Chapter 459
Stars and Quills
Chapter 459 Stars and Quills
There is only one group in the forest that can make this sound - the centaurs.
The centaurs have always been arrogant. They look down on wizards and have no good feelings towards vampires and werewolves, two dark creatures.
If Lucas and his companions were discovered by a group of centaurs, they would definitely be killed by them in the name of invading their territory. Perhaps only the wolf cub Morris could survive.
The werewolf popped out his claws, leaped up, and quickly climbed up to the treetops and hid.
It was even more convenient for vampires. Thomas simply turned into a bat, hung on the tree, and blended in with the surrounding dark leaves.
Just as they hid, two centaurs came nearby and used their bows to push aside the grass to check.
The grass on the ground was pressed into human shapes and there were bloodstains all around. The smell in the air was very special, like the scent of some rotting meat, similar to the scent of roses or fresh irises.
"Disgusting!" The centaur sniffed, then sneezed, and said in disgust, "The vampire is gone."
The other centaur flicked his dark brown tail and said grumpily, "He should have woken up before we got here, damn bat!"
"Anyway, he's been here before." A centaur with platinum hair looked down at the blood on the ground and said calmly, "We have to find him. We can't allow vampires to run around in the Forbidden Forest."
They issued a call, and soon other centaurs trotted here, and then a centaur with a silver-gray tail and a slender figure stood out from the crowd.
"Magri!"
The first centaurs to arrive bowed their heads, made way, and spoke respectfully.
Magre half-knelt down, leaned over and dipped his fingertips in a little blood on the ground, muttering something, and his light blue eyes suddenly became a little empty, as if his sight was focused on some invisible distance.
Vampire Thomas' eyes immediately widened. He recognized that this was an elder from the centaur tribe who was very good at divination. He did not dare to stay any longer and slid down silently, flying into the distance through the gaps between the leaves.
Lucas hesitated and did not run away immediately.
He didn't think that with his size, the noise he made moving through the woods could be hidden from the centaurs' ears.
What's more, the centaurs were looking for foreign vampires, but the Lucas family was able to live in the Forbidden Forest with Dumbledore's permission. As long as they didn't stay with the vampires, he still had room to maneuver.
So the werewolf just stuffed his son into his clothes and signaled him to be quiet.
Morris nodded vigorously, his eyes wide open nervously.
"He's gone." After a moment, the centaur elder stood up and said, "He will leave the Forbidden Forest soon. We won't be able to catch up with him."
"Damn it!" a black-haired centaur roared angrily.
"Calm down, Bane." Magre said calmly, "At least he didn't cause us any damage."
"He went to the Acromantula Tribe." The centaur with platinum hair said, "Muggery, maybe we should warn Hogwarts."
Magre shook his head and said, "That's not necessary. The Acromantula was severely damaged yesterday afternoon, with more than 90% of them killed or injured."
Another red-haired centaur walked over slowly and continued, "So after the vampire broke in, he was considered the culprit of the massacre. Aragog and his descendants almost killed the vampire."
"That's right," said Magorian. "Whatever the vampire wanted to do, it has failed now. There is no need to notify Hogwarts."
"Firenze, you should keep your distance from humans, especially from Hogwarts."
The dark-haired Bane said coldly, "I don't want to be thought of as a servant of that school."
The centaur with platinum hair was the Firenze he mentioned. Hearing this, he frowned and said, "Our tribe and Hogwarts are close to each other, so we should help each other. Moreover, more and more dark forces are beginning to surface. In order to protect the tribe, we need to cooperate with Hogwarts even more."
"What do those things have to do with us? What the centaurs need to care about is the predictions of the stars!" Bane roared loudly: "We have sworn an oath, Firenze, and we must never disobey the will of heaven!"
“Perhaps the trajectory of the stars is guiding us?”
Firenze said angrily, "I don't believe you didn't see it. Two years ago, Jupiter tore apart a comet! The fragments of that comet will soon have a continuous collision with Jupiter! This is a sign that the world is about to undergo a major change!"
Bain said: "Because of this, we should remain silent, guard the tribe, and not have unnecessary contact with the outside world! Just like our ancestors for thousands of years!"
He glared angrily and shouted, "Firenze, do you want to involve the centaur tribe in the war?"
