Recaps

After the battle, Ministry investigators failed to classify the mysterious White Line at the Wasteland, and their report was buried. Voldemort later inspected the ruins, recognized that Regulus had begun using his will to influence Magic, and considered speaking with him.

• Wizards flocked to the Wasteland, where Ministry investigators examined the damage and recorded seventeen spatial indentations and the unclassifiable White Line.
• The investigators submitted their findings, but officials buried the report and left the Wasteland cordoned off for several days.
• Aurors received an order to withdraw, and Voldemort Apparated into the ruins after they had all left.
• Voldemort inspected the fissure, crater, and Black Mist residue, then found that the White Line showed the trace of existence being reduced to nothing.
• Voldemort connected the White Line to Regulus's ability to blend his will into Magic and decided the boy might be worth speaking with.

After recovering from the mental exhaustion caused by losing Saiph, Regulus received a message from Dumbledore asking Geralt to help make contact with a Giant tribe in Norway. Regulus suspected Dumbledore had chosen the timing to draw him out of Grimmauld Place, and he went to speak with someone in the study.

• Regulus examined a German alchemy paper and repaired the copper plate after Baruk damaged its circuit by poking it.
• A silver Phoenix passed through Grimmauld Place’s defenses and delivered Dumbledore’s invitation for Geralt to travel to Norway with Fabian and Gideon.
• Regulus considered how Dumbledore had anticipated his recovery and concluded the trip might help him leave Grimmauld Place after a month of isolation.
• Regulus put away the journal and copper plate, picked up Baruk, and entered the study.

Regulus left Grimmauld Place as Geralt to meet Dumbledore and the Pruitt brothers in Norway. He arrived at a village restaurant and asked Dumbledore what job awaited him.

• Regulus told Orion that Dumbledore had sent word about a job and received permission to leave as Geralt.
• At dinner, Orion told Walburga that Regulus would travel to Norway to oversee the takeover of two Rowle family mines.
• Regulus took out the Geralt outfit and set off for Norway with Baruk.
• Geralt arrived at a restaurant in Gudvangen, where Dumbledore, Fabian, and Gideon were waiting.
• Geralt greeted Dumbledore and joked to Fabian that he had swum from the Shetland Islands to Norway with help from a Giant Squid.

Geralt met Argus Avery outside the Giants’ canyon camp and used a violent display of controlled magic to silence one of Avery’s men. He left Avery uncertain about Geralt’s loyalties and origins, while Fabian and Gideon reacted differently to Geralt’s claims about Germany.

• Argus Avery recognized Geralt from reports about Dolohov and decided his group could not risk provoking him.
• Geralt told Avery he only ran errands for Dumbledore and might consider jobs from Avery’s side, while revealing he had noticed the monitoring spell.
• After a masked man challenged Geralt, Geralt shot him with crimson magic and pinned him alive to a distant cliff face.
• Avery questioned Geralt about his work and learned that he claimed to travel east and had spoken with old men in Germany.
• Avery wondered whether Geralt had ties to Grindelwald’s followers, Fabian believed his story, and Gideon suspected Geralt was inventing details.

Geralt and the Prewett brothers reached the boundary of the Giants’ territory and surveyed the organized camp from a cliff ledge. After an armored Giant briefly looked toward them, they stayed hidden as the sky darkened.

• Old Avery questioned Geralt about his contacts and plans, but Geralt refused to explain and told him to inform his boss that he had reached the Giants first.
• Old Avery and the masked men used Apparition to leave with the wounded young man, while Geralt continued into the canyon with Fabian and Gideon.
• Geralt identified the Giants’ Magic Power territory markers and led the brothers to a high rocky platform to observe the valley.
• Geralt, Fabian, and Gideon saw the Giants’ stone buildings, forge, stores, sentries, and residents, and Geralt recognized the camp as an organized society.
• An armored Giant looked toward their cliff ledge, so Geralt and the brothers ducked out of sight; the Giant turned away as the sky grew darker.

Geralt recognized the Giants in Jotunheim as an independent, intelligent civilization and devised a plan to approach them with knowledge encoded in an Alchemy image-projecting plate. He returned with Fabian and Gideon to Gudvangen, where Dumbledore provided them with a place to stay and listened as they recounted the day’s events.

