West Tower, owl roost.
Since Rob wasn't by his side, Sean borrowed one of the school's owls.
As before, he wrapped up the thesis, handed it to the owl, and released it directly. Watching the owl disappear into the night, Sean knew his first phase of research was completely finished. After resting a bit, he could begin the second phase of research.
Unlike the first phase's three substitute materials, since those three were the most expensive in Wolfsbane Potion, combining these three substitutes could reduce about thirty percent of the Wolfsbane Potion's cost after replacement, and the brewing difficulty was significantly reduced.
The second phase would involve substituting half of the remaining materials. This half consisted of the remaining more expensive and precious materials that had value for substitution. As for the final half, neither in price nor rarity were they high, so there was no need for substitution. Of course, some materials in the second phase might also be irreplaceable. He'd deal with that when encountered during research.
Having sent off the thesis, Sean felt relieved.
At this moment, he also remembered that he had previously defeated three Dementors, which should logically result in ability extraction.
Thinking of this, Sean didn't immediately leave the owl roost but directly opened his panel. Looking at the notifications on the panel, Sean's mouth curved up as he thought, "As expected."
[Duel Won!]
[Conditions Met: Victory Against Dark Magical Creature.]
[System Commencing Random Ability Extraction from Defeated Target: Dementor #1.]
[Extracting...]
A bone-deep chill swept through Sean's soul, followed by the phantom sensation of every joyful memory being slowly drained away before the feeling stabilized into something he could control.
[Extraction Complete!]
[Raw Ability Acquired: Dementor's Kiss]
[Warning: The extracted ability's subject and host are not of the same species and cannot be perfectly inherited. Searching for solution...]
[Searching...]
[Based on the host's personality, search completed.]
[Modifying extracted ability to match host's species characteristics and physical condition.]
[Modification Complete!]
[New Spell Acquired: Pain Absorption LV2]
This was the ability given to him by the first Dementor Sean defeated. After the panel's modification, it became a magic called Pain Absorption. Although Sean felt this magic should literally be called Joy Absorption or Happiness Drain, this was the name given by the panel, and Sean had no way to change it.
Of course, from another perspective, Pain Absorption could be understood as absorbing and draining all happy, beautiful, and peaceful memories, leaving only painful recollections. The name Pain Absorption was quite fitting.
[Duel Won!]
[Conditions Met: Victory Against Dark Magical Creature.]
[System Commencing Random Ability Extraction from Defeated Target: Dementor #2.]
[Extracting...]
The same soul-chilling sensation washed over him, though weaker this time, like an echo of the previous extraction.
[Extraction Complete!]
[New Spell Acquired: Pain Absorption LV1]
This was the ability from the second Dementor, also modified from Dementor's Kiss. However, this Dementor's modified Pain Absorption was only level one, without even the possibility of stacking, completely wasting an extraction opportunity. Sean was somewhat speechless about this, though it was still acceptable.
[Duel Won!]
[Conditions Met: Victory Against Dark Magical Creature.]
[System Commencing Random Ability Extraction from Defeated Target: Dementor #3.]
[Extracting...]
This time, Sean felt an entirely different sensation—a creeping frost that seemed to emanate from his very core, spreading outward like crystalline fingers of pure cold.
[Extraction Complete!]
[New Spell Acquired: Frost Domain LV2]
The magic from the third Dementor somewhat exceeded Sean's expectations.
Although Dementors would freeze nearby things when they appeared, Sean had always thought this was an effect caused by the Dementor's Kiss, absorbing all positive energy and naturally causing temperature drops.
But thinking about it again, Pain Absorption only extracted the joy memory absorption from Dementor's Kiss, so Frost Domain extracting the freezing effect from Dementor's Kiss was quite reasonable, right?!
Boggart's Shadow from the Boggart, and Pain Absorption and Frost Domain from Dementors. Just two months into this semester, Sean had obtained three quite impressive magics, all from non-human subjects. This gave Sean some ideas. If he had time, finding more magical creatures with special abilities to farm skills seemed safer and more worthwhile than facing powerful wizards.
Of course, relatively speaking, dueling with powerful wizards was still better, as the magic levels on them were all high. Currently, all the high-level magic on Sean came from wizards, while skills extracted from magical creatures or non-human beings, though effective, were mostly low-level.
Leaving the owl roost and walking down the tower.
Three Dementors had given these abilities. Sean was now very interested in those later Dementors that surrounded Harry. There were so many they were uncountable. If he could farm them, he should be able to raise the levels of Pain Absorption and Frost Domain somewhat.
Returning to the common room, Sean immediately saw Andy walking toward him.
The two sat in a corner of the common room, but Sean could see many people secretly watching him. After the start of the term, when Sean expressed his dislike for such attention and approaches, these people had become quite restrained. Sean didn't understand why they had reverted to their old ways.
Sean's confusion didn't last long. When Andy spoke, Sean understood why.
"Sean, your new mental recovery potion has started selling, and I've received the goods too. High quality, low price, and great demand. No one privately selling potions at Hogwarts can compete with me now. This afternoon, quite a few people came looking for cooperation.
Since some house members don't like buying from me, I agreed to work with them. However, their prices from me are higher than outside but still lower than the old mental recovery potions, so they agreed readily. According to our cooperation agreement, I've prepared your share of the money and will give you the gold certificates tomorrow."
"I'm not in a hurry. Give them to me whenever you find convenient."
"Then tomorrow it is. I'm already prepared." Having said this, Andy checked the time and said to Sean: "Sean, I still have some matters to handle, so I'll go first. Let's eat lunch together tomorrow."
"Alright, go handle your business."
Sean and Andy's relationship no longer needed superficial formalities. They were very direct with each other.
Watching Andy leave, Sean got up to return to his room to find Kulkan. But when he reached the dormitory area, he saw Jennifer Flint, now a seventh-year.
"This is the boys' dormitory area. The girls' dormitory is on the other side."
"The Slytherin boys' dormitory doesn't seem to have restrictions on girls. Besides, I'm not here for sightseeing. I came to find you. Let's talk, Sean!"