The Mandrake in the magic world is different from ordinary Mandrake; they are alive.
The root of a Mandrake resembles a small human, and when pulled from the soil, it emits a baby's cry, a sound potent enough to be fatal.
In reality, there are indeed Mandrakes, also known as poison nightshade or poison apple, but they do not emit a fatal cry; they are merely ordinary plants.
However, Luke thought that perhaps he could use the methods of herbology to cultivate magical plants, transforming ordinary Mandrake into magical Mandrake.
After all, he had previously successfully cultivated two dittany plants and produced Essence of Dittany.
Therefore, if he could cultivate magical Mandrake, not only could he make voodoo dolls, but Mandrake is also an important ingredient in advanced Potions, which would be very beneficial for his future Potion making.
Speaking of Potions, now that Luke has a magic wand, he has begun to consider studying Potions.
He had previously acquired 'Magical Drafts and Potions' when he signed in at Bywater, but because Potion making requires not only various magical herbs but also the cooperation of a magic wand, he had temporarily put Potions aside.
However, Potions, as one of Hogwarts' required courses, is also one of the most important and indispensable subjects in the magic world.
Potions not only have the ability to treat various magic accidents, possessing healing effects that spells cannot replace.
They also have various miraculous effects, such as Polyjuice Potion that can transform one into another, Felix Felicis for luck, resurrection Potions for the dead, and even the Elixir of Life!
Luke knew that he would be signing in at different places in the future, and the dangers he encountered would likely be more formidable than the wight, making Potions an indispensable means of survival.
So, in addition to needing to find Mandrake, Luke also had the task of collecting various Potion ingredients.
And he also needed a cauldron for brewing Potions.
Following the East Road, he passed the Old Forest and arrived in front of Brandy Hall.
Luke turned south; he needed to go to Bucklebury first, as his carriage was still at Zhuoguo Baggins's house.
Moreover, he also wanted to visit Rory Brandybuck to see if he could use his authority as a lord to help him collect some materials.
Arriving at Drogo's doorstep in Buckleberry, Luke knocked on the door.
The door opened, and Drogo appeared halfway, his face lighting up with surprise upon seeing Luke.
"Luke! You're back!"
Luke smiled, "It's been a month, and I'm glad to see you looking as spirited as ever."
After his surprise, Drogo scrutinized Luke's new appearance, his eyes widening, "Wow, Luke, you look just like a Wizard now!"
"Thank you for the compliment," Luke accepted his praise with a smile.
The robe Goldberry made for him suited him very well, and it was tough, wear-resistant, warm, and comfortable; more importantly, the outer cloak had been blessed by Goldberry, so unless he willed it, passersby would unconsciously ignore him.
Luke had noticed this situation when he entered Bucklebury.
After all, as the hero who repelled the Old Forest's Huorn, he was practically known by everyone in Bucklebury. But when he entered the town just now, not a single hobbit noticed him, a person of very noticeable height.
It could be said that the cloak Luke wore, in a sense, had a similar effect to an Invisibility Cloak.
Of course, Luke did not assume that he could act recklessly with the cloak; the blessing on the cloak was more about making others overlook him, but if he encountered someone with strong will or powerful strength, he would still be noticed.
Nevertheless, Luke was still very satisfied and grateful for the gift Goldberry bestowed upon him.
Subsequently, Luke once again stayed at Drogo's house, and under Drogo's expectant gaze, Luke began to recount his experiences during this period.
When they heard that Luke had gone to Barrow-downs and encountered a wight, the hobbit could not help but gasp.
Although Barrow-downs was far from Bucklebury, even Drogo had heard of the terror of Barrow-downs, and the wight was a name that made one's face change color. But he did not expect Luke to dare to venture deep into Barrow-downs alone and return unscathed, which gave Drogo a deeper understanding of Luke's strength.
