From Hogwarts to Strixhaven.

Chapter 261: Parting Ways (800010000)

Fortunately, the road leading to the Black Forest is very wide, and even without Ivy's magic horseshoes, the ponies can gallop on it to their heart's content.

One day after leaving Beorn's residence, to be exact, it was evening, and the sun in the west had already set more than halfway behind the Misty Mountains, and the remaining half was disappearing. The orange light it emitted made the deep and quiet forest in front of them feel a little warm.

But everyone on the expedition knew that this was not the case.

"Let the horses go!" said Gandalf. "We will have to rely on ourselves now."

"What is that?" Bilbo asked curiously. "It looks like some kind of giant skeleton."

"I think they are the remains of giant elks, their horns," Dori said. "The elves ride giant elks in the forest, so this might be the work of the elves."

The sun had completely gone to the other side of the Misty Mountains, and the warm sunlight disappeared. The Black Forest revealed its true face to the expedition team. There were no birds singing, no insects chirping, and it made no sound at all. The noise of the expedition team's conversation could not be heard far away, as if there was some monster that fed on sound in the darkness of the forest.

"The forest is sick..." Gandalf rode his horse behind the barriers shaped like elk antlers. In the center of the circle of bone piles was a small altar.

"Dori is right. This is indeed something left behind by the elves." Ivy pushed aside the hanging vines, revealing a stone sculpture of a young girl. Her white veil parted from her forehead, revealing a round ornament.

"I'm afraid I must leave you." Gandalf's low voice came from the other side of the altar. There was another stone statue in front of him, but the stone statue was not as white as the one in front of Ivy. It was stained with blood, and something had deliberately marked it, making it look like a scarlet eye.

The dwarves could not accept Gandalf's sudden departure: "You said you would face the dragon with us!"

"That's what I thought." Gandalf's expression was serious, "But the Necromancer of Dol Guldur is a greater threat."

"Perhaps I should go with you?" Ivy asked. Previously, Saruman asked him and Gandalf to go to Dol Guldur to investigate the matter about the Necromancer. Although he would not obey Saruman's request, Gandalf was a loyal friend, and Ivy would act for his friend.

"No, Ivy." Gandalf relaxed his brows. "We will act separately. Smaug of the Lonely Mountain and the Necromancer of Dol Guldur are equally important. We all have our own tasks. I will first meet up with Radagast who lives in Mirkwood, and then we will set off for Dol Guldur together. In fact, I am already very familiar with the place, but every time I explore there, I have never seen this Necromancer."

"Okay, then you should take this." Ivy took out an opal ring. "This is a ring I made myself. There is only one spell on it. It can convey a message to me, and there is only one chance. If you are in danger, break the opal on it and I will know."

"I didn't know you could forge a ring." Gandalf took it and played with it carefully in his hand for a while.

"It's just a small gadget with no high-tech content. If you didn't already have another ring on your hand, I could also give you a ring that can provide magical armor." Ivy replied.

"But I have ten fingers!" Gandalf showed his wrinkled hands. On the middle finger of his left hand was a ring with a ruby face. Ivy knew it was Naya, the Ring of Fire, one of the Three Rings of the Elves.

"My skills are not that advanced. I can't make the two rings on one hand not affect each other." Ivy said calmly. Even the One Ring couldn't shake his mind, and the Fire Ring Naya couldn't either. "Okay, okay. But I think you should give me the ring that can provide magic armor?" Gandalf put his hand down again with a naughty smile on his face. "Anyway, I just need to smash the opal when I encounter danger, and I don't have to wear it on my hand all the time. With an extra magic armor, I can be safer!"

Ivy looked at the old man in front of him speechlessly. Normally, he was the one who stole things from others, but how could anyone stole things from him?
Only someone with Gandalf's reckless character could do such a thing.

After shaking his head, Ivy took out another iron ring from the Grimoire of Destruction. This was the product of his first forging of a ring. Originally, he wanted the ring to have the effect of permanent mage armor, which was to give the wearer a 4-point armor bonus to his defense level.

But this was much more difficult than he had imagined. Relying solely on a Philosopher's Stone could not even complete one-third of the work. Therefore, Ivy stopped the loss in time and used his experience in making rare objects to turn it into a wizard armor ring that could be used three times a day.

After being activated, the Mage Armor can last for three hours and can automatically restore 1d3 charges at each dawn. Although it is of little use to Ivy who can use this spell, for a wizard like Gandalf, it is equivalent to wearing a set of chain mail that does not need to bear the weight, and it can still provide some protection.

After holding the iron ring in his hand with satisfaction, Gandalf smiled and said, "May your adventure to retake the Lonely Mountain go well!"

The dwarves bowed to him and said, "May you soon remove the darkness from Mirkwood."

"If my actions go well," Gandalf jumped onto his horse swiftly, "then I may be able to catch up with you in the Lonely Mountain. God bless you! Go!"

Beorn's horse set off into the night, carrying the grey wizard on its back.

The dwarves had already unloaded the ponies' supplies and let these temporary companions go.

They would set up camp at the edge of the Black Forest and spend their last night outside the forest, because anyone who saw the Black Forest would understand that it would be unwise to enter at night.

After taking water from the stream that flows into the Mirkwood, the dwarves began to roast the honey cakes that Beorn provided them on the campfire. The topic of the meal was forging. The dwarves were all born craftsmen, but usually they were more inclined to talk about how to mine and smelt gold, so Ivy was usually not interested.

But this time, they talked about a metal that only existed in legends - Mithril.

"We mined mithril from the ground of Khazad-dûm. It is stronger than steel, but much lighter than the best steel. It is also very malleable and can be forged into any object. Unfortunately, Khazad-dûm has now become Moria, and the dwarves can no longer obtain mithril. The existing mithril is either heirloom or smelted from old objects to make new things."

Thorin saw the desire in Ivy's eyes, so he promised: "If we really recapture the Lonely Mountain, I will definitely give you some mithril, wizard. I think your staff is not impressive enough. When the Holy White Council gathered, I saw the white-robed wizard. He had a staff made of pure silver, inlaid with precious gems. If we recapture the Lonely Mountain, the King under the Mountain will give you a staff forged with mithril and embellish it with a gem worthy of you. Believe me, the treasures in the Lonely Mountain are definitely beyond your imagination!"

　Gulliver! Wah wah wah——

　　
　
(End of this chapter)