"What are you holding in your hand?"

Riddle asked curiously.

Hearing this.

Ian immediately frowned, "I was planning to ask you about this just now. This is something I found in Slytherin's Secret Chamber. Why did you leave it there when you opened the chamber back then?"

"Are there other chess pieces in the chamber?" The little wizard tried to get some clues from Riddle, but Riddle looked even more bewildered upon hearing this.

"What chess pieces?"

Riddle couldn't be pretending; he couldn't hide his true emotions in front of Ian. He indeed felt bewildered, completely unaware of what Ian was referring to.

"When you emptied Slytherin's Secret Chamber, weren't there any chess pieces or chessboard in it?" Ian squinted his eyes involuntarily, feeling a bit surprised inside.

"There was certainly nothing like that. Slytherin left behind many documents, research materials, and some ancient tools, but none of those were treasures."

"They can only be considered items stored there in Slytherin's laboratory." Riddle replied honestly, once again glancing at the chess piece in Ian's hand.

"Are you saying you found this in a chamber that was supposedly empty?" His eyes slightly flickered, as the Black Demon King was not a fool and sensed something unusual.

"Yes."

Ian nodded affirmatively.

Riddle hesitated for a moment, speaking with an uncertain tone, "Actually, I, or should I say Voldemort, have always had a suspicion that Slytherin might not have died."

His words suddenly gave the little wizard some thoughts.

Indeed.

If Merlin could live for millennia.

As a fellow legend.

Surely, Slytherin could as well.

Or rather, all four founding figures could find a way to evade, to conquer death.

"It seems someone entered the chamber after you emptied it, though it's unknown if it was Slytherin himself." Ian toyed with the chess piece still emitting a faint light in his hand.

His face showed no trace of emotional fluctuation.

"Uh... Stop mentioning that I emptied the chamber. You should know, for students like us from a wizard background, acquiring some wealth in the Magic World isn't that simple."

Riddle was somewhat sensitive.

He tried to build empathy with Ian.

However.

"Not simple?"

Ian gave a completely contradictory response, "I find it rather easy; since entering the Wizarding World, I've never lacked money. Do you know I got an entire street in Diagon Alley for free?"

"Pure-blood clans were eager to give it to me! They wouldn't relent when I refused!" He continued, swinging the keychain he never took off in front of Riddle.

"..."

The young Black Demon King only felt a numbing sensation.

Nearly couldn't hold his composure.

He truly felt a rising sense of frustration. Both being rising stars, why were the families that showed goodwill towards him not so generous with him!?

"Oh, by the way, where's that bizarre thing I asked you to keep?" Ian was content, then recalled his prize, the peculiar creature hidden in the shadows.

"Over there."

Riddle pointed to the corner of the room.

Behold.

The shadow creature was crammed into a glass bottle, though it kept yelling and hitting the bottle inside, no sound was emitted.

Riddle must have cast a Silencing Charm on it, annoyed by the commotion.

"This weird thing... huh?" Ian picked up the bottle from the corner and was suddenly surprised to find that he could actually discern the creature within the shadows!

Behold.

Within the mass of shadows.

There indeed was a special soul body resembling a gray wolf.

Its fur was dense and rough, exhibiting a deep gray tone, blending with the shadows, its eyes gleaming with ghostly green light, resembling two burning flames.

Seeing Ian approaching.

The soundless gray wolf still bared its teeth at Ian, revealing sharp fangs, its mouth moving as though muttering, relentlessly slapping the bottle as if silently roaring.

"What could be causing this?" Ian's mind sparked with inquiry, why couldn't he see this soul body before, yet now it was so clear?

Clearly, only half a day had passed.

"Can you see what's inside this?" Ian asked with some astonishment, looking back at Riddle with uncertainty as Riddle observed Malfoy's condition after taking the Magic Potion.

"Of course, just a mass of shadows." Riddle answered, "I just researched it a bit, they are somewhat similar to Soul Artifacts, but they are complete souls."

"Maybe it's a means to escape the clutches of the God of Death?" He also voiced his speculation and judgment, yet the information Ian sought wasn't of this nature.

"Only I can see it."

With a thoughtful expression, Ian turned his attention back to the glass bottle.

The large gray wolf's form was still clearly visible, under the semi-transparent fur were runes seemingly not of this era stirring—the most peculiar were its pupils reflecting some imagery.

Images Ian had once seen on Cassandra's forehead—the Raven's Claw.

"Hiss!"

Ian recalled the soul hall name mentioned by the big gray wolf earlier, his heartbeat suddenly quickened, seemingly realizing something, he directly began to employ his newly acquired abilities.

Behold.

Ian's body began to transform. His bones emitting a slight cracking sound, dark feathers surfaced on his skin, his arms expanding into broad wings. In the blink of an eye, he transformed into a raven, with feathers as profound as the night, his eyes sparkling with a cold light, as eerie as a crimson moon.

It was just when he completed the transformation.

Sure enough.

The wolf in the bottle abruptly ceased its bottle-thumping activity. Its body froze in place, as if directly suspended, the original ferocity and cunning in its ghostly green wolf eyes vanished.

Replaced by profound astonishment.

"%￥#@,￥#@§№☆!!!!"

This wasn't cursing.

However, the gray wolf with erect fur opened and closed its mouth. But the lip movements formed by its wolf mouth, incomprehensible to the little wizard who only knew human lip reading—Ian merely saw the large gray wolf within the bottle, shrouded in shadow, tremble as its four legs buckled, kneeling on the bottom of the bottle.