In the small greenhouse, after realising he might be able to cultivate ancient plants ahead of schedule, Ciel's heartbeat accelerated. Compared to ordinary magical herbs, the reward levels ancient plants could provide were undoubtedly much higher, with some extremely special rewards like Ancient Magic Insights.
He had already experienced the benefits of ancient magic. The entry difficulty was indeed high, and the practice process of obtaining natural will infusion was certainly dangerous. But once achieved, the returns were extremely considerable.
If not for harvesting the ancient Elber Tree and gaining Ancient Weather Magic Insight, then accumulating natural will to considerable density, dealing with the variant humanoid bioluminescent mushrooms contaminated by temple power would have been quite troublesome.
If he could cultivate an ancient plant early, when it matured, his gains would be self evident. Thinking this, his gaze became determined.
"The sooner I plant, the sooner I harvest. Gaining such high level rewards early might prove crucial at key moments. Since there's this opportunity, I can't miss it."
With this thought, he hesitated no longer. He took out another vial of Quintaped blood. The liquid emanating dense evil aura was dispersed by him using the Levitation Charm into blood mist, spreading among a patch of bioluminescent mushroom mycelium.
Immediately, the mycelium absorbing Quintaped blood began growing strange crimson fuzz. He remained expressionless, cutting his artery and squeezing out more blood mist. The life force rich blood was absorbed by the newly mutating variant humanoid bioluminescent mushrooms, immediately producing incredible effects.
The mutation process that should have taken time was almost instantaneous. A patch of variant humanoid bioluminescent mushrooms no smaller than before appeared again in the small greenhouse.
This time, before the variants matured, the previously vanished cold voice resumed, intermittent but now carrying thick bewilderment and fury. "What are you doing?"
The voice's owner seemed unable to imagine that he had just expended great effort removing those variants, only to immediately plant another large patch. The cold voice probed: "Have you regretted it?"
Strange laughter emerged with malicious intent. "Before, I invited you, temple power within reach, yet you refused. Regretting now isn't impossible, but you must abandon Ancient Weather Magic."
The cold laughter clearly feared the previous Ancient Weather Magic, adding: "And tell us where you obtained Ancient Weather Magic. Otherwise, you can't..."
But he showed a cold smile, too lazy to acknowledge the voice. His wand began moving again. As runic power nodes constructed and crackling electric light surged at his wand tip, the cold laughter paused with terror:
"No way? You planted another batch just to strike again?"
Before it finished, he swung his wand down. Electric light surged, immediately enveloping the variant humanoid bioluminescent mushrooms again. Cold laughter became angry, sharp roaring: "I remember you! Hufflepuff brat, you'll regret your actions!"
Next second, its voice was drowned in rumbling thunder, leaving only piles of ash.
But looking at the ash quantity, he frowned slightly. Far less than last time, less than one tenth. He collected this ash mainly to cultivate ancient plants, but such a small amount, even using all his remaining Quintaped blood to induce variants, would be far insufficient.
What was the problem? He pondered. "This ash forms when my Ancient Weather Magic clashes with ancient Dark Arts on the variants. Possibly because two ancient magics' wills cancel out, leaving pure ancient magic. This helps cultivate ancient plants. This time's ash is far less than before. Could it be because the variants just mutated without maturing, containing less ancient Dark Arts power? If so..."
His gaze fell on Demeter's Chalice. This Olympian-era alchemical item from the Harvest Goddess could perform complete ritual magic about every three months. Soil affected by ritual magic had special effects accelerating plant maturation.
Since his last complete ritual use, far less than three months had passed. But due to faith power obtained from various sources, the ritual interval had shortened considerably. Now the ritual magic had cooled down.
He had originally planned to use it on Patron Trees, Umbral Thorns, and Devil's Snare. Now he had another choice.
"What if I use this ritual magic opportunity on variant humanoid bioluminescent mushrooms, forcing them to mature?"
He calculated, and then his eyes brightened. It seemed quite profitable. After all, when he had used the chalice before, the special soil produced was quite limited, enough to help cultivate Umbral Thorns with awakened Ancient Shadow Magic, already a pleasant surprise.
But expecting such limited special soil to cultivate the Diamond level or higher ancient plants was like a drop in the ocean. However, using this soil to mature variant humanoid bioluminescent mushrooms, since his blood could significantly lower mutation thresholds, the maturing effect would be very pronounced.
The ancient ash obtained would far exceed the special soil's utility. Of course, this assumed his speculation was correct. Even if wrong, he'd only lose one chalice use while still obtaining some ancient ash, not really a loss.
Success meant huge profit, failure meant no loss; naturally, it was worth trying.
So he took Demeter's Chalice and another vial of Quintaped blood, inducing a new batch of variant humanoid bioluminescent mushrooms. The cold voice resumed with sharp anger: "You again?!"
Then it seemed to realise why he repeatedly induced variants: "You damned brat! You want to use temple power as nourishment? This is blasphemy! You've committed sacrilege; divine punishment awaits!"
Simultaneously, crimson fuzz on the variants immediately became less active, as if suppressed. The cold voice grew increasingly intermittent, cursing him viciously.
