Chapter 26: The Strongest Wand

No matter how much Kael inwardly grumbled about the title "Tree-Cutter," he was now asking for a favor, so he could only force a smile and maintain a pleasant conversation with the Brandybuck family head. During their discussion, Rory Brandybuck grew increasingly shocked and impressed as Kael recounted his adventures in the Barrow-downs, his skirmishes with the wights, and the spoils he had acquired. His attitude towards Kael became even more deferential. After some further conversation, Kael finally stated his purpose, presenting a list of materials and entrusting the Brandybuck family to help collect them, offering the jewels he had obtained from the wights as payment. Rory Brandybuck readily agreed without even glancing at the materials list. But when he finally saw its contents, he blinked, suspected he had misread it, and looked closer, becoming utterly dumbfounded. It wasn't that the items on the list were particularly precious, but rather that they were highly unusual. Rory looked at the list, which, in addition to common herbs like mugwort, lavender, daffodil roots, daisy roots, and fig peels, surprisingly contained bizarre things like caterpillars, slugs, leech juice, beetle eyes, rat spleens and tails, and snake skin and fangs. "Uh, Kael, Wizard," Rory stammered, "are you sure you've given me the right list? These things..." "Are they hard to find?" Kael asked, puzzled. "I know some of them might be difficult to acquire, so I don't insist on collecting all of them. I'd be very satisfied if I could just get some." "No, no, although these things are... uncommon, if you need them, Wizard Kael, we will certainly do our best to help you collect them," Rory quickly reassured him, only hesitating before asking, "It's just, what do you need these things for? Of course, this is just my curiosity. If it's a secret, please don't tell me." Kael did not hide it. "There's nothing that can't be said. I want to make some potions, and these are the necessary ingredients." "Potions?" Rory was stunned. He looked at the items on the list again, still finding it hard to believe that such strange things could be used to create potions. He knew that Kael had made an ointment called Essence of Dittany and had given some to Drogo. Not long ago, when his daughter Dora was on a date with Drogo in the wild, she accidentally scratched herself with a tree branch, and Drogo had used that very potion to treat it. At that time, Rory had personally witnessed its miraculous power; almost in the blink of an eye, it had healed the scratch as if it had never happened. He had been greatly shocked and became even more determined to facilitate the marriage between his daughter and Drogo. But he never expected such a miraculous Potion could be made from such peculiar ingredients; it completely shattered his worldview. No matter what he thought, Rory was still willing to do his utmost to help Kael with this favor. He was also quite curious about what kind of potion these strange things would eventually make. Kael was very grateful for this, making a mental note of the favor, but he refused Rory's offer to help for free. He now had a pile of jewels and was not short on money. After bidding farewell to Rory and leaving Brandy Hall, Kael went to the blacksmith's shop and commissioned a crucible. He specified it be made from silver, a metal known for its high magical conductivity, according to his own drawings. Afterward, Kael returned to Drogo's house. He then took out a small section of the heartwood—a piece Tom had cut for him earlier, perfectly sized for making a magic wand. Kael pulled out one of his new daggers, a slender, silver blade, and carefully began to carve the heartwood. The heartwood, which had been as hard as iron to any ordinary tool, now yielded like wax under the dagger, cut with effortless precision. Although Kael had been prepared for this, he was still overjoyed. He found himself deeply admiring the craftsmanship of the Dúnedain; such a dagger was truly a divine weapon, and he now possessed four of them! Kael, already highly skilled at carving wands, meticulously shaped the heartwood, little by little. A week passed in a flash, and his heartwood wand had already taken shape. The hole for the wand core did not require precise carving skills, so he specifically asked a Hobbit craftsman to drill it to the appropriate depth with a diamond drill bit. Once everything was ready, Kael unhesitatingly broke his first magic wand—the one he had made from the lesser willow wood—and carefully extracted its core. He then meticulously placed the core into the heartwood wand. Using the tree sap collected from the Old Man Willow days earlier as an adhesive, he poured it into the small hole to fuse the core and the wand into one. After a final, careful polishing, on the night of the full moon, Kael held the new wand under the moonlight. He waved it according to specific, flowing movements, continuously injecting his magic into the wood, and chanting incessantly: "Runix-inscri-berry, spiritus-olari-resonantia..." As the lengthy incantation continued, the moonlight seemed to materialize, gathering into a silver mist that was continuously absorbed by the magic wand. The silent wand seemed to be endowed with life, a rhythmic pulse of magic emanating from it, like the sound of a beating heart. Kael held the wand. It felt like a true extension of his arm, seamlessly connected. The magic within him flowed unimpeded, gushing out through the wand with incredible power. With a vibrant bang, countless golden musical notes sprayed from the tip of the wand. The notes were like dancing musical spirits, playing a joyous, enchanting melody. The music spread outwards from Kael as its center, carried by the wind, echoing throughout the entire Buckland. Everyone who heard it felt an inexplicable joy, their faces unconsciously beaming with smiles. Kael was elated at this moment, partly due to the infectious music, and partly due to the astonishing power of the heartwood wand. The heartwood wand truly lived up to its name, being made from the very core of the Old Man Willow, the strongest and oldest tree in the Old Forest, combined with a core crafted from the hair of Goldberry, the River-daughter, and the beard of Tom Bombadil. The combination of these two incredibly potent wand materials endowed the heartwood wand with mysterious and powerful magic. Not only was it perfectly compatible with Kael, but it also greatly enhanced the power of his spells, allowing him to cast magic far beyond his inherent magical strength. Using the same amount of magic and casting the same spell, the power unleashed by the heartwood wand was several times stronger than that of the previous willow wood wand. For example, the music magic he had just cast, if attempted with the previous willow wood wand, would at most have affected an area of a few dozen meters. But now, cast with the heartwood wand, it affected the entire Buckland; the difference was like heaven and earth. Kael happily stroked the wand in his hand. With this wand, his strength could multiply several times over. Afterward, he was like someone who had received the newest toy, constantly trying various spells to make himself more compatible with it. Only after familiarizing himself with the new wand did Kael finally turn his attention to the collection of potion materials. (End of Chapter) *** (End of Chapter) [Check Out My Patreon For More Chapters On All Of My Fanfics!!] [www. 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