Chapter 452: Daily Life

Bai Lang toyed with the wand after Transfiguration, glanced at the dead snake on the ground whose half‑body was severed and flipped 180 degrees, and let out a few snide chuckles. "Even the venom in the snake fang is gone; the essence of flesh and bone marrow is completely absent." Bai Lang felt his snake‑killing this time was a great success. "In the end this thing isn't strong at all… it's not strong at all against a martial‑arts master with inner sight."

Wizards find dealing with it extremely difficult—aside from being unable to see it with the eyes and hard to lock onto as a magical target, the creature's scale armor alone provides very strong anti‑magic resistance, and among wizards there seems to be no other martial‑arts strongman like Bai Lang… only those who can freely control flight are a different matter.

"Without the Death Eye, it's just a larger poisonous snake, and its movements aren't agile enough…" Bai Lang mused as he sped out of the tunnel, climbed the stairs and finally exited through the secret‑room doorway. This time the myrtle was absent; she was probably hiding in some compartment, and Bai Lang didn't greet her, simply hurried out of the restroom and went back.

"It only took a little over an hour in total." Bai Lang glanced at the watch on his wrist. "My movements were truly swift! I've gained this loot, and once the Hyena revives and I summon it again, it will surely have evolved. Hahaha." He swaggered back to the dormitory, cheerfully washed himself and then fell straight into a deep sleep.

A day later marked the start of the Christmas holiday; after packing, Bai Lang slung his bag over his shoulder and left Hogwarts. On the Express Train, young wizards were everywhere, relieved that Hogwarts and the terrifying Harry Potter were behind them, becoming cheerful and upbeat. Bai Lang toyed with his wand, undoing the wand's Transfiguration. The ivory‑yellow staff spun in his hand; he tried to flex it with force, being careful not to snap the wand.

"Its resilience exceeds my expectations." Under his force, the wand could bend only a slight arc, and the larger the arc the stronger the feedback force became. Its hardness was also considerable; Bai Lang drew a small knife, yet he could leave no mark on the shaft nor file off any splinter. Though the staff's body looked modest, it felt pleasantly warm and smooth to the touch, with a hint of surface elasticity—Bai Lang recognized this as an illusion created by the material.

The egg‑shaped tip of the staff was the same; to the touch it seemed of moderate softness, yet in fact it was extremely hard—no knife could dent it, and even a diamond used for cutting glass might make little impact—because it is a magical material. And the pupil within this "snake eye" gave Bai Lang a captivating, soul‑piercing impression; his martial prowess and iron will left him unsure what that feeling truly was, but he hopes to find someone to test it in the future.

The "snake‑fang ring base" at the staff's tail truly gave a steel‑like cold hardness, its color resembling stainless‑steel metal. Bai Lang had already been pleased with his Skull‑breaker wand, and now that it had evolved into a Snake‑bone Skull‑breaker, it was even better. The flow of magical energy within it was probably smoother, too—more on that later.

On the Hogwarts Express, Bai Lang was eventually approached by his little henchmen, and they spent the journey happily chatting and snacking.

During Christmas, Bai Lang slipped into the house inside his leather bag, and on the vacant ground outside he laid out a plot where he would gradually build a forge. For that he planned a trip to Diagon Alley, hiding inside to practice magic—so the Ministry of Magic wouldn't detect him. He was eager to release the Hyena and see what changes occurred; he didn't have much money in Diagon Alley, but the remaining cash was enough to buy a few books and spend a night at the Leaky Cauldron.

Although Liheng Bookstore had many books, truly valuable ones were few; most were textbooks or seemingly impressive‑by‑title but practically useless everyday magical tips, and books on forging magical equipment were nowhere to be found. Such volumes would only appear in second‑hand shops or illegal stalls in Knockturn Alley—though they would certainly be expensive.

Bai Lang couldn't afford it; even if he hadn't seen such a book, he knew he couldn't buy it, but that didn't stop him from purchasing a simple encyclopedia on magical materials—much like a volume of the Britannia Encyclopedia, costing just over a dozen Galleons for a large, thick tome. Though the book was huge and thick, it was printed on vellum, the type was sizable, and it featured animated illustrations; the table of contents showed it covered only about two hundred types of materials.

Upstairs at the Leaky Cauldron, Bai Lang slipped into his leather bag and released his Hyena. The creature had indeed changed: its size shrank by more than a third, now roughly the size of a rhinoceros, but black stripes appeared on its body, and its fangs seemed to drip lethal venom. Bai Lang sparred with the dog for a while and found that its speed and strength had made great strides. "Compressed essence, huh?" Bai Lang said, satisfied, and recalled the Hyena.

He spent the holiday researching magical materials—particularly metals. "Wizards are behind Muggles; Muggles already do metallurgical analysis, while wizards are still debating ratios and such. Yet with magic involved, the resulting metal materials are quite remarkable." Bai Lang examined the introductions to metal weapons capable of inflicting severe damage on Magical Creatures; many were silver, but their material strength far exceeded that of ordinary silver.

He earned only ten thousand pounds a year; buying forging equipment would be impossible through a lawyer—what would a child need? He had also visited wizarding shops, which seemed to have only magical furnaces of limited use; upon closer inspection, a full Muggle forging set was still more practical… and Bai Lang wasn't aiming to craft any legendary weapon—at most he would forge a few knives or swords, merely a pastime.

After the Christmas break, Bai Lang returned to Hogwarts, and nothing particularly eventful occurred—aside from Hermione moving into Professor Pomfrey's infirmary, which doesn't count. Afterwards things were calm, except for the sheer volume of homework and Gilderoy Lockhart's constant glowing; thanks to his wand, Bai Lang's studies seemed to improve considerably. At least in Spell Class and Transfiguration, he could simply hold his wand and, with a fifty‑percent chance, complete the spell.

He no longer needed to wave the wand's tip in the air; simply holding the wand was enough, muttering "Mummy Mummy Red" under his breath, visualizing the desired effect, and his focused intent raised the success rate beyond what it had been. However, the problem lay here—Hogwarts professors only teach elementary to secondary magical curriculum, and many things Bai Lang truly seeks are not covered at all—though he could always research them in the library and self‑study…