The Dittany has finally matured!
Luke looked at the two tall and beautiful dittany plants, but he had no thought of pity. He pulled out his bone-chopping knife and cut both dittany plants at the root with two strokes.
He set up a pot, chopped the dittany into small pieces, and threw them into the pot to steam.
Once the dittany was thoroughly cooked, Luke stopped the fire, filtered out the residue with a cloth, leaving only the juice. Then he re-boiled it until the juice evaporated, leaving a thick layer of green paste at the bottom of the pot.
And this was the household essential Potion in the magic world—Essence of Dittany.
It was also the only Potion that didn't require a wand for stirring and was simple to make. Yet, its healing effect was remarkably significant, capable of healing most injuries except those caused by Dark Arts.
Luke packed the Essence of Dittany into two jars, one large and one small. He kept the large one for himself as a spare, and the small one he gave to Drogo Baggins to thank him for his hospitality these past few days.
Drogo looked at the ointment in the jar with surprise and curiosity. "Luke, what is this?"
"This is a Potion I made. It can heal wounds. I'm giving it to you for emergencies," Luke explained. He took out the mouse from the cage, made a small cut on its body with a small knife, and the mouse immediately bled profusely, screaming continuously.
Drogo was startled by this scene, looking at Luke as if he were an evil Wizard.
However, the next moment, when he saw Luke take out a bit of the ointment and apply it to the wound, and the wound healed at a visible speed, he was instantly dumbfounded with shock.
This was simply a miracle Potion!
He looked at the jar of Potion in his hand and felt it instantly become heavy, almost too heavy to hold.
"Luke, this… this is too valuable! I cannot accept it." Drogo swallowed hard, refusing with some difficulty. He wasn't ignorant; such a divine Potion that could quickly heal wounds was worth a fortune.
Luke smiled and shook his head, placing the Potion jar back into his hand. "No need to be polite, Drogo. This is my gift of gratitude, and making this Potion is not difficult for me. Please accept it."
Drogo finally accepted the Essence of Dittany at Luke's insistence, and their relationship became closer as a result.
With the Essence of Dittany, Luke had an extra layer of safety.
So, for the next period, Luke ran to the Old Forest whenever he had a chance.
He didn't venture deep into the forest, staying only on the outskirts of the Old Forest. He would run away as soon as he gathered enough branches, never lingering.
What made Luke tireless was that, through continuous sparring with the trees of the Old Forest, his magic and combat skills were improving at a visible rate.
In these highly focused battles, not only did his control over magic strengthen, but he also tested spells from "Standard Book of Spells, Grade 1," "Jinxes for the Jinxed," and "Dark Forces: A Guide to Self-Protection," all with very noticeable effects.
Of course, during his sparring with the trees of the Old Forest, there were inevitably times when he got injured.
But with the healing power of Essence of Dittany, he could be full of vigor the next day to trouble the trees again.
Luke treated the trees of the Old Forest as training opponents in a novice village, completely unaware that the trees of the Old Forest were growing increasingly resentful of him and were secretly preparing to deliver a fatal blow.
Luke had been in Buckleberry for two months, the longest he had stayed anywhere apart from Hobbiton.
Following the principle of proximity, Luke decided to go deep into the Old Forest for a check-in.
Moreover, the branches he had gathered from the Old Forest these days amounted to dozens of types, including ash, poplar, cypress, holly, redwood, and so on. But although these trees were suitable for making wands, they all had more or less a feeling of magic obstruction, clearly not matching him.
So he needed to go deeper into the Old Forest to collect more wood to find the right wand wood for him.
Thus, after making preparations and informing Drogo, he bid him farewell and ventured alone through the High Hedge, once again entering the Old Forest.
As soon as he entered the forest, Luke felt something was wrong.
This time, the Old Forest was too quiet! It was completely unlike last time, when it would furiously attack him upon sight.
Something abnormal must be evil. Luke concentrated and became vigilant, but he didn't retreat.
He continued to walk deeper into the forest, but the system still didn't respond.
This made Luke somewhat doubt whether the Old Forest could be checked in? Or did he have to reach the center of the forest for it to work?
He continued for some distance, and soon a small path appeared.
This path appeared very abruptly, as if it had just been opened, and the trees on both sides neatly and cooperatively made way for this forest path.
Luke looked warily at the surrounding trees. The malice emanating from these trees was too strong, and he had to concentrate fully to guard against their sudden attacks.
As soon as he stepped onto the forest path, the surrounding trees quickly closed in, forming rows of tree walls that completely blocked Luke's retreat.
At the same time, the surrounding trees began to attack Luke frantically. Thick branches lashed out at him, and roots emerged from the ground, trying to impale him.
