Chapter 86: Experiment, Plotting

Seeing the Goldfish Vine in Ciel's hand, the troll, already lying on the ground, showed fear in its small eyes. It still remembered eating a few pots of Goldfish Vines last time and getting a severe beating from Ciel as a result. The pain from having its bones broken by the bat was still fresh in its memory, causing the troll to instinctively move away, trying to distance itself from the plant. Ciel, however, frowned with authority. "Did I say you could move? Stay right there!" Under Ciel's threatening gaze, the troll immediately began to tremble. It cowered in place, looking pitiful, weak, and helpless. Ciel approached it step by step, his frown deepening. The reason was simple. He had thought that getting close to the troll would trigger a reaction from the Goldfish Vine, just as it became noticeably more active when near Neville or Hannah. But now, the distance was close enough, yet the Goldfish Vine remained unchanged. It showed no signs of any anomaly, let alone a rapid maturation like the one he had witnessed in the troll's hand before. This confused Ciel. Could his theory be wrong? Did trolls actually have no catalytic effect on Goldfish Vines? Then how could he explain the previous scene? "Does the troll need to make contact with the Goldfish Vine?" Considering this possibility, Ciel continued to approach the troll. "Behave yourself. Open your hand. If you dare to damage my Goldfish Vine, I'll beat you up again!" Hearing Ciel's threat, the troll extended its palm with a wronged expression. Ciel placed the Goldfish Vine in the troll's palm, even letting the plant make direct contact with its skin. However, this time, still nothing unusual happened. This made Ciel's brow furrow tightly. He was certain he hadn't seen wrong last time. The Goldfish Vine had indeed shown signs of rapid maturation after contact with the troll. So, compared to last time, what was the problem now? "Do I have to beat it up first?" Ciel's gaze fell upon the troll. The troll shivered, its small eyes welling up with large tears. Ciel shook his head, dismissing the idea of hitting the troll with his club again. "Forget it. I'll investigate other factors first. I'm not some kind of devil. Little badgers don't advocate for violence. If there's really no other way... then I'll give it a few whacks." Then, Ciel started to turn away. At that moment, Hagrid stepped forward to continue instructing the troll. He reminded it not to venture out of the Forbidden Forest towards Hogwarts, not to relieve itself wherever it pleased, and most importantly, "Take a bath! Do you have any idea how much you stink!" Hagrid repeated his instructions over and over. The troll just stared at Hagrid blankly, looking as if it was trying to remember. But Hagrid sighed. Everyone knew that with a troll's brain capacity, even if it could remember for this short period, it would forget everything in a few seconds. The memory of this magical creature was truly worrying; it could practically only remember things related to survival. He had to remind it of the same things multiple times a day. Just then, as Hagrid was about to lead Ciel away, he saw Ciel suddenly stop. Not only that, but Ciel turned around and looked at the troll with an astonished expression. He muttered to himself, "I see... so that's it! How could I not have thought of that?" Hagrid looked completely bewildered. In such a short time, what had Ciel figured out? At this moment, Ciel's gaze was fixed on the Goldfish Vine in his hand. The Goldfish Vine, which had only been planted a short while ago, was growing at an incredible speed. Its level of activity was even higher than when it was around the newly enrolled Neville! Ciel's eyes flickered with understanding. "With ordinary people, even someone as forgetful as Neville, their subconscious can still remember things. At the same time, they naturally forget some things subconsciously. That is to say, forgetting happens to everyone to a greater or lesser extent. So, as long as a Goldfish Vine is near a wizard, it can absorb the 'forgetfulness' it needs." His thoughts raced, connecting the dots. "But trolls are different from wizards. Their brain capacity is too small, so they can only firmly remember the most important things for survival. As for everything else, their brains simply can't store it. Empty, so how can there be forgetting? That's why, under normal circumstances, a Goldfish Vine near a troll can't absorb any 'forgetfulness'." He