"So these are your spoils from Barrow-downs?" Drogo asked, looking at the five corpse creature ancient swords, four daggers, and a pile of dazzling jewelry and accessories Luke had taken out, his gaze filled with shock and admiration.
Luke pushed the jewelry and accessories towards Drogo, smiling as he said, "Pick one you like as a souvenir."
As for the corpse creature ancient sword, such a heavy sword, not to mention whether it was suitable for a hobbit, even Luke found it very strenuous to pick up, so it was not suitable as a gift.
The four sharp daggers were originally forged by the northern Dúnedain to fight against the Witch-king of Angmar; not only could they cut through iron like mud, but they also had spell inscriptions carved on them that could break the Witch-king of Angmar's sorcery, imbued with magic to counter evil forces, and had a restraining effect on Nazgûl and other dark creatures.
Luke naturally would not bear to give away such precious daggers; these daggers could not only be used to carve the heart of a tree for a magic wand but could also replace his previous two cleavers.
Before acquiring powerful offensive magic, controlling flying knives with magic was arguably Luke's strongest offensive method, as most of the spells he currently mastered were defensive in nature.
But with these four incredibly sharp daggers as weapons, their attack power was incomparable.
So, Luke unhesitatingly retired the two cleavers.
Drogo was flattered by Luke's offer to let him choose from the jewelry, repeatedly shaking his head in refusal, but at Luke's repeated insistence, he finally chose a brooch inlaid with a sapphire.
After resting at Drogo's house for a short while, Luke went to Brandy Hall to visit Rory Brandybuck.
Drogo naturally followed along; he was currently deeply in love with Dora Brandybuck, so he naturally longed to be together at all times.
Upon arriving at Brandy Hall, Rory Brandybuck enthusiastically greeted him, "Welcome! Welcome back, our hero Wizard Luke - Tree-Feller! You've been out of touch since you went to Tom's house in the Old Forest, which worried me for a while. Your safe return truly makes me so happy!"
Upon hearing that title, the corner of Luke's mouth twitched.
Although the people of Middle-earth all liked to add suffixes to names to commemorate great deeds.
For example, Thorin Oakenshield's title, Oakenshield, was not his surname, but because in the Battle of Azanulbizar between the Dwarves and Orc, after Thorin's shield was broken by the Orc chieftain Azog, he picked up a piece of oak as a shield to block the attack and cut off one of Azog's hands, successfully resisting the Orc's attack, which is how he got this title.
But what kind of ridiculous title was his Tree-Feller? Couldn't they have chosen a more pleasant title? For example, "Huorn Bane" or "Enemy of Huorn" would sound much better than Tree-Feller!
However, no matter how much he complained inwardly, he was now asking for a favor, so he could only ignore that title.
Thus, he forced a smile and had a pleasant conversation with the Brandybuck family head.
During their conversation, Rory Brandybuck was very shocked and admired when he learned that Luke had been to the Barrow-downs, fought with the wights, and even gained spoils of war, making his attitude towards Luke even more respectful.
After some discussion, Luke finally stated his purpose, presenting a list of materials and entrusting the Brandybuck family to help collect them, using the jewels he obtained from the wights as payment.
Rory Brandybuck readily agreed without even looking at the materials list.
But when he saw clearly what was on the list, he suspected he had misread it, blinked, and looked closely at the contents again, becoming utterly dumbfounded.
It wasn't that the items on the list were particularly precious, but rather that the materials were highly unusual.
Rory looked at the list, which, in addition to normal herbs like mugwort, lavender, daffodil roots, daisy roots, and fig peels, surprisingly contained bizarre things like caterpillars, slugs, leech juice, beetle eyes, rat spleens and tails, and snake skin and fangs.
"Uh, Luke, Wizard, are you sure you gave me the right list? These things..." Rory asked with some difficulty.
"Are they hard to find?" Luke asked, puzzled, "I know these things are not easy to find, so I don't insist on collecting all of them. I'd be very satisfied if I could just get some of them."
