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.