Chapter 179: Plan, Explosion, and New Variant

Seeing the slowly forming line of [Ancient Dark Magic] text on the system panel, Ciel couldn't help but widen his eyes. His heartbeat involuntarily accelerated. He had already witnessed the power and wonder of ancient magic through Shadow Thorns. Ancient Shadow Magic already had such performance... what about Ancient Dark Magic? This might contain mysteries even more profound than Voldemort's magic. Moreover, as he gazed at the patterns carved on the temple, it was as if endless knowledge kept flowing in. The lustre of the [Ancient Dark Magic] text kept deepening. This made him think: if observing the patterns from outside could achieve this much, what if he entered the temple? Perhaps he could obtain at least Diamond-tier, or even Epic or Legendary-tier Ancient Dark Magic?! Taking a deep breath, he moved his feet. But he didn't go forward... instead, he took a difficult step backward. He bit his tongue tip, feeling the bloody taste and stinging pain spread through his mouth, his mind becoming more alert. He moved his gaze away from the temple. The Ancient Dark Magic text that had just formed on the system panel immediately collapsed. A sense of loss permeated his heart. But this made him quicken his retreat even more. Only when he reached a position where the temple was no longer visible did he exhale deeply, cold sweat beading on his forehead. "That was close. That temple should contain not only Ancient Dark Magic but also some strange power capable of bewitching minds. After the MacBoon family was transformed into Quintapeds, the Ministry originally commissioned three Transfiguration masters to try restoring them to wizards. But they firmly refused this proposal and ate everyone the Ministry sent. This should be the influence of that eerie magical power." If it were someone else with even the slightest pursuit of such dark magical power, they would probably be attracted by the temple and walk into it. Fortunately, he had maintained strong vigilance toward everything on Drear Island from beginning to end. His goals had always been very clear. "Perhaps entering the temple could indeed yield powerful magic. But I have no need to take such risks. Only when there's no way out do you need to risk everything. Power obtained without any cost inevitably hides unacceptable prices behind it. I came to Drear Island only needing Puking Pastilles. Now I have them... mission accomplished. Rather than pursuing power in the temple, I'd prefer following my plan, steadily cultivating for rewards. This seems much more reliable than that temple." Without any reluctance, he turned and left without looking back. But this experience still made him more alert. "I need to pay more attention to mental aspects. Occlumency needs to be prioritised. And resistance to various mental magic... There are too many things in the magical world that can affect the mind." Then he returned to the field where he'd discovered the Puking Pastilles. Looking at the Puking Pastilles waiting to be harvested, he suppressed the distracting thoughts in his mind, his face full of joy. With these, this trip was already worthwhile. And there were some additional gains. His gaze fell on several juvenile Quintaped corpses on the ground. The blood of these eerie XXXXX-rated magical creatures had never appeared even on the magical world's black market. It could be called the rarest magical creature blood in the magical world. It would also be treasure sought after by dark wizards specialising in flesh transfiguration. But for him, its greatest value was for cultivating Blood Jade. Blood Jade transformed with three types of blood could provide Platinum-tier rewards. Gathering seven types of blood for transformation would definitely be even more amazing. Dragon, Acromantula, Kraken, Quintaped... He had already collected four types. Not far from seven. Then he quickly harvested a large bag of Puking Pastilles from the field, putting them in an Undetectable Extension Charm-enhanced box obtained from the Lockman house. He also carefully extracted several large bottles of eerie blood from the juvenile Quintaped corpses. At this time, another deafening sound came from the beach, then gradually died down. His heart tightened. It seemed the battle between the two-faced spy and those Quintapeds had concluded. He immediately looked at Eugene. Eugene also nodded, snapping his fingers with him. The next moment, after a whirlwind sensation, he and Eugene Apparated outside Drear Island. He handed Eugene the box containing Quintaped blood and Puking Pastilles. "Take these back to Sprout Island." His gaze fell toward the deep sea... the passage through Drear Island's protective magic he'd indicated to the two-faced spy. Cold light flashed in his eyes. This