On Sprout Island, when the North Sea Kraken used ancient magic in the depths to create a massive whirlpool, waves far taller than before could be seen from the shore. This demonstrated what tremendous power was churning beneath the sea.
Even Troll Priest Sirius, who firmly believed Ciel was the prophesied being, couldn't help showing worry. It felt the magical aura emanating from the seabed:
Ancient magic courses through the North Sea Kraken, which carries a trace of the Titan Giant bloodline. Known as one of the most promiscuous among all the Titan Giants, the former Sea God spread his lineage far and wide across the seas. It would be far more unusual for such a massive creature as the North Sea Kraken to lack such divine heritage. Indeed, it is precisely this power...
Sirius took a deep breath, feeling intense oppression. The deep seabed was a perfect environment for the Sea God bloodline to flourish. Combined with the North Sea Kraken's inherited ancient magic, which seemed more complete than what it had inherited from its own bloodline, this magic's power far exceeded its own ancient fire magic. Could he truly survive such magic?
This thought flashed through its mind. The next second, Sirius's entire body suddenly stiffened, its gaze frozen on the seabed: "What, is that?!"
At this moment, the same exclamation was uttered by the North Sea Kraken in the depths. It had clearly felt he had truly reached his limit and was about to withdraw this ancient magic.
Though they had fought before, after discovering he likely possessed the Titan Giant bloodline, the North Sea Kraken somewhat regarded him as a distant relative. Plus, he occasionally fed it quite tasty blood. The North Sea Kraken was happy staying near Sprout Island and naturally didn't want him to actually die from training.
But just then, it felt a trembling crisis emanating from within the whirlpool, approaching what it had felt facing Lady Hufflepuff years ago. Especially when, the next second, a skeletal arm emerged from the whirlpool and gently tore it apart. The whirlpool created by ancient magic was directly shredded.
If not for his swaying figure emerging from the whirlpool, the North Sea Kraken would truly suspect something horrible had emerged. It would have spouted ink and fled.
Now, looking at him, it couldn't help exclaiming: "Kid, what exactly did you do?!"
His gaze fell on the system panel, looking at the new trait brought by Legendary Strength's sublimation, Unyielding Strength.
[Legendary Strength Sublimation Trait: Unyielding Strength]
[The more desperate the situation, the stronger the power — can increase strength up to one sublimation level]
Brilliant light flashed in his eyes. Like Legendary Life's previous sublimation trait: simple, brutal, powerful! Especially for the combat-orientated Legendary Strength ability, this post-sublimation trait truly gave him tremendous surprise.
Previously in the whirlpool, already battered, he had truly approached his limit. But precisely then, the Unyielding Strength sublimation trait was triggered to its extreme. He saw the system panel's Legendary Strength blazing brilliantly, briefly soaring to the second sublimation level.
Each sublimation at the Legendary level marked another step toward the Mythical level. The later the stage, the greater the improvement from sublimation, possibly exceeding all previous advancement totals!
He truly experienced this. Casual movements generated power that easily shredded the North Sea Kraken's ancient magic. The only pity was this power came and went quickly. As his body rapidly healed under Legendary Life, Unyielding Strength's enhancement plummeted cliff like, soon approaching zero.
His strength returned to post the first sublimation Legendary Strength level. Though still much stronger than before sublimation, compared to just now, there was no comparison.
After taking a deep breath, he recovered from this huge contrast. What he saw was the North Sea Kraken's extremely serious, earnest gaze:
"Hey, little wizard. Do you have a family tree? Why don't you check if your ancestors might be some Olympian era main god? How could this era have such a dense Titan Giant bloodline, letting you display this level of power? Though still inferior to the former Four Founders, at your age, you might surpass them in ten or twenty years."
Hearing the North Sea Kraken's words, a strange light flashed in his eyes. The Four Founders' strength had always been mysterious. Even in his previous life, many readers had varied opinions, some saying the Four Founders were far inferior to Voldemort and Dumbledore, others claiming they were equal, while some insisted the Four Founders would dominate modern wizards. But no one had decisive evidence.
After all, in the original story, the Four Founders' era was a thousand years ago, with scant remaining records. But now, North Sea Kraken had actually fought Lady Hufflepuff. Its words had considerable reference value.
His previous explosive power had reached the second sublimation Legendary Strength level. Yet the North Sea Kraken still believed he had obvious gaps compared to Lady Hufflepuff's power level, needing ten to twenty years to potentially surpass them.
By this estimate, Lady Hufflepuff's magical abilities, according to system evaluation, should be Legendary level after three sublimations. The other three Founders should be at this level too, though with varying progress.
Godric Gryffindor and Salazar Slytherin, the two strongest Founders, should have advanced much further in the three sublimation domains. They likely possessed multiple three-sublimation abilities and might have stood only one step away from the Mythical level.
