Harry groaned as he sat up in his bed at the Flamel cottage, rubbing his temples. "That was so weird..."
He gave Chrysa a quick hug and then walked downstairs to find Nicolas and Perenelle already at breakfast, both looking far too cheerful for this early in the morning.
"Rough night?" Perenelle asked, pouring him a cup of tea.
"The strangest dream," Harry said, accepting the tea gratefully. "I opened some kind of portal into a realm made entirely of emotions, then somehow traveled through time to both the future and the past, and ended up meeting Buddha of all people to fight an ancient spirit that was trying to destroy the world."
Nicolas nearly choked on his coffee. "Buddha? Really?"
"I know how it sounds," Harry said defensively. "But it felt so real. There were all these colors representing different emotions, and I could hear voices from different time periods, and then this Indian man appeared and started teaching me while we tracked and fought battled this strange creature that-"
"Harry," Perenelle interrupted gently, though she was clearly trying not to laugh. "Dreams don't always make sense. Sometimes our minds just combine random thoughts and memories into strange stories while we sleep."
"Though I must admit, meeting Buddha to fight ancient spirits does sound like the kind of adventure you'd actually have," Nicolas added with a grin. "Perhaps your subconscious is running out of realistic scenarios."
Harry rolled his eyes. "Very funny. It just felt so vivid, like it was actually happening."
"Speaking of things that are actually happening," Nicolas said, "the last three dragon hearts arrived this morning. The Antipodean Opaleye, Norwegian Ridgeback, and Peruvian Vipertooth are all waiting in the underground chamber."
Harry's eyes shone brightly.
Over the past three months, he'd consumed nine different dragon hearts, and each one had created a new spectral dragon within his Hun Soul.
The experience had been incredible every single time.
Each dragon had brought something unique. The Hebridean Black had tougher scales compared to other dragons, the Romanian Longhorn had two massive golden horns that could work well for skewering something… in short, he pretty much had his pick from what dragon part he wanted to infuse with magical energy.
Nothing was all that groundbreaking though.
Dragons in this world weren't all that amazing, at least not compared to Ran and Shaw from the other world. Those intelligent dragons could use Life and Death flames, something utterly unique.
Maybe the only thing that was actually valuable to Harry were the scales of the dragons in this world.
If he wanted to, he could make appropriate-sized dragon scales float just above his skin. And naturally, those scales were highly resistant to magic. Wanting to curse him would be very difficult, if not impossible, unless someone brought along an entire squad of wizards to curse him at the same time.
Harry did wonder if the tenth heart would bring something different to the table, because he had an intuition that something would change…
"All three at once?" Harry asked, already standing up from the breakfast table.
"I thought you might want to finish the collection today," Nicolas said. "Besides, I'm curious to see what happens when you complete the set."
They made their way down to the underground chamber, where three preservation chests waited on the worktable. Harry opened the first one and pulled out the Antipodean Opaleye heart. It was smaller than the Hungarian Horntail's had been, but it seemed to glow with an opalescent polish that reminded him of mother-of-pearl.
He didn't hesitate to swallow it down in three big bites.
The taste was different from the others, cleaner somehow, with a strange metallic aftertaste that made his tongue tingle. As always, his digestive system went into overdrive, breaking down the dragon heart and extracting its essence.
But something was different this time.
The draconic essence began flowing up to his Hun Soul and forming a new spectral dragon as usual, but at that moment Harry felt all nine of his previous spectral dragons suddenly stirring. They started moving toward each other, drawn together by some invisible force.
Wait, what's happening? This never happened before.
The spectral dragons began circling each other within his Hun Soul, their forms becoming brighter and more defined as they moved. Harry could feel power building, something fundamental shifting in the very nature of his soul.
Then they started merging.
It wasn't random or chaotic.
The Hungarian Horntail's fierce long-range flames. The Hebridean Black's impenetrable scales. The Romanian Longhorn's golden horns. The Chinese Fireball's explosive breath. And five more dragons contributed their greatest strength to the whole.
The Antipodean Opaleye's essence then joined the merger, adding its own unique properties to the mix. Harry could feel the new combined dragon taking shape, and it was magnificent. Larger than any of the individual dragons had been, with claws that looked like they could cut through anything, and flames that seemed to contain multiple types of fire all at once.
