Next, Wade Reynolds conducted many tests on the Obscurus.
For example, he deliberately sliced off a portion of it, then fed it magic to see whether it would devour the energy again and rapidly recover.
The results delighted Wade.
Although this thing was a living organism, it was also somewhat different from ordinary life.
It could instantly convert the magic it absorbed into energy for its own body. As long as it received sufficient magic, it could almost immediately repair the portion that had been cut away.
However, the severed portion of the Obscurus could no longer absorb magic.
It was like a piece of flesh cut from a living body, incapable of growing again.
Wade then began further tests, trying to determine how to distinguish the severed portion from the Obscurus's main body.
In the end, he discovered that there was also a limit to how much could be cut.
For instance, Wade could not split it in half. When he tried to divide the Obscurus before him into two equal parts, its magical power began to drain rapidly.
Wade had no choice but to stop the procedure.
There was no doubt that if he truly split it in half, the Obscurus would die from the massive loss of magic.
After further testing, Wade finally determined that at most, one third of it could be safely separated.
To continue dividing it, he would have to feed it again and wait for it to recover before performing another cut.
If the cut portion exceeded one third, the magical power of the Obscurus's main body would rapidly dissipate.
Wade Reynolds quickly figured out that the core body would always remain within the remaining two thirds.
Under normal circumstances, the Obscurus possessed extremely powerful magic. Feeding one that had lost a third of its body should have been very difficult.
After all, an ordinary wizard could not supply that much magic.
But Wade happened to be an exception. The "residual matter" in his possession could conveniently be used as feed.
Moreover, this residual matter was essentially highly concentrated magic, so the Obscurus's daily consumption was not particularly high.
By the end of his research, Wade was not even sure whether it was just his imagination, but he kept feeling that the magic within the Obscurus seemed to contain a power of the same origin as ancient magic.
For now, however, Wade had no means of verifying this.
After finishing the experiment, Wade stuffed the entire Obscurus into a goblin-metal container he carried with him.
As expected, once the Obscurus entered the goblin-metal container, its condition became noticeably more stable, and its consumption decreased significantly.
It was like fresh meat being placed into a refrigerator.
Wade then injected some purified residual matter into the metal container as feed to maintain the Obscurus's consumption.
After finishing his experimental notes, Wade Reynolds drew down the two clusters of Obscurus magic that were still floating in the air, cut from the Obscurus's body.
"This magic can't go to waste…" Wade first tried to absorb the Obscurus magic the same way he absorbed purified residual matter.
However, the results were far from satisfactory. The absorption speed was painfully slow.
Wade had no choice but to give up, then began thinking about how to make use of this substance without causing unnecessary waste.
"At present, aside from using it to wrap Slytherin's cane, I still don't know what other uses it has… wait, wrap the cane?"
Wade's eyes suddenly lit up slightly. He immediately grabbed the wand in his hand and got to work.
…
Slytherin was currently sulking inside his own statue, within the space where the basilisk once slept.
To be honest, he was feeling rather frustrated.
In truth, Slytherin greatly appreciated Wade Reynolds.
This junior student's talent was already enough for Slytherin to overlook his background.
However, Slytherin was ultimately an extremely prideful man, and Wade showed him not the slightest bit of respect.
Whenever Wade spotted a problem, he would argue directly, completely unimpressed by the fact that Slytherin was one of the Four Founders.
More often than not, it left him with no graceful way to respond.
If Slytherin had been a broad-minded man, it might have been one thing. Unfortunately, he was notoriously narrow-minded.
Moreover, now that he had become a ghost, he could no longer use magic. Even if he wanted to hit someone, he could not.
Besides, in his current state, he might not even be able to defeat Wade Reynolds.
All of this left Slytherin feeling extremely frustrated.
"Sigh… If I hadn't attacked him when we first met, would he have shown me a bit more respect? But… can you really blame me? That was the basilisk I had raised for so many years. Anyone would lose their temper seeing their pet being dissected. And besides… a ghost suddenly gaining the ability to use magic. No matter how you look at it, someone was clearly setting me up…"
Slytherin was still muttering to himself when suddenly, an opening appeared in the wall beside him.
Judging by the position, it was the statue's mouth.
"Professor! Come out quickly! I have something good to show you!" Wade's excited voice carried in from outside.
Slytherin stared in shock at the suddenly opened "door," then stiffened his expression and floated out.
"You're not a Parselmouth… so how did you open this door?"
Wade held a mass of black mist in his hand, looking thoroughly excited.
Hearing Slytherin's question, he replied casually, "I heard Tom mutter it once and remembered it. How hard could it be? I can memorize spells far more complicated than that."
Slytherin felt even more displeased when he heard that.
His own descendant's talent was decent enough, so how had he turned out so spineless?