Firenze said disappointedly, "If we can wait until dawn, why did the gods allow us centaurs to interpret the signs of the stars?"
He looked around, then at the other party: "Bane, we are not observers of the world, but only part of it! The trajectory of the stars has pointed out the direction for us. If we do nothing, the changing world will leave us behind! The centaurs will also become the dust of history!"
"I would rather turn into dust than be used by wizards and driven by humans!" Bane snorted coldly and turned to walk into the depths of the Forbidden Forest.
The centaurs around watched the two quarreling quietly, including the red-haired centaur who looked like the leader and Magre who had just performed divination. No one spoke.
It wasn't until Bane turned and left that the red-haired centaur let out a long sigh.
He said to Firenze: "Firenze, your concerns are not unreasonable, but..."
He looked up at the stars for a long time before he said, "We centaurs also have our own pride. Hogwarts...or wizards...they don't know how to respect other races."
His tone was not as intense as Bane's, but it won the approval of most of the centaurs. Some centaurs originally supported Firenze, but after the red-haired centaur finished speaking, the hesitation on their faces disappeared.
Firenze frowned and said, "Ronan, we can't turn a blind eye to the changes. You can see that Hogwarts has changed more in the past two years than in the past thousand years!"
Ronan said sadly, "Yes, sometimes when I see the children coming out of the maze, I feel a sense of fear. The wizard's cubs are transforming into warriors, but the centaurs are standing still."
Firenze's face lit up with joy, and he said eagerly, "That's right! Then we should..."
Ronan raised his hand to stop him from saying the rest, and sighed, "You are too anxious, Firenze, and impatience will lead to mistakes. We need to be more patient and observe to see where the future will lead."
Ronan also turned and left, followed by Mager, and the rest of the centaurs followed one after another.
A grey-brown centaur passed by Firenze and turned to him and said, "I like you, Firenze, but I hate those wizards. They put damn spiders in the Forbidden Forest, and now they put dragons in too! The Forbidden Forest is our home, and the wizards messed it up! I hate them!"
Firenze also fell silent.
The wizard probably thought that the place where the fire dragon was located was far enough away from the centaur tribe. But in the eyes of the centaurs who loved running, the entire forbidden forest was their home, and they hated the fact that there were more uncontrolled dangers in the forbidden forest.
The centaurs left one by one, until only Firenze was left.
He looked at the few sparse stars in the distance for a long time, until the sun blocked the dim light of all the stars, then he left with a heavy heart.
Lucas came down from the tree, frowned and looked in the direction where the centaurs left. After thinking for a moment, he took out a crumpled piece of parchment and began to write a letter.
Morris saw that the first word was "Dumbledore" and asked in confusion: "Dad, don't you dislike Dumbledore?" "You must try your best to fulfill your promise, Morris."
Lucas said sullenly, "Besides, Dumbledore is here, and you can be taken to that school and come back safely after treatment. If Dumbledore is not here..."
He didn't say anything else. His pen paused for a moment before he continued writing.
……
Wade was taking an alchemy class with Professor Murray when a fluffy owl swooped into the principal's office.
After pouring the tea and placing the snacks, the class officially began. Professor Murray waved his wand, and a flat box flew down from the bookshelf and landed on the table with a "thump".
"Open it and take a look." Professor Murray said, "This is the tool we will use for study this semester...at least for one or two months."
Vader opened the box and said in surprise, "Quill?"
Professor Murray smiled and said, "Weider, you have made many amazing alchemical works, but you have rarely touched the quill. In fact, you can learn a lot of interesting things from such delicate and fragile things."
He picked up a thin, green quill and said, "This is a self-refilling quill. As long as there is ink in the ink bottle, it can keep writing. Can you guess what spell is used on it?"
Vader observed for a moment and said, "Connecting spell... Filling spell... I guess there's also a Levitation spell? This will make the ink flow more smoothly when used."
"good."
Professor Murray shook the feather pen lightly, and it fell apart into a pile of parts.
"It's actually very rare to combine spells like you did. Usually, when we need to cast different spells on an object, we put the spells on different parts of its structure."
Vader watched carefully.
The nib, barrel, top and bottom connection points also have a small wooden ball, and each part casts a different spell, but the combination is surprisingly harmonious.
