Ian’s return to the Ancient Time Converter of Hogwarts turned out to be the same one that Dumbledore found in his youth, the same one used to bridge history through Big Ben.

This peculiar coincidence naturally stirs some thoughts. Could it all be a meticulously designed destiny? Or is there a deeper secret hidden behind it?

Ian had a very strong premonition within him.

He believed there must be a reason. 𝐟𝚛𝕖𝚎𝕨𝗲𝐛𝚗𝐨𝐯𝐞𝕝.𝐜𝗼𝗺

Knowing whether God rolls dice might be unknown or unverifiable, but in the Wizarding World, the saying that there is no such thing as coincidence is definitely a truth.

All coincidences are merely the weaving of fate, and wizards are beings who can touch upon such layers, thus, within the wizard’s worldview, coincidences can surely be traced to their origins.

Ian was not the only one who believed this, so did Albus Dumbledore and Nicolas Flamel. Moreover, when they heard the little wizard say he knew who could explain such coincidences, both Albus Dumbledore and Nicolas Flamel realized that Ian’s certainty was surely related to some of his past experiences.

And because of this.

Nicolas Flamel would ask about the danger.

While Albus Dumbledore was more direct, he looked down at the little wizard in front of him, his eyes slightly flickering, "Did your Ancient Time Converter come from Merlin?"

The old headmaster hadn’t witnessed the past events himself, but he always had this script-like insight, and it wasn’t difficult to deduce this conclusion from when Ian mentioned seeing Merlin in ancient times. After all, no matter the era, Time Converters are exceedingly precious items.

The people Ian could seek help from in an era would never exceed a hundred.

Facing the old headmaster’s inquiry.

Ian did not hide it either.

"Yes, Headmaster, I won this Time Converter from Merlin." Ian looked down at the golden, ancient Time Converter in his hand.

"You even beat Merlin in a bet?" Nicolas Flamel was somewhat shocked and tongue-tied, "No wonder you’d say Merlin probably didn’t really want to bless you."

The Alchemy Master’s imagination was somewhat limited, perhaps because Merlin’s name was too prominent in this era, which made him not dare to think Ian could defeat Merlin using magic.

The little wizard didn’t explain.

Some acts of showing off don’t have to be performed on the spot.

Leave it there for now.

Bringing it out when in a good mood is also doable.

This is the real art of "show-off management."

"I’m somewhat puzzled right now, how can the same Time Converter simultaneously exist at a single point in time?" Ian looked at Albus Dumbledore.

"And it returns to a certain era, later becoming your collectible?" The little wizard’s curiosity was innate, and he tried to sort out the increasingly chaotic information.

Dumbledore smiled slightly, his blue eyes watching Ian through half-moon spectacles, gaze deep and calm. "Ian, the power of time is far more complex than we imagine."

"It’s not just a simple division of past, present, and future. Sometimes, the footprints of time fold, and manifest in ways we cannot predict."

"Remember what I told you earlier, as long as influence hasn’t arrived, then nothing will be a problem, this principle still holds here."

"Just like you and I, or others, can appear in two places with time converters, many Hogwarts students have also used it to attend two classes at once."

"If we can do it, then why can’t an item?" Headmaster Albus Dumbledore’s words were quite philosophical, expressing a kind of equality under time’s domain.

The little wizard listened and pondered.

Just as Ian was still absorbing Headmaster Albus Dumbledore’s earnest advice.

"Alright, alright, you’ll have plenty of time to discuss this in the future, you should now enlighten this old man." Nicolas Flamel interjected decisively.

He really couldn’t contain his curiosity any longer.

"Little Ian, you mean to say, you think Merlin knows the answer, and considering he’s lived for nearly 2000 years, you can still find traces of him in our era?"

Nicolas Flamel didn’t mind the thought of someone being older than him, he was just curious about how Merlin managed to live for so long, first ruling out Soul Artifacts and the Magic Stone.

After all, Merlin certainly couldn’t resort to the cowardly means of Soul Artifacts, and a Magic Stone that could sustain such a long consumption must have left traces in history if it was created.

Concerning issues related to the Magic Stone, Nicolas Flamel almost had complete records of every Magic Stone from each era, stemming from the little wizard’s earlier pile of discarded Magic Stones, sparking his interest in investigation. No matter his reasons for consulting these records, it ultimately made Nicolas Flamel quite certain that Merlin only ever produced 3 Magic Stones, and they were either given to others or used to avert extremely dreadful disasters.

"I don’t need to look for him, because he may have always been around us." Ian decisively voiced his suspicion, looking at the two elders before him, "Ririm, the Ravenclaw student with Olivander lineage, gives me a feeling that he certainly has something off."