Chapter 193: Crown of Wisdom
Arwen's portrait of Kael was framed and hung in his private sitting room.
As for Kael's portrait of Arwen, she kept it, planning to bring it back to Rivendell for treasuring.
The painted Kael and Arwen shuttled back and forth between the two frames, sometimes staying together in Kael's frame, sometimes in Arwen's, and sometimes disappearing entirely to go on dates elsewhere.
This made Kael quite envious.
The real him had to work tirelessly, while his painted self had nothing to do but date all day.
Over the following days, Kael also painted portraits of Great Eagle Thorondor, dragon Smaug, basilisk Herpo, and great octopus Kraken in the Black Lake below.
At Smaug's insistence, he even painted mountains of gold for the painted dragon.
Watching the painted Smaug rolling happily in the gold mountains, Kael found it too embarrassing to look at and was ashamed to hang his portrait in the great hall.
With the portrait matter concluded, Kael began preparing to create the alchemical items he'd obtained from previous check-ins.
Specifically, Ravenclaw's Diadem and Hufflepuff's Cup.
These two alchemical items represented the magical achievements of Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff, respectively, two top-tier magical creations.
Creating them would be extremely difficult and time-consuming, making simultaneous creation impossible.
So Kael needed to choose one as his immediate target.
Kael hesitated between the two.
Ravenclaw's Diadem could increase the wearer's wisdom, or rather greatly stimulate mental potential, making the brain work at high speed, providing tremendous help and improvement in learning and magic practice.
Hufflepuff's Cup was equally impressive. Not only did it possess powerful healing abilities, but it also absorbed and stored magical energy while nourishing the user's body and magical power.
Not to mention creating magically infused food and drink.
It was a powerful magical tool combining life-saving, nourishing, and practical functions.
However, Kael ultimately decided to choose Ravenclaw's Diadem first.
Though Hufflepuff's Cup was powerful, it was essentially defensive in nature, and its magical enhancement effects would only show over time, not immediately.
But Ravenclaw's Diadem could enhance Kael's thinking and mental capacity to the limit, granting higher intelligence for tremendous short-term improvement.
Moreover, he thought that once he successfully created Ravenclaw's Diadem, making Hufflepuff's Cup with the crown's wisdom enhancement should become much easier.
Having decided to make the crown, Kael began preparing the necessary materials.
When Arwen heard Kael was creating a magical item that could increase wisdom, she was very surprised and participated as his assistant, working together to craft this artifact.
Kael first took out an exquisite, magnificent White Tree crown.
The crown was bright silver overall, seeming woven from White Tree branches with realistic wide and narrow leaves artfully arranged, their curves and folds naturally flowing as if brought to life by a gentle breeze.
In the White Tree crown's center, a brilliant white diamond sparkling with starlight was embedded.
The gem's radiance was dazzling yet not harsh, like a star set in the crown.
This was the crown Galadriel had given when the castle was completed, designed by Arwen with a white diamond that was a magical gem infused with starlight by Galadriel.
This crown was too magnificent, precious, and eye-catching. Kael usually kept it stored away, only wearing it on major holidays, celebrations, or formal occasions.
He planned to use this crown as the vessel for creating the wisdom-enhancing Ravenclaw's Diadem.
Kael took out a bottle of Mercury of the Mind collected from the Grey Havens, inscribed runes on the crystal vial with mithril solution, then placed it atop the highest Amon Sûl tower to receive moonlight purification, removing impurities and leaving only pure mental energy.
Under the runes' influence, moonlight was absorbed like silver liquid into the crystal vial, fusing with the Mercury of the Mind and slowly purifying emotional and memory impurities.
This process would continue for a full month until moonlight completely purified and refined the Mercury of the Mind.
During this period, Kael used mithril as ink to meticulously draw magical patterns on the crown, not missing a single leaf or branch of the White Tree crown.
Using his wand as a brush and magical power as ink, he inscribed runic symbols representing "knowledge," "understanding," and "discernment" in the central white diamond for enchantment.
Kael then visited Lothlórien, Rivendell, and the Grey Havens, seeking understanding of wisdom and memories of knowledge from four wise beings: Lady Galadriel, Celeborn, Elrond, and Círdan.
He then infused these sages' understanding and memories into the crown's gemstone.
After the Mercury of the Mind was purified by moonlight, Kael immersed the crown in it, allowing it to absorb the mental energy.
The crown's diamond radiated increasingly brilliant wisdom-light, making those bathed in it think more clearly and rapidly.
After the crown absorbed all the pure Mercury of the Mind, Kael waited for Mercury's celestial appearance.
In Middle-earth, Mercury had another name, Elemmírë, a star created by Varda, Queen of the Stars among the Valar, for the Firstborn Children.
In magical astronomy and astrology, Mercury symbolized thought and communication, the star of "wisdom."
