Thinking of the golden cup, Ciel's heartbeat couldn't help but quicken slightly.
Hufflepuff's Cup, though merely an imitation of Demeter's silver chalice, was recognised as the product closest to Demeter's silver chalice. Lady Hufflepuff had once relied on the golden cup to brew nectar and successfully cultivate a Whomping Willow.
For a thousand years, no herbology master had been able to repeat this feat, proving that the golden cup's benefits for herbology were absolutely extraordinary. It might even be much stronger than the broken Demeter silver chalice he currently possessed.
If he could obtain the golden cup, it should greatly benefit his herbology. Not to mention the golden cup's important symbolic significance for Hufflepuff House.
Generations of Hufflepuff heads had tried to recover the golden cup, but all had failed. This was also one of Professor Sprout's concerns.
"If I could find the golden cup, even losing this year's or the next ten years' House Cups would probably make Aunt overjoyed."
His eyes flickered with strange light as the idea of using this opportunity to infiltrate Gringotts and steal the golden cup began expanding in his mind.
But moments later, he took a deep breath, and this impulse gradually cooled.
"It's not time yet. The golden cup has been made into a Horcrux by Voldemort. To destroy Horcruxes, I know methods like basilisk venom, Fiendfyre, etc. But doing so would also damage the golden cup, making my efforts futile even if successful."
"Instead, I'd be drawn into the vortex of destroying Horcruxes. At least, I need a method to separate the golden cup from Voldemort's soul fragment before the cup can truly restore its function in my hands. Otherwise, it's just a highly risky decoration."
After calm consideration, his thoughts became increasingly clear as he abandoned the idea of stealing the golden cup in the short term.
"In the original story, the golden cup remained in Bellatrix Lestrange's vault, hardly ever moved. I have plenty of time. When I find a method to strip Horcrux soul fragments, that's when I'll act."
Additionally, not just the golden cup—even Borgin's vault, he didn't plan to rashly access in the short term. After all, Gringotts goblins were extremely shrewd.
In the original story, when the Harry trio infiltrated Gringotts, the goblin serving them already felt something was wrong. But at that time, the entire magical world was shrouded in terror from Voldemort and Death Eaters. Even sensing something amiss about the Polyjuice Potion-transformed Bellatrix Lestrange, the goblin dared not ask too many questions.
Plus, Harry and his friends had help from another goblin, Griphook, allowing their successful infiltration.
But now, the magical world wasn't in chaos yet. Gringotts, guarded by goblins who hadn't been trampled by Death Eater terror, still maintained their lofty rules. Any slight irregularity would make it hard to deceive these greedy yet shrewd creatures.
Borgin's current bloodless face and pitch-black eyes might be fine in the dim environment of Borgin and Burkes, but at Gringotts, even with concealment methods, it would be hard to escape goblin attention.
Moreover, Borgin now spoke somewhat stiffly—a few words would probably give him away.
He didn't think he had the protagonist's plot armour like Harry and his friends in the original story. Besides, if Harry's group had choices, they wouldn't have used such a life-or-death method.
He had sufficient time and no need to take such risks.
"When ancient shadow magic improves further, Borgin should look much better—at least not as vacant as now. Then I'll go to Gringotts to retrieve those items."
Exhaling softly and temporarily setting aside Gringotts matters, he turned to look at Borgin and Burkes shop.
Though Borgin kept most precious collections in Gringotts vaults, this shop still contained quite a few dark magical items and several treasures for maintaining prestige.
For instance, a Hand of Glory, which played a key role in the original story's assassination attempt on Dumbledore. But he didn't plan to save it for several years later.
As he took out the Patronus tree seed and sensed the shop's dense, dark magical aura, the seed scattered silver light. Soon, several dark magical treasures, including the Hand of Glory, plus most dark magical goods in the shop, were purified by the Patronus tree seed's power. Even several hidden dark magical traps were no exception.
Only then did he completely relax, stepping into the counter area to search.
Moments later, a crystal ball in a drawer caught his attention. He looked at Borgin, who immediately explained its function without hesitation:
"This is the crystal ball I use to receive Moser Club missions. Through it, I can also check my contribution points with the Moser Club. Using contribution points, I can exchange them for special items from the Moser Club."
He raised an eyebrow, having Borgin approach the crystal ball. As Borgin's wand touched it, the illuminated crystal ball displayed a dense list—all items Borgin needed to submit to the Moser Club in three years.
The quantity made him somewhat speechless. No wonder Borgin was so anxious to obtain more dark magical items—the Moser Club's requirements were quite high.
This sparked his curiosity about what benefits the Moser Club provided to keep Borgin willingly working for them all these years.
With his mental command, Borgin touched the crystal ball again, displaying what looked like a Hogwarts school supply list, but much more extensive—vast as an ocean.
At the top, what most caught his attention was [Titan Giant Blood]. This made his pupils contract sharply.
He'd heard Borgin mention before that the Moser Club claimed to possess true Titan giant blood, but he hadn't expected this item to be listed among exchangeable rewards.
Moments later, seeing the conditions noted afterward, he understood somewhat: "Must have formal membership to exchange, and exchanging this requires astronomical contribution points. Even if Borgin accumulated contributions for a thousand years, he probably couldn't exchange them for one drop of Titan giant blood."
