Inside the ornate box appeared before Ciel's eyes... seeds again, and quite oddly shaped ones. At first glance, they gave one the feeling these were definitely not plant seeds from the current era but should be older and more powerful. Like the Whomping Willow!
His eyes showed so strangeness. "These should be ancient plant seeds Bogey Lockman collected." But after a mont, he shook his head again. "Unfortunately, they've all lost vitality. All in specin state. Apart from collection value, even Herbology masters can't bring them back to life."
He had seen many similar ancient plant seed specins at Professor Sprout's... probably a whole wall's worth. Professor Sprout had also told him these things were perfect gifts among herbologists. Almost every Herbology master would stockpile so specins. If he liked them, he could collect dozens like chocolate frog cards.
He hadn't expected Bogey Lockman to value them so highly, keeping them in such an exquisite box when they were just specins. After a mont, he understood.
"Right. For Herbology masters, such specins are rare but not difficult to obtain. Through social exchanges, they naturally accumulate many. But for Bogey Lockman, who desperately wanted to beco a Herbology master but couldn't, imitating the collection behaviors of real masters wasn't incomprehensible. Like so people in past lives who tried desperately to squeeze into circles they didn't belong to, paying special attention to what that circle ate, drank, and played with. Imitating such behavior seed to make them feel they belonged too."
He shook his head, still feeling regret. When first seeing these ancient plant seeds, he'd had so hope, thinking he might get lucky and find a seed with remaining vitality. But he knew finding ancient plant seeds with vitality wasn't easy.
According to Professor Sprout, only annual young Herbology award winners evaluated as exceptionally outstanding by the Herbology Association might be rewarded with one active ancient plant seed. This was to encourage young scholars to tackle these challenges. Imaginably rare. Bogey Lockman's chances of obtaining one were really low.
But looking at this box, he felt sothing was strange. Though Bogey Lockman wasn't a Herbology master but a rogue who only wrote critical articles, even wanting to squeeze into Herbology master circles wouldn't warrant what Eugene described... spending ti alone with this box daily, allowing no one near.
This box of specins might not even be worth more than the exquisite box itself. Sothing seed wrong. This sense of discord made him look more carefully at the box again.
"Bogey Lockman's behavior isn't normal. Unless... There's sothing else hidden in this box. Even these specins are surface camouflage. The box's real secret made him not dare reveal anything, only daring to secretly appreciate it alone."
Thoughts flashed through his mind as he picked up the box again, examining it carefully. But whether visually or by weight, nothing seed wrong. Not even a suspicious crack was visible. After long contemplation, he asked Eugene.
"Before and after Bogey Lockman approached this box, did he show any unusual behavior? Any unusual behavior at all."
After struggling to recall, Eugene said hesitantly, "Seems like every ti Bogey Lockman ca out, he'd have prepare hemostatic potions. But he often used dark magic to modify seeds, so hemostatic potions were daily necessities. I don't know if this counts as unusual."
Eugene's words made his eyes flash slightly. Hemostatic potions? Needed every ti after finishing contact with the box? Could it be blood?
He recalled rumors he'd heard occasionally. Originally, entering Gringotts underground vaults required vault owners to drop blood on doors to pass protective magic. Though inconvenient, this protection was maximally secure. No disguise magic or potions could pass this final barrier.
But later sothing happened... thieves wanting to break into underground vaults actually found vault owners, brutally killing them for blood. Though ultimately repelled by Gringotts, after this incident, ancient family mbers pressured Gringotts to cancel such blood protection asures, fearing future vault breakers might target them.
"Could it be... Bogey Lockman's design on this box was similar blood protection? But Bogey Lockman is already dead... where to find his blood now?"
He frowned slightly. While thinking, his gaze suddenly fell on the seeds modified by Dark Magic Transfiguration nearby. His mind found direction.
"These seeds were all modified by Bogey Lockman. aning they were all soaked in Bogey Lockman's blood. Perhaps so can be extracted from them."
Then he imdiately waved his wand. Seeds floated up one by one. Next, the Bronze-tier Dark Magic Transfiguration on his system panel glowed slightly. Profane, twisted magical power penetrated these seeds. Under his dinsionally superior Dark Magic Transfiguration compared to Bogey Lockman, these seeds' surfaces gradually oozed dark red blood.
Bogey Lockman's blood remaining within it was expelled, gathering into a pool of blood. Under his gaze, this blood pool dripped onto the box. The next second, the box absorbed the blood completely. Then abnormal changes erupted.
The reliefs and exquisite patterns on the box seed to co alive, beginning to flow. When they stopped, they had ford a smaller box pattern on the box, and the pattern beca three-dinsional. A new small box appeared before him.
When the small box opened, his gaze suddenly beca intense. A seed emanating ancient magical power while retaining strong vitality appeared before him. He took a deep breath.
"Bogey Lockman really did get an ancient plant seed!"
Though ancient plant seed information was rare and he couldn't see this seed's specific reward information yet, he was certain it was at least Diamond tier. Possibly even Epic tier rewards after mature cultivation! Though every ancient plant seed's replanting difficulty was extrely high, with many Herbology masters devoting lifetis without success, this didn't prevent him from preparing early.
Carefully storing this ancient plant seed and recalling the harvest from Bogey Lockman's collection, he felt excited. Truly, unexpected wealth makes one rich!
