Morris named this newly created magical object "The Death Compass" after careful consideration of its function and purpose.
The name was straightforward, perhaps even somewhat grim, but it accurately and precisely described what the device actually did.
The compass's core function was to "point toward death" in its various manifestations throughout the world.
To be more precise and technical in describing its capabilities, the Death Compass could detect and point toward places where the aura of death or the signature left behind by mortality and decay was particularly concentrated or intense.
According to Morris's design specifications and the specific combination of runes he'd inscribed, graveyards and cemeteries where bodies had been buried for years, locations with large accumulations of corpses from battles or disasters, places where living creatures had recently died and their life force still lingered in the area—all of these death-touched locations could potentially become viable targets for the Death Compass to indicate.
To achieve this functionality, Morris had used a rune traditionally used in burial wards linked to mortality and "Guidance" as his two primary foundational runes.
Then he'd supplemented these two primary runes with several auxiliary runes.
Finally, Morris had cleverly integrated several standard magical techniques from this world's conventional enchanting practices to complete this intricate and sophisticated magical device.
As for why he wanted to create this compass in the first place, the answer was naturally quite straightforward: to obtain more bones, corpses, and specimens to transform into undead creatures for his growing army and ongoing research.
After all, if he were to try purchasing ready-made corpses or complete skeletons through commercial channels—setting aside the serious question of legality and the criminal consequences of trafficking in human or animal remains, even if he somehow could find merchants willing to sell such materials, it would require spending absolutely enormous amounts of money.
Corpses and skeletons, when legally available at all, had premium prices. Medical schools, research institutions, and dark wizards all competed for limited supply.
The cost-effectiveness was simply terrible from a practical standpoint. His limited funds would be depleted instantly.
So, Morris's best option at present was to personally go out into the world and dig up graves... ah, no, wait, that wasn't quite the right phrasing. That sounded too much like actual grave-robbing.
Better to say: to personally locate and collect naturally occurring materials from locations where death had already occurred through non-criminal means.
There it is. Much better terminology.
There was simply no helping it, Morris rationalized to himself with only the slightest twinge of conscience. This was all for the sake of advancing magical research and expanding the boundaries of necromantic knowledge.
The ends justified the means, really.
Morris deliberately pushed aside any lingering ethical concerns and focused on practical testing as he infused a controlled amount of magical power into the compass held in his hand.
The needle, which had originally been pointing steadily south toward the general direction of London according to normal magnetic north, first trembled slightly in response to the magical energy.
Then it began spinning at an absolutely frenzied speed, becoming a blur in motion as it whirled around and around the compass face.
Morris watched this energetic rotation with interest, waiting for it to stabilize and lock onto a target.
However, two full minutes passed with no change. The needle remained in a constant state of rapid rotation, showing no signs of slowing down or stopping at all to indicate a specific direction.
Seeing this continued lack of result, Morris pondered the situation thoughtfully.
It was probably because there were simply no places with particularly concentrated death auras anywhere nearby within the compass's detection range.
But this result made perfect sense when he considered the environment.
After all, this was Hogwarts Castle and its grounds was a place full of living students, active magic, protective enchantments, and regular cleaning. Not some ancient mass graveyard, abandoned battlefield, or plague pit where death had soaked into the very earth.
So, Morris asked himself, where in the general vicinity might there be large quantities of corpses or locations where death occurred with sufficient frequency and concentration to trigger the compass?
The answer was already quite clear and obvious once he thought about it: the Forbidden Forest.
That wild, untamed place was home to numerous magical creatures of all kinds. All following the most primitive and brutal laws of nature, where predator and prey engaged in an endless cycle of survival.
Death was constantly unfolding in that forest. Creatures killed and were killed, died of injury or disease or old age, left their bodies to rot and decompose and feed the ecosystem.
Finding a few beast carcasses in various states of decay wouldn't be difficult at all. The forest floor was probably littered with bones.
In the blink of an eye, with Morris absorbed in his spell practices and the general routine of classes, Saturday arrived.
In the early morning, shortly after sunrise, the sky remained gloomy, and the air was permeated with damp, cold mist that clung to everything and made visibility poor beyond a hundred feet.
The weather was absolutely miserable.
Taking advantage of the fact that most students were still in their beds sleeping peacefully, enjoying the luxury of a weekend morning without classes, Morris formally prepared to set out for the Forbidden Forest on his first material-gathering expedition.
He carefully shouldered his backpack and brought along his two undead pets for protection and assistance.
Tin-Tin and Sparkles both seemed eager for an outdoor adventure.