It's like it reached some kind of threshold and decided to evolve everything at once.
Harry quickly consumed the Norwegian Ridgeback heart, then the Peruvian Vipertooth heart. The Ridgeback's incredible physical power and the Vipertooth's venomous bite both integrated themselves into the growing entity.
His Hun Soul began expanding to accommodate the transformation. The merger seemed to release excess magical power that wasn't able to settle inside his Hun Soul, and thus was forcefully poured into his Po Soul. The magical energy from the draconic essence seemed highly compatible for some reason with his offer-given magicka pool, and began rapidly expanding the outer edges of the pool.
Harry's eyes widened as his soul began absorbing free-floating magic from the environment to fill in the now near-empty magicka pool.
Did he just get a permanent increase in the amount of magic he could hold?
Just because of the draconic magical power? Why would it do that? What was the relationship between the magicka pool and dragons? There had to be something there, because the magic from the world itself didn't have this effect on him…
But Harry just didn't know. He couldn't know, unless he visited the world from which his magicka pool originated.
You know what, that actually wasn't impossible.
He had visited the world of bending, so maybe he would one day visit the world of the magicka pool?
When the merger finally finished, Harry had a single spectral dragon in his Hun Soul, but it was unlike anything he'd experienced before. This dragon felt more solid, more real than any of the individual ones had been. It was as if consuming twelve dragon hearts had reached some kind of threshold, transforming the spectral constructs into something approaching a true dragon spirit.
"How do you feel?" Perenelle asked.
"Amazing," Harry chuckled. "Stronger. It's like having a True Dragon Spirit inside me instead of just spectral constructs."
Yes. That was a good name for it, wasn't it?
It may not have truly reached that status, but it's good to have ambition. He could tell this True Dragon Spirit could grow stronger.
What if he encountered a Five-Clawed Golden Dragon someday? Those legendary creatures in Chinese Mythology were said to be the most exalted dragons in existence, capable of controlling weather and reshaping landscapes with their will.
If he could devour the heart of a Five-Clawed Golden Dragon and add its essence to his True Dragon Spirit... Harry's imagination ran wild. He pictured himself revealing an entire dragon body to aid him in battle.
Or what if he could transform himself into a True Dragon temporarily, surrounded by fire and lightning, with Soul Resonance Mist around him in a massive cloud.
The image was intoxicating.
His enemies would want to flee in terror at the sight. No, he would force them to flee in terror if they even glanced at him. Even the most powerful wizards in history would think twice about facing someone who could take the form of a legendary dragon.
A smirk crossed Harry's face. Princess Azula thought she was impressive with her blue flames.
Wait until she sees me breathing fire as a True Dragon.
"Harry?" Nicolas's voice brought him back to reality. "You're grinning rather ominously there."
"Just thinking," Harry said, his smirk widening. "This True Dragon Spirit isn't anywhere near complete yet. But if I keep adding more and more dragon hearts from other worlds to it..."
"It could become something truly extraordinary," Perenelle finished, understanding immediately.
"Exactly." Harry closed his eyes and reached out to the True Dragon Spirit. "Want to see what it can do now?"
He pushed the dragon's head from his Hun Soul into his Po Soul, then forced it into the physical world. The head that appeared was massive, adorned by two golden horns from the Romanian Longhorn and had beautiful multi-coloured eyes from the Antipodean Opaleye. The scales themselves were a deep black from the Hebridean Black.
But more importantly, Harry could feel that in his Hun Soul, it was still primarily transparent. Didn't that mean that if he kept devouring dragons, it would go from transparent to solid?
In other words, it could continue to evolve just like he suspected!
The dragon head turned toward a stone target Nicolas conjured, and Harry let it breathe fire. The flames that came out weren't just the orange-red of a Hungarian Horntail or the blue of a Swedish Short-Snout. They were something new entirely, a deep red fire that seemed to contain traces of every dragon he'd consumed.
The stone target didn't just melt. It was completely obliterated, turned to vapor in seconds.
"Now that's more like it," Harry smiled.
He spent the next hour testing various combinations of dragon parts, but honestly, the results were exactly what he'd expected. The True Dragon Spirit was stronger, more durable, and more versatile than any individual dragon had been. The claws could cut through steel, the scales could deflect most spells, and the fire breath could melt almost anything he pointed it at.
