In the laboratory,
an orc, his face filled with terror, was bound to the spot by a petrification curse, watching as Luke approached.
Luke covered his nose in slight disgust.
These orcs were like uncivilized beasts—dirty from head to toe and reeking horribly.
He quickly cast several cleansing spells, removing the stench from the orc before daring to get closer.
Then he raised his wand, aimed at the orc, and cast a human transfiguration spell.
The orc's body swelled and warped uncontrollably, turning into a small dragon resembling Smaug.
Though called "small," it still stretched for dozens of meters—many times larger than Luke himself.
Once transformed, the dragon-orc regained movement. At first, it panicked, but upon seeing the tiny Luke before it, malice arose in its heart, and it lunged to bite him.
"Cruciatus!" Luke raised his hand, expressionless, and unleashed the curse.
The transformed orc collapsed to the ground in pain, letting out an agonized roar.
Luke had no interest in torturing him—after giving the creature a brief lesson, he disappointedly turned the dragon back into an orc.
He had known that transfiguration couldn't truly turn one species into another, but still felt let down. The dragon form had the shape, but not the breath or strength of a true dragon; in essence, it was still just an orc in dragon's skin.
Still, Luke had expected this—if he could truly turn an orc into a real dragon with a spell, he would be close to godhood by now.
Once more, he cast the human transfiguration spell.
But this time, he not only altered the orc's outward form—he tried to forcibly break the orc's inner mana cycle and reshape it into Beorn's.
However, the moment he broke the orc's mana cycle, the energy within turned chaotic and violent.
In the next instant, the orc's body was torn apart from within, flesh and blood splattering everywhere.
Luke quickly cast a shield charm, avoiding being splattered in the face.
Frowning at the loss of his first test subject, he waved his wand to clean the sticky mess from the floor.
Then he went to the holding cells, brought out two more orcs, and set one aside petrified while focusing on the other.
This time, instead of breaking the entire mana cycle at once, Luke targeted a smaller subsystem, attempting to replace it with a portion of Beorn's.
This time the orc's mana did not spiral into chaos; the altered section was successfully replaced with Beorn's cycle. Delighted, Luke continued to modify the orc's inner mana circuits bit by bit.
It was painstaking work—he had to remain utterly focused, pouring mana constantly to prevent the creature's internal balance from collapsing.
Otherwise, the orc would end up like the last one—burst apart instantly.
As time passed, sweat formed on Luke's brow.
But at a moment's distraction, the orc's mana cycle slipped out of balance—its original cycle clashing with the inserted Beorn cycle.
Sensing danger, Luke immediately raised a shield.
The orc writhed in pain, its body twisting and contorting in agony.
But to Luke's surprise, it didn't explode—instead, it transformed. Its back hunched, limbs warped into clawed limbs, its ugly face jutting forward into a fanged maw.
It became a grotesque, deformed half-orc, half-bear creature.
If the original orc could still be called humanoid, this one truly qualified as a beastman.
Luke tried a restorative transformation spell, but it had no effect—the creature's form was now permanent.
Its mana cycle had mutated into a hybrid between a skin-changer's and an orc's.
Shaking his head, Luke immobilized the roaring beast and sent it to the giant spider hatchery to feed the newborn spiders.
Turning to the other orc, whose eyes were now wide with despair, he summoned it over for the next experiment.
Over the following days, he stayed mostly in the lab.
Under his transformation experiments, countless misshapen orcs emerged—some covered in bear fur, some with bear heads and orc bodies, some half-bear, half-orc, some with only bear limbs, and even orcs wearing bear skins like a coat.
All failures were sent without exception to feed the giant spiders.
One day, Luke selected the orc chieftain, Tharzog, as his subject.
Tharzog, trembling with fear, knew full well the fate of the others—none had returned.
He wanted to beg for mercy, even swear fealty, but the wizard before him gave no chance—silencing him instantly.
In Tharzog's eyes, this wizard was even more terrifying than the Dark Lord himself.
If there were such a thing as a "regret potion," he would have taken it long ago and fled Gram Mountain.
Luke, however, cared nothing for his feelings. After fifty orc experiments, he now had a grasp of mana transformation—and was confident in this attempt.
He calmly began the process, patiently altering Tharzog's mana cycle, bit by bit.
Even with sweat streaming down his face and exhaustion gnawing at him, he didn't dare slacken his focus.
Finally, he replaced Tharzog's cycle entirely with Beorn's.
The orc chieftain roared in pain as his body swelled and twisted, transforming into a massive, hideous bear.
Though smaller than Beorn's, it was still as large as a hill—able to swat an orc to death with one paw. The beast radiated a dark aura, like a demon bear.
Luke smiled—he could sense mana from the creature.
Though darker than Beorn's nature-aspected energy, it was far beyond any ordinary bear.
"Reducto!" Luke hurled a spell at it.
The bear howled, charging instinctively at him—but the spell that could kill an orc only left a wound that rapidly healed.
"Cruciatus!" The curse robbed the bear of its will to resist, and Luke followed with an Imperius Curse.
"Now—try to change back," he ordered.
The bear, eyes vacant, obeyed instinctively—shrinking, bones reshaping, until it was an orc again.
Thus, the first "skin-changer" among the orc race was born.
In the days that followed, Luke focused entirely on studying this perfect specimen—analyzing how its mana cycle shifted between forms, and pinpointing the triggers for transformation.
Once he had learned all he could, he killed Tharzog with a spell and fed him to the giant spiders.
Now that he had mastered Beorn's transformation secrets, Luke didn't rush to experiment on himself.
His goal was not merely to turn into a giant bear, but to evolve his Animagus form.
Next, he studied the mana cycles of Smaug the dragon, Herpo, the basilisk, and Sulond the giant eagle—comparing their subtle differences.
He attempted to shape an orc's mana cycle into that of a dragon, but the orc's pitiful mana reserves couldn't sustain the form—before completion, the creature was drained dry, collapsing into a husk.
He tried the same with basilisks and eagles, producing orcs with snake scales, snake heads, eagle wings, eagle heads, and other bizarre hybrids.
Again, the mana reserves of an orc were too small to achieve full transformation.
Still, he noticed that the cycles of dragons, basilisks, and eagles were broadly similar, differing only in fine details.
To expand his research, he captured trolls from the Troll Forest and wargs from the Misty Mountains, adding more samples.
He compiled all their mana cycles, then began creating entirely new ones.
As the orcs dwindled—most dying in explosions or becoming monstrosities—Luke wondered whether he should capture more.
Then, by sheer luck, while experimenting on another orc, he had a sudden idea—he merged the rune of flame into the cycle.
The result: the orc transformed into a massive firebird!
The bird was half the size of a full-grown giant eagle, its feathers a fiery crimson-orange, able to breathe flames!
Luke's eyes widened in joy—this was the fusion of a dragon's and eagle's mana cycles, plus a fire rune, producing an entirely unexpected form.
Though far from the phoenix of his imagination, it exceeded his expectations.
He quickly recorded the mana cycle of the firebird—knowing that his Animagus evolution would be built upon it.