Morris made a deliberately wide detour around the castle grounds to avoid being spotted by early-rising professors or staff members and from the edge of the forest on the Whomping Willow side of the grounds, he carefully infiltrated into the Forbidden Forest proper.
As Morris went deeper into the forest, advancing cautiously along what might have been an old animal trail, the tall trees with their thick trunks and twisted branches quickly swallowed up any view of the castle's distant silhouette behind him.
The light grew noticeably dim despite it being morning.
Coming to this mysterious and somewhat dangerous forest once again, Morris couldn't help but feel somewhat exhilarated and energized despite the initsent risks.
His heart beat faster with anticipation rather than fear.
After walking perhaps ten minutes into the forest, far enough that no sounds from the castle could reach him anymore, Morris stopped in a small clearing.
"All right, you two, listen carefully. I need you to keep watch for me in the surrounding vicinity while I search," he said firmly, making eye contact with both creatures.
"Tin-Tin, patrol the ground level, alert me to anything approaching on foot. Especially you, Sparkles—fly up into the sky above the canopy and keep watch from above. If you see any flying creatures approaching from the air, alert me immediately with your call."
He certainly didn't want to have another unpleasant encounter with centaurs or similar creatures like his previous misadventure in the forest.
Sparkles nodded its head in understanding, spread its black wings wide, and gracefully launched itself into the air. It rose up through the gaps in the canopy until it disappeared into the sky above.
Tin-Tin also immediately started walking in widening circles, moving alertly through the nearby bushes and undergrowth with its form low to the ground, scanning constantly for threats.
Having properly arranged his sentries and early warning system, Morris turned his attention back to the Death Compass held ready in his hand.
He carefully infused it with a amount of magical power.
This time, the compass's reaction was completely different from its fruitless spinning when he'd tested it inside the castle.
After spinning through several quick rotations as the enchantment initialized, the needle suddenly stabilized and locked on, pointing steadily toward a specific direction.
Morris gripped his wand in his right hand, ready to cast defensive spells at a moment's notice, and advanced carefully in the indicated direction.
The Forbidden Forest in winter carried a bone-chilling coldness that seemed to seep through clothing and sink into your very bones. The temperature felt at least ten degrees colder than the castle grounds.
The constant rustling sound of his footsteps on the carpet of decaying leaves and the occasional distant bird calls echoing through the trees only made the surrounding atmosphere seem even more silent and oppressive.
After walking carefully for nearly ten minutes, following the compass's steady guidance through increasingly dense shrubs, Morris finally received the signal he'd been hoping for; the compass needle in his hand suddenly began to emit a faint cold light from.
At almost precisely the same moment, his owl Sparkles descended rapidly from the sky above, landing on a low branch beside Morris with barely a sound and called out softly and used its wing to point ahead toward a clearing.
Morris crouched down immediately, making himself less visible.
"You're saying there's a group of animals you don't recognize gathered over there?" he whispered, interpreting Sparkles's gestures and sounds.
Sparkles nodded in confirmation.
"All right, I'll be very careful. Stay alert."
Morris immediately lightened his footsteps, practically creeping forward, using the shadows of the large trees and the cover of thick bushes to move forward while remaining as concealed as possible.
If there was any danger or if the creatures proved hostile, he could immediately cast the Shadow Concealment Spell to become nearly invisible and retreat.
After carefully passing through a final screen of dense bushes that blocked his view, Morris arrived at the edge of a relatively spacious forest clearing.
And there, in the clearing, standing in a loose group not far from his position, were five or six of the most beautiful horses Morris had ever seen or imagined.
Morris didn't know much about horses in general, he'd rarely even seen them in his previous life or current one but he instinctively felt that even the world's most discerning and expert horse judge would immediately praise these creatures as the finest specimens imaginable upon seeing them.
They were perfect in a way that transcended normal animal beauty.
What was most eye-catching and distinctive, what immediately identified these creatures as something beyond normal horses, was that each of them had a long, spiraling horn growing from its forehead.
The horns appeared to be made of pearl or ivory, with a lustrous quality that caught and reflected what little light penetrated the forest canopy. They spiraled in elegant spirals, ending in sharp points.
Unicorns.
Morris immediately recognized these legendary creatures from descriptions in his books, though the reality was far more magnificent than mere text had conveyed.
He had seen records and illustrations about unicorns in quite a few different books during his reading.
They were extremely rare and powerful magical creatures, known throughout the wizarding world, that were especially friendly toward pure-hearted humans or young maidens specifically.
