Steven was probably tasked by his father with entertaining the guests at the party—namely, Wade—and he stayed with the young Wizard without showing any signs of impatience. However, the significant height difference between them clearly amused the other guests, who would occasionally burst into laughter when they saw them.
Steven pretended not to notice, accompanying Wade on a tour of Suoluo Garden.
The garden was meticulously maintained, clean and tidy, with long, pale-yellow tables laden with various foods and drinks for guests to help themselves.
The party was held around a fountain, in the center of which stood a Mermaid statue—the kind of beautiful Mermaid described in legends, with a graceful figure, a shimmering fish tail, and enchanting singing emanating from its mouth.
Small dancer statues also adorned the surrounding stone railings, tirelessly dancing, scattering tiny golden orbs of light as they spun. Wade reached out and lightly touched one of the orbs; it popped like a bubble, leaving a slight coolness on his finger.
The surrounding green lawns were freshly trimmed, like a velvety green carpet. The areas around the fountain and in the flowerbeds were planted with a dazzling array of flowers, clusters of blooms packed together, creating a particularly vibrant display. Some were even flowers typically seen only in spring and summer, yet they bloomed here regardless of the season.
Along both sides of the path stood tall trees with canopies like giant umbrellas, which gave Suoluo Garden its name—the Suoluo. Steven proudly told him about these plants, whose history could be traced back at least two hundred million years, predating even dinosaurs, making them true living fossils. The Morrie family had a House-elf dedicated solely to looking after these Suoluo trees.
Halfway through their tour, a Paper Crane flew over, suddenly speaking in Professor Murray's voice: "Steven, bring Wade to the Small Stone Platform."
"Alright," Steven replied, and the Paper Crane landed on his shoulder, then tilted its head, as if looking at Wade beside him.
Seeing Wade staring at the Paper Crane, Steven chuckled and said, "This is my father's work. He once went to a magical institution in Japan for an exchange program and found that the students there liked folding these small Paper Cranes. When he came back, he started using Paper Cranes to send messages. Later, the Ministry of Magic adopted it, but they found Paper Cranes too troublesome and switched to paper airplanes—which aren't flexible, can't talk, lack aesthetic appeal, and only have the advantage of being cheap."
"The Ministry of Magic?" Wade thought for a moment, then asked, "So, before paper airplanes, what did they use to send messages?"
Two-way mirrors were too expensive, so it couldn't have been the Floo Network, could it?
"They used owls," Steven said, trying to suppress a laugh. "You can imagine—dozens of owls flying around the office, or crammed into elevators, with droppings and feathers everywhere—I saw it once when I was little, it was a disaster."
Wade understood why Steven unconsciously harbored a slight disdain for the Ministry of Magic—anyone who had seen those officials in a frenzy over owl droppings probably wouldn't have much respect for them.
The Small Stone Platform was a small garden with a foundation raised two or three feet, featuring white marble steps. Pale purple peach-leaf bellflowers swayed in the breeze, larkspur and geraniums were scattered about, and moss covered the brick walls, making the air particularly fresh and pleasant.
Besides Professor Murray, there were only five or six other people in the garden, all splendidly dressed and looking distinguished. Hearing the voices, they all turned to look.
Their movements were perfectly synchronized: first, their eyes landed on the tall Steven, then they collectively dropped to find Wade, who looked like a dwarf compared to the former.
"Oh, Wade, my boy!" Professor Murray walked over happily, completely disregarding his actual son. He reached out and placed a hand on Wade's shoulder, leading him toward the group: "This is my new student this year—a true student—Wade Grey!"
Everyone nodded and smiled at Wade. A man with curly brown hair complimented, "It seems this child must be truly gifted to be so appreciated by you at such a young age, Professor."
Professor Murray nodded and said, "He's only a first-year, but he's already surpassed your Alchemy level when you graduated, Marchioni."
The others burst into laughter, clearly aware that although Marchioni had taken Alchemy as an elective, his skill was truly subpar, likely causing Professor Murray a lot of headaches during his school days.
Marchioni chuckled, unfazed, and took a serious look at Wade.
Professor Murray seemed to feel that his previous statement wasn't convincing enough, so he immediately gave another example: "This child, through self-study, memorized the entire contents of the Magical Phonetic Chart, the Collection of Magical Glyphs, the Runic Dictionary, and Basic Introduction to Ancient Runes—in just two months!"
"Hoh—!"
At this, everyone finally understood the weight of "gifted." Most of them had taken Ancient Runes or even Alchemy classes and knew how difficult it was to memorize those crooked symbols and strange syllables.
If nothing else, this child had surpassed ninety-nine percent of people in terms of memory and diligence.
"Not only that—"
Professor Murray drew out his words, brimming with pride, deliberately saving the most important part for last. The others cooperatively adopted interested listening poses.
Wade observed silently.
Although he didn't yet know their identities, it was clear—Professor Murray's status was very evident to him.
"He's only been studying with me for a little over a month, and he's already made his first creation! I swear, he did it completely on his own; I didn't guide him on a single letter!"
Professor Murray boasted loudly, then, like someone revealing lottery winning numbers, slowly produced a brand new Book of Friends, letting it float in the air among them, and asked with suppressed amusement, "Can you guess its purpose?"
"Book of Friends?"
The few people exchanged glances, then orderly gathered around the Book of Friends, each taking out their Wand to examine it. The Book of Friends was enveloped in various lights again and again.
However, Professor Murray had placed a protective charm on this Book of Friends, making it impossible for ordinary detection spells to probe its magical structure.
Soon, two people gave up. They weren't particularly interested in a child anyway and didn't believe he would create any impressive Alchemy products; they were just flattering Professor Murray.
The remaining people examined it for a while, when suddenly, the man named Marchioni's eyes lit up. He plucked off a leaf, transformed it into a quill, and wrote a line on a piece of paper.
[Money is a bottomless sea, and I wish to swim freely within it.]
Then he quickly flipped through the pages. The more he flipped, the more fervent his expression became. The people around him, initially unconcerned, gradually widened their eyes, swallowing repeatedly.
Professor Murray displayed a smile that said, "Everything is under control."
-----------
Machine Translation by: https:// randomtranslator.com/
Read ***+ original & fanfic translations in English, Español, Português, Deutsch, Français, or Русский
Or Translate for free at : https:// randomtranslator.com/translate
Join our Discord: https:// discord.com/invite/XXUR9nkjwa
-----------