Chapter 196: Alchemical Creation!
After experiencing the powers of the three Non-Beings, Dylan glanced at the eight shadowy figures in the distance. The eight Non-Beings collectively took another step back.
Dylan rolled his eyes. "Stay put, Little A. Remember to teach this fellow a lesson so he doesn't think about escaping. I'll take him with me later."
It was getting late. Dylan wondered whether to go straight to bed or make a trip to the Forbidden Forest to check on Thestrals and see if there were any unicorns left. He needed to restock—his supplies of unicorn blood, hair, and powdered horn were all running low.
The seven Dementors nodded repeatedly. Dylan then left the suitcase dimension again. Peeves, seeing him about to leave, tried to approach, wanting Dylan to take him along. But facing the seven Dementors, who had just shown such united hostility, and were now surrounding him, he finally stopped, crestfallen.
Dylan put on his Shadow Ring. Using Coal Ball's power, he silently entered the Forbidden Forest.
"Right, when did Hagrid say he was coming?" Dylan smacked his lips, wandering briefly through the Forbidden Forest, but didn't see Hagrid anywhere. "Was it tomorrow, or the day after?" Dylan stroked his chin. He didn't dwell on the question, deciding to just ask Hagrid directly tomorrow.
He moved swiftly through the trees, his feet rustling on fallen leaves. Darkness dyed the canopy a thick, inky black. He was now cloaked in his black robes and wasn't using the Shadow Ring's invisibility ability.
Dylan had previously agreed with the Thestrals that he might visit them at night, and the location was fixed. Hagrid himself had assigned the Thestrals a specific area, both to keep them from wandering and to make them easy to find during classes. So, Dylan naturally knew where the Thestrals were staying.
—Actually, this was because he had placed a faint Dark Mark on them, imperceptible to others. No matter where the Thestrals went, he could find them.
Passing through a gap between two ancient trees, he suddenly heard a rustling sound beneath his feet.
Boom!
Two Acromantulas burst out of the ground. Their bowl-sized compound eyes glowed with an eerie green light, their chelicerae bristled with hair and clacked ominously. The moment they appeared, thick, foul-smelling webbing shot towards Dylan.
Dylan raised an eyebrow. "Didn't your old folk tell you not to pick fights with people when you're out and about?"
Dylan raised his wand. Invisible magic surged forth. The webbing flying towards him disintegrated rapidly, like morning mist meeting high heat, turning into fine, silvery dust that drifted down. The two Acromantulas immediately hissed, glaring fiercely at Dylan.
Dylan eyed them, noting that these two seemed relatively young. "Oh? Still in their prime, are we? No wonder they're so irritable." Dylan chuckled. "Want to kill me and avenge your kin? Not bad, quite courageous." —It had been a while since he'd encountered Acromantulas brave enough to charge him head-on.
"Roar!" The two Acromantulas opened and closed their mouths.
Dylan's wand gently rotated in the air. Fiendfyre began to materialize. But then, Dylan paused. His wand rotated again. The Fiendfyre dissipated, and a black vortex emerged, enveloping the two Acromantulas.
This was the Dementor's Kiss. Dylan wanted to test the specific effects of Dementor's Power.
The next moment, the two Acromantulas' howls ceased abruptly. A grey-black mist, carrying a tangible chill, rapidly expanded from Dylan's body. Faintly, Dylan could even discern some distorted faces within it. The moment the two Acromantulas were covered by this mist, they stopped struggling.
Their previously fierce, eerie green compound eyes now seemed covered with a grey film. They desperately flailed their segmented legs, but it was all in vain. They simply couldn't stop the black mist's erosion. Their fear, their past hunting memories, and even their souls—all were being siphoned away by this black mist.
Since they were just two spiders, beasts with some intelligence but not particularly high, the process wasn't as prolonged as when a Dementor absorbed human memories and souls. Dylan extracted the souls of these two spiders almost instantly. The next moment, they became two mere husks.
Of course, even without their souls, Dylan wouldn't let them go. Both their flesh and venom were useful to Dylan, so he naturally wouldn't waste them. Dylan first tossed the two Acromantulas into his suitcase dimension, letting Lockhart extract their venom for him. Then, he began to study the Acromantulas' souls.
"Such a magical feeling." He absorbed the souls into his body. This sensation was incredibly peculiar. It was different from the feeling of Soul-Siphoning Charm which merely extracted and could control or manipulate souls, but couldn't absorb them into one's own body.
However, Dementor's Power allowed Dylan to integrate the souls of other creatures, extracted via Dementor's Kiss, directly into his own body.
The moment the souls entered his body, Dylan felt his temples throbbing. But quickly, a cool sensation spread through his body, as if someone were gently brushing a feather along his veins.
The souls, upon entering his body, shattered into countless soul-flames rather than remaining whole. These fragmented soul-flames then transformed into tiny, ethereal blue starlight, effortlessly flowing along his magical pathways into the deepest parts of his being.
Finally, they formed a gentle, luminous mist deep within his consciousness. The starlight within his body made his life force even more vigorous. The luminous mist in his mind elevated his mental power once again.
Subtly, he felt himself become somewhat different, yet he couldn't quite articulate how. Dylan wasn't sure if it was because his lifespan had increased.
But as the Acromantula souls were completely digested by him, Dylan felt his heartbeat become lighter and stronger. His entire being felt as if it were immersed in warm water, utterly content.
"Hmm? What was that?" Dylan suddenly felt as though he could see his own inner self. He saw his body, his blood vessels, the depths of his mind… An infinite space, filled with an ancient silence. Threads of life force glimmered deep within his soul, like markers of his very existence. This visual effect was fleeting.
