The ninth floor of the tower, the Transformation room.
Luke waved his wand, drawing thin, intricate red lines in the air. These lines combined to form a complete three-dimensional vein map, resembling the intricate blood vessel system of a human body. The red lines pulsed and flowed, forming a complete circulatory system that exuded a mysterious and extraordinary power. This was a diagram of the magical circulation within the skin-changer Beorn, the very secret behind his ability to transform into a giant bear.
Luke never abandoned his research into Transfiguration, especially his ambition to advance the Animagus transformation. After all, if the Animagus transformation only allowed one to become an ordinary animal, then this symbol of the highest achievement in Transfiguration seemed somewhat underwhelming.
It required so much time and energy, potentially even several years or more than a decade to succeed, only for the final result to be transformation into a common creature. This disproportionate effort-to-reward ratio was precisely why so few wizards in the magical world practiced Animagus. Even throughout the 20th century, only seven Animagus were registered with the Ministry of Magic.
Even if one included unregistered, illegal Animagus, the total number would not exceed an even number at most. The primary reason, beyond the inherent difficulty of Animagus training, was this imbalance. Otherwise, if Animagus could transform into magical animals such as fire dragons, phoenixes, or thunderbirds, countless wizards would have eagerly rushed to study and practice it.
Luke initially lacked confidence, but Beorn, the skin-changer, provided him with a crucial model. For the past year, he had been meticulously studying the magical cycle within Beorn's body, with Arwen, Legolas, and others providing significant assistance.
He had now successfully developed a complete diagram of this magical circulation, though Luke didn't dare to test it on himself immediately. He planned to first find suitable test subjects to conduct these magical transformation experiments. He firmly believed he was not a dark wizard and could not conduct experiments on innocent people, so he intended to seek out appropriate candidates.
Even earlier than him, Elrohir and the others were preparing to leave. "Are you going back to Rivendell too?" Luke asked Arwen. Arwen nodded gently, her eyes twinkling like stars. "I've been here for a long time. I plan to go back to Rivendell to accompany my father for a while, and then visit my grandparents in Lórien." Hearing this, Luke remained silent for a moment, not attempting to persuade her to stay.
"I think Súlond will miss you!" Luke said.
"What about you?" Arwen teased.
"I, uh... ahem... of course, I'll miss you too. After all, we are best friends, right?" Luke's heart couldn't help but beat faster. Arwen's eyes twinkled, then she smiled brightly, "Yes, we are close friends!" Luke was momentarily dazed by her radiant smile. He immediately lowered his head and pulled out an exquisite and elegant purse from his space bag, handing it to her.
"What is this?" Arwen asked, a hint of surprise and curiosity in her voice.
"I wove this using giant spider silk, and then applied some alchemical techniques," Luke explained. "The space inside will expand as more objects are added. The maximum size is about the same as a garden. It's very tough, and the space is more stable than using the Traceless Extension Spell." He added, "And I've put some Floo powder in it, so you can travel between Rivendell, Lórien, and Weathertop at any time." Arwen took the exquisite purse, feeling its elasticity, and opened it to look inside. Her eyes widened slightly in surprise: "So much!" There was a whole bottle of Floo powder inside, more than what was given to Elrond. This amount was enough for one person to transport back and forth every day for more than a year!
Luke shook his head: "It's not much. You don't have to save it. When you're almost finished, just tell me, okay?" Arwen nodded, smiling brightly. "I understand. Don't worry, I will make good use of it. I will come to visit you and Thorondor when I have time." Luke cleared his throat, his eyes wandering. "That's good!"
After seeing off the three elf siblings, Luke felt a moment of dejection, then immediately refocused all his attention and energy on his next endeavor. He spoke with Edward the butler about his plans.
He woke the reluctant dragon Smaug and rode him northeast to the Ettenmoors. To the north of the Ettenmoors lay the Granite Sea, a branch of the Misty Mountains. Within these mountains, a tribe of orcs had established a stronghold and frequently raided south into the wastes of Eriador. The purpose of Luke's trip was Mount Gram.
Smaug flew swiftly, and in just half a day, he appeared on Mount Gram with Luke on his back. Guided by the Crystal of True Knowledge, Luke quickly pinpointed a specific location in the mountain. He patted the dragon's back and pointed to the orcs' hidden stronghold in the mountains. "Smaug, go down there." Without another word, Smaug swooped down into the mountain's depths.
