At that moment, the commotion in the greenhouse attracted the professors patrolling the castle at night.
Professor Sprout practically ran all the way. "What happened? Ciel? Are you alright?!"
Professor McGonagall and the others arrived a step behind. They once again saw Quirrell lying on the ground, unconscious. Their eyes widened, their expressions full of shock and uncertainty.
"This... what happened?"
All eyes fell on Ciel. He then recounted the story he had prepared. From completing the Sacred Tree Potion to planting the Guardian Tree and then being afraid of thieves stealing his plants, resulting in accidentally injuring Quirrell.
"I really didn't mean to..."
Before Ciel could finish, the professors were suddenly stunned. Professor McGonagall and Professor Flitwick stood there in shock.
"What? Ciel has already started cultivating the Guardian Tree? And he's even at the Sacred Tree Potion stage?"
They looked at Professor Sprout in shock. "Pomona? Why didn't you tell us about this?"
Professor Sprout showed a proud smile. She said with a rare hint of smugness, "I told you before. My Ciel has legendary potential. Cultivating a Guardian Tree in his first year is nothing. His achievements are far beyond what you can imagine!"
Snape looked at Ciel with surprise and doubt. He had been observing Ciel's performance with the Sacred Tree Potion all week. His magical perception was clearly still lacking. In Snape's estimation, Ciel would need at least two more weeks to possibly brew his first successful potion. How could he have done it so much earlier?
However, just by sensing the residual magical aura of the Sacred Tree Potion in the air, Snape could confirm that Ciel had indeed succeeded.
A sudden burst of accumulated knowledge? A sudden insight? Well, with his level of effort, it's not impossible.
At this time, everyone also saw the five sprouted Guardian Trees in the experimental plot. Professor McGonagall and Professor Flitwick sighed with emotion.
"Not easy. Truly not easy. Ciel, you will become an outstanding Herbologist."
For Ciel to have come this far with his talent, they could only imagine how much hardship he must have endured. Just the fact that he was still in the greenhouse so late at night was a testament to it. For a moment, they were all congratulating Ciel and Professor Sprout.
Until after a while, they suddenly remembered. "Wait. Did we forget something?"
Then, their gazes turned to Quirrell, who was unconscious on the ground.
"Oh no. We were so busy congratulating that we forgot about Professor Quirrell. He should be fine, right? Don't worry, Ciel, as you said, it was just a misunderstanding. I think Professor Quirrell, although unconscious, would be happy to know that Hufflepuff has such an outstanding student. He definitely won't blame you."
But when checking Quirrell's injuries, even Professor McGonagall couldn't help but shake her head, showing some pity. "It's just that I'm afraid the Defense Against the Dark Arts class will have to wait until after Christmas to resume."
Then, the arriving professors left with Quirrell. Ciel let out a slight sigh of relief. This way, Quirrell would have to wait until after Christmas to recover and act. So this time, he had bought himself a buffer until the Christmas holidays. Perhaps for others, this extra time wouldn't make a big difference. But for Ciel, it could mean a qualitative change.
Before and after the Christmas holidays, he still had two heavyweight rewards to harvest. Piranha Algae. And Marguerites, which could increase his magical strength! Harvesting these two rewards would be enough to boost his strength significantly.
But before that, Ciel still needed to make some preparations. His gaze fell on the system panel. The text [Sectumsempra (Black Iron Tier)] came into view. Semi-solid, semi-transparent. Its iron luster was vaguely more intense than before. But overall, it still wasn't very obvious.
This made Ciel frown slightly. During this period, he had also tried practicing Sectumsempra many times. But the significant progress was only in the Pruning Charm, which was also a cutting spell. Its platinum light was now even more obvious, not far from completely advancing to Platinum Tier. But Sectumsempra itself had made little progress. At this rate, he didn't know how long he would have to practice to reach Bronze Tier.
