Seeing the Whomping Willow branch in Professor Sprout's package, Ciel's eyes lit up with excitement. He had left a deep impression of this magical plant when reading the Harry Potter books in his past life. In the second year, it had directly smashed the Weasleys' flying car to pieces. Harry Potter's Nimbus 2000 broomstick came with a series of protective charms from the factory, enough to withstand collisions on the Quidditch pitch. But the Whomping Willow's branches had easily snapped it.
Without a doubt, this was an extremely powerful and rare magical plant. There was probably only one in the entire wizarding world. In the original story, even when the Whomping Willow had just a few damaged branches, Professor Sprout would carefully bandage them with heartache.
Ciel never expected that Professor Sprout would give him such a carefully preserved Whomping Willow branch as his Christmas gift.
Ciel took a deep breath. At this time, he saw that beneath the thin bottle containing the Whomping Willow, there was also a thick letter. After opening it, he saw Professor Sprout's subsequent words:
"What you see now is a branch of the Whomping Willow. The Whomping Willow is an ancient, rare, and powerful magical plant. At the founding of Hogwarts, Lady Hufflepuff found this dying Whomping Willow and cultivated it in Hogwarts' special environment. That cultivation was hailed as an unparalleled feat in herbology for a thousand years, comparable to Nicolas Flamel creating the Philosopher's Stone in alchemy.
Since then, research on ancient plants like the Whomping Willow has become an eternal topic in herbology. At the Herbology Conference a hundred years ago, twenty-three century-old problems in herbology were proposed. The topic of Whomping Willow branch cutting was one of them. This is also the topic I've devoted my life to. I've achieved some insignificant results, such as preserving the Whomping Willow branch you see.
But this is still far from completing the topic. I feel I may never be able to complete it in my lifetime. But now, Ciel, I see hope in you. You've already embarked on the path of a herbologist. I'm giving you this Whomping Willow branch that carries my life's work. Your future achievements will definitely be much higher than mine."
Looking at Professor Sprout's letter, Ciel's expression became extremely complex. The Whomping Willow branch in his hand, even including the bottle and potion, was as light as a feather for his strength. But at this moment, holding it in his hand, Ciel felt its weight was too heavy.
After a long while, Ciel carefully put away the Whomping Willow branch. At the same time, his gaze also fell on the branch. System information appeared before his eyes. But there were only blurred text and question marks. This meant he didn't know enough about the Whomping Willow and couldn't yet see the rewards for planting it.
However, Ciel had a feeling that the rewards from the Whomping Willow might exceed his imagination. Definitely not inferior to the Elber Tree he had previously planted. Maybe even higher!
Thinking of this, his heartbeat accelerated. Fortunately, Professor Sprout had also left him an extremely detailed bibliography in the letter. There was still most of the day before Ciel would leave Hogwarts to return to the Sprout family. He didn't plan to waste this time.
"Go to the library to borrow these books and take a look. Maybe I can reveal the Whomping Willow's reward information."
So Ciel set off toward the library floor. It was still early. Plus, the young wizards had wandered and celebrated last night, so they were probably exhausted. Most were still fast asleep. The castle was exceptionally quiet. Only the caretaker, Filch, was muttering curses while laboriously using a long-handled brush to clean the firework marks left on the high pillars.
But when Ciel arrived at the library, he saw a surprising scene. A tall stack of books was moving by itself? Had the library's magical books escaped? After a moment, Ciel realized what was happening. His gaze fell on the figure almost completely covered beneath the stack of books.
Then, just as the stack was about to fall, Ciel reached out to steady it. The figure immediately let out a relieved and grateful voice, emerging from underneath.
"Thank you, thank you so much. I thought I could carry them myself. But obviously, the weight of this knowledge exceeded my capacity."
Chattering as she spoke, Hermione gasped for breath and looked up. Only then did she realize that the person who had helped her was Ciel. Her words immediately stopped abruptly, her face flushed red, and she began stammering.
After a moment, Hermione said, "I'm sorry. Ciel. There are many things I need to apologize to you for."
Ciel shrugged. "It's fine, Hermione. If there's nothing else, I'll go first."
Then Ciel turned to enter the library. He wouldn't really hold a grudge against children over previous matters. But obviously, Hermione had come to the library on Christmas morning. She must be investigating the name Nicolas Flamel, just like in the original story. This meant the trio wasn't far from learning about the Philosopher's Stone.
