paranoianovel Chapter 17 Forbidden Forest Stone Road
Chapter 17 Forbidden Forest Stone Road
Countless white stone bricks appeared out of thin air, automatically paving the path and extending into the distance along its boundaries.
The white stone path contrasts sharply with the dark mud of the forbidden forest, distinguishing the two.
Looking at the straight stone path in front of him, Lin Qi adjusted his breathing.
The white stone bricks that make up the stone house are some kind of ancient and powerful magical creation, possessing many magical properties, either inherent or bestowed upon them by later generations.
Even Lynch, with his staffless spellcasting alone, could not achieve a perfect replication on a large scale.
It can only replicate some of its features.
To pave this road that runs straight through the Forbidden Forest, Lynch chose to preserve its most basic features.
That is sturdiness.
Ensure that this road is not damaged by large creatures in the forbidden forest stepping on it.
After catching his breath for a moment, Lin Qi stood up straight again.
The fallen crow struggled to its feet again, then spread its wings and landed back on his shoulder.
"Now, we need some protective magic to ensure that no foolish animals come near this road."
The shadow beneath Lynch's feet began to churn, and gray mist flowed from the soles of his feet, creeping forward along the cracks in the stone bricks.
As the distance increased, the gray fog spread faster and faster, growing stronger and stronger. It went from spreading to surging, and then gradually accelerated until finally, the dense gray fog swept everything away and frantically engulfed everything in its path.
Until the edge of the forbidden forest, at the end of the road.
The surging gray fog collapsed and vanished instantly upon touching that invisible boundary line.
Only a thin layer of gray mist remained, lingering in the air around the stone path.
"It's been a while since I used this spell... I feel a bit rusty..."
I flexed my fingers.
Lin Qi reached out and lightly touched the thin, smoky gray mist in the air with his fingertips.
"Viggie...Ferals!"
Silvery-white ripples appeared in the air, disappearing instantly on the surface of the gray fog.
With a change of heart, Lin Qi stretched out his finger and pointed in the air again.
This time, it was a red ripple that rapidly receded into the gray mist.
Lin Qi glanced again at the road stretching out of the forbidden forest, then turned around with satisfaction and walked toward the wooden door of the stone house.
But they hadn't even taken two steps.
Lin Qi suddenly frowned and turned to glance at the stone path behind him.
The raven arrow on his shoulder shot out, piercing through the thin mist on the stone path and leaving a straight hole.
Turn the hands of the clock back a little.
At one point along the stone path, a centaur with red hair and beard, and a shiny brownish-red body from the waist down, emerged from behind a tree.
He is Ronan the Centaur.
While observing the stars nearby, he received a revelation that a major change was taking place in his vicinity.
So he surveyed the surrounding area.
Then you see this stone path that divides the forbidden forest in a straight line.
I swear by the stars, there was never such a road here before the sun disappeared!
Not long ago, I passed by here. At that time, it was just like other parts of the Forbidden Forest. The ground was uneven, covered with weeds and dangerous magical plants, and huge trees blocked out the sun.
Ronan saw a clump of bloodsucking plants, and he clearly remembered that when he passed by in the afternoon, this clump of bloodsucking plants was growing next to the roots of a fir tree.
Now, the clump of bloodsucking grass is on this side of the stone path, and the fir tree is on the other side.
The two stand facing each other across the stone path, as if they had been in this position since the moment they emerged from the earth.
Ronan looked at the stone path that seemed to have emerged from the earth and was extremely surprised.
He thought about what his fellow tribesman, Ferenze, had told his people this afternoon about the mysterious wizard in the white stone house in the Forbidden Forest.
Dumbledore was a powerful human wizard, a rare and noteworthy existence among the outcasts. So when Hagrid brought Dumbledore's warning, the centaurs discussed it seriously and chose to heed his advice.
The centaurs knew very little about the wizard whom Dumbledore had locked in the stone house, except that he was a young man and that he was extremely dangerous.
So when Ferrenzer told his people that the mysterious wizard who had been imprisoned in the stone house by Dumbledore had been released and had even caused a ruckus in Aragog's lair, the centaurs worried that their territory would be invaded.
But the centaurs quickly received a revelation from the stars that they didn't need to pay attention to it, and so they calmed down.
But now, looking at this stone path that suddenly appeared before them.
