Hogwarts Wasteland: The Witch from the Borderlands

Chapter 223 Qualitative Change and the Righteous One

Chapter 223 Qualitative Change and the Righteous One

The old man looked at Gonuk, then at Dumbledore, and finally sighed.

"The sword of Gryffindor, this child is the rightful heir."

Upon hearing this, everyone present gasped.

He's usually so quiet, and seems more like a miniature Neville, yet he's a chosen one for the Gryffindor sword?! What about Harry, who's as fierce as a rhinoceros?!

The old goblin glanced at Harry: "He's a suitable candidate too, but this kid is the top priority." He pointed to Neville.

Neville looked on incredulously.

Harry's mouth dropped open: "Me too?!" But he wasn't jealous of Neville; his companion's excellence only made him happy.

Seeing everyone's shock, Gonuk explained, "This old fellow is the great-nephew of Legnac I, but he has been expelled from the family now because he agreed that the Gryffindor sword belonged to wizards."

The old goblin's knowledge of the Gryffindor sword was undoubtedly the closest to that of its creator in the world; he clearly had a deep understanding of the magic it possessed and the criteria for selecting suitable users.

"Only a true Gryffindor can pull out that sword," he and Dumbledore said in unison.

"Over the years, we have studied the spells cast by Godric himself, and we may know better than you wizards yourselves who the real Gryffindors are."

Dumbledore seemed thoughtful. He hadn't considered this question before, but it seemed that when he got back, he could give the Sorting Hat to the two children to try. Harry had a chain wand and didn't need another weapon, but Neville's scabbard was just the right size to fit a sword.

The old witch said with a disdainful tone, "That Godric fellow wouldn't even give his sword a decent scabbard, he just used a tattered hat to make do!"

He looked at Neville: "Son, hold your wand with me, and I'll change it for you."

Neville obeyed without question, and the two of them, one human and one goblin, focused their attention entirely on the scabbard as if they were choosing a wand again in front of the forge and anvil.

"The scabbard of the Durandal Holy Sword does indeed possess a powerful will, but it has not yet been activated, and..."

"This shape is not suitable for the Gryffindor sword either," the old goblin said.

A faint light shone through their fingers, and the scabbards they held seemed to melt.

It slowly deformed, but not a drop of mercury spilled out of its inner core.

In just a moment, when the light completely faded, the scabbards in their hands had completely changed shape.

A gleaming silver scabbard, made of pure metal, was much shorter and narrower to fit the shape of a Gryffindor sword. Its outer shell was decorated with exquisite and intricate patterns, and a row of large and small rubies adorned the center.

"It looks like a scabbard made for the sword of Gryffindor," Dumbledore said softly.

"Won't this affect its performance as a wand?"

Gonuk shook his head: "You have to trust the fairy's forging techniques. Such changes will only have benefits, and there won't be any side effects."

The old devil wearily released his grip, not forgetting to advise Dumbledore, "Once he gets the sword, he can keep it in its scabbard for a long time; that's much better than hiding it in that tattered hat."

"Oh, right, you can add some basilisk venom to the mercury in the scabbard. The Gryffindor sword will absorb things that can strengthen it. Soaking it in mercury solution will make the sword stronger and stronger. With basilisk venom, its power will be even greater."

Dumbledore nodded; he was also curious about the goblins' ability to modify the power of their wands.

Harry pondered, "Could this be considered a form of Transfiguration?" He had been working very hard lately in order to start learning Animagus next school year, and he would always consider Transfiguration when faced with a problem.

"That's one way to understand it," Gonuk replied.

"However, the magic theory of fairies is a bit different from yours. We take a more macro view of the relationship between fantasy and reality. Sometimes, transforming the material world does not necessarily require adhering to so many rules and regulations."

Dumbledore was also a master of Transfiguration, and Hermione, who was present, was also a master of Transfiguration who had completed the Animagus transformation. Everyone immediately became interested and discussed it for a while.

