A Golden Elixir Swallowed, King of Fire

On the system screen, the long-awaited Spirit Beast Cultivation and Control Fire at Will Talents that Rhine had been waiting a month for finally appeared in the rewards section.

Rhine let out a long breath.

Now, at last, he had collected all the "achievements" he wanted before heading to Hogwarts and could embark on his journey of magical study without regrets.

Then, anticipation rose in his heart. He wondered exactly how these two Talents would manifest.

Closing his eyes, Rhine carefully sensed his body but detected no abnormalities.

"Looks like neither of them is a Talent that manifests physically. I'll need to interact with the relevant targets to make use of them."

His gaze fell on the leather pouch Warwick had given him. Inside was that pure-blooded Fire Crab.

Rhine focused on the leather pouch and imagined reaching inside to take something out. An image of its interior immediately appeared in his mind, as though he had truly extended his eyes into it.

The Fire Crab was eating inside. Sensing Rhine's presence, it raised its claws and let out soft huffing sounds.

Tiny sparks scattered from its body. This was how the Fire Crab expressed happiness and welcome.

Rhine raised an eyebrow.

Fire Crabs were generally rather temperamental magical creatures. Even with his Spirit Beast Affinity Talent, when he had first received this Fire Crab from Warwick, the little thing had only been somewhat friendly. It was nowhere near this affectionate.

"Could it be that gaining the Spirit Beast Cultivation Talent also strengthened my Spirit Beast Affinity Talent?"

"That's a good thing, too."

Rhine teased the Fire Crab a few times, making it let out more happy huffing sounds.

To be fair, a pure-blooded Fire Crab was practically made of gemstones from head to toe and had none of that fishy stench. It was nowhere near as disgusting as the mixed-blood creatures Hogwarts students had cared for in the original story.

It really was quite good-looking. No wonder its main purpose was as a pet.

"Since that's what your call sounds like, I'll call you Huhu from now on."

After naming the Fire Crab Huhu, Rhine continued focusing as he sensed Huhu's condition.

The feed Huhu was eating was the standard Fire Crab feed described in the textbooks.

But at that moment, Rhine had a feeling.

This stuff could fill Huhu's belly, provide the nutrients it needed to survive, and allow it to grow normally.

But if he wanted Huhu to break through the bottleneck of its bloodline and display stronger flame abilities, feeding it this alone would be impossible.

Then, an instinctive intuition surfaced in Rhine's mind.

"Wood—Beech Wood would be best. Grind it into sawdust, and it can help Huhu master the flame abilities in its bloodline more quickly."

"Or regularly feed it materials related to Phoenixes and Dragons. That would give it a better chance of mutating, perhaps even allowing it to possess flames with properties similar to those of Dragons and Phoenixes."

"Using Beech Wood sawdust, Phoenix tail feathers, and Dragon heartstrings together can rapidly enhance its flame abilities."

As he sensed the guidance emerging within him, surprise appeared in Rhine's eyes.

Was this the Spirit Beast Cultivation Talent?

As expected of a Talent from the Primordial Beast Taming Sect. It was practically like receiving a handbook on cultivating magical creatures.

Rhine dared swear that, at this very moment, no one in the entire wizarding world understood how to raise Fire Crabs better than he did.

There was no mention whatsoever in magical creature textbooks of using materials related to Beech Wood, Phoenixes, and Dragons to cultivate Fire Crabs.

To test whether this Talent was truly effective, Rhine quickly found several materials in his workshop.

There was no need to say much about Beech Wood. It was common even in the Muggle world. The only difference was that Beech Wood used for wandmaking had special requirements regarding its age and growing environment, though it was hardly an expensive material.

As for materials like Phoenix tail feathers, Dragon nerves, and heartstrings, those were naturally much more expensive.

But aside from complete tail feathers and heartstrings that could be used as wand cores, there were also leftover scraps from processing, and those were much cheaper.

Rhine had several portions in his workshop. Ollivander did not care about them at all and told him to use them however he liked. Once he ran out, he could simply ask for more.

At that moment, Rhine picked up a small piece of Beech Wood and casually rubbed it between his fingers. The hard wood turned into sawdust in his hand.

Then he repeated the process, grinding the Phoenix tail feather and Dragon heartstring into powder as well. He mixed them with the Beech Wood sawdust and rolled them into pellets the size of Liuwei Dihuang pills before holding them to Huhu's mouth.

"Come, Huhu. Swallow this golden elixir, and from this day forth, my fate is mine, not Heaven's."

The moment Huhu saw the pellets, it seemed to feel an instinctive craving.

Without hesitation, it scooped up a handful of pellets with its two claws and shoved them into its mouth, refining them in an instant.

Then, the red on Huhu's shell became crystal-clear and brilliantly vivid, as though a flame were burning within it.

It let out a series of startled cries, as though saying,

"What is this stuff?"

"Holy shit, this is incredible! Is this some kind of super tonic?!"

The next second, two thin streams of fire surged from Huhu's nostrils with each breath.

It could no longer suppress the surging power within its body.

Opening its mouth, it spat out a pillar of fire far larger than its body, as thick as an adult's head!

If the leather pouch had not contained protective enchantments against water and fire in addition to the Undetectable Extension Charm, Huhu's blast would probably have destroyed it.

Rhine's eyes lit up as well.

The formula really worked!

Huhu's flame abilities had improved dramatically compared to before!

If he continued feeding it this way, perhaps Huhu's flames could reach the level of a Dragon's—or even become stronger.

This really was a little like Pokémon. Even an ordinary Pokémon could reach an extremely high level of strength with careful cultivation.

If that were the case, then after taming "god-tier Pokémon" such as Basilisks, Acromantulas, Unicorns, or even Phoenixes and cultivating them further, what level would they reach?

Rhine might not even need to make a move. The magical creatures under his command alone could sweep through the entire wizarding world!

At that moment, as Rhine watched Huhu continue to spurt pillars of fire uncontrollably, he felt something strange.

Those flames, which could easily burn young wizards, felt extraordinarily intimate to him.

He even felt as though he could command them.

Rhine unconsciously crooked a finger.

"Come here."

The next second, Huhu, still breathing fire, froze.

The flames it had spat out were suddenly beyond its control. Instead, like subjects beholding their king, they gathered of their own accord toward Rhine's hand.

The searing flames landed in Rhine's palm, yet they did not feel hot at all.

Even the originally intangible flames became like modeling clay, allowing Rhine to knead and reshape them however he pleased.

Looking at the blazing fire in his hand, Rhine's eyes filled with shock.

He had thought the Control Fire at Will Talent would merely grant him an extraordinary aptitude for manipulating flames. He had not expected its effect to be so overbearing. It was as though he had become the King of Fire!

A moment later, realization dawned upon Rhine.

"That's right. The flames of Primordial Fengshen all have extraordinary origins."

"Even if the flames used by the Artifact Forging Sect were not Samadhi True Fire, they would at least be some kind of Spiritual Fire or earth fire—certainly not ordinary flames."

"If the Control Fire at Will Talent can even control flames like those, why would the wizarding world's flames be any exception?"

"Other than certain special flames, such as Fiendfyre or Gubraithian Fire, all flames should be under my control with this Talent."

After calming the shock in his heart, a bold idea surfaced in Rhine's mind.