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What did a wand mean to a wizard?

It was said that Africa had so few wandmakers that most people learned to cast spells without wands, and even talented young wizards could perform powerful magic. It was also said that ancient wizards had yet to invent wands. That made it seem as though wands weren't indispensable after all.

Yet the Ministry of Magic here in Europe still strictly restricted the export of wands, and even harshly prohibited any intelligent beings from using them.

To Anton, a wand was a little like a bicycle to a traveler, a computer to a researcher, or a handgun to a mercenary.

You could still get around without a bicycle, build an atomic bomb with a pencil and no computer, and kill your target with a dagger or a bow and arrow instead of a handgun.

But these tools were just so useful.

And now that Anton had delved deeper into the study of magic, he was increasingly convinced that wands were more than they seemed.

They weren't merely a matter of Magical Items. The wand's body used the magic of Fantastic Plants, and its core used the abilities of Fantastic Beasts. That alone made their fusion incredibly complex and difficult.

"It's a bit like our research into combining magical creature bloodlines, only on the outside." Anton looked up from Wandmaker's Compendium and discussed it with Anna.

"Death and resurrection, Harry Potter, Voldemort, Phoenix Feather!" Anna's eyes lit up. "You know what I mean."

She gave a little fist pump. "That makes it seem like the bond between a wand and a wizard even touches on the realm of fate."

Anton raised an eyebrow and nodded thoughtfully.

If firearms were the culmination of human technology, then wands were the greatest achievement of wizards' millennia of