Cohen watched as Dumbledore muttered a few words before leaving the scene.
He didn't try to take the Philosopher's Stone from Cohen's hand—perhaps he didn't want Cohen's blood splattering on him, or maybe because the stone had shrunk to less than the size of a fingernail and was beyond saving.
In any case, the stone belonged to Cohen now. If anyone wanted it, they'd have to fish it out of his liquid-cursed blood.
Cohen slipped back into his body, and a strange sensation enveloped his soul from all directions.
The Philosopher's Stone had truly melted into him. That thick, almost tangible magic surged chaotically through his body, and upon discovering his soul, it flooded into it like a tidal wave.
Warmth, comfort—the embrace of that magic made Cohen's soul feel like it had returned to the womb, as if he were submerged in a warm, breathable liquid, naturally curling up into a ball.
Then Cohen saw that dream again: the smooth, rounded bottle, the shrieking swarm of ghosts surrounding it. In this dream, Cohen devoured everything in sight. The bottle shattered, and tall humans exclaimed in shock, their fleeing figures scattering in all directions.
But it was futile. In the dream, Cohen killed every human he saw—driven solely by the sweet scent of their souls.
Most animals met the same fate, though two were spared by the dream-Cohen. They felt familiar to him—familiar enough not to kill.
As he consumed more souls, the dream-Cohen's vision grew sharper. He paused just before extracting the last person's soul.
The dream-Cohen let him go, as if clinging to some remnant of a past life's memory.
The dream ended there.
It was an unusually vivid dream. Cohen even caught a glimpse of his other bloodline's origin—a long, slithering black shadow. He guessed it was a snake.
A basilisk? Or maybe a horned serpent?
But Cohen didn't see any horns on that shadow, nor had he ever noticed himself petrifying anyone with a glare—if he could, half the school might already be dead.
Did the researchers in that lab include a Parselmouth?
Cohen recalled that the only known Parselmouths left were Voldemort and Harry. The Gaunt family should have died out by now.
That wasn't the point, though. The real question was whether Cohen could inherit anything snake-related, like the ability to speak Parseltongue.
He decided to find a snake and test if he could talk to it—he'd never actually tried before.
[Ding! Successfully prevented Tom Riddle from obtaining the Philosopher's Stone. Good side quest (1/7) completed. Goodwill Points +1000. Reward "Deathstalker Cloak" now available for claiming.]
The system's reward notification chimed in belatedly after Cohen returned to his body.
Both the "Deathstalker Cloak" and "Frost Lament" were stored in his system inventory upon claiming them.
Their descriptions had a strong Dungeons & Dragons vibe, almost making Cohen wonder if Edward had created this system—though that seemed unlikely. Edward probably didn't have access to such lavish rewards to give him.
**[Deathstalker Cloak]**
**[Description: Turns hills and valleys into gateways leading to endless screams.]**
**[Passive - Shadow Itself: When you consume a creature's soul, you and your belongings gain invisibility for 20 minutes.]**
No restrictions on the type of creature's soul…
That meant Cohen could stockpile a bunch of small critters and snack on one whenever he needed to go invisible.
Was this *really* a reward for the good path?
Cohen felt reward was tempting him to go on a killing spree…
The other reward was a weapon—
**[Description: The cold wind stirs, awaiting its release.]**
**[Passive - Heart of Ice: Any damage inflicted with this weapon (spells, cantrips, or physical attacks) causes frost to form at the target area.]**
It looked pretty cool—a silver-white long-handled weapon that gleamed metallically, about ten centimeters taller than Cohen himself. At the top sat a pale blue, diamond-shaped ice crystal that radiated a faint chill.
Good news: it could double as a wand. Cohen tested it, and it worked just as well as his regular one.
Bad news: it was too heavy. Cohen would need a few more years before he could swing it easily—and many spells required wand-waving.
So, it got relegated to the sidelines. Maybe he'd use it to bash something later, especially with its bonus freezing effect.
Verdict: a pretty toy.
Maybe he could hug it to cool off in the summer.
After checking the system rewards, Cohen turned his attention to the changes in himself. He'd just "swallowed" a Philosopher's Stone whole—there had to be *some* effect, right?
**[Soul Integrity: 30%]**
Cohen remembered his soul integrity was already at 27.2% before the mission. The Philosopher's Stone shouldn't have only boosted it by this little, right?
He couldn't even sense the magic from the melted stone anymore—it should've been fully absorbed by now.
Was the stone's main function not about soul repair?
Unconvinced, Cohen left his body again—and that's when he noticed the difference.
His soul had become… more *solid*.
Or rather, Cohen could now make his soul take on a physical form. And since his soul resembled a Dementor's, it meant he might actually…
A purebred one, at that.
Cohen tested it. When he intentionally materialized his soul, he could touch objects in the real world, carrying all the traits of a Dementor. The air around him grew cold—the water in a nearby vase froze when his soul approached.
[Ding! Special Ability Unlocked: Undead Spirit (10/10)]
[Note: Your soul has successfully acquired nearly all Dementor abilities, becoming a Non-being. You're no longer a mudblood.]
Maxed out. Completely maxed out.
Cohen mentally apologized to the Philosopher's Stone—he'd spoken too soon.
Worthy of an ancient alchemical masterpiece, it delivered a top-tier ability right out of the gate.
Just the power to freely materialize his soul into a Dementor form was downright game-breaking.
Sure, Cohen could already transform into a Dementor, but his physical body couldn't phase through walls like his soul could.
Soul integrity could grow slowly over time—what Cohen craved most was mechanics .
Tonight was destined to be a night too exciting to sleep through.
But growth had to continue—while Voldemort couldn't kill Cohen, Cohen couldn't kill Voldemort either.
With all his plans complete, Cohen decided to ditch the idea of faking his death to skip finals. The timeline was too long, and he didn't want to make Edward and Rose overly sad.
Scaring Dumbledore was fine, but dragging his adoptive parents into it felt a bit too reckless.
Of course, things always go awry just when everything seems to be going smoothly, and Cohen had to tweak his plans again due to an unexpected twist.
The next day, Edward and Rose rushed to the school in a panic. Beside Cohen's "corpse," they got into a one-sided shouting match with Dumbledore.
What delayed Cohen's revival was something Dumbledore said afterward.
Dumbledore mentioned a way to bring Cohen back—and someone who could help—
Now Cohen didn't need to concoct some convoluted reason for his resurrection.