In the Granite Sea, nestled within a canyon where the sun never reached, lay the orcs' stronghold. There were nearly ten thousand orcs in the canyon. The leader of the orcs here was Salzog, who was under the control of Sauron. When Azog and Bolg led the Misty Mountain orcs, Salzog had, to a certain extent, obeyed their calls and orders, cooperating with their actions.
That continued until a year ago, when Azog and Bolg were killed, and the northern orc army led by Bolg was completely destroyed in the Battle of Five Armies. The orcs suffered heavy losses, and the orcs of the Granite hills huddled in the mountains, not daring to invade the southern wastes for over a year. Especially since they had heard that the one who had slain the orc Kings Azog and Bolg, and caused their defeat at the Battle of Five Armies, was establishing his domain on Weathertop, west of the wastes.
The orcs became extremely cautious, fearing they would attract the attention of the being on Weathertop, thereby bringing disaster upon themselves. But on this day, the orcs in the mountain were going about their usual, boring routines. Oak, who was on lookout duty, suddenly felt a shadow pass over him in the sky. Surprised, Oak looked up and saw a huge figure descending. His surprise and confusion turned into terror in an instant.
"It's a dragon! It's a giant dragon!" Oak screamed loudly, his face terrified, his body trembling, then quickly snatched up his horn and blew it hard. As the horn sounded, many other orcs also spotted the giant dragon in the sky, and panic and commotion immediately erupted.
The orc leader, Salzog, looked extremely uneasy at the dragon's appearance. As far as he knew, there was only one dragon still active in Middle-earth: the tamed golden dragon Smaug. With Smaug here, the being on Weathertop must also be here! The fear of that man was so deep in the hearts of all the orcs that they dared not even call him by name. It was said that the wizard had cast a spell on his own name.
Once an orc called out his name, the orc would sense it and would come riding on a dragon to burn the person who called his name to death with dragon flames! Therefore, all the orcs called him "that wizard," "that man," or nicknames like "Lord of the Dragon," and they didn't even dare to say his accurate name, "The Black Wizard." Even the orc leader, Salzog, had been forced to use the name "Luke" once in front of his men to appear fearless, which caused the orcs to exclaim and be in awe, but he himself was also uneasy.
Now, seeing Smaug appear on Mount Gram, Salzog's first reaction was to wonder if he had attracted him by calling that name directly? But the problem was, he had only shouted it once! How could it have worked so effectively?
At this time, Luke, who was sitting on the dragon's back, had no idea that the orcs had already spread such outrageous, god-like rumors about him. As the dragon descended into the canyon, Luke gave an order. In the orcs' terror and despair, scorching dragon flames spewed forth from Smaug's mouth, instantly devouring countless orc structures. For a moment, the orcs' cries of fear and screams echoed everywhere in the canyon.
"Fight back! Quickly, draw your bows and crossbows!" As the leader of the orcs, Salzog possessed the strongest mental fortitude. He immediately organized his orcs to attack the dragon. Countless Morgul arrows, imbued with dark magic, shot towards the dragon in the sky. Among them were many giant arrows, clearly weapons specifically forged to target dragons. Even if a wound was slightly opened, the poison and curse on these giant arrows could cause death, making them very dangerous.
But Smaug was clearly unafraid. He was known for his hard scales, not to mention that he was wearing a set of dragon armor crafted by dwarves. Even armor-piercing black arrows wouldn't penetrate the outer armor, let alone the layer of hard dragon scales underneath. This double layer of defense allowed Smaug to fly unchecked, swooping directly to the ground, wreaking havoc with his massive claws while constantly spitting fire. And those huge arrows were not even enough to tickle him.
After the entire canyon was engulfed in dragon flames, Luke waved his wand and petrified some of the surviving orcs, including their leader Salzog, placing them into his space bag. At this moment, a long-lost prompt appeared:
[Hogwarts Sign-in System: Locating at Granite Sea, do you want to sign in?]
Luke was stunned for a moment, then delighted. He had almost forgotten about the system! He immediately replied, "Sign in!"
[Successful sign-in, congratulations on winning Newt Scamander's copy of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them!]
Luke was a little disappointed. He hadn't expected to receive this specific book for signing in this time. After gathering nearly a hundred orcs, he rode his dragon out of the Granite Sea, not caring if any orcs remained in the canyon. He left behind only an orc stronghold engulfed in flames. The smoke rising into the sky could be seen even in the valleys far to the south and by the Dúnedain rangers patrolling the wastes. Soon after, a Dúnedain Ranger arrived at the location and found the orc stronghold burned by dragon fire. The name of Luke once again quickly spread throughout the wilderness.
