witch, Cerberus, Remaining slots: 3)
Talents: Charms: 3 (Average)
Potion-making: 5 (Innate Talent)
Divination: 2 (Average)
Transfiguration: 4 (Average)
...
Dark Magic: 9+ (Azkaban)
Magic Stones: 47,950]
Tom's system interface had undergone some significant changes. First of all, there was a new attribute for the character: Wind.
Wind attribute? Tom pondered this attribute and wondered if it meant he was a "wind" type of guy. Although he didn't know what this attribute meant, it made him feel quite pleased!
This attribute was probably related to Ravenclaw. If he were in Gryffindor, perhaps his attribute would be Fire, and in Slytherin, it might be Water.
His occupation had also changed from being a vagabond to a wizard apprentice, and the Knowledge Theories section now included Potion-making and Transfiguration. Tom observed the experience bars and surmised that he gained experience equal to his talent points during each class period, while self-study earned him half the talent points per hour. Today, he had attended two Potions classes, and his Potion-making talent was 5, so he gained 10 experience points. His Transfiguration talent was 4, and he had self-studied for one hour, earning 2 experience points. He realized that this kind of study was more effective than copying notes.
As for the spells, he didn't mention them. Those spells required breakthrough tasks and prerequisites to reach Level 1. For instance, to reach Level 1 in the Armor Charm, he needed Level 1 in Charms and Level 1 in Dark Arts Defense.
Lastly, and most importantly, was the Magic Stones. Apart from the initial 96 he obtained when the system was unlocked, Tom hadn't touched the wishing well since. After all, acquiring Magic Stones wasn't easy. Over this time, he had accumulated nearly 48,000 Magic Stones, which seemed like a lot but amounted to just 300 wishes. That wouldn't be enough to secure four Professor Trelawneys...
However, if his Divination talent reached 6, he might just become a Seer...
[Library study time exceeds one hour on the first day of school. What diligence! Reward: Threads of Fate x1]
As Tom was browsing his panel, the system displayed a message that caught his attention. He thought it might be another achievement, but it seemed to be something different.
"Threads of Fate? What is that?" he wondered. Curious, he clicked on it, and a message appeared:
[Limited Wish Item: Threads of Fate, a magical thread that can connect dreams of different destinies. The radiance of Magic Stones can intertwine fates that have no intersections, linking their dreams together, just as this radiance connects stars into a pattern formed by the heart's desires.]
After the colon, the sentence became rather cryptic, but Tom was quick to latch onto the key words: Limited Wish Item. His heart raced, and his blood pressure rose. Limited! Wish! Limited meant that he could only draw the current UP character, right?
He felt like crying tears of joy. He could finally escape Professor Trelawney! Tom made a silent vow that the next time the wishing well opened, he would draw until the world turned upside down!
Tom closed the system interface and realized that Hermione was still engrossed in her book "Standard Spells."
"Aren't you tired?" he couldn't help but ask.
"No, not at all," Hermione replied, taking her eyes off the book. "I find reading to be a form of relaxation."
Tom: ...
It seems I still can't understand the world of scholars.
(End of Chapter)