Hogwarts wizards who signed in to Middle-earth.

Chapter 20 The First Wand

After hearing what Tom said, Dui was a little moved.

He knew of the Barrowdowns, once a sacred place for the Dúnedain of the North, and the capital of Cardolan after the kingdom of Arnor was divided into three kingdoms.

However, with the invasion of the Witch-king of Angmar, the leader of the Nine Ringwraiths under the Dark Lord Sauron, and the rampant plague, the Kingdom of Cardolan fell apart, and most of the local residents fell ill and died. The Barrowdowns, which became an uninhabited area, fell into the hands of the Witch-king.

And under the contamination of the dark power of the Witch-king of Angmar, the Dunedain sleeping in the cemetery were transformed into terrifying wights. Since then, the Barrow-Downs has become a terrifying area and no one dares to approach it.

The Dúnedain were descendants of the Númenóreans, a fierce race that was able to defeat the Dark Lord Sauron and his dark army and bring Sauron's captives back to the island of Númenor.

If the Númenor people had not been bewitched by Sauron and had not boldly led their fleet to Valinor, declaring that this sacred land belonged to them, thereby offending the Valar and Ilúvatar, causing the gods to punish the Númenor people and causing the island of Númenor to sink.

The Dark Lord Sauron was merely a prisoner of the Numenor people and posed no threat at all.

Having said that, as a holy place for the Dúnedain, the tombs in the Barrow-Downs are basically filled with the kings and nobles of the Dúnedain. According to their traditional customs, the deceased will be buried with his or her jewelry, accessories, weapons, etc.

So if Dui really wanted to find a sharp knife that could cut the heart of a tree, this ancient tomb mound was indeed a good option.

The only thing to worry about is the corpse monsters in the ancient tombs.

The Barrow Wights were powerful Dúnedain in their lifetime, and after death they were transformed into undead dark creatures by the dark power, making them even more difficult to deal with.

Therefore, if Dui wants to go to the Barrow Hill, he must make adequate preparations.

Since Tom knew about the Barrow-Downs and lived so close to them, he must have some knowledge of the Barrow-Downs wights, so he asked Tom for information about the wights.

Tom didn't hide anything. "Wight demons have bodies as hard as iron, immense strength, and lightning speed. Ordinary people can't even see them clearly before they're attacked. When they appear, they're surrounded by thick fog, making it impossible to detect them. If attacked, they'll be cursed, weakened, and eventually transformed into a wight! More importantly, ordinary weapons are ineffective against wight demons, and even after being attacked, their bodies can quickly recover."

The more Dui listened, the more solemn his expression became. This corpse demon sounded more difficult to deal with than the tree people in the old forest.

"Does the corpse demon have any weaknesses?"

"Yes, there is. That is, corpse demons are afraid of sunlight. Once exposed to sunlight, they will dissipate."

But before Dui could be happy, Tom added, "But the wights can create fog and hide in the thick fog, so even in the daytime, it's not safe on the Barrow Hill."

"So if you insist on going to the Barrow Hills, you must not let the wights get close to you. Especially when encountering thick fog, be vigilant, because the wights may be hiding in the fog."

"I see. Thanks for the advice, Tom."

Dui temporarily gave up the plan of going to the Ancient Barrow Mound right now. He planned to improve his strength first so that he would have more confidence to go to the Ancient Barrow Mound and get what he wanted.

So he turned his attention to the first willow wand he had successfully made.

This wand was originally just a practice piece for him, and he put it away because it had commemorative significance.

But since the Tree Heart Wand could not be made for the time being, he simply finished this semi-finished wand and used it to replace the wand he needed most.

The magic wand is divided into two parts: the body and the core. Now that the body is completed, only the core has to be found.

In the wizarding world, the cores of wands are usually made from parts of magical animals. For example, Ollivander likes dragon heartstrings, unicorn hair, and phoenix feathers.

But in Middle-earth, there are no creatures like unicorns and phoenixes.

As for the fire dragon, there was one in Lonely Mountain. Putting aside the fact that distant water could not quench immediate thirst, even if the dragon were before him, he didn't have the strength to kill it and obtain the dragon's heartstring.

Just when Dui was worrying about where to find the wand core, he saw Ms. Goldberry sitting between the water lily pots, combing her long hair, and his eyes suddenly lit up.

Ms. Goldberry is the daughter of the river and undoubtedly possesses extraordinary magical powers. If her hair is used to make the core of the wand, it should be effective.

