"Overall, this suitcase can be gradually upgraded in the future, unlocking more features."
After a moment of thought, Dylan felt relieved.
In fact, he didn't need to fear the system asking him for money.
On the contrary, if the system didn't ask him for money, that's when he should start getting wary.
Besides, it was precisely because of this suitcase that he had money and a place to spend it.
If he didn't have anything, even if he wanted to spend money, he wouldn't even have the chance.
—Dylan gave himself a bit of self-brainwashing pep talk.
"At the very least, with this ten-thousand-cubic-meter space, if I come across other magical creatures, I can take them in and raise them."
Dylan leisurely ate half of the small cake in front of him.
Black chocolate flavor—not bad.
—Dylan really loved chocolate and sweets in general.
"Now I've got Shadowcrow and a dragon. Plus, the unicorn勉强 counts as a mobile storage unit for materials."
These three magical creatures pretty much covered a wide range of material production.
Many potion recipes didn't just require their blood, horns, or fur—those ingredients could even substitute for other materials Dylan didn't have during potion-making, to a certain extent.
Having tasted the benefits, Dylan naturally developed a growing fondness for other magical creatures.
He really wanted to gather all the magical creatures under the sun into his control.
And this suitcase was the first step toward that goal!
Scooping another spoonful of cake into his mouth, Dylan couldn't help but mutter to himself.
"Last time I secretly met Hagrid in the Forbidden Forest and fed Beta, I saw that unicorn again. I only took a little blood, but after that, I haven't seen it since. Did it run off or something?"
Dylan was starting to suspect that the unicorn didn't plan to stick around with him. Had it really abandoned him after he'd taken its blood just twice?
"Hmph, I should've known to hit it with a thousand Soul-Stealing Curses back then! Who knows, maybe it would've triggered an achievement reward and turned that unicorn into my pet too."
Dylan pursed his lips and glanced at the next achievement.
[Achievement]: I Own a Nimbus!
[Description]: A little wizard with the most high-end flying broom—do I look proud to you? o(￣▽￣)ｄ~
[Unlock Requirement]: Own a widely recognized top-tier flying broom before the end of third year.
[Achievement Reward]: Flight Talent +10
"Flight talent? Decent enough."
Truth be told, Dylan wasn't particularly passionate about flying.
No matter how fancy your flying skills were, they couldn't beat a single Apparition spell.
—Sure, there were places where that spell couldn't be used.
But as long as your proficiency was high enough, no environment or situation could stop him from casting it.
Still, since it was a free reward from an achievement—why not take it?
Dylan's eyes scrolled down a bit, quickly landing on the achievement he'd just earned in Knockturn Alley.
[Achievement]: The Fool Keeps No Promises!
[Description]: Everyone knows the Fool doesn't need to keep promises—not even in business. After all—he's the Fool!
[Unlock Requirement]: Gain substantial profits through deception.
[Achievement Reward]: Max-Level Random Dark Magic +1
[Achievement]: Crown Me King
[Description]: The old Dark Lord is getting on in years—it's time for a new king to rise and rule the world. Let the scepter change hands!
[Unlock Requirement]: Gain Initial Believers (10/10) and Fanatic Believer (1/1).
[Achievement Reward]: Fool's Aura +1
[Achievement]: I Am Temptation
[Description]: Why bother dealing with you myself when I can make you tear each other apart?
[Unlock Requirement]: Make your enemies destroy each other for you.
[Achievement Reward]: Max-Level Confounding Curse!
[Achievement]: Dark Nouveau Riche
[Description]: Your name is starting to spread!
[Unlock Requirement]: Your reputation becomes known in both the Ministry of Magic and the wizarding world.
[Achievement Reward]: Super Invincible Dark Magic Talent Boost
[Achievement]: You Ran Into Me Yourself
[Description]: As a rising star in the dark wizarding world, a man destined to become the next Dark Lord—someone still dares to ambush you? They're practically begging to die!
[Unlock Requirement]: Casually use an Unforgivable Curse to deal with someone trying to ambush you.
[Achievement Reward]: Max-Level Random Dark Magic +1
Looking at the series of achievement notifications popping up, Dylan accepted them with satisfaction.
When Professor Snape taught him dark magic, he'd already experienced how fun it was to have a high affinity for it.
The moment a spell landed in his hands, a single glance was enough for him to reach proficiency levels three to five.
With a bit of practice back home, he could break through to level six, seven, or even eight!
And from there, he could charge straight toward max proficiency!
Dylan raised an eyebrow.
Just hearing the names, they sounded very dark magic-y.
At the same time, detailed information about these dark spells—ones he'd never heard of or learned before—flooded into his mind.
Expel Spirit, as the name suggested, was an extremely sinister dark spell that allowed Dylan to drive away ghosts and similar creatures.
"If I used this at Hogwarts, could I chase out all the past headmasters from Dumbledore's office?"
The thought popped into Dylan's head, but he quickly squashed it.
"What's the point of just chasing them off if I can't get rid of them for good?"
As for Soul-Snatch Speech, this spell let him understand the languages of other living beings.
