The others also looked over in surprise and curiosity, wondering why the scrying mirror was making noise.
When the middle-aged man saw this, his face immediately changed, and he fled toward the door without a word.
But before he could escape a few steps, Edward directly froze him with a Petrificus Totalus.
As the man remained in a rigid posture, his face filled with terror, Edward snorted coldly, then turned to Mayor Graeme and said, "This person harbors ill intentions and is very suspicious. I'll leave him to you, Mayor Graeme, for interrogation."
"Uh… alright!" Mayor Graeme was also taken aback by this scene, but he quickly nodded.
He had also noticed that for those who were eliminated earlier, even if they were disloyal, the scrying mirror only emitted a faint glow.
However, this person not only made the scrying mirror blaze dazzlingly bright but also caused it to emit frantic warning cries. This indicated that he was not only disloyal but filled with malice, so much so that the scrying mirror itself reacted violently.
The appearance of such a malevolent person in Bree City, and his success in passing the first two rounds of assessment, was clearly unusual.
As the Mayor of Bree City, Graeme naturally had a duty to take responsibility.
So, he temporarily put aside watching the assessment, pulled out his wand, waved it to conjure chains to bind the man, then levitated him out of the room to be handed over to the militia for detention and later interrogation.
By the time he finished handling the matter and returned to the assessment site, the evaluation had just concluded.
Among the remaining people, no one else caused the scrying mirror to give frantic warnings like before.
But looking at the dwindling number of successful candidates, Mayor Graeme felt even more depressed.
Because out of the original two hundred and forty people, only one hundred and twenty-two remained after the third round of elimination, nearly half had been cut.
For the five hundred Wizard slots, Bree City now accounted for only one hundred and twenty-two, which was too great a disparity.
He could only hope that the number of people in Hogsmeade would not be too different from Bree's, otherwise he wouldn't know how to face Lord Sylas.
After the three rounds of assessment were completed, Edward declined Mayor Graeme's invitation and went to Hogsmeade through the fireplace to conduct the same three rounds of assessment there.
As for the one hundred and twenty-two people who passed all assessments, they were informed that they had secured a Wizard slot and would proceed to the Castle on the chosen day to acquire magical abilities.
Among these people, a large portion were militiamen, as well as elders like Barliman Buttercup, and more than a dozen women and young girls.
Especially those dozen or so women, who were particularly eye-catching.
In Middle-earth, especially in human society, the status of women was not high; they were dependent on men for their existence, much like in the medieval era.
And these women, who were able to stand out from tens of thousands of people in Bree City and become part of the final one hundred and twenty-two, were enough to make many look at them with newfound respect.
Mayor Graeme even treated these successful candidates with equal respect in both tone and attitude.
After all, although these people were currently ordinary, they would all soon become Wizards, an honor enough to command respect.
Edward also set up three trials in Hogsmeade to select Wizard candidates.
Perhaps it was because it lay at the foot of Weathertop, close to the Castle and to Lord Sylas himself, where residents could more frequently witness the wonders of magic.
Compared to the people of Bree City, the residents of Hogsmeade yearned for magic even more deeply.
Therefore, the number of participants in the assessments was far greater and more enthusiastic.
In the first round of the fire wall trial, nearly three thousand people successfully passed, the figure was almost double that of Bree City.
In the second round, the willpower trial, more than five hundred people successfully passed.
And in the third round, the loyalty test, two hundred and eighty-seven people passed.
Mayor Luke already knew the number of successful candidates from Bree City. Now that his own city had more than double Bree's count, and that his daughter was among them, he burst into laughter.
The total number of Wizard slots from both cities was now four hundred and nine, still short of the target five hundred by ninety-one.
However, one must not forget that under Lord Sylas's command, besides these two cities, there were also the Wild Men of Isengard.
Following Lord Sylas's instructions, Edward went once again, this time to Isengard through the fireplace, to conduct the same three rounds of assessment for the Wild Men.
Finally, one hundred and thirty-one Wild Men passed the assessment.
Thus, the total number reached five hundred and forty, already exceeding the previously stipulated quota.
Edward returned to the Castle and reported this to Lord Sylas.
Sylas didn't mind the excess at all; he was extremely satisfied with Edward's work.
After three rounds of rigorous screening, the remaining candidates were all elites, possessing courage, willpower, and, most importantly, unwavering loyalty to him.
Such elites, after undergoing transformation, would all become Wizards loyal to him.
So Sylas simply waved his hand, gathered all those who had passed the three rounds of assessment, brought them to Hogwarts Castle, and began performing the bloodline fusion ritual to transform them into Wizards.
As for the issue of exceeding the number and the shortage of dragon blood, Sylas stated that there was still Frost Dragon blood left unused, and if necessary, he could go to the Dragon Farm to draw fresh blood from the dragons there, afterward feeding them blood-replenishing Potions to recover.
Moreover, besides dragon blood, Sylas also considered using other parts of the dragon as substitutes, such as dragon meat. Though the magic power it contained was not as pure or potent as dragon blood, the difference could be made up for in quantity.
After all, he had so many dragon corpses that he could never exhaust them all.
When the more than five hundred chosen individuals gathered at Hogwarts Castle, Sylas personally took charge of the men, while the women were entrusted to Arwen.
Following the principle of "ladies first," Sylas had Arwen lead the women to the "Pool" to undergo fusion with dragon blood.
The women from Bree City, Hogsmeade, and the Wild Men who passed the assessments numbered nearly a hundred.
Facing the beautiful and gentle Lady of the Castle, none of the women could feel jealousy or fear.
Arwen was like a kind and serene goddess, treating everyone equally, overlooking no one, radiating a gentle aura that soothed even the most anxious hearts.
Under her guidance, the women slowly shed their hesitation, removed their garments, and one by one stepped into the scalding, churning blood pool.
Although they had once experienced the pain through the illusions of the earlier assessments, truly immersing themselves now in the magma-like, blood-red Potion was a torment beyond words, the agony of tendons being pulled and marrow being extracted, the sensation of their very blood being burned and replaced.
But even under such suffering, these women clenched their teeth and endured, refusing to yield even if death awaited them.
Almost all of them had faced hardship and oppression all their lives; their spirits were tempered like steel. Their determination surpassed that of many men.
For them, this was not just a ritual, it was a rebirth. If they succeeded, they would no longer be powerless or looked down upon; they would rise above their suffering and command the power of magic itself.
Arwen stood beside the Witchcraft Pool, watching their struggle, and her heart filled with compassion. A soft, silvery light, like starlight over still water, began to flow from her body as she whispered an ancient Elvish prayer.
"May the Valar bless you… and take away your pain."
Bathed in the gentle light, the women's faces slowly eased. The unbearable pain dulled, and their expressions softened into peaceful sleep, as if wrapped in a divine dream.
Soon, each woman became encased in a blood cocoon, suspended between death and rebirth.
The hall fell silent, the only sound the faint bubbling of the crimson pool.
Arwen waited patiently, her calm gaze never wavering. There was no trace of haste or worry, only quiet faith, her presence as gentle as moonlight over snow.
Finally, one by one, the blood cocoons began to tremble. Cracks spread across their surfaces, and then, like butterflies breaking free of chrysalises, the women emerged.
Their eyes shone with new brilliance, their skin radiant, their movements graceful and assured.
They had been reborn, no longer mere mortals, but true Witches.