He had actually brought an outsider to raid the family legacy left behind by his own ancestor.
In terms of courage and presence, he did not even measure up to a Muggle-born.
If Godric and the others knew, what would they say? They would definitely claim that he had been the one in the wrong back then.
Sigh. How embarrassing. Truly embarrassing.
Wade Reynolds had no idea about Slytherin's complicated emotions.
In any case, Slytherin always wore a sour expression, as if everyone owed him several million Galleons. Wade was long since used to it.
With his negative emotions running high, it was only natural that nothing pleasant came out of Slytherin's mouth.
"What good thing? Spit it out already. Let me warn you, brat. I was just inside contemplating a highly meaningful subject, and you had to interrupt me. If you try to fob me off with some worthless junk, believe it or not, I'll haunt you every day. I won't even let you have peace when you go to the toilet."
Wade was instantly alarmed. No one wanted a head suddenly popping out of the toilet while they were using it.
Besides, ghosts were so cold to the touch. What if it froze his balls?
"That's a bit too vicious, isn't it…"
"Cut the nonsense!"
Wade Reynolds grew excited again. "Look at this."
As soon as he finished speaking, he flicked his wand lightly, and the mass of black mist drifted toward Slytherin.
"What are you doing?!" Slytherin was shocked.
The magic of an Obscurus could affect the soul. He thought Wade was trying to capture him.
By the time he tried to dodge, it was already too late.
Slytherin was directly enveloped by the mist.
"Professor, the weather's getting cold. Let me add a layer for you."
The moment Wade finished speaking, the mist surrounding Slytherin suddenly dispersed and transformed into a black wizard's robe draped over his shoulders.
"…Boy, what exactly are you doing? After all that effort, just to put clothes on a ghost that can't even feel temperature?" Slytherin scolded irritably.
In his view, with Wade's level of talent, there were far too many meaningful areas of research he could pursue. He really should not be wasting his energy on something so trivial.
"Hey, don't rush to scold me," Wade said smugly. "Feel it first. See if anything's different."
"What difference could there possibly be?" Slytherin frowned and examined himself. Suddenly, his pupils contracted sharply.
Because he suddenly felt something again after so long: magic.
Slytherin slowly descended, staring at his own hands in shock.
Then he cautiously reached out toward the scattered parchment on the table.
Unlike before, when his hand would pass straight through the surface, this time he actually grasped the parchment and gently lifted it.
"I… I have a physical body?" Slytherin murmured.
"Not a physical body. Do you remember your cane? Last time, I wrapped it with a layer of Obscurus power, which allowed it to interact with ghosts. So I had an idea. If it were turned into clothing, then ghosts should also be able to…"
Slytherin looked up, his face full of excitement. His voice trembled as he spoke to Wade.
"Give me a wand… child… give me a wand!"
Wade took out a wand he had prepared in advance and handed it over.
Slytherin extended his hand. Just before touching the wand, he hesitated for a brief moment, then quickly grabbed it.
The next second, as he stared at the wand in his hand, his eyes nearly brimmed with tears.
Slytherin loved magic.
That was why, after becoming a ghost and losing the ability to use magic, he had grown so irritable and volatile.
"Wingardium Leviosa…"
Countless spells flowed through his mind, yet Slytherin chose the most ordinary Levitation Charm.
On the table, hundreds of sheets of parchment rose into the air, swaying left and right with the movement of Slytherin's wand.
"It truly has been a long time… magic," Slytherin murmured.
Wade Reynolds planted his hands on his hips and said smugly, "Well? Does this look like worthless junk? Was it worth interrupting your very important line of thought?"
"Hahaha! To hell with that line of thought! I was just daydreaming anyway!" Slytherin suddenly burst into loud laughter. "This is no worthless trinket. In my eyes, this is the greatest invention of the century. I have never seen anything so perfect."
With a sweep of his wand, a gust of wind sent the parchments flying. In the next instant, they assembled into a long serpent made of paper, coiling and twisting through the air.
"Wade, this robe cannot be permanent. Tell me, how long will it remain effective?"
This was the first time Slytherin had addressed Wade by name in such a friendly tone.
Wade considered for a moment. "The Obscurus's magic is extremely powerful. I used two portions of its power to make that robe for you. So if you're not constantly casting powerful spells and only using magic normally, it should last about three months."
"I can only enjoy it for three months? Still, that's better than nothing." Slytherin's eyes dimmed slightly.
"How could that be? As long as the Obscurus is well fed, its power can keep regenerating. If the robe's energy runs out, I'll just make you another one. Of course, that depends on your attitude. If you keep yelling at me like before…"
"Why would I yell at you…" For the first time, Slytherin forced out a faint smile.
"That smile looks awful. I still prefer your unruly self. Why don't you try to revert to your old self?"
___
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