Chapter 124: Golden Cup, Bottleneck, Light and Dark

What appeared before Ciel was actually an independent tent-like structure. It looked unremarkable, but from Professor Sprout's tone, he knew this thing definitely had hidden depths. Indeed. At Professor Sprout's indication, Ciel opened the door and walked in. Just as he had expected, the Undetectable Extension Charm had been applied inside. The area was much larger than what could be seen from outside. More than the sheer size, what truly stunned Ciel was what lay within. A massive plant operation table stretched five full meters in length. Shelves lined the walls, densely stocked with standard Herbology potions and equipment. Nearly fifty water tanks stood in precise rows, creating a dedicated aquatic cultivation zone. Each tank matched the dimensions of the one he'd used for his Piranha Algae experiments. And there was farmland that combined was probably five times the area of his previous experimental plots. Though small, it had everything. This was essentially a miniature Hogwarts greenhouse! Ciel stared at this scene in a daze. Professor Sprout showed an "as expected" smile. Then she handed the bronze-lustrous key to him. "From now on, this little greenhouse is yours. Except for the area not being comparable to the main greenhouse, everything else is identical. I think it should be sufficient for your use, Ciel." Seeing him still looking completely confused, Professor Sprout's smile grew even broader. "I originally wanted to get you more slots in the main greenhouse. But I always felt that, given you're now starting to cultivate some dangerous plants, you also need more secretive space. Then I suddenly remembered there was such a little greenhouse that perfectly fit the requirements." "However, the little greenhouse had been abandoned for over ten years due to funding issues. But since we received a large sum of funding this time, I quickly had it repaired. During your time at Hogwarts, this greenhouse will be used by you alone." Hearing this, Ciel's heart trembled violently. The conditions of this little greenhouse before him were absolutely what every Herbologist in the magical world dreamed of. In his past life, this would be a top-tier laboratory that only academic elite-level experts were qualified to set up. He never dreamed he would have such an opportunity to become the master of this place. But he also knew how much effort it took to set up such a greenhouse and how much pressure one had to bear. Especially since Professor Sprout had just been through all that trouble recently. To advocate for such a greenhouse for himself, one could imagine how many difficulties there were. At this time, Professor Sprout seemed to know what he was thinking. She said softly, "As long as it helps you, Ciel, these are not problems. Moreover, Headmaster Dumbledore also supports this. With his support, even if the Board of Governors has opinions, those problems won't be problems. The grand ceremony for you this time was also Headmaster Dumbledore's idea. The Board of Governors has nothing to say. As for how much effort Aunt has to put in..." She reached out and gently touched his head, saying tenderly, "However much effort, however much cost. It's all worth it." Ciel was speechless for a long time. Waves of bitterness and emotion surged in his heart. Professor Sprout then introduced this little greenhouse in more detail. "Speaking of which, I also used this place when I was a student. This place was supposedly built a thousand years ago, with foundations laid by Lady Hufflepuff herself. Her original intention was to provide the very best environment for those truly unique talents in Herbology." Speaking of this, she shook her head with some regret and longing. "According to records, the greenhouse's soil conditions then were much superior to now. Even greenhouses built by Herbology masters with their life's effort, or the efforts of ancient Herbology families over dozens of generations, were far inferior to this little greenhouse's conditions." "Even plants like the Whomping Willow were successfully cultivated by Lady Hufflepuff in this greenhouse. To this day, the soil around the Whomping Willow's roots still retains components from this greenhouse back then. Unfortunately, as time passed, especially with the loss of Hufflepuff's Cup, this little greenhouse's magic gradually faded. Though still a top-tier greenhouse, having lost the nectar brewed in the Cup for irrigation, it's far from what it once was." "I don't know if I'll live to see the day when the Cup is found, nectar flows again, and the little greenhouse recovers its former magic." While Professor Sprout was recounting this secret history, Ciel's gaze shifted. He showed some surprise. Hufflepuff's Cup wasn't just a symbolic commemorative item after all. It actually had important functions? It could brew nectar that was not only delicious to drink but could also make soil conditions reach incredible levels when used for irrigation. From Professor Sprout's regretful and longing expression, the Cup's enhancement of