Then, he used the materials prepared in advance by Professor Murray to make a similar feather pen, which only took him two or three minutes.
Professor Murray nodded with satisfaction.
"The pen holder and feather can be separated more finely. If we need, we can also add some additional spell carriers to it, such as this anti-cheating feather pen."
He took out a second quill, which looked ordinary, but in Wade's eyes, it was more dazzling than the former.
"Look, anti-interference spells, detection spells, recording spells, and restriction spells. These spells are all designed to prevent students from using dishonorable means to obtain grades during exams."
"Of course, I know you've already come into contact with it, but you still need to take a closer look at it from an alchemist's perspective."
"Yes."
Wade took the anti-cheating feather pen and tested, observed, and learned.
He had used this kind of feather pen in the final exams of the previous two years. But in the examination room, Wade couldn't dismantle the feather pen used for the exam and study it himself.
When Murray saw that Wade had copied an almost identical feather pen in just over ten minutes, a smile appeared on his face, and the wrinkles at the corners of his mouth deepened a little.
At the same time, he saw that Wade also smiled inexplicably, but it didn't seem like the satisfaction of a successful production, but rather a cunning feeling.
Murray narrowed his eyes slightly and said with a smile: "Weid, I asked you to study this, not to give you the opportunity to cheat in the exam."
"Oh, no, it just occurred to me..."
Wade put down his imitation and said with a smile: "With the advent of the communication pea, this kind of quill pen can no longer play as big a role as before. So in this year's examination hall, perhaps the communication pea will be banned, and a detection spell will be added at the entrance."
"That's true." Professor Murray stroked his chin and said, "I will take this suggestion to Dumbledore."
Wade smiled, somewhat looking forward to the scene where some students actually put on the communication pea, thinking they had mastered a new way to cheat, but were discovered by the professor just before entering the examination room.
"Let's talk about the third one..."
Professor Murray picked up the third quill pen. This was a pure black quill pen with slight signs of decay on the feathers on both sides. It looked as if it carried an ominous aura.
"Try it." Professor Murray handed it over.
Wade held the pen and lightly scratched the paper. The sharp pain in his arm made him frown, and a bright red mark appeared on the paper.
He pulled up his sleeve and saw a thin wound on his arm. Blood was slowly oozing out of it, but then the wound healed quickly as if nothing had happened.
"It carries a curse," Professor Murray said. "It's a very ancient magic that uses the user's blood as ink when writing, and it causes intense pain. It's a common black magic tool."
He took the black quill from Vader and put it in the box, saying:
"Props like this that will reveal problems immediately when used are actually the least scary, Vader. The truly dangerous monsters are often wrapped in gorgeous clothes, which will make people fall into the abyss willingly."
"I once heard that there is a kind of feather pen that can make your wish come true. The words written down will become reality, but the ink consumed is the writer's luck. It is very scary, and it is also what countless people yearn for."
"But this is just a legend. What we are going to learn today is actually this——"
What Professor Murray finally held in his hand was a sky blue feather pen. The pen body was the longest among the several feather pens, and the tip of the pen also looked a little special.
"This is a shorthand quill pen that can automatically record information and can be modified according to the owner's ideas. It is a favorite of reporters and writers."
He placed the quill in Wade's palm and said, "The automatic writing spell above is nothing special, but the way it connects with the wizard's thoughts is very creative - this is also the focus of our class today."
"This is different from injecting thoughts into the puppet, which is a one-time thing. And this - it uses one's current thoughts to have a lasting impact on the quill."
"Don't underestimate this kind of spell. A few wizards who are good at it can make animals understand their thoughts, and can also force others to act according to the will of the caster, thinking that it is their own thoughts."
Vader's eyebrows moved slightly, and he asked, "Like the Imperius Curse?"
"No, the Imperius Curse is nothing." Professor Murray said, "It is like the method used by gods or demons in myths to deceive and manipulate humans. It is said that some magical items can even influence the thoughts of people all over the world."
"...That sounds a bit scary." Wade asked thoughtfully, "How can we avoid this influence?"
"That's just a legend, Vader. If a certain magic can have an effect on billions of people, I can't even imagine what it would cost."
Professor Murray smiled and said, "But once you learn the spell, you will naturally learn how to resist it. Now, let's start with the quill."
(End of this chapter)