Hard-to-Control Instincts

The next morning, soft music began to play, and Ryan woke from meditation.

Ryan suddenly realized that he had somehow floated into midair. After stretching his body and exhaling a breath of stale air, he felt a curious gaze coming from his right.

"What kind of magic is this? Ryan, how can you sleep while floating?" Kate blinked her misty eyes.

"It's instinct." Ryan did not elaborate.

Indeed, it was instinct. Phoenixes, magical creatures that they were, did not rely on wings to fly. They were born able to break free of all restraints, including gravity.

They were born rulers of the sky, immortal gods.

"Huh? Ryan, you're so clean!" Kate exclaimed. Even the most beautiful and perfect person would wake up oily and with bad breath, yet Ryan was so clean that he seemed to be glowing.

It was a cleanliness apparent at a glance, one that even made the eyes looking at him feel refreshed. It was like seeing natural scenery for the first time after living long in a big city—gentle, as if he had merged with all things.

"Kate, that's instinct too." Fiery red magic flared up, and Ryan, now dressed in fresh crimson clothes, turned toward her.

How could an immortal being be tainted by the mundane world? Remaining clean at all times was nothing more than instinct.

Ryan had only just awakened and had not yet had time to restrain the strangeness within himself. A bewitching charm filled every inch of his skin and every strand of his hair. Kate's eyes were firmly ensnared by the unconscious longing of a short-lived species for immortal life.

The closer one was to magic, the more powerful a wizard was, the more beauty they could see. Kate's strange reaction, as both a wizard and a short-lived being, must have stemmed from this.

In a single instant, the powerful wizard's intuition brought by Detection and the magic of thought made Ryan understand everything.

Back at home, the House-elf Jack had always looked at him with fervent, utterly sincere eyes, and Ryan had never noticed anything special about himself.

His increasingly powerful, extraordinary, nearly perfect body had made his thinking better suited to a god's perspective, especially after he had tried to obtain the lv6 Killing Curse.

Which came first, the phoenix or the fire?

The answer to this Ravenclaw door knocker's question was that it was a cycle, with neither coming first.

Yet after gaining phoenix abilities, Ryan discovered that this answer was not entirely accurate. Like Peeves the poltergeist, phoenixes were manifestations of the yearning for eternal life, a species eventually formed through the shaping of time.

Ryan had also discovered that, rather than breaking free from the collective mindset of wizardkind normally at the age of seventeen, he had bypassed that invisible curse through his phoenix abilities. He was becoming less and less like a mortal. Some spell-like abilities from novels had begun to solidify in his body, unrelated in any way to the Body Modification ability. Magic replaced food and sleep, and he even maintained a rhythm of breathing together with the world at all times.

Now Ryan had discovered that while meditating, the uncontrollable bewitching charm from the ancient era, when phoenixes were first born, had also begun to emanate from him. This was a trait possessed only by First Generation phoenixes.

Adjusting his mindset, Ryan changed once more from an immortal god back into mortal Ryan.

As if suddenly waking from a dream, Kate shook her head. She seemed to think she had just been infatuated, and suppressed her embarrassment as she pretended nothing had happened.

"Um, Ryan, I think we've reached our destination," Kate said, changing the subject.

"Okay, I'll go out and wait for you." Ryan went along with it. After all, there were still some secrets he did not intend to tell Kate. He understood certain Ravenclaw traits as well: if the relationship had not reached that point, do not give others the chance to betray you.

Ravenclaws were always comparing their grades. When it came to academic achievements, they also had a considerable desire to excel.

Rita Skeeter and Lockhart were Ravenclaws as well. To get higher scores, they would frame others through despicable means, and they treated other students the same way.

In the original story, Gabriel Truman, a Hufflepuff prefect, had once pointed out that Ravenclaws were extremely proud whenever their house produced famous people—such as Laverne de Montmorency—and claimed that every outstanding person came from their house, such as Bridget Wenlock.

But in truth, Wenlock had been a Hufflepuff.

Everyone with Ravenclaw traits had an ugly side as well, such as Hermione, and Ryan himself.

