Cherreads

Chapter 126 - Chapter 126

As Char watched the stone being torn to silent shreds by the living shadow, a shiver of awe ran down his spine. The power of this mutated Shadowthorn was truly considerable. But it was the way it attacked that was so special. The shadow moved along the ground, its path shifting and unpredictable, able to circle around an enemy and strike from behind. Any wizard facing such a bizarre, silent assault would be hard-pressed to react in time. From this perspective alone, the Shadowthorn was a magical plant with immense practical value. It could fight alongside him.

His eyes lit up. He gave the plant another command. "Show me everything you can do. Keep attacking."

In response, the solid root of the Shadowthorn suddenly sank, melting silently into its own shadow. The shadow on the ground then spread out like a dark, intricate spiderweb, expanding to a diameter of five or six meters. A moment later, the physical root of the Shadowthorn erupted from the far edge of the shadow, the sharp spikes on its body piercing another stone with no resistance, leaving it riddled with holes. Char noticed that a strange magical energy lingered in the wounds, continuing to erode the stone.

These discoveries made his expression burn with even more passion. Compared to a regular Shadowthorn, this mutated version possessed the incredible ability to control shadows, to travel within them, and to launch surprise attacks from unexpected angles. The threat it posed was far greater. And this was only the beginning of its cultivation. If it were grown to maturity, he imagined that even battle-hardened Aurors or Death Eaters would be caught completely off guard, suffering a devastating loss in their first encounter. What if he had ten of them? Or a hundred? The thought of that scene filled him with anticipation.

The Shadowthorn's shadow began to quiver, as if eagerly awaiting his praise.

A smile touched Char's lips. "Well done," he said softly. "Keep growing. In a year or so, when you're mature, your father will be counting on you for protection."

At his words, the shadow began to tremble even more violently, as if counting on its shadowy fingers. Numbers, formed from darkness, appeared on the ground.

"That's great. In another year, two, three, four, five years… I can protect my father."

Char was about to nod with pride, but his mind suddenly froze. "What? How many? How many years did you say?"

He clearly remembered the reference books stating that Shadowthorns were relatively fast-growing plants. They typically matured in a year, two at most. The Hogwarts greenhouses provided the best possible conditions, and he was using a Deathly Hallow instead of a simple Disillusionment Charm. How could its maturation time increase instead of decrease?

Faced with Char's question, the plant, which he had now named Shadow, seemed to feel aggrieved. It stammered out words on the ground with its shadow.

"Shadow… wants to eat. Not here." Its shadow extended, pointing deep into the soil of the small greenhouse. "Here, underground… only a little bit. Eat sparingly."

A look of surprised understanding dawned on Char's face. The mutation had also changed its nutritional needs. It required something special, something found only deep within the soil of this ancient greenhouse. He remembered what Professor Sprout had said—the soil here had once been watered with nectar from Hufflepuff's golden cup. Could it be that Shadow, having acquired the power of ancient shadow magic, now needed that miraculous nectar to develop quickly? Was the small amount of nutrients remaining in the soil the only reason it was growing at all?

His brow furrowed. If that was the case, mass-producing a variant like Shadow was impossible. There weren't enough residual nutrients to share. And getting the golden cup… he had already considered that. The difficulty was immense; it was not a problem he could solve anytime soon.

He let out a long breath. "It seems that for the short term, I can only use the Invisibility Cloak to cultivate ordinary Shadowthorns. I don't have the conditions to grow more variants like Shadow."

He tried to console himself. "It's fine. Being able to mass-produce ordinary Shadowthorns is already good news. Even without the ancient magic, the shadow enhancement and wound-tearing abilities are incredibly useful. I can't ask for too much."

But having come so close to ancient magic, he couldn't help but feel a pang of deep regret.

Shadow seemed to sense his disappointment. Its own shadow cautiously extended and wrapped around Char's feet, like a pitiful kitten worried about being abandoned.

Char paused. He suddenly felt that his attitude toward Shadow had been a little clinical. He hadn't had a real sense of a plant with true emotions until this moment, when it came to him for comfort. He carefully reached out and touched the shadow.

