Given what had just happened, Newt had originally intended to send her back to rest.
But with the Daily Quest still uncompleted, how could Kate possibly agree to leave?
Feigning unwellness to rest where she was, she spent ten minutes scouring the character attribute interface before finally spotting a row of small print at the very bottom of the Stacked Abilities section:
[This buff may produce side effects. Host, please use with caution.]
What a scam!
Who could possibly see a line written that small?!
Do you think you're the Penguin Empire? Making it enabled by default, really?!
After roaring internally for a while, Kate maintained a calm facial expression and selected to disable that default-enabled buff.
Although those cute little animals weren't as clingy as before, at least her heart wouldn't suffer another sudden arrest.
"Are you sure you can continue?" Newt asked with concern, supporting her from the side. "You don't look very well, and for the Thunderbird coming up..."
"I can do it!" She immediately straightened her back, her small face—still pale from fright—taking on a look of determination.
She had already come this far. If she didn't complete the quest, wouldn't today be a total waste?
She absolutely had to get those attribute points!
Seeing her resolve, Newt felt another wave of relief.
As expected of a child of the Shafiq family; she had the exact same temper as that stubborn old fellow he used to know.
In the path of magic, one needed a bit of stubbornness to go far.
Satisfied, he led her through the bamboo forest and past the lake, arriving at a wilderness that stretched as far as the eye could see.
Observing as she walked, she noticed the transitions between the scenes in this extended space were surprisingly harmonious.
It wasn't at all like in the movies, where each space felt like an independent existence.
Kate surmised that Newt's attainment in magic must have deepened significantly since the timeline of the movies.
"Here, use this first." Newt led her to a small wooden hut in the wilderness, took out an umbrella, and handed it to her.
Looking somewhat confusedly at the still-sunny sky overhead, Kate opened the umbrella, unsure of the reason.
She saw Newt stand with one hand behind his back, while the other raised his wand pointing toward the sky.
In an instant, thunder rolled in. The entire sky was obscured by thick layers of lead-gray clouds, as if threatening to swallow the earth whole.
What kind of spell was this?
While Kate was still in shock, the pattering sound of rain hitting the umbrella surface rang out above her head.
It was raining.
She wanted to tell Newt to take cover, but this old man, over ninety years of age, paid no heed to such details. Instead, he kept shouting towards the sky:
"Come! Come down, quickly!"
Following his gaze, Kate lifted her umbrella and discovered that amidst the lightning and thunder in the sky, a giant bird was circling and descending.
It landed squarely in front of Newt.
"Philo. That is his name; you can call him that too." Newt stroked its head skillfully.
"Years ago, his father, Frank, was trafficked illegally. I found Frank in Egypt and returned him to his homeland."
"Later, when I revisited the old haunts to see him, he gave me a newly hatched child. This is Philo."
Kate felt this story sounded familiar.
The Thunderbird that appeared in the Fantastic Beasts movie she watched in her past life must have been Frank.
A strange sense of continuity spread in her heart. Thoughtfully, she approached and, imitating Newt, tentatively reached out her hand toward the Thunderbird before her.
"Careful, he is a bit afraid of strangers," Newt couldn't help but warn her.
But as Kate's hand slowly drew near, the Thunderbird, originally restless at the sight of a stranger, seemed to receive some kind of calling and surprisingly quieted down.
Under Newt's nervous gaze, her small palm gently touched that wet, feathery head.
The Thunderbird shook his head slightly, then pushed forcefully against her palm, as if acting like a spoiled child.
Feeling the warmth mixed with wet rain on her palm, Kate was overjoyed and applied a bit more force: "Philo, how about I take care of you today?"
Seeming to understand her words, Philo joyfully threw his head back and let out a long cry, accompanied by another boom of thunder on the horizon.
Taking this as his agreement to her request, Kate excitedly turned back to look at her teacher, only to find a peculiar expression on the face of this master who had dedicated his life to the study of magical creatures.
"Wait for me here a moment, Philo." She rubbed Philo's neck feathers, walked over, and asked in confusion, "Teacher, what's wrong?"
Newt looked at her with a very complex expression, mixed with an indescribable relief.
After a long while, he bent down, his green eyes staring earnestly at her: "Little Kate, do you... have some other non-human lineage in you?"
"Eh?" Kate froze, not understanding.
"I mean... well, do you have ancestors like Veelas?" Speaking of such things, Newt began to feel uncomfortable again.
Ah, this...
Kate frowned, her expression one of indescribable complexity.
In the original Harry Potter characters, apart from Fleur having Veela blood, there didn't seem to be anyone else, right?
Perhaps in some female-oriented fanfiction, the Malfoy family might also have Veela blood.
But that lineage definitely wouldn't appear in her!
The reason?
Just look at her pitifully low Charisma stat. What kind of mixed-blood Veela has an initial Charisma of only 7?!
"Teacher, you don't need to worry about that. I swear by the surname bestowed by my family, I am a purely human."
It was just a baseless guess, yet it made his disciple swear so solemnly.
Newt was momentarily flustered and hurriedly explained, "I didn't mean anything else by it..."
"I know!"
Kate curved her eyes, revealing a smile that belonged only to a child. "Maybe I was destined to become Teacher's disciple, so the animals like me so much!"
One could imagine that Newt had to undergo constant learning and practice to quickly master the methods of gaining animal favorability.
But what about Kate?
In his eyes, she was just a child who knew no magic, yet she could easily make animals, who were originally wary of humans, get close to her.
This complex emotion naturally didn't contain any negative connotations.
Newt, who had delved into the path of magical creatures for a lifetime, was merely surprised and curious—curious about how his little disciple actually did it.
Following the inertial thinking of wizards, it wasn't surprising that the first thing he thought of was bloodline reasons.
"Teacher," Kate suddenly grabbed his hand and pulled him forward, "Philo is still waiting for us."
There was still so much poop waiting for her to shovel!
Newt paused, then smiled helplessly, allowing her to pull him toward the Thunderbird not far away.
Perhaps this apprentice, whom he had accepted for the sake of Dumbledore and old Shafiq, really was a destiny sent by the heavens.
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