"Wizards follow Gamp's basic transfiguration laws, but often they are actually limited by the basic common sense of the material world, or rather, they cannot do what humans feel they cannot do."

"But there were indeed wizards who ate the food they conjured, and they died from overeating."

"That's not a problem with Transfiguration, but with the depth of magic and the transformation of the world. As I just mentioned, your changes are too superficial, requiring constant magical maintenance. Once the intervention of the wizard's will is removed, they will be immediately corrected by the world," Gonuk said solemnly.

"Indeed, like Professor McGonagall, turning stone into explosives, the ashes after the explosion don't revert back to stone," Hermione said.

"Transfiguration altered the structure of the stone, but the second explosion did not fall under the category of transfiguration; it was a chemical reaction of the transfiguring material itself, and the world did not correct it." Perhaps Professor McGonagall did not think deeply about the changes that followed, because for a wizard, this level of change was already sufficient.

"But I can't explain how fairies do it either. We can completely change matter and make it change according to our will. Maybe it's a talent, and I can't teach it," Gonuk said.

"It is said that the polymer invented by Sechenov was actually just made from seawater and sand that are readily available everywhere."

"Only Slug would believe that Muggles did it themselves!" The reason why human technology has become such a mess and strange is because fairies always come up with their own ideas and use their magic to solve scientific problems.

This enabled steam power to propel airships, rifles to fire bullets, and allowed the rampant nuclear energy to be easily tamed by humankind; it led to leaps and bounds in materials science, making ceramic armor cheap and durable, and artificial intelligence, whose theory was not yet perfect, suddenly entered a near-practical stage.

Dumbledore picked up a metal ingot and tried to transform its properties. This was not difficult for a great wizard of his level, even though it was goblin metal. But to make it permanent, as Gonuk had said, was still difficult to achieve. Perhaps this really was a racial talent.

Harry looked on thoughtfully, and the bucket in his hand, which had turned into a shield, slowly changed as well.

Seeing that everyone had gone off-topic, Ron quickly joined in and took out the short sword he had bought in Beauxbatons: "My shield wand works pretty well, but this short sword is a bit awkward to use."

When fighting werewolves, this short sword, which usually seemed quite sharp, wasn't very effective at piercing their fur.

This time, a goblin blacksmith was brought over, so that great-nephew of Legnac I needed a rest.

He picked up the short sword, glanced at it, and almost threw it away in disgust: "A rotten piece of work! Can't those Nicolas Flamel's grand-disciples focus on alchemy instead of embarrassing themselves in other fields!"

"If you ask me, this short sword should just be thrown away. Shall I forge you a new one? This thing is a complete waste of good steel."

Ron scratched his head awkwardly. After all, he didn't have much money, but this short sword was already a pretty good mid-range product in that boutique.

The fairy blacksmith casually picked up a silver ingot from the shelf and quickly forged a nearly identical short sword, but with more reasonable details and better performance. Fairies are good at turning silver, which is not suitable for making weapons, into various properties.

He expertly removed the hilt from the original short sword, placed it on his own work, and handed it to Ron: "Here you go."

That's much better.

Ron thanked her happily, but before he could even grasp the hot dagger, Hermione snatched it away.

"I've suddenly had a new idea," Hermione said with a light laugh.

At the borderlands, there's a weapon enhancement method called "Qualitative Transformation." Using whetstones of different attributes, you can imbue your weapon with different attribute enhancements: Heavy, Sharp, High-Quality, Magical, Cold, Fire, Flame Magic, Holy, etc.

Lightning, poison, blood, and mystery—different qualitative changes can affect the weapon's power, making the wielder better able to cope with specific environments or to execute special tactics.

She took the short sword and walked to the anvil, picked up the fairy's forging hammer, pondered for a moment, and then slammed it heavily onto the freshly forged short sword.

"Although I don't have a whetstone sword, a fairy forging hammer will do."