The orcs of the Misty Mountains trembled in fear, daring not to venture down the mountain into the wilderness, let alone speak Luke's name. An orc who had managed to escape the fires confirmed with his own eyes that their leader, Salzog, had been found by the real master because he had called out Luke's name once.
The master destroyed their stronghold with dragon flames and captured Salzog. Luke also saw this outrageous rumor from Salzog's memory and was immediately speechless. How had he ended up with the same legendary fear as Voldemort here among the orcs? Fortunately, the orcs didn't use the name "You-Know-Who," otherwise he would have been completely defeated by the sheer absurdity.
Destroying the stronghold was a simple task for Luke. He imprisoned more than a hundred captured orcs in a cell high in the tower, then brought a petrified orc to the laboratory and began to prepare for his research. The origin of orcs was unknown. One speculation was that Morgoth captured the elves, tortured and deformed them, eventually creating twisted and ugly dark creatures such as the orcs.
Hence the orcs' deep-seated jealousy of the Elves, and their desire to inflict upon the Elves the suffering that Morgoth had imposed on them. This was why the orcs were more hostile to the Elves than to other races. Luke wasn't sure if this legend was true, but he could indeed feel the presence of magic in the captured orcs. Such humanoid creatures were perfect for his experiments in magical transformation.
He then went directly to the 30th floor in the middle of the tower and used the Traces Extension Spell to expand a room countless times, making it the size of several football fields. After some further arrangement, it transformed into a small giant spider's nest, completely covered with spider webs.
Luke waved his wand, keeping the entire room in dim light, with only the moonlight providing some illumination. He then placed a giant spider egg bag containing spider eggs into the nest and waited for them to hatch slowly. After doing all this, he left the room, locking the door with magic and concealing it. This place would serve as a breeding ground for giant spiders in the future, later becoming a food reserve for the Basilisk Herpo, as well as a collection site for giant spider venom.
Next, he went to the innermost wall of the second floor and spoke "open" in Parseltongue to the small silver snake pattern on the wall. The silver snake instantly came to life, bit its own tail, and turned into a snake-shaped door knocker. Luke pulled the door knocker, and the door to a hidden room was revealed.
Opening the door, Luke walked inside, which was a space as big as a football field. Luke waved his wand and poured out all the giant spider corpses from several space bags. Soon, the corpses of the giant spiders piled up into a mountain. Luke used his wand to carve runes on the surrounding walls, and as magic power was injected, the entire space became cold. He then walked straight to the wall opposite the door and said "Open" again in Parseltongue to a larger silver snake pattern.
The silver snake coiled around the wall to form a circle and bit its own tail, then turned into a circular stone door and opened automatically, revealing a huge pipe leading to the bottom. Luke did not continue down the pipe, because below was a secret room that Luke had opened for the Basilisk, located inside the mountain. He took the suitcase containing the Basilisk Herpo out of the space bag and opened it. A somewhat bloated Basilisk crawled out of the box, its distended belly almost getting stuck in the exit.
"Master, it's so cold!" The Basilisk Herpo burped and shivered from the air conditioning in the room. Luke looked at the stuffed Herpo and was a little speechless. He pointed at the mountain of giant spider corpses around him and said, "When you're hungry in the future, just come to this room and get food. Okay?"
The Basilisk looked at the mountain of delicious food and immediately slapped its tail on the ground in joy. There was so much food, enough for it to eat for a long time. And as it ate more, it would shed its skin faster, and it would become bigger and stronger. After settling the Basilisk, Luke left the secret room. The door of the room disappeared again, leaving only a small, easily overlooked silver snake on the wall.
Luke was very surprised when he accidentally transformed Tharzog into a firebird.
The Firebird perfectly combines the magical operations of the dragon and the giant eagle, and with the runes representing fire as the core, it forms a new, complete and smooth magic circulation system. It not only has the size of a giant eagle, but also the ability of a dragon to breathe fire.
Of course, because Tharzog's own magic power is not high, the overall strength of the transformed firebird is still not as good as that of the giant eagle.
The flames that were ejected were just magic fire that was slightly stronger than ordinary flames and could not be compared with the dragon flames of a giant dragon.
