Before attempting to create the complex Felix Felicis potion, Kael made one more visit to Lothlórien.
The Balrog heart's purification period had finally reached its conclusion after three long years.
Arriving in the golden wood, Lady Galadriel already awaited him in her garden, bathed in the soft glow of afternoon light filtering through the mallorn leaves. Without ceremony, she handed him the purified Balrog heart.
Looking at the bowl-sized organ before him, Kael could not hide his surprise.
The heart had not only shrunk by more than half its original size, but the outer red crystalline structure had also become remarkably transparent and clear, like flawless ruby glass.
Even more captivating was its core—the Balrog's imprisoned fire. It had transformed completely from the original evil, scorching dark flames, washing away centuries of corruption and metamorphosing into a brilliant golden-red flame that pulsed with gentle warmth.
The flame radiated sacred, comforting light. Even touching the heart's surface with bare hands caused no burns—only a pleasant warmth.
Kael reverently received the purified heart. "No," he murmured with genuine awe, "it should be called a Maia heart now."
Balrogs had originally been Maiar associated with flame and forge, but seduced by Morgoth's promises of power, they had followed him willingly into darkness, becoming the terrible Balrogs of legend.
The originally sacred Maia core fire had been polluted by darkness over millennia, transforming into corrupting dark fire that burned with malice.
Three years ago, Kael had entrusted the Balrog heart to Lady Galadriel, who had continuously purified it with Nenya's divine power.
Now finally, the dark influence within the Balrog heart had been completely cleansed, returning to its source and transforming back into a pure Maia heart.
"The Balrog's essence was too deeply eroded by darkness—the corruption had become nearly inseparable from its nature," Lady Galadriel explained gently. "Some power loss during purification was inevitable. But what remains is sufficient for creating phoenix rebirth fire. If the essence power were too concentrated, your mortal form could not bear it safely. This is precisely the right amount."
Kael nodded, excitement evident in his expression as he carefully cradled this brilliant Maia heart.
"Thank you, Lady Galadriel. Without your patient help over these years, I could never have achieved my goal."
Lady Galadriel shook her head slightly, her ageless eyes warm. "If you truly wish to thank me, then simply treat Arwen well in all the years to come."
"Please trust me, Lady Galadriel—Arwen is my heart's greatest treasure."
Taking the purified Balrog heart with utmost care, Kael bid farewell to Lady Galadriel and returned to Weathertop through the Floo Network.
He solemnly placed the precious Balrog heart in a protected vault together with the Philosopher's Stone, carefully waiting until Felix Felicis was completed and Gandalf returned from his travels before officially conducting the dangerous phoenix Animagus transformation experiments.
But before that crucial moment, he needed to begin creating Felix Felicis itself.
Felix Felicis creation difficulty was extraordinarily high—only wizards at true Potions Master level typically succeeded.
To bridge the considerable gap between his current skills and those of the Potions Masters, Kael wore Ravenclaw's Diadem throughout the entire process.
In his well-equipped potions laboratory, Kael carefully set up a pure silver cauldron over controlled magical flame. Then he methodically added ingredients in precise sequence: 2 pints of carefully extracted Mandrake essence, 1 pint of fresh lemon juice, 10 delicate Ashwinder eggshells, and exactly seven drops of potent giant spider venom.
Each addition required thorough stirring with complete focus, ensuring the cauldron's contents fully reacted before quickly adding another ingredient at exactly the right moment.
No hesitation was allowed—adding too early or too late would cause catastrophic potion failure, potentially transforming it into deadly poison whose scent alone could kill silently.
Especially the Ashwinder eggshells needed adding one by one with perfect timing, the spider venom also dripping alternately with eggs in a precise rhythm. Stirring frequency relied entirely on intuitive feel and hard-won experience.
Generally only Potions Masters could rely on decades of experience and keenly developed sensitivity to know instinctively when to stop stirring and when to resume.
Many ambitious potioneers failed at this very first critical step when attempting Felix Felicis.
Kael, aided by the Diadem's cognitive enhancement with his brain operating at peak efficiency and all five senses heightened to supernatural levels, maintained steady creation progress without any errors.
