A certain Hogwarts professor of runes.

He then revealed a secret: "It is said that the attackers were very arrogant; they warned the woman and left her a bloodstained badge."

"What badge?"

"Iphamoni Magic School"

Felix remained silent.

"Isn't that outrageous? There are thousands of students there, and they're in a complete mess right now. Six out of the seven Americans left that day."

"No one died, right?"

"No, that's why I say they're arrogant. They came here as if to announce something."

Felix walked out of the magic black market and looked at the bright sky. In the distance, people were chatting leisurely, and a young couple was pushing a stroller, slowly walking past the sycamore trees.

"I have a feeling this time is not a good time to travel."

Chapter 159 The Magician's Speculation

Felix strolled through the streets of Paris, a few hundred meters ahead lay the south bank of the Seine, lined with elaborately decorated shops, many of them exuding exotic charm.

For example, a paper cutting shop has various paper decorations displayed at the entrance, ranging from small, colorful animals to large, exquisite, and intricate indoor ornaments, creating a dazzling array of items.

The shop owner was a young woman wearing a colorful headdress, who enthusiastically tried to sell to Felix when he entered the shop.

Finally, Felix picked a colorful windmill that he could hold in his hand.

With a week to go before the conference officially began, Felix enjoyed two days of leisurely travel. From the Musée d'Orsay to the Louvre and the world-famous Notre Dame Cathedral, he treated himself as a pure tourist, savoring the local customs and exquisite cuisine of Paris.

After all, in his note to the French Ministry of Magic, he had scheduled to arrive in Paris in three days.

On a glamorous street, crowds thronged, tourists from all over the world gathered, and looking up, they could see the Eiffel Tower, the landmark building in the 7th arrondissement of France.

A young couple each held a child's hand and a half-eaten ice cream cone in their hands.

"Mommy, Mommy, I want flowers, I want flowers!" the little boy said, pointing to a spot not far away.

The couple looked in the direction indicated. About ten meters away, seven or eight children and their families were surrounding a young man who looked very handsome, tall and slender, with a gentle smile on his face.

His black hair and light blue eyes, like those of a clear sky, gave him a pure and innocent look.

Felix put his left hand behind his back and snapped his fingers lightly with his right hand. Suddenly, a bright yellow tulip appeared in his hand, which he handed to a child in front of him.

“He’s a street magician,” the child’s father said.

“It looks pretty good.” The child’s mother stared at Felix’s hands, but couldn’t see anything wrong with them.

The couple walked over with their child, and Felix showed everyone his empty hands, except for an emerald ring on his left hand.

Under the scrutinizing gaze, he clasped his hands together in a prayer-like gesture, from which came a series of chirping sounds.

"Wow!"

The children's mouths gaped wide in disbelief, and even their parents looked on incredulously.

Felix slowly opened his palm; it held a small bird with colorful feathers. The bird nimbly turned its neck, fearlessly surveying its surroundings; its small, black eyes evoked a feeling of tenderness.

The little bird preened its feathers and flew away when a child tried to touch it.

Everyone looked up, their gazes following its flight path until it disappeared into the sky.

Felix bowed, declined some coins and banknotes, and left lightly.

……

At Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne, Felix wandered through the picturesque campus of this renowned French university, where many of his peers sat leisurely on the lawn, chatting freely.

A pair of young girls looked at him curiously. A student with grape-purple hair whispered to the girl next to him, "Look, that guy is very handsome. Which college is he from?"

Her friend said with certainty, "It's definitely not from our school."

"So they might be from other schools, or tourists?"

"You can go ask him."

“Why not?” The purple-haired girl stood up, walked over to Felix, and said in somewhat languid French, “Hello, I’m Amandina Zoe.”

Felix turned around and said gently, "Hello, Miss Zoe, you can call me Felix, Felix Heap."

Zoe paused for a moment, then said, "Your eyes are beautiful, and you can call me Amandina."

“Okay, Armandina.”

The girl named Armandina was very talkative and warm-hearted. She acted as a guide, introducing Felix to her university.

"This is the history building...this is the humanities building...oh, I remember now, there's a very famous philosophy professor giving a lecture today!"

Amandina's eyes widened, her expression hesitant, as if she were constantly weighing Felix against the open class.

“May I go take a look?” Felix asked with a smile.

“Of course, I didn’t think you would like philosophy.” She breathed a long sigh of relief.

"I don't really know much about it, but it's still nice to listen to it occasionally."

Amandina led Felix into a spacious classroom. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw her friend glaring at her angrily. She gave an awkward smile and pulled Felix to sit down.

The open class started soon, and the lights in the large classroom dimmed, with a beam of light shining in the center.

A middle-aged man, dressed in a strict and formal manner, stood on the podium. His gaze was deep, and his tone was unhurried: "What is existence? What is the meaning of human existence?"

