"You, young man, are quite to my liking!"
Fosco laughed heartily. "This sundae is on the house!"
Dylan blinked. "Well, thank you very much! Also—can I get another one to go?"
Fosco was momentarily stunned before bursting into laughter again.
"Of course!"
"That's it? Don't you want to make a profit?"
"Making money is secondary. Wizards will always bring their kids here, and *them*—I definitely won't give freebies."
Fosco winked at Dylan.
Dylan scooped another bite of ice cream into his mouth.
"I didn't expect pure-blood wizard kids to enjoy cold treats too."
"I don't like the way you said that. Pure-blood wizards also have the right to like what they like—we're not emotionless gods."
Dylan nodded. "You're right. That was thoughtless of me."
Fosco suddenly changed the topic. "Though, some pure-blood wizards manage to look arrogant even while eating ice cream. I usually scoop a little less for their kids—makes them buy another cup."
Dylan pressed his lips together. "You're... remarkably straightforward."
Fosco chuckled. "That's just my personality. Since you're such an outstanding Hogwarts student, has Snape ever mentored you? I mean, privately?"
"When he was a kid, he *loved* my ice cream. But after he grew up, he never came back. Should've charged him back then."
Dylan's eyes widened slightly. "Professor Snape liked *your* ice cream?"
"Of course!" Fosco looked smug. "And now he's a Potions Master at Hogwarts! So young and accomplished, huh?"
Dylan took another bite, the coldness refreshing him.
Learning a little gossip about Snape made him even happier.
—Once he got back to school, he'd have a lot to talk about with Professor Snape.
"Professor Snape also teaches me potion brewing. I've learned a lot under his guidance."
"Oh! Seems like those little wizards weren't exaggerating. You really are a student who gets on the professors' good side."
Dylan nudged the conversation forward. "Most of the professors don't seem to mind me much, except for a few I don't interact with often—like the History of Magic professor."
"Hahaha! You mean Professor Binns? He's always like that. But if you get close to him, sometimes you'll hear some *hidden* history from him."
"—That actually sounds interesting."
Dylan raised an eyebrow. "Sounds like you know a lot about history yourself."
Fosco smiled. "I just have some knowledge of the witch hunts in the Middle Ages."
Dylan blinked curiously. "The Middle Ages? When I was still a Muggle, I heard stories about witch hunts."
"Are they true?"
"Half true, half false."
Fosco waved his hand.
"Want to hear about that history?"
"I'm a little interested. If you're willing to tell me, I'd love to listen."
Fosco immediately perked up and pulled up a stool. "Back in the day, the wizarding world wasn't as hidden as it is now."
"Muggles were terrified of wizards and misunderstood them, so they hunted us down. Like *A History of Magic* says, the 14th century saw the peak of the witch hunts."
Dylan had read that book, so he knew what Fosco was talking about.
But he was more curious about the details Fosco might share.
"And then? How did they identify wizards?"
Fosco shook his head. "There were *tons* of ways—most of them ridiculous."
"Some Muggles would throw people into water. If they sank, they were ordinary people. If they floated, they were witches—and burned at the stake."
"Others used so-called magical objects, like 'stones that could identify witches'—all just frauds."
"You know, wizards are human too. Sometimes they got careless and ended up persecuted. But for the most part, they hid themselves well."
Dylan nodded. "So how did wizards resist?"
"They mostly just ran and hid."
Fosco shrugged. "Wizards could use magic to fake their deaths. And honestly, there was never a full-scale war between Muggles and wizards."
"Most of the people they executed were just regular humans."
"For wizards, hiding wasn't too hard."
"Take Isolt Sayre, for example—you know who she is, right?"
Dylan nodded. "One of the founders of Ilvermorny School of Witchcraft and Wizardry in America."
"Exactly. She left for America during the height of the European witch hunts."
"Many other wizards simply used magic to erase their tracks."
"It wasn't until the Ministry of Magic enacted the *International Statute of Secrecy* that the wizarding world was fully separated from the Muggle world, and the witch hunts finally died down."
Dylan nodded. "Interesting story. But not much different from what Professor Binns teaches."
Fosco paused—then burst into laughter.
"Looks like I need to work on my storytelling skills."
Seeing Dylan's sundae nearly finished, he scooped up another serving.
"You can take this one to go."
Dylan stood up, accepting the new chocolate-raspberry sundae. "Actually, I wanted to try a different flavor, but this works."
Fosco blinked twice. "Come visit often. I have a feeling we'll be great friends."
"I'll definitely keep supporting your business," Dylan smiled, then left with his packed sundae.
