Master of Puppets

Durmstrang, Headmaster's Office.

Skylar stood calmly before his desk, having come to bid farewell to Karkaroff. This Durmstrang trip, from the moment he boarded the Ghost Ship, lasted a full eight days, but Skylar's gains were undeniably substantial.

Besides the ordinary gains of visiting one of Europe's three most prestigious universities, he also met the professors at Durmstrang, especially the Dark Arts Master Helmut. He also copied precious Dark Arts books from the Restricted Section and took the rare opportunity to learn from Helmut about Dark Arts, which led to another astonishing increase in his abilities.

Not only that, he also obtained a valuable miniature Ghost Ship from Karkaroff. Although it was only a semi-finished product, it still possessed extremely high alchemical value, and it was precious even if it was just considered a pure collectible.

Most importantly, during this journey he actually found the Chamber of Secrets of Nalida Vokanova, which had been passed down for nearly a thousand years, and obtained the fifth volume of Abatair that he had been longing for. He now had five of the eight volumes of Abatair, taking another big step closer to collecting them all.

And let's not forget that he also took this opportunity, through the intermediary Karkaroff, to make new allies and build new networks in Germany and Northern Europe, thus extending his intelligence network and influence there as well.

"Karkaroff, judging by the days, it's time for me to leave," Skylar said with a half-smile. "Thank you for your hospitality these past few days. I'm quite satisfied with your sincerity..."

Karkaroff stood to the side, his face full of smiles, but his eyes betrayed an undisguised unease. He was slightly hunched over, his hands clasped together inside his robe sleeves, unconsciously kneading his fingers.

"Young Master Malfoy, you know I'm naturally reluctant to see you leave," Karkaroff said softly. "But you're a busy man, and I can't keep you for more than a few days. However, whenever you wish to come again, Durmstrang's doors are always open for you."

Skylar's gaze remained calm as he said in a deep voice, "You don't need to worry too much about Voldemort. I forgot to tell you before, I've already wiped out his Death Eaters. According to the intelligence I have, his main focus now is on recruiting Werewolf and Giant, and I will deal with that as well. He won't succeed so easily. After I leave, you just need to manage Durmstrang well and cultivate a few loyal followers among the students. This way, you'll have more resources to adapt to future situations. Do you understand what I'm saying?"

Karkaroff let out a soft breath, wiped away imaginary cold sweat from his forehead, and said, "Master Malfoy, I certainly didn't do well enough before, but now I know what to do, so please don't worry about that."

"That would be perfect," Skylar smiled. Karkaroff, being able to become the principal, must be quite capable. The key is that he's curbed his arrogant lust for power, his penchant for oppressing students. He should still have a lot to offer. The stronger Karkaroff's influence, the more advantageous it will be for him. He nodded. "I have other matters to attend to, so I'll be leaving now." With that, Skylar prepared to use Karkaroff's private fireplace and leave through the specially connected, one-time-use private Floo Network.

"Young Master Malfoy, please wait a moment," Karkaroff coughed lightly, as if he had made up his mind, and finally beckoned to the door behind him. The door opened Silencio, and a tall, slender figure stepped into the room.

Skylar was slightly taken aback. The person who came was Savannah, whom he had met once on the Ghost Ship.

The more accurate name is Savannah Karkaroff.

Although the two had not seen each other since the minor conflict on the Ghost Ship, Skylar had learned of her identity from Karkaroff.

Savannah has a rather special status at Durmstrang. In addition to being the principal's assistant and secretary, she is also Karkaroff's adopted daughter. She possesses excellent administrative and management skills and is usually responsible for assisting Karkaroff in the principal's daily management and administrative work.

There's actually a backstory to her origins. She's a descendant of Death Eaters. When she was still young, her parents died in the First Wizarding War, led by Voldemort. As a result, she became an orphan, scorned by the world and labeled a "descendant of criminals." By chance, she was adopted by Karkaroff, a fellow Death Eaters, who raised her and taught her various forms of magic.

After she grew up, to repay Karkaroff's kindness, she also followed Karkaroff and served Karkaroff wholeheartedly.

At this moment, Savannah stood upright, her steps composed and elegant, yet possessing the simplicity and competence of a soldier. She wore a well-fitting light blue wizard's robe, with an exquisite silver-buckled belt around her waist, and her icy blue eyes were calm as water. Her silver-white hair, slightly chilled by the green light of the magic crystal, added a touch of coldness to her beauty.

"Master Malfoy," Karkaroff rubbed his hands together, a nervous smile on his face, and said, "Savannah is my most capable assistant. I personally raised her from childhood; she is intelligent, cautious, and absolutely loyal." His gaze carefully swept over Skylar's expression, as if afraid of displeasing him. "I hope she will leave with you and become your handmaiden, serving you."

Skylar frowned deeply and asked in a low voice, "Karkaroff, what do you mean by this?"

"Young Master, please don't misunderstand. This is just a token of my goodwill, and I have absolutely no other impure motives," Karkaroff said quickly, as if afraid that Skylar wouldn't believe him. "These past few days, I've also come to understand how rapidly your power has grown, and how desperate you must be for talent. I believe Savannah can certainly meet your needs in this regard."

"Oh," Skylar raised an eyebrow, his tone neither warm nor cold, "Then tell me, what talents does your adopted daughter possess that I should value?"

