Chapter 78: Imperiused Dragon Egg! Hehehe, Don't Struggle Anymore!
"Hagrid, besides that three-headed dog named Fluffy, what other obstacles are there guarding the Sorcerer's Stone?"
As Harry spoke, he unconsciously wanted to move closer to Dylan.
—It was so hot here it could melt someone!
"Sorry, I can't tell you that, because I don't know either," Hagrid shook his head. "Even if I did know, I wouldn't say."
He looked at Harry, his brow furrowed. "Why are you so fixated on knowing so much? You already know enough, in fact!"
"We want to protect the Sorcerer's Stone!"
"Shush shush—that stone will be protected by the school, you don't need to worry about it."
Hagrid made a silencing gesture. "Have you forgotten? They even dared to attack Gringotts!"
Hermione blinked. She felt Hagrid wasn't lying; he genuinely seemed unaware of what came after the three-headed dog.
After thinking for a moment, she decided to ask Hagrid in a different way.
"Throughout the entire school, I believe only you, Hagrid, are the person Headmaster Dumbledore trusts the most. Otherwise, he wouldn't have borrowed your Fluffy to serve as the first obstacle guarding the Sorcerer's Stone."
Hagrid's face showed no expression, but his beard trembled repeatedly, "shush shush shush."
Clearly, Hermione's flattery had hit the mark—he was smiling.
"You don't have to tell us what the subsequent obstacles are, but can you at least tell us which professors know about the Sorcerer's Stone?"
"Oh, quite a few."
Hagrid reacted and quickly covered his mouth.
But then he thought again, and it didn't seem like there was anything to hide.
He stammered, "As far as I know, several teachers were invited by Professor Dumbledore to cast spells."
"Such as?" Harry pressed.
"Such as Professor Sprout, and Professor Snape, Professor McGonagall, Professor Flitwick... oh, and Professor Quirrell too!"
Hagrid counted on his fingers. "Of course, Headmaster Dumbledore also cast spells."
"So trust me, with so many professors guarding the Sorcerer's Stone, no one will succeed."
Harry and Hermione exchanged glances, all frowning.
Meanwhile, Dylan, who wasn't very concerned about the Sorcerer's Stone, had noticed the roaring flames in the fireplace.
The fire burning in the hearth was responsible for at least eighty percent of the heat in the room.
He noticed that there seemed to be a black egg in there.
Instantly, Dylan's interest was piqued, and he walked over to the fire.
"This is a dragon egg, right? But what kind of dragon?"
Hagrid's expression stiffened at Dylan's movement.
He had already blocked the dragon egg with a lot of firewood, how could Dylan have still found it?
Hagrid opened his mouth, wanting to deny it.
But Harry said from the side, "We found the books you were reading in the library were all about raising fire dragons, Hagrid. Do you really want to raise a dragon?"
"..."
All the words got stuck in his throat, and Hagrid sighed softly.
"Alright—alright! It is indeed a dragon egg, and it's a Norwegian Ridgeback egg!"
"Norwegian Ridgeback?"
Because he had to study potions with Professor Snape, Dylan didn't just learn the process of brewing potions.
At the same time, under Professor Snape's supervision, he had also studied quite a few books about magical creatures.
—Usually, the materials from these creatures could be used to brew potions.
And a true potions master must be able to directly—upon encountering any magical creature—immediately recognize the valuable materials on it.
So after Hagrid's words fell, the relevant attributes of the Norwegian Ridgeback immediately appeared in Dylan's mind.
This dragon species was a fierce carnivorous fire dragon, extremely aggressive, and a quadrupedal bipedal dragon with venomous fangs. It looked very similar to the Hungarian Horntail, but its tail had no spikes, and it had a black ridge on its back.
Unlike other dragons, Norwegian Ridgebacks didn't have great hostility towards humans. Instead, they preferred to hunt large mammals.
—They could even hunt creatures in the water.
This was relatively rare among fire dragons.
"If I had an adult dragon, I could extract a little dragon blood every day, occasionally pull out a fang or a scale, or even cut off some liver and use magic to make it grow back."
These materials were simply inexhaustible!
Almost the moment this thought popped up, Dylan really wanted to try what would happen if he used the Imperius Curse on the little guy still in the dragon egg.