Dylan was surprised. He tried to perceive his inner self again but couldn't. "Does this only happen when I absorb souls?" Those life threads just now… Dylan only had a vague feeling that they were related to his lifespan. He hadn't counted them carefully. "Next time, if I can see my mental domain again, I'll definitely count those threads."
Dylan smacked his lips. Recalling the memories of the two Acromantulas, he paused again. "They spent their days in the Acromantula nest listening to their elders grumble about a formidable beast outside that was slaughtering their kin. Then, provoked by a few other Acromantulas, they ran out, hoping to ambush me?" And the crucial thing was, the Forbidden Forest was so vast, and these two Acromantulas actually ran into him. He didn't know if this counted as their luck or their misfortune.
His tongue licked his lips. Dylan gently pursed them. "Why do I feel a sense of deliciousness after consuming their souls?" Dylan looked left and right but didn't see any other Acromantulas. However, there were a few small snakes hanging upside down from tree trunks, stealthily peeking at him. Coincidentally, one snake met Dylan's gaze.
Dylan smiled. "Please do me a favor."
"Hiss?" The small black snake tilted its head.
The next moment, wisps of grey-black mist suddenly spewed from the tip of Dylan's wand, enveloping the bewildered black snake. Immediately after, a soul was directly extracted and then, following the black mist, floated towards Dylan.
Compared to the Acromantulas, this black snake's soul strength was much lower. He barely absorbed any of the black snake's emotions before its soul was completely stripped from its body. Dylan swallowed the snake soul in one gulp and then gulped. "Tsk, souls have flavors too, huh?"
Dylan didn't trigger the internal vision effect again. But he clearly felt that the Acromantula souls and this black snake's soul were vastly different. Whether it was in terms of richness, aroma, or taste… one was like heaven, the other like earth. However, comparing the two confirmed some things for Dylan.
"So, memories can be considered the aroma, emotions are the richness, and soul strength is the flavor…" This black snake, after being consumed, unlike the two Acromantula souls, wasn't shattered into soul fragments before further integrating into his body.
Instead, it was refined into nothing instantly after he ate it. Dylan didn't feel a significant increase in his life force, nor did he feel anything about his soul strength. As for his lifespan, that went without saying.
However, feelings had their strengths and weaknesses. Just because he didn't feel much didn't mean the black snake's soul was useless to him. On the contrary, after he consumed the black snake's soul, he noticed that his magical power had slightly increased.
He perceived the strength of his magic with greater precision. Therefore, Dylan believed that even ordinary creatures, once thoroughly consumed by him, would provide him with some benefit, whether it be memories, emotions, or souls.
Given this, it was simply a matter of accumulating small gains. He could even go to muggle slaughterhouses and directly consume all the souls of those ordinary animals. That single move could give him a huge boost in magical power. His lifespan would even extend as a result.
"Why do I feel like I've become a vampire?" Dylan blinked. Although his type of vampire didn't drink blood, but absorbed souls. "But this also confirms again that with Dementor's Power and my Spatial World, I seem to have… truly achieved immortality."
Even without relying on real-world slaughterhouses or other places and creatures, Dylan could simply raise his own livestock, whether chickens, ducks, or fish, or even life nurtured within his spatial world itself. All could become a continuous source for him to increase his lifespan. What else was this if not immortality?
"Suddenly I feel like not trying anymore—bullshit!" What was the point of immortality gained by simply absorbing souls? What Dylan wanted to do was research a magic or an alchemical creation that could grant others longevity without demanding an unbearable price!
And while absorbing souls could extend lifespan, it wasn't guaranteed to lead to true immortality. The system hadn't explicitly said so. Although Dylan understood it this way, it didn't mean he could truly achieve immortality by absorbing souls. Moreover, to confirm this, Dylan had very conclusive evidence.
That was—
If he were truly immortal, why hadn't the system given him an achievement for being immortal?
Dylan glanced at his system panel. Suddenly, he saw the achievement icon flashing. —Clearly, he seemed to have unlocked another achievement.
"Huh?" Dylan was taken aback. His eyelashes fluttered involuntarily. "No way, I just said that, and the achievement already appeared?"
Dylan stood in the shadow of the large tree. The black snake, whose soul he had extracted, had been hanging upside down from a branch but now, unable to support itself, it fell to the ground with a thump. Dylan, however, ignored the snake's body, focusing his attention on his system panel.
He clicked on "Achievements." A message popped up.
[Achievement]: Soul Buffet - Junior Diner
[Description]: While most wizards recoil from the Dementor's Kiss, you have mastered the essence of this soulful cuisine. In the dark Forbidden Forest, you captured the irritable souls of two Acromantulas like selecting dessert, and even bagged the ordinary essence of an unfortunate black snake. You incorporated them all into your "soul menu," the entire process as elegant as an afternoon tea.
[Completion Requirement]: Use the Dementor's Kiss to absorb the souls of two or more magical creatures in a single instance.
[Achievement Reward]: Alchemical Creation – Soul Carving Knife.
Scanning the achievement, Dylan saw that it wasn't about being immortal. While relieved, he also felt a tiny hint of disappointment. —Actually, achieving immortality first wouldn't have been a problem, right?
But, a Soul Carving Knife?
Dylan immediately extracted the reward. The next moment, a silver carving knife appeared in his palm. Dylan examined the carving knife. The knife and fork were engraved with countless tiny piranhas, so densely packed that they looked more like runes than fish.
Staring for two seconds, Dylan was surprised to find that he seemed to see strange afterimages swimming on the blade. But when he blinked, the afterimages disappeared.
"That shadow just now… looked like a piranha?"
....
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