• Geralt, Fabian, and Gideon watched the Giant settlement and discussed how its organized society differed from other magical beings.
• Geralt concluded that the Giants valued knowledge and planned to create an Alchemy plate that would project stories using their pictorial recordkeeping style.
• Geralt led Fabian and Gideon back to Gudvangen to prepare for meeting the Giants, and they found Dumbledore waiting at the restaurant.
• Dumbledore took the three young men to a furnished Cabin beside the fjord and prepared them a meal.
• Fabian and Gideon told Dumbledore about their expedition, including the Giants, a Stonehorn skeleton, and Geralt sending a Death Eater flying.

Geralt proposed treating the Giants as a civilization and offering them knowledge through an enchanted Alchemy plate, then spoke privately with Dumbledore about the cost of using his will to affect the world. Dumbledore explained that the resulting emptiness came from spending part of his soul, and he revealed that he had experienced the same threshold when he was young.

• Geralt argued that the Giants had an orderly society and that Avery's offer of alcohol had insulted them.
• Geralt proposed making an Alchemy plate that would share strategic stories from a Giant's perspective, and Fabian and Gideon listened.
• Geralt gave Fabian and Gideon a materials list for a trip to Bergen, and Dumbledore supplied the money.
• After Fabian and Gideon left, Dumbledore asked Regulus about the emptiness he felt after using his will directly.
• Dumbledore explained that using will to change the world spent part of the soul, which would grow back altered, and said he had encountered the same ability when he was young.

Regulus discussed the cost of using his soul’s will with Dumbledore, then woke late in Norway and had Fabian and Gideon fetch materials for his planned gift. After Dumbledore brought lunch, Regulus laid out the metal ingots and began working outside the Cabin.

• Dumbledore told Regulus that using his soul’s will would always require him to reaffirm who he was, and Regulus promised to show him the gift he had prepared.
• Regulus woke Fabian and Gideon with a piercing alarm spell so they would take the materials list and money to Bergen’s underground wizarding district.
• Fabian and Gideon returned with copper and silver ingots and auxiliary mineral powder, complaining about the shopkeeper and the high prices.
• Regulus realized he could leave Norway to find a proper meal, but Dumbledore arrived with hot food before he did so.
• After lunch, Regulus carried the ingots outside and began arranging them on the ground in front of the Cabin.

Geralt created an enchanted alloy plate that projected eight stories teaching Giants strategies for survival and negotiation. After Dumbledore, Fabian, and Gideon watched and discussed the lessons over dinner, Geralt announced that they would knock on doors the next day.

• Geralt forged a copper-silver alloy plate and etched intricate circuits into it with Magic Power.
• Geralt activated the plate and showed stories in which Giants survived by refusing alliances, gathering information, settling disputes, and choosing when and where to fight.
• The remaining stories demonstrated watching others fight, building deterrence, taking indirect routes, and preserving neutrality between powerful sides.
• Dumbledore watched the projected stories throughout the afternoon, while Fabian and Gideon struggled to grasp the principles behind them.
• Geralt, Dumbledore, Fabian, and Gideon ate dinner by the fireplace and discussed the Giants' strategies.
• Geralt looked out at the fjord and said that they would knock on doors tomorrow.

Geralt, Fabian, and Gideon approached the Giant camp and met an armored Giant after Avery and his people had been turned away. Geralt demonstrated his power, asked to speak with the leader in Norwegian, and followed the Giant back toward camp when it did not refuse.

• Fabian tried to ambush Geralt in bed but triggered a trap that left him hanging in midair until Geralt woke and dropped him.
• At breakfast, Gideon asked how they would get into the Giant camp, and Geralt said they would simply walk in.
• Geralt, Fabian, and Gideon Apparated to the cliff above the camp and stood openly in view of the Giants.
• An armored Giant came out to meet them, and Geralt released his Magic Power to demonstrate his strength without attacking.
• Geralt asked in Norwegian to speak with the Giant leader, and the armored Giant returned toward camp without refusing.
• Geralt followed the armored Giant into the camp, with Fabian and Gideon close behind.

Geralt, Fabian, and Gideon were escorted through a Norwegian Giant camp to meet its chieftain, Hrogar. After Hrogar spoke to Geralt in English and introduced his guard Hild, Geralt realized the tribe had maintained long-standing contact with human cultures.