"Beautiful Lady Goldberry, could you give me a strand of your hair?" Dewi asked Goldberry.

"Hey, boy, Goldberry is mine!" Tom jumped up and stared at Dui with a bad look, looking alert.

Goldberry smiled brightly and took Tom's hand soothingly. Her eyes were gentle and full of wisdom. She looked at Dewy and asked, "Can you tell me what you want to do with my hair?"

Dui quickly explained, "It's like this, Ms. Goldberry, my wand is missing a core, so I want to make a wand with Ms. Goldberry's hair. But if it offends me, please forgive my disrespect!"

“It’s nothing.” Goldenberry didn’t mind at all, casually plucked a golden hair and handed it to him, and asked, “Is one enough? I can pluck a few more if you need them.” “Enough! Enough!” Dui said quickly, feeling that if he plucked any more, Tom would stare him to death.

When Dui got the golden berry's hair, he felt the magic contained in it and the breath of water.

Dui was very happy. This was definitely suitable for making wands, and the effect was far better than the magical animal hairs in the wizarding world.

"Hey, boy, Goldberry gave you a hair, so I'll give you a beard too." Tom was unhappy that Dui got a hair from his wife, so he immediately pulled off a beard and vowed to be a couple with his wife.

Dui didn't expect such a pleasant surprise, and was suddenly surprised. He didn't dislike Tom's beard. Although Tom's identity was mysterious, he was undoubtedly very powerful and ancient, and his beard naturally contained something extraordinary.

But before he could feel happy, he watched in astonishment as the beard quickly wrapped around Jinmei's hair, completely merging into one thicker golden-brown hair.

"This..." Dui was a little dumbfounded, and then he didn't know whether to laugh or cry.

I didn't expect that Old Tom was so jealous that he would even be jealous of a single hair.

He took the hair and beard interwoven together, examined it carefully, and his eyes suddenly lit up.

He was originally worried that the two strands of hair would be intertwined, causing a conflict in properties and could not be used to make a wand core.

But unexpectedly, the two hairs merged very well, and their magical properties increased several times.

Now that he had the wand core, Dui began to prepare to make the wand.

Since the tree heart could not be carved, he could only make a wand with willow wood and Tom and Goldberry's hair.

As for the core of the tree heart wand, he would see if he could replace the willow core later, or look for another suitable core.

Although there is a wand body and a core, making a magic wand is not as simple as stuffing the core into the wand body and then successfully casting a spell. It also requires a series of complicated steps and rituals.

Dui first collected dewdrops that had not yet been exposed to the sun in the early morning until he had collected a whole small basin. Then he soaked the willow wood stick and the hair used as the stick core in the dew, and placed them under the moonlight for seven days to ensure that the performance of the stick body and the stick core could be maximized.

Then Dui came to the old forest and began to look for magical trees that could produce resin. At last he found a giant pine and a sumac tree.

Using the petrification spell to freeze the two restless and hostile trees, Dui used a knife to cut the bark of the pine and lacquer trees in the early morning before the sun rose, and collected the pine resin and lacquer resin.

After all this is done, the wand making work officially begins.

Dui used a special drill bit to drill a small hole from the end of the willow wood, the hole was deep enough to accommodate the length of a hair.

Magic runes are carved on the inner wall of the hole as a magic conversion node.

Then use long tweezers to clamp the hair and carefully place it into the hole, making sure the hair is evenly placed in the cavity. Then carefully pour the melted rosin into the hole, making sure no bubbles are generated.

After the resin completely fills the holes and dries naturally, the hair and the wand will be completely integrated under the adhesion of the resin.

After completing this, Dui carefully polished the wand with sandpaper until it was smooth, and then applied tree varnish.

Thus a complete wand is produced.

At this point, the wand still cannot cast spells, and it still requires the final and most crucial ritual.

On a full-moon night, Dui held the magic wand in the moonlight, waving it in a specific manner, continuously injecting magic power into the wand and chanting the spell: "Nix-Inskri-Berry, Spiritus-Olarae-Resonantia..."

As the lengthy spell continued to be chanted, the moonlight gathered to form a silver gas, which was then absorbed by the wand.

In a trance, Dui heard a faint heartbeat from the wand.

The wand in his hand seemed to come alive and become extraordinary.

"Lumos!"

A bright light appeared at the tip of the wand, illuminating Dui's smile.

(End of this chapter)