As if beneath an eternally dim sky.
The colossal body of the Ancient Giant Dragon almost occupied the entirety of the ancient castle courtyard, its black scales glinting with a metallic sheen under the sunset. Its massive head hung low, amber vertical eyes fixated on Ian, nostrils slightly flaring, emitting a breath that carried a sulfurous scent, causing the moss on the ground to tremble faintly.
It slowly crouched down, its enormous head lowered, breathing heavily and slowly with an aura of sulfur and decay. It brought its nose close to Ian's body.
From foot to head, it sniffed inch by inch, as if confirming some extremely crucial information.
"More than one." It said in a low voice, tone certain, even carrying a touch of grand insight, "You carry the scent of more than one Ancient Giant Dragon."
The dragon's voice was deep, yet it bore an undeniable pride. It is a witness to the now dead history, the last member of the royal lineage across the river of time.
"You've definitely killed several Ancient Giant Dragons recently." Its voice rumbled like distant thunder, filled with an indisputable certainty, as if very sure of the observations it made.
"Are you trying to collect twelve dragons to certify the legend of the Dragon Slayer?" The dragon in front of Ian showed no anger at the slaughter of its kin.
Perhaps because since birth, it had never encountered other dragons, nor had any communication with them; it was, after all, the last pure-blooded giant dragon when it lived.
Solitarily withdrawn since youth.
Mixed among humans.
It is reasonable not to feel belonging to its original species—much like someone who grew up abroad and doesn't grasp the thoughts they should about their hometown.
"What twelve dragons? Dragon Slayer?" Ian stood on the stone steps before the ancient castle, night deep, moonlight cascading on the dragon's ink-black scales, radiating a cold gleam.
The Ancient Giant Dragon before him—it was larger than the entire castle, with spine spikes jagged like mountain peaks, each scale seemed to carry centuries-old memories.
To be honest.
Ian was truly astonished.
He indeed had killed Ancient Giant Dragons before, and indeed more than one, as traveling through the ancient times' space-time, he had encountered several dragon-related events.
In reckoning.
Ian had probably slain around three Ancient Giant Dragons. However, due to being a Legendary Wizard himself, he hadn't obtained the Proof of Legend from killing dragons.
Concerning the Little Wizard's confusion.
The Ancient Giant Dragon's soul at the castle didn't respond immediately.
"It seems you have traversed time." It merely continued with its muffled, resonant voice, assessing as if it were the dragon with the greatest deductive prowess in the universe.
Ian was taken aback, his brow slightly raised.
"Why are you so sure?" He wasn't eager to get an answer, so he was simply curious why something others didn't discern was now seen through by a dragon.
Concerning this.
The dragon let out a breath close to a laugh from its nostrils, its sturdy tail lightly tapping the ground, causing the courtyard's stone tiles to tremble slightly: "Because I am the last pure-blooded giant dragon—this is an indisputable fact." It lifted its forepaw, the sharp claws lightly touching the ground, "If you have slain dragons, it can only mean you have traversed time."
The dragon lifted its eyes.
Those enormous pupils glimmered with ancient wisdom.
What it said was indeed beyond reproach.
Ian finally realized that the dragon before him was not a wild, untracked creature but one of Hogwarts' four founders—especially personally bred by Rowena Ravenclaw as a pure-blood.
Its reservoir of knowledge was likely more profound than most wizards.
"So, a wizard traveling through time, slaying dragons of the past, is a feasible action, right?" Ian knew that such a thing went against the textbook knowledge about time travel.
But.
As for textbooks.
What they record isn't necessarily completely correct, only relatively correct for most wizards; there are always those brilliant wizards able to defy convention.
"Yes, that's right."
The Ancient Giant Dragon nodded, confirming it.
"Did Lady Ravenclaw study time travel?" Ian asked curiously. He thought the ancient dragon's knowledge should have come from that former Hogwart's founder.
This perception wasn't wrong.
The dragon lazily flicked its tail, its scales scraping together with metallic sound: "She wrote over a dozen papers on the subject, extensively speculating on the possibility of time travel."
It squinted as if in recollection, "The most famous one among them is called 'On the Deceptiveness of Time,' with the core viewpoint being—time is not immovable, it merely requires enough skill to 'deceive' it."
It must be said.
As the dragon of Hogwarts.
This Ancient Giant Dragon indeed knew quite a few Hogwarts secrets.
Ian became interested.
He simply sat on the stone steps in the courtyard.
"How does one deceive it?"
He always enjoyed learning things he didn't understand, and the Ancient Giant Dragon before him could even be considered his senior, having spent countless years at Hogwarts.
Upon hearing this.
The dragon bared its teeth, sharp and white, as if smiling: "It's very simple—not to be known, not to cause chain reactions, then time will not retaliate."
It etched a few lines on the ground with its claw, as if drawing a timeline.
"If you go back to the past and do something insignificant, like... picking up a stone and putting it back, or talking to a tree, time won't care at all."