And if it was purely joyful emotion, would the "residue" still provide such a strong enhancement?
This new hypothesis made Wade excited all over again.
Wade picked up his wand, preparing to extract some joyful emotion from himself.
But… if he couldn't feel joy, that would also affect the results of the experiment.
Hmm...
Thinking of this, Wade's wicked gaze fell upon the happy little kneazle dozing in the distance.
"Sorry, little kitty… I promise to give you two more sweet dreams afterward, okay?"
The peaceful expression on the sleeping kneazle's face was gradually covered by a looming shadow...
…
"So that's how it is…" Wade said, a bit disappointed, as he extracted the "residue" from his own body.
This time, the "residue" was pure white—completely different from the previous type that had black tinged with red and silver.
Overall, it felt fundamentally different too.
Wade had previously absorbed a small amount of the other kind of "residue" by accident, which had triggered the early awakening of the ancient magic within him.
That "residue" gave a strange sense of pleasure upon being absorbed, stemming from the sudden surge in strength.
But within that pleasure was a subtle and peculiar sense of guilt.
That sense of guilt was like the feeling of secretly doing something enjoyable in the past and then being afraid of being caught...
But this entirely new kind of "residue" also brought a sense of joy.
However, this joy was pure and clean—completely free from guilt.
It felt like the kind of happiness one gets from playing a game of Quidditch—legitimate and guilt-free.
Unfortunately, after testing, Wade discovered that this white "residue" only provided a limited increase to one's base magical strength.
It wasn't nearly as potent as the enhancement offered by the earlier type of "residue."
The reason, upon analysis, was that the previous kind contained all kinds of emotions.
In other words, using that kind of "residue" to strengthen oneself allowed compatibility with spells that required a wide range of emotions!
Because different spells required different emotional states, the diverse emotions in the earlier "residue" covered them all.
But this white version… seemed only useful for enhancing spells like the Patronus Charm.
And because it only carried one kind of emotion and lacked the intensity of a full emotional spectrum, its ability to strengthen a wizard's magic was also weaker compared to the more complex kind...
"Mixed emotions, huh…" Wade didn't dwell on the disappointment for long before diving into his next experiment.
This time, Wade used ancient magic to analyze the composite-emotion residue.
He patiently separated the emotions contained within, broadly dividing them into three major categories—joy, anger, and sorrow—each stored in its own glass vial.
This task consumed a significant amount of time...
Then, with the same patience, he carefully measured out equal portions of each emotional category and, using ancient magic once more, extracted them into a new form of "residue."
In this new residue, the three types of emotions—each in equal measure—were forcibly bound together by ancient magic to form a state of equilibrium.
The moment Wade extracted this residue, he could sense the immense power it contained.
According to his theory, if all the emotional energies were present in equal amounts and kept in perfect balance, they would cancel each other out and thus have no effect on the user's emotional state.
However, after absorbing this newly crafted residue, Wade found that he gained no boost in power at all.
He helplessly drew the residue out of himself again.
It was truly a case of "live by balance, die by balance."
Even though this residue contained far greater enhancing potential than any of the previous ones, its perfectly balanced state neutralized not only the negative effects—but also completely canceled out any of the positive ones.
That was a little awkward…
Wade adjusted the composition of the residue again.
Fortunately, he remembered the emotional ratio used in the residue Morganach had once extracted.
So he intentionally swapped the proportions of joy and anger.
The previous residue had severe side effects precisely because the proportion of anger was too high—and anger, as a category of emotion, contains hatred, which is essential for many dark magic spells.
Now, sorrow remained unchanged, but the proportions of anger and joy were switched.
This time, the resulting residue became a mist of silver tinged with red, and red tinged with black…
After Wade absorbed this new residue—
"It works!"
He was delighted to find that the side effects of this residue were drastically reduced compared to the previous versions!
And the enhancement effect had barely diminished at all!
Of course, side effects still existed—it felt somewhat like drinking too much euphoria potion, making him a little overly excited…
Although the side effects still weren't ideal… it was already a huge improvement.
If he ultimately couldn't find a better solution, then he'd have to convert the residue inside Senior's body into a completely balanced form before absorption—that way, there'd be no side effects at all.
Of course, in that case, there wouldn't be any enhancement effect either.
But at least the massive amount of residue wouldn't go to waste. In the future, once Senior recovered, they could explore its usage together.
Wade tidied up the lab once more, and then returned the happiness he had extracted from the kneazle back into its body.
Just as he finished transferring the happy emotions, the kneazle opened its eyes.
Wade was slightly startled.
So it was simply that the experiment had taken too long—the kneazle had naturally woken up from sleep.
"Well then, thank you very much for your help. I'll take you home now."
The kneazle didn't make a sound, just quietly stared at Wade.
Seeing that it didn't try to attack, Wade cautiously reached out his hand.
Very strange—this kneazle not only showed no signs of resistance, but even rubbed its head affectionately against Wade's palm.
"Hm? What's going on?" Wade was a little surprised.
Although he didn't know the reason, since the kneazle wasn't rejecting him, Wade picked it up and Apparated back to the spot in the Forbidden Forest where he had originally caught it.
"Go on, now."
Wade set the kneazle down and prepared to leave.
However, he quickly felt his robe being tugged.
Turning around, he saw that the kneazle had bitten onto the hem of his robe.
Seeing the affection in its eyes, Wade suddenly understood.
According to the books, once a kneazle becomes fond of a witch or wizard, it will become their most loyal pet...
This kneazle clearly liked Wade!
Wade frowned in thought for a moment, then suddenly realized.
It must have woken up just as he returned its joyful emotions, and then...
In its eyes, Wade had become someone who could bring it happiness.
And there's no creature that doesn't like someone who brings them joy.
The kneazle was no exception.
So…
"Hiss… Don't tell me you want to come with me?" Wade asked.
"Kyuueow~"
"Uh… but wizards need a license to keep a kneazle… and I don't have one yet…"
"Kyuueow~"
"Alright, alright! You can come with me. But—without my permission, you're not allowed to harm anyone!"
Thinking about the kneazle's special abilities, Wade ultimately decided to take the creature back with him.
"Meow!" the kneazle nodded, quite human-like.
"Hiss... as expected of a magical creature! You can even understand human speech!" Wade said in surprise.
"Mm... but I can't take you back like this... at least not until I get a permit. You can't look like a kneazle for now." Wade raised his wand. "If you're going to follow me, I'll have to change your appearance."
Suddenly, Wade grinned mischievously.
Moments later, the kneazle's appearance had completely changed. It became a short-haired British Blue and White with beautiful blue fur and white "socks."
The kneazle awkwardly licked its tail, then looked up at Wade with pitiful eyes.
"Alright, from today on, your name shall be Tom!" Wade said cheerfully.
"Ack—choo!" Back at Hogwarts Castle, Tom suddenly let out a huge sneeze.
"Huh? What's going on? Why do I feel like someone just called my name?"
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