When Ciel's flesh and blood was fed into the voodoo doll's mouth, the doll that had been on the verge of dissipation suddenly widened its eyes. This flesh contained unimaginable life force. Was this really for it? Had this crazy exploiter actually shown kindness?
But before the voodoo doll could recover from its shock, it instinctively and greedily absorbed this flesh and blood. Originally having dissipated more than half with only its head remaining, this cursed object began slowly regenerating as it devoured his flesh.
Not only did its body rapidly restore to completeness, but its originally cloth and paper-formed body actually began taking on flesh-like texture. In the blink of an eye, the voodoo doll had truly become a miniature flesh-and-blood puppet.
But compared to before, this flesh-and-blood version emanated even more eerie sensations. Because this body was entirely translucent with inhuman pallor, with much stronger curse magic coiling around it than before. It looked exactly like a "ghost infant".
Now the voodoo doll showed particular affection toward Ciel. After a giggle, it burrowed into his clothes. Disappearing along with it was all the flesh he had given it. Only he could hear the crunching, chewing sounds in his ears.
This scene that would horrify others barely fazed him. The voodoo doll had only consumed about a finger's worth of flesh. The pile of "snacks" he'd given it today would probably last quite a while. This appetite he could still afford.
Compared to the voodoo doll's consumption, the benefits it brought him were significant. For instance, under its curse magic's influence, his Serpensortia spell, which had fallen below Diamond level due to cursed jewellery destruction, had climbed back to Diamond level.
Moreover, as the voodoo doll's curse magic continued strengthening, it was foreseeable that before long, his Serpensortia strength might even surpass what it had been with numerous cursed jewellery pieces.
Sensing the continuously growing curse magic on the voodoo doll, he showed some surprise: "Though still far from matching all those cursed jewellery pieces combined, it already exceeds what single cursed jewellery could provide."
"This is just from eating one finger. If it continues eating twenty or thirty fingers, this voodoo doll might become an unprecedented cursed object in the magical world. Given enough time, 'Curse King' might not be too grand a title."
He nodded with satisfaction. Trading meaningless flesh for such a powerful tool was an excellent bargain.
Then his attention turned to this harvest's final gain, the unfinished paper Quirrell had transmitted to his mind. Previously he had only glanced at the title and already sensed Quirrell's enormous ambition in this paper. Now he read more carefully.
Long after, when he came to his senses, his eyes couldn't help flickering with amazement. Quirrell had truly proposed a bold idea.
He believed that if troll priests truly existed, it proved trolls were indeed Titan Giant bloodline descendants. Theoretically, every troll's body contained more or less Titan Giant blood, meaning they all possessed possibilities of returning to Titan Giant ancestry.
If one could select trolls generation by generation, choosing those with the highest bloodline concentrations for breeding, perhaps Titan Giant bloodline concentration could gradually accumulate. At minimum, this could greatly increase troll priest appearance possibilities. They might even extract pure Titan Giant bloodlines through massive amounts of blood!
If only this much, it would still remain within academic research scope. But Quirrell's subsequent vision was rather jaw-dropping.
He believed that once pure Titan Giant bloodlines were extracted, they should be popularised among wizards. Thus those despicable fools would finally be extinct. Without those fools' shackles, wizards would be great again.
Seeing the "grand ambitions" revealed in Quirrell's paper, he felt wistful. Originally he'd thought Quirrell was just unlucky, too confident in seeking Voldemort's soul and getting instantly controlled.
But now it seemed that even in alternate timelines where Quirrell never encountered Voldemort, if he'd followed his vision and begun Titan Giant ancestry experiments, any achievements would probably cause tremendous upheaval in the magical world. Rotting in Azkaban would probably be Quirrell's best ending.
Talented enough to succeed, talented enough to fail.
Shaking his head slightly, he dismissed his sentiments. Though not approving Quirrell's ambitions, he was still interested in his troll bloodline improvement proposals.
After all, he'd witnessed Sirius's strength. Ancient magic's overwhelming power would be difficult to match without his strong resistance. In some sense, Sirius was even stronger than elite Auror-transformed Quintapeds. Moreover, inheriting Fire God bloodlines, it had outstanding alchemical talent. Having several more such beings would greatly benefit him.
But most of Quirrell's proposals took too long. Like generational bloodline concentration improvement requiring decades to show results. With that time, he could reach unimaginable levels just through planting.
However, one approach made him thoughtful. This was a direction Quirrell proposed after deeply studying troll habits.
He believed trolls universally showed extremely strong preferences for Goldfish Plant, perhaps because Goldfish Plant's memory potion-making properties allowed trolls to faintly acquire some inherited memories from their bloodlines, slightly activating them.
But ordinary Goldfish Plant's effects were too weak. Even eating mountain-sized piles would barely affect Titan Giant bloodline activation. But if excellent Goldfish Plant varieties could be selected or more powerful substitutes found, this might have some feasibility.
His eyes flickered thoughtfully. Goldfish Plant? He hadn't considered that trolls' Goldfish Plant preferences might have such implications. Quirrell's hypothesis gave him some inspiration. For him, this might be the most feasible approach.
