The thought of the Elber tree made Char's eyes glow with passion. This was the magical plant with the highest reward level that he had successfully cultivated so far, and the rewards it offered were of immense benefit to him. With that thought burning in his mind, he mounted his Nimbus 2000 and soared into the sky, flying towards the coordinates where he had planted it. With the experience from his last trip, combined with the great progress he had made in his magical attainments, it was easy to use the Levitation Charm to reach that incredible height again.
After a moment, accompanied by a strong sense of weightlessness, he ascended into the heavens. What he saw was a very dense layer of clouds. A hint of surprise touched his eyes. When he had last planted the Elber tree, the patch of cloud in which it took root was but a tiny, lonely wisp. He never expected that in this short period of time, it would have grown so rich and vast. If he hadn't remembered the markers on the ground below, and known that the Elber tree would not move, he might have wondered if he had come to the wrong place.
At that moment, Char looked deep into the clouds. A very full, dazzling, diamond-like reward light ball appeared before his eyes.
"It's almost mature," he thought, his heart pounding. "It will only take two or three days at most for me to harvest this Diamond-level reward."
A Diamond-level flight ability, a Platinum-level Levitation Charm deduction ability, and a Black Iron-level ancient weather magic perception—he took a deep breath. These were all practical and powerful abilities. Before, he had thought that a flight ability was somewhat useless, something that only really mattered in Quidditch. But his recent explorations of the sea on a flying broom had given him a different perspective. In the wild or at sea, wizards spent most of their time on their brooms. Improving one's flight capabilities was of great significance for combat in such situations. In the Triwizard Tournament, Harry had been able to fight the Hungarian Horntail on his Firebolt. Against another wizard, that advantage could be magnified even further. Even at that time, Harry's flying skills might not have reached the diamond level in the system's evaluation. If Char could obtain a Diamond-level reward now, he would become even more formidable in the open air. Not to mention, the Quidditch final was just around the corner.
For Char, the ability to deduce the Levitation Charm also meant that the combination magic he had previously conceived—the Hanging Golden Bell and the Falling Golden Bell—could finally be perfected. In the future, a series of other derivative magics could be created based on it. He also hadn't forgotten that the Devil's Snare he was growing would provide a reward that increased the number of times he could chain binding and control spells. The combination of levitation spells and their derivatives, empowered by this chain increase, could undergo a qualitative change, becoming a magic of group control and group attack—something quite rare in the wizarding world and very much worth the investment.
But what Char was most looking forward to was the ancient weather magic. He had already been exposed to the strange and unusual ancient shadow magic. Both its power and its strangeness had left a deep impression on him. Ancient weather magic was a reward that only appeared with a Diamond-level Elber tree. Char believed that its power should be even higher than that of ancient shadow magic. Furthermore, its purpose should be pure, unadulterated destruction. If he could truly master it, it might mean having an extra trump card even more powerful than the Divine Edge Shadowless Curse.
All kinds of thoughts flashed through his mind, but soon, his Occlumency activated, and the distracting thoughts disappeared in an instant. His mind became clear and lucid. The Elber tree needs two more days to mature. I can't indulge in fantasy. Two days isn't too long, but it's not too short either. I can still get a lot done. I need to keep my feet on the ground and do the things at hand.
The next moment, he took out his Portkey. He no longer had to fly all the way down. With the key activated, a dizzying lurch brought him back to Sprout Island. His sight fell on the cultivated fields, and his eyes moved slightly. He could feel the vigorous vitality contained in the soil. "It seems the fattening potion has fully exerted its effect," he observed. "The soil is in peak condition. It's time to start farming."
Hearing his words, Eugene and the trolls who rushed over all had joy in their eyes. For days, they had been looking forward to this moment. This was their future home, and no one wanted to see the land full of fruit more than they did.
Soon, the trolls sat in a row, surrounding Char in the middle, looking more obedient and serious than ever before. Eugene squeezed into the gap between them, looking at Char with burning eyes. Char took out the Pute Fruit and showed them how to handle it. "Pute fruit is a plant grown as a tuber," he explained slowly. "Just cut them into several pieces, bury them about twenty centimeters into the soil, and keep the soil moist and loose. In a month or so, new fruits will break through the soil and mature. As for how to divide them, I need to feel the distribution of magic power inside. There are magic nodes inside the fruit. The cut tuber must contain these nodes in order to grow a new plant."
He carefully felt the magic of the Pute Fruit in his hand, and a hint of joy appeared in his eyes. These fruits from Drya Island seemed to have been well cared for, even after the wizards there had been transformed. After all, the Quintapeds were trapped on the island and had no other source of food. They had no choice but to cultivate the fruit well, even if they hated it. This made the quality of the fruits even better than Char had expected. There were actually eight or nine magic nodes in a single fruit. This meant that one piece could grow into eight or nine pieces. If they continued to sow like this, the first harvest would be more than enough to feed all the trolls on the island. When the next harvest came, even if there were ten more trolls, it would be more than enough.
