Chapter 250: So This Is a Space Ring?
He couldn't believe his dad still remembered that.
After all, being an artist in this day and age was just as expensive as it was in his past life. They were just a normal English family. It was fine to nurture painting as a hobby, buying a few paints and a canvas here and there, but to truly become a professional painter, you needed a huge investment of money and energy, not to mention the child's own potential in that field.
Dylan had neither the money nor the talent. He didn't want to cultivate any hobbies either. So when he mentioned he wanted to paint, he tried it out, found he had no talent, and immediately told his dad not to buy him a canvas. Back then, paints were also quite expensive. Since he wasn't going to be a painter in the future, why waste money on these things?
But now, they had money. Since his dad had already bought the painting supplies, he could occasionally try it out if he really felt like it. He could just see it as a way to cultivate his mind. Anyway, even if he wasn't good at it, he had magic to fall back on.
"Thank you, I really like it." Dylan thanked Hubert.
Before Hubert could show his appreciation for more than two seconds, he suddenly sighed heavily. "You're really all grown up. I can't hear your cute baby voice anymore. You've become too unlovable now."
Dylan's face was a study in exasperation. He resisted the urge to raise his wand and cast the Killing Curse on his dad.
Maeve also squatted down with them. She pulled a fluffy knitted sweater out of a reindeer-themed gift box. After holding the sweater up to Dylan, she suddenly exclaimed, "Oops! I opened your gift for you, I'm sorry. I was just too excited—I just wanted to see if it would fit you. I fell in love with it the moment I saw it in the store."
Dylan smiled and shook his head. "It's okay. Can I try it on?"
He lowered his head slightly and looked at the knitted sweater. A silver thread was woven into the light gray yarn. A crooked cartoon whale was embroidered on the seams.
Dylan tilted his head. "Mom, this wasn't made by the store, was it?"
Maeve smiled sheepishly. "I originally wanted to knit a sweater for you myself, but I didn't know how tall you were now, so I just bought one from the store instead."
"And..." Maeve blinked her eyelashes, looking at the cartoon whale.
"And then you sewed a pattern onto the store-bought sweater?" Dylan laughed helplessly.
"That's right! Isn't my idea great?"
Dylan looked at the slightly crooked whale. It looked like a whale, but also a bit like a dried salted fish. For a moment, Dylan couldn't tell what it was. Was his mom hinting that he didn't need to work so hard and could just be a lazy bum? But she was too embarrassed to say it out loud?
"It fits perfectly!" Maeve continued to hold the sweater up to Dylan. "The sleeves are a little long, but it's perfect for wearing over thick clothes in winter."
Hubert chimed in. "My wife's skills are top-notch! This little shark is so cute! It really highlights how adorable our son is, doesn't it?"
Maeve was stunned for a moment. "Didn't I just say it was a whale?"
Hubert was also dumbfounded. "Oh? It's a whale?" He had never heard her say that. But he reacted quickly. "Oh, I see! It seems I haven't reached the level of an artist. That fish has so much soul that only a true artist can understand it."
Maeve gently punched him. "You're exaggerating!"
Dylan didn't forget to add insult to injury. "I saw that it was a whale at first glance, Mom. It seems Dad doesn't understand you very well yet!"
"I do too!" Hubert glared.
Maeve also pretended to look at Hubert with a reproachful expression and then deliberately sighed. Hubert panicked.
"Honey, I didn't mean to get it wrong—"
He threw himself into Maeve's arms and rubbed his face against her. Maeve gently patted his back. "Oh, I'm not mad at you. It's alright, get up now."
Dylan had only meant to tease his dad a little. But as expected, the older you are, the wiser you are. His dad had managed to turn the tables, show off their affection, and make Dylan eat a mouthful of dog food.
"So you've forgiven me?" Hubert lifted his head from his wife's arms.
"Didn't I say I was never mad at you?" Maeve said.
"Hehehe, I knew you were the best, honey." Hubert smiled foolishly.
"Ahem, ahem, ahem!"
Dylan coughed loudly, signaling that there was still another person here.
"There are still a lot of gift boxes here. Do you want to open them all now, or save them to open later?"
Dylan thought for a moment. "I'll save them and open them later."
Maeve nodded. "That's fine too."
At this, Dylan raised his hand and flicked his index finger. Two gift boxes appeared in front of him.
"These are gifts." He placed one box each at Hubert and Maeve's feet. "These are for you, Mom and Dad. Open them and take a look."
Hubert immediately crawled out of Maeve's arms, his face full of excitement as he looked at the gift box in front of him. The box wasn't big, but he was very curious about what was inside. What kind of Christmas gift would his wizard son give him?
Maeve also picked up her box. Her movements were cautious. She held the ribbon between two fingers and gently pulled. The ribbon slid off. She opened the lid. On a layer of velvet lining, a ring shone quietly.
The soft rug wrapped around their knees. Maeve let out an upward gasp. "Oh my goodness—this is so beautiful!"
She took the ring out of the box. It was a silver ring with a delicate, slightly frosted surface that was interwoven with polished sections, making it look like swirling stars.
"Did you buy this ring?" Maeve asked.
"No, I made it myself before," Dylan shook his head. He had indeed wanted to give his parents something practical for Christmas. He had also wanted to give them a pair of matching rings. But yesterday, his dad had asked for a storage ring. So, he had simply cast an Undetectable Extension Charm on the ring.
"Try it on," Dylan said.