Ronan believes that he and his people may have been complacent too soon.
But he didn't notice that while he was lost in thought, a faint silver-white and a deep red light flashed past one after the other in the gray fog.
Ronan glanced at the other side of the stone path, then approached it silently, enveloped by a thin layer of gray mist.
Suddenly, the centaur's muscles tensed. He felt an invisible gaze upon him, as if he were being watched by some of the most dangerous monsters in the Forbidden Forest, which sent chills down his spine and made his hair stand on end.
Ronan drew his bow and slowly surveyed his surroundings.
For a long time, no danger came, and the surroundings remained quiet.
A crow flew over, landed on a branch, and looked down at Ronan.
Maintaining the drawn bowstring posture, Ronan continued to approach the stone path.
As I drew closer, the sense of crisis in my heart grew stronger.
Ronan had realized that the strange sense of crisis rising in his heart was probably due to the stone path in front of him.
He suppressed his instinctive alarm bells and finally arrived at the side of the stone path.
Ronan's horse's hooves trod on the white stone bricks paving the surface of the stone path.
A red light flashed in his eyes.
In a daze, Ronan saw a pair of eyes.
A pair of dark human eyes looked at him calmly.
Ronan's heart skipped a beat, and his breathing stopped for a moment.
A chilling, overwhelming warning, emanating from the depths of the soul, captivated the centaur's heart.
The next moment, instinct took over his body, and the centaur suddenly exerted force on all four hooves, leaping into the air and crossing the not-so-wide stone path.
With lingering fear, he took one last look at the stone path on the ground, then ran off without looking back.
On a branch behind them, a crow silently spread its wings and took flight, its gaze fixed intently on the centaur through the gaps in the leaves.
The centaur ran without slowing down until it approached an open space and then slowly came to a stop.
In the open space, the other centaurs noticed him and came to greet him.
A crow landed on a branch and heard the centaur ask, "Ronan, why are you so late?"
"Forehead..."
Inside the stone house, beside the desk.
Lin Qi stopped tapping his fingers on the table.
"Is it blocking someone's way home...?"
"Ha." Lin Qi laughed out loud, annoyed with himself.
After a moment of silence, Lin Qi stood up.
"But it was indeed not well thought out... The stone path separated the forbidden forest, causing great inconvenience to the creatures that originally lived there. The direction of the warning magic needs to be adjusted."
Thinking about how to make adjustments, Lin Qi walked outside.
Lin Qi stretched out his hands, forming different hand gestures, and then combined them to adjust the effect of his spell.
As the crow landed back on Lynch's shoulder, he completed the modification of the spell.
Creatures stepping onto the stone path from either end will not trigger the protective spell. Any act of stepping onto the stone path from the middle will trigger the protective spell. Creatures that have stepped onto the stone path from either end and then leave the stone path will not trigger the protective spell if they return to the stone path within thirty minutes.
The first layer of warning magic no longer drives away creatures, but rather makes them naturally think that they need to cross the stone path.
The second layer of deterrent magic was released after ten breaths to avoid accidentally injuring creatures that had fallen onto the stone path.
After confirming the effects of the modified spell once again, Lin Qi looked at the stone path shrouded in a thin mist in front of him.
"My planning for the spell wasn't comprehensive enough, and I lost control of my emotions during the day in the Aragog nest... My training is still lacking..."
Shaking his head, Lin Qi walked back to the stone house.
......
The next morning, before dawn.
A small figure emerged from Hogwarts Castle.
A small figure carrying a large silver plate.
Totz got up early and prepared breakfast for Lynch, intending to wait outside Lynch's stone house to show Mr. Lynch how hardworking he was.
"But actually, Totz was so happy he couldn't sleep!"
While thinking that Mr. Lynch would be very happy to see him in the morning, Totz also thought about which route to take to Mr. Lynch's stone house today.
"The path by the old oak tree is the best, but unfortunately there's a big spider there lately..."
Muttering to himself, Totz reached the edge of the Forbidden Forest.
Suddenly, his eyes widened, and his long ears showed signs of standing up slightly.
He saw a path suddenly appear at the edge of the Forbidden Forest, a path paved with white stone bricks, leading straight into the depths of the Forbidden Forest.
"These stone bricks...look just like the stone bricks in Mr. Lynch's Stone House!"
Totz shouted.
