Looking at the greenhouse full of reward orbs, Ciel's eyes were filled with anticipation. His finger also reached toward a floating reward orb in front of him. But after a moment, Ciel's gaze fell on the soil in the greenhouse and on some branches of this batch of Marguerites. His hand suddenly stopped. His brows also furrowed slightly.
"Rough. This work was done too roughly. When I worked tirelessly in the greenhouse before enrollment, I thought I had perfected all the details. But now it seems I only had the form without the essence. My magical perception was too poor then, and I couldn't get to the key points in soil loosening and pruning. Plus, my mastery of the Soil-Loosening and Pruning Charms was extremely shallow."
Ciel shook his head. "Simply unsightly. If I had had my current magical perception and spell mastery back then, this batch of Marguerites would have provided at least thirty percent more rewards! But now, there's still room for remedy. Perhaps I can increase the current rewards by nearly twenty percent."
With this thought, Ciel suppressed his impulse to immediately harvest the Marguerites to enhance his magical strength. A batch of Marguerites took nearly half a year to mature. He had already waited half a year. Did he lack this little time? If he could increase the rewards by another twenty percent, the cost-effectiveness would be off the charts.
Then, Ciel calmed his mind and waved his wand. Earth-yellow light flashed. A Soil-Loosening Charm entered the greenhouse soil. The soil immediately began to slowly writhe. Under Ciel's control, it became the state most suitable for the current magical aura of the Marguerites.
Visibly, within the range where the Soil-Loosening Charm took effect, the reward orbs on those Marguerite plants that had already reached their limit began to slowly grow bit by bit. Seeing this, Ciel's face showed satisfaction.
Then he waved his wand again. Invisible sharp magical power was released. A Pruning Charm fell on a Marguerite. It precisely cut off several branches that looked very vigorous but contained almost no magical aura inside, along with several side branches that competed for magic.
Since a Marguerite's magic was limited, although these side branches were intact, they competed with each other for magic, and none could develop properly. By cutting off a few, not only could the remaining side branches bloom again, but with luck, the side branches cut by the Pruning Charm could also be successfully propagated, providing new reward orbs.
Ciel's current Pruning Charm already shimmered with a hint of platinum light. The success rate of propagation was much higher than before. Initially, casting the Pruning Charm twenty times would yield about one branch that could be successfully propagated. But now, on the first cast, he obtained one intact side branch. If planted, it would mature quickly. Although the reward couldn't compare to a complete Marguerite, it was still additional income!
Moreover, although the greenhouse conditions at the Sprout family still had a considerable gap compared to the Hogwarts greenhouse, they won in terms of area. In the Hogwarts greenhouse, Ciel currently only had a small experimental plot. But in the Sprout family, Ciel could use the entire greenhouse, which he had filled with Marguerites. This way, the effect of the Pruning Charm could be magnified even more.
Ciel's eyes blazed. He devoted himself wholeheartedly to soil loosening and pruning. Farming was awesome!
During this process, Ciel also felt most intuitively how much he had changed in magic compared to before enrollment. A sense of achievement lingered in his heart, making his spirit particularly active. On the system panel, the light on the Soil-Loosening and Pruning Charms was more intense than usual. Wisps of platinum light quietly emerged.
At the same time, Professor Sprout, who had passed out drunk after dinner, had awakened. She looked at the lights of the Sprout family, her expression still somewhat dazed. But her mood was exceptionally light, as if she had shed some burdens from years past.
In previous years, Professor Sprout never returned for Christmas. After all, the family was just her alone, cold and lonely. It was better to stay at Hogwarts and celebrate with the remaining students, which had a more festive atmosphere. Moreover, at times like these, Professor Sprout would always recall her days with her brother. Then the scene of witnessing the tragedy would linger in her mind like a nightmare.
But this year, having found Ciel, Professor Sprout felt like someone who had been drowning for a long time and could finally lift her head from the abyss of pain, self-blame, and regret. She could breathe freely.
Then, gradually coming to her senses, Professor Sprout turned and saw the light in the greenhouse outside the window. A helpless smile appeared on her face. "This child. Really doesn't rest for a single day?"
Then Professor Sprout also took a deep breath. "Then I can't hold him back either. The thesis, the thesis, I must write it, can't delay anymore!"
Then she took out a parchment. On the cover was a line of title: "Revolutionary Conclusions About Piranha Algae and the New Topics Derived Therefrom."
This was exactly the thesis Professor Sprout had mentioned to Ciel before. Her eyes showed anticipation, and a smile curved at the corner of her mouth. "When this thesis is published, Ciel will definitely shock the herbology world."
Then Professor Sprout began pulling at her hair, racking her brains, writing the thesis word by word.
