Establishing Authority in the Forbidden Forest

The Forbidden Forest was incomparably quiet in the dead of night. By the time Zhang San floated deep into its heart, the lights of Hogwarts Castle had long since faded behind him into a distant blur of warm color.

Dense, twisted canopies intertwined high overhead, their leaves blocking out the starlight and moonlight. Only when a breeze passed through did a few wisps of bleak, shattered silver moonlight spill down, as though someone had accidentally overturned a bottle of Felix Felicis. Patches of light silently spread across the ground before being swallowed once more by the swaying shadows of the trees.

The farther he floated inward, the more spider silk there was on the ground, thicker and thicker. At some point, the fallen leaves beneath him had vanished, replaced by an eerie, springy surface. A thin layer of velvety silk covered the topsoil beneath him; if someone stepped on it, it would feel like treading on the coating of a living creature's tongue.

A steady, dense chorus of "click, click, click" began to sound around Zhang San, like countless sets of bones clacking together and pulling apart, or innumerable fingernails repeatedly tapping against a hard surface.

The noise surged in from every direction—from above, below, and behind every tree trunk. It had no direction... or rather, every direction was its source.

Clearly, he had already been surrounded by a colony of Acromantulas. However, his ghostly body gave Zhang San immense confidence—neither the spiders' venomous fangs nor their claws could harm him.

Ignoring this show of intimidation, Zhang San floated straight into the deepest part of the spiders' territory and faced Hagrid's little darling, the leader of the Acromantulas—Aragog.

"Aragog, Aragog... what exactly did I do wrong for you to disrespect me so?" Zhang San asked with a sigh, staring at Aragog's eight enormous compound eyes.

Aragog countered, "Who are you?"

"I am the Mountain God formally appointed by Hogwarts. The Forbidden Forest is land under my jurisdiction... I believe you have heard my summons, so tell me... why did you not answer it?" Zhang San demanded.

Aragog was beside himself with rage. He had been doing perfectly well as the overlord of the Forbidden Forest, so how had some so-called god suddenly appeared over his head for no reason?

Where had this pathetic little god come from? How dare he put on airs in front of him?

"Children, tear him apart!" Aragog roared.

Seeing Aragog stubbornly refuse to learn, Zhang San could not help shaking his head inwardly. A beast was a beast—truly without a shred of sense. Spiders tearing apart a ghost? Zhang San had never heard such a magical joke.

One Acromantula after another futilely passed through Zhang San's body, then crashed together in a miserable heap. Zhang San did not move at all, merely floating there and waiting to see how the spiders would tear him apart.

"My turn now... Bombarda!" Zhang San drew his ghostly wand and fired at one of Aragog's foreclaws.

After a thunderous blast, one of Aragog's fangs was blown off by the spell. Because Zhang San's cultivation was still too low, the magic he cast was not particularly powerful. He could not blow apart Aragog's head and could only blast away one of its large teeth.

The agony of losing a fang made Aragog roar madly. Yet unable to do anything to Zhang San, the overlord of the Forbidden Forest could only rage in helpless frustration.

"Hiss... hiss... hiss..."

Seeing that their sharp spider spears and venomous fangs could do nothing to Zhang San, the younger Acromantulas spread into formation and began spraying venom at him.

Rather than becoming angry at the venom pouring down upon him like rain, Zhang San laughed. These were all Galleons! This stuff sold for one hundred Galleons per pint on the market. The venom raining down before him would amount to at least ten pints if gathered together.

Wasn't that why they said the Forbidden Forest was littered with Galleons? So long as your life was tough enough, you really could strike it rich here. On his way deeper into the forest, Zhang San had seen more than one skeleton. They had all been "dream-chasers" who ventured into the Forbidden Forest... only to die tragically here.

There was no way Dumbledore did not know that a dangerous colony of Acromantulas lived in the Forbidden Forest. His allowing them to remain here likely meant he intended for them to guard the forest as well.

Moreover, having an Acromantula colony in the Forbidden Forest also served as a warning to the other races within it—especially that centaur tribe. They had originally come here as refugees and guests, yet after staying long enough, they had begun treating themselves as the masters of the Forbidden Forest.

Never underestimate the wisdom of a centenarian. Dumbledore looked like a muddleheaded old man on the surface, but his thoughts ran deep.

Zhang San used his wand to turn a large tree beside him into an enormous glass funnel. All the venom splashed at him flowed down along the funnel and was ultimately collected in a large flask.

He had made a killing this time. One trip into the Forbidden Forest had netted him over a thousand Galleons. Didn't that cover the short-term research funding for flying brooms?

Unless absolutely necessary, Zhang San would not touch his own savings. Hogwarts was full of Galleons, and there were plenty of unconventional ways to make money. Why insist on spending his own?

Today, he would first trick the Acromantulas out of some venom. In a few days, when he was short on money again, he would pay the other races a visit as well.

Winter was approaching. It was about time to harvest some unicorn hair too... Competition flying brooms needed responsive handling, so material from unicorns would be best for the broom core.

For the experimental stage, he would make do with unicorn hair first. Once the technology was fully mature, Zhang San planned to have a chat with the unicorn herd and see if he could get a horn to use as a broom core.

Unicorn horns were far more potent than hair. Zhang San believed that the Nimbus Company's mass-produced flying brooms would never use materials as extravagant as unicorn horns.

What? The unicorns might not be willing to contribute their horns? Zhang San was the Mountain God! Forcibly demanding them would be terribly uncouth. Any terms could be discussed.

The terms Zhang San had prepared for negotiating with the unicorn herd were these: as long as the unicorns handed over one horn, he would help them produce three unicorn offspring.

Low fertility was the greatest constraint troubling powerful magical creatures. If unicorns had breeding capabilities like Acromantulas, it was hard to say whether Acromantulas would even still exist in the Forbidden Forest.

Besides, unicorn horns were not a nonrenewable resource. Though it took several years for one to grow back after being broken off, compared to bringing new offspring into the herd, the once-precious horn suddenly seemed insignificant.

Furthermore, young unicorns needed to shed their horns before reaching adulthood. Zhang San would accept naturally shed horns as well. He would never turn down such high-grade magical materials.

After putting away the Acromantula venom, Zhang San coldly reprimanded Aragog, "Acromantulas dare treat the Mountain God in such a manner. I will lay a curse upon your species..."

"For the coming year, none of the eggs laid by Acromantulas will possess any life. During this year, the Acromantula colony will know only death, never birth!"

As Zhang San laid down the curse, the power of incense offerings he had accumulated over this period was instantly drained dry. This was a necessary means of killing the chicken to scare the monkeys. Only by using thunderous measures to subdue the races of the Forbidden Forest could he establish the authority of a Mountain God.

Since the Acromantulas were one of the dominant powers in the Forbidden Forest, Zhang San would naturally use them as an example. He needed these beasts, who refused royal authority and ignored divine decrees, to truly feel fear before he could better gather incense offerings from the Forbidden Forest.

Picking on the weak was not Zhang San's style. If he was going to punish someone, he would choose the strongest group!

If I dare provoke even the Acromantulas, wouldn't the other races submit cleanly and swiftly to the Mountain God's rule?