Outside, a few Aurors patrolled the streets.
But Dylan didn't pay them any attention—he just kept walking.
"Seems like he told me a lot, but in reality, he didn't say much at all."
Dylan shrugged. "I should come back a few more times."
Mr. Fosco was a good man.
Later, he would be captured by Voldemort and meet a tragic end.
—Which meant Dylan wouldn't get any more free, delicious ice cream.
"So, if I run into little Voldemort again later, I'll have to give him a good lecture and, while I'm at it, spread the word about my titles as Karthus and the Fool."
After leaving Foster's ice cream shop, Dylan headed to the Quidditch Boutique and bought ten Nimbus 2000 broomsticks. From now on, whenever someone's birthday came up or there was nothing else to do, he could give them out as gifts.
Then, he went on a massive shopping spree in Diagon Alley.
Especially when it came to all sorts of magic books, as well as weekly, monthly, and annual publications…
He bought them all.
It wasn't until he had spent over ten thousand Galleons that Dylan finally stopped.
"I used to order stuff by mail, and they didn't even count it toward my achievements. This time, I came shopping in person and spent so much money firsthand—surely that'll unlock a bunch of achievements, right?"
In fact, when he bought things at school, it wasn't entirely true that he hadn't unlocked any achievements.
At the very least, there was the [What's Wrong with Loving Online Shopping?] achievement, which rewarded him with a hundred Galleons.
"I haven't checked my achievement rewards in a while. I should find a place to sit down and take a good look."
Typically, Dylan checked his achievements in batches after a period of time.
This was based on his own experience.
After all, in the past, even doing random things would trigger an achievement. But the rewards were either insignificant materials or pitifully small amounts of coins.
If they kept popping up nonstop, it would seriously disrupt Dylan's classes and studies.
So, Dylan usually kept the achievement notifications turned off.
Then, after some time had passed, he'd claim all the rewards at once.
Ever since he last claimed a max-level advanced spell, Dylan hadn't checked his newly completed achievements.
He walked into a dessert shop, ordered a small cake, and sat at a little table. While eating, he opened his system panel.
When Dylan clicked on the magic scroll icon, a series of achievements popped up.
[Achievement]: I Just Love Spending Money Too Much
[Description]: If I've got money, I've got to spend it! It feels awful if I don't!
[Requirement]: Personally spend 10,000 Galleons (10,000/10,000)
[Reward]: Pet Space Suitcase
"Oh? A suitcase? But what does it have to do with pet space?"
Dylan looked at the system prompt, momentarily stunned.
He hadn't expected that spending 10,000 Galleons in one go would reward him with a suitcase—and one tied to pet space, no less. Could it be a suitcase that connects to a pet space?
The first thing that popped into Dylan's mind was the image of a magical creature containment case.
You know, Newt's case.
Newt's magical creature containment case wasn't just a simple bag enchanted with an Extension Charm.
Because it could house living creatures and even simulate environments—swamps, snowy landscapes, you name it. Every kind of ecosystem was covered.
It was practically a small world of its own.
Magical creatures could live freely inside it.
A mere Extension Charm clearly couldn't achieve that.
On top of that, it must have required a series of complex spells and rare materials to create such a magical creature containment case.
And as for his…
Dylan directly claimed the achievement reward into the inventory of his system panel.
It worked instantly.
"It actually worked?"
According to Dylan's guess, this suitcase might be linked to his pet space, meaning it could potentially hold living creatures.
Yet even so, the system panel's inventory still managed to store it…
The latest novels are first released on 69 Book Bar!
He hurriedly pulled up the system description for the suitcase.
[Item]: Pet Space Suitcase
[Description]: From now on, whether it's Little Three, Little Four, Little Five, or Little Six, you can raise them all here. Pretty exciting, huh?
[Abilities]: Space Connection, Space Expansion, Internal Ecosystem Self-Sustainability (Locked), Pet Location and Summoning (Locked), Environmental Simulation (Locked)…
Dylan's eyes lit up when he saw the suitcase had multiple abilities.
But when he took a closer look, he realized that aside from the two already unlocked abilities, everything else was grayed out and still locked.
"…?"
Dylan nearly rolled his eyes to the heavens.
"You've already given me the reward, and now that I've got it, you're telling me you've only given me half? So, all those locked abilities—are they all going to be unlocked through achievements? How am I supposed to know which achievements will unlock these abilities???"
Dylan was a little furious.
But then, all of a sudden, he noticed something.
"Hm? It looks like these locked abilities can still be clicked on…"
Dylan gave it a try, and sure enough, he managed to open a new system prompt for one of the locked abilities.