In the blink of an eye, it was three days later. Ciel let out a long breath. It had to be said that the Sprout family greenhouse was large enough. Plus, his previous work had been too rough. There were too many places that needed rework. So even with his current magical level, even working tirelessly to handle these Marguerites, it had taken a full three days.
But looking at the sea of Marguerite flowers in the greenhouse, Ciel's face still showed satisfaction. Looking at it now, these Marguerites felt much more harmonious to him. The magical aura they emitted seemed much more comfortable than before. And the number of reward orbs was clearly much more. These were brought by the side branches that were successfully preserved after being cut by the Pruning Charm. Although far smaller than the previous reward orbs, the additional quantity provided rewards that couldn't be ignored.
Moreover, all the reward orbs continued to grow larger due to the improved growing environment. "I estimate in about another week, the rewards this batch of Marguerites can provide will truly reach their peak. About twenty percent more than before processing!"
Spending three days to gain twenty percent more rewards, Ciel felt it was very worthwhile. Besides, apart from the rewards, the intensive use of Soil-Loosening and Pruning Charms for three days had also improved his level with both spells. On the Gold-tier Soil-Loosening Charm, platinum spots were already faintly flickering. It had touched the threshold of the Platinum-tier.
As for the Pruning Charm, Ciel had used it several times more than the Soil-Loosening Charm these days. Plus, his mastery of Sectumsempra had improved considerably, which also had an additional promoting effect on the Pruning Charm. With both factors combined, the platinum light covering it had visibly grown, almost covering most of it. It wouldn't be long before the Pruning Charm could completely advance to the Platinum-tier, welcoming another more significant qualitative change.
If Ciel could make some more progress on Sectumsempra, this speed would be even faster. The reward improvements and spell progress made Ciel quite happy. But when his gaze fell on Magical Perception Enhancement on the system panel, his good mood suddenly stopped, replaced by helplessness.
Before Magical Perception Enhancement advanced to Gold tier, Ciel could still make some progress in magical perception through targeted training. But after the advancement, even though he had been using spells day and night for three days, constantly perceiving the magic in the Marguerites, the improvement in magical perception had become minimal.
Ciel had some guesses about this. "My magical perception has probably reached the talent limit of this body. Without the rewards from the planting system, relying on my own training, there's probably no possibility of further improvement."
He shook his head gently. No wonder the professors at school often showed regretful expressions when looking at him. Talent was indeed too important. But after a moment, his furrowed brow relaxed. For others, insufficient talent was a barrier, a prison. No matter how hard they tried, they couldn't shake it. But Ciel had the planting system. This prison couldn't contain him.
Then, Ciel's thoughts turned back to planting. "After Christmas, I should be able to get new experimental plots. Quirrell has repeatedly failed to break through from my side, so he'll probably still choose to extract information from Hagrid like in the original story. That means dragon eggs and young dragons won't be far from me."
His eyes lit up. Blood Jade, this Silver-tier plant that needed blood containing powerful magic to catalyze, would soon be plantable for him. "Silver-tier blood production enhancement, I wonder if it could also benefit my Legendary Vitality. If so, combined with external tempering, perhaps I could make my Legendary Vitality ability take another step toward Mythical tier."
"Also, the Whomping Willow project must start being planned now. I need to quickly determine which sub-topic to start planting."
A series of thoughts emerged in his mind. Ciel then walked out of the greenhouse, planning to breathe some fresh air outside. Change his mindset. But after walking out of the greenhouse and returning to the Sprout family hall, Ciel saw the house-elf Liss standing motionless in front of a spotless china cabinet. Its eyelids were slowly closing. Its eyes were also hazy, seemingly dozing.
But before Ciel could speak, just the slightest footstep sound woke Liss up. Then it let out desperate, ashamed cries. "Liss fell asleep? Liss actually fell asleep! Master didn't sleep, Young Master didn't sleep, but Liss slept. Bad Liss, lazy Liss!"
Then Liss began banging its head on the ground. "Liss must punish herself!"
Seeing this scene, Ciel was both surprised and helpless. Dobby the house-elf in the original story also liked to punish himself. How had the house-elf race been enslaved to this extent?
Then Ciel shook his head repeatedly. He had originally just come out for some air, not intending to assign any work to Liss. But now it seemed that if he didn't give Liss some work to do, the house-elf might give itself a concussion from punishment.
So Ciel immediately interrupted Liss. "Liss, prepare bedding for me. And hot water for bathing. I plan to take a bath and rest for a while."
Hearing this, Liss immediately beamed with joy. "Liss has new work! I'm ready, I'm ready!" Instantly, it disappeared from Ciel's sight with a loud pop.