Of course, Morris knew perfectly well in his heart that although he one hundred percent considered himself a relatively pure-hearted and morally decent person, he was definitely not within the range of beings that unicorns would befriend or trust.
Sure enough, the scene that followed immediately confirmed his thoughts about how this encounter would proceed.
After discovering Morris's presence, the entire group of unicorns immediately reacted with alarm.
They turned their heads in unison, their large, intelligent eyes were focusing directly on Morris's position despite his attempt at concealment.
Their expressions were filled with a mixture of vigilance, anger, and a deep, profound sorrow.
The vigilance and anger were naturally directed at Morris himself.
The sorrow, Morris quickly realized as his eyes followed their attention, was probably due to what the unicorns were surrounding and protecting in the center of their group.
Or rather, the unicorn corpse that lay motionless on the moss-covered ground.
Even from this distance, Morris could see that the deceased unicorn's horn had already become somewhat dim and lackluster. This proved that the creature had probably died of old age or natural causes.
This dead unicorn, should be the ultimate target that his Death Compass had been pointing toward.
Morris didn't have any time to carefully observe that corpse because the situation escalated immediately.
The lead unicorn let out a loud, piercing neigh that echoed through the forest. Then it stamped the ground heavily with one foreleg and transformed into a silvery-white streak of pure speed, charging straight toward Morris with its horn lowered like a lance.
The other unicorns followed closely behind their leader without hesitation, all launching their charge in formation.
Morris didn't hesitate for even a fraction of a second to stand and fight or attempt communication.
He immediately turned and ran at full speed back the way he'd come, while simultaneously waving his wand in a practiced defensive pattern.
"Impedimenta!" he shouted clearly, channeling power into the spell.
An invisible magical light unfolded across the clearing directly before the charging group of unicorns.
Under the tremendous impact of the unicorns' horns and their magically-enhanced charge, Morris's spell shattered like fragile glass in an instant.
The Impediment Jinx couldn't even slow the creatures down for more than a second. They smashed through it without breaking stride.
Seeing this complete failure of his first defensive attempt, Morris realized with alarm that he dared not hold back any longer.
How could his two short little human legs possibly outrun unicorns at full magical gallop? They were covering ground three times faster than he could sprint, and they wouldn't tire like he would.
"Bone Summoning Spell!" Morris shouted, speaking the incantation clearly in the language of the Mage's Book.
Accompanied by that clear chanting voice, dozens of bone spikes appeared out of thin air in the space between Morris and the pursuing unicorns.
They materialized and immediately suspended themselves in mid-air rotating slightly to orient toward their targets, glinting with cold light.
The next second, a sharp whistling sound of cutting through air rang out across the clearing.
The bone spikes transformed into a deadly white rain of projectiles, explosively shooting toward the unicorn with tremendous speed and force.
However, the scene that followed was completely beyond Morris's expectations and thoroughly shocked him.
The unicorns moved with absolutely incredible speed. They weaved back and forth through the dense incoming storm of bone spikes with supernatural agility, their bodies were twisting and dodging, their movements were so precise and graceful that they appeared to be dancing rather than fleeing.
Morris only managed to glimpse a few white blurred shadows moving between the deadly projectiles before his eyes couldn't track their movements anymore.
When this entire round of bone spike attacks ended, Morris looked with disbelief at the result.
Not a single unicorn had fallen or even been seriously injured.
Even the most severely wounded one among them had only suffered a shallow scrape along its flank.
The rest were completely unharmed.
Morris helplessly tugged at the corner of his mouth in a grimace of frustrated amazement.
That speed, that agility, that almost precognitive dodging ability... wasn't it just ridiculously, absurdly exaggerated?
He had originally assumed based on his reading that unicorns' combat capabilities would be somewhat weaker than their reputation told.
Now it seemed his thinking and assumptions were completely wrong. Then, there was only one realistic choice remaining for Morris if he wanted to survive this encounter.
Flee and hide!
Morris immediately employed the Shadow Concealment, manipulating shadows to envelop himself and hide his presence in the darkness beneath the trees.
Sparkles, circling above and observing the disaster, also soared higher into the air and disappeared into the concealment of the dense forest canopy.
The unicorns, discovering that the evil creature had suddenly vanished from before their eyes completely stopped their pursuit abruptly.
They looked around with obvious confusion, tossing their maned heads, snorting with frustration, and letting out confused neighs of inquiry to each other.
'Fooled you, didn't I?' Morris thought with grim satisfaction from his hiding place in the shadows.
After repeatedly searching the area to no avail, the unicorns finally seemed to decide the threat had genuinely departed.
They turned around as a group and returned to their fallen companion's body.