"No, although these things are hard to find, if Luke, Wizard, you need them, we will certainly do our best to help you collect them," Rory shook his head, only hesitantly asking, "It's just, what do you need these things for? Of course, this is just my curiosity. If it's a secret, please don't tell me."
Luke did not hide it and explained, "There's nothing that can't be said. I want to make some Potions, so these things are the materials needed for Potions."
"Potion?" Rory was stunned, looking at the items on the list, still finding it hard to believe that these strange things could be used to make Potions.
He knew that Luke had made a Potion called Essence of Dittany and had given some to Drogo. Not long ago, when his daughter Dora was on a date with Drogo in the wild, she accidentally scratched herself with a tree branch, and Drogo used a drop of that Potion to treat it.
At that time, Rory personally witnessed the magic of that Potion; almost in the blink of an eye, it healed the scratch as if it had never happened. He was greatly shocked by this and became even more determined to facilitate the marriage between his daughter and Drogo.
But he never expected that such a miraculous Potion would be made from these strange things; it completely shattered his worldview.
No matter what he thought, Rory was still willing to do his best to help Luke with this favor.
He was also quite curious about what kind of Potion these things would eventually make?
Luke was also very grateful for this, making a mental note of the favor, but he refused Rory's offer to help for free. He now had a pile of jewels and was not short on money.
After bidding farewell to Rory and leaving Brandy Hall, Luke went to the blacksmith's shop and commissioned the blacksmith to create a crucible based on his drawings, using silver, which has strong magic conductivity, as the material.
Afterward, Luke returned to Drogo's house, then took out a small section of tree heart, which was a piece Tom had cut off earlier, perfectly sized for making a magic wand.
Luke pulled out a dagger and carefully carved the tree heart.
The tree heart, which was originally as hard as iron, was now like wax under the dagger, easily cut without any effort.
Although Luke had been prepared, he was still very happy, and at the same time, he had long admired the craftsmanship of the Dúnedain. Such a dagger was truly a divine weapon, and he had four of them at once!
Luke was already very skilled at carving wands, carefully shaping the tree heart little by little.
A week passed in a flash, and Luke's tree heart wand had already taken shape. The hole for the wand core did not require much skill, so he specifically asked a Hobbit craftsman to drill it to the appropriate depth with a diamond drill bit.
Once everything was ready, Luke unhesitatingly broke his first magic wand and pulled out the core from inside.
Then, he carefully placed the core into the tree heart wand, using the tree sap collected from the old willow a few days earlier as an adhesive, pouring it into the small hole to fuse the core and the wand into one.
After a careful polishing, on the night of the full moon, Luke held the wand under the moonlight, waving it according to specific movements, continuously injecting magic power into the wand, and chanting incessantly: "Runix-Inscri-Berry, Spiritus-Orare-Resonantia..."
As the lengthy incantation continued, the moonlight seemed to materialize, gathering into a silver mist, continuously flowing into the magic wand.
The silent wand seemed to be endowed with life, with magic fluctuations emanating from it, like the sound of a continuously beating heart.
Luke held the wand, which was tightly connected to his arm, as if it were an extension of his arm. The magic power within him flowed unimpeded, gushing out through the wand.
With a bang, countless golden musical notes sprayed from the tip of the wand. The notes were like dancing musical spirits, playing joyful music.
The music played by the golden notes spread out from Luke as the center, carried by the wind, echoing throughout the entire Buckleberry, making everyone who heard it incredibly joyful, their faces unconsciously beaming with smiles.
Luke was also elated at this moment, partly due to the infection of the music magic, and partly due to the surprise brought by the tree heart wand.
The tree heart wand truly lived up to its name, being made from the heart of the old willow, the strongest and oldest tree in the Old Forest, combined with a core made from the hair of Goldberry, the River Daughter, and the beard of Tom Bombadil.