He frowned. The temple power was withdrawing from the variants, unwilling to let him obtain too much nourishment? Cold light rolled in his eyes: "As if you have a choice?"
Then his wand struck Demeter's Chalice. Clear, pleasant ringing echoed through the small greenhouse as he chanted ritual magic:
"Proscindite glaciem, vomere fulgente!"
"Ring the chalice once, break frozen earth, let the plowshare shine!"
With the first ritual incantation, Demeter's Chalice rang increasingly clear. Silver light flickered on its remaining patterns as special magic gathered.
Just then, the cold voice from the variants seemed frightened, trembling as if seeing something incredible: "This is Demeter ritual magic? Demeter's Chalice?! How can such a thing be in your hands!"
Its worldview was shattering. First Umbral Thorns with Ancient Shadow Magic, then Ancient Weather Magic, now even Demeter's Chalice appeared in this little badger's hands. What kind of foundation was this? Next, would this brat pull out the World Tree?!
It immediately sensed trouble. Demeter's Chalice's magic was almost absolute regarding plants. No matter what peculiarities a plant had, what power it hosted, or what magic it possessed, if it grew from earth, it must obey Harvest Goddess Demeter's magic.
Unfortunately, temple power was trying to contaminate him through variant humanoid bioluminescent mushrooms and plants. Disaster!
He rang the chalice twice more:
"Spargite grana auri, paleasque territe!"
"Ring the chalice twice, scatter golden grain, winnow the chaff!"
"Cantate ovantes, seges alta viret!"
"Ring the chalice thrice, sing in triumph, let tall crops flourish!"
As the chalice blazed with light, the soil within was saturated by silver radiance, immediately becoming special soil with ancient magic that could mature plants. He took a pinch and sprinkled it on the obviously less active variant humanoid bioluminescent mushrooms.
Immediately, regardless of the power's willingness, the variants perked up and seemed to fast forward like rockets toward maturity. The ancient Dark Arts power within began growing continuously.
The cold voice revealed panic: "Wait, wait, I didn't want to give more power! You can't steal; No Stealing!"
While harvesting reward orbs, he waved his wand again. Electric light flashed down on the newly matured variants. Instantly, the just matured variants became large puffs of ash, much more than the previous batch.
His eyes brightened, confirming his speculation. Indeed, the variants needed to mature to extract more ancient Dark Arts power from the temple. After offsetting with Ancient Weather Magic, more ash was obtained.
Since the speculation worked, his gaze fell on the remaining soil in the chalice, becoming increasingly intense. He unconsciously licked his lips: "Shall we continue?"
Soon, under the combined effects of his blood and Demeter's Chalice's power, another new batch of variant humanoid bioluminescent mushrooms was planted.
The cold voice now wailed miserably: "Stop! Stop! You're not a thief anymore, robber, you're a robber! How can Hufflepuff have a badger like you?"
He grinned and unhesitatingly struck with Ancient Weather Magic again. More ash was collected.
Then another new batch of variants. The cold voice began pleading: "Misunderstanding! All misunderstanding! I caused no harm, yet you've depleted so much of my power. Can this end here?"
He remained unmoved. Lightning after lightning exchanged for batches of ancient ash emanating an old magical aura.
Finally, the cold voice had grown weak, seemingly depleted of too much power. It realised pleading and weakness were useless against him, so it began cursing viciously:
"You damned brat! And that damned Demeter! Why couldn't her things fall to anyone else? They had to end up with you, this menace! Just wait until I get out..."
He impatiently waved his wand. The cold voice disappeared, becoming warm ancient ash.
He wanted to create another batch but realised Demeter's Chalice's special soil was exhausted. Not only that, only a small portion of Quintaped blood remained; he needed to save it.
Then he shook his head regretfully and reluctantly gave up. But soon, seeing this harvest, his slight regret vanished completely.
[Curse Studies (Platinum)]
[Quintaped Transfiguration (Silver to Gold threshold)]
First, on the system panel, after harvesting batch after batch of variant humanoid bioluminescent mushrooms, his mastery of Curse Studies and Quintaped Transfiguration had advanced dramatically. Originally the Gold level Curse Studies had directly crossed the qualitative breakthrough bottleneck, reaching Platinum level, even catching up with other magic that had reached Platinum long ago.
Originally the Bronze level Quintaped Transfiguration now stood at the Silver to Gold threshold.
Of course, this was only the most insignificant harvest. The real prize was the high pile of ancient ash before him. The ancient magical aura emanating from it was extraordinarily rich. Looking at this pile, his gaze was like viewing rare treasures.
"Enough. This ancient ash should support an ancient plant's early growth needs. More than sufficient for planting!"
The only question was which ancient plant he should attempt. World Tree roots? Fire God seeds from the troll settlement?
These two Mythical level existences were eliminated first. Mythical plants were too special, this ash might not suffice. Plus, unknown cultivation conditions made success nearly impossible.
That left the seed obtained from Bogey Lockman and the Elber Tree branch he had had for ages, given by Aunt Sprout.
Almost without thinking, he locked onto his target: the Elber Tree branch.
