Frank Spider, Grafting Complete
Baruk was still lying by the door, its eight legs outstretched, its head pressed against the ground, its two main eyes fixed on the light coming from inside. When it saw Regulus come out, its front legs twitched, its body slightly raised, its chelicerae opened and closed with a sound, and all eight eyes glanced upwards. It had been lying there for quite a while, without making a fuss or scratching at the door, just waiting, thinking itself to be very well-behaved.
It was already dark. Several Magic Lamp hung at the entrance of the Cabin, their soft, warm light illuminating the area in front of the door.
A sea breeze blew in from the west, causing the light bulb to sway slightly.
Regulus looked around.
It's not that the wind and temperature are bad outside, but modifying Baruk is still surgery, and it's not appropriate to perform surgery in the wind.
He turned around, drew his wand, and tapped it against the doorframe.
Transfiguration.
The stone of the door frame began to flow, expanding outwards on both sides and rising upwards, from 1.2 meters to 3.5 meters, wide enough for Baruk to pass through completely. Then the wand pointed into the interior of the Cabin, Untraceable Extension Charm.
The stone walls didn't expand outwards, so the Cabin still looked the same size from the outside, but the interior space seemed to be stretching.
The fireplace was moved back seven or eight meters, the four walls were simultaneously pushed outwards, and the ceiling was raised significantly.
This isn't the delicate work of directly distorting Spatial Structure like Spatial Transfiguration; the Untraceable Extension Charm is a mature spatial application spell that doesn't require much effort—just a few seconds—and the entire room expands several times over.
The Cabin, which could only fit a bed and a table, now has enough space to accommodate a classroom.
The stone slab in front of the fireplace had its veins stretched out; the positions of the table, chairs, and bed remained unchanged, but the surrounding area suddenly felt empty.
Regulus patted its large head and called out, "Come in."
Baruk stood up, his eight eyes fixed on the enlarged doorway.
It took a step forward, placed its front paws on the threshold, and tested it, realizing it wouldn't headfirst onto it.
It took another step, half its body went in, while its four legs were still outside.
It stopped, and its eight eyes scanned the room.
The fireplace is still the same fireplace, the table is still the same table, the bed is still the same bed, even the pillow is still there.
Everything is familiar, but the place has become bigger.
It stepped in with its remaining four legs, stood in the middle of the room, turned its head left and right, and its eight eyes looked over every corner. It looked back at the door frame, then at Regulus, and its chelipeds opened and closed gently.
It began to wander around the room, looking at the fireplace, then at the desk, glancing up at the ceiling, then down again, stopping and starting. It walked to the desk, peered at the Salamander in the Stone Box, and then glanced at Regulus.
Regulus sat in front of the fireplace, not looking at it.
Baruk stuck out its rear end, aimed its spinnerets at the roof beam, and sprayed out a large amount of silk, weaving a small web there. Then it wiggled its rear end and casually walked back to Regulus, lay down, and neatly tucked its eight legs in, looking extremely obedient. Regulus's lips twitched slightly, ignoring its little quirk, and he simply said, "Don't move."
Baruk was lying down when he heard those two words. He turned his head to look at him, then turned back to lie down, not even moving his eyes.
It closed its chelicerae, its bristles lying obediently on its carapace, and the whole spider was as quiet as a hairy black stone.
Regulus placed his palm on Baruk's back armor, his Magic Perception penetrating deeper.
This step has been done many times before; I sensed it from our first meeting in the Forbidden Forest, but this time it's more refined.
Baruk was also familiar with Regulus's Magic Power, so he didn't resist at all and let him look at him.
Frank Spider.
Baruk's Magic Power structure is far more complex than that of the Salamander.
The venom gland system has its own independent Magic Power branches, as does the spider silk gland system, and the eight-eyed vision has eight parallel branches.
Each system is operating stably, with no interference between branches, each running its own program.
There are structural gaps between the branches; those gaps are the grafting points.
What he needs to do is simple: grow a new branch in the gap, and this branch will carry the Salamander's Fire Affinity.
However, there is a technical problem that needs to be solved first.
Salamander are reptiles; their Magic Power travels along their spine and subcutaneous blood vessels.
Baruk is an arthropod; his Magic Power travels along the inside of his exoskeleton and the joint spaces of his appendages.
The two operating methods are completely different; the Salamander's Magic Seed cannot be directly inserted into Baruk's body.
It doesn't match; it needs to be changed.
The internal pathway of the Magic Seed needs to be changed from running along the spine to running along the inside of the exoskeleton, and from passing through subcutaneous blood vessels to passing through the joint spaces.
This step isn't in "Beyond Form"; that book discusses how wizards modify themselves, which involves no special techniques—the spell is used directly. But transferring the abilities of one animal to another, the conversion of the operating mechanism, is unprecedented and requires on-site adjustments based on the wizard's understanding and control of the Magic Circuit.
Regulus picked up the Magic Seed, held it between two fingers, and twirled it.
The object, about the size of a pea, has a clearly visible internal structure; it's a straight line with only one tendency from beginning to end.
He used his Magic Perception to touch every single node of it and rearrange them in his mind.
The original linear structure was transformed into a mesh-like structure adapted to the body shape of arthropods, spreading out along the inner wall of the exoskeleton.
He set transition points at each joint, allowing Magic Power to flow from the exoskeleton of one leg to the exoskeleton of the other, eventually covering the entire body. He then condensed the rewritten structure back into the Magic Seed.