What would happen?
Would he have the chance to make this dragon obey him after it hatched, or even directly become his pet?
"According to my understanding of the Imperius Curse, no matter how skilled a wizard is with the curse, it's difficult to directly control an adult dragon with it."
Because compared to a three-headed dog, a dragon was far stronger in every aspect.
Not to mention that a three-headed dog was already a creature with extremely high magic resistance.
Therefore, trying to use the Imperius Curse on an adult dragon and attempting to control it was almost impossible.
"Why not give it a try?"
Dylan had previously changed the attack effect of his wand from pink starlight particles to a colorless, transparent effect.
Therefore, in front of Harry and the other first-year little wizards, and Hagrid, who wasn't a wizard at all, although he knew magic but was forbidden from using it and now knew nothing about many spells,
Dylan didn't think they would notice his spellcasting process.
Moreover, a dragon egg wouldn't cry out...
Thinking this, Dylan pretended to squat beside the fireplace, his wand not moving at all, but his eyes narrowed slightly, and his spirit tensed.
"Imperio!"
Having mastered the Imperius Curse at the max level, he could completely cast spells wandlessly.
Therefore, combined with the magic output that had no special effects whatsoever,
The Imperius Curse silently entered the black dragon egg in front of Hagrid and the others.
As the spell took effect, Dylan's consciousness was pulled by an invisible force, suddenly establishing a strange connection with the soul in the dragon egg.
"Not a fully formed soul."
In the depths of that chaotic consciousness, Dylan felt a state of ignorance, an unformed soul, like a懵懂幼兽 still in slumber, with no clear recognition or thought, only instinctive throbbing.
At the same time, Dylan also sensed the desire for new life in this soul, and its resistance to his magic.
"Although it hasn't fully formed, this soul power actually has an innate wildness, actually trying to resist my Imperius Curse?"
Dylan was a little surprised.
So these dragons started developing magic resistance even before they were born?
Was this racial attribute a bit too exaggerated?
But the more it was like this, the more excited Dylan became.
Because the current dragon egg could only resist him, not completely negate his spell power.
Therefore, he could directly increase the output of the Imperius Curse!
If once wasn't enough, then three times, five times, or even ten times?
"Imperio Ten-in-a-Row!" Dylan directly activated the trait, and ten consecutive colorless, transparent magic powers entered the dragon egg.
Dylan could clearly feel a violent soul fluctuation and resistance coming from the unformed little guy.
"Hehehe, don't struggle anymore."
Dylan chuckled inwardly.
After ten Imperius Curses were cast,
At first, the soul in the dragon egg might still have the strength to resist, but soon, there was no movement at all.
At this moment, Dylan could even experience how the dragon's soul, still in the embryonic stage, was growing.
This feeling was too magical, as if he was currently wrapped inside an egg.
He witnessed the gestation of life!
"Too wonderful..."
Dylan couldn't help but murmur.
Hagrid, who had already walked over, brightened up, as if he had found a kindred spirit, and showed a surprised and憨厚 smile, repeatedly saying, "Right?"
"Clearly it's an egg, but it can stay safely in the flames, just like in its own cradle! This is the miracle of life, the power born in the scorching flames!"
Hagrid looked at Dylan, who was squatting on the ground, with approval in his eyes.
No wonder he was a student loved by so many professors!
Most people, when they saw this black, sooty dragon egg placed in the fire, were either indifferent or disgusted.
Most people couldn't even recognize what it was.
But this child could see its wonder at a glance!
"It seems Dylan, like me, truly loves magical creatures from the bottom of his heart!"
After Dylan moved away, Ron was immediately enveloped by the heat again. Feeling a bit uncomfortable, and wanting to see what the dragon egg actually looked like, he got up and moved closer to Dylan.
Feeling the coolness emanating from the ice crystals around Dylan, Ron shivered comfortably.
"Hagrid, where did you get this dragon egg?"
Hermione also came closer, looking at the black dragon egg in the flames.
The surface was rough and uneven, like carelessly molded clay, and a bit like clumped cinders. It wasn't very big, curled up in the flames, and if one didn't look closely, it could easily be mistaken for a half-burnt stone.