But the difficulties were obvious. Improving Goldfish Plant varieties to greatly enhance their effects was also an extremely challenging topic.
To obtain small quantities of such plants, there were some methods. Like previous life's agricultural laboratories that could improve small batches under specific conditions regardless of cost. But the gap between laboratory and batch, stable cultivation was vast. Improving Goldfish Plant varieties followed the same principle.
For instance, he could use Demeter's Blessing to elevate some Goldfish Plant seeds to Bronze level. But to achieve Titan Giant bloodline activation in trolls would require substantial quantities. Even using all his blessing attempts would be inadequate.
To truly solve this problem required stable, efficient, repeatable variety improvement methods.
Thinking this, he took a deep breath: "Not only does attempting Quirrell's paper vision require developing such improvement methods, but this also relates to my own magical advancement."
"My magical talent is still too low. Margaret and Goldfish Plant, these two magical herbs that respectively improve my magical strength and perception, show increasingly diminished effects on me."
"Previously harvesting so many Goldfish Plant rounds with such effort barely raised my magical perception to Platinum level. To continue advancing to Diamond-level magical perception while relying on these Black Iron-level reward orbs would require dozens or even hundreds of times more quantity."
"For Epic level, who knows how many would be needed. But if Goldfish Plant varieties could be improved to reach Bronze-level rewards, required reward orb quantities would immediately decrease significantly. The earlier I master such methods, the greater my benefits."
He concentrated in thought, recalling his ongoing attempts. Using Hover Charms to find superior traits in Margaret plants, researching dark magic transfiguration's flesh modification hoping to artificially create mass-cultivatable seeds, curse studies' directional guidance, plus consistently selecting superior plant seeds after each harvest for artificial selection.
He currently had many approaches, but none seemed achievable overnight. All required substantial time and energy with extensive trial and error. Were there ways to reduce required experimentation time?
After hesitating briefly, he suddenly smiled freely, shaking his head and sighing: "Too many shortcuts taken. I forgot this world doesn't have so many shortcuts available."
"Especially in agricultural fields, even the most brilliant geniuses must honestly farm. In my previous life, even geniuses like Yuan Longping devoted heart and soul to improving plant varieties through tireless cultivation. What about me?"
"There aren't so many quick methods. The only way is starting early. Beginning one day earlier means finishing one day sooner. Methods are found through diligent hard work."
His gaze brightened, falling on the greenhouse fields. Long untended, they were somewhat messy. First tidy the greenhouse, then plan future research directions.
Then he calmed his mind, waving his wand to carefully and seriously tend the soil and trim plant branches. As his wand moved, the two planting spells, Soil Loosening and Pruning, flickered with light on his system panel.
Enhanced by [Demeter's Craft], both had reached Diamond level. The sensations they brought while casting were particularly refined. Between wand flourishes, he already showed hints of Professor Sprout's style.
Operations he'd thought nearly perfect could now improve further. With his spellcasting, greenhouse plants seemed to emanate increasingly joyful, vibrant feelings.
His eyes also showed delight, immersed in long-missed cultivation. The countless heart-stopping, bizarre experiences of this period, the ripples they'd stirred in his heart, were gradually smoothed peacefully on this land.
His heart settled like fertile earth, steady and patient, nurturing future harvests.
As the sky gradually darkened, Professor Sprout hurried toward the greenhouse. Seeing his busy figure inside, her eyes filled with helplessness: "This child just woke up not long ago and came to work in the greenhouse. Don't even know if his body's recovered."
But then, watching his wand flourish as he patiently cast planting spell after planting spell, Professor Sprout felt quite pleased. After some time apart, his herbology foundations had improved significantly beyond her memory. This delighted her considerably.
After all, herbologists might not need strong foundations to achieve some results through creative ideas and fortunate circumstances. Like him, whose various innovations and coincidences had produced several variant plants. In terms of top publications, he could publish five or six papers.
But at Professor Sprout's level, she increasingly understood that continuing upward in the master's domain without solid foundations was truly difficult. Those genuinely profound topics, like ancient plant cultivation, had almost perverted requirements for herbology fundamentals.
Sometimes soil-loosening spells being slightly off or pruning spells having tiny deviations would waste all other preparations. Building good foundations was most important when first encountering herbology.
Otherwise, as one aged, habits would solidify unnoticeably and become extremely difficult to change. Moreover, except for a few wizards, most wizards' magical strength and perception declined with age.
Precise operations possible when young might become very difficult when older. The golden time for achieving results wasn't actually long. If one spent their productive years compensating for foundations, that would be luxurious waste.
Therefore, seeing his current solid herbology foundations delighted Professor Sprout even more than seeing him cultivate new variant plants. Even she had only achieved such foundations in fifth year. Yet he had reached such herbology mastery by the first year's end.
Continuing this development, his herbology achievements might reach levels even Professor Sprout would admire.
But after a brief sentiment, Professor Sprout caught a gap to gently wake the work-absorbed Ciel: "Ciel, put work aside for now. Tonight has something very important."
Hearing this, he was first stunned, then realised what she meant. Calculating time, Harry should also be awake by now. So tonight's "very important matter" was...
"The House Cup?!"