The combination of the two strongest wand materials endowed the tree heart wand with mysterious and powerful magic. Not only was it very compatible with Luke, but it also greatly enhanced the power of spells, allowing Luke to cast magic more powerful than his own inherent magic.
Using the same magic power and casting the same spell, the power unleashed by the tree heart wand was several times stronger than that of the previous willow wood wand.
For example, the music magic just cast, if used with the previous willow wood wand, would at most affect an area of a few dozen meters. But now, cast with the tree heart wand, it affected the entire Buckleberry; the difference was like heaven and earth.
Luke happily stroked the wand in his hand. With this wand, his strength could multiply several times over.
Afterward, he was like someone who had received the newest toy, constantly trying various spells with the wand to make it more compatible with himself.
Only after familiarizing himself with the new wand did Luke finally turn his attention to the collection of Potion materials.
With the full support of the Brandybuck family and the financial backing from Luke, all the residents of Bucklebury were mobilized, and the efficiency of collecting Potion materials quickly soared.
Bundles of Mugwort, Lavender, Daffodil Root, and Daisy Root were sent in, while basins of Leeches, Slugs, Caterpillars, Mouse Tails, and Spleens were placed at Drogo's doorstep.
While Luke was pleased with the efficiency, he was also extremely busy, as he needed to process all these Potion materials; some needed to be dried, and some needed to remain fresh.
Overwhelmed, Luke even pulled Drogo in as a laborer to help him process these Potion materials.
"Uh, Luke, are you sure these things can really be used to make Potions and not poison?" Drogo looked at the basin of slimy slugs in front of him, a difficult expression on his face, completely at a loss as to where to begin.
"That's for sure! Once I've finished making the Potion, I'll give you a bottle. I guarantee it will take effect immediately after you drink it," Luke assured him with certainty, but a mischievous smile flickered in his eyes.
He didn't want to touch the slugs either, so he maliciously handed them over to Drogo, who didn't know how to refuse.
Hearing that he would have to drink it, Drogo's face immediately showed resistance.
"Uh, well, forget it then. Anyway, I rarely get sick or injured, so I don't need Potions."
Then he steeled himself and picked up a slug, using scissors to snip off its pair of tentacles, which were the actual materials for making the Potion.
Luke wasn't having an easy time either; he was currently processing a basin of caterpillars. He had to wear a pair of sheepskin gloves to avoid being stung by the caterpillars, then use a small knife to cut open their bellies, scoop out all the dirty intestines, wash them clean, and then lay them on a stone slab to dry.
Just processing the Potion materials took Luke a full week, even with the aid of magic, leaving him with a sore back and aching muscles.
Besides the Potion materials, Luke also obtained four pots of plants.
Two pots were dittany, and the other two were Deadly Nightshade, which is common Mandrake.
Luke planned to use the dittany to make Essence of Dittany.
As for the Deadly Nightshade, Luke wanted to try to cultivate it into the kind of Mandrake found in the magic world.
The two Deadly Nightshades Luke obtained were found on the outskirts of the Old Forest and had been growing for decades, their roots already resembling small, fully limbed figures.
Luke injected magic into the four pots of plants regularly every day, and the two dittany plants showed obvious transformation. However, the two Deadly Nightshades remained unchanged, still greedily absorbing Luke's magic, and in even greater quantities.
Luke was not disappointed by this; being able to absorb magic was a good sign. His magic had doubled compared to before, so he didn't have to worry about not having enough magic.
After collecting all the Potion materials, Luke did not immediately start making Potions. Instead, he packed everything into his carriage, tidied up, and formally bid farewell to Drogo and Rory Brandybuck.
He had to return to Hobbiton quickly. He couldn't remember the exact date of the journey to the Lonely Mountain, but if he wanted to catch that ride, he couldn't delay outside for too long.
So, after parting with the reluctant Drogo, Luke once again drove his carriage away.
