"Kael, are you alright?" Elrond and Gandalf stood outside the magical array, looking at him with concern.
But Arwen was now lying weakly in Elrond's arms, though she also looked at Kael with care.
Having passed through the confused phase, Kael regained consciousness.
He looked at the Evening Star pendant glowing with starlight at his chest, then at the weakened Arwen, and recalling events in the illusion, he knew that Arwen must have done something to successfully bring him out of the fantasy.
He nervously stood up, quickly walked out of the magical array, and came to Arwen's side.
"What did Arwen do to wake me from the illusion?"
Elrond looked at his weak daughter in his arms, then at Kael's tense expression, and sighed deeply with helplessness.
"Gandalf and I kept trying to wake you, but we never succeeded. Seeing your critical condition, Arwen used the Evening Star pendant on you to form a soul connection and call you back to consciousness."
"What harm will this cause to Arwen?" Kael became even more worried.
Elrond comforted Kael instead.
"Do not worry. Arwen is just magically exhausted now. She will recover after a few days of good rest. The only issue is that your souls are now connected—more closely than twins. If you are harmed, Arwen will feel it too, so I hope you can treat her well in the future and not let her be hurt!"
Hearing that Arwen had sacrificed so much, Kael was deeply moved. He nodded seriously and sincerely.
"I will definitely not let either myself or Arwen be harmed!"
After making this promise to Elrond, Kael took Arwen and summoned the golden cup, pouring in stream water from Hildórien valley and feeding it to her with the cup.
Hildórien's stream water had magical properties and became even more miraculous under the golden cup's influence.
After drinking the water, Arwen's complexion quickly improved. She looked gently at Kael, who was carefully tending to her, and smiled comfortingly. "Do not worry about me, Kael. I am much better now."
"Go check on the Philosopher's Stone quickly—do not let anything happen to it."
Kael shook his head, found a potion bottle from his space pocket, poured it into the golden cup, added magical power, and shook it, then brought it to her lips.
"Never mind other things. First drink this—it is a Calming Draught that will make you feel better."
Seeing Kael's insistent expression, Arwen obediently drank the potion, and her complexion continued to improve.
"Such touching devotion—always putting themselves at risk for each other!" Gandalf sighed from the side.
Elrond remained silent.
When Arwen had recovered considerably and could stand again, Kael finally felt relieved and turned his attention to the furnace in the magical array.
The red light had long since faded, and Eärendil's Star and Carnil's Star in the sky had also disappeared into the starry sky when the sun rose.
Moreover, the time for the two stars' conjunction had ended—the next occurrence would be next year.
Kael returned to the magical array and opened the mithril furnace.
The dragon blood flames in the furnace had long been extinguished. Only a ruby the size of a baby's fist floated quietly in the furnace.
The ruby was crystal clear with an irregular shape, emitting faint red light—looking like an uncut ruby gemstone.
Kael took it out and examined it carefully in his palm.
He sensed tremendous energy within—energy that fused the three primes of spirit, soul, and life with the four elements of earth, air, water, and fire, plus Elemmírë (Mercury), Lumbar (Saturn), Eärendil's Star (Venus), and Carnil's Star (Mars). This was unprecedented mysterious energy, full of endless creation.
"Congratulations, Kael. You have created a perfect Philosopher's Stone!" Elrond smiled in congratulation.
"You passed all the Philosopher's Stone's trials and created a flawless Stone."
A perfect Philosopher's Stone required the creator to pass trials at each transformation stage, achieving complete inner harmony and perfect spiritual balance.
Only thus could a perfect, flawless Philosopher's Stone be successfully created.
Though Kael lacked such advanced spiritual development, at the final moment Arwen's soul connection successfully freed and awakened him from illusion, allowing the Stone to complete its final transformation.
This could be considered achieving success through unexpected means—taking a shortcut to create the Stone perfectly.
Understanding this, Kael looked at the Stone in his hand and could not help showing joy.
Unlike Nicolas Flamel's Stone, which had failed to pass the final trial and last transformation at the final stage, becoming an incomplete Stone.
Therefore, though Flamel's Stone granted immortality, it could not prevent continuous aging, eventually making the user extremely weak—even shaking hands would break bones.
This was why Flamel ultimately chose to abandon immortality and destroy his Stone.
Because continuing to live would mean his bodily functions would deteriorate until he could not even move, ultimately becoming like a living corpse.
Such immortality was no different from a curse.
But a perfect Stone could truly grant eternal youth, not just eternal life.