If he ever found truly legendary dragons that he could devour without any moral concerns in other worlds...
Nicolas coughed politely. "Harry, I hate to interrupt your dragon-powered fantasies, but didn't you agree to return to Hogwarts today?"
Harry blinked, pulling himself back to reality. "Right! I did promise I'd be back by this afternoon."
He dismissed the True Dragon Spirit and waved Chrysa over, giving her a quick scratch behind the ears before hugging both Nicolas and Perenelle tightly.
"I'll be back in two weeks!" he called out as he touched his portkey.
He was yanked through space by his navel, and moments later he was standing in Grandpa Dumbledore's office at Hogwarts. The old man looked up from his paperwork with a warm smile.
"Welcome back, Harry. How did the dragon heart experiments go?"
"Better than I could have hoped," Harry grinned. "But I should probably find my friends."
Dumbledore nodded. "Yes, I believe they are currently next to the Grand Staircase. Something rather tragic happened today, so Miss Haywood will have some news to share."
Harry frowned at that, but he didn't get impatient. If Grandpa wanted him to find out what happened from his friends, then so be it.
He transformed into a golden eagle and flew through the castle corridors towards the Grand Staircase. The past few months had actually been incredibly productive in terms of his development. His Quintessence Flames had progressed significantly… he'd long since mastered Nigredo, being capable of taking in energy and burning it back to fundamental particles. By now, he'd progressed from seven spheres in the Albedo phase to nine spheres, and those nine spheres had even begun showing signs of merging together with a golden hue.
It seemed he was close to reaching the Citrinitas phase, whatever that would bring.
What really intrigued him was how his Nigredo flames had changed recently after reaching the nine sphere limit of Albedo. Originally, Nigredo was only capable of burning away energy, but now it could also slowly burn physical objects down to their fundamental particles.
If I used Nigredo to burn an iron sword into fundamental particles, and then used Albedo to purify those particles... would Citrinitas allow me to recombine the purified particles into something else entirely? And would Rubedo serve as the final 'touch of perfection' to make whatever I created truly extraordinary?
If his speculation was right, he might eventually be able to break down any material and rebuild it into whatever he wanted if he knew all aspects of its creation.
In other words, he needed the design. If he fully understood what an iron sword was composed of, and how it was made, couldn't he use quintessence flames to forge purified items?
Of course, he wasn't sure yet. But he was definitely curious to find out.
His theoretical magical education had also reached completion. Whether it was OWL-level or NEWT-level material, he'd comprehended everything a Hogwarts student would need to know. He just lacked the practical experience of actually casting the spells, but that would come with time.
At least he was getting good experience every week when he visited St. Mungo's to heal patients. They'd started bringing in people from other countries specifically for him to treat… cursed wounds, dark magic scarring, things that their own healers couldn't handle.
He didn't mind.
A patient was a patient, and every person he helped felt like a small victory.
His virtue cultivation was also progressing steadily. Justice had been his first virtue, teaching him to act against wrongdoing even when it was difficult. Prudence had been his second, showing him when to act and when to step back. Now he was working on his third virtue.
Fortitude.
Whether it was facing those horrible voices from the portal that sounded like his parents, admitting to Nicolas and Perenelle that he'd been shaken by the experience, acknowledging his limitations when faced with patients he couldn't heal, or numerous other situations where he'd had to be honest about his fears and weaknesses... Harry could tell he needed just one big push to complete the third virtue.
Either that or the accumulation of small acts of fortitude would do the trick.
In the Moral Codification realm, he'd have completed the third out of what he assumed to be seven stages. He wasn't sure what would happen when he achieved it.
Would his halo brighten even more?
Would he gain angel wings?
The only thing he fully suspected was that the amplifier to his existence would increase from 25% to 30%, based on the previous 5% increase.
Harry's eagle eyes narrowed when he felt a new offer come through.
[Laws Of Physics-san Went On A Vacation(Personal) – A Wild Last Boss Appeared!] – Costs 0CP, 100CP available to spend.
In the world that you originally came from, people were subjected to the laws of physics, a set of rules and constants that govern reality that dictated that most of the things that you would see in this document are impossible. Of course, when the Goddess made the universe that hosts Midgard with a small portion of her power, the Laws of Physics-san was fired and instead it got replaced by the Laws of Fantasy.
