Hermione's icy gaze shifted from an innocent little pebble on the ground to Kyle. Crossing her arms over her chest, she let out an incredibly haughty huff.
Kyle steeled himself and walked over to the little beaver. He honestly had no idea what to say to her. Lower himself to coax a little girl like some pathetic simp?
That was out of the question.
In his past life, he had been an average university student and had never acted like a simp; in this life, having reincarnated as the most powerful "legacy hire" in the Western wizarding world, how could he possibly start now?
Kyle and the little beaver stared at each other in silence for a short while before Kyle finally took the initiative to break the awkward tension.
"I recall… Hermione, you like cats, don't you?"
Hermione gave a slight, stiff nod.
"Well… I'm raising a cat that can do backflips. Do you want to come see it?"
The little beaver was almost moved to laughter by his words—from sheer irritation. Couldn't he see she was still fuming? Besides, what kind of freakish creature was a cat that could do backflips?
Still, she had to admit her curiosity was piqued by Kyle's claim.
Sensing her interest, Kyle smiled slightly. "Follow me."
Soon, the two arrived inside Kyle's suitcase—the same model as Old Man Newt's.
Ever since Kyle began creating his Six Paths of Pain, he had asked Grindelwald to craft a new, specialized suitcase for raising various magical creatures. These beasts would undergo Dark Arts modification before being deployed into battle as the Animal Path's summoned creatures.
The magical creatures that had already undergone modification included Fire Crabs, Mokes, a Three-Headed Dog, Snallygasters, Erumpents, and Re'em.
Beyond these standard summons, Kyle had also considered creating Artificial Tailed Beasts. However, so far, he had only successfully modified a "budget version" of the Two-Tails, Matatabi.
Kyle's original plan was to perform Tailed Beast modification directly on a Wampus Cat—a "XXXXX" class magical creature. His idea was to use biological alchemy to fuse his family's ancestral pale-blue Fiendfyre into the Wampus Cat's body. Then, he would find an external magic source—ideally something like an Obscurus—and seal it inside the beast to serve as the energy source for the Fiendfyre magic circuits.
But Kyle soon discovered that Wampus Cats, much like dragons, were nearly impossible to domesticate.
The only way was to follow Madara Uchiha's example: use a method like the Imperius Curse to strip the beast of its consciousness, then clad it in a Susanoo and pilot it like a Gundam.
But if he did that, Kyle would have to keep it by his side at all times. His Summoning Jutsu—an improvement upon the Boar (Cattle) Summoning Spell—wasn't like the original version from the world of Naruto; it lacked that absolute spatial freedom. The distance between Kyle and the Wampus Cat couldn't be too great for the summoning to work.
That, in turn, led to new problems.
A reinforced Wampus Cat was more than capable of slaughtering a dragon. Control through spells like the Imperius Curse was temporary, requiring constant "top-ups." As the number of castings increased, the beast's resistance to such magic would grow.
If such an untamable apex predator went berserk while being kept close... well, Old Man Newt's experience in New York was a cautionary tale.
So, until he found a way to make a Wampus Cat a truly loyal summon, Kyle settled for second best: merging the Wampus bloodline into a Kneazle.
However, a Kneazle's body wasn't strong enough to withstand Fiendfyre magic circuits, even after Dark Arts reinforcement. Consequently, he could only bestow it with a pretty but useless Bluebell Flame Charm circuit instead.
Thus, the envisioned Tailed Beast weapon of war became a flashy little pet cat.
Kyle was quite dismissive of this "style over substance" creature. After creating it, he had simply tossed it to the house-elves to look after and hadn't spared it a single glance since. To call this "scumbag behavior" wouldn't be an exaggeration.
While Kyle looked down on it, a cute little kitten that could sprout blue flames was incredibly effective against girls. Upon seeing it, the little beaver immediately fell in love with this "lite version" of the Two-Tails.
Once she picked it up, she didn't want to let go, petting it incessantly. Even the matter of Kyle and Konan was pushed to the back of her mind.
"What breed of cat is this? It's so cute!"
Kyle hesitated for a moment. Did this thing count as a Wampus Cat, a Kneazle, or an entirely new species? Considering that performing Dark Arts modifications on magical creatures was generally considered unethical, Kyle decided not to tell her the truth.
"Uh… it's a Nekomata. It's a unique magical creature from the Japanese wizarding world."
Watching the little beaver who couldn't put the cat down, Kyle smiled. "If you like it, I'll give it to you."
Hermione froze. "Eh? Is that really okay?"
Kyle reached out and poked the lazy, yawning kitten in her arms. "Of course."
Hermione hesitated. A kitten this cute looked expensive. She knew that in the Muggle world, purebred cats with international pedigree certificates—the result of extensive selective breeding—could easily cost thousands.
The British Pound was one of the strongest currencies in the world, and its purchasing power was immense. A cat worth ten thousand pounds was a staggering thing, let alone a magical creature kept by a family as wealthy as Kyle's.
The value of this "Nekomata"... was it perhaps thousands or even tens of thousands of Galleons?
But she really couldn't bear to let the kitten go. Finally, steeling her heart, Hermione tried to hand the cat back to Kyle.
"No, I can't accept this."
Kyle could guess why she was refusing—she thought the gift was too valuable.
But Kneazles really weren't that expensive. Wampus Cats were valuable, certainly, being "XXXXX" class creatures on par with dragons. But just as one could buy an ounce of dragon liver for a mere 16 Sickles, a single vial of Wampus Cat blood didn't cost much—and one vial was enough to modify dozens of Kneazles.
He shook his head with a smile. "Follow me."
Leading the little beaver through several winding doors, they arrived at a lush bamboo forest. A light mist clung to the ground, making their surroundings feel as though they were draped in a thin white veil.
Kyle pulled several chunks of raw meat from his pocket and tossed them onto the ground.
A large swarm of the same "Nekomata" breed quickly lunged out from the bamboo to fight over the meat. These were all the "rejects"—the ones where the bloodline fusion or the blue flame circuit had failed. Those that didn't die during the process and had no major side effects were released here by Kyle.
To the naked eye, they looked no different from the half-finished Matatabi in Hermione's arms. The only difference was that their magic circuits were duds and couldn't be activated. As for those that suffered severe disabilities from the failed experiments... they were put out of their misery on the spot.
The space inside this suitcase was roughly half the size of Hawaii, with a self-sustaining ecosystem. As long as the house-elves periodically supplemented the food supply, these various magical creatures could live freely in this miniature world.
"I have plenty more like this. It's not some rare breed; they're just raised semi-wild here. Just take it."
Seeing the massive group of at least twenty or thirty cats living in such a "wild" manner, Hermione finally felt relieved, convinced it wasn't some priceless rarity.
"Does it have a name?" she asked curiously, scratching the cat's chin with the practiced ease of a veteran owner.
If it had been a successful Tailed Beast based on a Wampus Cat, Kyle would have named it "Matatabi" without hesitation. But as for this one...
"No. You're its owner now, so you should name it."
Hermione held the kitten up high with both hands. "Then I'll call you... Crookshanks. How does that sound?"
Crookshanks gave a nonchalant meow, seemingly approving of the name.
Hermione's eyes crinkled with joy. "Then it's settled!"
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