Instantly turning toward the outside of the case, Evans frowned slightly.
"What was that noise?"
He didn't sense any immediate danger, but that explosion was far too loud—even separated by the case's magical barriers, it could be heard clearly.
Speaking of which, when they'd entered, he seemed to recall seeing Hagrid researching something, but being anxious to resolve the Chimaera's problem, he hadn't asked for details.
Could it be that Hagrid was finally no longer satisfied with studying magical creatures and had turned his attention to making explosives?
Judging by this commotion, the power of whatever he'd created wasn't insignificant.
Flamel, who had just finished explaining the ritual's effects, was also startled by this sudden explosion. The old man's skeletal hand covered his chest as he panted heavily, looking nothing like someone who had just conducted that grand magical ritual—rather endearing, actually.
Hagrid pondered for a moment, then his eyes suddenly lit up with realisation.
From preparing the ritual to checking the Chimaera's body, it had been a full two hours. Could it be that his experiment had finally succeeded?
With mounting curiosity, the three first reassured the Chimaera that had just recovered somewhat, then left the case together.
As soon as he stepped out of the case, Evans was hit by a pungent burnt odour. Looking around briefly, the corner of his mouth couldn't help but twitch.
The hut that had been simple but cosy was now in complete chaos. Fragments of tables, chairs, and benches could be seen everywhere, along with ashes from burnt books and materials. Scattered flames were distributed throughout the hut—in less than two minutes, these flames would burn the entire wooden structure to the ground.
In a corner of the room, the hunting dog Fang was trembling under the only remaining chair. Seeing several people emerge from the case, it began barking frantically, hopeful light bursting from its previously despairing eyes.
"Aguamenti."
Evans's wand tip lit up with a pale blue arc, and countless streams of clear water appeared out of nowhere, precisely landing on every flame in the room.
Accompanied by sizzling sounds, the flames that should have consumed the entire hut quietly extinguished, leaving only this disaster waiting for someone to clean up.
After doing all this, Evans looked toward where the table should have been.
That table had been destroyed most thoroughly—now not even a few fragments could be seen. The floorboards beneath were completely blackened. On the floor, a strange-looking creature lay quietly with an exploded kettle beside it.
The creature looked like a large lobster without its shell, headless, with more than ten legs irregularly arranged beneath its body. Perhaps not liking being stared at, after Evans's gaze fixed on it for several seconds, the creature's back suddenly lit up with red light, looking ready to explode at any moment.
"This is—a completely new species of magical creature?" After carefully observing the animal on the ground, a flash of surprise appeared on Nicolas Flamel's face.
Although as an alchemist, he had attempted crossbreeding magical creatures many times and succeeded more than once.
But the creatures he'd crossbred all had obvious flaws, always having an unnatural feeling to them.
Yet this creature before them had no such unnaturalness at all, as if such a creature should naturally exist in this world.
This half-giant seemed to have remarkable talent in the field of magical creature crossbreeding.
Crouching beside the table's remnants, Hagrid didn't pay much attention to his house being blown beyond recognition, instead looking excitedly at the creature lying on the ground.
Although all the previously organised materials had been blown to pieces, since results had actually hatched, everything was worthwhile!
However, this attempt still had many areas for improvement.
"There was still too much Manticore blood added—the magical power in its body is a bit too strong, which might be dangerous."
"But if we add less, we might not be able to achieve fusion for this new creature at all."
"Hmm... perhaps after fusion, letting the fire crab egg sit for a while to let the magical power dilute slightly could solve this problem?"
Looking at Hagrid, who showed no wariness and crouched beside that large headless lobster-like creature, Evans couldn't help but feel his mouth twitch again.
Rather than researching how to weaken this creature's magical power, he was more curious about how Hagrid had managed to breed such a thing in the first place.
This creature was only in its juvenile stage yet could blow up all the tables and chairs in the hut with one explosion. He didn't dare imagine what kind of destructive capability this thing would have when fully grown.
Moreover, logically speaking, a completely new species would need months or even years to perfect bit by bit before finally being successfully created. But from when Hagrid had first conceived this idea until now, it had been at most two months. In two months, creating a creature that would be at least XXXX-level when mature—how was this accomplished?
Surely it couldn't be something he figured out just by sudden inspiration?
Impossible. Although this was the magical world, creating a completely new species still required careful study and patient verification, and only then might such a new life form be successfully created.
He could see that this creature's appearance resembled a fire crab hatchling, and Hagrid had just mentioned Manticore blood, which meant this was a new species Hagrid had scientifically crossbred from fire crabs and Manticores.
Scientific? This wasn't just unscientific—it wasn't even following basic magical principles!
Not to mention deep issues like magical compatibility and reproductive isolation—just considering size alone, these two creatures had a size difference of over a hundredfold, right?
How was this even bred?
Hagrid obviously hadn't noticed Evans's bewildered expression beside him, instead carefully observing the newly born young creature while muttering to himself.
"Since it hatched from a fire crab egg and its tail can explode, let's call it a Blast-Ended Skrewt. Once we research more reliable breeding methods later, we can consider their practical uses."
While speaking, Hagrid reached out to stroke the slimy hatchling, completely ignoring its elevated body temperature and that dark red tail that seemed ready to explode.
"Bang!"
Another explosion erupted. Perhaps the explosion at birth had consumed too much energy—this explosion was clearly much weaker, only blackening Hagrid's palm without causing serious injury.
Although he winced and pulled back his hand, Hagrid obviously hadn't given up on continuing to study what he called a Blast-Ended Skrewt, and his words became increasingly alarming.
"However, since we've confirmed that Manticore blood can be effective, other humanoid magical creatures should also be viable for breeding using similar methods."
"Moreover, besides fire crabs, there should be quite a few egg-laying magical creatures that could serve as experimental carriers."
"Next time, we could try using a Sphinx as the paternal bloodline to see what we can produce—"
Hearing those increasingly horrifying words from Hagrid's mouth, Evans couldn't help but step back two paces, secretly swearing to himself.
If not absolutely necessary in the future, he would never let his friends anywhere near Hagrid's hut.
Those who dabble in crossbreeding are truly terrifying!