This included not just human languages but even the tongues of other species—he could master them through this curse.
That meant if Dylan wanted to understand snake language, he could kill a snake, extract its soul, and, as the system demonstrated in his mind, shatter its soul to pull out the lone useful fragment of language.
"That's pretty brutal. Does this mean if I want to learn German or French, I'd have to kill someone?"
Dylan rubbed his chin.
And if he wanted to master the language of unicorns or dragons, would he have to kill another unicorn or dragon?
"Doesn't feel all that practical. I'd rather just use the Soul-Stealing Curse or even Legilimency. Those can let me understand someone's thoughts to some extent, even if they don't fully teach me a language."
Still, it was a spell tied to souls and language. Practicality aside, having a max-level spell in his arsenal would help him draw conne
ctions and further his understanding of other magical knowledge.
"And then there's Return of the Dead…"
Dylan recalled the army of corpses Dumbledore and Harry encountered by that lake.
"They looked intimidating, but a half-dead Dumbledore took them all out with a single Fiendfyre."
Dylan scratched his head.
"For me, this spell isn't all that useful. But if I transformed into a Karthus, this kind of trick could probably earn me a ton of clout in the dark wizarding world, right?"
Dylan's fingers lightly tapped the table.
Then he mixed some cake with ice cream and shoved a big bite into his mouth.
"Mmm~~ cool and refreshing—delicious!"
There were still plenty of achievements on the list, but Dylan didn't bother finishing it.
Most of them offered trivial rewards, and he skimmed past them.
Soon, though, he spotted a few new ones.
[Achievement]: A Perfect First Year
[Description]: The school year's over, and you've earned the professors' fondness and your classmates' respect. Your house won the House Cup—what a satisfying ending!
[Unlock Requirement]: Achieve "Outstanding" in all assessments, and Gryffindor wins the House Cup.
[Achievement Reward]: Logical Thinking +10, Magical Power +10, Mental Strength +10
[Achievement]: Top of the Year (I)
[Description]: You've become the undisputed number one across the four houses for the first time. Sure, someone tied with you, but everyone knows she's no match for you! All she's got is her name going for her!
[Unlock Requirement]: Secure first place in the first-year final exams.
[Achievement Reward]: Unlock Voldemort's Ability Vault and choose one skill to master and claim as your own.
"This…"
Dylan's eyebrow twitched as he read the two achievements.
At that moment, he felt his mind sharpen, his thinking ability noticeably improved.
—This would definitely help him with reading books.
"Magical power's gone up a bit too. Nice."
Dylan nodded slightly, very pleased.
"But…"
His gaze landed on the reward for the second achievement.
"Why does getting first place in my year give me one of Voldemort's skills? Is that even fair?"
Dylan couldn't wrap his head around it.
As Karthus, whether he was using an Unforgivable Curse to deal with ambushers…
Or accidentally tricking Mr. Borgin into handing over forty thousand in "protection fees"…
Or using the Imperius Curse to make those Aurors turn on each other…
When the system rewarded him with dark magic for those achievements, it made sense.
But why, even after becoming top of his year, was he still getting dark magic—and Voldemort's dark magic at that?
To this, Dylan could only say—
"Holy crap, this is awesome!"
After claiming the reward, Dylan nearly went blind from the sheer number of spells Voldemort knew.
"My dear Dumbledore, how does little Voldy know this many spells?"
Dylan gave it a quick scan—it was endless, no matter how much he scrolled.
Looking at the spells he himself knew, it was already a lot for a first-year wizard.
—Even adult wizards might not know as many spells as he did.
But compared to Voldemort? He was miles behind!
"No wonder Dumbledore called Voldemort a powerful and gifted dark wizard. Voldemort's research into magical knowledge might just be more extensive than any living wizard today."
—Although the Killing Curse rebounded on him, Voldemort didn't die. That utterly defied magical common sense and caught Dumbledore by surprise.
But to study dark magic, Voldemort had indeed read a ton of magic books, and he was undeniably a genius in his own right.
The sheer amount of magic he knew was impressive.
Dylan flipped through the list roughly and saw a bunch of modern dark magic spells, as well as ancient ones.
If it was just about dark magic…
Dylan felt like Voldemort was on the same level as the Dark Lord himself—capable of writing an entire encyclopedia of magic.
"But when I choose one of his abilities, does that mean I get to copy Voldemort's proficiency with it too? Or do I just learn the spell and have to master it myself?"
Dylan spotted plenty of dark magic spells that piqued his interest, but most of them had flaws or could be countered in some way.
Worse, some spells couldn't even be cast with just a twisted mind—they required even more sinister and bloody rituals to pull off.
The processes were so complicated that just glancing at them made Dylan's head hurt.
—It seemed the invention of the Unforgivable Curses definitely had something to do with Voldemort wanting to take shortcuts.
"I've already got a few max-level dark spells of my own. My offensive toolkit is pretty much maxed out. For defense, Dumbledore taught me the Patronus Charm. What I'm really lacking right now is…"
(End of Chapter)