Back on the island, Dracula slowly shook off the last traces of the hallucination. The second his vision cleared, he realized Sullivan and the rest of them had already vanished. He knew he'd been played by that human wizard again.
Last time it was the weird gas. This time it was some kind of blinding light. You're just taking advantage of the fact that vampires have weak mental resistance!
Dracula threw his head back and roared in pure rage. He dropped back to the ground, shifted into human form, and snatched up the half-burned human-skin book lying in the dirt. "You think I don't know exactly who you are?" he snarled. "Running from here won't get you far. Since you've got the Hopping Pot now, let's see how long you can actually keep it."
On Sullivan's side, once they'd escaped, he didn't bother chasing after the vampire. His focus had already shifted to the real prize: dissecting the remains of the Hopping Pot. The thing's abilities were beyond anything he'd ever seen, and there were way too many questions he needed answered.
How the hell did a cauldron have its own independent mind? How could it conjure potions out of thin air? And that line about absorbing souls to boost its magical reserves? Every single detail had Sullivan hooked.
He was just about to head back when Teemo suddenly stopped him. The little house-elf bowed low, his expression dead serious. "Mr. Su, thank you for helping me track down my old master's killer and for making him pay. Teemo can never repay your kindness."
"Now that Teemo has completed his original mission, please accept my service. Let Teemo become your house-elf!"
Sullivan had been expecting this for a while—he'd made plenty of preparations. He smiled warmly. "All right, Teemo. I accept your loyalty."
A genuine, heartfelt grin lit up Teemo's face. He lifted his wand high above his head with both hands. "Master, please take this wand. Now that Teemo is your house-elf, carrying it might cause you trouble."
Sullivan thought it over for a second and shook his head. "You keep it. It means something special to you. Just don't use it anymore."
He pulled a casting ring from his pocket—the exact same model he wore himself—and handed it over. "Here. This is called a Casting Ring. It works pretty much like a wand. Just remember: only use it if you absolutely have to."
With the Hopping Pot business now neatly wrapped up, Sullivan spent the next few days completely absorbed in reverse-engineering the magical runes on the cauldron's remains.
Once he really dug in, he realized the techniques he'd been drooling over were even more advanced than he'd thought. Replicating them would clearly take more than LV10 Alchemy. The Hopping Pot was on the same tier as the Philosopher's Stone—true Epic-level alchemy.
One day, while he was still buried in the work, a message from Rita Skeeter popped up: "Boss, I've got results on what you asked me to look into."
"What was it again?" Sullivan had genuinely forgotten.
Rita replied right away: "Jack Avery. He usually stays at Avery Manor in Buckinghamshire. Lives there with his wife, two sons, and two house-elves.
"On top of that, the guy built a secret underground workshop in the manor basement. They're trying to reverse-engineer your Magic Phones. Don't worry—their progress is pathetic. Here's a photo of Jack Avery."
The attached picture made Sullivan's eyes narrow. Using the data overlay in his glasses, he matched it instantly. This was the exact same bastard who'd downed the brain-eating worm eggs at his front door all those years ago.
Well, isn't this a pleasant surprise.
Sullivan drummed his fingers on the table, already turning over his next move.
Now that he'd confirmed the guy's identity, all he needed was a sample of Jack Avery's blood to activate the brain worms. After that, he could take over the entire Avery family.
His original plan had been to sneak into the manor, knock Avery out cold, and grab the blood quietly.
But since the guy was already trying to steal his phone tech, maybe a direct invitation would work even better.
"Boss, I took a real risk getting this intel for you," Rita sent when Sullivan didn't reply right away. "It's useful, right?"
Of course he knew what she was fishing for. "How are things going with Fred and George on the newspaper app?"
"Boss, I'm not trying to tattle, but those two are impossible! They have zero clue what a proper newspaper should look like. They just design whatever crazy nonsense pops into their heads and completely ignore my input—" Rita launched into a full-blown rant.
Sullivan pulled up the group chat between the twins and Rita. She wanted Today's Headlines to have a serious, professional vibe.
The twins, naturally, had gone full chaotic genius instead. No wonder she was losing her mind.
He jumped into the chat: "George, Fred—is the Today's Headlines app finished?"
"Done, Professor!" George replied instantly and dropped the install package.
Sullivan tapped install. The second the app opened, an adorable Pygmy Puff popped out of the phone, followed by a fiery snake that leaped out and swallowed it whole.
The Pygmy Puff puffed up inside the snake's mouth, stretching the serpent's head comically huge while its body went taut, spelling out Today's Headlines!
Sullivan's eyelid twitched. Yeah… no wonder Rita was complaining. This style was perfect for a tabloid that loved stirring up drama.
Letting the twins handle Rita's project had clearly been a mistake. He added Cedric to the group: "Skeeter, from now on you'll work with Cedric. He's a bit more level-headed."
"Thank you, Boss!" Rita replied, clearly thrilled.
The twins weren't happy. Fred fired back: "Professor, we think our idea is pretty brilliant. What's wrong with it?"
"Nothing wrong with it. We'll save this creative direction for something else later," Sullivan answered, not in the mood to explain.
The twins grumbled a little more in the chat, but when Sullivan ignored them they eventually dropped it.
Truth was, they weren't big fans of Rita either. They thought she had a nasty mouth and was way too demanding—always talking about "the vibe I want" without giving any actually useful direction.
Handing her off to Cedric was a relief. Their own first game was still in early development anyway and needed a ton of design and rendering work.
Sullivan left the group and shot Lupin a quick message: "Remus, reach out to Jack Avery for me. Invite him to tour the store. Tell him I'd like to discuss some business cooperation with the Avery family."
Lupin, who knew the wizarding world inside and out, replied immediately: "Business cooperation? The Averys breed owls. They're basically our direct competitors. What would we even partner with them on?"