The Dittany has finally matured!
Luke looked at the two tall and beautiful dittany plants, but he had no thought of pity. He pulled out his bone-chopping knife and cut both dittany plants at the root with two strokes.
He set up a pot, chopped the dittany into small pieces, and threw them into the pot to steam.
Once the dittany was thoroughly cooked, Luke stopped the fire, filtered out the residue with a cloth, leaving only the juice. Then he re-boiled it until the juice evaporated, leaving a thick layer of green paste at the bottom of the pot.
And this was the household essential Potion in the magic world—Essence of Dittany.
It was also the only Potion that didn't require a wand for stirring and was simple to make. Yet, its healing effect was remarkably significant, capable of healing most injuries except those caused by Dark Arts.
Luke packed the Essence of Dittany into two jars, one large and one small. He kept the large one for himself as a spare, and the small one he gave to Drogo Baggins to thank him for his hospitality these past few days.
Drogo looked at the ointment in the jar with surprise and curiosity. "Luke, what is this?"
"This is a Potion I made. It can heal wounds. I'm giving it to you for emergencies," Luke explained. He took out the mouse from the cage, made a small cut on its body with a small knife, and the mouse immediately bled profusely, screaming continuously.
Drogo was startled by this scene, looking at Luke as if he were an evil Wizard.
However, the next moment, when he saw Luke take out a bit of the ointment and apply it to the wound, and the wound healed at a visible speed, he was instantly dumbfounded with shock.
This was simply a miracle Potion!
He looked at the jar of Potion in his hand and felt it instantly become heavy, almost too heavy to hold.
"Luke, this… this is too valuable! I cannot accept it." Drogo swallowed hard, refusing with some difficulty. He wasn't ignorant; such a divine Potion that could quickly heal wounds was worth a fortune.
Luke smiled and shook his head, placing the Potion jar back into his hand. "No need to be polite, Drogo. This is my gift of gratitude, and making this Potion is not difficult for me. Please accept it."
Drogo finally accepted the Essence of Dittany at Luke's insistence, and their relationship became closer as a result.
With the Essence of Dittany, Luke had an extra layer of safety.
So, for the next period, Luke ran to the Old Forest whenever he had a chance.
He didn't venture deep into the forest, staying only on the outskirts of the Old Forest. He would run away as soon as he gathered enough branches, never lingering.
What made Luke tireless was that, through continuous sparring with the trees of the Old Forest, his magic and combat skills were improving at a visible rate.
In these highly focused battles, not only did his control over magic strengthen, but he also tested spells from "Standard Book of Spells, Grade 1," "Jinxes for the Jinxed," and "Dark Forces: A Guide to Self-Protection," all with very noticeable effects.
Of course, during his sparring with the trees of the Old Forest, there were inevitably times when he got injured.
But with the healing power of Essence of Dittany, he could be full of vigor the next day to trouble the trees again.
Luke treated the trees of the Old Forest as training opponents in a novice village, completely unaware that the trees of the Old Forest were growing increasingly resentful of him and were secretly preparing to deliver a fatal blow.
Luke had been in Buckleberry for two months, the longest he had stayed anywhere apart from Hobbiton.
Following the principle of proximity, Luke decided to go deep into the Old Forest for a check-in.
Moreover, the branches he had gathered from the Old Forest these days amounted to dozens of types, including ash, poplar, cypress, holly, redwood, and so on. But although these trees were suitable for making wands, they all had more or less a feeling of magic obstruction, clearly not matching him.
So he needed to go deeper into the Old Forest to collect more wood to find the right wand wood for him.
Thus, after making preparations and informing Drogo, he bid him farewell and ventured alone through the High Hedge, once again entering the Old Forest.
As soon as he entered the forest, Luke felt something was wrong.
This time, the Old Forest was too quiet! It was completely unlike last time, when it would furiously attack him upon sight.
Something abnormal must be evil. Luke concentrated and became vigilant, but he didn't retreat.
He continued to walk deeper into the forest, but the system still didn't respond.
This made Luke somewhat doubt whether the Old Forest could be checked in? Or did he have to reach the center of the forest for it to work?
He continued for some distance, and soon a small path appeared.
This path appeared very abruptly, as if it had just been opened, and the trees on both sides neatly and cooperatively made way for this forest path.
Luke looked warily at the surrounding trees. The malice emanating from these trees was too strong, and he had to concentrate fully to guard against their sudden attacks.
As soon as he stepped onto the forest path, the surrounding trees quickly closed in, forming rows of tree walls that completely blocked Luke's retreat.
At the same time, the surrounding trees began to attack Luke frantically. Thick branches lashed out at him, and roots emerged from the ground, trying to impale him.
"Protego!"
"Leg-Locking Curse!"
"Petrificus Totalus!"
...
Luke immediately cast a protective spell on himself, then used a Leg-Locking Curse to bind the tree roots, and followed up with a Petrificus Totalus to immobilize the trees.
Having sparred with these trees for so long, Luke was very familiar with their attack methods, performing with ease and even collecting new types of trees he hadn't encountered before.
But what made Luke gradually feel uneasy was that more and more trees were swarming from all directions, one after another, leaving him no escape route, only a small path leading deeper into the center of the forest.
Luke had no choice; unless he wanted to waste time with these trees, he could only run down the path leading deeper into the forest.
He understood that these trees wanted to force him to the very center, which was why they had opened up such a path.
If it were anyone else, they might hesitate.
But Luke knew what was in the deepest part, so he unhesitatingly followed the path.
And the path behind him was reoccupied by trees, gradually disappearing.
As if such a path had never existed.
Under the trees' encirclement and pursuit, Luke ran until nightfall.
The mist in the forest and the increasingly dense trees completely blocked out the moonlight. Luke had no choice but to cast a Wand-Lighting Charm to barely see the path on the ground.
Gasping for breath, Luke finally emerged from the forest and arrived in a valley.
There were no tall, dense trees here, only low shrubs and a wide expanse of grassland.
A small river flowed through the valley, and a very large Old Willow Tree stood prominently by the riverbank.
The old Willow Tree was terrifyingly huge. It was taller and larger than all the trees in the forest, its branches like slender gray arms, crisscrossing and reaching towards the sky.
Its twisted, gnarled trunk was interspersed with huge cracks, like a grinning mouth, emitting faint creaking sounds with the movement of its branches.