With another level up, Leonard gained new innate skills and additional enhancement points.
The enhancement points were nothing special. Leonard immediately invested them into the next upgrade in the defense branch, granting him yet another layer of magic immunity.
By that point, every plant under Leonard's control could ignore and absorb four instances of magical power.
This upgrade could only be described as a transformation from quantity to quality, then back to quantity again.
Now, any wizard facing one of Leonard's plants would start questioning the meaning of life.
Still, what truly thrilled Leonard was the brand-new innate skill he had unlocked.
This skill allowed Leonard to share whatever he saw with the plants under his command. In other words, he could lock onto enemies with his own eyes and issue silent orders without uttering a single word.
That alone was impressive, but it wasn't the real highlight. The real value lay in combining it with his previous innate skill.
Leonard's earlier talent, [Forest's Eye], granted him sensory vision through all plants within range, letting him perceive every corner of the forest and gather real-time information.
When the two abilities worked together, Leonard gained the power to remotely control plants in real time and guide them directly toward their targets.
This was a qualitative leap.
He could even activate [Forest's Eye] from inside the castle itself, taking advantage of the dense forests surrounding Hogwarts to remotely command Chomping Cabbages to actively attack intruders.
"Now I'm actually strong," Leonard muttered under his breath. "With the right terrain, I could even wear down Voldemort or Dumbledore, those legendary wizards."
It was the first time he truly believed he could defeat them through sheer power.
Midgard and Claudia, who had been watching the entire time, had no idea Leonard was mentally planning ways to take down Voldemort and Dumbledore. All they noticed were the Chomping Cabbages constantly teleporting around him, sharp teeth flashing as they moved.
Claudia, still too innocent to understand what it meant, remained curious. Midgard, however, who had survived decades in the chaos of Knockturn Alley, immediately recognized how terrifying those cabbages were.
The last time she had seen Chomping Cabbages in action, whether it was biting or ambushing Fenrir, they had torn his leg into three pieces with a single bite. That included his most precious part.
Now, Midgard was certain that even a fully armed and thoroughly prepared Fenrir wouldn't survive an assault from these Chomping Cabbages.
They were born killers.
Thinking of this, Midgard pulled Claudia into her arms as the girl curiously reached out toward the hopping, blinking cabbages.
"Be careful, Claudia. They're dangerous."
Claudia didn't resist. She looked up at Midgard, confused.
"But they're really close to Leonard. They don't seem dangerous at all."
"Don't compare them to that guy," Midgard said, hugging her tighter. "He's a freak."
"Hey! I can hear you. Don't teach Claudia weird words."
Leonard rolled his eyes as he turned around. A faint green light spread across his gray pupils.
He was testing the simultaneous activation of [Forest's Eye] and [Shared Vision], trying to see what kind of effect their combination would produce.
As the abilities activated, the Chomping Cabbages that had been teleporting around chaotically suddenly froze. One by one, they turned and collectively "looked" at Midgard and Claudia.
Midgard: …
A chill crept through her bones.
These were plants. They didn't even have eyes. And yet, her instincts screamed that the Chomping Cabbages were staring straight at her through some incomprehensible perspective.
It wasn't just them. Every magical plant nearby gave her the same sensation. Even a distant tree outside the botanical garden seemed to be watching her.
It felt as though the entire forest had come alive.
If she hadn't sensed any hostility, Midgard was certain she would have panicked to death on the spot.
"What kind of ability is that?"
She picked up a clump of dirt and tossed it toward Leonard.
The dirt rolled twice beside him, and in an instant, all the gazes vanished, as if every plant had turned its attention to the clump instead.
"A form of shared vision," Leonard said with a smile. "I combine what I see with what the plants perceive, and everyone shares all the information within that range. It feels incredible, and there's no mental strain at all. I could keep this up for a long time."
"That sounds powerful," Midgard said thoughtfully. "You can command your plants from far away now. Your safety's basically guaranteed."
"Exactly," Leonard replied excitedly. "But I feel like it doesn't stop there."
A faint silver sheen flickered in his eyes.
Then came an even more exciting discovery.
While maintaining both [Forest's Eye] and [Shared Vision], Leonard could still activate Magical Sight.
That meant even someone using a Disillusionment Charm in the forest wouldn't be able to escape the plants' detection.
Unfortunately, Leonard couldn't remotely manipulate magical power itself. Otherwise, he could have tried personally controlling the plants to cast spells.
That was the limitation of the [Ability Sharing] talent.
Leonard assigned two spells to the Chomping Cabbages.
For the Chomping Cabbages enhanced with Dragon Blood, he prepared [Petrificus Totalus]. Professor Flitwick had taught him this spell privately during a tutoring session. Under normal circumstances, learning it would have required at least a third-year level.
For the Chomping Cabbages enhanced with Acromantula venom, Leonard prepared the Disillusionment Charm.
The Dragon Blood variants already had fire-breathing capabilities, making stealth unnecessary, so control-type magic suited them better. The venom-enhanced ones, on the other hand, were perfect for ambushes. They could sneak up, bite once, retreat, and let the poison do the rest while their victims suffered and died.
In short, the setup was designed to be utterly disgusting.
Leonard fully intended to make sure any illegal intruder met a swift and miserable end.
Seeing the excitement on Leonard's face, Midgard shivered, completely forgetting to ask what he meant by "it doesn't stop there."
Before long, the glow faded from Leonard's eyes. The Chomping Cabbages circled Midgard and Claudia once like playful puppies, then dispersed.
"Well?" Midgard asked. "Finished testing your new abilities?"
Leonard nodded with a smile.
"Now we just wait for the visitors to arrive."