"What about my gift? Is it a ring too? Are my wife's and mine a matching set?" Hubert babbled on.
Dylan's eyes rolled slightly upward, but he didn't answer.
However, this didn't dampen Hubert's enthusiasm in the slightest. His movements were not as graceful as Maeve's, but they were very swift. He quickly opened the box. When he saw that there was also a ring inside, Hubert's face turned red with delight. He wasn't sleepy anymore. He immediately took the ring out and put it on his hand. Then he looked at it from every angle, and finally shoved his hand in front of Maeve's face.
"How's it look, honey? Is it pretty?"
Maeve nodded. "It's beautiful." She also put on her ring. They held their hands together and compared them, finding that the rings were indeed very similar. However, one looked like stars spreading out, while the other looked like a flowing river of stars.
"But son, this ring is pretty, but is it... just a ring?" Hubert asked.
Dylan knew his dad all too well. He knew what he was going to ask before he even asked it. "Of course not."
Dylan said slowly.
Hubert's expression went from anticipation to disappointment, and then back to joy when Dylan gave a definitive answer.
"Does it have any other magical abilities?"
"You wanted a space ring, right? These are them. You can put your valuable things in them from now on." Dylan added, "But there's a problem. You don't have magic, so you can't activate the rings yourselves. It would be a lot easier if I made you a space pouch, but the rings are smaller and more discreet to use. To make up for this, I've put a locking spell on the rings. If you want to use it, just tap the ring three times with your middle finger."
Dylan lifted Maeve's hand and pointed to a spot on the ring. "This way, for the next ten minutes, you can put anything you want into the ring by covering it with your palm and thinking about it."
"If you want to take something out, just tap it four times, and with a thought, you can take out whatever you want."
"That's so amazing!" Hubert immediately tried it out. He casually picked up a gift box and, following the steps Dylan had told him, gently tapped the ring with his other middle finger. The gift box instantly disappeared.
Hubert was even more excited. "Haha! I'm a wizard now too!"
"A wizard, Dad," Dylan corrected.
"Whatever, I can use magic now!" Hubert chuckled foolishly.
Maeve also tried it out a couple of times. She found it was indeed very magical. She couldn't help but smile.
"Thank you, Dylan, I love this gift. I'll cherish it."
Dylan nodded. "I've also carved a concealment spell on them. As long as you're not too careless, no one will notice you using the rings."
"Does it have a name?" Maeve asked.
Dylan blinked and shook his head. "I didn't name them. You can name them yourselves if you want."
"Let's call them Hubert and Maeve's rings!" Hubert suggested.
Maeve shook her head and refused. "That's too strange." She thought for a while and then said, "These two rings look like stars. This one looks like a starburst, and this one looks like a flowing nebula. How about we name them that?"
Hubert immediately nodded in agreement. "Those are beautiful names! Let's call them that!"
Seeing his parents act like a pair of sweet young lovers, Dylan felt a bit helpless, but also very happy. Even though it was a bit choking to eat their lovey-dovey affection every day, it was obviously a very, very good thing that his parents had such a good relationship.
"You must be very tired now, too, right? You should go rest early," Dylan said.
Maeve was about to make breakfast for Dylan, but he shook his head. "You don't have to, Mom. You guys go to sleep. I'll read a book. I probably won't be going out today. When you wake up, we can go out together or watch TV at home. As for food, I'll have it ready."
Dylan took out his wand and waved it. Maeve understood what her son meant. "You're going to use magic to cook? Your professor wrote to me and said that students aren't allowed to use magic outside of school. You've done so much magic. Will your professor scold you when you go back to school?"
She was a little worried.
Dylan's lips curled up. "Mom, as long as you don't say anything, no one will ever find out that I've used magic."
Maeve said, "Your dad and I will definitely not tell your professor about this, but you still have to be careful. Don't use magic openly to avoid being discovered by others."
Hubert also nodded. "That's right. Those magic professors must be very powerful. Son, you have to be careful at school. Don't make the professors angry, or we won't help you if they try to punish you."
Dylan's mouth twitched. "Don't worry, there won't be any problems."
"That's good. In that case, we'll go to sleep now. I'm a little too tired. How come all that coffee didn't do anything?"
After the excitement came exhaustion. Hubert yawned. Then he stood up, reached out, took his wife's hand, put his arm around her waist, and gently lifted Maeve up from the floor.
"Let's go, let's go rest for a bit."
Maeve didn't refuse. She was indeed a little tired.
"Remember to eat breakfast, okay?" Maeve said to Dylan as she walked towards the bedroom.
"Don't worry, Mom, I'll take care of myself," Dylan nodded.
After they left, Dylan looked at all the gift boxes on the floor and sighed softly. He remembered that yesterday, besides that one gift, his parents had already put a lot of gifts under the Christmas tree, hadn't they? But then they secretly went out again last night and bought so many more things.
Now that he thought about it, they had pretended to go to the movies just to trick him and go out to buy gifts. But was it possible that the couple had just wanted to go shopping together, and happened to buy him some things while they were at it?
Dylan shook his head and stopped thinking about these small details. No matter what, it was his parents' love. He just had to be grateful and accept it.
Dylan went to the kitchen and started making breakfast for himself. Fortunately, his use of magic wouldn't be detected by the Ministry of Magic. So he didn't have to cook by hand. He just had to wave his wand and use a cooking charm.
He made himself a simple but delicious sausage and fried egg. With some noodles, Dylan quickly finished his meal and returned to his bedroom.
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