Skylar wasn't afraid of any schemes or tricks Karkaroff might use to harm him—neither in the original descriptions nor in the impressions Skylar gained after interacting with him in this dimensional world did Karkaroff possess the mental fortitude or the audacity to do so.

He simply felt that Karkaroff was likely using a "honey trap" to curry favor with him. Skylar, however, never needed such flattery or ingratiation. He valued Karkaroff's fighting prowess and Principal Durmstrang's status, and he would not allow his allies or subordinates to elevate their standing in his eyes by trying to please him.

Faced with Skylar's questioning, Karkaroff seemed prepared. He calmly replied, "Savannah has assisted me at Durmstrang for many years without ever making a mistake, and her efficiency is evident to all the teachers and students. Moreover—"

"Besides her administrative and management work as the principal's assistant, she also serves as my personal secretary," Karkaroff said, a hint of pride creeping into his voice. "She's fluent in English, German, Russian, Poland, Bulgaria, and all the languages of the five Northern Europe countries—a total of ten languages—and even has a profound understanding of exotic languages like Gobbledegook, Dwarf, and Giant languages. That's why I had her handle my reception, communications, paperwork, and data management. I dare say I've never seen anyone do it better than her."

Even Skylar was stunned. Such linguistic talents are indeed rare, but they are not irreplaceable. His subordinate Barty Crouch Sr. Crouch, was a linguistic genius who was fluent in various languages and could even communicate with Troll with extremely low intelligence in Troll Language.

However, Barty Crouch Sr.'s son is almost 40 years old. Savannah is so young yet she is proficient in so many languages. This is something that cannot be achieved through hard work. It seems that in addition to her amazing memory, she also has an extremely rare talent for languages, which is almost comparable to his two lifetimes.

Hearing this, Skylar was already tempted.

As he gradually builds his influence in Germany and Northern Europe, and has also ventured into the Northern Europe business world, investing in dragon farms in Sweden and Golden Salmon farms in Norway, it is foreseeable that his exchanges and dialogues with his various allies there will gradually become more frequent.

With Savannah's abilities, she could become Skylar's other personal assistant besides Daphne, specifically responsible for handling correspondence and intelligence exchange from Germany, Poland, Northern Europe, and Eastern Europe.

Moreover, the reason Skylar was in such a hurry to leave was because he had received intelligence from Phoebe about the search for the Giant Tribe. Savannah was fluent in the language of Giant, could be of great use, which gave Skylar even less reason to refuse.

Not a single mistake, not a single poem, not a single post, not a single piece of content, all in one look!

Honestly, who could resist a good-looking and talented personal assistant?

Just as Skylar was about to agree, Karkaroff unexpectedly spoke up again.

"Young Master Malfoy, her talents go far beyond that," Karkaroff said, beaming. "You may not be aware of this, but Savannah is the reigning world champion in Wizard's Chess— "

Skylar nodded. Although he also played international Wizard's Chess and was quite good at it, it was just a pastime. He never intended to achieve anything in the field of international Wizard's Chess, so he never cared about the various international tournaments related to it.

"Playing chess is just the surface; she's actually a true 'tactical mastermind.' She can use her 'Mental Splitting' magic control technique to simultaneously manipulate three skeleton puppets, orchestrating their battles in real combat like playing chess. If she gets serious, even I wouldn't be her match." Karkaroff finished speaking in one breath, only then realizing his lips were dry. He hurriedly waved his wand, and two empty glasses and a bottle of limited-edition Ice Flower Vodka treasured in his liquor cabinet slowly floated over in mid-air.

Savannah stepped forward, took the bottle from mid-air, and gently and gracefully poured the wine into the two glasses. Then, she bent slightly, raised the two glasses with her clean hands, and handed them to Skylar and Karkaroff at a height where they could easily reach them. Her movements were very pleasing to the eye, and it was clear that she had received strict training from Karkaroff in the etiquette of pouring wine.

Karkaroff took the glass without any hesitation and took a big gulp.

Skylar also took a sip from his glass, while inwardly assessing Savannah's magical abilities.

The so-called "Mental Splitting" is actually similar to Muggle often call multitasking. It is an extremely rare talent, usually used by wizards to control various tools to do things at the same time. For example, Mrs. Weasley in the original book was quite skilled at this and could simultaneously control a spatula and a pot to cook several dishes in the kitchen at the same time.

Of course, cooking is far less difficult than controlling puppets in battle. Even with Skylar's mental cultivation, he could only control a maximum of three magical puppets at the same time, which is no different from Savannah's strength. This is why, in the Battle of Little Hangleton, Skylar had to rely on the magical creation Aquila, which could infinitely create clones, and the Philosopher's Stone, which provided unlimited energy, to achieve the feat of controlling a hundred puppets in battle simultaneously.

Savannah's truly remarkable quality is that, in addition to being a master of puppet manipulation, she is also a tactical genius, capable of applying tactics to the level of orchestrating puppet battles.

Ordinary alchemical golems are actually not very powerful, a far cry from the human golems created by the Hohenheim Family. Yet Savannah managed to defeat Karkaroff, an elite Auror, solely through tactics, using only three of these weaklings. Even if Karkaroff exaggerated to promote his adopted daughter, a draw would still be a remarkable achievement, proving that her puppet tactics are absolutely formidable in actual combat.

This method of combining military tactics with puppetry was not Savannah's invention. As early as the Middle Ages, this method of combat was already famous and had its own school of thought and lineage, known in the wizarding world at the time as the "Puppet Master" lineage.