After magical perception advanced to the Platinum level, Ciel could perceive changes in magical particles at the microscopic level. Many phenomena previously undetectable were now clear as palm lines, every detail visible.
Even the previously blurred magical nodes on the variant Devil's Snare had become crystal clear. He could even sense the flow and diffusion of magical particles within the magical nodes.
And precisely because of this, he perceived the peculiarities of the variant Devil's Snare.
"Herbology academia recognises that Devil's Snare can generally only process up to third-level nodes; that is, extending new branches from first-level nodes on initial roots, then extending newer branches from second-level nodes on new branches, and so forth. Therefore, Devil's Snare's branch quantity and scale are limited. The fundamental reason is that as nodes become increasingly minute, they're insufficient to provide enough magic to nurture new branches. Only a very few excellent Devil's Snare varieties can process fourth-level nodes. But my variant Devil's Snare cultivated through Sectumsempra not only has branch toughness far exceeding ordinary Devil's Snare, but even its magical nodes are superior. For nodes of the same size, ordinary Devil's Snare cannot support new branch development, but variant Devil's Snare can. According to my sensing..."
His eyes sparkled with brilliance. "This batch of variant Devil's Snare can probably process up to fifth-level nodes generally, with individually excellent specimens even reaching sixth-level nodes!"
This meant his variant Devil's Snare could grow much larger, providing reward orb effects considerably better than his estimates. This naturally pleased him greatly.
Additionally, Devil's Snare was extremely suitable as a host for grafting vine-type magical herbs. For instance, Professor Sprout had once achieved breakthrough results that shocked the Herbology world by grafting Elber Tree branches onto Devil's Snare.
Though the Elber Tree branches ultimately didn't survive, the grafting process was indeed completed successfully, directly advancing ancient vine plant grafting topics significantly. His variant Devil's Snare, with particularly robust magical nodes, would perform much better as a grafting host than ordinary Devil's Snare.
He would definitely encounter magical herb grafting topics in the future, an absolutely unique advantage for him. Thinking this, his joy intensified.
He immediately approached the variant Devil's Snare and began processing. First were some previously overlooked first and second level nodes. Though classified as first and second level, they were relatively weak and generally couldn't support nurturing so many subsequent branches, so he had never processed them.
But now, increasingly aware of the variant Devil's Snare's potential, he naturally couldn't miss these overlooked magical nodes. His wand moved lightly, Sectumsempra casting out.
He immediately felt this casting's difference. The invisible blade was composed of countless magical particles with sharp characteristics. Especially edge particles vibrated at specific frequencies in synchronised resonance. This was absolutely an experience he had never had before.
Though it didn't immediately increase his Sectumsempra's power, he felt more adept after casting, a feeling of effortless mastery and casual confidence. Sectumsempra lightly swept across a minute magical node, cutting it perfectly. The entire process was relaxed and graceful.
[Sectumsempra (Platinum, stabilising)]
On the system panel, his Sectumsempra's previously flickering lustre stabilised slightly after this casting. Simultaneously, the reward orb above this variant Devil's Snare expanded slightly again.
His eyes brightened as his wand moved repeatedly, casting Sectumsempra silently one after another. One after another, previously overlooked magical nodes were processed.
Though this repetitive process seemed tedious to others, each casting's stabilised lustre on the system panel and the slightly expanding reward orbs above Devil's Snare gave him great satisfaction. Such gradual accumulation would unconsciously yield considerable harvests.
Time seemed frozen in a flow state. When he unconsciously waved his wand but could no longer sense any unprocessed magical nodes, he realised he had processed all overlooked nodes on these variant Devil's Snares.
Then he looked at the system panel, discovering that Sectumsempra's flickering lustre had stabilised, and its platinum brilliance clearly exceeded previous levels. At this rate, when Sectumsempra is completely stabilised, though still far from the Diamond level advancement, it should significantly surpass his pre-magical perception improvement level.
After magic stagnated for so long, experiencing this feeling of progress again made his eyes shine with joy. Then, when his gaze fell on the variant Devil's Snare's reward orbs, his joy intensified.
After processing these previously overlooked magical nodes, the constantly expanding reward orbs had grown nearly one-third larger than before. This improvement was quite considerable. If he continued processing to fifth and sixth level nodes, he estimated this batch of variant Devil's Snare would bring several times more rewards than previously expected!
"This is the benefit of improved magical perception."