He suddenly remembered what Mr. Lynch had said when he left last night—"Come find me along the road tomorrow morning."
"This road was built by Mr. Lynch! It didn't exist before! Was it built for Totz?"
A tear rolled down his long, pointed nose.
"Waaaah... Mr. Lynch is so good to Tots! He paved the way for Tots! Tots will serve Mr. Lynch forever!"
With tears welling in his bulging eyes, Totz raised the enormous silver platter above his head and stepped onto the white stone path.
The moment his soles touched the stone bricks, a sense of security spread from the soles of his feet throughout Tots' entire body.
Without any reason, Totz knew he was safe on this stone path and no other creature would attack him here.
Totz was even more moved, but he walked even slower because there was a glass of milk in the silver dish above his head, and Totz didn't want to spill a single drop.
Besides, it's still a long time before Mr. Lynch wakes up.
Totz thought to himself.
But he was wrong.
When he walked along the stone path, carrying the huge silver plate, to Lin Qi's stone house, he saw that the wooden door of the stone house was open, and Lin Qi was standing outside the door, as if waiting for his arrival.
Lynch sensed Totz's arrival the moment he stepped onto the stone path, so he got up and stood there to observe Totz in case anything unexpected happened.
After all, last night's unexpected turn of events told him that he was not an omniscient and omnipotent god, and that the smooth execution of the plan had given him the illusion of being in control of everything.
Fortunately, Totz made it through the entire journey without any major incidents.
I don't know why, but he walked very slowly.
Lin Qi muttered to himself.
The moment Thors saw Lynch, he burst into tears.
Large tears streamed down his face from his big eyes.
"Bad Tots! Bad Tots! Lazy! Too late! He kept Mr. Lynch waiting! Now he's going to be kicked out!"
Totz wanted to punch himself in the head, but he was still holding the plate in his hand.
So all he could do was stand there, twisting and turning, and cry.
She was crying very sadly, but she still held the plate steadily in her hands.
"stop!"
Lin Qi stared and spoke up.
All of Totz's actions stopped instantly; his thin body twisted into a pretzel shape, and his large eyes looked at Lynch with tears in them.
Lynch said to Totz, "Go inside and put the plates on the table."
Having received the order, Totz immediately put it into action, stepping into the stone house.
Lin Qi also went inside.
Seeing Thors place his plate on the table, then stand straight in front of it, looking pitifully at Lynch, he asked, "Will Mr. Lynch fire Thors?"
Lynch answered decisively: "No."
Totz shouted excitedly again.
Knowing that house-elves are emotional creatures, Lynch didn't say anything to stop them and quietly watched Tots.
Fortunately, Totz quickly realized that Lynch was still standing to the side, and he quickly stopped what he was doing and stood still without making a sound.
Lynch sat down at the dining table, lifted the lid of the silver plate, and revealed the breakfast on it.
Lynch glanced at the breakfast, then turned to Thors and asked, "Have you been making all my food since your mother died?"
"Yes, sir!" Totz answered loudly.
"Why does your cooking taste exactly the same as your mother's?"
"Mom taught Totz! Totz studied it for a long time!"
Lynch stroked his chin. "I've always wanted to ask you something: how old are you this year?"
"Toltz is a hundred years old!"
"..." Lin Qi was silent for a moment, "Are you sure?"
"Mom said so! Mom celebrated Tots's 100th birthday a few days before she passed away! So Tots is 100 years old now!"
Lynch gently touched his forehead with his hand. "Where were you born?"
"Hogwarts!"
Where did you grow up?
"Hogwarts!"
Have you ever been outside Hogwarts?
"No! Thorts has always been at Hogwarts!"
After hearing Thortz's answer, Lynch understood why Thortz, at over a hundred years old, still seemed so innocent: "Libo protected you too well..."
Lin Qi looked at the old friend in front of him.
"Toltz, I have a request for you."
Thors immediately stood up straight: "Thors will definitely finish it!"
"From today onwards, you will be my personal little elf. Every morning when you bring breakfast, I will write down what you want for dinner and put it on the table. After you finish making dinner, I will bring it over."
Lynch held up one finger: "There's only one requirement: you must Apparate into my room every day for dinner and set it out by yourself."
"Toltz can do it!"
"Okay," Lynch continued, "Now, let's talk about your clothing."