Looking at the approaching Kelpies, Sean continued forward while taking time to open his status panel for a glance.
Previously, when Sean had fought Scrimgeour and Dawlish, most of the magic he obtained overlapped with what he already possessed. Only a Level 4 Stunning Spell from Scrimgeour was a small surprise.
Later, the two abilities gained from Scull also overlapped with those extracted from Fenrir. At that point, Sean knew fighting ordinary wizards would most likely not yield any effective improvements.
Even if he could improve some magic levels, most would struggle to exceed Level 3. The vast majority of wizards only mastered magic at Level 3. Over time and with increasing frequency, there wouldn't be much room for improvement, since ordinary wizards only knew the conventional magic taught in magical schools.
Perhaps occasionally there might be magic; they were exceptionally skilled at reaching Level 4, like Scrimgeour's Stunning Spell he'd just extracted, but extracting it depended on luck. The possibility of drawing the highest-level magic from one or two battles was extremely low.
From this, Sean knew he'd officially ended his period of rapid growth. Now he could only duel various magical creatures, like the giants already in his plans, or seek out powerful wizards for duels. Top-tier ones like Dumbledore or Voldemort, or second-tier ones like Order of the Phoenix members, Death Eaters, or the Ministry's elite Aurors.
For example, after fighting Scrimgeour, that elite Auror, he'd obtained a Level 4 Stunning Spell. A considerable improvement.
Additionally, when Sean repelled those Grindylows earlier, he received about five ability extraction notifications. But all five only granted one ability: underwater movement, basically swimming. Apart from making Sean's current swimming speed slightly faster, it was utterly useless.
This showed that many weak magical creatures, while not completely unnecessary to fight, mostly yielded abilities of little use after duelling.
Whether magical creatures or wizards, Sean now ultimately needed to target stronger beings.
During his contemplation, the three Kelpies had reached the area around Sean. They transformed, taking the shapes of thick water serpents, approaching Sean from three directions to entangle and bite him.
Seeing this, Sean raised his wand and used the Impediment Jinx, creating dark underwater currents that directly collided with the three Kelpies in serpent form, knocking them away.
Simultaneously, Sean waved his wand again, firing three blazing water jets that struck the three serpent-formed Kelpies. Sean had used Stunning Spells, but the hit Kelpies didn't fall unconscious. Instead, they hissed and fled into the distance, disappearing from Sean's sight.
At this moment, his panel showed three more notifications. Sean continued forward while checking the extracted abilities.
[Duel Won!]
[Conditions Met: Victory Against Multiple Aquatic Magical Beasts.]
[System Commencing Random Ability Extraction from Defeated Targets: Kelpie #1, Kelpie #2, and Kelpie #3.]
[Opponent Strength Assessment: Moderate. Drawing Two Abilities Each.]
[Extracting...]
Sean felt a fluid, rippling sensation flow through his muscles, as if his very form had become more adaptable to water, followed by the phantom feeling of currents pulling him forward with supernatural speed.
[Extraction Complete!]
[Raw Abilities Acquired: Undercurrent Sprint, Body Shapeshifting]
[Warning: Extracted object is not the same species as host. Cannot perfectly inherit. Searching for solutions...]
[Searching...]
[Based on host personality, search complete.]
[Modifying extracted abilities to match host's racial characteristics and physical condition.]
[Modification Complete!]
[Processing Multiple Identical Abilities - Consolidating...]
[New Ability Acquired: Undercurrent Swimming LV4 (Animagus form exclusive ability)]
[New Ability Acquired: Body Shapeshifting LV3 (Animagus form exclusive ability)]
All three Kelpies granted the same abilities, just at different levels. After higher levels overwrote lower ones, he was left with Level 4 Undercurrent Swimming and Level 3 Body Shapeshifting.
Undercurrent Swimming, as the name suggested, was an underwater movement ability. This ability compensated for his Animagus form's inability to move underwater, but there was a problem. Sean's Animagus form hadn't gained underwater breathing ability, meaning to move underwater, he'd still need to hold his breath.
Quite frustrating!
However, compared to Undercurrent Swimming's frustration, Body Shapeshifting gave Sean some pleasant surprises.
This ability allowed Sean's Animagus to shapeshift into different animal forms. Note that the transformed animals could only be ordinary animals, not magical creatures. Originally this ability only allowed transformation into animals of similar body size, unable to become too large or small. But Sean's Serpent King Body talent, which had absorbed the Occamy's ability to freely change size, combined with this new ability meant Sean's Animagus form could now become any animal!
Learning one Animagus, gaining countless Animagus forms. Profitable beyond measure. He'd struck it rich.
You had to know that in some extreme situations, transforming into ordinary animals could often achieve amazing effects.
His Animagus form was truly racing forward unstoppably on the path of growing stronger. At this rate, the White Serpent King would be Sean's true body, with the human form merely a disguise.
Making this self-deprecating observation, Sean continued forward and finally saw the abyss at the bottom of the Black Lake.
Looking at the pitch-black lake canyon below, Sean took a deep breath and slowly swam down. Unfortunately, his White Serpent King form couldn't breathe underwater. Once transformed, the potion he'd taken would lose effect. Otherwise, transforming into the White Serpent King would be very convenient right now.
As he gradually went deeper, mermaid songs began to sound.
Mermaids and mermen were two sides of the same species.
Mermaids had human torsos with fish tails, mostly female, each extremely beautiful with enchanting voices. Their songs could even attract sailors on ships to jump into the sea. Then mermaids would approach to drag the sailors underwater, help them breathe below the surface, and after mating underwater, the mermaids would eat their partners as nutrition for their foetuses, giving birth to new offspring. Mermaids are mostly female.
However, since human wizards became increasingly dominant, they'd negotiated with mermaids. They could choose to mate with humans but couldn't kill them and had to report to the Ministry afterwards for memory modification of those humans. In return, the Ministry would provide nutritious food to replace the human fathers as sustenance for the mothers.
As for mermen, mostly male and ugly, they mated with mermaids, and their offspring were inevitably mermen. They held lower status within the group but had strong bodies and high magical resistance. Compared to mermaids, these mermen were actually more dangerous to human wizards.
Of course, Sean was an exception.