"All right, pay attention."
Dougt put his wand on the lock, shattered it, and slammed the box open. Then he retreated to the other corner with long strides, trying not to become the Dementor's primary target.
The next moment, the surroundings seemed to grow dim, and the box containing the Dementor looked like a black hole.
Cold... dead silence...
Adrian felt his body falling into an ice cellar, some force drawing away the heat from his body.
Then a withered, crusted palm stretched out from the box, and a strange figure in a cloak floated out.
It didn't seem to have legs, it just floated in the air. The exposed body was rotted, and bones could be seen.
Adrian had seen the pitted arms of the werewolf and Quirrell's body after being burned by flames, but they were nothing compared to the Dementor. The Dementor looked like a mummy covered in rags, only an empty body remained.
Adrian tried hard to think of happy things, but couldn't remember any at all. He just felt like he was back in the hospital bed. The devil named Pain was drawing away his only vitality bit by bit. He was unable to resist and could only sit and watch his own death approach.
Dougt took a sip of wine, his wand already in his hand, ready to step in at any time. He worried that Adrian might not be able to hold on, and only hoped this wouldn't leave any psychological scars.
The Dementor had already floated in front of Adrian by this time, breathing out cold breath. Then it gradually peeled off an illusory thing with various colors from Adrian's body and sucked it into the hollow space in its mouth.
At some point, the Dementor's dry fingers had grabbed the brim of its hood, ready to pull it back. Dougt was about to make a move but stopped again, because a wand had been shoved into the Dementor's mouth.
"Expecto Patronum!"
Under the threat of death, Adrian shouted loudly.
In the dim, dead space, color was restored. Accompanied by a neighing sound, dazzling light pierced the Dementor's body, then more light poured through its tattered cloak.
A silent wailing sound shook the surrounding air. The light body of the Dementor seemed to have received a heavy blow. Its figure grew somewhat transparent, and it flew backward, finally getting pushed into the box under the pressure of white mist.
The white mist was about to pour in when the box suddenly slammed shut, Dougt had walked over to the box at some point and started cleaning up the mess.
"How do you feel? Are you okay? I don't have chocolate here, but maybe you can drink a little... wine?" Dougt asked with concern.
"No, I'm fine. The wine's fine too." Adrian shook his head, then glanced at the system panel.
The Patronus Charm had been promoted directly to Level 3. The pressure this time had been intense. It was worth noting that he'd deliberately not used Occlumency to resist the Dementor's ability to absorb happiness.
"Let's go again!" Adrian spent a few minutes adjusting his emotions, then continued.
"So fast? Don't you want to take a break?" Dougt raised his eyebrows.
"Go on!" Adrian insisted.
With a word, Dougt opened the box, and the Dementor rushed out again. Its face was hidden in the cloak, but for some reason, Adrian could feel the creature's anger.
"Expecto Patronum!" Facing the Dementor again, Adrian was already familiar with the process, and his fear had reduced considerably. More importantly, the skill upgrade had helped him find happiness.
The white mist reappeared, this time more than before. It even faintly condensed into the shape of a Patronus. The white mist wrapped around the Dementor's body and pressed it back into the box again.
[Ding!]
[After practice, the proficiency of the Patronus Charm has greatly improved!]
"Huh..." Adrian looked at the prompts in the system bar with satisfaction. Facing Dementors to practice the Patronus Charm really did increase proficiency quickly.
In that case, he might be able to raise it to Level 4 in one afternoon.
Thinking about this, Adrian said excitedly, "Let's continue!"
Dougt's expression was strange. The Dementor's horrible ability to absorb pleasure and create pain made even many adult wizards reluctant to face them.
He hadn't expected that Adrian would not only endure the pressure but actually become more and more excited. Though a bit puzzled, Dougt still did as asked.
Coming out of the box for the third time, the Dementor looked like a black rag pressing on its flat body as it rushed toward Adrian, but it got tangled in the white mist and defeated by Adrian.
For the fourth time, the Dementor wanted to escape, but Dougt cast the Patronus Charm and pushed it back into the box again.
The fifth time...
The sixth time...
Adrian was having a great time. The Level 3 charm wasn't enough to kill the Dementor, so he could practice safely and boldly.
And every time proficiency increased made him happier.
[Ding!]
[After practice, the proficiency of the Patronus Charm has greatly improved!]
[Patronus Charm rose to Level 4, current proficiency (1/1600), and 20 grade points awarded!]
After defeating the Dementor for the eleventh time, the system prompt finally sounded in Adrian's mind.
The white mist floating around slowly condensed, and the long neigh of the unicorn became clearly audible in the basement.
Dougt raised his eyebrows. He'd already noticed the difference in Adrian's Patronus Charm but thought it was related to Irene, so he hadn't asked.
Now he was curious about what exactly Adrian's Patronus was.
However, the Patronus that had faintly condensed into a horse shape turned back into white mist at the last moment. Dougt shook his head and sighed.
Adrian didn't have any disappointed look on his face because he'd done it deliberately this time.
Although Dougt was one of the few people who could be trusted according to his memories, they'd only known each other for less than a day. The Unicorn's Shadow was his biggest trump card. Of course, the fewer people who knew about it, the better.
"Do you want to continue?" Dougt asked.
Adrian nodded. Since the Patronus Charm was related to his blood magic, the higher the level, the better. Now that he finally had the opportunity to have a Dementor as a sparring partner, of course he'd practice as much as he could.
However, after Dougt opened the box for the twelfth time, Adrian, standing to the side, didn't see the Dementor attack for a long time.
Just as Adrian wondered whether the Dementor had been killed, a rotted arm stretched out, clutching the lid and closing the box with a "bang."
It apparently thought staying in the box was just fine and didn't want to come out.
Adrian stood in front of the box blankly, completely not expecting the Dementor to react like this.
He turned his head and looked at Dougt with a strange expression.
Dougt was also confused and said awkwardly, "Um... I think it may be tired today and needs a rest. Or we can try again tomorrow."
"Aren't Dementors supposed to be dark, cruel, and mindless creatures?" Adrian said quietly.
"That's right, but they still have some intelligence and can understand commands. Otherwise the Ministry of Magic wouldn't use Dementors to guard Azkaban," Dougt explained.