Soon, Ciel was comfortably soaking in a steaming hot bathtub. He slowly sank down until his entire body was submerged underwater. The effect of Underwater Enhancement, combined with the relaxing sensation of hot water, made Ciel feel refreshed. Even his thoughts became a bit faster.
He continued pondering matters he hadn't decided on earlier. "Regarding the sub-topics of Whomping Willow cultivation, Aunt Sprout gave me three options. They are Light-Devouring Vine, Shadow Thorns, and Devil's Snare. Aunt already knows I've cultivated the Guardian Tree but still thinks I need some time before I can handle these three topics. This indicates their cultivation difficulty is above that of the Guardian Tree. This also means the rewards they provide are at least Silver tier. Maybe even a slight possibility of reaching Gold-tier rewards."
Ciel's eyes flashed. He took out the letter. The letter contained a small section of roots from each of the three plants, along with detailed introductory materials about them. Ciel read carefully.
"Light-Devouring Vine is a magical plant that loves darkness. It also has special abilities... it's always surrounded by a layer of darkness that even illumination magic like Lumos can't penetrate. In darkness, Light-Devouring Vines actively attack prey that approaches them. Silent and soundless, they are natural-born killers among plants."
As his understanding of Light-Devouring Vine grew in his mind, Ciel looked at the Light-Devouring Vine roots, and a line of text appeared before his eyes.
[Successfully propagating Light-Devouring Vine roots can yield rewards—Aura Concealment (Bronze Tier)]
[Cultivating Light-Devouring Vine to maturity will upgrade rewards to—Aura Concealment (Silver Tier), Assassination Ability Enhancement (Black Iron Tier)]
Ciel pondered for a moment, then shook his head. "Aura concealment, assassination ability enhancement... too limited in use. What Hufflepuff would go around assassinating people?"
Then Ciel's gaze turned to Shadow Thorns. This thorn's characteristic was that it could almost merge with shadows. And when it attacked targets from shadows, the damage targets received would be very difficult to heal. Text appeared before Ciel's eyes again.
[Successfully propagating Shadow Thorns roots can yield rewards—Shadow Enhancement (Bronze Tier), Laceration Wounds (Black Iron Tier)]
[Cultivating Shadow Thorns to maturity will upgrade rewards to—Shadow Enhancement (Silver Tier), Laceration Wounds (Bronze Tier)]
This made Ciel's eyes light up. Shadow Enhancement? This sounded somewhat similar to his Underwater Enhancement ability. If the effects were similar, then stacking with Underwater Enhancement might bring him further improvement. Just this reward alone made Ciel's heart flutter.
As for the Laceration Wounds ability, it overlapped somewhat with Sectumsempra. But Ciel thought again. Having this ability would allow all his other spells and attacks to trigger the laceration wounds effect. That wasn't bad either.
Moreover, although Shadow Thorns' reward tier was similar to mutated Piranha Algae, its Shadow Enhancement ability had wisps of golden light within the silver luster. This indicated its level was closer to the Gold tier. The same number of reward orbs would provide higher benefits than other Silver-tier plants.
Ciel's gaze lingered on Shadow Thorns for a long time. He really coveted this thing. But when he saw the Shadow Thorns planting requirements Professor Sprout mentioned, Ciel couldn't help but show a bitter smile.
During Shadow Thorns' nurturing process, Disillusionment Charms needed to be cast frequently. The Disillusionment Charm was powerful magic that could only be cast after reaching a certain level in Transfiguration. Its effect was similar to an Invisibility Cloak. And as everyone knew, any magic related to Transfiguration wasn't simple. This thing could only be learned in sixth-year Advanced Charms classes. Only a few people could learn it.
Ciel's current magical level was still far from the Disillusionment Charm. This made him sigh and temporarily suppress the matter of cultivating Shadow Thorns.
"I'll try it when I have the chance later. That doesn't leave me many choices now."
Ciel's gaze fell on Devil's Snare. He had already seen some characteristics of Devil's Snare in the Harry Potter books in his past life. Fear of bright light, fear of fire, attacks mainly through entanglement to suffocate targets. Combined with the information Professor Sprout left, Ciel quickly understood Devil's Snare's characteristics.
He looked toward the Devil's Snare roots while silently hoping that Devil's Snare's rewards wouldn't be too mediocre. Otherwise, he'd have to choose Light-Devouring Vine. Assassination really didn't suit Hufflepuffs.
After a moment, Devil's Snare's reward information appeared before Ciel's eyes line by line. Ciel looked at those lines of text and suddenly made a surprised sound.
"Hmm? This is?"
[Chapter Complete]
***
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