After securing the funds, Charlen left the Headmaster’s office.
Next came the task of setting up the natural reserve.
Creating mountains, plains, and rivers wasn’t the hardest part; the real challenge lay in establishing day and night, as well as shifting climates.
A Weather Charm could work, but spells were prone to fading over time, and maintaining one across an expanse of this scale was nearly impossible.
Charlen’s idea was to head out into the ocean and directly carve out sections of small islands—along with their native microclimates.
It felt a bit like snipping out a piece of physical space from an island and pasting it straight into his office.
By doing this, the microclimates inside his sanctuary remained spatially tethered to the original geographical locations of those islands.
Before long, within his gradually taking-shape sanctuary, sub-zero snowfields and scorching tropical heat sat side by side, completely unbothered by one another’s presence.
Stepping through the door of the breeding house into the sanctuary led first to a vast, rolling grassland.
Snowy mountains, dense woodlands, arid desert badlands, and a sprawling lake wetland were situated around the outer perimeter.
When Charlen first started, he thought this place was quite large.
But once all these distinct environments were packed inside, it suddenly felt a bit cramped.
In truth, however, it was more than big enough.
A single woodland and the Black Lake were enough to house a massive number of magical creatures; Charlen’s sanctuary space was nearly ten times the size of Hogwarts, capable of accommodating at least tens of thousands of Pokémon without issue.
By the time Charlen had finished creating the general layout of the sanctuary’s environments, late August had already arrived.
The few Pokémon that had hatched earlier had grown considerably.
Mime Jr.
had even evolved into Mr.
Mime.
Now, they acted as staff members within the sanctuary, helping to look after the Pokémon that hatched later on.
Although the initial batch of Pokémon eggs provided by the breeding house had a decent variety, the rarer the Pokémon, the fewer eggs could be hatched.
By now, the Rattata and Tauros on the grassland had practically established self-sustaining herds.
In the future, they would be able to maintain their population through natural breeding alone.
A few hatched Miltank lived alongside the Tauros.
They didn’t get along particularly well, but both belonging to the Field egg group meant they could breed offspring together.
However, Pokémon breeding here wasn’t identical to the games.
In the games, the species of a hatched egg depended entirely on the mother’s side.
Which meant if there were only male Tauros, unless paired with a Ditto, there was no way to get a Tauros egg according to game logic.
In reality, traits could clearly be inherited from either parent—though fortunately, it didn’t produce strange hybrid mutations…
Currently, the grassland housed dozens of different Pokémon species.
The environment suited most types, and occasionally Pokémon Charlen had placed in the woods or wetlands would wander across the boundaries into this area.
Among them were a few tiny Ponyta.
The woodland area mostly featured Grass-, Bug-, and Flying-type Pokémon.
The species here overlapped heavily with the grassland, but due to the thick foliage and rolling hills, Fire-types and Pokémon that loved running at breakneck speeds were almost entirely absent.
The desert badlands held the highest concentration of Rock- and Ground-types.
The exposed crags and sweltering climate were harsh enough to deter most other Pokémon.
In fact, eighty percent of the Rock-types were Geodude, with only a few Onix and even fewer Rhyhorn.
The snowfields had the fewest Pokémon.
The only Ice-type Pokémon Charlen had unlocked so far were Jynx and Lapras, though Lapras spent most of its time out in the open water.
Dewgong and Cloyster also possessed the Ice typing, but before evolving, they were purely Water-type.
And like Lapras, they lived primarily in aquatic environments.
It was worth mentioning that because the sanctuary’s environment had been brought in from the outside world, plenty of ordinary animals lived inside as well.
Many carnivorous Pokémon could survive by hunting normal wildlife.
Furthermore, Charlen had begun cultivating Berries.
The nutrients contained in Berries far surpassed ordinary meat.
Even a Pokémon like Charizard could thrive solely on Berry nutrients.
For now, the only variety Charlen could plant was the Oran Berry.
He had a decent supply, planting small plots across various regions and leaving their care to his Venusaur and other Grass-type Pokémon.
Throughout August, he practically lived inside the sanctuary.
Even when Dumbledore notified him to prepare for tomorrow’s Welcoming Ceremony for the new students, the sanctuary was still not completely finished.
Charlen was continuously expanding the space even as he built it.
When Dumbledore sent the message, Charlen had almost felt like skipping the feast to keep working.
But he ultimately dismissed the idea.
Attending the feast wasn’t strictly mandatory for every professor—for instance, that old fraud teaching Divination almost never showed up.
Still, missing out on hearing that classic line “Abbott, Hannah” felt like missing a vital rite of passage.
During this time, his teaching schedule had been finalized.
As a subject that wouldn’t feature in the wizarding examinations, his class load wasn’t heavy, and all four houses of each year took his lessons together.
First-years were scheduled for Monday afternoon.
Not long ago, the school had dispatched owls to deliver his authored *Pokémon Encyclopedia* to all students, while informing them that course textbooks would be provided entirely by Hogwarts.
In the first edition of the Pokédex, Charlen had only documented non-legendary and non-mythical Pokémon from the Kanto region—a total of 146 species.
Logically, his lessons would revolve around these 146 Pokémon.
However, since all four houses were attending class together, Charlen thought he might bring out a few Pokémon not listed in the textbook—such as species that symbolized the four houses, even if they weren’t in the Kanto Pokédex.
Soon, September first arrived.
Before the new and returning students reached Hogwarts, Charlen needed to arrive at the Great Hall early.
His seat was arranged to Dumbledore’s left.
Quite nice—far enough from both Snape and Quirrell, who reeked of garlic.
Charlen didn’t want two unhygienic people disgusting him while he ate.
The Great Hall of Hogwarts was enormous, its entrance hall large enough to fit an entire two-story house.
Much like Gringotts, burning torches lined the stone walls, and the ceiling was so high it was almost impossible to see the top.
At the front stood a magnificent marble staircase leading upstairs.
Charlen stared at the torches for a moment, wondering if they were enchanted with Gubraithian Fire.