After this revelation, he looked at the briefcase from the Malfoys. Opening it, jewelled brilliance mixed with cold curse auras immediately spread. But he didn't first touch those cursed jewels, focusing instead on Herpo's manuscript.
He was quite interested in this famous ancient Dark wizard's contents. Carefully picking up the human skin manuscript and suppressing inner revulsion, he opened the cover.
Chaotic writing immediately appeared, with ancient Greek, ancient Hebrew, and possibly other ancient languages mixed together, making recognition quite difficult. The recognised content was even more chaotic than the writing itself, mostly fragments without beginning or end, some simply exclamations or angry curses.
After considerable effort, he captured no useful information. This made him frown, understanding why this manuscript was never mentioned in the original story and why Lucius Malfoy readily used it as a favour.
This thing definitely had high value, but more as a collectible and magical history research value. As for practical magical value? Probably minimal. Herpo's mental state when writing this manuscript seemed quite concerning; was it due to the Dark Arts' impact?
He shook his head: "Never mind. Whatever the reason, finding magically beneficial information from these words would be extremely difficult."
But he hadn't expected much anyway. He would search slowly; maybe he would find some valuable information. Then he set aside Herpo's manuscript and looked at the cursed jewels, his eyes showing strangeness.
These cursed jewels were wrapped in extremely powerful curse magic. But initially, when first created, their curse magic should have been extremely weak, at most making wearers slightly weak. Reaching current strength required using curses to kill at least dozens of lives. Dark wizards' bloodiness and cruelty were evident from these jewels.
But soon, his sentiments calmed. He didn't care how many people these cursed jewels had killed. He was interested in the connections between curse magic on them, the objects themselves, and the holders' flesh and blood, the part helpful for his attempts to modify plant seeds using curses.
His expression gradually became focused. With his current magical perception, he could more clearly sense curse magic entwining these cursed jewels. But precisely because of this, he frowned slightly.
Every cursed jewel's entwining curse magic was extremely complex, with a minimum of dozens and a maximum of hundreds of different source curse magics interwoven. This was because each time cursed jewellery killed a holder, it absorbed their negative emotions during the process, converting them to curse magic.
When holders died, cursed jewellery gained another source's curse magic, becoming more powerful. This was quite disadvantageous for his research. After all, it's well known that unfamiliar topics should start with the simplest possible systems. More influencing factors meant exponentially increasing research difficulty.
These cursed jewels' intricate, varied curse magics were like dozens of threads tangled together; unravelling them would be incredibly difficult.
"Better find one with the fewest curse magics first, reducing partial difficulty. Generally, more recent cursed jewellery killed fewer people, having less curse magic."
By this standard, he first looked at a sea blue crystal. Soon his face twitched as he shook his head. The curse magic entwining this thing was simply horrifying.
He guessed the reason; this should be the famous Muggle gem, Heart of the Ocean. When the Titanic sank, this was aboard. That maritime disaster's death toll created hundreds of curse magics on the Heart of the Ocean, making it increasingly deep and beautiful; one glance seemed to draw viewers in.
But he immediately looked away to another ruby. This was slightly older than the Heart of the Ocean but much simpler in "composition", under ten curse magics. Though still numerous, it significantly reduced analysis difficulty.
Moreover, using certain methods, this analysis difficulty could be further reduced. His eyes flashed thoughtfully: "Cursed jewellery's curse magic divides into two types. One type causes changes in the jewels themselves, making them more beautiful and attractive or making them indestructible by ordinary means so cursed people can't break them to break curses. This type that changes cursed objects themselves is what I need to study. The other type, curses that torture, hallucinate, or kill holders, has little value for me. So theoretically, if I could temporarily eliminate curse magic tormenting holders while keeping magic-changing jewels themselves, this research would be much easier. As for how..."
He narrowed his eyes, looking at the ruby and whispering: "Isn't this simple? Just trigger the cursed jewellery's curses. Then most curse magic transfers to holders, while only curses affecting jewels themselves remain on the jewellery. Additionally, curse-bearing holders must have extraordinarily tenacious vitality and will, capable of enduring curse torment. Otherwise, death during cursing would return curse magic to cursed jewellery."
His expression became quite strange. This candidate seemed quite clear. With his Legendary Life plus the Platinum level Curse Studies mastery, curses capable of killing him probably didn't exist in the magical world. He was most suitable for triggering curses.
The only issue might be that though curses weren't lethal, they would still bring discomfort and pain. But this had long been routine for him. Thinking this, he grinned.
The next moment, he picked up the ruby pendant and immediately wore it!