Considering that during the Christmas holidays, Harry would coincidentally encounter the Mirror of Erised, an object used to peer into people's deepest desires, Ciel found it hard not to think that Dumbledore was behind all this. At this critical moment, he didn't want any close contact with the trio to avoid trouble. He just wanted to have a quiet Christmas.
At this time, Hermione bit her lip as if making a decision. She asked Ciel, "Ciel, I want to ask you. Have you ever heard the name Nicolas Flamel? This might relate to a very big secret."
Ciel, with his back to Hermione, tensed up. He cursed inwardly. Without thinking, he showed a confused expression.
"Nicolas Flamel? Who is that? I've never heard of him. Is he a herbologist? If even you don't know, Hermione, then I think no one would."
Then Ciel hurriedly walked into the library. Hermione still looked somewhat suspicious, wanting to follow and ask more. But she immediately saw the stern look from the librarian, Madam Pince. Obviously displeased with the commotion she had made at the library entrance. Only then did Hermione stop.
Then she thought it made sense. Even she didn't know about Nicolas Flamel. How would Ciel know? She turned her attention back to the large stack of books she planned to take home.
"Forget it. I'll research it myself."
At this time, having escaped from Hermione, Ciel finally breathed a sigh of relief. This trouble was finally staying away from him. Besides Hermione, no one else should come to the library on a holiday, right? Finally, he could read quietly.
Ciel took out the bibliography Professor Sprout had included in her letter. She had thoughtfully marked which ones were comprehensive reviews and which were advanced specializations in certain directions. However, Ciel wasn't exploring the technical issues of growing Whomping Willow this time. He just wanted to obtain some information to figure out what the rewards were.
Therefore, he only took a few comprehensive reviews on Whomping Willow research. Even so, each book was a massive tome of over a thousand pages. Stacked together, they were about half a person's height. To carefully read through all these reviews would probably take a month or two.
But having read through such massive literature in his past life, Ciel had already developed his own method. First read the preface, then the chapter table of contents. This could actually provide a lot of refined information. This wouldn't be enough for research, of course. But it should be sufficient for Ciel to learn about the Whomping Willow's reward information.
Then, the rustling sound of turning pages echoed in the library. It continued from morning until afternoon. Only then had Ciel read through nearly a hundred pages of prefaces from several reviews. He now had a rough outline in his mind about the characteristics of this magical plant called the Whomping Willow.
"Its antiquity far exceeds the founding period of Hogwarts. Some plant historians even theorize that the Whomping Willow species has existed in the wizarding world for over ten thousand years. It possesses incredible reaction speed. Even the fastest Seeker doesn't react faster than the Whomping Willow's branches. It also has naturally extremely powerful combat instincts. Most peculiar of all, its branches carry an ancient magic that is older and more powerful than most magic existing in the wizarding world. Therefore, most modern protective magic appears particularly fragile under the Whomping Willow's attacks..."
One research conclusion after another surfaced in Ciel's mind. His gaze also turned to the Whomping Willow. At this moment, the text appearing on the Whomping Willow branch finally changed from its previous blurriness and gradually became clear.
And Ciel's breathing also paused when he saw the Whomping Willow's reward information.
[You have obtained a Whomping Willow branch]
[Successfully cutting or grafting the Whomping Willow branch can yield rewards—Combat Intuition Enhancement (Diamond Tier), Reaction Speed Enhancement (Diamond Tier), Magical Strength Enhancement (Diamond Tier)]
Brilliant lights lit up one after another. They almost dazzled Ciel's eyes.
"Diamond Tier? Successfully cutting or grafting, without needing to cultivate to maturity, can harvest Diamond Tier rewards?!"
Ciel's heartbeat thundered like drums. An uncontrollable thought surfaced in his mind. What if it matured?
Then, the reward information below appeared before his eyes:
[Cultivating the Whomping Willow to maturity can yield rewards—]
[Combat Intuition Enhancement (Epic Tier)]
[Reaction Speed Enhancement (Epic Tier)]
[Magical Strength Enhancement (Epic Tier)]
[Unknown Ancient Magic Insight (Platinum Tier)]
[Chapter Complete]
***
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