Under the moonlit canopy of the Forbidden Forest, the little qilin glided down on a pale yellow cloud, gently landing. A jade tray floated beside it, settling smoothly onto Lucien's workbench.
"Master, does this look okay?"
Lucien glanced at the tray.
The silvery-white blood within shimmered with blue circular spots, all eerily uniform in size, drifting slowly through the liquid.
"Yeah, it's perfect," Lucien said.
With a flick of his wand, he measured out exactly 500 milliliters of the blood—no more, no less—and guided it into the cauldron.
Following the recipe precisely, Lucien added each prepared ingredient with care.
He picked up the Philosopher's Stone, taking a few deep breaths.
He'd practiced brewing potions with the Stone before under Dumbledore's watchful eye, but those were incomplete attempts.
Glancing toward the young unicorn, his Seer's Sight revealed that its magical circuit had dimmed further.
There wasn't time for the usual process. The Philosopher's Stone was his only option.
Sometimes, he let the Stone hover above the cauldron, transforming the moonlight into a soft red glow that bathed the potion.
Sometimes, he dropped the Stone directly into the mixture, letting it churn for a precise amount of time before swiftly retrieving it.
Sometimes, he placed the Stone in the flames beneath, altering their color and properties.
Lucien worked methodically, brewing the Moonlight Elixir.
Though time was tight, he made no mistakes.
Using the Philosopher's Stone already saved time, but rushing further wasn't an option. One wrong step in potion-making could weaken the effect, ruin the batch, or even turn a remedy into poison.
Time ticked by slowly…
[Ding! Qilin (Annual Loan) Repaid]
Hearing the notification, Lucien let out a huge sigh of relief.
The Qilin's annual loan task required him to brew a potion using the Philosopher's Stone.
It didn't specify which potion, but it had to be completed successfully.
"It's done!"
Lucien studied the blue-white, translucent liquid in the cauldron, double-checking it against the recipe. It was perfect.
He bottled the Moonlight Elixir and hurried to Newt's side.
Newt was tirelessly tending to Selenia and her foal. Selenia, a mature unicorn, was stabilizing thanks to their combined efforts. Now, it was just a matter of fully purging the complex toxins in her system.
Dumbledore's potions, varied and intricate, were nearing completion nearby.
But the young unicorn's condition was growing dire. Its faint cries had become sporadic, barely audible.
"Mr. Newt, let me take over," Lucien said.
He gently lifted the foal from Newt's arms.
Feeling its dangerously low body temperature, Lucien didn't hesitate. He carefully fed the Moonlight Elixir into the foal's mouth.
"Don't be scared, you're okay…"
Lucien patted the trembling foal, trying to soothe its fear and pain.
The elixir began to work. The foal's shaking stopped, and its erratic breathing steadied.
It was working—the calming and soul-soothing effects were kicking in.
The swirls in Lucien's eyes spun faster as he closely examined the foal's magical circuit.
Good. The circuit was stabilizing.
Time for the next step.
Lucien raised his wand, pointing the tip at the foal's lower back, near its abdomen.
That was where the magical circuit was most severely broken.
Hiss—
A faint, pained whimper reached Lucien's ears. He turned to see Selenia struggling to lift her head, trying to stand. The effort reopened several of her wounds, and silvery blood dripped to the ground.
Newt tried to calm her, urging her not to move and worsen her injuries, but it was no use.
Selenia staggered to her feet, her gaze fixed on Lucien and her foal.
Her eyes held a deeply human-like mix of pleading and anxiety. Lucien spoke softly, "It's okay. Your baby's going to be fine."
No translation from Luster was needed. Selenia seemed to understand, her legs trembling but standing still by his side.
As Lucien prepared to proceed with the magical weaving technique, Dumbledore finished brewing his potions and joined them by Selenia's side. He gave Lucien a long, meaningful look.
Handing a portion of the potions to Newt with instructions, Dumbledore began treating Selenia's toxins alongside him.
With them handling Selenia, Lucien could focus fully on the foal.
He raised his silver-black wand, and hair-thin threads of magic extended from its tip.
Normally, the second step of magical weaving involved breaking a creature's magical circuit, but Lucien didn't need to do that. His task was to repair the foal's circuit.
The next step was to disguise his magic as part of the circuit.
This could be a breakthrough for transforming into magical creatures. If he could mimic and disguise magic, perhaps he could… create it.
Lucien adjusted his magic, splitting the already fine threads into even thinner, more precise strands.
Dumbledore's beard twitched as he noticed, amazed by Lucien's progress yet somehow unsurprised. It was as if nothing this boy did could be considered unexpected anymore.
Lucien guided the magical threads into the foal's skin, weaving through muscle fibers until they reached the stabilized circuit.
Transformation…
A unicorn's magical circuit was normally a closed loop, with magic flowing endlessly within.
But this foal's circuit was fractured, like a snapped violin string.
Most of its magic couldn't flow properly and was slowly dissipating.
Lucien held his breath, focusing entirely on the magical threads.
"Mimic… disguise…"
To an ordinary wizard, this would seem impossible.
But Lucien's extraordinary talent for Transfiguration shone through.
Following the weaving technique, he manipulated a single thread, initiating a microscopic transformation.
At the thread's tip, his magic twisted and restructured, subtly mimicking the pure, holy resonance of unicorn magic.
It was incredibly difficult, like threading a needle in a storm. It demanded unimaginable precision and control.
Sweat beaded on Lucien's forehead, his arm trembling slightly from the effort.
The transformed thread acted like a temporary bridge, cautiously linking the two broken ends of the circuit.
A faint trickle of the foal's magic flowed along it, like a gentle stream.
The moment the magic reached the other side, Lucien's eyes lit up with joy.
It worked!
He began transforming more threads, bridging the circuit with additional "chains" that formed a small riverbed.
The foal's scattered magic started flowing through this unfamiliar path.
With Lucien's careful guidance, the flow grew stronger.
Even more remarkably, the foal's own life force seemed to awaken, nourishing and reinforcing the newly formed channel.
"Luster, I need another drop of blood."
Hearing its master's call, Luster didn't hesitate. Its wound had long healed, so it lightly bit its tongue, letting a gold-red droplet float on a cloud to Lucien.
Lucien drew a wisp from the qilin blood, guiding the golden-red thread into the foal's wound.
Instantly, he "saw" a delicate new circuit forming, faint but steady, glowing with pure light.
He slowly withdrew his magical threads, watching as the new circuit held strong. Lucien exhaled in relief.
Keep going.
After a brief adjustment, Lucien began repairing other damaged parts of the circuit.
This was faster—partly because the other injuries were less severe, partly because he was getting the hang of it.
As moonlight shifted across the sky and Lucien's magic neared depletion…
[Ding! Circuit Monument (Monthly Loan) Repaid]
[Congratulations, Host, for witnessing a profoundly memorable birth.]