time, he'd lured the two-faced spy to Drear Island and made him suffer such a huge loss. The spy might think he was also deceived and not hold it against him. Or he might think he deliberately set a trap and want revenge. But he didn't care what the two-faced spy thought. He only knew to do his own thing well... give the two-faced spy a harsh blow to completely eliminate his ability to trouble or try to use him again. Then he dived into the sea again. The underwater enhancement made him feel at home upon entering the water. His whole body felt unprecedented comfort, maintaining peak condition. On the system panel, countless ability texts blazed with brilliant light. His gaze fixed on the [Toxin] ability. This ability made his blood contain toxins he could control. Taken alone, it was quite useless and unremarkable. But combined with Dark Magic Transfiguration, it could sometimes achieve miraculous effects. Like when he had used Dark Magic Transfiguration to extract Giant Killer toxin targeting large creatures from his blood. This made the Kraken extremely wary. Before Giant Killer toxin was created, he had already concocted various blood toxins hundreds of times. All these were given to the two-faced spy for absorption through the parchment. Through his blood, the two-faced spy had indeed recovered much strength. But his body also contained at least hundreds of toxins lying dormant... waiting for him to detonate them with his [Toxin] ability! In normal times, such tricks probably couldn't affect the two-faced spy who had reached the pinnacle of Dark Magic Transfiguration. But now, after intense fighting on Drear Island, this was the two-faced spy's weakest moment. The toxin explosion awaited this very moment. He only needed to seize an instant's opportunity... that was all. His gaze patiently watched the protective magic in the ocean depths. Moments later, a figure wreathed in black smoke frantically escaped from the protective magic. Crazed, angry roars echoed far through the depths. "Dumbledore! You sinister, cunning old fool! You schemed against me!" Quirrell's face was deathly pale, his mind filled with Voldemort's hissing. He said with difficulty, "Master. Something's wrong; this is too wrong. This is a trap. Could Ciel Sprout have done this? Maybe he's been digging us a pit from the start!" Voldemort's voice was ice-cold. "Quirrell, you fool. You really think a little badger has the ability to deceive me? What could he rely on to deal with those Quintapeds? And that temple on the island..." Mentioning this, Voldemort's voice carried strangeness and fear. He said through gritted teeth, "The curses inside would require even me at my peak to handle carefully. Besides Dumbledore, who else could create such things?! I think he was also used by Dumbledore. That sinister, cunning old fool never misses any chance to use others." While Voldemort conversed with Quirrell and continuously waved his wand to handle the troublesome curses contracted from Drear Island, he watched this scene from afar. Cold light flashed in his eyes. On the system panel, the [Toxin] ability's light flickered. The toxins in his blood that the two-faced spy had consumed... hundreds of types of toxins... instantly detonated! Quirrell, who was floating toward the surface, suddenly felt intense pain throughout his body. Sometimes like burning fire, sometimes like being filled with ice, and like countless small knives travelling through blood vessels. This made him scream continuously. At this moment, in a deep trench in the ocean depths, eyes opened one by one. A massive creature swam out rapidly. Tentacles like giant pythons writhing in the ocean wrapped toward the two-faced spy. Two unexpected changes occurred simultaneously. Quirrell's eyes showed despair. "Kraken? How is it here?!" Voldemort was furious to the extreme. "What else could it be? Don't tell me you still suspect the little badger. What ability does he have to control the Kraken? Dumbledore... it's you again!!!" As he hissed in rage, tentacles had already enveloped the two-faced spy. But the next moment, Voldemort completely took control of Quirrell's body, violently waving his wand. All the Kraken's tentacles immediately felt extreme pain, thrashing frantically in the seawater. Several tentacles were severed at the middle. The two-faced spy, wreathed in black smoke, took this opportunity to shakily escape to the surface and disappear. He, who witnessed everything, showed regret. Even with such calculations, he still couldn't completely bury the two-faced spy in the depths? No wonder peak Dumbledore and Voldemort made the entire magical world tremble in silence. Even geniuses like Snape were just insignificant before these two. Such magic was truly unimaginable. But after a moment, he also exhaled