And Ciel certainly understood the difference between Black Iron and Bronze Tiers. If there was such a difference in spells like the Soil-Loosening Charm and Pruning Charm, then for an advanced spell like Sectumsempra, the difference in mastery of one level would make the power incomparable.
"Where is the problem?"
Ciel read the description of Sectumsempra in the Half-Blood Prince's textbook over and over again. But he still couldn't find the issue.
"It seems I can only ask the creator of this spell."
The next morning, Ciel came to Snape's office. He raised his question to Snape. Snape frowned. He changed the subject.
"There's no problem with your use of Sectumsempra. Just practice more. By the way, how is your Levicorpus spell? And what about the Muffliato Charm?"
Ciel was confused. Snape had previously taught him almost everything he knew. He didn't seem like someone who would hold back. Why was he now so reserved about Sectumsempra?
Ciel asked in a low voice, "Professor. Is there something about this spell that is not suitable for me to learn?"
Snape paused. He was silent for a long time. Finally, he sighed. A rare expression of bewilderment, regret, and pain appeared on his face.
He said coldly, "Ciel Sprout. Alright. Since you insist on getting to the bottom of this spell, I'll tell you plainly. Sectumsempra is dark magic, you already know that. And all dark magic requires the catalyst of negative emotions to truly unleash its power. Negative emotions are the root of dark magic. Sectumsempra is no exception."
He continued, his voice heavy with memory. "It's just that unlike the Unforgivable Curses, Sectumsempra doesn't require the extreme thoughts of killing, torturing, or controlling people. What it needs is the kind of pain that feels like your heart is being torn open, like a piece of your heart is missing, having lost something very important. Only by experiencing this can one truly master Sectumsempra."
A sarcastic smile appeared at the corner of Snape's mouth. "And you? Have you ever had such an experience?"
But as he said this, in the depths of Snape's gaze, that day flashed back over and over again. The day he said the unforgivable word "Mudblood" to Lily. The day he completely lost her. It was after that day that Sectumsempra was truly born in his heart. And after Lily's death, Sectumsempra was his best spell, even above the Unforgivable Curses.
But Snape rarely used it. He even wished he had never had the chance to create it. He also hoped now that Ciel would never have the chance to master it.
At this time, Ciel finally understood. No wonder in the original story, Harry didn't learn some ordinary spells as fast as Hermione. But for a powerful dark magic like Sectumsempra, Harry succeeded on his first try, and its power was astonishing. It seemed it was because Harry truly had a profound memory of "loss." His eleven years of nightmares were all about a green light taking away his parents. Coupled with the influence of Voldemort's soul, this was what gave him his astonishing talent for Sectumsempra.
"And me? Have I ever had the heart-wrenching experience of losing something?"
In Ciel's mind, scenes from his past life involuntarily appeared. That day. After staying up all night, he came to the experimental field, yawning. His heart was full of anticipation for graduation. After planting trees for several years and being tormented by his unscrupulous supervisor for so long, the dawn of graduation was finally ahead.
Until he saw that his carefully cultivated oranges had been picked clean by the local aunties.
"Young man, why are your oranges so sour?"
"How is this stealing? These oranges grow by the roadside. We didn't know."
"Aiyo, why are young people so stingy?"
"Still a college student, how did you end up like this?"
"Alright, alright, let's say five yuan per catty. We'll compensate you, okay, here..."
At that moment, Ciel had only one thought. His graduation thesis... was gone! He was facing a delayed graduation!
Even though he had been reincarnated, thinking of this, Ciel's expression instantly changed.
"Pain... so much pain! That was the pain of a future and hope shattered!"
On the system panel, on the text of Sectumsempra, the iron luster suddenly began to intensify at a much faster rate than before!
At this time, Snape, who had just come back from his painful memories, had a hint of sadness in his eyes. He said to Ciel, "You'd better not learn Sectumsempra. At your age, what do you know about loss..."
But the next moment, he was suddenly stunned. Because he felt a familiar aura from Ciel.
"What? No way? It hurts that much? What on earth have you lost!"
[Chapter Complete]
***
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