Luke breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that the Eagle King had no intention of attacking him.
But then he reacted, even more surprised: "You can talk? Oh no, it's that I can understand you?"
A strange look appeared in the Eagle King's sharp eyes.
"I am a messenger of Manwë, King of the Valar, and King of all Birds, so naturally I can communicate with all fowls."
"But what are you? Why do you look like an owl, but carry a human scent?"
"I am not a thing, ah, no, I am a thing—
Luke only felt that after turning into a bird, his brain capacity had shrunk, and he quickly introduced himself.
"I am the Wizard Luke. When I crossed the Misty Mountains with Gandalf and the others, you even gave us a ride. Do you remember?"
The Eagle King suddenly realized: "I remember you, the Wizard who was with Gandalf. You killed Azog, the King of the Orcs, at that time."
"Yes, that's me." Luke nodded.
"Then why did you turn into a bird? I remember you were human before."
"Well, this is magic transformation, which allows me to turn into an animal."
"Sounds similar to a skin-changer."
Seeing Luke, this Wizard who could turn into a bird and communicate with them,
The Eagle King was very interested in Luke and invited him to be a guest at the Eagle King's nest.
At the Eagle King's invitation, Luke arrived at their dwelling place, which was on a cliff not far from High Pass and Goblin-town. There was a rock platform there like a wide shelf.
Giant nests were built on it, stacked with thick branches intertwined layer by layer, and inside, finer branches and feathers were laid, and there were even entire Warg pelts as padding.
Luke landed on the nest, and instantly it was as if he had arrived in a land of Giants, surrounded by Eagle Kings looking at him with interested and curious eyes.
The Eagle King expressed his welcome to his arrival.
The Eagle Kings possessed wisdom and understood the languages of Elves and men, but they could not communicate directly.
Now encountering Luke, this Wizard who could turn into an owl and communicate with them, the Eagle Kings were also very curious.
The Eagle Kings brought fruits that grew in the Misty Mountains to entertain him, and even caught a half-dead Warg.
Their enthusiastic attitude made Luke somewhat overwhelmed.
In the eagle's nest, there were also some newly hatched chicks, whose bodies were larger than Luke's, chirping and very active.
However, Luke noticed one lonely chick, which was very weak compared to its other siblings, and its cries were also faint.
It looked like it was congenitally weak, unable to compete with its other siblings, and ate the least.
And their parents seemed very indifferent, with no intention of specifically caring for it.
Luke frowned slightly. He knew that in nature, the fittest survive, so there were cases where ordinary eagles would throw away or even eat sick and weak chicks.
But the Eagle Kings were a wise race, would they do the same?
However, this was an internal matter for the Eagle Kings, and he found it difficult to speak up.
The Eagle King seemed to know what Luke was thinking and sighed:
"Our Eagle King race lives in the Misty Mountains, and every day we need to fight the Wargs, Orcs, and even more dangerous creatures in the mountains. Only the strongest of our kind can survive in this mountain range."
"And the weak are destined to be eliminated. Perhaps returning to Manwë's embrace earlier is the best outcome for them."
"However, Wizard Luke, if you have compassion, you can take this poor child away and provide him with a dwelling place. This might be a new beginning for him."
"I take it?!" Luke was incredulous when he heard this. How could such a thing as giving away a child happen?
The Eagle King nodded.
And the chick's parents had no objections either.
Luke looked at the thin, pitiful chick and didn't know what to say for a moment.
"Little one, do you want to come with me?"
Luke transformed back into human form, took out dried meat from his pocket and offered it to him, and asked this chick, who was said to be less than three years old.
The growth of the Eagle King race was long, and their infancy was also longer than other races.
However, even though it was less than three years old, the chick was still able to understand Luke's words.
The hungry chick's eyes turned red when it saw the dried meat. As its other siblings were about to snatch the food again, it quickly gobbled down the dried meat.
Then he looked at the bird-man in front of him with kindness, and then at his parents with indifferent eyes, and his siblings who were fighting for food.
Finally, he nodded.
Luke still took the chick with him.
For this, he specially expanded the internal space of a money pouch with an Undetectable Extension Charm to a diameter of ten meters.
This was the limit he could currently cast, but it was enough for the chick to live in.
Accompanying the chick was an eagle's nest gifted by the Eagle King, which was said to be the nest where the Eagle King had once hatched and grown, built from fragrant wood.
In addition, Luke also received feathers, Warg pelts, and some eggshells left by the chicks, all gifted by the Eagle Kings.
Among them, the Eagle King feathers could be used to make Potion cores, and the eggshells could be used to make Potions.
As for the Warg pelt, it could be used as a cushion.
After bidding farewell to the Eagle Kings, Luke transformed into a sculpture again, grabbed the money pouch containing the chick and the eagle's nest, and continued flying eastward.
As for the chick in the money pouch space, it was currently burying its head in all the food stored in Luke's space.
For him, who had not been full for a single day since hatching, nothing was more important than eating!