But the chasm from Legendary to Mythical was insurmountable. The Four Founders definitely had no Mythical level existence. By this logic, Voldemort and Dumbledore should also be in the three sublimation domains.
But Dumbledore wielded the Elder Wand, obviously a Mythical level item. In strength, Dumbledore might surpass even the former Four Founders, being closer to Mythical level.
After personally experiencing Legendary ability gaps, he gradually gained clear assessment of his gap with the magical world's peak combat power. Still far too distant. He currently only had two first sublimation Legendary abilities. But those peak existences – who knew how many such abilities they possessed?
Yet he showed no frustration, only fervour and anticipation. Seeing gaps was better than not seeing them. Moreover, from the original story, Dumbledore and Voldemort's strength hadn't changed much in recent years, indicating even such prodigious talents found it difficult to advance from third sublimation to the Mythical level.
But as long as he continued planting, perhaps he would enter the Mythical domain first.
After surviving this first year, he would have several years of peaceful development. Regardless of what Quirrell arranged in the Forbidden Forest, after experiencing Legendary Strength's sublimation, he had absolute confidence in handling it.
After all, who could imagine this magically weak first year little badger, including his physical body, could already glimpse Voldemort and Dumbledore's silhouettes?
Thinking this, his previous unease from the Philosopher's Stone plot completely dissipated. "Indeed, strength is the source of confidence."
With various distracting thoughts dispersed, he surfaced. When his figure appeared in the trolls' and house elf's vision, after a momentary silence came mountain toppling, sea shaking cheers. Nearly a hundred trolls roared with thunderous feeling.
Even Troll Priest Sirius couldn't help raising its staff high, roaring with boiling blood: "Groonk! Groonk!"
No doubt remained in its heart, only fanaticism. In this fanatical atmosphere, he felt the mental pupil at his brow, which appeared due to a greatly enhanced sixth sense, grow numb and open automatically.
He immediately saw, among countless chaotic lines and colours, pure threads extending toward him. Then he had a thought and took out Demeter's Chalice. Indeed, these threads flowed into the chalice.
Seeing this previously unseen phenomenon, he showed surprise: "Could this be the faith power I previously speculated Demeter's Chalice needed to absorb? Unexpectedly, enhanced sixth sense and opened mental pupil brought such change. No wonder legends say Olympian era divine priests all had extraordinarily keen perception."
Now he looked at the Protean Fruit planted on Sprout Island with undisguised fervour. His great efforts bringing these from Delia Island, even facing that strange temple's corruption and leaving a suspected "divine" enemy, were worthwhile. Just this harvest's gains were already valuable.
Now, harvesting these Protean Fruit and using root division could plant larger areas. Though most flat land on Sprout Island was cultivated, other terrain wasn't ideal, but with troll strength, levelling ravines wasn't problematic.
Conservatively, the next Protean Fruit batch could at least double production! Moreover, his Demeter Chalice blessing ability for improving seed quality had cooled down. With a massive faith power influx, he felt this blessing could enhance far more seeds than when blessing Charapa Grass previously. This meant the next Protean Fruit batch would contain many Bronze level reward orbs. The benefits were obvious.
Then, as troll cheers gradually subsided, he announced: "Today is Protean Fruit harvest day. This batch, besides portions reserved for replanting, is enough to fill all trolls' bellies. On Sprout Island, you won't need to toil for food or endure hunger and cold in winter snow. Though Protean Fruit doesn't taste good, I promise to fill your stomachs today. Soon, I'll provide more delicious food. Bread will come, milk too!"
Simple words touched the trolls' hearts. Current life, free from danger and hunger, without worrying about poachers constantly hunting trolls, even playing in water and eating fish and shrimp – this was paradise.
How wonderful must his described vision be? Momentarily, the trolls' eyes filled with happiness and longing. Priest Sirius looked dazed, tears in its eyes. Previously, it truly thought the troll race would completely degenerate to little better than beasts. Restoring their noble bloodline's glory seemed empty talk. But now, hope appeared again.
Just then, at his command, trolls carefully harvested mature Protean Fruit from fields, placing them in huge rope woven sacks. Each full sack made trolls hum happily; these were blessings their king granted them.
He then waved his wand, holding Demeter's Chalice, chanting Demeter Ritual Magic in this celebratory atmosphere:
"Cantate ovantes, seges alta viret!"
"Cantate ovantes, seges alta viret!"
"Fertility blessing."
"Sing joyfully, crops grow tall!"
Then bright silver light rose from Demeter's Chalice, sprinkling on specially selected superior Protean Fruit before him, Demeter's Chalice blessing effect that could improve crop quality!
With silver light falling, he saw numerous notification messages:
[You obtained Protean Fruit blessed by Demeter Ritual Magic, with improved quality.]
[When cultivated to maturity, grants reward: Endurance Enhancement (Bronze Level)]
His eyes sparkled brilliantly. As expected, under blessing, Protean Fruit rewards improved from Iron to Bronze level. The only pity was no new reward types emerged.