softly. He hadn't expected to kill the two-faced spy so easily anyway. After all, in the original story, even Voldemort, weakened to the point of being unable to cast spells, still escaped from Hogwarts. Much less now, when Voldemort had recovered most of his strength. This guy's survival skills were truly exceptional. But looking at how the two-faced spy escaped, he probably suffered heavily and paid a huge price. The strength recovered from his blood might be completely exhausted... back to square one overnight. The unicorn curse and hundreds of toxins he left in his body would provide plenty more enjoyment. With that remaining strength and little time left in the term, the two-faced spy didn't have many opportunities. If he didn't want the Philosopher's Stone but was still targeting him, he would be impressed. But for Voldemort, this possibility was minimal. The Philosopher's Stone was what he desired most. In other words, for the coming period, he could be free from the two-faced spy's harassment and cultivate peacefully. Feeling slightly relieved, he returned to Sprout Island moments later. Eugene was waiting anxiously. Seeing him return, Eugene finally breathed a sigh of relief. "Young Master Sprout. I'm so glad you're safe. Did you deal with that enemy?" He shook his head. "No, he's too hard to kill. But the good news is that he won't have time to trouble me anymore. We can farm peacefully." Then his gaze fell on the box. He carefully took out the Puking Pastilles. The trolls also gathered around with Eugene to look at these special fruits. He explained. "These are Puking Pastilles. Cut into small pieces and planted, they'll grow new fruits. One Puking Pastille can keep a person from hunger or thirst for several days. If we plant our land full of Puking Pastilles... We'll never go hungry again." The trolls' small eyes immediately brightened. For them, besides a stable homeland, the only desire was not going hungry. Growing Puking Pastilles meant no hunger. Even trolls now understood these small fruits' value. They carefully picked up a Puking Pastille with clumsy, thick fingers, looked at it, and smelled it. Reluctant to eat it, they put it down and looked at the pile of Puking Pastilles with joy. Their gazes at him became increasingly reverent. "Gronnak..." "Gronnak..." Only a king would treat them so well, risking great danger to bring fruits that would keep them from hunger. Then he took out a bag of Chizpurfle grass seeds. Eugene's expression shifted. "This is... Chizpurfle grass? When I was at the Lockman house, I often saw Bogey Lockman smoking Chizpurfle grass. I heard upper-class people like smoking this stuff." He nodded. "Among these seeds, some are better varieties than the current best Chizpurfle grass. After cultivation, Chizpurfle grass can become Sprout Island's main cash crop. We can make money from this. Eugene, I'll teach you Chizpurfle grass maintenance knowledge later. You'll maintain the Chizpurfle grass normally. You can take a share of the sales profits, which should be enough for your daily expenses. When we expand cultivation scale later, you'll become the richest house-elf. Following me to Drear Island this time, taking such great risks... you can't take this risk for nothing." Eugene stood there stunned, tears glistening in his eyes. He repeatedly wiped his eyes. His grey life suddenly seemed to have some hope. At this time, his gaze fell on the Quintaped blood. This evil magical creature was far more vicious than even Acromantulas. This gave him an idea. "I discovered before that using different blood to cultivate Blood Jade yields different rewards. So using Quintaped blood to cultivate Blood Jade... What rewards would that give?" With this thought, he returned to the small greenhouse. He carefully distributed the Quintaped blood among a batch of Lumos fungus mycelium. With previous experience, he was now skilled at such operations. Moments later, sudden changes occurred in the Lumos fungus mycelium. Instead of the previous crystal-clear jade material, red fungal threads grew from it... fluffy like red hair. At first glance, it gave an uncomfortable feeling. His pupils contracted slightly. "This is... Another new variant?!" His gaze looked above this new variant plant. Then a line of text came into view. [Strongly influenced by Quintaped blood, your Lumos fungus has birthed an unknown new variant] His heart stirred. Indeed a brand-new variant. Quintaped blood was so special? Could it be because this magical creature wasn't "natural" but magically transformed, causing such changes? When he saw the next text, his expression became somewhat uncertain. [Cultivating this variant to maturity can yield rewards: Curse Studies Insight (Silver tier), Quintaped Transfiguration Insight (Black Iron tier)]