"It's fine," he said gently. "I'll try to find you some more delicious food. Before then, just bear with me and eat what you can here."

The shadow began to dance happily again. A real smile appeared on Char's face. Then, he froze. He slapped his forehead, an unprecedented idea striking him with the force of a thunderbolt.

Harvesting the Shadowthorns for their enlightenment reward was one way to obtain ancient shadow magic. But it wasn't the only way. The real owner of ancient shadow magic was right here in front of him. And it had consciousness, the ability to communicate. Couldn't he just… learn from it directly?

"Shadow," he asked quickly, "can you teach me ancient shadow magic? This ability you have to control shadows?"

Shadow swayed, seeming a little confused. For it, this was an innate ability. It didn't know how to teach it.

Char quickly realized this. "Okay," he said, thinking for a moment. "Manipulate your shadow in front of me. Don't make it too complicated. Slow the whole process down, even slower. Let me see it more clearly."

Shadow tentatively did as he asked. A tiny wisp of shadow began to move slowly across the ground. Char stared at it, his mind completely focused, feeling for the flow of magic. His platinum-level night vision allowed him to vaguely perceive the changes within the shadow. It was a kind of magic he had never seen before; in his vision, its particles appeared as motes of pure black.

He observed that common magical particles from the air were being drawn into Shadow's… body. They would collide, exchange some properties, and then some of the particles would be discharged, while the remaining ones were transformed into the black particles Shadow used.

"It's like a chemical reaction," he murmured, an inspiration sparking in his mind. "Wait… I've seen a similar operation before." He thought of the Potion Transfiguration Snape had shown him. Though he couldn't understand the details, the performance was similar—the very nature of the magic was being changed.

"Perhaps this is also an advanced application of Transfiguration," he breathed. "Transforming magic power on a microscopic level to produce new properties. Professor McGonagall is a master of changing the form of magic, turning statues into living creatures. But Dumbledore and Voldemort… the magic they use, the fire and lightning, its power far exceeds the normal limits. Perhaps they have reached the pinnacle of Transfiguration, able to change the very nature of magic at will."

A new, clearer understanding of Transfiguration began to form in his mind. Change of form, change of nature… He didn't know if his theory was correct, but he had a way to find out. His eyes fell on his system panel, and what he saw there made him gasp.

The ability of [Transfiguration (Iron Grade)], which he had only just acquired, was suddenly glowing, its black iron luster becoming much richer. He had taken Transfiguration for an entire semester to reach the Iron level. Now, just by observing Shadow and forming a new theory, his skill had improved this much. It was truly a case of a single insight being worth more than ten years of study.

A look of deep joy spread across his face. With several of his spells stuck at the platinum level and his magic perception still a long way from its next breakthrough, his strength had hit a bottleneck. But if he could make progress in Transfiguration, it would be a massive leap forward.

He suppressed his excitement. Daydreaming was useless. Only hard practice mattered. He stared at the shadow with burning intensity, feeling for the subtle changes in the magic, waving his wand, trying to imitate what he saw. To tackle any difficult problem, you start with imitation. It was an experience he had learned in his past life.

The process was incredibly taxing. His perception was not yet at the platinum level. Even with his night vision and the underwater holding state, trying to sense such subtle changes for a long period was like someone with severe myopia trying to read a distant blackboard. His mind was stretched to its limit. Veins began to bulge at his temples, a throbbing pain blooming from the mental exhaustion.

But he didn't care. He was familiar with this feeling. Learning was supposed to be hard. He could have chosen to take it easy, to just wait for his plants to mature. But he didn't want to look back one day and regret not trying harder. He had known that regret in his past life. He would not taste it again.

Drops of sweat fell onto the shadow on the floor. He grew more and more exhausted, but on the system panel, the words [Transfiguration] glowed faintly, the black iron luster becoming more intense at an agonizingly slow pace.

Another night passed. As a new dawn broke, the luster of black iron was as rich and deep as it could be. With one last, meticulous wave of his wand, a new color slowly faded into view within the dark glow.

A very light, yet very real, bronze.

More Chapters