• Geralt followed an armored Giant through the camp and observed the Giants’ homes, crafts, forge, and daily activities.
• Geralt used Magic Perception to study the nearby Giants and discovered their Magic Power was dispersed throughout their bodies rather than concentrated around a core.
• Geralt and the Prewett brothers reached the chieftain’s stone house, where their escort stayed outside as a guard.
• Hrogar emerged and asked in Norwegian why the visitors had come, but Geralt could only offer a brief introduction before switching to English.
• Hrogar introduced himself and pointed out his guard, Hild, and Geralt recognized both names as drawn from human cultural traditions.

Geralt told Hrogar he had come to understand Giant magic, then condemned both the Death Eaters and the Order of the Phoenix as exploitative groups that wanted to use Giants. Hrogar listened and concluded that Geralt did not like his own people.

• Geralt explained that he genuinely wanted to study the magic bound into Giants’ bodies, and Hrogar recalled a wizard who had come for the same reason long ago.
• Geralt asked about recent visitors, and Hrogar said wizards had brought drinks before the Giants drove them away.
• Geralt told Hrogar that both sides of the wizarding conflict wanted to recruit Giants as expendable fighters and would discard them afterward.
• Geralt cursed both factions and the wider wizarding community, arguing that their competing causes brought Giants no real benefit.
• Hrogar listened to Geralt’s tirade and remarked that Geralt did not like his own people.

Geralt used an enchanted plate of strategic stories to persuade Hrogar to consider keeping the Giants neutral, while observing how Hrogar controlled his Magic Power. Hrogar decided to send someone with Geralt to see the outside world, and Hild stepped forward to handle the matter herself.

• Geralt criticized both the Death Eaters and the Order of the Phoenix, then offered Hrogar a plate containing stories in exchange for learning about Giant Magic Power.
• Hrogar channeled his Magic Power through the stone and earth to activate the plate, while Geralt studied the process.
• Hrogar watched stories about strategy and neutrality, then said he wanted to look around before making a decision.
• Geralt agreed to take one of Hrogar's people with him, hoping to observe Giant Magic Power along the way.
• Hrogar told Geralt and his people to handle it themselves, and Hild entered the stone house, struck her battle axe into the ground, and gestured toward the entrance.

Geralt followed Hilder to the Giants’ Training Ground, where he challenged the armored Giant to a close-range fight instead of using wizard spells from a distance. The chapter ended with Geralt forming a blue-and-crimson sword and facing Hilder across the field.

• Geralt followed Hilder through the camp and into the Giants’ Training Ground, while Fabian and Gideon trailed behind.
• Geralt sensed the dense, violent Magic Power saturating the valley and examined the old battle scars carved into its ground and cliffs.
• Geralt walked toward Hilder from two hundred meters away, choosing to approach rather than keep a wizard’s distance.
• Geralt formed a sword from Bellatrix, Betelgeuse, and Saiph’s powers as he closed in on Hilder.
• Geralt stopped twenty meters from Hilder, who raised his battle axe as the gathered Giants watched in silence.

Geralt fought Hilder in the Training Ground, enduring the giant’s powerful axe strikes while studying his rhythm and finding openings to counterattack. He discovered a brief blind spot near the axe’s lowest point, but Hilder disrupted the ground and nearly struck him with a crushing punch.

• Hilder struck Geralt with a series of heavy axe blows, and Geralt blocked, dodged, and counterattacked while his sword and charms absorbed the strain.
• Geralt used the exchanges to analyze Hilder’s attack patterns, improving his ability to predict the axe’s direction and timing.
• Geralt found openings to scorch Hilder’s armor and briefly thrust his sword into a seam in the waist armor.
• Geralt identified a short blind spot when Hilder drew back his axe at its lowest point and charged into it to stab at the waist armor.
• Hilder stomped the ground, disrupting Geralt’s footing, then swung a punch that Geralt avoided with an Exploding Charm and a backward stumble.

Geralt fought Hilder in the Training Ground, learned that Hilder could redirect Giant Magic Power to resist spells and dramatically accelerate his attacks, then ended the sparring match and left with Fabian and Gideon. In Bergen, Fabian questioned Geralt’s decision to insult both sides of the Giants’ recruitment effort, and the chapter ended with the group trading barbs with a surly tavern proprietor.

