"Luke!" Bilbo was overjoyed to see Luke return and quickly ran out of the yard to greet him.
Luke smiled gently and said, "I'm back!"
He then waved his hand, causing everything on the carriage to float down, and picked out a Dwarf-forged dagger, presenting it to Bilbo.
"This is for me?" Bilbo asked in surprise.
Luke nodded.
This was a gift he had specially chosen for Bilbo; although it couldn't compare to a true divine weapon, it was still meticulously crafted by Dwarf artisans.
He remembered that Bilbo would encounter his Sting in the Trollshaws, but using this dagger as a substitute until then was also good.
"Thank you! I love it!" Bilbo held the dagger, very excited, and continuously caressed it like a treasure.
"It's good that you like it. Oh, by the way, could you prepare a rather dark room for me? I have a use for it," Luke said.
"A dark room?" Bilbo was a little confused but didn't press further, instead replying, "Then there's only the cellar at the deepest part of the hobbit-hole. Besides some wine stored there, there's nothing else. You can go there."
"Okay, thank you, I understand." Luke nodded. He then placed the petrified Mandrake back into the glass greenhouse, using several layers of glass covers to insulate and block out sound.
Then he took another Mandrake into the cellar, along with a pot of black mud, thirteen caged bats, a large bag of sea salt, and a clay pot.
The cellar was indeed dark; apart from a tiny skylight allowing some light through, there were no ventilation gaps around.
But as soon as Luke arrived, he sealed the last small skylight as well, letting no light in.
Then Luke pulled the Mandrake out of its pot and replaced it with the black mud he had brought.
This black mud was dug from a graveyard at midnight on a full moon night. Luke didn't want to recall the digging process, as it would tarnish his Wizard image.
After replacing it with the black mud from the graveyard, Luke grabbed a bat from the cage, expressionlessly slit its chest with a dagger, took out its heart, dripped the blood onto the Mandrake root, and then buried the dead bat in the black mud.
The entire process looked bloody and eerie; if anyone else had seen it, they would have suspected him of being an evil Wizard!
Having done all this, Luke did not continue.
In the following days, he only needed to water the Mandrake with the heart blood of one bat each day; nothing else needed to be done.
So, in the days that followed, Bilbo saw Luke go to the cellar every day, and then emerge with a faint smell of blood.
Although Bilbo was curious, as a good friend, he still restrained his curiosity and did not ask too many questions.
On the 13th day, Luke took out the last bat from the cage, extracted its heart, dripped the blood onto the Mandrake root, and then buried the bat in the black mud.
At this point, the Mandrake's soil had become foul-smelling, and the Mandrake itself had become gloomy, as if it were a plant growing in darkness, exuding an eerie and ominous aura.
At midnight on the thirteenth day, Luke pulled the Mandrake out of the black mud.
Then he poured sea salt into the clay pot halfway, placed the Mandrake inside, and completely buried it with the remaining sea salt.
He also compacted it to ensure the Mandrake wouldn't struggle out of the salt.
Having done all this, Luke covered the clay pot with a black cloth, ensuring no light would reach the inside of the pot.
Only when the moon came out at night would he remove the black cloth and open the skylight, allowing moonlight to shine directly onto the sea salt.
After seven days of this, the sea salt became increasingly black, eventually turning completely black.
Luke took out the Mandrake buried in the sea salt.
At this moment, the Mandrake had died, its features twisted, its small eyes pitch black and eerie, and its entire body emanating an aura of darkness and ill omen.
This was the cursed object made from the Mandrake—a voodoo doll.
"Dark Forces: A Guide to Self-Protection" mentioned: "Making cursed objects with Mandrake is like handing the grim reaper's scythe to oneself—it reaps not only the enemy's pain but also the caster's soul."
Although Luke took the warning in the book seriously, he did not avoid it entirely.
After all, Dark Arts like curses, if used too much, would indeed affect one's temperament and easily twist the soul, but their power and effect were also incomparable to other Magic.
Moreover, he had now learned Music Magic from Tom. Music Magic had an active and cheerful infectiousness, capable of counteracting the side effects brought by Dark Arts.
So he was not at all worried that his temperament would be altered by Dark Arts.
Thinking of this, he was very grateful to Tom; this Music Magic seemed to have no destructive power, but it was of great help to him.
After completing the voodoo doll, Luke carefully wrapped it in cloth and then placed it in a small wooden box. This item could not be touched for long periods, otherwise, it would easily bring bad luck to people, so he had to put it away carefully.
After cleaning up all the remaining items, Luke left the cellar.
He had already spent more than half a month making the voodoo doll.
During this time, Gandalf had not come to Hobbiton, and he didn't know what he was busy with.
However, according to Luke's estimation, it wouldn't be long before Gandalf and the Dwarves would arrive here, thus officially beginning their expedition.
So, in the following days, Luke spent his time reading the dictionary of runes and waiting.
This evening, as Luke and Bilbo had just sat down, preparing to enjoy dinner, there was a sudden knock at the door.
Bilbo looked puzzled, exchanging surprised glances with Luke, "Who could be knocking at this late hour?"
Luke, however, had some guesses; it should be Gandalf or the Dwarves who had arrived.
But he didn't voice his guess, instead saying, "Let's go see and find out."
Bilbo agreed, rose from his chair, and went to open the door.
As soon as the door opened, a bald Dwarf stood at the entrance.
"I am Dwalin, at your service," he introduced himself.
Before Bilbo could react, Dwalin walked straight into the house and then prepared to scrape his muddy feet on a wooden chest by the door.
"That's… my mother's dowry chest~" Bilbo didn't even have time to stop him.
However, before Dwalin's foot could touch the chest, the chest was moved away by an invisible force, causing him to kick empty air and almost stumble and fall.
Dwalin's eyes widened as he stared at the chest that had dodged him, and then he noticed Luke sitting at the dining table in the living room, immediately realizing, "Amazing Magic! You must be the black-robed Wizard Luke that Thorin spoke of, a pleasure to meet you!"
But he was immediately distracted by the food on the dining table, and without another word, he came to the dining table and plopped down in Bilbo's seat.
"I've been traveling so long, I'm starving!"
As he spoke, he reached out, grabbed the food on the table, and continuously stuffed it into his mouth. His movements were crude and swift, his thick beard covered in food crumbs, as if he hadn't eaten for days.