He heated this volatile mixture on carefully controlled low heat while constantly stirring in precise patterns until the liquid transformed into bright, vibrant orange.
Kael then added six frozen salamander eggs to the simmering cauldron, continuing to brew for three full days without rest.
Throughout this period, he still needed to perform daily stirring—clockwise four complete times, then counterclockwise three times, at exact intervals.
Once the liquid finally turned glowing crimson red, he evenly scattered exactly 23 fresh amaranth petals across the surface without any stirring, simply waiting for them to sink naturally.
After the petals naturally sank and dissolved completely into the potion, he continued simmering on low heat, performing daily stirring routines—clockwise 7 times, counterclockwise 1 time—continuing this pattern for 25 consecutive days.
Throughout the entire creation process, no sunlight could touch the brewing potion—creation required a completely dark environment to succeed.
All stirring needed to occur precisely at midnight when magical energies peaked.
After exactly twenty-five days of patient brewing, he finally removed the cauldron from heat with careful hands.
Then, using specialized filtering nets woven from elf hair, he meticulously filtered the potion three separate times to remove all impurities.
This step should originally use unicorn hair according to traditional recipes, but Middle-earth lacked unicorns entirely. Kael had found an effective substitute—elf hair generously provided by his future brothers-in-law.
These hairs came from Kael's sparring matches with Ellohir and Elradan. Ever since Elrond had agreed to Kael courting Arwen, the protective twin brothers competed with him under various invented pretexts, testing his worthiness.
With Kael's magically transformed physical constitution and enhanced five senses, he could fight relatively evenly with the experienced warriors.
His only significant shortcoming was their thousand years of accumulated combat experience and technique.
But with his legilimency talent, their every tactical intention was discovered by Kael in advance, giving him a crucial advantage.
So Kael rarely suffered losses in their matches and had even opportunistically collected their hair during particularly close combat.
Facing Kael's admittedly clever cheating, the brothers could only train harder to prevent being eventually overtaken by their sister's determined suitor.
Watching from the sidelines, Arwen found their ongoing battle of wits and determination both deeply amusing and somewhat helpless.
After successfully filtering the potion, Kael carefully poured the strained liquid into a pristine pure gold cauldron, heating it on low fire while constantly stirring with a pure gold rod.
He continued this process until the liquid transformed into milky white with pearlescent shimmer.
Then he retrieved the small crystal bottle containing Lord Glorfindel's precious blood, using a clean dropper to absorb exactly one drop into the cauldron's liquid.
Using a pure silver rod this time, he stirred counterclockwise exactly 7 times, then clockwise 2 times, continuing until the liquid turned brilliant molten gold.
He extinguished the magical fire completely to allow gradual cooling, then poured the finished potion carefully into an opaque brown flask.
Next, taking the Araw cattle's pure white horn, he cut off precisely 1 inch, then ground it methodically to fine powder using a mortar and pestle.
Uncertain whether Araw cattle horn and unicorn horn possessed identical magical properties, Kael proceeded with extreme caution, sprinkling the powder bit by bit into the golden liquid while constantly stirring with his pure silver rod.
Simultaneously, the Diadem on his head functioned at maximum capacity. His brain operated at superhuman speed, eyes staring intently at every subtle liquid change, mental power highly concentrated on observing the golden liquid's reactions to each addition.
When the Araw cattle horn powder reached approximately two-thirds of the total amount, Kael immediately stopped.
Deep instinct told him this quantity was precisely sufficient.
Kael trusted this instinct completely, not continuing to add more horn powder despite temptation.
The golden liquid showed no adverse changes—a promising sign.
Thus, all manual preparation work for Felix Felicis was finally complete.
Kael carefully placed the brown flask containing precious golden liquid in a light-avoiding dark environment where it would rest undisturbed for exactly six months.
Moreover, during these six crucial months, the flask needed regular moonlight exposure but absolutely no sunlight whatsoever.
It also could not be disturbed, moved, or examined during this maturation period.
Only after six full months, when the liquid surface naturally produced spontaneous splashing droplets, would Felix Felicis creation be considered truly successful.