"Protego!"
"Leg-Locking Curse!"
"Petrificus Totalus!"
...
Luke immediately cast a protective spell on himself, then used a Leg-Locking Curse to bind the tree roots, and followed up with a Petrificus Totalus to immobilize the trees.
Having sparred with these trees for so long, Luke was very familiar with their attack methods, performing with ease and even collecting new types of trees he hadn't encountered before.
But what made Luke gradually feel uneasy was that more and more trees were swarming from all directions, one after another, leaving him no escape route, only a small path leading deeper into the center of the forest.
Luke had no choice; unless he wanted to waste time with these trees, he could only run down the path leading deeper into the forest.
He understood that these trees wanted to force him to the very center, which was why they had opened up such a path.
If it were anyone else, they might hesitate.
But Luke knew what was in the deepest part, so he unhesitatingly followed the path.
And the path behind him was reoccupied by trees, gradually disappearing.
As if such a path had never existed.
Under the trees' encirclement and pursuit, Luke ran until nightfall.
The mist in the forest and the increasingly dense trees completely blocked out the moonlight. Luke had no choice but to cast a Wand-Lighting Charm to barely see the path on the ground.
Gasping for breath, Luke finally emerged from the forest and arrived in a valley.
There were no tall, dense trees here, only low shrubs and a wide expanse of grassland.
A small river flowed through the valley, and a very large Old Willow Tree stood prominently by the riverbank.
The old Willow Tree was terrifyingly huge. It was taller and larger than all the trees in the forest, its branches like slender gray arms, crisscrossing and reaching towards the sky.
Its twisted, gnarled trunk was interspersed with huge cracks, like a grinning mouth, emitting faint creaking sounds with the movement of its branches.
As soon as Luke arrived, he warily looked towards the old Willow Tree.
The trees had been constantly attacking him, just to force him to come here, to this Old Willow Tree.
Luke knew it.
It was a Huorn, a close relative of the Ents, and the trees that attacked him earlier were also of the Huorn family.
Huorns are more like trees than Ents, or rather, they are trees with self-awareness, and are extremely aggressive.
And this old willow before him was the oldest and most powerful Huorn in this Old Forest.
Moreover, it was full of malice towards humans.
Unbeknownst to him, a gentle voice drifted through the air, as if a soothing and pleasant lullaby was echoing in his ears.
Luke suddenly felt a wave of drowsiness, and his head became heavy.
He seemed to walk like a sleepwalker, approaching the Old Willow Tree, completely unaware that he was in danger.
The cracks on the Willow Tree widened and twisted even more, revealing a hideous and terrifying smile, waiting for its prey to fall into its trap.
Luke walked closer and closer, arriving beneath the tree.
The branches of the tree moved without wind, and a hypnotic song, full of magic, emanated from every leaf on the willow tree.
It was like one person softly humming a lullaby, and also like a group of people whispering.
Just as the Old Willow Tree opened its huge, mouth-like crack, about to swallow him into its trunk, the system, which had been unresponsive, finally reappeared.
[Hogwarts Sign-in System: Location Old Forest, do you want to sign in?]
Luke's originally dazed eyes instantly cleared, and he quickly cast a spell towards the opened crack:
"Petrificus Totalus!"
A white light struck the tree, and the it was instantly frozen, its song stopping immediately.
But before he could sigh in relief, the petrified willow broke free from the spell's restraint and swung its thick willow branches at him.
Luke gasped, the Petrificus Totalus had no effect? He had run into a tough opponent!
"Protego!" An invisible shield blocked Luke, colliding with the tree's massive branch, and the immense force caused ripples in the shield.
Seeing that the shield wouldn't last much longer, Luke constantly thought about how to break through, and when he saw the thick layer of fallen leaves at the base of the Old Willow Tree, his eyes lit up.
"Incendio!" A fireball flew from Luke's hand, landing on the pile of fallen leaves, which immediately ignited upon contact with fire, quickly surrounding the Old Willow Tree and spreading onto it.
Fire is the bane of trees, and even the Old Willow Tree was no exception; its fear of fire made it disregard attacking Luke, desperately waving its branches to beat out the flames, trying to Nox them.
Seizing this opportunity, Luke's bone-chopping knife flew from his waist, cutting off a section of willow branch with one slash, and flying back with the branch.
Having obtained the willow branch, Luke fled at the fastest speed, running downstream along the Willow River without looking back, hearing only an angry and hateful roar from behind.
The lower reaches of the Willow River flow into the Brandywine River, and the confluence is not far from Bucklebury.
Returning the same way was impossible now, so Luke planned to go downstream along the Willow River, then loop back up the Brandywine River to reach Buckleberry.
