Chapter 195: Am I Immortal Already?
Dylan cast a condescending glance at Peeves, who was splayed on the ground. The poltergeist lay with all four limbs spread wide, his translucent body emitting wisps of aggrieved black smoke. His eyes stared blankly at the dark, overcast sky—looking utterly devastated.
Dylan snorted. His gaze shifted to his system panel.
[Achievement]: Master of Non-Beings!
[Description]: Congratulations on successfully controlling the three chaos-aligned "working stiff" entities of the wizarding world!
[Completion Requirement]: Make the three Non-Beings submit to you.
[Achievement Reward]: Trait – Dementor's Power, Trait – Peeves' Power, Trait – Boggart's Power.
Seeing the system prompt, Dylan's eyebrows shot up. "Three Non-Being Powers?" And they were all Traits.
Dylan's interest was piqued. Could the system allow him to transform between Dementor, Boggart, and Peeves forms?
With that thought, Dylan directly extracted the achievement rewards. In a blur, Dylan felt as though he had undergone some changes. Especially his previously mastered Trait – Dementor's Kiss. It was now merging with this transformation!
Soon, when Dylan opened his eyes, he had adapted to the abilities of the three new Traits.
Dylan pursed his lips in mild distaste. "I thought it would let me completely transform into a Dementor or a Boggart. Turns out it's just gaining specific abilities from these three Non-Beings."
The so-called Dementor's Power originally only allowed Dylan to draw positive emotions from others, much like a Dementor. However, he had already mastered the Dementor's Kiss.
So, after merging with this Trait, Dementor's Power and Dementor's Kiss had given rise to an even stronger ability. Dylan could now use Dementor's Kiss to directly absorb a target's positive emotions and convert them into his own magical energy.
Moreover, he could also absorb negative, despairing emotions. Just as positive emotions could be converted into magical energy, despairing emotions could be converted into Dylan's life force.
This life force, acting upon Dylan, not only made his vitality more vigorous but also rapidly healed any injuries. Furthermore, life force represented all the necessary physical characteristics; speed, stamina, or strength would all be greatly enhanced.
"Perhaps soon I won't even need Unforgivable Curses. A single punch might be enough to kill someone." Dylan smacked his lips.
Dementor's Power wasn't limited to this. Not only had Dylan's mastery of Dementor's Kiss significantly increased, almost matching that of a true Dementor, but he could now even absorb actual souls.
When a soul was digested by him, his soul strength would also increase. More importantly, his lifespan would also extend as a result!
This discovery surprised Dylan, yet it also felt logical.
"So… I don't need to research any immortality spells myself? I'm already essentially immortal now?" Dylan tilted his head. Previously, a part of his reason for studying magic was to create an alchemical construct safer, more efficient, and with fewer side effects than the Philosopher's Stone, to grant him longevity.
But the achievement system had now directly taken away that motivation. Why research anything? Forget mere longevity, he was getting outright immortality! As long as there were human souls for him to absorb, he wouldn't die!
Doesn't that mean he could live indefinitely, as long as humans existed and weren't extinct? However, how long humans would exist was hard to say. What if the universe simply exploded one day?
No one could tell. But the probability of the universe exploding was relatively small. At least, it wasn't as high as the probability of humanity destroying itself.
However, Dylan discovered something else. The lifespan he gained from absorbing souls wasn't limited to humans. This meant he could extract and consume human souls, and it would work. He could also extract and consume the souls of other creatures.
"Combined with my Pet Space Suitcase… I feel like I've already achieved immortality." As for this feeling—Dylan felt nothing particularly profound. It was as if being immortal or not held little appeal for him. And indeed, that was the case.
For Dylan, what was always appealing was interesting magic, and in the process of studying magic, gaining new knowledge, creating knowledge, creating magic. That was truly fascinating. Directly gaining the ability to be immortal simply meant he would have a permanent opportunity to research magic.
Smacking his lips, Dylan didn't dwell on this too much, instead, his thoughts turned to another matter.
"Dementors, even when they absorb others' souls, it's unclear whether they truly digest them, or if the souls remain within them, sustaining their existence in the world through others' souls." But now, he could directly enhance his own soul strength and extend his lifespan by absorbing souls.
And not only could he absorb positive emotions, but he could absorb negative emotions too. This actually exceeded Dylan's understanding of a Dementor's inherent abilities. In his view, Dementors simply absorbed happy memories and joyful emotions until they consumed a person's soul. But he could do all that and more, going beyond what Dementors were capable of.
Dylan stroked his chin. "No, that's not right. If a Dementor absorbs a person's soul, and they become a shell without a soul, then wouldn't all emotions—not just positive ones, but negative ones too—disappear?"
Dylan recalled how Dementors, while absorbing positive emotions, also made their victims relive past pain. But once a soul was consumed, were these negative emotions completely overwhelming the person, or were they also taken away by the Dementor? Dylan believed it was the latter.
"So, it's not that the ability evolved, but that I have completely mastered the power of the Dementor." Dylan thought of starting with Erebus Nexus, then the Dementor's Kiss, and now possessing the complete Dementor's Power…
"I really do feel like I'm sprinting headlong down a very unconventional path." Wasn't he, at this point, essentially a living Dementor?
Taking a deep breath, Dylan began to sense the powers of the Boggart and Peeves. These two Non-Beings were inherently less powerful than Dementors, so Dylan hadn't held many expectations when sensing them. However, the final results still surprised him.
