Within the clearing wrapped in crimson-gold flames, Lucien pointed the tip of his wand at his heart and chanted:
"Amato Animo Animato Animagus."
Then he downed the blood-red potion in one gulp.
Almost the moment it entered his stomach, Lucien felt a piercing pain, followed by two violent heartbeats.
One was his own. The other belonged to the heartbeat he had heard every day while chanting the incantation.
Only now, both heartbeats sounded exceptionally loud and clear—like drums pounding beside his ears.
This was a normal step.
Urrgh.. No problems ..so far...
Next, his mind should summon the image of the creature he was about to transform into.
It was already too late to escape the transformation he had committed to.
Lucien tried to calm his mind and waited patiently… one second, two seconds, three seconds… Yet aside from the intense pain and the two heartbeats, nothing else happened.
He didn't feel any other changes; no creature appeared in his mind.
Logically, the animal form that best suited a wizard's traits should emerge next.
This was a step the wizard could not choose on their own.
And the moment the animal form appeared, the wizard would need to recall the Transfiguration method for it.
This required extremely thorough knowledge of living Transfiguration.
Both talent and accumulated study were essential.
However, no animal appeared in Lucien's mind at all!
Pain surged through him as if from every cell in his body, crashing over him like waves.
And then something inside him ...snapped.
His ribs felt as if invisible fingers were prying them apart from the inside. His spine arched sharply, every vertebra grinding like stones under pressure. A sickening crack echoed through his body—followed by another, and another—as if he were a statue fracturing from within.
Lucien's breath hitched. His vision swam. The pain wasn't just physical—it felt primal, ancient, as though some buried truth in his flesh was clawing its way free. His skin tightened, then stretched, then burned.
"Urg... heuk.." He tried to scream, but the sound dissolved into a choked gasp.
Lucien didn't notice that his eyes were slowly being overtaken by a dark green color, creeping outward toward the whites.
The corners of his mouth were also beginning to curve upward unconsciously.
"No, no, no…"
"Master…"
"Master, Master!"
Little Qilin's voice exploded directly in Lucien's mind, allowing him to seize a shred of clarity amid the pain.
Lucien instinctively looked at Lumen, meeting its clear, glass-like eyes.
My… my face… This mask…
Reflected in the little Qilin's eyes, Lucien saw his own face covered by a semi-real, semi-illusory mask.
The black-green mask shifted wildly, sometimes fitting a human shape, sometimes resembling a bird, sometimes a tiger or wolf… Loki's Mask!
Animagus, Transfiguration, Transfiguration…
A sudden spark of insight flashed through Lucien's mind like lightning.
It was a line he had read when he first obtained the mask: [Constant form is the limitation of mortals; for Loki, change is reality]
Yes.. change!
Following that instinct, Lucien rapidly constructed a biological model in his mind.
Every detail was included: each blood vessel, muscle, feather…
The next moment, the intense pain surged over him once again.
This felt like a reshaping beginning from every single cell.
Lucien heard his bones crack and grind as they rapidly stretched, warped, and reformed.
His skin tore open, but no blood flowed; instead, something surged outward—countless stiff feathers glowing with a dark golden sheen.
His vision twisted and expanded. His human color perception was stripped away and replaced by an incredibly sharp, layered sight.
With a clear cry, his perspective suddenly lifted. Riding the remnants of the storm's currents, he transformed into a bolt of dark golden lightning, shooting straight into the sea of clouds.
Lumen picked up Lucien's wand, auspicious clouds rising beneath its feet, and leapt into the air, soaring alongside its master.
In its eyes, its master had become a golden-feathered eagle.
Lucien felt the strength in his wings as he beat them, quickly adapting to the strange feeling of becoming an Animagus.
And for the first time since the pain began—Lucien felt joy.
A fierce, wild joy.
WooooooHoooooooo~~~~~!!!!!!
The wind roared beneath his wings, cold and sweet, slipping through every feather like liquid silver. His heart—still ringing in his chest—seemed to sync with the sky itself. Each beat of his wings sent him higher, faster, freer.
He cut through the clouds like a blade of light.
As he flew higher, nearly touching the clouds, Lucien abruptly stopped flapping his wings.
No, it's not over yet.
He clearly pictured his human form in his mind.
Without even a moment's pause, Lucien instantly returned to his original appearance.
Normally, a wizard who had just become an Animagus would need time to adjust and practice before being able to return to human form.
But Lucien transformed back directly from animal to human.
As gravity seized him, Lucien felt a brief rush of exhilaration—Falling, yet utterly in control.
A skydiver sculpting the air with sheer will. "Bahahaha~~ This is exhilarating ~!
Just as Lumen was about to rush over and catch its falling master—"No need to catch me."
He didn't retrieve his wand either. Instead, Lucien pictured another creature in his mind.
This time, the creature was even smaller—and even more beautiful.
The moment the biological model was completed, Lucien's form changed again.
Color burst across him, his body unraveling into light threads that wove themselves into delicate wings. Human mass shrank into elegant fragility.
The world expanded around him—the drops of rain now vast globes of shimmering water suspended in the air.
A butterfly, entirely dark green with colorful patterns decorating its wings, appeared abruptly in mid-air.
Fluttering its soft wings, Lucien easily avoided the scattered raindrops as he drifted gently downward.
As he neared the Black Lake, thick ice came into view.
"Hey! Lumen, help me melt a hole. Not too big."
"Okay, Master."
A small wisp of pure fire emerged from the little Qilin's mouth, instantly melting through the surface of the ice and opening a passage down into the dark waters of the Black Lake.
Lucien didn't return to human form; instead, he constructed yet another creature.
The shift this time was fluid, like slipping into water before even touching it—wings dissolving into scales, colors flowing like wet paint down his body, limbs merging into a single powerful tail.
In an instant, the beautiful, delicate butterfly twisted and transformed into a multicolored carp.
Plop!
Lucien, now a fish, dove straight through the hole in the ice into the Black Lake.
Seeing its master vanish into the water, Lumen immediately shrank its size and dove in as well.
But once underwater, it saw only a short, stout, silver-grey big-headed fish—and that fish was staring right at it.
Looking at this fish, which looked completely different from the one before, the little Qilin grew puzzled and asked cautiously: "Master, why did you change again?"
The big-headed fish blew a bubble.
"I got too excited and forgot. The temperature's very low right now, and a koi wouldn't survive it."
"Oh, I see. Master, are you an Animagus now?"
The big-headed fish blew another bubble, swaying its tail as it casually swam forward.
"Yes... Heh.. hehehe... However, I'm a bit different from other Animagi."
Lucien recalled the process from drinking the potion to completing the transformation.
Loki's Mask.
That SSS-level Transfiguration talent was judged as extraordinary, already bordering on the realm of the divine.
At the moment he became an Animagus, it finally revealed its unfathomable depth.
The reason no specific creature appeared in his mind at that time wasn't because he had failed.
It was because he didn't need one.
A normal Animagus can transform into only a single type of creature, and once that form is taken, it becomes fixed.
At the same time, a wizard cannot choose their animal form; it is not voluntary. It is determined entirely by their nature, and there is only one form that fits them best.
But Lucien had already proven through his attempts afterward.. His Animagus form had no such limitations!!
He could change freely and unpredictably.
Hmm… perhaps he should thank Malfoy for the book Inspiration and Divination he had given him.
The inspiration cultivated by its methods had helped him in that critical moment, allowing him to recall that key line even faster:
Constant form is the limitation of mortals; for Loki, change is reality…
______
P.S. He was talking to Lumen via Lumen's mental connection.
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