"I bet Hagrid must have spent a lot of money to buy it. Speaking of which, where did you get so much money? Is the salary of a Forbidden Forest keeper that high?" Ron babbled from the side.
"My salary isn't high at all..." Hagrid hadn't finished speaking.
Suddenly, Ron seemed to think of something, and he jolted, squatted beside Dylan, tilted his head, and looked askance at Hagrid.
"You wouldn't have caught and sold magical creatures from the Forbidden Forest to get this dragon egg, would you?"
"N-no way!!"
Hagrid's eyes widened.
"My job is to guard the Forbidden Forest, how could I catch and sell the magical creatures in it? I'll be angry if you say that!"
Ron blinked. "Sorry."
Hagrid哼ed softly with his thick voice. "I won it playing cards with someone when I was drinking in Hogsmeade!"
"A stranger! He seemed very eager to get rid of this trouble at the time, and I was incredibly lucky, winning several rounds in a row."
"Oh?"
Dylan became a little interested.
"What kind of person would play cards with you while drinking, with a dragon egg as the bet?"
"Even if that person wanted to get rid of the dragon egg as soon as possible, they could have directly given it to a dragon sanctuary or an institution that specializes in raising dragons and still get a reward. Was it necessary to win your meager salary?"
"—You yourself said your salary isn't high at all."
Dylan looked at Hagrid. "The stranger who gambled with you couldn't have been after your body, right?"
Hagrid was stunned again and again.
Dylan recalled that Quirrell seemed to have gotten quite a bit of information from Hagrid.
As for how he got it, Dylan didn't have much of an impression.
However, after definitively learning the origin of this dragon egg, a thought popped into his mind.
Could that stranger who played cards with Hagrid have been Quirrell?
"Did you talk about anything with him while you were playing cards?"
Hagrid paused and nodded his big head. "Of course, how could you not chat while playing cards?"
"That person was also a magical creature enthusiast. He said some things that even I didn't know."
Dylan raised an eyebrow. "So, did you mention the three-headed dog?"
Hagrid froze. "Wait, you mean..."
Dylan clicked his tongue. "Yes, you wouldn't have told that stranger about the three-headed dog being lulled to sleep by music, would you?"
"I..." Hagrid's body shook, and one of his hands unconsciously tightened slightly.
"Bang!"
The chair beside him was directly overturned.
Making a clanging sound.
"Could that person have deliberately been trying to get information out of me? Was it for the Sorcerer's Stone?!"
Dylan nodded. "From my personal point of view, that should be the case."
Hagrid swayed. "It's over—it's over—! I actually told someone who wants to steal the Sorcerer's Stone how to bypass the obstacle guarding it?!"
"That person must be Quirrell!" Ron exclaimed.
"What, Professor Quirrell?" Hagrid was stunned again. "You can't just say he's the one who wants to steal the Sorcerer's Stone just because of what he did last time, can you?"
"He tried to kill Harry. What good person would do that?" Hermione rolled her eyes.
Dylan shook his head. "It doesn't matter. The three-headed dog is only the first obstacle, isn't it? There are still other arrangements by the professors afterward."
"—And you got a dragon egg for free."
But Hagrid was still very anxious and fearful. "How can it not matter?"
Dylan stood up, feeling the faint rebellious emotions coming from the dragon egg again.
"Imperio × 10!"
Whoosh whoosh whoosh...
Feeling the resisting force gradually weaken and sensing the soul power again synchronized with his own,
Dylan then looked at Hagrid again. "Alright, no matter who wants to steal the Sorcerer's Stone, Headmaster Dumbledore will be prepared."
"Instead of worrying about things you can't stop, you might as well think carefully about what you want to do with this dragon egg."
Hermione also nodded. "We will stop Quirrell! But—are you really planning to hatch this dragon, or even raise it?"
Hagrid sighed. "I understand what you mean—I understand!"
(End of chapter)
[author]
I want to take a moment to express my gratitude to those who support me on this journey. Your contribution make a real difference!
As a patron, you unlock:
Exclusive Access: Get +40 advanced chapters ahead of everyone else.
👉 Join now: patreon.com/Chaos_God
[/author]