greenhouse soil was probably extraordinary. So much so that even Herbology masters could benefit greatly from it. Of course, the Cup had been lost for so many years. Every Hufflepuff Head of House had tried to search for it, but all ultimately failed. Professor Sprout probably didn't hold much hope either. But Ciel's heartbeat quickened slightly. He knew exactly whose hands the Cup had fallen into. Young Voldemort had sold his charm, deceived a rich old woman, and obtained the Cup from her. Then he turned around and killed her, framing the family's house-elf. Finally, the Cup became one of Voldemort's collections, one of seven Horcruxes. And now, the Cup was stored in the Lestrange family vault deep underground at Gringotts. If he could get it, it would definitely greatly benefit his planting. His breathing quickened slightly. But immediately after, he quickly thought to himself. "Calm down, calm down." In the original story, the trio had spent enormous effort to infiltrate Gringotts and obtain the Cup. And this incident made newspaper headlines the very next day. Voldemort also immediately understood that Harry and the others knew about the existence of Horcruxes and were trying to destroy them. If Ciel wanted to target the Cup, unless he could infiltrate Gringotts and steal it without anyone knowing, as long as it was discovered and reported in the newspapers, Voldemort would realize much earlier than in the original story that the existence of Horcruxes had been discovered. This might even change the course of the subsequent war. Not to mention if Voldemort traced any clues and found out who took the Cup. That would be a fight to the death! Therefore, despite being quite tempted by the Cup's enhancement to planting, Ciel dismissed the impractical thoughts in his mind. Targeting the Cup wasn't the right time yet. At least he needed to possess the ability to silently bypass all magic and infiltrate Gringotts. And this made him think of the Shadow Thorns' reward. Ancient Shadow Magic... Shadows were always known for concealing traces. Perhaps accumulating Ancient Shadow Magic to a certain level really could allow him to enter Gringotts' underground vaults. With this realization, Ciel's next objective became crystal clear: unlocking the Ancient Shadow Magic reward that Shadow Thorns could provide. He needed to discover what conditions would trigger its manifestation. Since Professor Sprout was here, he simply asked directly. "Aunt, do you know if Shadow Thorns have any situations where they might be connected to an ancient magic called Shadow Magic?" Professor Sprout paused upon hearing this question. Her face was full of surprise. After thinking for quite a while, she still shook her head. "I really have no impression of this. Ancient Shadow Magic? I've never heard of such a thing. What's wrong, Ciel?" Ciel shook his head. "Nothing. I just saw similar rumors in some book somewhere." Professor Sprout didn't suspect anything. "That's normal. In earlier times, academics weren't so standardized. Some false claims could become popular for a while. And some things claiming to be academic works were actually full of lies. To truly understand academic subjects, you still need to read works by serious scholars." After giving Ciel some guidance, Professor Sprout left, letting him familiarize himself with this greenhouse that belonged to him. At this time, his mood sank slightly. Even Professor Sprout had never heard of such a situation? It seemed that indeed, no one had ever thought of using the Deathly Hallow Invisibility Cloak instead of the Disillusionment Charm to cultivate Shadow Thorns. After all, not many people researched Shadow Thorns to begin with. Plus using the Invisibility Cloak instead of the Disillusionment Charm was an unorthodox approach. Not to mention the Deathly Hallow Invisibility Cloak... this was already a supreme treasure that countless wizards who believed in the Deathly Hallows legend dreamed of. Combining these conditions, it really might be impossible to find similar records. "Worst case scenario. I'll have to research from scratch. This could be troublesome. If I'm lucky, maybe I can figure it out in three to five days. If I'm unlucky, thirty to fifty years might not be enough." Ciel shook his head. But he still held onto a last glimmer of hope. "I'll continue searching through those reference books Aunt mentioned. Maybe there will be mentions in some less-noticed chapters. However, while Shadow Thorns are important, Devil's Snare is equally so. And with so many additional experimental plots and water tanks, Guardian Trees and Piranha Algae can also be expanded. I'll work on the greenhouse while searching for information." So for the next week, Ciel spent time in unprecedented busyness. Every day he was so busy he had almost no free time. But in return, the little greenhouse was no longer as empty as when he first took it over. The previously planted Guardian Trees had been transplanted here. He had planted ten more. This way, whether it was the protection provided by Guardian Trees or the rewards