The appearance hasn't changed much; it's still orange-red and the size of a pea, but the internal path has changed.
The Salamander Magic Power Acromantula Compatible Version.
Next comes the incantation.
<Beyond Form> provides the root structure: Facultas, ability; Mutare, change; Corpus, body, the specific combination depending on the type of the target creature and the required ability.
He pieced together the information based on the classification attributes of the Acromantula and its Fire Affinity ability.
Facultas Ignis Mutare Aranea Corpus.
Flame abilities alter the spider-like body.
He spelled out the syllables and read them aloud. The tip of the staff reacted, and the Magic Power, guided by the incantation, began to gather in a specific direction—and the direction was correct. He placed the Magic Seed in the middle of Baruk's carapace, near the Magic Core, but not on top of it.
The branches of the venom glands and arachnid glands extend from the core, running along both sides. There is a small gap in the lower middle section, big enough to fit a seed the size of a pea.
The large gap is left open, as the spatial scaling of the Occamy and the stealth prediction of the Demiguise are much more complex than the Fire Affinity, requiring a larger grafting space.
Regulus raised his wand, pointed it at the seed on Baruk's back armor, and chanted a spell.
"FacultaslgnisMutareAraneaCorpus."
Reverse wrist movement, press down with the tip of the staff, and infuse Magic Power.
The spell opened an entrance.
On the carapace of the Baruk, where the seeds were placed, a faint warm glow emanated, like a piece of red-hot iron slowly releasing its color.
The Magic Seed sank from the surface of the carapace inward, passing through the hard shell layer and entering the Magic Channel below.
The moment the seed came into contact with Baruk's Magic Power, a rejection reaction occurred.
Baruk's body jerked violently, all eight of his legs pushing off the ground simultaneously, leaving several white marks on the stone slab.
The bristles stood up abruptly, and the surface of the carapace shimmered with a reptilian sheen. Scale-like patterns spread out from the grafting site, flashed briefly at the joints, and then faded.
Dark red spots spread outwards from the abdomen, flashing and bouncing back and forth along the edges of the carapace seams, as if something inside was searching for an exit. The Salamander's Magic Power was being besieged by Baruk's Magic Power.
Baruk's mouth opened, revealing his fangs, and eight eyes slanted at him, their pupils trembling, the gleaming white light in their sockets flickering. But he held back.
It kicked its legs once and then stopped, its body stopped twitching, and its bristles slowly lowered.
Without turning his head back, the two eyes closest to Regulus among the eight eyes tilted slightly in his direction.
There was no sound, no opening or closing of its pincers; it simply looked at him with its eyes.
Cross-species transplant rejection is bidirectional.
The external Magic Power tries to take root inside, while the original Magic Power tries to drive it out; the two forces collide with each other around the grafting point.
If the person being modified is a wizard, they can actively suppress their own Magic Power to give the external Magic Power time to adapt. This is the third step described in "Beyond Form".
Wizards can do this because they can control their Magic Power, are clear-headed, and operate with precision.
But Baruk couldn't do it.
It is Magical Creature; its Magic Power is driven by instinct. It can be used, but not controlled.
It doesn't know what suppression is; it only knows that when something comes in, the Magic Power rushes up to fight it.
It's like asking a cat to suppress its own Magic Power —it's impossible.
This is the biggest risk of using the method described in the book on animals: without the help of Spellcasting to suppress it, the victim has to bear it alone, and if they can't, they die. The France witch of 1712 modified herself; she could suppress her own Magic Power, but the Magic Power of the Fire Dragon scales was too strong, and her suppression collapsed after seven days.
Animals can't even suppress it; they can only rely on their bodies to endure it.
But Regulus had another way: Natural Magic.
He placed his left hand on Baruk's back armor, releasing Natural Magic Power and channeling it into Baruk's body through his palm.
Natural Magic Power is neutral, without any attribute bias, and does not favor any particular side.
It flowed into Baruk's body, enveloping the grafting point and forming a buffer between the Acromantula's Magic Power and the Salamander's Magic Power.
Neither side should rush into a fight; both should get used to each other first.
This is the extra skill he has compared to what's in the book.
The book "Beyond Form" makes no mention of Natural Magic, probably because there are very few wizards in history who can simultaneously master cross-species Transfiguration and Natural Magic.
These two areas, one in the Forbidden Section of Hogwarts and the other in the Black family heritage, have almost no point of intersection.
But for Regulus, these two things naturally came together at this moment.
Natural Magic Power replaces the suppression process.
Regulus doesn't need to forcefully suppress Baruk's Magic Power; he only needs to maintain the envelopment of Natural Magic Power, and Baruk's Magic Power will gradually accept the new branch on its own.
After a long time, the rejection reaction gradually weakened.
Baruk's bristles began to fall from the roots, and the upright spikes softened little by little.
The newly emerging scale patterns on the carapace gradually smoothed out, the dark red spots faded, and the last trace paused briefly at the joints before sinking into the exoskeleton, becoming completely still.
The Fire Affinity module has taken root in Baruk's Magic Circuit. Baruk's Magic Power is still the spider's Magic Power, but now there is a new branch.
Regulus glanced at it; the Magic Power flowing through the new branch, carrying the Fire Affinity of the Salamander, became its own Magic Power. The grafting was complete.