As orb after orb poured in, Ciel's system panel refreshed with line after line of notifications.
[You have cultivated Variant Humanoid Bioluminescent Mushrooms to maturity.]
[You obtained reward — Curse Studies Insight (Silver Level)]
[You obtained reward — Quintaped Transfiguration Insight (Iron Level)]
The text for Curse Studies instantly coalesced on the system panel, flickering with silver light. In moments, the silver radiance became brilliant gold, growing increasingly rich.
[Curse Studies (Gold)]
During this process, he felt his magic seemingly enveloped by a rather cold, negative aura. These seemed to be magical particles with extremely special properties, different from all magical particles he had encountered. They existed in an ethereal state, somewhere between real and unreal, difficult to capture. Other magical particles could hardly interact with them at all.
This stirred his thoughts. Could this be why curses were so mysteriously strange and difficult to remove? After all, most magic could barely interact with them, meaning most spells and potions would be ineffective against curses. Even protective magic would be directly penetrated by curses.
This made his eyes brighten. If so, curses would have considerable value in combat.
Then he had an idea and waved his wand, attempting to use this special curse magic. But immediately, as curse magic became active and poured from his wand tip with an ominous aura, negative emotions also assaulted his mind.
He frowned, his gaze toward Curse Studies gaining wariness and caution. Indeed, this strange power couldn't be used freely without cost. Like other Dark Arts, curses required negative emotions to drive them. The stronger the curse, the more it was accompanied by negative emotional impact.
For curses meant to cause serious harm, distortion, or death to the cursed, the intensity of negative emotions would be immeasurable, possibly creating a greater mental impact than directly using Unforgivable Curses to torture enemies.
He understood. "No wonder in wizard tales, those Dark wizards skilled in curses rarely had good endings. While cursing others, they were also being eroded by the negative emotions curses brought. The stronger the curse, the faster they went mad."
Then he stopped experimenting with Curse Studies. Though he had Occlumency to block the negative emotions from casting curses, he didn't plan to bear such risks unless absolutely necessary.
"If so, rather than using curses in combat, their value to me lies more in research."
In the Curse Studies insight, he set aside the largest portion, content for cursing people, and focused on a special type of curse. This was a curse applied to objects. It could target inanimate things or certain low-intelligence living things.
Compared to cursing people, cursing objects brought much smaller negative emotional impact. Of course, curse intensity was also much lower. Newly applied curses had almost no lethality, at most causing headaches, fever, dizziness, or nausea in those who touched them.
Unless like certain cursed items passed down through ages, accumulating victims over time to gradually increase their curse power, they could reach levels causing serious harm to the cursed. This time often required decades or even centuries. Therefore, few people bothered with this section of Curse Studies.
But for him, it had considerable value.
"According to Curse Studies descriptions, cursing objects might cause some mutations compared to before. For instance, a cursed bronze mirror might become more exquisite and smooth under the curse. Cursed jewellery often presents more crystal clear effects. Then what if plant seeds were cursed? Might they also develop certain special traits?"
He showed a contemplative expression. In the Muggle world, radiation and other factors were used to induce special plant traits. For magical herbs, curses might have similar "radiation" effects? This was a direction worth exploring.
He narrowed his eyes. In the Sprout family greenhouse, he had a batch of Margaritas under permanent Levitation Charms, trying to induce new traits through weightless environment. But from after Christmas until now, there have been no results. Adding the curse factor might accelerate new variety development.
"This approach seems even more niche than using Dark Arts Transfiguration to modify plant seeds. At least I know Dark wizards in Knockturn Alley pursue the latter path. But using Curse Studies to modify plants? I've never heard of that. If I could breakthrough, would that be an interdisciplinary field? Curse Herbology?"
He raised an eyebrow. "That could probably fill a whole basket of top journals. This year's Botanical Society Youth Award and its Ancient Plant Seed reward should be guaranteed."