But Luke was still very happy and satisfied.
He looked at the firebird in front of him and thought that he had created a new creature.
After turning into a firebird, orc is no longer an orc. Its magic cycle has undergone a qualitative change. It can be said that it is now a firebird with the soul of an orc.
In the following time, Luke immersed himself in the study of the firebird.
He has great ambitions and is not satisfied with just owning a fire-breathing Animagus.
His ultimate goal is to evolve Animagus into a Phoenix!
The phoenix is known as the immortal bird and can be reborn again and again. In a sense, it can be said to be immortal.
If he could possess the Phoenix Animagus, perhaps he could also possess the Phoenix's immortality.
As time passed, and Luke lived with elves such as Arwen, he felt more and more that time was running out.
Although wizards are also a long-lived race, the more powerful the wizard's magic is, the longer he lives.
But they are not an immortal race after all, and they don't even live as long as the Dunedain.
For example, even though Aragorn was already in his eighties or nineties at the beginning of the War of the Ring, he still maintained the appearance of a man in his thirties.
But if Luke lived to that time, he would probably be an old man.
So Luke prepared two ways to achieve immortality.
One is to let the Animagus evolve into a phoenix, thereby gaining the phoenix's ability to achieve immortality and rebirth.
Another way is to create the Philosopher's Stone, which can lead to immortality.
The idea of evolving the Animagus into a phoenix was a vague idea that Luke had after meeting Beorn and possessing the bird Animagus.
After all, isn't there a saying that goes "a sparrow becomes a phoenix"? They're all birds, so an owl shouldn't be any different, right?
The only difficulty was that there was no such creature as the Phoenix in Middle-earth, so there was no reference at all.
Luke's idea of evolving the Animagus into a phoenix was like a castle in the air and there was no way to do it.
With this thought in mind, Luke summoned the copy of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them he'd signed up for at Granite Sea, flipping through the catalog to find the page about the phoenix. Newt Scamander, a master of Magizoology, had compiled Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, a truly encyclopedic collection of magical beasts from around the world.
Newt Scamander's introduction to the phoenix is also very detailed. For this, he expressed his gratitude to Dumbledore at the beginning of the book, thanking him for lending him the phoenix Fawkes for research for a period of time.
There is also a dynamic portrait of the phoenix Fox in the book. It is a very gorgeous big bird with luxurious golden-red feathers, long tail feathers, golden beak and claws, and black eyes.
Luke looked at the phoenix in the portrait, his eyes full of longing.
After reading the whole article, I found that Scamander's research on the phoenix focused more on introducing the phoenix's living habits and abilities, and did not conduct in-depth research on the structure of the phoenix itself.
The only thing that Luke gained was that the book gave a somewhat reliable guess about the origin of the phoenix: the phoenix was born in flames and was a spirit conceived by flames.
This sentence was not Newt Scamander's guess, but came from Dumbledore.
Although it was just a sentence, it gave Luke a sense of direction.
Dumbledore was one of the few great wizards who had a phoenix as a pet, and his family had a mysterious connection with the phoenix, so his words were naturally not aimless.
So Luke plans to explore the mysteries of fire and phoenix in his next research, and then apply them to the firebird.
If he could create a phoenix in Middle-earth, there would be hope for his Animagus evolution.
As for the understanding of flame, besides having ,he could think of no one else except Gandalf, who had the Ring of Fire.
When in trouble, look for teammates. Since he has joined the White Council, Due naturally seeks help from Gandalf.
And he thought Gandalf would also be interested in creating a phoenix.
So after staying in the laboratory for nearly half a year, Luke finally left the tower again.
As soon as he came out, the first thing he did was to meet the village chief Larry.
But now he should be called Mayor Larry.
After more than a year or nearly two years of development, the village of Hogsmeade at the foot of the mountain has grown into a town with a population of nearly 10,000.
And every day more people come to Hogsmeade, hoping to join Hogsmeade and become residents here.
As the mayor, Larry would go up the mountain regularly to report the situation down the mountain to Luke.
Although Luke was conducting magic experiments most of the time and had no time to meet him.
But Larry insisted on going up the mountain regularly, and recorded all recent affairs, including taxes and residents received, in a book and sent it to the castle for Luke to review.
"Luke, what brings you here this time?" Luke met him and asked in the reception room.
Luke's face was filled with unconcealable joy. He couldn't wait to say, "My lord, I have some great news! Do you remember Mayor Lach from Bree? He came to Hogsmeade to see me not long ago!"
