Chapter 197: Encountering a Blonde Girl
Dylan held the Soul Carving Knife in his hand, then opened the system panel for its description.
[Item]: Soul Carving Knife
[Description]: Do you think these are piranhas carved on it? Look closer, don't they resemble miniature Dementors?
[Effect 1]: You can use this knife to cut souls. Each time a soul is cut, the blade absorbs a portion of the dissipated soul energy, growing increasingly powerful.
[Effect 2]: After gathering enough soul energy, you can unleash a blade storm, creating a storm that cuts and influences souls.
[Effect 3]: You can use this knife to harm any spirit or non-spirit. Creatures with flesh and blood, when injured by this knife, will not only suffer physical wounds but also damage to their soul.
[Effect 4]: When you use this knife to cut ordinary food, it will imbue the food with a unique "soul flavor."
"Four effects…" Dylan scanned them one by one. The knife's abilities weren't incredibly useful to him. As for the "soul flavor"… Dylan suspected that perhaps small ghosts would pop out while he was cutting food, helping him slice things. Or, more directly, they would emerge from the knife itself for Dylan to consume.
"Hmm, what's this, soul dessert? Or food scraps left on the table?" He curled his lips. Dylan put the knife away.
Then, he quickly arrived at the Thestral's location. The scent of decaying leaves and earth mixed with damp mist drifted through the forest on this ink-stained night. Under the twisted branches of an ancient oak tree, Dylan spotted the Thestrals' outstretched black wings.
"Whinny~" The Thestral whinnied softly when it saw Dylan.
Dylan smiled, skillfully pulling out some fresh deer meat and other raw meat from his pouch. "Here, eat."
Dylan tossed the strips and chunks of meat in front of the Thestral. —He wasn't just throwing them on the ground. Instead, he used Peeves' Power to control the meat strips, making them float in mid-air without consuming any magical energy, only a slight amount of mental effort.
"Whinny! Whinny!" The Thestral's eyes lit up. It immediately used its hooked beak to deftly pick up the meat strips one by one, then swallowed them. After finishing it all, the Thestral let out a satisfied purr.
At this moment, in the surrounding shadows, the eyes of the other Hippogriffs glowed like phosphorescent green lights in the darkness. They kept their distance from Dylan and the Thestral, warily watching his every move. Dylan looked at them. He could sense their caution towards him.
Dylan thought for a moment, then gently waved his arm. A few meat strips floated in the air, slowly approaching the figures curled in the shadows under the control of his willpower. However, as the meat strips flew over, several Hippogriffs flapped their wings, letting out whooshing sounds, then reared on their forelegs and quickly retreated.
Dylan watched. The moonlight pierced through the dense canopy, illuminating the tense muscles of the Hippogriffs. He saw their raised manes and leaves scattered on the ground, splashing up under their rearing forelegs. Dylan raised an eyebrow. "So, I fed you for nothing last time?"
The low growls and whinnies of these Hippogriffs made the surrounding vines in the forest tremble. Dylan narrowed his eyes. They truly preferred to do things the hard way.
A cold smile curled his lips, and black mist surged from his fingertips, swirling and coalescing. Finally, it formed a massive phantom behind him, as if to blot out the sky.
Instantly, a chill, laden with despair, swept outwards from Dylan. The black phantom resembled a Dementor, its form immense, possessing even greater oppressive force and deterrence than an ordinary Dementor.
The Hippogriffs froze, their manes instantly bristling, each letting out sharp, panicked whinnies. However, Dylan had already cast a Silencing Charm around them. No sound from here could escape.
The Hippogriffs' legs trembled under the invisible pressure of the giant Dementor phantom. Their formerly majestic wings now drooped limply.
Thump!
When the first Hippogriff could no longer stand and collapsed to the ground, the whinnies of its companions instantly turned into frightened whimpers. Dylan snorted. With a flick of his finger, the meat strips that had been flying near the Hippogriffs flew up again, then landed with a thump in front of them.
Dylan dismissed the black phantom. —He had been using Dementor's Power, but he hadn't absorbed any souls or emotions from other creatures. However, simply using Dementor's Power could still create such an imposing display. This was a new discovery for Dylan and an application of Dementor's Power.
"This ability is similar to the imposing display created by the Authority Wand, except the Authority Wand doesn't make me look like the leader of Dementors." Dylan smacked his lips, watching the trembling beasts.
Their beaks tentatively pecked at the meat strips in front of them, unsure whether to eat or not. He waved his hand again. The meat strips were forcefully stuffed into the Hippogriffs' mouths one by one.
Watching them swallow all the meat strips, Dylan finally revealed a satisfied, gentle smile. "Wouldn't it have been better to just do this from the start? You had to force my hand and make everyone unhappy."
At this moment, the Thestral beside Dylan also slumped to the ground. —When Dylan released Dementor's Power just now, it was the closest, and naturally bore the most pressure.
It gulped non-existent saliva. The Thestral tried to stand up. But just as it rose, its legs gave way, and it collapsed again. It tried again, legs weak, collapsing again. Finally, it just lay on the ground.
Dylan walked over to the other Hippogriffs, observing them, lost in thought. In fact, Dylan had already initially mastered the means to modify others' memories. —If he wanted to take all these Hippogriffs, Hagrid's memory would definitely need to be altered. However, this spell was not yet perfected for Dylan. Dylan was also afraid that using it directly on Hagrid would turn the already not-so-bright giant into a fool like Lockhart.
"I'll just keep researching with Lockhart for now, no rush." —There was no one more suitable as an experimental subject for researching how to modify and manipulate others' memories than Lockhart, who had self-inflicted amnesia. For some time, he had conducted various researches on Lockhart.