finally understood the key. "But last time, when I beat up the troll, it probably made it remember the survival rule of not provoking me and the Goldfish Vine, causing it to forget some other things at that moment. So that time, the Goldfish Vine was catalyzed and matured faster. And this time, it wasn't until Hagrid started repeating his instructions that the Goldfish Vine finally began to absorb nutrients, as those instructions were instantly forgotten." With these thoughts flashing, Ciel finally understood. He knew how to use trolls to cultivate Goldfish Vines. The next moment, Ciel looked at the troll and commanded it. "Memorize this word for me. Abandon." The troll looked at Ciel blankly. "Ah... Aba-aba..." Immediately after, the Goldfish Vine seemed to have consumed a powerful tonic. Its maturation speed increased rapidly! Ciel's eyes lit up with joy. By this estimation, this single troll could probably double the current production of Goldfish Vines! And what was the key? Neville and Hannah's forgetfulness was temporary. As they grew older and experienced more, they would mature. The amount of 'forgetfulness' they could provide would decrease. This trend was already beginning to show. But trolls, their forgetfulness was truly innate. They could continuously provide a large amount of 'forgetfulness' that wouldn't diminish over time. In a sense, when it came to cultivating Goldfish Vines, the troll species were absolute geniuses, even stronger than Neville! Ciel took a deep breath. Even the foul stench of the troll in the air didn't seem so unbearable now. A thought even emerged in his mind. One troll could double the current yield of Goldfish Vines. What if there were many trolls? In the original story, Quirrell didn't just get one troll on Halloween night. The protective enchantment he set up for the Philosopher's Stone also had one. It couldn't have been transported from somewhere else; it must have been caught from the Forbidden Forest. That meant there was definitely more than one troll in the Forbidden Forest. There might even be a troll settlement! Immediately, Ciel asked Hagrid, "Hagrid, do the trolls in the Forbidden Forest live in groups?" Hagrid, familiar with the Forbidden Forest, immediately gave an affirmative answer. "That's right. I saw that bunch once. Merlin's beard, that place was like hell on earth. The stench almost knocked me out. Good thing they wander around the forest lookin' for food. Otherwise, if they stayed in one place, I reckon the ground there would be too stinky for anything to grow." Hearing this, Ciel's face lit up with joy. "Can you help me find them? Hagrid, this is very important to me." When Hagrid heard this, his little kinsman was asking for his help? Just for this small matter? He immediately puffed out his chest and declared, "What's the big deal? No problem. But those trolls have no brains. Who knows where they'll wander off to from one day to the next. It'll take me some time to find their tracks." Hearing Hagrid's words, Ciel felt relieved. Right now, the silver luster of his Magical Perception Enhancement had already reached a certain intensity. After the next harvest of Goldfish Vines, it would definitely advance to the Gold Tier. But after advancing to Gold, the stacking effect of Black Iron Tier rewards would gradually weaken. More Goldfish Vines would be needed to continue stacking it higher. This meant that the rapid improvement of Ciel's magic perception would gradually enter a plateau. This was bad news for his Potion-making, Herbology, and even his spellcasting. But if he could find a group of trolls, tame them, and have them cultivate Goldfish Vines for him, this would no longer be a problem. However, all this depended on news from Hagrid. The Forbidden Forest was vast; finding a group of trolls wouldn't be easy. It might even take a month or two. Ciel slowly calmed his racing heart. Regardless of the outcome of the search for the trolls, a Gold-Tier Magic Perception was within his grasp. This much was certain. By then, he should be able to attempt brewing the Sacred Tree Potion and proceed with the next stage of cultivating the Guardian Tree. However, his Soil-Loosening Charm was still a bit short of the Gold Tier. "I can't neglect my current work for a potential future gain. I need to keep practicing. The Soil-Loosening Charm is close to Gold Tier... it's coming soon." In a flash, another two days passed. [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