But moments later, he shook his head, suppressing these thoughts. Now wasn't the time for such considerations. At least wait until this school year has passed and the two faced spy matter is concluded. Only then could he peacefully explore these topics.
Otherwise, with Quirrell's return, he'd constantly worry about being watched. Thinking this, cold light flashed in his eyes. His gaze then fell on the lustrous bronze Quintaped Transfiguration.
[Quintaped Transfiguration (Bronze)]
He took a deep breath. "Hope I can find methods to counter Quintapeds here."
The next moment, Quintaped Transfiguration content surfaced in his mind. He saw an ancient stone tablet covered with countless old, complex patterns. It seemed to record many strange, bloody, cruel rituals. But most patterns had worn away. Only complete patterns remaining showed rituals for transforming humans into Quintapeds.
The stone tablet emanated rich attraction, like a voice whispering in his ear: "Look a little longer. Look a little longer. Dark Arts origins lie within. The most ancient, most powerful Dark Arts are all on the tablet. Look at it, any wizard must bow before the Dark Arts' might..."
Before his eyes, on the system panel, Quintaped Transfiguration's bronze lustre began gradually rising after he saw the stone tablet. In a blink, it reached the Silver level threshold.
[Quintaped Transfiguration (Silver, rising)]
[Ancient Dark Arts (Iron, emerging)]
Simultaneously, an Ancient Dark Arts text that had appeared before on the system panel emerged again. But now, his eyes suddenly roiled with shocked anger.
"Bewitching me? Get lost!"
Occlumency's mental defences triggered. The bewitching words in his mind were immediately blocked by Occlumency. But cold laughter still echoed in his ears:
"You can't escape. You are chosen by the temple. You will definitely enter."
On the system panel, both Quintaped Transfiguration and Ancient Dark Arts continued slowly rising. Clearly, this wasn't over.
His expression darkened. He never expected viewing the system reward's Quintaped Transfiguration content, would cause such changes. Could the power behind Quintapeds be so incredible as to interfere with the system?
But the next moment, he immediately rejected this speculation. The system could grant rewards beyond the Legendary, Mythical level. The difference between 'Mythical' and 'Legendary' was incomprehensible. If the power behind Quintapeds could truly affect the system, when he faced the temple without even learning Occlumency, he couldn't possibly have escaped the temple's bewitchment.
His thoughts remained crystal clear. He immediately locked onto another more probable possibility:
"When leaving Drear Island last time, some traces on me weren't completely cleaned. Possibly residual contamination or curses remained. This time viewing Quintaped Transfiguration knowledge, the contamination was activated, and temple forces tried to continue corrupting me."
Then he suddenly thought of something. He immediately opened his eyes, looking at the variant humanoid bioluminescent mushrooms growing in the small greenhouse. He immediately saw the human faces on these variants showing eerie smiles.
Disgusting crimson fuzz swayed constantly while Patron Trees in the greenhouse rustled unprecedentedly, emanating sacred magic. But perhaps because they'd matured, the variants were no longer easily suppressed by Patron Trees. They still emanated waves of evil, strange magic.
Even amid swaying crimson fuzz, he heard cold laughter from those human faces, exactly what he'd just heard!
His eyes immediately shot cold light. Indeed, these strange mushroom variants. After being induced by Quintaped blood, they'd become increasingly sinister day by day. Now they seemed to have developed consciousness, starting to try to corrupt him?
The next moment, he raised his wand like a sword. His first move was one of his trump cards:
"Sectumsempra!"
Platinum level Sectumsempra shot incomparable sharpness, sweeping across dozens of variant humanoid bioluminescent mushrooms. But unexpectedly, the nearly invincible Sectumsempra passed calmly through them as if encountering phantoms.
"Hehe. Hehe. Useless. Temple power isn't something you can resist. How could such feeble modern Dark Arts touch Ancient Dark Arts power?"
Laughter from the variants continued. His expression slightly darkened without responding. Instead, he opened his mouth. Orange red flames immediately roared out, the Dragon Fire ability gained from harvesting blood jade induced by dragon blood.