"He originally wanted to come and see you, but you were busy at the time, so he didn't come to disturb you."
"Oh? What's the matter with him coming to see me?" Luke asked curiously.
He remembered the mayor of Bree, Lach, who was a man full of desire for power, status and money.
However, there are countless such people in Middle-earth, so no one pays much attention to them.
Luke couldn't help but say, "Sir, Lach said that Bree is willing to pledge allegiance to you and become one of your towns, accepting your rule"
Luke was very surprised when he heard this.
Bree Town wants to join me? Are you kidding?
"Did the mayor say that? Did he agree to it? Can he represent the opinions of the entire town?" Luke asked doubtfully.
As far as he knew, the mayor was very eager for power. As the mayor of Bree, he had the final say and power in Bree. Would he be willing to have someone above him?
"Of course he doesn't want to!" he said with a playful smile on his face, his tone full of gloating, "But if he doesn't do this, then he can forget about becoming mayor."
Luke looked at his expression and raised an eyebrow: "What did you do?"
Larry wasn't surprised Luke had guessed it. He chuckled and said, "I simply persuaded the residents of Bree to move to Hogsmeade. After all, not only are taxes low here, but we also have vast tracts of fertile land to share. And with you here, my lord, no one dares to infringe upon your domain."
"So how many residents of Bree moved to Hogsmeade?" Luke, not expecting Luke to cut off the source of his trouble, immediately intrigued him. "Only half," Larry said regretfully. "More could have come, but old Lach realized it, closed the city gates, and used a bunch of sweet talk to convince the remaining residents to stay."
Luke's mouth twitched. Half of the residents had been poached, and he still looked regretful.
He could already imagine how furious and furious the mayor of Bree would be when he found out.
After all, if there are no people left, how can someone be the mayor?
Be a commander without troops?
"Since there are still half of the residents, why do you still want to rely on me?" Luke asked again.
Larry's face was filled with a hint of pride and cunning.
"I asked the residents of Bree who moved to Hogsmeade to write letters to their relatives and neighbors in Bree, telling them about your power, justice, and kindness, the grandeur and beauty of your castle, the happiness and peace of Hogsmeade, and how lucky and honored it is to be your subjects... Then Lach could no longer suppress the residents of Bree. After all, who could refuse to become your subjects?"
"So the residents of Bree have strongly requested that Bree accept your rule and become your subjects, so that they can enjoy the same treatment as the residents of Hogsmeade."
"And if Lach doesn't want to lose his position as mayor, he has to actively request to accept your rule."
Luke looked at Luke with admiration.
I didn't expect you Larry, to be are such a scheming person.
If Bree's mayor, Lach, knew about this, he would probably curse Larry to death.
Luke originally had no intention of annexing Bree, but now that the other party offered it to him, he naturally would not refuse.
So with Luke nodding in agreement, Mayor Luch of Bree and the town representatives soon came to Weathertop Castle again with land inventories, tax books, etc.
In the hall, with everyone's witness, the mayor and representatives presented land registers, tax books, resident registers, etc., formally pledging allegiance to Luke. Thus, Bree became the second town under Luke's rule.
As for the mayor, Luke still let Lach take the position.
There is a real shortage of management talent. Although Mayor Lach is greedy for power, he can at least manage Bree well.
Anyway, with him suppressing him and Larry, who is a tough guy, supervising him, there is no need to worry about Lach having any other thoughts.
When Lach heard that Luke asked him to continue to serve as the mayor of Bree, he was overjoyed and repeatedly expressed his loyalty to Luke.
At the same time, he really had no other thoughts and just wanted to try his best to please Luke and let him continue to serve as mayor.
And work hard to replace Larry's position and become the first person under the lord.
Don't think he doesn't know that the problems in Bree these days are all caused by his old rival Larry.
Although they are now colleagues, he vowed to crush his old rival Larry and never think of being superior to him.
While Hogsmeade was close to the Lord, Bree was the intersection of both the East-West and North-South thoroughfares, offering excellent transportation. Lucky vowed to develop Bree even better than Hogsmeade, so that the Lord would see his talent!
Luke, who was above, saw the eye-to-eye quarrel between Mayor Bree and the Mayor of Hogsmeade below, and a smile flashed in his eyes.
As long as it is not a conspiracy and is just normal competition between them, Luke will not interfere.