In the final installment, during the Battle of Hogwarts, Ravenclaw had the fewest people remain behind apart from Slytherin.

Meanwhile, Hannah Abbott of Hufflepuff and Seamus Finnigan of Gryffindor, from the Hufflepuff house that the other three houses looked down upon, had charged straight into the great hall under the protection of Harry's Protego after nearly being struck by Voldemort, fearlessly joining the heated battle.

As a Gryffindor, Seamus Finnigan naturally did not lack courage.

Hannah might have been driven by hatred, since her mother had died in a Death Eater attack.

But even in the face of life and death, she had still chosen to join the battlefield. Even an ordinary Hufflepuff could display astonishing courage.

Too much wisdom often made people weigh the situation and lose the most precious parts of their humanity. Ryan knew very well that he was such a person.

With a soft exhale, he emerged from his tangled thoughts. The Hook-Nosed Wizard was already waiting in the lounge.

After a brief exchange, the Hook-Nosed Wizard respectfully handed him a booklet. It listed the dining and resting locations, the layouts of traps that were not recommended for viewing, and even the starting time for the next part of the journey.

The Hook-Nosed Wizard calmly Apparated away.

For the rest of the time, only he and Kate would be in this castle.

No, no, that isn't precise enough. The most important vampire actor counts as half a person too, Ryan thought.

About ten minutes later, Kate emerged from the washroom in a hunter's outfit.

"Kate, here. This is today's itinerary." Ryan handed her the booklet.

"There's still time. It's seven in the morning now. Breakfast will be served in the castle's great hall. After nine, ring the prepared bronze bell, and the vampires will set out and begin attacking us." Seeing how excited Kate was and how she had not looked at the booklet at all, Ryan could only explain helplessly.

"Then what are we waiting for? Let's go! Vampire Hunter Kate is here!" Kate was raring to go.

When they pushed open the carriage door, a staircase rose from underground. Before them stood a castle beneath a sky full of dark clouds and flashing lightning.

Yeah, it had the right feel. Vampires and a castle—really interesting.

Ryan followed behind Kate as she darted about like a little deer, occasionally commenting on the castle's decor.

"This is a Weather Charm, right? That explains how vampires can come out during the day," Kate guessed.

"Right, it's a Weather Charm, but that isn't quite accurate," Ryan prompted.

"How isn't it accurate?"

"This is Ancient Magic, the predecessor of the Weather Charm. If it were truly a Weather Charm, at least ten highly skilled wizards would need to cast it on this castle together to ensure that the lightning above was merely decorative instead of striking us on the head." Ancient Magic master Ryan made his appearance.

And ten highly skilled wizards? They were too expensive, and difficult to gather all at once.

"But the Weather Charm isn't such a difficult spell. We learn it in fifth year, don't we?" Kate asked in confusion.

"Only when one has mastered a spell to a profound level can its effects be altered. Take this Weather Charm that does not produce thunder, for instance. This Ancient Magic was developed by a wizard with vampire blood."

When they reached the main entrance, Kate very Muggle-like pushed the door open. There was no magical mechanism that opened it automatically at a touch, but Kate was thrilled, saying that this was what made it authentic.

Ryan understood. Not using magic in the wizarding world was authentic.

Beyond the door was a dim corridor lined with torches on both sides, with the occasional flutter of bat wings echoing through it.

After walking for nearly a minute, they arrived at the great hall. It was covered with a lavish breakfast filled with Romanian flavor. Kate loved it, but Ryan felt oddly out of place, as though he had arrived in China.

There were chunks of cornmeal food that looked like steamed rice cakes, corn porridge with milk, nuts, and fried eggs with runny yolks.

Still, there was breakfast that did not feel so Eastern. Wasn't traveling supposed to be about eating something different? There was telemea, a Romanian cheese made from sheep's milk, semi-soft, crumbly, and slightly salty. Then there were irregularly shaped doughnuts flavored with vanilla extract and grated lemon and orange peel, finally giving Ryan a different feeling.