So the little fellow, who recognized whoever fed him, felt no sadness about being abandoned, and was solely focused on eating.
Luke flew over the Misty Mountains, but instead of flying directly towards the Lonely Mountain, he circled above Beorn's house for a moment before flying down.
"Who is it?" Beorn noticed the anomaly in the sky, and seeing that it was a raven flying towards him, he still did not relax his guard.
However, when the raven landed and transformed into a human, Beorn's vigilance instantly disappeared.
"Beorn, long time no see!" Luke greeted with a smile.
Seeing that it was Luke, a happy smile also appeared on Beorn's face.
"So it's you, Luke."
"Was that your animal form just now? If we skin-changers didn't all turn into Giant Bears, I would have thought you were one of my kind too."
Luke smiled and nodded.
"I just happened to pass by your place, so I came down to visit."
"This is the Animagus I just mastered, but I can only turn into ordinary animals, so it can't compare to your transformation ability."
Beorn disagreed, instead envying: "I really want to turn into a flying animal, that's much cooler than a clumsy Bear that can only run on the ground!"
"Alright, please come in and sit down. I haven't heard from you since you left here. Tell me what happened during this time."
With the host's invitation, Luke naturally would not refuse.
Moreover, he came here this time with the purpose of asking Beorn for advice.
To see if he could gain some inspiration from the skin-changer's transformation into a Bear, thereby upgrading his Animagus.
Luke was not just satisfied with turning into an owl; he also wanted to have a stronger magical creature Animagus, such as a Phoenix, Thunderbird, Dragon, Unicorn, etc.
Of course, since his current Animagus was an owl, a bird, he would first rule out irrelevant animals like Dragons and Unicorns.
After all, no matter how an owl evolves, it is impossible for it to turn into species like Dragons or Unicorns.
Instead, powerful bird-like magical creatures such as the Phoenix and Thunderbird might have a slight possibility of evolution.
After all, isn't there a saying about a sparrow becoming a Phoenix? Maybe an owl can do it too?
Although it was a very unreliable idea, if it succeeded, the rewards would be enormous.
A Phoenix possesses immortality. Once it ages or dies, even if it is hit by Avada Kedavra, it will be reborn from the ashes.
This ability is simply a dream come true.
Next is the Thunderbird. The Thunderbird has the power to change the weather, able to summon lightning and storms, and even the ability to foresee danger...
In Beorn's cottage,
Luke also told Beorn everything that had happened during this time.
When he heard that Thorin was afflicted with Dragon sickness and had lost his mind, Beorn also snorted coldly.
"These Dwarves are always so greedy and blind. Even if the treasure tainted with the Dragon's magic was the Causes, wasn't it also his own problem?"
Beorn had always disliked the Dwarves.
He only took them in back then because both sides had a common enemy.
Now that Thorin had gone mad, in Beorn's eyes, it was his own doing.
However, Beorn wasn't too interested in the Dwarves' situation; instead, he focused more attention on another matter.
"You really subdued that Dragon?" Beorn asked, eyes wide with disbelief.
Luke had grown accustomed to such expressions and nodded with a smile.
"This is truly unheard of, it's so astonishing!" Beorn exclaimed, looking at him with admiration, "To be able to subdue the evil Dragon, it won't be long before your name is spread throughout all of Middle-earth!"
"I think you will soon have a very glorious title, perhaps 'Dragon-binder'? Or 'Smaug's Master'?"
?
"But if you ask me, 'Dragon Rider' is the most suitable, after all, you are the only one in Middle-earth who can control a Dragon!"
Beorn was already enthusiastically thinking of future titles for Luke.
Seeing Beorn half-jokingly talking about his title, Luke still took the opportunity to ask him about the principle of the skin-changer's transformation.
Beorn shook his head at this.
"Our skin-changer's transformation ability comes from the inheritance of our ancestors' bloodline. Legend has it that our ancestors were humans living in the Misty Mountains, and they gained the ability to turn into Bears by receiving the blessing of the spirits of nature."
"I don't know if this rumor is true or not, because turning into a Giant Bear is a natural thing for us; it awakens at a certain age. So I don't know much either."
Luke had been prepared for this and was not too disappointed.
However, he still asked Beorn for a favor, to perform a transformation on the spot to see if he could discover anything.
Beorn did not refuse.
But before transforming, he had to take off his clothes.
Beorn's transformation was different from Luke's Animagus; it would merge his clothes into his skin, so once he transformed, his clothes would be torn apart.
So Luke could only try his best to ignore the naked man in front of him, silently telling himself it was just for research.
Oh, damn it! My eyes are going to get a stye!
Luke wailed in his heart.
After Beorn was ready, he began to adjust his emotions, as if anger was rising. Veins began to bulge on his forehead, his muscles twitched, he gasped for breath, clenched his fists, his body rapidly expanded, and his skin grew thick, black fur.
Finally, a black Giant Bear as large as a house stood before Luke.