To arrange the perfect Felix Felicis resting environment, Kael modified an entire tower room—enchanting the walls to be completely light-proof during daytime hours, while at nighttime the walls became transparent with a large window allowing moonlight to directly illuminate the resting flask.
After completing all these meticulous preparations, Kael felt profoundly mentally exhausted despite his physical stamina.
Felix Felicis creation involved numerous precise steps—any mistake in any single step could cause catastrophic failure and wasted rare materials.
But some critical steps, like exact ingredient dosage and precise addition timing, required intuitive experience and feel—too much or too little material, or adding it one second too early or late, could trigger dangerous accidents.
Throughout the entire grueling creation process, Kael had worn the Diadem continuously for days, operating with his brain at overclocked speed without allowing the slightest distraction or lapse in concentration.
Now with the manual process finally ended, his body felt fine, but his mind was utterly depleted.
He removed the Diadem with relief, then rested for three full days, keeping his brain in a complete shutdown state to eliminate accumulated mental exhaustion.
During the next six months of waiting, besides occasionally observing Felix Felicis's maturation status, Kael would not need to pay constant attention, finally able to pursue other important projects.
During these six months, Kael planned to resume magical transformation experiments, attempting to design a functional Thunderbird magical circulation system for Thorondor's eventual evolution.
Of course, there was another far more personally important matter demanding attention.
Formally proposing marriage to Rivendell for Arwen's hand.
However, this required Gandalf—an elder wizard with proper status and respect—to formally propose to Lord Elrond on Kael's behalf for Arwen's hand in marriage, delivering traditional betrothal gifts, and signing proper engagement contracts after gaining Elrond's paternal consent.
So Kael now waited somewhat impatiently for Gandalf's long-awaited return.
As if summoned by thought alone, within just a few days, Gandalf's familiar grey-robed figure appeared, emerging from Hogwarts Castle's main fireplace in a swirl of green flames.
"Gandalf! Where have you been all this time?" Kael asked with obvious delight and relief.
"Haha, I see someone can't wait to properly marry Arwen!" Gandalf chuckled warmly, his eyes twinkling. "Sorry for the extended absence and making you wait so long. Besides the Mordor forces attacking from Minas Morgul, southern pirates and Haradrim warriors also launched raids against Gondor's coastline."
He casually leaned his gnarled staff against the wall, then gratefully dropped onto the comfortable sofa with an exhausted sigh.
"I've been busy every moment. We first recaptured western Osgiliath after fierce fighting, then forcibly crossed the Anduin under arrow fire, finally driving the eastern Mordor forces away. Then we sailed downriver south to intercept pirates and Haradrim raiders before they could retreat, only calming down these past days."
"Knowing you were anxiously waiting here, I declined the Steward's generous celebration banquet invitation, rode Shadowfax hard to Lothlórien to leave him resting there with Galadriel, then came straight to find you without delay."
Hearing Gandalf had rushed here immediately without rest, Kael felt genuine warmth while quickly insisting Gandalf rest and recover properly.
"Oh, right!" Gandalf seemed to suddenly remember something important, reaching for his enchanted space pouch.
He smiled with satisfaction. "I encountered a group of wingless cold drakes bred by Mordor's forces in Gondor during the fighting. Three were killed by me personally—the rest were swept into the sea by summoned floods. Remembering you constantly need dragon materials for your potion experiments, I had them packed carefully for you."
Kael received the heavy space pouch, peering inside to see three tightly packed cold drake corpses with genuine surprise.
He currently had abundant winged sub-dragons already overflowing his storage facilities, but he absolutely would not refuse Gandalf's thoughtful kindness.
"Perfect timing—Gandalf, you haven't yet tasted dragon meat! Today I'll have the kitchen prepare some specially for you to enjoy properly."
Hearing Kael's generous offer, Gandalf's weathered eyes brightened with unmistakable interest.
"Then I'm certainly in for a rare treat! Previously at Osgiliath during the campaign, King Théngel wouldn't stop boasting about eating dragon meat at your place. This time I absolutely must properly taste it myself!"