Chapter 183: Planting, Letters, and Harvest!

Thinking of the Elber Tree, Ciel's eyes blazed with intense light. This was the highest-tier magical plant he had successfully cultivated so far. The rewards within would be extremely beneficial to him. With this thought, he mounted his Nimbus 2000 and flew toward where he had originally planted the Elber Tree. With previous experience and his magical mastery having improved tremendously during this time, using the Levitation Charm to reach this altitude was now effortless. In moments, accompanied by intense weightlessness, he had already flown above the clouds. What met his eyes was an extremely dense layer of clouds. His eyes showed some surprise. When he'd first planted the Elber Tree, the cloud layer it rooted in was just a small patch. He hadn't expected it to become so dense after this time had passed. If he hadn't remembered the landmarks on the ground and known that Elber Tree don't move, he might have suspected he'd come to the wrong place. At this moment, he looked into the cloud layer. Before his eyes appeared an extremely full, brilliant reward orb emanating diamond luster. "Indeed, it's very close to maturity. At most two or three days, and I'll be able to harvest this Diamond-tier reward orb." Diamond-tier flight ability, Platinum-tier Levitation Charm derivation ability, and Black Iron-tier Ancient Weather Magic insight... He took a deep breath. All were quite practical abilities. Previously, he had found flight ability somewhat lacklustre, feeling it only had some use in Quidditch matches. But recently, riding broomsticks to explore the seas had given him some different thoughts. In the wilderness or at sea, wizards spent most of their time on broomsticks. Improving flight ability had significant meaning for real combat in such situations. Like in the Triwizard Tournament, Harry could manoeuvre against the Hungarian Horntail using his broomstick. When facing wizards, this advantage could be further amplified. Even then, Harry's flying skills might not have reached Diamond tier in the system's evaluation. If he could obtain Diamond-tier flight ability now, he'd be even more formidable in wilderness and sea environments. Not to mention the upcoming Quidditch finals. This Diamond-tier ability might not seem to bring immediate dramatic changes, but its effects would definitely be excellent. As for Levitation Charm derivation ability, for him it meant the Levitation-Suspension-Impact combination magic he'd previously conceived now had the possibility for perfection. Later, he might create a series of other derivative magics based on the Levitation Charm. At the same time, he hadn't forgotten that his cultivated Devil's Snare had a reward for increasing the chain count of binding and control spells. Levitation Charm combinations and derivative magic, combined with increased chain counts, might produce qualitative changes in effects. Becoming group control and group attack magic! This was quite rare among the magical world's many spells. Very worthy of investment. But what he anticipated most was Ancient Weather Magic. He'd already encountered the eerie Ancient Shadow Magic. Whether in power or eeriness, it had left a deep impression on him. Ancient Weather Magic was a reward that appeared with Diamond-tier Elber Tree. He believed its tier should be above Ancient Shadow Magic. Moreover, Ancient Weather Magic's use should be purely destructive. If he could truly master it, he might gain a killer move even more powerful than Sectumsempra. Various thoughts flashed through his mind, but soon, Occlumency activated, and the distracting thoughts in his heart instantly vanished. His mind became clear and lucid. "The Elber Tree's maturation still has two days. I can't immerse myself in fantasies. Two days isn't long, but it's not short either... I can still accomplish many things. Better stay grounded and do the current tasks well." The next moment, he took out a Portkey. This time, he didn't need to fly directly down from the sky. As the Portkey activated, a whirling sensation came over him. He returned to Sprout Island. His gaze fell on the cleared fields. His eyes moved slightly, sensing the vigorous life force contained in the soil. "The fertilising potion's effects seem to have fully manifested. The soil condition has reached its peak. We can begin cultivation." Hearing his words, Eugene and the trolls who came over all showed joy in their eyes. These past days, they'd been hoping daily to plant soon. This was their future homeland. No one wanted to see this land bearing abundant fruit more than they did. Soon, the trolls sat in rows, surrounding him in the middle, showing unprecedented obedience and seriousness. Eugene squeezed between the trolls' gaps, watching him with burning eyes. He took out the Puking Pastilles to demonstrate how to process them. "Puking Pastilles are tuber-planted vegetation. Just cut them into several pieces, bury them about twenty centimetres in the soil, then keep the soil moist and loose. At most a month and a bit, new Puking Pastilles will break through the soil and mature with fruit." He explained slowly. At the same time, his gaze fell on the Puking Pastilles. "As for how to divide Puking Pastilles. You need to sense the internal magical power distribution. Puking Pastilles have some magical nodes inside. The cut tubers must contain these magical nodes to grow new Puking Pastilles..." Then he carefully sensed the magical power in the Puking Pastille in his hand. His eyes immediately showed some joy. These Puking Pastilles from Drear Island seemed to have been carefully tended even after the island's wizards became Quintapeds. After all, Quintapeds sealed on the island had long since lost any other food sources. They could only survive on Puking Pastilles. No matter how much they disliked these fruits, they still had to cultivate them well. This made these Puking Pastilles even better quality than he had expected. One Puking Pastille actually contained eight or nine magical nodes. This meant one Puking Pastille could grow eight or nine more! Planting like this, the first harvest would easily feed all trolls on the island with plenty to spare. By the next harvest, even ten more trolls would be more than manageable. His heart stirred. It was time to seek more troll settlements in the Forbidden Forest. Devil's Snare production increase wouldn't be far off. The magical perception that had troubled him so long should also be broken through. While he pondered, Eugene was