Just a few breaths later, the moment arrived.

Hearing a commotion downstairs, Tom poked his head out to see Seth had also returned, currently pounding away at a sandbag in the back garden.

After a moment's thought, Tom decided to head down and say hello.

"Seth!"

The boy in the middle of his boxing practice heard someone call his name and thought he must have misheard—until Tom called again. Then he spun around, face breaking into a wide grin, and ran over in excitement.

"Boss Tom! When did you get back?"

"Just now," Tom replied. "Heard some noise in the back garden, so I came to take a look. When did you go on break?"

"We started our holiday on Monday…" Seth chuckled sheepishly and scratched the back of his head. "Tom, I heard from Aunt Arman you came home for Christmas. If I'd known earlier, I wouldn't have stayed at school."

Tom shook his head. "I was actually only at the orphanage for a few days. I left before the New Year."

"Ah? Your school starts back up that early?"

"No, I went to stay at a classmate's house for a bit. What about you? How's your new school? Made any friends?"

"Mm, a few I get along with," Seth replied, eyes suddenly lighting up. "Oh, right—Tom, I joined the school's boxing club."

His voice was brimming with pride. "The coach says I've got a great foundation, real potential to go pro. It's all thanks to you training me since we were kids. Otherwise, I wouldn't have had this kind of luck."

Tom gave an encouraging pat to his shoulder. "Then keep at it."

"Alright, Tom."

Climbing back upstairs, Tom had already decided—he would give Seth some Re'em's blood to strengthen his physique and raw power, so he could truly walk the path toward becoming a professional fighter.

They had lived together for five or six years. Back in primary school, even when they were badly outnumbered in fights, Seth had never once shown fear.

When one person rises to success, the people around him should rise as well. Now that Tom had the means to give his little brother a better future, why wouldn't he?

Back in his room, Tom waited until the dead of night before taking action.

He slipped silently into Seth's room.

A swift, practiced Stunning Spell—and Seth went from peaceful slumber to deep unconsciousness, the kind that wouldn't be broken even by an earthquake. Tom pried open his mouth and poured in half a dose of Re'em blood.

It wasn't that he was unwilling to give a full dose—or even more. He simply wanted the transformation to happen gradually. Sudden, overwhelming strength could get Seth noticed, dissected, and studied by the wrong people.

This was precisely why the wizarding world strictly forbade magical items from leaking into the Muggle world. In recent years, Muggle research had reached a point that made wizards uneasy—sometimes even fearful.

The Ministry of Magic might not have the best solutions, but when it came to enforcing a blanket ban, they excelled. The restrictions now were so extreme that—

…even marrying a Muggle didn't grant the right to reveal the existence of the wizarding world or one's identity as a wizard. Only when a child received their Hogwarts letter would the family be formally counted within the wizarding community.

Tom had no intention of caring about such rules.

Dumbledore's words—those he would listen to carefully, out of respect for the King of the Century and the Elder Wand's master. But the Ministry of Magic? Not worth his concern.

Seeing Seth's skin begin to flush a faint red, Tom gave a satisfied nod. Then he Apparated to a park on the outskirts of the city.

At this hour, the park was empty save for two homeless men lying on benches. Tom casually stunned them, then prepared to begin his "lottery draw."

He had no idea what kind of prize he might pull, so to be safe, he preferred doing it somewhere remote.

"System, use the advanced lottery first," Tom commanded.

If something good came out, it would mean his luck was running high today—and he could go all in and use the legendary draw as well.

If the reward was mediocre, he'd wait a few days to change his luck.

[Advanced lottery chance consumed. Drawing… Congratulations, Host, you have obtained the 'Meditation Room.' The Meditation Room has been placed into your Learning Space. Installation complete. Host may use it at any time.]

Meditation Room?

And it was put into the Learning Space?

A big question mark popped up over Tom's head. Since when did prizes skip his hands entirely and go straight into some intangible space?

He suddenly recalled the absurd antics of a certain corporate penguin in his past life. Unease creeping in, Tom quickly entered his Learning Space to see for himself what this "Meditation Room" was all about.

When he appeared inside, Andros was already circling around the newly appeared building.

It was a quaint little wooden hut, about the size of Tom's dorm room at Hogwarts—roughly eighty square meters.

"Tom, what is this? I tried opening the door just now, but it wouldn't budge. Not even blasting curses worked," Andros said, curiosity burning in his eyes.

"It's a Meditation Room. I assume it's for meditation. Let me go in and take a look."

With that brief reply, Tom pushed the door open and stepped inside.

As soon as he crossed the threshold, a stream of information poured into his mind. Relief washed over him—quickly replaced by a bright, eager grin.

A real treasure!

[Meditation Room: Unlimited use. Base effect—boosts Host's thought-processing speed by 20%, enhances comprehension. Advanced effect—while in Meditation Room, activating 'Transcendent Mode' doubles the duration of the state without increasing credit consumption.]

[Note: The Meditation Room can be made available to the Private Tutor. Only one person may use it at a time.]