obtainable when harvesting in the future, both were greatly improved compared to before. And in the water tanks, he had planted three times as many Piranha Algae. As for the remaining land, Ciel had already planted some Devil's Snare. He just needed to wait for them to grow new branches, then continue processing new nodes step by step. But the matter of Shadow Thorns made him sigh every time he thought about it. A week had passed, and he had roughly gone through all the books in the library related to Shadow Thorns. But he still hadn't found relevant records. He had even used the Invisibility Cloak to infiltrate the Restricted Section, trying to search for Ancient Shadow Magic from another angle. Again, he found nothing. This way, on one hand, Ciel confirmed the scarcity of ancient magic. Even in Hogwarts' Restricted Section, knowledge related to ancient magic seemed very rare. But on the other hand, clearly just one step away, the Ancient Shadow Magic reward from Shadow Thorns could take shape. But it was precisely this one step that was missing. The treasure mountain was close at hand but unattainable. Even he felt somewhat frustrated about this. At the same time, another thing that frustrated him was that over this week, his strength improvement had slowed considerably compared to before. After reaching Platinum-tier mastery, several spells became extremely difficult to improve further. Even though Ciel practiced far more times daily than ordinary wizards, progress was still minimal. He understood the reason. Platinum-tier spells were already beginning to touch the microscopic level. This required higher demands on magical perception. His current Gold-tier magical perception wasn't sufficient. This was the main factor limiting further improvement in spell mastery. But magical perception was limited by his talent. Now he couldn't improve through self-training anymore, only relying on rewards after Goldfish Vines matured. And there was still reduction. Platinum tier was still far away. Thus, Ciel's strength was temporarily stuck in a bottleneck. He couldn't help but sigh. "So difficult." Fortunately, at this time, a letter from Hagrid finally brought him some good news. A new batch of Goldfish Vines had matured. His eyes lit up. He now had five trolls cultivating Goldfish Vines for him. One harvest would still provide considerable improvement to magical perception. If it's not enough to advance to the Platinum tier in one go, at least it could effectively push this progress. Deciding on his course of action, Ciel stood up and walked straight to Hagrid's hut. As usual, Hagrid had tea brewing and rock cakes cooling on the table. The instant Ciel arrived, Hagrid began excitedly describing every little change in the dragon egg from the past week, chattering about what he should name the dragon once it hatched. "Ciel, do you have any suggestions?" He casually answered according to the original story. "How about Norbert?" Hagrid's eyes lit up. He immediately clapped his hands. "Norbert? Good name!" He carefully leaned close to the dragon egg. "Little guy, did you hear that? Norbert, you have a name now. Once you're born, I'll make sure the entire Forbidden Forest celebrates your birth!" Seeing this, Ciel also smiled slightly. The frustration in his heart was somewhat diluted by the aroma of tea and rock cakes. After chatting enough, he was about to go harvest the Goldfish Vines. At this time, Hagrid remembered something else and said with a heavy expression. "By the way, Ciel. Stay away from the Forbidden Forest recently. Don't enter the Forbidden Forest anymore. There are some abnormal things in the Forbidden Forest. Many beings in the forest have sensed an extremely evil magical power lingering." Hearing this, his heart tensed. Undoubtedly, this was Quirrell searching for unicorns in the Forbidden Forest. Trying to use unicorn blood to quench his thirst and restore his strength. "Understood. You be careful too, Hagrid. If you sense anything wrong, don't fight head-on." Hagrid sighed. He muttered to himself, "The places where that thing appears are all places where unicorns have left traces. It's searching for unicorns. Really don't know what kind of evil thing that is. But looking at it this way, the rumors are true. Magical creatures as extremely bright and sacred as unicorns actually attract more evil and dark desecration. The brighter the light, the denser the shadows." As Hagrid continued his rambling, Ciel had already risen to take his leave when something made his thoughts suddenly sharpen. Hagrid's casual words reverberated through his consciousness. "Brightness and sanctity attract evil and darkness. The brighter the light, the denser the shadows." A flash of inspiration suddenly crossed his mind. "That's it! I know what's missing!" [Chapter Complete] *** Want more? Check out my Patreon for: ✓ Advanced chapters of all my stories ✓ Exclusive novels & fanfics ✓ Early access content [email protected]/meowthtl ???? Community Goal: 500 Power Stones unlocks a bonus chapter! Thanks for reading and supporting the story!