There's some ghostly thing cheating right in front of us.
This magical version of "Fight the Witch King" that Ian was playing was becoming unplayable for him, as he felt intensely curious about how the black-robed skeleton could turn any card he wanted into reality at will.
However.
For such means as the black-robed skeleton's "Wish Technique," which differed from normal magic, Ian found it difficult to comprehend, and he couldn't get the answers he wanted from the black-robed skeleton either.
"I... don't have a brain, so I don't know." Almost any question that required thinking would only earn a straightforward response from the black-robed skeleton, as it pointed its bony finger at its empty skull.
"..."
Ian found himself utterly without reason to refute him, feeling a certain helplessness and deep frustration akin to that of a sane person faced with a lunatic.
"No brain, but you still know how to cheat! You must have been worse when you were alive!" The little wizard could only express his indignation with a bit of verbal sparring.
But the black-robed skeleton seemed completely immune to any psychological harm.
"I'm alive now... If you give me flesh and blood... I'll admit that I am very, very, very bad." Not only did it not feel the slightest discontent, but instead it seized the opportunity to bring this topic up with Ian once again.
These past days.
As long as the black-robed skeleton got the chance, it would repeatedly raise the topic of granting it flesh and blood, although Ian had already attempted using the flesh from the house-elves.
It simply wouldn't stick.
Not only was he unable to attach pork, lamb, or beef already butchered to the black-robed skeleton, but even the live poultry meat Ian had painstakingly and expensively purchased from Hogwarts Village couldn't serve as flesh for the skeleton—he even slightly compromised his conscience to learn some flesh-related dark magic for this purpose.
Thankfully, the book "Advanced Dark Arts Unveiled" had related magical records, otherwise, had Ian gone to the library to browse, who knows if Albus Dumbledore might suspect he was into unhealthy pursuits.
"Haven't we tried it already! I almost had to find some living people for you, yet you still can't see that your frame can't accommodate any flesh-giving magic!" Ian was thoroughly annoyed by the black-robed skeleton, which drove him to attempt many different ways of granting it flesh.
But these attempts eventually failed because of the skeleton's "magic-repelling nature" of its bony structure, so even if he brought some living people for replacement, Ian believed it would prove futile.
"Magic... not..." Even though it had been in the human world for so long, the black-robed skeleton's language system seemed somewhat damaged, persisting in its stumbling articulation.
"As I said before, think it over, I can create a Hex-Tech brain for you, a Hex-Tech skin, and other matching metal organs."
"Flesh is weak, machinery ascends, my iron friend." Ian glanced at the mess on the card table, and as soon as his eyes tossed over, the Dementor immediately understood and began cleaning up.
It had transformed from a defiant monster to one whose intellect and emotional intelligence Ian had trained to be akin to a ten-year-old child; given another while of training, it could likely go out and earn a living.
"Flesh... is loved..."
The black-robed skeleton remained unmoved by Ian's persistent suggestions, seemingly fixated on the flesh it had lost, and as soon as the cards were done, it started mumbling near Ian's ear again.
Ian ignored it.
He walked straight into the corner of the room—there, a meticulously crafted ceramic flowerpot had been stationed for quite some time, a product born from his own hands; molded, designed, and colored entirely by himself.
It was all thanks to the inflated prices set by the unscrupulous merchants in Hogwarts Village that Ian was compelled to get hands-on with pottery; the flowerpot's outer wall was adorned with simple line patterns, allowing appreciation of both the plant inside and the flowerpot's own design aesthetics. These were magical rune designs drawn by Ian on the pot.
The function was simple, too.
These magical runes provided essential conditions for plant growth, enabling plants to undergo photosynthesis without being moved outside to soak up sunlight.
What could be placed in here for planting was naturally something other than mundane crops like windbreak grass, but rather, the mysterious seed Ian had obtained in the high tower within the Misty Illusion Realm.
"Hurry up and grow, I'll water you with magic potion when you do."
Ian had a very strong premonition when he was in the tower that this seed—which, alongside the tower, had been cast into the Misty Illusion Realm and remained full of vital force after countless years—was not an ordinary plant at all; sincerely believing that, once grown, it would not fail to surprise him.
In any case.
The seed from the tower certainly has its secrets.
Because even after Ian scoured through a myriad of magical plant books in the Hogwarts Library, and even sought knowledge from Hufflepuff's head, Professor Pomona Sprout, he found no record of any plant seed that, once separated from growth conditions, retained life force over a span of centuries.
This seed's exuberant vitality defies explanation; it wasn't just stored in the tower for ages, but was also in the deathly environment of the Misty Illusion Realm.