The Atlantic Ocean.
Lightning thundered down from the sky, crashing onto a deserted island.
After the electric light dissipated, a black-winged monster with the head of a bird and horns of a ram suddenly kneeled on the ground.
It howled in agony towards the sky, its voice filled with extreme pain. Its upper body convulsed uncontrollably, with lightning flickering all around.
Suddenly, the strange phenomena around it began to fade. The bird's head turned into a puff of black smoke in the midst of electric snakes, revealing the pale face of a young man with black hair.
Then, the feathers on the giant wings also began to fall, turning into crows. They either landed in various places or circled in the air, cawing loudly and creating a cacophony.
The monster's height shrank a bit, the ram horns retracted, the scales disappeared, and the hooves gradually reverted to human feet.
After a while, Murphy reappeared in the same spot.
He gasped for air, drenched in cold sweat.
He had survived.
He had become an animagus of the Thunderbird, a petrified giant lizard, and some type of goat creature.
He even gained the ability to move using lightning.
But his condition was far from good.
The transformation was not completely successful. The uncontrollable lightning that occasionally burst from various parts of his body, the stiff left arm covered in scales, and the ram horns that were not completely hidden in his black hair all indicated this.
Moreover, compared to these external manifestations, some conditions inside his body were even more worrying.
The omnipresent hidden pain, occasional dizziness, and loss of control over his limbs all indicated that his body was still on the verge of collapse.
He must rush back to the magical research institute for a thorough examination of his condition.
But, with both his wand and spare wand gone, using illusionary displacement or the Key of Doors for interstate travel seemed too risky. Murphy could only use his newly acquired lightning ability to travel.
Fortunately, the speed of lightning was fast enough.
Unlike common perceptions of lightning, the process of lightning is actually very complex.
For example, a typical cloud-to-ground lightning strike includes four or five strikes, each with a leader step from the cloud to the ground and a return stroke from the ground to the cloud.
The first strike is generated by an ionized air column extending downwards from the base of the cloud—called a stepped leader—moving at an average speed of 150,000 meters per second.
Near the ground, a return stroke suddenly strikes back, traveling up the established leader channel at a very fast speed, averaging 50,000 kilometers per second.
Subsequent strikes, because the channel has already been established, are even faster than the first.
Therefore, although the speed of lightning is influenced by many factors, the minimum speed is about 150 kilometers per second.
If it's a return stroke after the leader path has been established, in extreme cases, it can even reach half the speed of light.
Even though it's nearly 9,000 kilometers from the Grand Canyon in Colorado to London, for Murphy, who can jump between clouds at the speed of lightning, it would only take about a minute.
However, every time he used this ability, the discomfort in his body seemed to worsen, forcing him to stop halfway through.
A few minutes later, Murphy stood up again, the severe pain throughout his body had lessened somewhat, but he dared not continue to travel using lightning.
He sat down cross-legged, recalling the first day he transformed into an animagus.
Since he had managed to perform illusionary displacement without a wand before, he believed he could do it again.
He took several deep breaths, recalling that feeling.
At that time, he was only focused on the animagus transformation and did not pay much attention to wandless illusionary displacement. Now, upon reflection, meditation and extreme concentration seemed to be the core elements for creating that phenomenon.
He summoned the flock of crows, which seemed to have been assimilated by the ritual process of the multiple animagus transformations they participated in.
They now seemed like a part of him, even possessing the ability to briefly turn into lightning. This was one of the major gains of his journey, and he couldn't bear to leave them on this deserted island.
Influenced by his will, the crows once again turned into feathers on his great cloak, merging with him.
Then, Murphy closed his eyes, took another deep breath, elevating his consciousness as if detaching from his physical body, which seemed to reduce his pain significantly.
Gradually, he entered that silent state again.
Sounds faded away, followed by the pain in his body, as if distancing itself. His consciousness seemed to sit at a high place, observing the shell left in the physical world.
At that moment, everything seemed illusory, as if the world was empty.
Then, with a thought, he suddenly opened his eyes.
A thunderbolt exploded on the deserted island once again, and at the same time, thousands of miles away, in a conference room on the first floor of the potion laboratory, a loud thunderclap echoed.
The strong electromagnetic pulse instantly short-circuited the electronic devices in the room and even damaged several precision instruments on nearby floors.
Amidst the smoke and dust, Murphy's figure appeared. He looked very disheveled, covered in dust and dirt, as if struck by lightning.
He was also confused, not understanding why his wandless illusionary displacement was also related to lightning.
Could it be that the magical network, after discovering his lightning physique, changed the implementation method of illusionary displacement?
Filled with doubts, he walked out of the conference room, planning to find Andrew Tuck for a physical examination, but was met by three wizards running towards him, apparently coming to check the situation.
Upon seeing Murphy, they all were shocked, "Murphy! You're back? How so quickly?"
"Murphy?"
Not the director?
Murphy frowned, looking at the leading wizard, "Bertram? You guys..."
But before he could finish, the latter suddenly shouted, "He's without a wand, attack!"
"Huh?"
Bertram and the other wizards immediately pointed their wands at Murphy, but his reaction was much faster.
As soon as the other party's voice fell, he had already moved, charging at them like a wild bull. A layer of black scales covered his body, blocking several spells without a scratch.
"What's going on?!" The wizards panicked, but Murphy had already breached their perimeter, knocking down one with a punch, slapping another two meters away, and then kicking the third poor soul into the wall...
In less than a second, all three wizards were incapacitated.
Even in his weakened state, after undergoing multiple animagus transformations, his strength and speed had greatly increased. Even in his sickly state, he was still far superior to ordinary people, dealing with these few like an adult man against three-year-old children, without any suspense.
The one kicked into the wall seemed to have lost half his life, the one knocked down by a punch passed out, and only Bertram, who had been slapped, tried to stand up but seemed to have lost balance and hit the wall again upon getting up.
Murphy stepped forward and picked him up.
In his black-winged demon form from the multiple animagus transformation, he stood over two meters tall, imposing like a giant in front of ordinary people, exerting a significant pressure.
Perhaps influenced by this, his actual height had also increased to nearly 1.9 meters, and his immense strength allowed him to lift the other like a chick, effortlessly.
He was growing fond of this way of overpowering his enemies.
"What's wrong with you? Never mind..."
With an empty hand gesture, the opponent's wand on the ground was grabbed by him, "Mind Extraction!"
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