• Geralt abandoned his usual movement tactics and fought Hilder while using Magic Manipulation to support his legs, gradually improving his ability to predict Hilder’s attacks.
• Geralt’s point-blank Exploding Charm revealed that Hilder redistributed Giant Magic Power toward incoming spells, but Hilder struck Geralt across the waist with his axe shaft.
• Hilder changed a horizontal axe slash into a faster flat-sided blow, sending Geralt flying hundreds of meters before Geralt slowed himself and crashed into a trench.
• Geralt decided to stop the fight, then left the Training Ground with Fabian and Gideon and Apparated with them to Bergen.
• Fabian asked Geralt why he had insulted the Giants, the Death Eaters, the Order of the Phoenix, and wizards; Geralt explained that he had exposed both sides’ recruitment offers so the Giants could choose neither.
• Fabian argued with the tavern proprietor over his ale, and Geralt whistled toward the proprietor after the man cut Fabian’s drink in half.

Geralt challenged Fabian and Gideon to look beyond Britain, then considered what the Giants’ strength might teach him about balancing body and magic. He suspected Dumbledore had brought him to Norway for a reason and decided to ask to see Arcturus I’s notebook after returning to Britain.

• Geralt told Fabian and Gideon that outsiders saw little difference between Britain’s warring factions and urged them to travel beyond the island.
• Fabian asked how Geralt had survived the Giant’s blows, and Geralt said neither fighter had intended to kill the other.
• Geralt mocked the Sacred Twenty-Eight, then shared bread with the brothers and encouraged them to see the wider world.
• After returning to the cabin, Geralt reasoned that the Giants’ bodies and Magic Power grew in balance, unlike Arcturus I’s apparent mistake of strengthening his body too much.
• Geralt wondered whether Dumbledore had brought him to the Giants to teach him about that balance and resolved to ask for Arcturus I’s notebook when he returned to Britain.

Dumbledore visited Hrogar in the Giant camp and asked him about Geralt, whom he had sent to meet the Giants. After hearing Hilder describe Geralt’s unusual fighting style, Dumbledore revealed that he had hoped Geralt would become a companion for Hilder and encourage him to see the world.

• Dumbledore and Hrogar reminisced about meeting in Jotunheim seventy years earlier and discussed Geralt’s visit to the Giant camp.
• Hrogar told Dumbledore that Geralt had cursed both groups of wizards, including the Order of the Phoenix, and had talked more than Dumbledore did.
• Dumbledore told Hrogar that he liked Geralt and said he had found him for Hilder so the two young men could go out and see the world.
• Dumbledore asked Hilder what he thought of Geralt, and Hilder described Geralt’s hot, aggressive Magic Power and sharp sword.
• Hilder explained that Geralt had repeatedly held back the sword’s sharp edge and explosive power during their fight, and Dumbledore said Geralt often chose to fight at a disadvantage.

Dumbledore watched Hilder demonstrate how much his Magic Power had improved, then asked Hrogar to recount the Giant legend of Sky Bird. Hrogar revealed that his ancestors had once seen a streak of silver light while Listening to the Sky, and Dumbledore wondered if someone might see it again.

• Dumbledore asked Hilder to show his progress, and Hilder charged his armor with earthy Magic Power and made his battle-axe vibrate until it glowed red-hot.
• Dumbledore dispelled the energy around Hilder, praised his progress, and remarked that Geralt would have enjoyed watching him.
• Dumbledore asked Hrogar to tell the story of Sky Bird, and Hrogar explained how Giants rooted their Magic Power into mountains while Listening to the Sky.
• Hrogar said an ancient Giant had felt the earth tremble and seen a silver, bird-shaped light cross the sky, though neither Hrogar nor his father had sensed it themselves.
• Dumbledore suggested someone might see Sky Bird again and looked toward Gudvangen, where Geralt was asleep.

Newt Scamander tended the magical creatures in his expanded suitcase before Albus Dumbledore visited him in Dorset. After catching up about Newt’s family, Dumbledore revealed that he had come because a child’s Patronus was a Starry Sky Kite.

• Newt fed a Graphorn cub and Australian Rhinoceros Cockroaches to the hatchling Occamys in his suitcase.
• Dumbledore arrived at Newt’s farmhouse and joined him inside the suitcase.
• Newt told Dumbledore that Tina was well and that their children had visited the previous month.
• Dumbledore described his efforts to find allies as Voldemort’s influence grew.
• Dumbledore told Newt that a child had a Starry Sky Kite Patronus.