But before that, he had one more thing to do.
"System, sign me in."
[Sign-in successful, congratulations on obtaining Ollivander's Wand Making Craft!]
Instantly, many wand-making techniques and knowledge flooded his mind, allowing him to immediately learn how to make a wand.
Luke was very happy; although this sign-in reward was not a physical item like a spell, with the wand-making method, he could create a wand suitable for himself, doubling his strength.
Especially without a wand, it would be difficult for him to cast those destructive or powerful magic spells.
For example, the Avada Kedavra curse he had been longing for, if not for the assistance of a wand, he would probably be the first one to be killed during the casting.
Luke had originally prepared for trees along the Willow River to block and attack him, but to his surprise, the trees on the riverbank were all very quiet, allowing him to pass smoothly.
Unable to figure it out, he didn't think much more, following the river to the confluence, and then going upstream along the Brandywine River.
By the time he reached Buckleberry, it was already early the next morning.
"Oh my goodness, Luke, where have you been? What happened to you?" Drogo Baggins looked at Luke, who had returned covered in dust, his eyes wide with disbelief.
"I went to the Old Forest and had a fight with those trees." Luke plopped down on the low armchair, took a breath, then grinned and explained. When he left earlier, he hadn't told Drogo he was going to the Old Forest to avoid worrying him.
"What? You actually went to the Old Forest!" Drogo was shocked, almost spilling the bread he had brought. The Old Forest was a Forbidden Forest for hobbits, especially those in Bucklebury; no one dared to go there, and yet Luke dared to go alone, which terrified him.
After the shock, he quickly examined Luke carefully, making sure he hadn't lost any body parts, then breathed a sigh of relief, but still asked worriedly: "Are you alright?"
Luke smiled and shook his head, "Have you forgotten that I am a Wizard? Don't worry about me, this time I wasn't the one who suffered!"
After reassuring Drogo, Luke finished his breakfast and didn't immediately rest, but instead began to process the wood he had brought back.
The wood he brought back this time included more than a dozen types of wood such as chestnut, alder, laurel, and elm, and also a section of willow branch from the Old Willow Tree.
He started testing the compatibility of his magic with the chestnut wood, but the results all showed more or less magic obstruction, indicating they were not the most suitable wand wood for him.
It wasn't until it was the Old Willow Tree's willow branch's turn that a joyful smile appeared on Luke's face.
The Old Willow Tree's willow branch was not only the highest in magic properties among all the woods, but also the most compatible wood for him at the moment; his magic flowed most smoothly and quickly through the willow wood, which was simply a pleasant surprise!
He finally found the material for the wand body!
Next, he just needed to find a compatible wand core, and then he could start making his own wand.
It was truly luck; according to the newly acquired Ollivander's Wand Making Craft memories, the wood used to make wands not only needed to have magic properties, but more importantly, it needed to be collected at midnight during a full moon to ensure optimal wand performance.
This was also why the wands made by the Ollivander family performed better than those made by other wandmakers.
And last night happened to be a full moon, so Luke didn't need to go back to the Old Willow Tree to get another branch.
The willow branch was about one meter long, enough to make several wands. Luke divided it into three sections, picked one up and held it in his hand, and instantly had its ideal shape and size in his mind, instinctively knowing how best to proceed.
This was the ability granted to him by Ollivander's Wand Making Craft.
However, as the saying goes, to do a good job, one must first sharpen their tools.
Luke specifically went to the Buckleberry blacksmith shop and commissioned a Hobbit craftsman there to create a set of wand carving tools according to his drawings.
After obtaining the tools, Luke began to process the willow wood.
He carefully peeled off the bark with a small knife, then cut and carved it little by little according to the envisioned wand shape and size.
But the result was that his mind had learned, but his hands and feet had not.
Wand carving is a delicate task that requires full concentration and no deviation, otherwise it will affect the balance and feel of the wand later on.
So, without surprise, his first work failed.
The discarded willow wood could no longer be made into a wand, so Luke could only helplessly throw the half-carved wand into the fireplace to burn as firewood.
Looking at the remaining two willow logs, Luke dared not continue carving them, otherwise if they were all wasted, he would have to go to the Old Forest to find the Old Willow Tree again.
He was not confident he could guarantee his safe return with more willow branches from the Old Willow Tree.
So he turned his attention to the pile of other wood he had brought back, planning to practice with these first, and only tackle the willow wood when he felt confident.
For the next two days, Luke was carving wands from wood.
Although none were successful, his craftsmanship gradually matured, and the wands he carved gradually took shape.
But on the third night after he returned from the Old Forest, a loud, piercing bell rang throughout Bucklebury, waking Luke and Drogo from their sleep.