After a long ti, his mind finally cald, thoughts gradually becoming clear. Ancient plant seeds required extensive ti for planting research... definitely unsuitable now. Though Foxglove seeds provided practical rewards, their main use was in the third year... no rush.
As for the parchnt involving the dark wizard nad Ed, he needed his magical perception to undergo qualitative change before seeking related clues. Otherwise, even finding him would be useless without sufficient magical perception. Moreover, seeking a mysterious dark wizard was best done after harvesting Guardian Trees, Devil's Snare, and such, with further strength enhancent and dark magic resistance for safety.
"These things don't need doing now. The urgent task is preparing to land on Drear Island."
His gaze then fell on the Kraken-summoning whistle. Picking up the whistle, he blew hard. Strange flute sounds erged. He could feel the sounds contained special magical power spreading through seawater toward the distance.
Simultaneously, in the deep sea, in dark trenches, the Kraken was curled up here. Its tentacles were nearly half fewer than before, emanating a much less oppressive presence. Obviously, his Giant Killer toxin had made the Kraken suffer greatly. The current Kraken needed ti to recover.
But while sleeping, flute sounds ca through the seawater, mixed with magical power particularly sensitive to the Kraken. The Kraken imdiately opened its eyes. But after a mont, it closed them again, body unmoved. The whistle's special sound could interest the Kraken, but not now. It just wanted to sleep.
On the island, after initially playing the whistle and waiting long without seeing the Kraken, he frowned. "Hmm? Why isn't the Kraken coming? Is it because it suffered last ti, so it won't co this ti?"
He shook his head. This wouldn't do. Without the Kraken coming, his plans for this period would be ruined. So he picked up the whistle again.
"A famous musician living in Bikini Bottom once said no one could match an octopus's musical sense. The Kraken should be sowhat related to octopuses. So I'll use beautiful music to attract it. Coincidentally, in my past life guarding experintal fields in the countryside, I often heard nearby hamring that moved people to tears. Over ti, I learned so."
Then he puffed his cheeks and blew hard. An ear-piercing lody imdiately erupted, like nails scraping a blackboard, making listeners' scalps tingle. He frowned, blew a few more tis, then stopped. Didn't feel right... missing sothing, no atmosphere.
The next mont, he looked at Eugene nearby, seeming to rember sothing. "Cry. Cry for ."
Eugene was stunned. "Ah?"
He continued, "Think about all the suffering and cris you've endured this lifeti. Think about your dead forr master, Bogey Lockman. Eugene, cry..."
Hearing his words, Eugene's mind filled with abuse suffered at the Lockman house and the unprecedented relief felt when Bogey Lockman died. Eugene first sobbed, then began crying loudly.
"My life was so bitter! Bogey Lockman, good that you're dead, good that you're dead!"
Hearing this crying, he took a deep breath. Right. This feeling was correct! Unfortunately, the whistle wasn't very handy. If he had the instrunts those masters used in his past life's countryside, it would be much better. But no matter... the atmosphere was there. Make do with this.
Suona song, "Great Funeral March," let's go! A mournful, grieving lody mixed with Eugene's sounds of unclear crying or laughing spread through the deep sea.
In the trench, the Kraken that had closed its eyes preparing to sleep again suddenly heard the spreading tune. It startled awake imdiately. Who? Who died? Was it that distant relative who went to the Pacific to start a business and changed its na to Cthulhu? Heard it got hit by ships while napping, hit terribly. Finally couldn't hold on? Should I pack up and attend the feast...?
The next mont, the Kraken suddenly realized. Tentacles thrashed violently on the seabed, obviously furious to the extre. Sleeping peacefully. Who the hell was playing funeral music on the seabed?! Not taking the Kraken seriously?!
The Kraken finally couldn't stand it. It burst from the trench, swimming rapidly toward the flute sound's source. But the closer to the sound source, the more the Kraken felt sothing wrong. This route... hadn't it recently traveled this way?
Then the Kraken saw through deep seawater his tiny figure on the island, recalling the previous painful experience. This tiny human could actually wrestle with it! Though terribly brutal, he'd truly blocked its tentacles' continuous bombardnt. And the strange toxin in this human's blood made it actively sever several tentacles to expel the blood before it spread throughout its body. Even now, it remained weakened.
Recalling this, the Kraken suddenly dove deep into the sea. This North Sea-dominating magical creature actually fled without looking back before him!
He slowly grinned, his gaze firmly locked on the Kraken beneath the sea surface. He certainly wouldn't rashly enter the sea. But the Kraken wanting to escape his sight wasn't so easy.
Then he called to Eugene. "Let's go!"
Eugene looked completely confused. "Young Master Sprout. Where are we going?"
He smiled slightly. "To the Kraken's ho. Play the suona. Open the feast!"
Then he rode his Nimbus 2000 with Eugene, closely pursuing the Kraken. The Kraken helplessly discovered that though it moved quickly in seawater, it couldn't outrun the Nimbus 2000 in the sky. He remained directly above it. What did this damned young wizard want? It hadn't even provoked him!
The Kraken stopped fleeing. Its intelligence was high... it saw he didn't want to rashly enter the sea. Since so, whatever he wanted to do, just wait it out. The Kraken dove into its usual sleeping trench, wrapping itself with tentacles to isolate the mournful music from the water as much as possible.
It had one thought. If you can, stay on the sea being blown by wind and sun. Keep playing. You're human... you'll get tired, and you'll need food and water, right? I, the Kraken, can go a year without eating. Let's wait. See who outlasts whom!
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