Scorching dragonfire enveloped the variant humanoid bioluminescent mushrooms. Such fierce flames should burn even towering trees, let alone these fungi. But the variants remained untouchable, swaying their fuzz in the blazing heat.
This trait gave him a hypothesis: "Curses?!"
Laughter from the variants briefly paused, then grew louder: "You're quite clever. The temple indeed contains curse power. But what can you do knowing that? You're not the only smart one. Let me tell you something, those Ministry Transfiguration masters who landed on Drear Island trying to transform Quintapeds back to human form, and Ministry Aurors. Some guessed this wasn't just Dark Arts Transfiguration, but also a curse. But finally, guess where they went?"
The laughter grew increasingly cold: "They gained the power they dreamed of in the temple. Even Transfiguration masters couldn't resist the temple. You think you can?"
His heart slightly sank. He hadn't expected to hear such a secret. Three whole Transfiguration masters had once landed on the island. Everyone thought they'd died on Drear Island, eaten by Quintapeds. Turns out they were bewitched by the temple and walked into it?
He looked at the system panel again. Both Quintaped Transfiguration and Ancient Dark Arts glowed more brilliantly. In such a short time, Quintaped Transfiguration had risen from Bronze to Silver level. Ancient Dark Arts text was also gradually being shrouded in iron black lustre.
He had a premonition that continued abnormal advancement would bring troublesome consequences.
He waved his wand, employing the curse magic just obtained. If temple power was curse related, making the variants so difficult to handle, then using curse magic might affect these strange plants.
But when curse magic actually touched the variants, it was like mud entering the sea. Mocking laughter emerged: "Using curses against temple power? How fanciful. When casting curses, that pitiful negative emotion, such feeble curses, what can they accomplish? Do you know what drives temple curses? If you knew, you wouldn't try to resist anymore."
Seeing this, he first felt dismayed. Curse magic could touch the opponent but was too weak to affect them. What other means did he have against such strange power?
But hearing the cold laughter mention "temple will", he suddenly thought of something. All magic or magical phenomena must relate to will, a principle that neither modern nor ancient magic, neither white nor Dark Arts could violate.
The variants before him, regardless of what magic caused such strange changes, had will as their fundamental drive. Since they related to Ancient Dark Arts, though he didn't understand the driving will involved, only will from equivalent level ancient magic could counter it. Ordinary magic was useless.
But he had a trump card. Thinking this, his gaze hardened as he called out: "Umbral!"
Instantly, Umbral Thorns activated its awakened Ancient Shadow Magic. Shadows on the ground danced like blades toward the variant humanoid bioluminescent mushrooms.
Finally, the variants' laughter abruptly stopped. They were cut by shadows, leaving deep marks as countless crimson fuzz withered and fell.
An incredulous voice sounded: "Umbral Thorns with awakened Ancient Shadow Magic? How can such things still exist in this era?"
But soon the laughter steadied: "Useless. Mere Ancient Shadow Magic, how can it compare with temple magic? Moreover, your Umbral Thorns are far from mature. Feeble Ancient Shadow Magic can't drive me away."
Indeed, even as Umbral continued driving Ancient Shadow Magic, fewer and fewer marks appeared on the variants. Instead, Umbral consumed vast power in collisions, becoming overwhelmed.
Cold laughter grew loud again: "Any other means of resistance? Temple power that Transfiguration masters dreamed of beckons you. Why do you foolishly resist? Now, have you made enough noise?"
He exhaled softly as if confirming something: "I should be saying that to you. Besides strangeness, the power you can reveal at Hogwarts doesn't seem as formidable as you claim. If this level of Ancient Shadow Magic can affect you, then I'm relieved."
Then he waved his wand. Bubble Head Charm covered his head. Underwater Enhancement triggered. Magical perception and magical strength began soaring instantly. Runic nodes started constructing.
Under pressure from the strange scene before him, his movements showed no distortion. Hundreds of practice sessions plus countless times maintaining Occlumency at extreme limits enabled him to perform as stably as usual.