Drogo, looking panicked, knocked on Luke's door. "Luke, wake up quickly! We need to go to Brandy Square immediately!"
"What happened?" Luke asked, puzzled, as he saw Drogo's expression and got up.
Drogo quickly explained, "The bell ringing now is Bucklebury's alarm bell. Once it rings, it means Buckleberry is in danger! The last time it rang was fifteen years ago when the Brandywine River flooded! I wonder what's happened this time?"
Luke's expression also became serious upon hearing this.
The two didn't delay, quickly changed their clothes, and immediately headed to Brandy Square, encountering other hobbit on their way who were also going there.
The square was densely packed with people, and only Luke, being so tall, stood out among the many hobbit.
At the very front of the square were a row of ready-to-go hobbit, members of the Brandybuck family, the rulers of Bucklebury, and their leader, Rory Brandybuck.
"Silence!" Rory Brandybuck shouted, facing the hobbit below. His expression was serious and solemn as he announced very bad news to everyone.
"Everyone, Bucklebury is currently in danger. The trees of the Old Forest have suddenly rioted and are now trying to cross the High Hay to invade our homes. We cannot let them succeed!"
"Therefore, I need everyone, except the elderly and children, to follow me and repel the trees' attack!"
Upon hearing this, all the hobbit in the square erupted in an uproar, and feelings of tension and fear instantly surged.
Luke, however, felt a sudden pang in his heart. The Old Forest and Bucklebury had always been clearly separated, and there hadn't been any conflict for hundreds of years.
This inexplicable riot and invasion, could it be because of him?
The situation was urgent. Regardless of their tension and fear, all the hobbit picked up axes, sickles, hoes, and other usable weapons, following the Brandybuck family members to defend their homeland.
Drogo Baggins held an axe, his expression tense and uneasy, but he still whispered to Luke, "Luke, this is our home defense battle against the trees of the Old Forest. You are not a hobbit, so you don't have to participate."
Looking at Drogo, who was sincerely trying to persuade him, Luke felt a little guilty. He shook his head and refused, "One more person means one more strength. I can't stand by and do nothing while you defend Bucklebury. Besides, have you forgotten that I am a Wizard? Maybe I can help."
Subsequently, everyone arrived at the High Hay wall.
At this time, the battle on the High Hay side was fierce. Countless Huorn emerged from the Old Forest. They pulled their roots from the ground and quickly surrounded the High Hay wall, pounding the hedge with their thick branches, trying to destroy the hedge and march straight into Bucklebury.
Although the thick hedge temporarily stopped the attack of the Huorn, under the continuous destruction by the Huorn, it was already on the verge of collapse, and some places even began to show gaps, ready to be breached at any moment.
The Hobbit who had arrived earlier were continuously firing flaming arrows, trying to repel the Huorn's attack with fire.
Rory Brandybuck, the lord of Bucklebury, stood on a hillside, directing the Brandybuck family members to set up several trebuchets, placing barrels of oil and wine on them, which were then launched high into the air to fall onto the Huorn behind the High Hay wall.
Immediately after, lit fireballs were thrown, igniting the scattered oil and wine, instantly engulfing the Huorn in a sea of flames. Some Huorn, drenched in oil and wine, even turned into burning trees, emitting low, agonizing screams.
Seeing this scene, Luke couldn't help but cheer for Rory Brandybuck's actions. Such intelligent and decisive measures, even he couldn't think of a better way.
But what astonished Luke and all the hobbit was that despite heavy losses, the Huorn continued to charge forward relentlessly, attacking the High Hay wall furiously, using their massive bodies to ram the hedge, and their thick roots to pierce the ground and tear out the hedge's roots!
Soon, a huge opening was smashed in the High Hay wall, and a Huorn crossed the hedge, swinging its thick roots and branches, striking at the terrified hobbit.
If the small bodies of the hobbit were hit by the Huorn, they would likely be turned into a pulp of flesh.
"Petrificus Totalus!"
A dazzling light shone exceptionally brightly in the night sky, instantly hitting the Huorn. The Huorn's attacking motion stopped instantly, as if it had been frozen in place.
The few hobbit who had almost been crushed to death were still shaken, looking at Luke, who had saved them, with awe and gratitude.
"You all leave here quickly. Leave this to me!" Luke said calmly to the hobbit, then walked straight past them towards the gap.
He couldn't bear to watch the hobbit die, especially when he believed it was very likely due to him that the Huorn had rioted and attacked.
"Petrificus Totalus! Petrificus Totalus! Expelliarmus!"
Luke took the initiative to attack, and dazzling spells flew out continuously, as if entering an unmanned territory, freezing, knocking back, or locking down the approaching Huorn...