Hogwarts wizards who signed in to Middle-earth.

Chapter 233 The Silent Ones

The deeper Dui went into the valley, the more amazed he became by the sacredness and beauty along the way.

It truly is a place of awakening that Ilúvatar personally arranged for humanity. Although he has not yet seen the sights of Valinor in the west, he feels that this is what it must be like.

At the deepest part of the valley is a colorful lake, its bottom and shore covered with golden sand and multicolored gemstones.

If the greedy Smaug had seen this scene, he would probably have been laughing his head off with glee.

There are man-made caves carved into the cliffs surrounding the lake.

These caves are relics left by the earliest awakened humans when they lived here. Even after several eras, under the shroud of divine power, they have not been eroded by time, as if people still lived here yesterday.

Dui searched the cave but found nothing of use.

"Where is the salt of the flesh?" Dui murmured with a puzzled look on his face.

Of the three elements used to create the Philosopher's Stone, the Spirit Mercury represents spiritual power. Dui collected the accumulated spiritual power of the elves from Rune Bay in the Grey Harbor over thousands of years.

The sulfur of the soul represents the soul. Dui collected the soul power transformed from the tears of the dead from the ghosts of the Path of the Dead.

As for the salt of the body, Elrond also explained to Dui that it is neither the body nor ordinary salt, but rather a stable, vital, and active substance.

But after searching around, Dui did not find any active substances.

He then turned his gaze to the lake in the valley, wondering if the active substances were in the water.
However, apart from being extremely pure and containing gold sand and gemstones, there was nothing unusual about the lake.

He then tried scooping up a bowl of water and tasting it.

The lake water is sweet and refreshing. The moment you drink it, you feel your fatigue disappear and your whole body feels comfortable.

While surprised by the lake's effects, it wasn't the "salt for the body" that Dui was looking for.

Dui was puzzled. Unable to figure it out, he simply sat down by the lake, pondering where the "salt of the body" could possibly be hidden.
Elrond was learned, wise, farsighted, and precognitive. He said that the salt of the flesh would be found in the birthplace of mankind, and he was not wrong.

Therefore, it's only possible that he hasn't discovered it yet.

"What exactly is it?" Du Yi asked, frowning in confusion.

His hands rested on the soft grass, and with an unintentional grab, damp soil stuck to his hands.

He was about to brush off the soil when a flash of inspiration struck him, and his eyes immediately lit up.

"Soil... Oh right, how could I forget about soil!"

He remembered that in various myths from his previous life, the birth of humankind was inseparable from the soil. In both Eastern and Western myths, humans were created by gods from clay.

In this Middle-earth world, although there is no such saying, humanity still awoke from the earth.

Dui had read the Elven history books in the library of the Valley of the Elves. In the Elven legends, Ilúvatar gave birth to many Aenu from her consciousness. These Aenu were the later Valar and Maiar.

Then Ilúvatar announced a grand theme to the Aenus, instructing them to harmonize and create a great movement based on that theme.

In the movement, Ilúvatar creates humans and elves through the third theme. In this process, the human souls come from the Undying Flame and are given free will.

The human body gradually formed in the world of Arda, that is, it was born on the land of Hildorion.

Although the human body was not directly sculpted from clay, it is closely related to it.

Dui parted the grass and dug out a patch of soil. The soil was moist and very fertile, and more importantly, it was full of life and vitality.

He then realized that the most overlooked soil in the entire valley was the source that nourished all life in the valley.

It is also a source of "salt for the body".

Upon discovering the source of the "salt for the body," Dui immediately beamed with joy.

However, extracting vital active substances from the soil is no easy task.

Dui immediately took out a tent from his spatial bag and set it up by the lake.

Then Dui transformed into a soil digger, pouring soil into a mithril crucible, and summoning water from the lake to pour into the crucible, thoroughly mixing the soil and water.

He then took out a bottle of separating agent potion, added three drops, and stirred continuously until the potion was fully mixed with the mud and water mixture.

Then let it stand and wait for the mixture to slowly settle and separate.

The active substances contained in the soil gradually dissolve in the water under the action of the separating agent.

When the mud and impurities settle to the bottom of the water and the muddy water in the crucible becomes clear.

Dui used a gold filter to filter and clarify the solution in the crucible. After cleaning the mud and impurities from the mithril crucible, he poured the solution back into the crucible, heated it over a low flame, and stirred it continuously with his wand.

The whole process is no different from making a magic potion.

The water vapor in the crucible continued to evaporate until all the water evaporated, leaving a thin layer of white solid at the bottom of the crucible.

This white solid looks like salt, but it exudes a rich life force, as if it were the crystallization of life.

And it is precisely the "salt for the body" that Dui has been searching for.

Dui carefully scraped off the layer of "salt" from the bottom of the crucible and collected it into a transparent crystal bottle.

However, sensing the rich life force, Dui couldn't resist picking a crystal and putting it in his mouth to taste.

A salty taste spread from his mouth, similar to salt, but at the same time, a burst of vitality erupted, quickly spreading to his limbs and bones, nourishing Dui's body and enhancing his life energy.

This nourishment is not like the Ent drink, which makes his body grow stronger, but rather increases his life potential, allowing him to live longer.

Of course, the effect of just one pill is negligible, at most adding a moment to life, but it is indeed a real life-extending substance.

Dui stared at the "salt of flesh" in the crystal bottle with burning eyes, wishing he could swallow it whole.

But he managed to suppress the urge.

