The enhancement began, and a strange power surged through Leonard's body.
That power flowed down Leonard's arm toward the Miniature Man-Eating Flower. Sensing it, the Ancient Sprout poked its head out from Leonard's sleeve and happily waved its little branches.
It seemed to want to catch that power, but unfortunately, even with its ancient magic, it could not grasp such a peculiar force. All it could do was feel that life-filled energy pouring into the Miniature Man-Eating Flower.
Leonard watched the Ancient Sprout's reaction and smiled faintly.
He had realized the existence of this power a long time ago. Whenever he activated an enhancement, he would passively draw on it.
But before, his perception of it had not been very clear. Now it was different. Not only could he sense that power, he could also control it slightly. The Ancient Sprout was extremely sensitive to it, but until Leonard could fully control that power, he had no way to give the Ancient Sprout any special treatment.
Leonard was not sure whether this was because his system level had increased or because of the new talent, but what interested him more was what would happen if he ever fully mastered this power.
There was no way to answer that question right now. He still had not completely grasped how to control it.
With the system's help, that power flowed into the Miniature Man-Eating Flower in front of him, and the enhancement results immediately appeared before Leonard's eyes.
There were still three enhancement images.
In the first image, the enhanced Miniature Man-Eating Flower broke through its size limit and rooted itself in place. From the unique perspective of the enhancement image, Leonard could see its roots spreading outward, greedily drawing nutrients from the earth.
As the soil dried out, the Miniature Man-Eating Flower grew to more than a person's height, and its ferocious mouth opened into a doorway.
Beyond that doorway was a vast space lit by microbial fluorescence.
This first enhancement stripped away both the "miniature" and "man-eating" aspects of the plant, turning it into a giant hidden space. By passing through the Man-Eating Flower's mouth, one could enter that space.
As its owner, Leonard would be able to make the flower open or close its mouth at will. It would make a very decent secret base.
But this enhancement gave the flower no means of self-defense. It even removed its original ability to devour others.
It was not a bad enhancement. It strengthened the Miniature Man-Eating Flower's Undetectable Extension Charm, but for Leonard... it did not feel very safe.
The only use of this kind of Man-Eating Flower was as a spacious hidden base. It could store things like a warehouse, or simply serve as a private room.
But it was not suitable for growing magical plants, because sunlight could not be brought inside, and because of the enclosed nature of the space, electricity could not be connected either.
And besides, putting important things inside a plant that could be destroyed at any moment...
Leonard did not have the nerve for that. He would never do something like that.
The first image quickly faded, and the second followed immediately.
The originally single-stemmed Man-Eating Flower had grown many tiny offshoots, and on each of those offshoots grew another Man-Eating Flower.
A dark silhouette approached the flower and drew its attention. Mouth after mouth opened, like hungry chicks searching for food.
But this was not some warm, charming sight. These Man-Eating Flowers were not begging chicks. They were terrifying killing plants.
In a single instant, Leonard barely had time to notice the unnatural distortions in the air before several smooth, circular holes appeared in the dark figure's body.
Blood sprayed everywhere as the figure fell to the ground, dead. But the Man-Eating Flowers did not stop. They kept opening and closing their mouths in a steady rhythm, like clockwork.
One smooth circular hole after another appeared in the corpse, as though mouths in empty space were biting off chunks of flesh. Even through the image, Leonard could almost hear the sound of flesh and bone being chewed.
The scene changed again, turning into a wizard attacking the Man-Eating Flower with spells.
But the flower showed no panic at all. It bit through those highly destructive spells one by one and swallowed them whole.
The second enhancement focused on the Miniature Man-Eating Flower's offensive ability. It kept the original stability of its Undetectable Extension enhancement, allowing it to devour magic, and evolved a cutting effect that could be used at a distance, as if huge invisible mouths in space were taking bite after bite out of an enemy.
It was a very novel way of attacking. Leonard guessed that against a force that practically devoured space itself, even Dumbledore might be killed on the spot if caught off guard.
The only drawback was the short attack range. It looked just like the Man-Eating Flower in Plants vs. Zombies, with a range of only about one meter.
That was far too close for a wizard. Unless it was used for a sneak attack, under normal circumstances this Man-Eating Flower could only serve as defensive equipment that devoured magic.
The effect was still pretty good, but Leonard planned to look at the final enhancement before making a decision.
Then the third image appeared.
This time, the Miniature Man-Eating Flower's size did not change much. It went from about the size of a fist to half that size, and the sharp, tooth-like shell it used to have became smooth and rounded.
...
At that point, it had completely lost the characteristics of a Man-Eating Flower. At first glance, it no longer seemed to have any offensive power at all.
Leonard frowned slightly. Soon, he saw the now non-man-eating flower open its mouth, revealing a large space inside. Unlike the first enhancement, there was not even any microbial glow inside. It was pitch black.
Just as Leonard was wondering what exactly this enhancement did, another figure appeared. But this time, it was not a victim. It was a user.
The user took out one object after another, all in different sizes, and easily stuffed them into the Miniature Man-Eating Flower's mouth. No matter how much went in, it never seemed full.
Then came the retrieval demonstration. As long as the user thought about what he wanted, he could take out the exact stored item from the flower's mouth.
Now Leonard understood.
This was a utility enhancement. It strengthened the Miniature Man-Eating Flower's Undetectable Extension Charm, but unlike the first enhancement, its size barely changed. Even when fully mature, it was only half the size of a fist.
With a size like that, if combined with its symbiotic ability, would it not become a portable storage space?
Leonard had long envied those protagonists whose systems came with built-in storage spaces. He had a system too, yet all it had given him was the Magical Seed Bag, this half-baked imitation of a storage ability. The more he thought about it, the more annoying it was.
But now things were different. With the Miniature Man-Eating Flower's third enhancement, he could finally have a storage space of his own.