Being cut from an Elber Tree and properly treated by Professor Sprout, its vitality far exceeded Bogey Lockman's seed. Higher vitality naturally meant much higher survival rates.
Moreover, Elber Tree research was extensive. His Umbral Thorns and Devil's Snare cultivation were Elber Tree cultivation subtopics where he had accumulated considerable experience.
His lacking experience lay in creating environments for ancient plants to root and sprout through precise magical control and potion configuration, the most difficult part of ancient plant cultivation.
Many Herbology masters spent lifetimes creating simpler, higher success methods. But with ancient ash in hand, he could completely bypass this most difficult topic, dramatically increasing success rates!
His thoughts grew clearer. Looking at the Elber Tree branch, his heartbeat involuntarily accelerated. His expected timeline for cultivating such ancient plants was making progress in the fifth year, hopefully. The first year's goal was merely maturing Patron Trees.
But now, this topic countless Herbology masters struggled with lifelong, that he had thought unreachably distant, seemed to crack open a door?
Taking a deep breath, Occlumency activated. He held his breath, blocking all distracting thoughts. "Calm. Calm."
Now his mind recalled only details of countless days and nights pruning Devil's Snare magical nodes and tending Umbral Thorns' spikes. Countless practice sessions were his confidence to attempt this.
His hand, incomparably steady. Wand gently tapping. Layers of magical protection around the Elber Tree branch dispersed, revealing the branch body emanating green light.
He waved his wand, using Cutting Charms to remove lower leaves while preserving upper ones. In early cutting stages, the most difficult part was whether branches could absorb soil nutrients. Leaves would compete with branches for nutrients, so lower leaves must be removed to transport hard won nutrients to branch tops. Preserving top leaves utilised their nutrient absorption properties to enhance the top region's soil absorption ability.
Leaf quantity had to maintain a delicate balance according to branch magical conditions, just one of countless details. He methodically completed step after step according to Professor Sprout's papers.
After completing prerequisites, his solemn gaze fell on the branch root, the most crucial step. Next moment, he chanted Sectumsempra. Sharp magical power roared out, cleanly cutting "flower cuts" on root magical nodes.
Thus, external magic and nutrients could be maximally absorbed through these cut nodes. The instant this step was completed, he didn't delay even a breath, immediately inserting the treated branch into greenhouse soil mixed with ancient ash.
Any half second delay could contaminate the just established nutrient absorption channels with foreign magic, causing the Elber Tree branch to fail to absorb sufficient growth nutrients, a fatal detail.
Having done all this, his forehead was covered with bean sized sweat drops, his spirit even more tense than when first facing variant humanoid bioluminescent mushrooms. His gaze fixed unblinkingly on the branch planted in soil.
Some Herbology masters used more complex grafting methods, grafting Elber Tree branches onto quite ancient plants, hoping to approximate their ancient living environments. He first had no such necessity; second, grafting such plants was too difficult, slight carelessness meant failure. So he used this soil insertion cutting method.
He took a deep breath, patiently waiting for the branch's reaction. Whether cutting or grafting, simply observing whether branches began absorbing magic could immediately determine operation success or failure.
If magic absorption began, though countless topics remained to overcome, at least the first step succeeded. But if even magic couldn't be absorbed, it meant the branch's magic absorption channel establishment failed, making subsequent challenges pointless, like saving a patient who couldn't receive nutrition, no matter how skilful later operations.
This process, besides operational details, largely depended on luck. Even Herbology masters achieving thirty percent success at this step were remarkable.
"Everything possible has been done. Hope it survives..."
But time passed minute by minute, gradually approaching academia's recognised limit. His gaze gradually sank, his palm slightly clenched. Still failed? Which step wasn't quite right? Or just bad luck?
Moments later, the limit time passed. Theoretically, planted in soil this long, if the Elber Tree branch still couldn't absorb magic from the soil environment, there was no hope.
Despite mental preparation, he inevitably felt disappointed. He slightly shook his head.
Just as he was about to taste this failure's bitter fruit, Umbral came beside the Elber Tree branch. The next moment, Umbral Thorns' spikes pierced the Elber Tree branch's epidermis, injecting ancient magic.
Seeing this, he suddenly widened his eyes. Umbral Thorns were academically recognised as Elber Tree subtopics, meaning their magical properties were quite similar.
Now Umbral was helping the Elber Tree branch absorb magic? Like a patient unable to actively eat being directly fed glucose through tubes! If so, perhaps there was still hope!
He suppressed his accelerating heartbeat, seeming to stop breathing, quietly watching the scene. Moments later, Umbral Thorns' spikes separated from the Elber Tree branch.
After a short while, magical reactions emerged from within the branch. Ancient magic from soil began being slowly absorbed by the Elber Tree branch.
He suddenly clenched his fist. It started? The first step succeeded?
He still couldn't quite believe it, unconsciously looking above the Elber Tree branch. Then a flickering reward orb appeared in his sight.
[Elber Tree Branch (Ancient, sprouting)]
At this moment, he first stared blankly. Then suddenly stood up. Punching the air. Roaring low. "Yes! It worked!"