Now possessing a Stone granting eternal youth, Kael finally had the foundation for immortality.
Of course, the Stone's immortality was not without requirements. The Stone itself could not directly grant eternal youth—it needed to create an Elixir of Life for consumption to achieve immortality.
Moreover, it required long-term, uninterrupted consumption without breaks, or one would age and die naturally like ordinary people.
Besides granting eternal youth, the Stone also had transmutation abilities.
Thinking of this, Kael immediately took the Stone and found an iron rod, touching it lightly with the Stone.
The iron rod did not change.
Kael showed confusion—was some method needed?
The next second, he thought of something and channeled magical power into the Stone.
Instantly the Stone emitted red light, and the iron rod rapidly changed, becoming a golden rod.
Kael cast a Severing Charm, splitting the gold rod in two. It did not revert but had truly become gold.
Seeing this, the others also showed surprise.
Gandalf laughed. "Now I can say with certainty that you, Kael, are the wealthiest in all Middle-earth. With this Philosopher's Stone, you can have as much gold as you want!"
Arwen also said with a smile. "The happiest must be Smaug. To fill his lair with gold, he is now doing business, daily supervising those poor spiders to weave cloth without rest."
Hearing this, Gandalf and Elrond chuckled. They had encountered that dragon and knew how much Smaug craved gold.
Now with a Stone that could turn metal to gold, Smaug would be ecstatic—if not for Kael being his master, he might claim it like he once seized Lonely Mountain's treasure.
Kael also laughed.
But he knew that using the Stone to turn ordinary metal to gold required magical power support.
Creating a mountain of gold, even with the Stone, would not be easy.
Having successfully created the Stone, Elrond and Gandalf's task was complete.
Just as Elrond prepared to return to Rivendell, Kael stopped him.
Under Elrond's surprised gaze, Kael held up the newly made Stone and offered it to him.
"Lord Elrond, I come before you with deepest respect, entreating you to hear my wish: I truly love your daughter Arwen. She is my only and eternally unchanging pursuit, the home of my soul in this world. I beseech your mercy—allow me to marry her. I swear by Kael's name, with the Philosopher's Stone as bride-price, that I will cherish and protect her this lifetime, never betraying your trust."
Faced with Kael's sudden marriage proposal and his solemn, sincere words, Arwen joyfully covered her mouth as happy tears filled her eyes.
Gandalf, as witness, beamed with smiles and blessings.
Elrond looked at the sincere yet nervous young man before him, then at the offered Stone, and fell silent for a moment.
The Stone concerned Kael's life and death. That Kael would offer it as a bride-price showed sincerity that moved Elrond.
According to Middle-earth customs, the groom's bride-price became the bride's personal property, managed independently and separate from the groom's family wealth.
Kael offering the Stone meant it would become Arwen's private property, no longer his.
Finally, under Kael's anxious waiting, Elrond smiled with relief and nodded.
"I once made an agreement with you—if you could gain immortality, I would allow you to marry my daughter. Now you have created the Stone, fulfilling our agreement. I have no reason to object further."
"So I permit you to marry my most precious jewel. I hope you will protect her well and give her happiness!"
But just as Kael showed joy, Elrond added requirements.
"But first, proper procedures cannot be omitted. You must commission someone of standing to bring sincerity formally to Rivendell, sign the marriage contract witnessed by all, and set the wedding date before I will give you my daughter."
Kael nodded eagerly—this was not really a demand.
Gandalf volunteered with a chuckle. "How about I serve as commissioner and officiant? I think I am qualified?"
Kael happily agreed. "Of course! No one could be more suitable than you, Gandalf!"
Elrond also approved.
Given Gandalf's status and relationships with Rivendell and Kael, he was the perfect choice for commissioner and officiant.
While Kael's group was immersed in joy, at Mordor's Barad-dûr Tower, Sauron's Eye fixed on western Isengard.
Below, a thousand-meter-long dragon wearing an iron crown emanated such cold that surrounding dark creatures dared not approach.
Only Saruman stood on the dragon's broad back, staff in hand, ready for orders.
Around the dragon, hundreds of dozens-of-meters-long sub-dragons writhed with dark aura, their huge pupils burning with ghostly fire.
Several sub-dragons crossbred with fell beasts carried Nazgûl riders.
"Depart!" Sauron commanded.
Instantly the great dragon spread massive wings and took flight.
The winged sub-dragons followed.
The wingless sub-dragons carried dense masses of orcs, rapidly heading west beyond Mordor's borders.