What does this mean? You see, in Midgard there are quite a few people capable of breaking through the speed of light quite constantly without causing nuclear fusion, girls with regular weight are capable of going around tossing mountains, and when they grab these colossal objects, they don't collapse under their own weight. Now, these same rules apply to you and your companions too at your own discretion.
Well, the core concept was clear enough. This would let him ignore the normal rules of physics when he wanted to.
That could be incredibly useful. Right now, when Harry used his full strength, he had to be careful not to accidentally destroy everything around him. Like when he moved at high speed, he created wind pressure that could knock people over.
But with this, he could choose when physics applied to him. He could punch with without creating dangerous shockwaves. He could move at incredible speeds without generating sonic booms or wind pressure that might harm others. The offer specifically mentioned "at your own discretion," which meant he could turn it on and off as needed.
There didn't seem to be any downsides. It was a free offer, and the control was entirely his.
If he ever regretted accepting it, he could simply choose not to use the ability.
The more Harry thought about it, the more sense it made. He was getting stronger all the time, and his strength was already at the point where he had to constantly hold back to avoid causing collateral damage. This would let him use his full capabilities without worrying about accidentally hurting people or destroying property.
And if Chrysa was included as his companion, she would benefit too. She was always three times faster and more durable than him, which meant she would face the same problems with controlling her speed around fragile things.
Harry made his decision and accepted the offer.
The change was subtle, but he could feel a new awareness settling into his mind, a sense that he could now choose whether his actions followed normal physical laws or not. It was similar to how he could choose whether to hide his existence from powerful entities or not.
Harry shook away his thoughts as he approached the Grand Staircase, shifting back to human form and landing on the stone steps.
"Harry!" Charlotte rushed over to him, and he could immediately see the worry written across her face. Behind her stood Penny, Chiara, and Tonks, all looking equally concerned.
They also stared dreamily at his face before snapping themselves out of it, but he was already used to that.
Not to be arrogant, but he knew that his appearance was literally unparalleled in this world because of the recent offer.
And his handsomeness would only continue to increase as his power grew.
"What's wrong?" Harry asked, though he had a sinking feeling he already knew. Charlotte had been increasingly worried about this mysterious R organization ever since they'd attacked her and Ben Copper in the courtyard a few weeks ago.
The attack had been sudden and terrifying. Charlotte and Ben had been discussing how Ben had attacked her under mind control the previous year when a figure in a red cloak appeared out of nowhere. The figure had subdued both of them with Full Body-Bind Curses before repeating their previous warning that death was coming to Hogwarts. They'd said they needed Charlotte and Ben alive, and that before the school term ended, one of their friends would die.
Nobody knew who this person was, though they all suspected it was someone from R.
The incident had been reported to all the professors, including Rakepick, who served as mentor to Charlotte, Merula, and Bill Weasley.
Harry had occasionally wondered if this 'R' was not an organization and instead Rakepick herself, just because Rakepick was hired to investigate the Cursed Vaults, and this R was deeply involved with the Cursed Vaults as well.
But he had no evidence, and he couldn't figure out why Rakepick would train people as apprentice curse breakers or bother sending secret letters and warnings…
Just guessing that Rakepick might be involved because the first letter of her name was also 'R' was way too far-fetched.
And Grandpa Dumbledore had surely done his due diligence before hiring her, right?
Charlotte took a deep breath before speaking. "It's Beatrice. Penny's younger sister. She's been trapped in a portrait."
Harry felt his blood run cold. "What do you mean trapped?"
Penny stepped forward with teary eyes. "She was exploring the castle with some friends and they found a portrait that seemed normal at first, but when Beatrice touched it..." She wiped her eyes with the back of her hand. "She got pulled inside. We can see her, we can talk to her, but we can't get her out."
"We've tried everything we can think of," Chiara added quietly. "Not even the Professors managed to get her out. Nothing works."
Tonks clenched her fists. "This has R written all over it. First they threaten that one of our friends will die, and now Beatrice is trapped in some cursed portrait? It can't be a coincidence."
Someone had hurt his friends.
Someone had trapped an innocent girl in a magical prison.
Whoever it was, they were going to pay for it.
"Show me," he said simply.