On the night Mercury appeared overhead, Kael and Arwen climbed to the highest Amon Sûl tower.
On the massive stone platform, Kael drew three nested magical circles in mithril with the crown at the center.
The outermost layer bore runes symbolizing wisdom to gather mental energy.
The middle layer depicted "thought circuits," patterns resembling brain neural networks connecting to the central crown, constructing energy transmission channels.
The innermost layer inscribed the "resonance core," a ring of two intertwined serpents formed from countless runes, serving as the entire array's energy hub.
When Mercury reached its zenith and starlight shone on the platform's formation, Kael pressed his staff to the array, chanting ancient spells while pouring magical power through the staff into the formation.
The array activated, radiating brilliant silver light as a dazzling beam shot skyward, illuminating the entire tower in response to Mercury above.
Mercury suddenly became incredibly bright, its radiance even surpassing Eärendil's star, the brightest in the sky.
Blue starlight descended from heaven, guided into the formation, making runes light up sequentially to form a stable magical field.
Such tremendous commotion, the projected starlight pillar, drew varied reactions from observers across Middle-earth. Except for those already informed, like Galadriel and Elrond, all speculated about its meaning.
Near Weathertop, especially Hogsmeade residents below, watched the starlight pillar above the castle tower with awe and reverence, knowing their mysterious lord had caused this.
Kael, unaware of outside reactions, focused intensely on channeling his magical power to maintain the array and guide more stellar force into the crown.
But he had apparently underestimated the crown's energy requirements. His magical power drained rapidly, leaving him struggling.
Arwen noticed Kael's condition and, worried, immediately raised her wand to pour her own magical power into the array, relieving his pressure.
As daughter of Elrond and granddaughter of Galadriel and Celeborn, Arwen possessed many powerful bloodline forces. Even Kael couldn't match her total magical capacity.
With her magical power joining, Kael's pressure greatly reduced, and he breathed easier.
As time passed, more stellar force gathered in the array, continuously flowing into the crown.
The crown became increasingly extraordinary, especially the white diamond, which radiated ever-brighter wisdom-light. Even standing outside the array, Kael and Arwen felt their thinking accelerate.
The array was maintained until late night, when Mercury moved west and projected diminishing starlight before finally stopping.
The array's runes dimmed again, becoming still, leaving only the crown lying quietly at the center.
The crown now seemed different. The white diamond's light was restrained, no longer dazzling as before, emitting only faint blue radiance.
But careful observation revealed the gem contained endless wisdom-light that instantly clarified thinking and inspired revelations at a glance.
Kael stepped forward, bent down, and picked up the crown, examining it carefully.
"Kael, did it work?" Arwen asked curiously.
"Let's try and see," Kael said, then placed the crown on his head.
Instantly, Kael felt his consciousness infinitely elevated, his brain's processing speed accelerated countless times, reaching new heights in knowledge comprehension and problem analysis efficiency.
Not only that, but he also gained perfect memory. Deeply buried memories were excavated and became crystal clear.
If his memory after transmigration had improved from ordinary bicycle speed to electric bike, now wearing the crown, he was like strapping on a rocket, possessing the most brilliant mind.
"How is it? Kael, what do you feel?" Arwen asked with concern.
Kael didn't know how to describe the sensation. He answered flatly. "I feel wisdom's door has opened to me. Endless knowledge is within reach."
Seeing Kael transform after donning the crown, becoming emotionally flat, Arwen worried.
Noticing Arwen's concerned expression, Kael removed the crown. His previously calm, emotionless eyes regained their sparkle and emotional variation.
He reassured her. "Don't worry. This is a minor side effect of wearing the crown. While enhancing wisdom, it inevitably makes rationality dominant, suppressing emotional fluctuations and making one more logical. But removing the crown immediately restores normalcy without affecting personality."
He then placed the crown on Arwen's head, letting her experience it too.
Wearing the crown, Arwen's temperament changed. Her eyes became deeper and calmer, her bearing cool and distant like a mountain goddess radiating wisdom and insight.
For a moment, Arwen resembled Galadriel more closely.
Arwen didn't wear it long before removing the crown, returning to her gentle Evenstar princess self.
Holding the crown in both hands with a bright smile, she congratulated Kael. "Congratulations, Kael! You've created something miraculous. Such a wisdom-enhancing treasure would attract many wisdom-seekers!"
"By the way, what name will you give it?"
Kael shook his head. "The crown is our joint creation. I hope you'll name it this time, so it will forever bear both our names!"
Arwen's eyes curved slightly, lips turning up with amusement. She didn't refuse Kael's request.
Looking at the exquisite crown in her hands, her red lips parted. "Raeldûr. Its name is Raeldûr."
"Raeldûr? Crown of Wisdom?" Kael was surprised, then smiled and nodded. "A wonderful name indeed!"