Dumbledore asked Newt how a real Starry Sky Kite might come to the child whose Patronus reflected one. Newt explained that the child would need to live through experiences that embodied his soul’s traits, and agreed to help Dumbledore research the creature.

• Newt told Dumbledore that legendary creatures could not be deliberately summoned and might appear when someone lived in a way that resonated with them.
• Newt explained that the child’s Starry Sky Kite Patronus reflected freedom, breakthrough, and piercing obstacles, but those traits needed to be matched by lived experience.
• Dumbledore told Newt that the child came from an old, powerful Pureblood family and would face pressure from Voldemort, factions, and war, but could overcome those challenges.
• Dumbledore believed the child might eventually face a limit to Magic, and that a Starry Sky Kite’s companionship could help him find a way beyond it.
• Newt agreed to share his gathered legends and records about the Starry Sky Kite and to help with understanding and preparation.

Geralt used data from his fights with Hilder to develop a way to make his Magic Power imitate the heavy quality of Giant Magic Power and synchronize with his muscles. After testing the technique on his hand and forearm, he confirmed it increased strength and resilience, but remained cautious about possible risks.

• Geralt practiced dividing his mind into five independent sections and used them to predict and counter Hilder's attacks, allowing him to withstand their next fight without being knocked down, though he still could not defeat Hilder.
• Geralt studied the gathered data and found that Giant Magic Power was heavy and dense, unlike the flexible Magic Power used by wizards.
• Geralt altered the Magic Power in his right hand to an earthy-yellow, heavy state and synchronized it with his muscles, tendons, bones, and blood flow.
• Geralt punched a granite slab using the synchronized Magic Power, shattered part of it, then withdrew the power and found no lingering effects.
• Geralt repeated the experiment over several days, extending the technique to his forearm and confirming that it improved strength and resistance to blunt force.

Geralt defeated Hilder in their third fight by using his Zones to predict and counter the Giant’s attacks, then concluded Hilder was holding back a deeper power. Back at his cabin, Geralt fused Betelgeuse’s burst and Bellatrix’s Protection into a new dark purple sword and prepared for one last fight.

• Geralt used the updated model and synchronized right hand to counter Hilder’s changing attacks and overwhelm his armor with Crimson Bursts.
• Hilder increased his Magic Power to reinforce his body, but Geralt timed his bursts to disrupt the power gathering and stopped the final overhead chop.
• Hilder left the fight without unleashing the deeper power Geralt suspected he had kept in reserve, and Geralt decided their fourth fight would be the last.
• Geralt tested Magic Power synchronization through his arm, smashing a rock with a punch before considering how it might lead to physical enhancement.
• Geralt used Saiph and his mental will to fuse Betelgeuse and Bellatrix at the sword tip, creating a dark purple blade that combined burst and Protection.
• Geralt dismissed the fused sword and resolved to fight Hilder one last time the next day.

Geralt fought Hild at full speed and power, pushing their battle beyond their previous matches as her armor and axe awakened new abilities. The chapter ended with Hild’s glowing, superheated axe poised for the next exchange.

• Geralt entered the Training Ground carrying a sword formed from dark purple Magic Power and charged Hild.
• Geralt and Hild traded rapid blows that damaged the ground, cliff walls, and Hild’s armor.
• Hild’s armor erupted with earthen yellow light, clearing away the marks and lingering energy on it.
• Geralt increased his output and struck Hild’s waist armor, but its new power absorbed nearly all the impact.
• Hild’s axe began vibrating and heating until its blade glowed bright red, sending heat waves toward Geralt.

Geralt and Hild fought at full speed across the Training Ground, gathering their power for a final clash. Hrogar stopped Hild’s axe and Dumbledore dispersed Geralt’s strike, leaving Geralt stunned and confused.

• Hild used the earth’s Magic Power to accelerate and support his movements as he battled Geralt across the Training Ground.
• Geralt relied on his movement charms and combat predictions to keep pace with Hild, while their collisions wrecked the valley.
• Geralt and Hild gathered their strength and swung their strongest attacks at each other.
• Hrogar appeared beside Hild and caught the white-hot axe blade, stopping its force and leaving a long crack through the valley and cliff.
• Dumbledore appeared before Geralt and dispelled the dark purple power from his sword, then winked at him.
• Geralt stared at Dumbledore in confusion until something in his mind clicked into place.