He found that Lockhart, for memory-related spells, could bring him far greater returns than other spells and experiments. He wondered if this guy was some kind of "Memory Saint Body." His other abilities were poor, but his Memory Charm was outstanding. And now it was even stranger.
Even when Dylan used other spells on him, they didn't work well. But experiments related to memory were extremely effective on Lockhart. Very useful. No matter what results he wanted to achieve, after a few experiments, Lockhart was like a love-potioned succubus, always giving him novel results.
Shaking his head to clear his thoughts, Dylan glanced at the Hippogriffs in front of him. Seeing them all trembling, their former pride and wariness towards him had now turned into fawning and fear.
"Whatever I feed you, you eat it. Understand?"
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!
The group of Hippogriffs all nodded their heads.
"Good, finally learning what it means to be obedient. But there's no reward." Dylan narrowed his eyes, smiling as he looked at them. "I'll be back next time. Don't try to tell anyone I was here, alright?" Dylan's tone was gentle. However, to the Hippogriffs, it sounded like a demon crawling out of the abyss, shrieking in their ears. Terrified, they nodded frantically again.
After lecturing them, Dylan turned to the Thestral and walked over. To his surprise, the Thestral actually recoiled a step. Its usually sharp eyes showed a hint of wavering.
It looked like fear, but somehow different from pure terror. Although Dylan and Norberta weren't constantly together, they met and spent time together daily. Having spent a long time with a dragon, he had come to understand the expressions in these proud creatures' eyes.
"Are you considering me a rival?" Dylan raised an eyebrow.
The Thestral whinnied lowly. Although still on the ground, its head was raised.
"Interesting." Dylan suddenly wanted to throw this Hippogriff into his own dimension right now. When it saw a group of Dementors, including a Basilisk and dragons, all under his command, would this creature still be so proud?
Lost in thought, Dylan glanced at its splayed limbs.
"Whinny! Whinny!" The Thestral saw Dylan looking at its legs. Despite the Hippogriff's furry face, Dylan still felt a hint of embarrassment on its cheeks.
"Alright, I have other things to do. Go join your kin." Regaining his composure, Dylan waved his hand. He looked back around. He didn't see Buckbeak anywhere. —But he couldn't tell the difference between all these Hippogriffs anyway. Perhaps Buckbeak was here after all.
"The Thestral is easier to recognize, being all black." Dylan waved at the Thestral, using Peeves' Power to help it stand up from the ground. Then he turned to leave. He was still hoping to find unicorns and get some blood and hair, along with powdered horn.
However, to his disappointment, he circled several times but saw no sign of them. Instead, he ran into a few more Acromantulas. Dylan effortlessly extracted the souls of those Acromantulas that couldn't escape or tried to charge him, then tossed them into his own world.
Soulless Acromantulas, to him, were no different from mobile venom reserves. Just feed them a little every day, enough to keep them alive. But he could continuously harvest Acromantula venom and other materials from them.
Although self-aware Acromantulas could also achieve this effect, conscious Acromantulas would clash with other creatures. Just look at why there were so many Acromantulas in the Forbidden Forest. These creatures rarely had natural predators in the forest. Weaker creatures couldn't fight Acromantulas.
Powerful lone creatures couldn't withstand the "spider sea" tactics of large groups of Acromantulas. And powerful groups of creatures usually didn't travel together.
Dylan didn't want his world to become a spider kingdom in the future. At least, to introduce a large number of Acromantulas as permanent residents, he would have to upgrade his entire world again and expand it to a certain extent. If his space truly became a world, even dedicating an entire forest as their territory would be more than enough, without causing any significant impact.
"Never mind, if I can't find them, I'll just go back." Dylan sighed.
Night was deep. Although this wasn't the deepest part of the Forbidden Forest, the mist still hung like crumpled grey gauze, clinging to some ferns. Dylan kicked away a mushroom and turned around, only to suddenly find a slender figure standing in the shadows diagonally behind him.
The figure was slightly thin, wearing a Ravenclaw's blue robe. The robe looked a little old, its hem stained with some mud. Dylan froze. Instinctively, he wanted to raise his wand.
However, he quickly realized that this girl was also a student. Therefore, meeting in the middle of the night here, it seemed neither of them had any right to accuse or guard against the other. After all, they were both breaking rules.
But beyond that, Dylan was more curious about something else. When did this girl appear here? Or did they just happen to meet? Yet, he hadn't even sensed her presence much at all!
He looked at her light golden hair, now casually draped over her shoulders, glowing softly in the moonlight. The girl's face was a little thin, her skin pale, and a pair of faint silver eyes were particularly striking. She gazed back at him calmly, her expression seeming unperturbed.
"Hello there."
Huh?
Dylan paused again. The girl's voice was lovely, like a gentle breeze through the forest, floating softly. —Like a ghost.
"Hello?" Dylan watched her.
"Are you looking for something too?" the girl asked.
Uh?? Dylan sensed her. This girl seemed to be human. Not something else, like a ghost.
"I just went to see Hagrid's Hippogriffs," the girl said.
The girl seemed surprised. "Oh? You snuck out in the middle of the night just to see them? A bunch of beasts you could see during the day?"
Dylan's face darkened. —It was rare for him to feel so speechless.
"I have classes all day. And going into the Forbidden Forest during the day? Without Hagrid leading the way? Are you crazy or am I?"
His words made the blonde girl pause, but they didn't provoke any negative emotions. Instead, she nodded. "You have a point."
Dylan: "..." So? Sister, what exactly do you want?
....
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