"This should be a prestige item, not necessarily real—at least no one has probably ever actually exchanged for it. But even if Titan giant blood is questionable, the remaining items are still quite impressive."
His gaze moved down several lines, landing on something called [Elixir of Life Imitation]. The description was clear—each dose let someone live ten extra years, but with far more severe side effects than the true Elixir of Life.
Namely, bodily zombification, increasingly losing human characteristics, with reason continuously twisted. After one dose, another must be taken every ten years, or the person becomes a complete zombie.
Despite such strong side effects, he didn't need to think—for ageing dark wizards, this would be a dream treasure. What did bodily zombification matter? As long as they could live, these dark wizards would do anything.
He understood why Borgin had been loyally working for the Moser Club. Apart from previously exchanging for the obsidian gargoyle, his contribution points had never been used—obviously preparing to exchange for this Elixir of Life imitation.
He also realised: "The Moser Club must know that dark wizards like Borgin would secretly hoard treasures instead of submitting them. But Borgin has hoarded for so many years, while Moser Club members seem completely unconcerned."
"Perhaps because as long as Borgin wants to keep living, he must submit various rare items to exchange for Elixir of Life imitations. However many treasures he hoards, they'll eventually be submitted to the Moser Club for the elixir—just a matter of time."
Understanding this, he felt increasingly wary. This was naked conspiracy, but as long as these dark wizards wanted to extend their lifespans, they couldn't escape being manipulated by the Moser Club.
Who knew how many wizards like Borgin were secretly serving the Moser Club throughout the magical world? This club's power was increasingly unfathomable.
He suspected ancient wizards like Nicolas Flamel existed behind this organisation—possibly more than one. He wondered what purpose they had for collecting so many magical items and holding duelling championships every ten years.
But moments later, his eyes showed strange light. Whatever purpose those behind this had wasn't his current concern, nor was he interested in managing it. He only cared about what benefits he could gain.
"Borgin, you're already dead anyway. People die with money unspent—isn't that too painful? Since you no longer need Elixir of Life imitations, I'll help spend your remaining contribution points. What do you think?"
He looked at Borgin, who showed worshipful fanaticism: "Master, please freely use my contribution points. This is my honour."
Only then did he nod satisfactorily, browsing through the long item list in the crystal ball, stopping at the herbology section.
To his surprise, compared to other sections, this part required noticeably fewer contribution points. Moments later, he understood:
"Most Moser Club outer members are probably like Borgin—year-round merchants obtaining more magical items, then submitting them to prepare for Elixir of Life imitation exchanges. They might spend contribution points on things helping them obtain wealth, like obsidian gargoyles or powerful magic."
"But herbology has too long a payback period. Dark magic is already famous for rapid progress—most dark wizards choose this path because they lack patience and want shortcuts. Plus they must take Elixir of Life imitations every ten years, making it impossible to spend time and energy studying herbology."
His eyes brightened: "This benefits me."
Though it was just the item list for Moser Club outer members, containing various strange items, there were indeed quite a few good things.
He first selected a set of alchemically crafted tools—hoes, gloves, shovels, etc. According to the item list, this set was lightweight, sturdy, never wearing out, with adaptive functions fitting the user's hands and habits perfectly—no tools could be more suitable.
His lips curved in a smile as he unhesitatingly chose to exchange for this tool set: "Aunt's birthday is approaching. I was wondering what to give her. This alchemy tool set is quite suitable."
Additionally, he saw an extremely ancient herbology book, probably dating close to the late Olympian era. According to descriptions, it recorded ancient plants now almost completely extinct.
Other dark wizards would definitely not be interested, but he showed a treasure-finding expression seeing this book. Current herbology knew very little about ancient plants—even herbology masters knew little about many ancient plants.
For instance, he still didn't know what the ancient plant seed he'd obtained from Boge Charman was, so even reward information remained question marks. Such situations might occur again in the future.
This book might help him identify ancient plants, and its contribution point cost was bargain-priced. He unhesitatingly chose to exchange for it.
Just these two items left him quite satisfied, his eyes showing anticipation. According to Borgin, items exchanged from the Moser Club were always disguised as ordinary packages delivered by owl—quite like online shopping from his previous life.
He scanned the remaining list, not seeing anything he urgently needed and planning to temporarily stop. But the next moment, his gaze caught a strange plant seed he'd never seen before.
"This is an ancient plant seed?"
He had seen quite a few ancient plant seeds by now, and still had several unplanted ones. Even seeing one in this list, he initially paid no mind—until his gaze fell on the item list's description, and his pupils slightly contracted:
"A flower quite rare even in the Olympian age, used by priests during festivals to please the gods. Legend says its fragrance and beauty delighted all gods, who often granted divine blessings to priests bringing such flowers. Unfortunately, after the Olympian age's destruction, this flower named Divine Joy Flower also dimmed and ceased blooming."
Simultaneously, he saw purple reward information appear on the Divine Joy Flower seed's image:
[Cultivating Divine Joy Flower to maturity grants reward: Ritual magic and related derivatives advance one more tier.]