[You gained new Transfiguration knowledge. Transfiguration experience +11] [You gained new Transfiguration knowledge. Transfiguration experience +3]
Will put down the book and thought for a moment. No wonder this fourteenth-century book had ended up in the Chamber of Secrets. Someone from the Gaunt family must have brought it in.
He knew that a man named Corvinus Gaunt had helped build Hogwarts's plumbing. Corvinus had also hidden the Chamber of Secrets even more thoroughly.
Will ran a hand over the book's cover, his head aching a little. Transfiguration was a major branch of magic in the Wizarding World, one countless wizards had studied throughout history.
To Will, the most useful part of this Gaunt family Dark Wizard's research was that changes to the body could affect the soul.
In this world, the soul was the foundation of a person. A twisted soul could twist the body, and a divided soul could change it—Voldemort was proof enough of that.
Dumbledore had also explained that an Animagus used the power of nature to transform the soul, which then affected the body and brought about a remarkable change.
What this Dark Wizard had done was the reverse: he had twisted the soul by distorting the body and one's sense of self. Most importantly, he had succeeded.
Will had two advantages. First, he could observe changes in magical structures, allowing him to act on the soul through changes to both those structures and the body. Second, his second Bonus Ability from Magic LV.max strengthened the connections between his body, magic, and soul.
And he was well prepared. Will carefully reviewed the methods he knew for aiding an Animagus transformation: rituals, self-exploration, magical structures, the subconscious, and Soul Transfiguration.
His current preparations were more than enough to become an Animagus. Becoming a