gesticulating to teach the completely bewildered trolls. For trolls, understanding how to plant Puking Pastilles was quite difficult. Especially sensing those magical nodes... this wasn't something trolls were good at. After teaching for a while, Eugene gave up with a palm to his forehead. "Forget it, forget it. You just do the heavy labour." Then he snapped his fingers. A pile of Puking Pastilles immediately floated up, neatly divided into regular pieces according to their magical node distribution. For house-elves, such operations were completely routine. Only then did Eugene hand these divided Puking Pastilles to the trolls. "Leave the heavy work of tilling to you." The trolls showed happy expressions, growling continuously. Then they carefully took these Puking Pastilles, dug up soil, gently placed them in, and softly swept their large palms to cover them with earth. Seeing this scene of stark contrast, he felt quite emotional. Everyone said trolls were savage, brutal magical creatures. Who could imagine trolls had this side? No matter how low their intelligence, trolls had emotions. They knew to cherish their land and harvest. It was just that for so long, no one had been willing to give trolls a homeland. Then he shook his head, also waving his wand. One by one, Puking Pastilles were divided and evenly distributed into the fields. Unknowingly, fewer and fewer Puking Pastilles remained while more and more "small mounds" appeared in the fields. When the last piece of Puking Pastille was planted, the ten acres of land he and the others had cleared was mostly used up. Lines of prompts also appeared on his system panel. [You successfully planted Puking Pastilles] [Rewards available] Before his eyes also appeared dense reward orbs like an ocean tide. Though they were all very tiny now, at most a month and a bit when this batch of Puking Pastilles matured, the rewards they could bring him would definitely be extremely abundant! His eyes showed anticipation. Then his gaze fell on the remaining roughly two acres of land. Since Puking Pastilles, the crop related to "livelihood", was planted, he had to consider "cash crops". Mature Chizpurfle grass could bring quite a few Galleons. This could solve many of his resource problems, so he wouldn't need to trouble Aunt Sprout for everything in the future. Additionally, the mental enhancement rewards from Chizpurfle grass became even more important to him after experiencing Occlumency's benefits. Even if his Occlumency mastery didn't improve, just enhancing mental strength would greatly improve mental defences. But the bag of Chizpurfle grass seeds he had wasn't quite enough to fill these two acres of land. However, he had previously asked Aunt Sprout to help purchase Chizpurfle grass seeds. He believed he'd get another batch in a few days. Though the quality definitely wouldn't match seeds enhanced by Demeter's Chalice, they'd be fine for transitioning. After breeding better varieties from enhanced seeds, not only could he be self-sufficient in seeds, but the seeds themselves could be sold at high prices to Chizpurfle grass plantations for considerable profits. Thinking this, his lips curved into a smile. Promising prospects ahead! Then, in the idle, he opened the Half-Blood Prince textbook again, racing against time to read its contents. After Occlumency advanced to the Bronze tier, he felt his control over flow state had improved further. It was like his mental potential had been fully unleashed. Memory, focus, comprehension... all had made tremendous progress compared to before. Each reading session felt like absorbing knowledge every minute and second, constantly improving his foundation. This feeling was truly wonderful. It also made him somewhat understand why some genius wizards could possess unimaginable magical mastery in the first year. Like Dumbledore, Grindelwald, and Voldemort. Which one didn't easily possess far superior performance compared to peers in the first year? And this might relate to their talents in Legilimency. These three all possessed top-tier Legilimency talents. This meant their mental utilisation was beyond ordinary imagination. Learning efficiency far exceeded others. One year of study might absorb more knowledge than others' seven years. Combined with talents in other aspects, it would be strange if they weren't strong! Fortunately, he was gradually gaining such a genius talent configuration. Accompanied by the rustling of turning pages, every minute and second, the lustre on his spell texts on the system panel became more concentrated. Like substantial material. The foundation is continuously growing! Like this, for the next two days, he basically repeated this lifestyle. While continuing to guide Eugene and the trolls on maintaining fields, he seized every minute and second to study. Besides the Half-Blood Prince textbook, he also read through thick volumes from various subjects. As long as they were good books and classics, he accepted them all. Embracing all rivers, transforming them into his own foundation! In the blink of an eye, two days passed. While he was immersed in reading, owl wing-flapping sounds came from outside Sprout Island's protective magic. His heart stirred. "Someone sent me a letter?" He walked out of the protective magic. A letter fell into his hands. "From Cedric?" In the letter, Cedric mentioned something very important about the Quidditch finals, asking him to definitely come to the Quidditch pitch today. He narrowed his eyes slightly. Something important about the finals? Moments later, he wrote back. "Alright. I'll return to the Quidditch pitch this evening. See you then." Then he didn't rush back to Hogwarts. Instead, he looked toward the sky. His gaze became intense. "Two days have passed. The Elber Tree should be about ready." The next moment, he rode his Nimbus 2000 back up to the clouds, arriving at the familiar cloud layer. This time, the reward orb in the clouds had indeed become like ripened fruit. Diamond light brilliant and dazzling! He took a deep breath. His heartbeat couldn't help but accelerate. Then he reached out and lightly touched the orb. This most brilliant, dazzling reward orb he'd ever seen immediately merged into his body. Lines of prompts then burst forth on the system panel. [You cultivated a mature Elber Tree] [You gained reward: Flight Ability Enhancement (Diamond Tier)] [You gained reward: Levitation Charm Derivation Ability Enhancement (Platinum Tier)] [You gained reward: Ancient Weather Magic Minimal Insight (Black Iron Tier)]