Hermione's Doubts

As Cedric was leaving, he placed an order with Luan for the wood shavings produced from carving Magical Trees.

Though Luan did not know what Cedric wanted them for, he agreed readily enough.

This warm-hearted senior had put in a great deal of effort caring for the three Great Trees. Besides, they were only wood shavings, which held little value to Luan.

The Wood Splitting practice continued. By the time Luan was preparing to return to Xilin on Sunday evening, more than twenty flames had gradually appeared in the fireplace.

By then, he could steadily and flawlessly split a wooden stick down to the finest Wand Tip.

After returning to Xilin, Luan prepared another large bundle of hazel wood. He intended to make a final push in the next seven days.

At the same time, Luan did not forget to search for Wand Core materials. For that, he needed to seek out his only friend in Xilin.

The monastery's horsekeeper: Brad Foster.

Back when the Melani Empire ruled, the Foster Family had been famed horse breeders.

Not only did they understand every habit of horses and excel at treating their illnesses, but their most renowned skill was breeding mares.

So long as an employer handed over the mares from their household, the Fosters would take a stroll across the grasslands.

Not long after they returned, the employer's mares would give birth to strong young warhorses.

Everyone wanted to know the Foster Family's secret, but at the time, they were protected by a baron, and no one was willing to provoke them.

Later, when the Federation was established, the family lost its protection and had no choice but to join the monastery.

Luan had learned the secret the family had guarded for a hundred years from Brad, who had been tending horses, when he was seven.

When he found Brad feeding the monks' horses, the boy, who stood a head taller than Luan, had grown far more mature.

After exchanging a few pleasantries, Luan got straight to the point.

"No. Snow Eagle Mountain has become a frontline military encampment. It's far too dangerous there."

Brad rolled up the sleeves of his coarse blue-gray clothes, cleaned out the feed trough, then poured in fresh fodder.

"I know it's dangerous there, but, Brad." Luan looked at him with unwavering eyes.

"I really need to find something. Or you could draw me a rough map of the area, and I can look for it myself."

Brad paused halfway through picking up the shovel to clean the stable, then turned to look at Luan in confusion.

"You've changed?"

Luan was baffled by the abrupt question.

Seeing Luan's puzzled expression, Brad continued, "You never used to ask others for help."

Luan could not help recalling the past. He realized that ever since entering Hogwarts, he truly had begun smiling more often.

The little boy who used to agonize every day over being mocked by others had long since left him.

"I don't know what you've been through, but since you're asking, I'll definitely help you. Still, you'll have to give me time to look into it. That was from my grandfather's time, after all."

After receiving Brad's promise, Luan happily helped him clean the stable.

On his way back to the farmhouse cabin, Luan also bought two pots of Water Bottle Grass from the street.

They were plants some local Xilin households kept in their kitchens to catch insects.

With winter approaching, the price of these plants had dropped as well. Two pots cost one Federal Silver Coin.

The price was still affordable for Luan. After the farm's harvest had been completed last week, he had received a year's wages: ten silver coins.

A new recruitment notice had been posted in the center of Cross Street, indicating that the war was still in preparation.

Yet Luan found that life did not seem to have changed much.

His wages had not plummeted, and the price of two pots of flowers was the same as in previous years.

When he put the question to Neil, who was often responsible for purchasing supplies for the farm, he received an answer.

"A war takes a long time to prepare for. This is only the beginning."

That week, Luan shut himself away in the cabin in the woods. After wasting nearly a hundred pieces of wood, he finally split a hazel model wand perfectly.

It was also the happiest thing that had happened to Luan before returning to Hogwarts.

That evening, he brought the two pots of Water Bottle Grass back to Hogwarts.

After arranging the flowerpots neatly on the windowsill and greeting Bouncing, Luan finally had a proper night's sleep for the first time in ten days.

After getting up the next morning, Luan eagerly took out a piece of willow branch to test his technique.

To save time, Luan had used hazel wood, which was readily available, for carving in Xilin.

Compared with the straight grain of hazel wood, willow was relatively soft, and its internal grain was mostly cross-grained. Splitting it perfectly was even more difficult.

Fortunately, the experience gained from extensive practice had refined Luan's touch. The sharp blade in his hand was both a cutting tool and his eye for probing the grain.

By the third piece of willow wood that morning, he had finally achieved a perfect split.

The grain was clearly visible, with no severed sections anywhere. Not even a trace of wood shavings appeared.

Huff...

Luan let out a long breath, then split two more small wooden sticks in succession.

Now he needed to build up experimental materials for the next step.

Embedding the Wand Core.

This step was no easier than Wood Splitting. In fact, it was even harder, because the wood had to perfectly accommodate the size of the Wand Core.

He carefully tied the three split wooden sticks together, then slowly placed them into the wand box.

Luan had just breathed a sigh of relief when Hermione's voice came from the stairs to the girls' dormitory.

"You finished splitting them so quickly?"

Hermione was probably the student who best understood the difficulty of Wandmaking, because she had also finished reading Wandmaking and Maintenance.

The wand-splitting methods recorded in the book had long evolved from relying purely on tools to working in conjunction with spells.

Even two hundred years ago—the time Wandmaking and Maintenance had been written—the Ollivanders had already mastered the use of Splitting Magic to complete this step quickly and conveniently.

Yet Luan had chosen the most primitive method from the very beginning. In Hermione's eyes, it was simply an extremely irrational decision.

She understood perfectly well just how difficult it was to master this method.

The Ollivanders had even stipulated that mastering this ancient splitting method was a skill one had to possess to take over the wand shop.

"That's right. Three of them."

A small look of pride appeared on Luan's face.

"How is that possible? That book said even members of the Ollivanders need more than three years of practice to master this skill."

"Hermione, you may have forgotten that I've been carving wooden sculptures for three years too."

Seeing Hermione's doubtful expression, Luan explained what was not exactly an advantage, but still an advantage nonetheless.

Though wood carving and Wandmaking were two different things, both required the maker to have a deep understanding of the wood in their hands.

Of course, Luan had been able to complete this step so quickly because he had the time in Xilin for extensive, uninterrupted practice.

That short-term push had made his sense of touch toward wood grain far more sensitive.

"All right, congratulations. But I've always been curious—why don't you use a wand together with Wood Splitting?"

Why? Because I didn't even have a wand in Xilin.

Luan grumbled inwardly, then explained with slightly evasive eyes.

"I just wanted to study what it felt like when the first wand was made."

After saying that, Luan hurriedly left the Common Room.

Hermione, standing where she was, muttered to herself.

"What a strange person."

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