His heart skipped a beat. It was time to search for more troll settlements in the Forbidden Forest. It wouldn't be long before the yield of the goldfish spider plant increased, and the magical perception that had troubled him for so long would finally be broken through.
As he was thinking, Eugene was dancing around, trying to teach the confused trolls. For them, figuring out how to grow the Pute Fruit was really difficult, especially sensing the magic nodes. After teaching for a while, Eugene gave up. "Never mind. You should just do the hard work." He snapped his fingers, and a pile of Pute Fruit immediately floated up, neatly dividing itself into several regular parts according to the distribution of its magic nodes. For house-elves, this kind of operation was completely commonplace. He then handed the divided fruits to the trolls. "The hard work of tilling the land is left to you."
The trolls showed happy expressions, growling continuously. They took the Pute Fruit tubers carefully, dug into the soil, gently placed them inside, and then with their big palms, gently swept the soil back over them. Char saw this stark contrast and felt a surge of emotion in his heart. Trolls were said to be savage and cruel, but who could have imagined they had this side? No matter how low their intelligence, they had emotions too. They also knew to cherish their land and their harvest. It was just that for so long, no one had been willing to give them a home.
With a wave of his own wand, the rest of the Pute fruits were also split apart and fell evenly into the fields. Before he knew it, there were fewer and fewer fruits left, and the fields were covered in more and more "small mounds." Until the last piece was planted, most of the ten acres of land they had reclaimed had been used up. Lines of prompts appeared on his system panel, and in front of his eyes, a sea of densely packed reward light balls emerged. Although they were still very small, in a month, this batch of Pute Fruit would mature, and the rewards would be absolutely generous.
His gaze fell on the remaining two acres or so. Since the planting of the "staple crop" was complete, he also had to consider the "cash crops." When the Chalati grass matured, it could be exchanged for a lot of Gold Galleons, solving many of their resource problems. In addition, there was the mental strengthening bonus it provided. Now that he had realized the benefits of Occlumency, he took it even more seriously. Even if his own skill didn't improve, simply improving his spiritual strength would greatly enhance his mental defenses. The bag of Chalati seeds he had wasn't enough to fill the two acres, but he had asked his aunt to help purchase more. The quality wouldn't be as good as the seeds he had enhanced with the Silver Cup, but it was a good start.
A smile appeared on his lips. The prospects were promising.
With some free time, Char opened the Advanced Potion-Making textbook again. After reaching the Bronze level in Occlumency, he felt he had taken a step further in controlling the flow state. It was as if all his spiritual potential had been brought into play. His memory, concentration, and comprehension had all improved significantly. Every time he read, it felt like he was absorbing knowledge every minute, every second, constantly improving his foundation. This taste was truly wonderful. It also made him understand why some talented wizards could have unimaginable magical attainments even in their first year. Dumbledore, Grindelwald, and Voldemort… who among them didn't easily achieve performance far superior to their peers? It was likely related to their innate talent in Legilimency. Their use of their minds was beyond the imagination of ordinary people. Fortunately, now, Char was gradually possessing this kind of genius-level talent. Accompanied by the rustling sound of turning pages, on his system panel, the luster of his magic words became more and more profound, like solid substance. The foundation was constantly growing.
For the next two days, Char basically repeated this life. He continued to instruct Eugene and the trolls on how to maintain the fields while seizing every minute to read. Besides the Half-Blood Prince's textbook, he was also reading through the great books on various subjects, absorbing everything like a sponge.
Two days passed like this. Just as he was immersed in his reading, the sound of an owl's wings flapping came from outside the protective magic of Sprout Island. "Did someone send me a letter?" he wondered. He stepped out of the barrier, and a letter fell into his hands. It was from Cedric, mentioning something important about the Quidditch final and asking him to come to the pitch today. Char narrowed his eyes slightly. The important thing about the finals?
A moment later, he wrote back a simple letter. "Good. I'll be back on the Quidditch pitch this evening. We'll see you then."
He was in no hurry to return to Hogwarts. Instead, he looked up into the sky, his eyes becoming hot with anticipation. "Two days have passed. The Elber tree… it should be ready."
The next moment, he piloted the Nimbus 2000 up into the sky again and arrived at the familiar cloud layer. This time, the reward light ball in the clouds was like a ripe, perfect fruit. The light of a diamond, dazzling and pure. He took a deep breath, his heartbeat quickening. He reached out and touched the ball of light, the brightest and most dazzling reward he had ever seen. It immediately sank into his body.
Lines of prompts appeared on the system panel.
[You have nurtured the Elber tree.]
[You receive a reward: Flight Ability Improvement (Diamond Level)]
[You receive a reward: Improved Levitation Charm Deduction Ability (Platinum Level)]
…
[You receive a reward: A small amount of Ancient Weather Magic Comprehension (Black Iron Level)]
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