[Locked Ability]: Internal Ecosystem Self-Sustainability
[Unlock Cost]: 1,000,000 Galleons
?
The system prompt that suddenly popped up in front of him left Dylan's gaze a bit dazed.
Especially that string of zeros—it made his eyes spin.
How much was that??
"Ones, tens, hundreds, thousands… a million?!"
A million Galleons???
"Are you seriously trying to make me rob Gringotts or something?"
From past experiences—like beautifying wizard robes or unlocking advanced spell refinement tasks—Dylan already knew this system could be a total scam.
But he never imagined it could be this much of a scam!!
"One ability, and you're asking me for a million Galleons? Isn't that a bit outrageous? I'd be better off spending the money to have someone build me a magical creature containment case from scratch!"
Dylan discovered that the locked abilities also had detailed descriptions, so, fuming, he clicked into it.
"Let's see what kind of ability this is that's worth me spending so much money!"
[Internal Ecosystem Self-Sustainability]:
No matter how many environmental ecosystems you unlock, they will perfectly integrate and transition naturally, ensuring no conflicts arise between ecosystems. It regulates climate and guarantees the water cycle and overall balance of the entire ecological system.
After reading the ability's description, Dylan fell silent.
A moment later, he muttered quietly to himself, "It's just an ecosystem cycling ability. I still don't think it's worth a million!"
And the ecosystems themselves still had to be unlocked separately…
Dylan felt a headache coming on, as if his dad had just flicked him on the forehead ten times in a row.
"I swear, you're absolutely money-crazy…"
Dylan let out a deep sigh in his heart.
There was nothing he could do about such a greedy system.
But since each ecosystem would need to be unlocked independently, this ecosystem cycling ability was actually pretty important.
—Dylan strongly suspected that without the ecosystem self-sustainability, if the unlocked ecosystems collapsed, he'd have to spend more money to unlock them again.
—Or worse, he might even have to pay to clean up the mess caused by a collapsed ecosystem before spending more to unlock and rebuild a new one.
Dylan felt this was entirely possible.
"But that's a million Galleons…"
Dylan thought it over and experimented a bit, discovering that aside from Galleons, he could also use British pounds to unlock abilities.
But…
"Ten million pounds?? How is this any different from robbery?!"
Dylan squeezed his eyes shut, not wanting to look at the system's ridiculous pricing prompts.
After a long while, he slowly opened his eyes again.
"Maybe it's time for my name, Karthus, to echo through the wizarding world."
For just one ability in this pet suitcase, it dared to demand a million Galleons from him.
Dylan didn't even want to imagine what kind of price he'd have to pay for the other abilities—or for items he might get in the future.
Relying solely on his parents' hard work?
Even if they worked their whole lives, they might not be able to support him!
"Then I'll just let other people work hard, and I'll take what they've got."
Dylan thought about the 40,000 Galleons he'd "earned" from Mr. Borgin today—well, more like extorted—and felt like this plan had some real potential.
"Yep, that's settled then."
Dylan didn't dare look at the other locked abilities.
Because this "Internal Ecosystem Self-Sustainability" ability was listed as the first one to unlock, the system's intention was crystal clear—
It was practically screaming at him to unlock this ability first!
Otherwise, everything else would be a bust!
Taking a deep breath, Dylan turned his attention to the two abilities that were already unlocked.
The two most basic ones.
[Space Connection]:
Your pet space suitcase is linked to your pet space, allowing your pets to move freely between the two at any time.
"Pure connection, huh? No option to close the passage?"
The thought had barely crossed Dylan's mind when a locked ability popped up right in front of him.
[Locked Ability]: Autonomous Space Passage Closure
[Unlock Cost]: 100,000 Galleons
"…You're something else."
The system's heart was too cold—he didn't dare mess with it.
Then, Dylan looked at the next unlocked ability.
[Space Expansion]:
The suitcase's space will always accommodate your pets, ensuring they never feel cramped.
"That's it?"
Dylan suddenly realized something and quickly checked the suitcase's base space size.
"100,000 cubic meters… Not bad, not bad."
Dylan let out a sigh of relief.
It seemed that if he wanted to make the suitcase's space even bigger, he'd probably have to shell out more money to unlock it.
But for now, 100,000 cubic meters was just barely enough to house his two pets.
In fact, it was more than enough.
Even if Norbert grew up later, it would still have enough room for daily activities—just not enough to fly around freely without limits.
"But right now, there's not even an ecosystem in there. What's there to fly around in?"
(End of Chapter)