Hobbiton was as peaceful and serene as ever.
Bilbo had just finished lunch and was sitting in a chair in front of his garden, leisurely smoking his pipe.
He looked into the distance, his eyes unfocused, and murmured, "I wonder where Luke is now?"
Ever since Luke left, Bilbo's life had returned to peace, but the longer time passed, the more uneasy he felt. He couldn't help but think of Luke traveling outside, and sometimes even wondered if he should have gone with Luke on his journey.
Just as Bilbo finished his pipe and was about to go inside to prepare for afternoon tea, a carriage approached from a distance.
Bilbo looked over curiously until the carriage drew closer and closer.
Luke jumped off the carriage, waving with a bright smile, "Long time no see, my friend! Did you miss me?"
"Luke!" Bilbo was overjoyed, quickly ran out of the garden, and happily hugged Luke's leg.
"How did you come back?"
"What, am I not welcome?" Luke asked playfully, smiling.
Bilbo saw that Luke was joking but still said very seriously, "How could that be! You are always welcome here!" He then warmly invited Luke inside to enjoy afternoon tea together.
Luke shook his head, pointing to the fully packed carriage, "I need to take everything out of the carriage first. Oh, by the way, I also brought you a bag of your favorite Longbottom Leaf tobacco."
Bilbo's eyes lit up. Besides enjoying good food, his greatest hobby was smoking a pipe, and Longbottom Leaf tobacco was his favorite brand. He immediately couldn't wait to help move things.
Luke refused his help, "Alright, my friend, you don't need to do this yourself. You just need to provide a place to put things."
Saying that, he snapped his fingers, and the items in the carriage floated out one by one, with a large bag of tobacco flying right in front of Bilbo.
Bilbo watched this scene, his mouth agape in awe, "Although I've seen it many times, Luke, your magic is always so amazing!"
Then he quickly opened the door of Bag End and cleared out a storeroom to place Luke's belongings.
However, when Bilbo clearly saw the items Luke had brought, he couldn't help but be astonished. Besides the four pots of plants and the bundles of daisy roots, mugwort, daffodil roots, etc., which were somewhat normal, what on earth were those leeches, slugs, and caterpillars in the glass jars?
And those sheets of snake skin even gave Bilbo, who was afraid of snakes, a fright.
Bilbo swallowed, asking hesitantly, "Luke, what are you going to do with these things?"
"To make Potions."
"Potions? With these things?" Bilbo looked incredulous.
"Of course, you'll know later." Luke didn't explain much to him. Anyway, now that he was back, he planned to make some Potions in preparation for the upcoming expedition.
After putting away the items, Luke took out some jewelry and accessories for Bilbo to choose from.
The jewelry Luke obtained from the wight was all very precious and ancient. However, Luke disliked that these jewels were taken from deceased people and had no intention of using them himself.
So, he didn't mind giving them away, especially since Bilbo had helped him so much before.
Bilbo, seeing these sparkling jewelry accessories, knew their value and felt embarrassed to take them. But at Luke's strong insistence, he finally chose a ruby brooch.
He truly was Drogo's cousin; they even chose the same type of item.
Later, during afternoon tea, Bilbo eagerly pulled Luke to tell him about his travel experiences.
And Luke also learned from Bilbo that the news of him repelling the invading Ents in Bucklebury had spread throughout the entire Shire, and Luke's title of "Tree-Feller" had become deeply ingrained in people's minds.
The reason this news spread so quickly was also due to the Brandybuck family in Bucklebury promoting it.
Luke was speechless about this but reluctantly had to accept this nickname that sounded like a lumberjack.
What Luke didn't know was that his name was not only known in the Shire but also in Bree, outside the Shire.
The Prancing Pony in Bree was a temporary resting place for many traveling merchants, adventurers, rangers, and even Dwarves in Middle-earth. So, it was no surprise that his name would spread throughout Middle-earth with these people.