“Before you were born, we lived through an era of wavering faith. In Nietzsche’s words, we were never more aware that ‘God is dead.’”

“We have experienced a shift in thought. War made us think about the meaning of life, starting with Kierkegaard and Dostoevsky, reaching its peak in the era of Sartre and Camus after World War II, until now it has faded away silently.”

"Someone invented the term existentialism, but existentialism cannot be considered a systematic philosophical category. There is no discipline called existentialist philosophy; it is at most a label."

"I'd like to share some common thoughts on 'existence' with you."

"For example, you are the result of your choices."

"For example, time is the only measure of existence."

……

"Many people think that existentialism originated in the cafes on the Left Bank of Paris and is the product of the imagination of a group of decadent people, but this is a completely stereotypical impression. Many people are silently practicing certain praiseworthy existentialist views in their own lives."

"Suffering and hardship lead to despair, despair leads to reflection on the meaning of existence, and reflection brings new life."

Before we knew it, two hours had passed.

A student raised his hand and asked: "Under normal circumstances, we don't think about the 'meaning of existence.' We only have this thought when we are pessimistic and desperate. Does this mean that existentialism is actually a pessimistic view?"

"Do we study existentialism to prevent others from studying existentialism?"

The professor said humorously, "That's a very interesting point of view. You can apply to be my graduate student."

"I need to emphasize that existentialism is an optimism supported by reason and logic. Imagine your life is plunged into darkness, war, famine, technological substitution... in short, you can't find the meaning of existence."

"At this point, existentialism will tell you that although your life is full of tragedy, we still have to try our best to live and choose the meaning of our lives for ourselves. You will find that your existence itself adds variables to the world, good and bad, constantly fluctuating."

Many people raised their hands.

The professor pointed at Felix.

Felix stood up: "Professor, in one of the viewpoints you mentioned in your lecture, you believed that existence is seeing, perceiving, and experiencing. So how do we perceive and experience things that are far away, or things that may never appear in reality, such as magic in movies?"

Felix's question elicited murmurs of laughter from the students; it was quite amusing to insert the topic of magic into a serious philosophical discussion.

One or two students whistled in approval of Felix's 'boldness'.

The professor thought for a moment and replied, "Magic is a product of our imagination, and currently it only exists in the medium of imagination, such as movies, and so on. So do they really exist? Or are they merely products of thought, made to believe by our brains?"

"What if one day magic really appears in reality?" Felix pressed.

The professor chuckled, “If magic truly ‘exists’ in reality, no one wouldn’t be unaware of it. With the advancements in technology, we are now capable of traveling to every corner of the world. Even the sky and the ocean cannot stop humanity’s exploration.”

But he soon discovered that he had met a persistent student that day.

"What I mean, please forgive me, but let's make an assumption: there's a small group of magicians who conceal their existence using various magical techniques, but one day, you discovered them."

Felix paused briefly. "What would you do?"

Chapter 160 Uncle and Nephew

Felix was indeed very curious, especially about the views of a philosophy professor.

A murmur of discussion arose in the large classroom. They tried to immerse themselves in the scenario he had created, and unanimously began to ponder a question they had never seriously considered before—

'If magic truly exists, how should we confront it?'

Looking at the reactions of the others, the professor felt it necessary to answer the question seriously.

He looked at Felix and asked, "In your assumption, are there enough mages?"

"Not many, but they can't be ignored."

Do they fall under the conventional definition of evil, judging from a group perspective?

"Discussing group issues without considering proportions leads to fallacies, Professor. My view is that it is equivalent to the average person."

The professor and Felix went back and forth in a question-and-answer session. When they encountered sensitive questions, such as "what is the overall strength of magicians?", they would gloss over them and say that they hadn't thought about it yet.

The other students were also drawn to the back-and-forth questioning between the two, glancing at the professor and then at Felix.

In the crowd, a young student with brown curly hair was sweating profusely, looking at Felix with a terrified expression.

The professor looked pleased: "It seems you've thought about this issue very deeply, which will help our discussion going forward."

Felix explained, "I plan to write a fantasy novel, like The Chronicles of Narnia."

In order to complete his new book, he deliberately collected a batch of fairy tales during his vacation and was surprised to find that the series had already been published in the 1950s.

“Is that so…” The professor pondered for a moment, then looked up and said, “Leaving aside the philosophical aspects, as a scholar, my view is that it’s about communication.”

"Exchange?" Felix repeated, this answer not satisfying him: "Professor, I want to write a 'true' book, one whose contents can withstand scrutiny."

"My answer remains the same: no matter what the final outcome is, the first step between two unfamiliar groups is definitely to deepen their understanding of each other."

The open class ended, and the students filed out.

The young student with brown curly hair rushed into the restroom, bumping into someone in the process.

"I'm sorry, please forgive me."