Chapter 8. Animal Magic Card
Of course, now was not the time for the draw.
Duncan stuffed Pro into his pocket and walked towards the dining room.
"Grandpa, have you received any leads about those two patterns recently?"
"No." Newt came out of the kitchen, a crisp, golden round pie pinched in his right hand, while three plates laden with delicacies floated at his side, bobbing up and down as they followed him to the dining table.
"The people who wrote back all said they've never seen similar patterns."
"Not even Mr Duke?" Duncan asked.
Mr Duke's full name was Anro Duke, an American Magizoologist.
Although he wasn't as strong as Newt in academic research, he spent years wandering in the wild and was basically never at home, so his channels of information were very well connected and he knew many things ordinary people did not.
"He hasn't replied yet.
I reckon he's holed up in some valley again.
And with the way he hides himself, it's rather hard for an owl to find him." Newt said helplessly, sitting down on the chair.
"So you do know that?" Tina came out of the kitchen and complained crossly.
"In the past, when you went into forests to study magical creatures and didn't write back to me, why didn't you think of this problem then?"
Hearing this, Newt showed an awkward smile.
He quickly signalled with his eyes, urging Duncan to hurry up and help him out.
Duncan was long used to this scene.
Skilfully changing the subject, he said, "Grandma, what did you make today?
It smells wonderful!"
"Beef pies.
I added a bit more spice today."
Hearing Duncan's praise, Tina forgot about scolding Newt.
A radiant smile bloomed on her face, and her tone softened a great deal.
"If you're hungry, eat quickly.
If it's not enough, I'll make you more!"
"Alright, Grandma!" Duncan answered sweetly, and while eating his pie, he cocked an eyebrow at Newt.
Newt let out a breath, lowered his right hand inconspicuously under the dining table, and gave Duncan a thumbs-up.
"What bad thing are you two plotting behind my back again?"
Seeing the two of them blinking and signalling at each other nonstop, Tina couldn't help asking.
"No, nothing." Duncan shook his head quickly, then turned the conversation to his upcoming schooling, asking Tina and Newt about their campus life back then.
At Duncan's pleading, Tina gradually opened up and recalled amusing stories from her years at school, and the atmosphere in the dining room became cheerful.
Time passed.
Most of the food on the plates ended up in their stomachs, leaving only a few lonely pieces of meat pie and potatoes.
With a tap of Tina's wand, the dishes rose into the air and flew into the kitchen.
The tap turned on; the sound of rushing water rang out as the washing began automatically.
The tablecloth billowed like waves; the stains left upon it gathered together in mid-air and fell into the rubbish bin at the side.
The dining room, which had been a bit messy, swiftly became neat and tidy.
One had to admit, magic was a marvellous thing.
It was a pity he hadn't enrolled yet, and Newt and Tina wouldn't allow him to learn magic in advance.
Sighing inwardly, Duncan walked towards the stairs and said, "Grandpa, Grandma, I'll head back to my room first."
"Eh?" Newt was a little surprised.
"Aren't you coming to the secret realm with me later?
Didn't you say yesterday you'd go with me to check on those two Erumpents?"
"I'm a bit tired today, Grandpa.
I'll go with you another day!"
Duncan waved, then stepped quickly up the creaking stairs to the second floor and returned to his bedroom.
He was in a hurry to do the draw!
After locking the door, Duncan sat down at the desk with great ceremony and wiped his hands.
He had spun the wheel several times in the past.
Whether it was just his poor luck or the wrong posture for drawing, he had never drawn anything good.
The best he had ever got was a kind of feed biscuit suitable for any one magical creature.
"Hopefully I get something good this time.
Budd— oh no, Merlin bless me!"
Duncan muttered a sincere prayer.
When he was ready, he silently recited "draw," and the virtual lottery machine appeared before his eyes the next second.
It looked similar to a slot machine.
On the large screen in the middle were two rows of continuously scrolling entries: the first row displayed the broad categories—magical items, magical abilities, magical books, and so on; the second row contained the various items belonging to the category above.
At the side there was a silver lever and a round coin-insertion button.
Duncan chose to insert a coin.
His virtual coins quickly dropped to ten.
The coloured lights at the top began to flash, giving off brilliant colours.
He then yanked the lever down hard—there was a click—and the entries on the big screen spun even faster, almost becoming a blurred after-image.
This, too, was an anti-cheating measure, preventing Duncan from spotting any pattern and leaving him to rely on luck alone.
Duncan stared tensely for a moment.
Silently, he thought "stop."
With a click, the lever snapped swiftly back to its original position.
At the same time, the entries in the first and second rows stopped in succession, revealing what he had drawn.
"Magical Item—Animal Magic Card?
At last, something useful!"
Duncan's eyes lit up.
He quickly closed the draw interface and opened the bag that stored all the various items he had drawn.
Among a whole pile of strange odds and ends, he found that exquisite card, on which several cartoonish magical creatures were drawn with great childlike charm.
When Duncan concentrated on it, a small rectangular box appeared beside the Animal Magic Card, showing the following description:
"A card full of magic, crafted by a legendary master of artefacts.
When you use it, you can randomly obtain the wondrous magic possessed by a magical creature whose affection level with you is 80 or higher."
"Randomly obtain a magical creature's magic?"
Duncan was slightly surprised.
As far as he currently understood, the magical abilities of magical creatures were very different from those of humans, and to his knowledge, from the past to the present, witches and wizards had only ever borrowed from their abilities to study related spells; no one had ever completely mastered them.
"I wonder how it will let me learn a magical creature's magic?"
Duncan took out the Animal Magic Card and flipped it back and forth in his hand.
It felt just like an ordinary card, with nothing special about it.
"As of now, the magical creatures whose affection level with me has reached eighty… hmm… Niffler, Sphinx, Thunderbird, Occamy—there should only be these four.
I wonder which creature's magic I'll get?"
The card in Duncan's hand turned into a streak of silver light, and he suddenly felt a twinge of vexation.
A Niffler possesses the ability to seek out treasure.
A Sphinx can construct a labyrinth in a person's mind and bewilder them.
A Thunderbird can gather storm-clouds, command lightning, and control the weather.
An Occamy can change the size of its body according to the available space.
He wanted every one of these abilities—why was there only one card?
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