He couldn't afford to lose sight of the bigger picture. Compared to the "salt of flesh" that could prolong life, the Philosopher's Stone, which could grant immortality, was clearly more tempting. After all, the "salt of flesh" was finite; even if he extracted it from the soil of the entire Valley of Slumber, it probably wouldn't be enough to grant him immortality.

Dui was thrilled to have successfully separated a small amount of "body salt" for the first time and was eager to continue separating more body salt.

Before that, however, he picked some fruit from the valley and started eating it.

While separating the body from the salt is important, Dui did not forget the restoration of the soul.

"This Hildorion is truly his lucky place," Dui exclaimed.

Not only does it have the raw materials to make the Philosopher's Stone, but it also has the fruit to heal the soul; he wanted to stay here.

At that moment, the system also gave a prompt.

[Hogwarts Check-in System: Locating Hildorian, check-in required?]

Dui's eyes lit up, and he quickly said, "Sign in!"

[Sign-in successful! Congratulations on obtaining the Silent One talent!]

The Silent One's talent? Dui was taken aback.

He remembered that the Obscurials arose from the suppression of their own magic, which led to the creation of Obscurials, magical energy life forms that resided within their bodies.

The silent ones, because of the "silent nature" residing in their bodies, have a brilliant life, and therefore usually die young.

Credence, the only Obscurial in the wizarding world to date, lived to adulthood, but ultimately died young.

So when the system told him that he had acquired the Obscurial talent, Dui's first reaction was not surprise, but rather some panic.

This thing can kill people, how come you're getting this talent just by signing in?

Is this a reward? It's more like a punishment!

Dui carefully examined the changes in his body, but after a long period of investigation, he found no problems.

No, it's not that there's no change, but rather that his magic power is growing at an accelerated rate, even faster than when he first awakened his magic!

Dui was both surprised and worried by this result.

In the past, he would meditate and cultivate constantly to increase his magic power, but now he doesn't need to meditate at all; the magic power in his body is increasing all the time.

If you meditate, you can even double your growth!
He should have been overjoyed by such a good thing, but now the talent of the Obscurus, which could kill people, has added a layer of worry to his heart.

However, no matter how he tried, Mo Mo Ran did not appear; he could only feel the magic power within his body increasing.

Seeing this, he could only temporarily put aside his worries and focus his attention on other things.

In the days that followed, Dui spent his days separating the "salt of flesh" from the soil, eating fruit from the valley when he was hungry, and drinking lake water when he was thirsty.

A month has passed in the blink of an eye.

The soil around the lake was thoroughly cleaned by Du Yili, resulting in a bottle of crystal-clear, snow-white "salt of the flesh".

To Dui's disappointment, apart from the soil near the lake, the active substances in the soil in other places were decreasing, and it was impossible to separate much "flesh salt".

Because the lakeside is where humanity was born and awakened, the soil here is imbued with sacred power and possesses a unique vitality.

Other areas were simply the parts that were irradiated.

Dui looked at the sacred and beautiful valley, and he did not want to exhaust the resources. The soil after he separated the active substances had become ordinary soil and could no longer nourish evergreen flowers, grasses and trees.

If he were to separate all the soil in the valley, he would probably destroy the environment, and the holiness and beauty of Hildorion would be lost.

So Dui stopped and did not continue to destroy the other soil. Even the land he had cultivated by the lake was constantly repaired by him with magic, at least restoring the appearance of the surface.

Hildorion was protected by the divine power of Ilúvatar. Although it had faded when humanity awoke, the remnants of divine power have remained to this day and have not dissipated for countless ages.

If nothing unexpected happens, perhaps after several more eras, the divine power here will completely disappear, and Hildorion, the birthplace of mankind, will eventually become an ordinary valley, completely forgotten, without even a name remaining.

Such a paradise was naturally not to be missed by Dui.

He simply reopened and renovated the caves inhabited by ancient humans.

He drew inspiration from the cave architecture of the dwarves and combined it with the style of the elves, transforming these caves into simple and elegant buildings, and even built a fireplace specifically for them.

Dui was initially worried that the fireplace here would be affected by the surrounding divine power and would be unable to connect to the Floo Network.

Fortunately, the fireplace was successfully connected to the fireplaces in Windrise and Eisengard.

In this way, he could freely travel between Hildorion and Windrise or Eisengard via the fireplace.

In addition, he successfully set an ancient apple tree in the valley as a directional and repeatedly teleportable portal key, which can be linked to the Holy White Tree or the Maurice Tree after returning to Wind and Cloud Peak.

Simply walk around the tree three times to the left and three times to the right, then tap the trunk and shout "Open!" to teleport between the two trees.

Thus, Dui had been in the valley for a full three months.

Dui ate all the fruit in the valley, and then picked the rest, preserved them with magic, and prepared to take them back to enjoy.

To Dui's delight, the side effects of his Horcrux creations were diminishing under the nourishment of these fruits, and his soul was gradually beginning to heal under the influence of the sacred power contained within the fruits.

Even without taking the soul stabilizer, his thinking and reason are no longer affected, and he is no longer impulsive or easily angered.

Perhaps when he has eaten all the fruit, his soul will be completely repaired and he will regain a complete soul.

Having finished his business with Hildorion, Dui didn't linger. He sprinkled a handful of Floo Powder onto the fireplace: "Eisengard!"

The green flames ignited, engulfing Dui and making him disappear from the spot.

(End of this chapter)