Three runes, nine nodes, completed instantly. Cold laughter still echoed from the variants, seemingly mocking his futile resistance:
"What are you doing? Still struggling? Foolish little badger..."
But when nine total nodes from three runes began initial resonance and brilliant blue white electric light surged at his wand tip, the cold laughter suddenly sounded strangled, becoming incredulous screaming:
"Ancient Weather Magic? Natural will driving lightning? How can such things exist in this era?! Wait, wait, don't act, we can negotiate..."
He ignored the screaming. Sweat beaded on his forehead. Three runes, twelve nodes, construction complete. Electric light surging from his wand tip was like pythons formed of lightning, swimming and writhing.
The voice grew increasingly shrill: "Your magical perception is insufficient. Your Ancient Weather Magic can't display its power. Stop, stop!"
The next moment, his wand swung heavily. Sweat on his forehead had become bean sized. His limit had arrived.
[Ancient Weather Magic (Bronze, fully activated)]
[Natural Will Integration — Complete]
Three runes, fifteen total power nodes, construction complete! Different from the first casting, this time he drove the runes not with his own will, but with the incredibly dense natural will accumulated in his body through hundreds of electric shocks.
As his wand fell heavily, streams of electric light condensed into a thick lightning bolt. It fell in the small greenhouse, enveloping all variant humanoid bioluminescent mushrooms.
Rumble.
After the lightning, a thick charred smell filled the air. Cold laughter disappeared completely. Only puffs of ash remained of the variant humanoid bioluminescent mushrooms.
Seeing this and checking thoroughly afterward, his tense nerves finally relaxed. Cold sweat beaded his forehead.
"I was too careless then. Only thinking these variants could provide Curse Studies and Quintaped Transfiguration rewards that might be useful to me. But I forgot Aunt Sprout's instruction when I first started learning Herbology. Some herbs are extremely dangerous. Once discovering plants showing strange situations beyond control, immediate disposal preparations should be made. After Quintaped blood induced mushroom mutations produced plants that made me uncomfortable and strange, I should have directly destroyed them. Without Ancient Weather Magic insight, without recent perseverance in accepting electric shocks, without using Illusion Potion to accumulate sufficiently dense natural will. Today I might have truly been overturned by plants I induced myself!"
He took a deep breath, only then looking at the ash left by the variant humanoid bioluminescent mushrooms. From these ashes, he no longer sensed that strange, cold aura. Instead, there was an ancient feeling.
"Hmm?"
He made a small sound. This ancient feeling seemed quite familiar. Just then, shadows writhed on the ground. Umbral showed a strong desire for these ancient scented ashes.
Looking at Umbral, exhausted after fighting the variants, he nodded. Then shadows immediately enveloped a pile of ash. Soon the ancient aura in this ash disappeared completely, becoming like ordinary dust.
But consequently, the exhausted Umbral recovered. He could even see its reward orb expand slightly. This process continued as Umbral consumed other ashes. Umbral's reward orb kept swelling.
After devouring the last remaining ash, the reward orb had grown a full size larger. Shadows Umbral could control were richer and darker than before.
Seeing this, his displeasure from the variants completely vanished, replaced by strange burning intensity. His gaze fell on the remaining Quintaped blood in his possession.
This blood was enough to induce far more variant humanoid bioluminescent mushrooms than this time. The ash produced should also be much more. This kind of nourishment for ancient plants was currently his scarcest resource.
Besides World Tree roots and Fire God seeds, he had Elber Tree branches and unknown ancient plant seeds from Bogey Lockman. The biggest difficulty in cultivating ancient plants was obtaining magic for their growth.
Once, Lady Hufflepuff used her cup's effects to grow the Elber Tree alive. After the cup was lost, Herbology had no more cases of cultivating ancient plants.
But now, with enough ash, his heartbeat accelerated. He might cultivate ancient plants much earlier than originally planned!