But this wasn't strange; the Bronze level crops with multiple rewards were extremely rare. Moreover, he discovered these Bronze level Protean Fruits gave him another pleasant surprise. These blessed Protean Fruit had dramatically more magical nodes than Iron level ones.
This meant these blessed Protean Fruit could divide into more tubers, growing more Bronze level Protean Fruit. At this rate, within a year, all Protean Fruit on Sprout Island could reach Bronze level!
Such improvement seemed far more valuable than barely Iron level new rewards. He entrusted this blessed Protean Fruit batch to Troll Priest Sirius, instructing careful cultivation. Sirius nodded solemnly and repeatedly.
Then its gaze fell on his Demeter Chalice. After hesitation, Sirius carefully enquired: "My King, is this the Olympian fertility goddess Demeter's chalice?"
He was slightly stunned, not expecting this question from Sirius. As far as he knew, previously Sirius's magical knowledge came almost entirely from fragmented bloodline memories. Even inherited ancient magic only contained one runic script. How would it know about Demeter's Chalice?
After he asked this question, Sirius replied in surprise: "My King, didn't you give me an alchemy book previously? Demeter's Chalice, as an object many alchemists imitated, is frequently mentioned in the book. Though I didn't expect Demeter's Chalice to be so large. But judging by effects, only Demeter's Chalice could have such miraculous efficacy."
Sirius's answer made him even more bewildered. He had indeed given Sirius an alchemy book, the one he had borrowed from the Restricted Section, filled with countless genius wizards' despairing wails, where even Snape had failed: "Introduction to Alchemy."
When bringing this book to Sirius, he hadn't expected it to actually learn anything. This alchemy introduction's difficulty was simply too high. He had found it like reading hieroglyphs. It was just to occupy Sirius's time at its request.
How did Sirius now sound like it had considerable alchemy insight? He couldn't help asking: "Sirius, how much of this book have you read?"
Sirius sighed shamefully: "My King granted such precious alchemy learning opportunity. I'm truly unworthy." Then it held up three fingers: "Time was too short. I only read it three times back and forth. Barely understood everything mentioned."
Sirius carefully asked: "My King, do I still have the opportunity to learn deeper alchemy? Is my talent too dull?"
His expression stiffened. He had also read this book! Forget finishing it, he couldn't understand a single word from page one. Yet Sirius, in such a short time, had read it three times thoroughly and mastered it? What alchemy talent was this?!
Then he had a thought, recalling a possibility. According to Sirius, the troll bloodline originated from the Olympian-era fire god Hephaestus. He was also the renowned blacksmith god and sculpture god. In ancient alchemy, Hephaestus was the undisputed pinnacle.
Half the gods' artefacts were forged by Hephaestus. Hephaestus even used alchemy to create Mythical level seeds. His alchemy mastery reached incredible heights.
Could Sirius's alchemy talent come from its fire god bloodline, surpassing so many Hogwarts genius students? But he wasn't jealous of Sirius's alchemy talent; he was rather quite excited. Alchemy was profound and extensive, while he had already spent an enormous amount of time on Herbology. Expecting deep alchemy research was impossible.
If Sirius could achieve something in this area, it would be good news for him. Forces with alchemists were rare in the magical world. This profession was practically a money printer. One alchemist represented endless wealth and resources!
Moreover, he looked at his Demeter Chalice. This chalice helped his planting considerably, but its damage was too severe. Previously he wondered if he could find a reliable alchemist for repair. But compared to exposing the chalice's risks, until finding absolutely trustworthy alchemists, he preferred burying this idea.
But now, was Sirius possible? He handed the chalice to Sirius: "Look, can this chalice be restored to original condition? Or even slightly recovering some power would work."
Sirius saw the chalice, eyes brightening as he carefully received it. Rough fingers gently traced the chalice's surface patterns. As if memories surfaced from the bloodline, its eyes became dazed:
"Ah, yes. Ancestor's unparalleled craftsmanship forged this incredible chalice. I seem to see ancestor's figure on Mount Olympus. Enormous furnace, massive hammer, brilliant mithril, years of forging, peak ancient alchemy techniques, creating this nearly indestructible chalice. But time changed, and this chalice suffered such damage?"
Sirius showed complete regret. His eyes flashed as he enquired, "Is repair possible?"
Sirius nodded, then shook its head: "Let me continue studying alchemy. With what I just saw in bloodline visions, technique wise, there's slight possibility of repairing some patterns. But materials needed for chalice repair probably no longer exist in this world."
This disappointment was like cold water for him. But immediately, Sirius's words gave him hope again: "But there are alternative methods. One thing could substitute many precious, lost materials. With it and time, I hope to repair the chalice somewhat."
His eyes lit up: "What is it?"
The next moment, Sirius said solemnly: "An incredible alchemy creation... The Philosopher's Stone."