Chapter 220 "Susan's Awakening"

Skyler opted for the heartstring of the Graphorn as the core for Susan's wand.

The Graphorn, a dangerous magical creature, inhabits mountainous regions across Europe. With a massive body, humped back, and two sharp golden horns, it walks on four-fingered large feet.

Mountain trolls occasionally manage to ride Graphorns, seemingly taming them. However, closer inspection reveals that these trolls often bear scars inflicted by the very creatures they seek to control. Incidents where Graphorns slay giant monsters are not uncommon.

Known for its robust gray-purple skin, the Graphorn surpasses many magical creatures in magical resistance. In terms of defense alone, it outmatches the fire dragon, basilisk, and five-legged monster.

Skyler naturally chose rosewood for the wand's body, which is renowned for its defensive capabilities. Every member of the Bones family, including Susan, has a wand chosen by the Ollivander family. While Susan's current wand is made of rosewood, the "Soaring Rowan," a rare variant growing on other Rowan trees, holds unique significance.

Wands crafted from Soaring Rowan wood are naturally adept at performing defensive magic, rumored to rival the Elder Wand in power. These two wands represent extremes in wandology—one excelling in attack and the other in defense.

Acquiring the raw materials poses no significant challenge. Although horned beasts are rare, Miss Giuliana of the Medieval Wizards Association swiftly obtained a heartstring with Skyler's request.

However, the real challenge lies in the intricate processing required to unleash the maximum potential of the horned beast's heartstring.

As with all magical creatures known for their aggression, using their raw materials as wand cores presents a common issue: sensitivity and unpredictability, the effects are notoriously unstable. This is precisely why Mr. Ollivander abandoned traditional craftsmanship, focusing solely on crafting wands with three cores—fire dragon heartstrings, phoenix tail feathers, and unicorn tail feathers.

It's not that other wand cores lack power; rather, their effects are far less consistent compared to these three stable options.

Handling this situation presents two viable approaches.

The first involves wielding the wizard's formidable magical power to overpower the creature, compelling its surrender directly. Regardless of Susan's current magical proficiency (as it must be her and not Skyler), employing this method risks draining the wand core of its innate vitality and spirituality.

Can a wand core bereft of its bestial nature and willingly "subdued" still be considered a truly magical creature?

The second method entails gaining the creature's approval—a significantly more challenging but ultimately rewarding route. Unlike the first, this approach sidesteps the cost of stripping away the raw material's vitality and spirituality. According to Skyler, the added difficulty is well worth it.

Using soul magic, Skyler nurtured the residual soul of the Erumpent within the heartstrings. Subsequently, employing dark magic, he extracted this remnant soul and infused it into Susan's body using the Black family's soul secrets, establishing an intricate connection with her soul.

Although this method carries some risks, such as the Erumpent's soul turning malevolent and potentially harming Susan's soul, the potential benefits make it a worthwhile endeavor.

However, Susan was resolute in her request to Skyler.

Recognizing herself as the weakest among the six girls, she was determined not to be a hindrance to the group.

After careful consideration, Skyler agreed to her plea. Since Susan's induction into the Serpentis Vigil Club as a core member, her unwavering determination and resilience have been evident to all. It would be fair to assert that, among all members, she made the greatest sacrifices to enhance her own strength.

Unbeknownst to Susan, Skyler had a secret insurance policy in place. In the event of Susan facing soul damage, a curse embedded in the soul of the Erumpent, discreetly planted by Skyler, would automatically activate, eradicating the threat.

In the end, Susan exceeded Skyler's expectations, and the backup plan remained unused. Relying solely on her indomitable willpower, Susan engaged in a week-long struggle with the remnant soul of the Erumpent until, finally, the creature's soul recognized her.

Upon touching the heartstring, the magic imbued within immediately resonated with Susan.

The howl of the Erumpent faintly sounded in the void, and a circular airflow exploded in all directions, with Susan as the center. Even with Skyler's physical fitness, he could not help but take a few steps back to offset the impact.

[The compatibility between "Horned Heartstrings" and Susan is maximal!]

As for the Soaring Rowan Tree, one can be found on Bowtruckle Island in the middle of the Black Lake at Hogwarts. However, akin to the Unicorn, only those with the purest hearts can intercept it, making it an inaccessible task for ordinary individuals.

This, of course, posed no trouble for Skyler.

Employing the same method he used in Professor Grubbly-Plank's Magical Creatures class, Skyler transformed his appearance into that of the most virtuous girl, effortlessly deceiving the poor professor's perception and obtaining the necessary branches for Susan.

The process of crafting the wand mirrored that of Salff's snakewood wand. Both utilized the elemental ritual inherited from Ravenclaw, yet this time Skyler didn't need to gather ingredients like long-horned water snakes or rune snakes.

He incorporated four drops of his own blood, combining it with human transformation and elemental magic to assume the forms of a salamander, an Edin, a Sylph, and a goblin. These four species represented the most primitive states of the elements, and Skyler's blood carried incredible vitality, variability, and bloodline power.

This method is not only economical and convenient but also highly effective.

At the moment when the wand was formed, Susan and the wand successfully triggered the phenomenon of "human wand becoming one." While her magic power initially matched that of Morag, who had just reached the level of a junior Auror, the fusion of their magic powers significantly boosted Susan's magical prowess, bringing her to Cho's level and making her the leading Auror.

What's even more astonishing is that Susan experienced the second magic riot in her life, activating the blood power within her. As one of the most influential pure-blood families in the wizarding world, the Bones family's heritage is nearly as potent as that of the Sacred 28 pure-blood families, which is evident in Susan's magical riot.

The intensity of the magical awakening was quite remarkable, rivaling the one experienced by Daphne last month.

It was indeed beyond Skyler's expectations that Susan would undergo a magic riot. Logically speaking, this phenomenon should not have occurred.

The blend of magic power between the wizard and the wand can only increase the magic power and has nothing to do with the power of blood. I didn't see this happen to Salff when I helped her make a snakewood wand.

However, he ignored one thing.

The bond created between Susan and the Soaring Rosewood Wand goes far beyond just "human and wand becoming one." Her body also contains fragments of the Erumpent's remnant soul!

At the same time as the phenomenon of "The merge between the wizard and the wand" occurred, the fragments of the Erumpent's soul were also fused and absorbed by her, turning into a stream of pure magical energy that flowed into her limbs.

Then, the magic awakening happened.

At this moment, Susan seemed to be covered by a small white air mask that exuded a sacred and solemn atmosphere. With waves of buzzing sounds, the white air mask slowly shrunk at a speed visible to the naked eye and finally turned into an ivory-white humanoid skeleton, which merged into Susan's body.