"Fear Transformation?" Dylan's eyes widened slightly. Just like a real Boggart, he could now use the Boggart's Power trait to sense a target's fear and transform into whatever they feared!
"Earlier, I was just saying how a Boggart's transformation was more impressive than an Animagus, and now I've mastered this ability??" Dylan smacked his lips again. Upon closer inspection, Dylan felt a little disappointed. "Unfortunately, while I can perform fear transformations, like a Boggart, I cannot use the transformed form to cause real-world damage."
This was a fundamental difference from an Animagus. An Animagus allowed him to genuinely transform into a Norwegian Ridgeback, complete with the ability to breathe fire.
That was tangible damage to an enemy. And using the dragon's wings, he could perform high-intensity, long-distance flight. But a Boggart's transformation was limited to staying near the target.
If he moved beyond a certain distance and range, Dylan would revert to his original form. Furthermore, he couldn't use the transformed shape to cause any harm, nor could he possess the special powers of the transformed entity. For example, if he transformed into a Basilisk, he couldn't kill people with his gaze like a real Basilisk. He could only put on a show and scare people.
"But even just the ability to transform at will is powerful enough."
However, to Dylan's renewed regret, the three Non-Being Powers he acquired were all Traits, not spells. This meant he only possessed these abilities; he could perhaps research them further to understand their principles, but it wasn't like his max-level spells, which granted him direct access to comprehensive knowledge about the spell at every level.
"If Boggart transformation were a spell, I imagine my Transfiguration spell would have immediately reached max level." Dylan sighed slightly. Yes, that was right, his Transfiguration spell was still stuck at Level 9. He was just one level short of maxing it out. But this one level had been holding him back for a long time.
"Perhaps I should set aside some time to continue studying Transfiguration. But now that I have mastered the Boggart's transformation ability—though it's only fear transformation—it should at least give me some new guidance and help." Dylan shook his head.
There was no helping it; the scope of Transfiguration was simply too vast. Therefore, even though the Transfiguration spell he had mastered was a simple one, truly reaching max level was incredibly difficult.
...
Meanwhile, seven figures draped in tattered grey robes slowly descended from the sky. The hems of their robes brushed over the rocks, carrying an icy chill that stung Peeves, who was lying flat on the ground, utterly dejected, bringing him back to his senses.
However, the Dementors had no intention of attacking Peeves. As the putrid mist spread, the seven Dementors hunched their bodies and slowly gathered around the trembling Peeves.
Although the Dementors had no intention of attacking Peeves, seeing these terrifying creatures surround him, Peeves's translucent body couldn't help but tremble.
Seeing this, the Dementors stopped a few paces away from Peeves, not moving any closer. Peeves paused, bewildered. How did he feel as if he saw pity in the Dementors' eyes?
Gasps!
He blinked. Peeves even felt that the chill in the surrounding air was no longer so biting; instead, it was replaced by a shared bitterness and empathy. Could it be… Recalling how this human wizard had suddenly transformed into a monster even more terrifying than a Dementor, and how these Dementors seemed to have fled in terror…
So—
This human wizard had even subdued these Dementors?
Gulp.
He swallowed non-existent saliva. Peeves relaxed slightly, then looked at Dylan. The seven Dementors also looked at their "master," who turned into a multi-eyed monster without warning.
Seeing that Dylan was shaking his head, lost in thought, Dementor A among the seven Dementors waved at Peeves, signaling him to move back. Then, the seven Dementors, along with Peeves, retreated further away from Dylan.
But they didn't go too far. They remained at a distance where Dylan could see them and summon them back at any time.
At this point, Dylan was already sensing Peeves's abilities.
"As expected, the most useless of the three Non-Beings." Dylan curled his lips. Peeves's abilities were, to him, utterly useless.
—Object Manipulation. That is, the ability to move and manipulate small objects. Peeves usually used this ability to set up pranks, or throw things everywhere, or float in the air to scare others.
In Dylan's opinion, this ability was like farting with your trousers off. Superfluous and useless. —His Levitation Charm was already at max level.
The only noteworthy aspect was that Dylan could now control other objects even without a wand, or even magic. This ability was now as much a part of him as his own body, responding to his will. The other two Non-Being Powers were the same.
"Tsk, maybe one day when I'm completely out of magic, I'll find a use for it." Dylan shook his head.
By now, Dylan had thoroughly experienced all three Non-Being Powers. The most useful, naturally, was the Dementor's Power. Not just useful, but extremely useful, exceptionally useful.
With just Dementor's Power, he had not only maxed out his previously Level 1 Dementor's Kiss, but also simultaneously gained complete mastery over Dementor abilities: absorbing positive emotions, negative emotions, and even souls. Furthermore, he could use the absorbed emotions and souls to increase his own magical energy, life force, soul strength, and lifespan.
The Boggart's Fear Transformation Power was fairly good. Besides allowing Dylan to transform into any shape, it also allowed him to sense what a target's deepest fear was.
The latter, in Dylan's opinion, was far more useful than the former. Being able to directly know what someone feared meant he could immediately grasp their Achilles' heel.
As for whether to transform into that form, merely knowing the target's fear was enough. Even without transforming, Dylan could create an illusionary scene with magic, or even use Transfiguration to transform other objects.
Peeves's ability, however, was the worst.
....
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