Second floor, isolation room.
Locke looked at the patient on the hospital bed and turned to Essie and Angulo. "Ladies, any ideas?"
Angulo shook her head.
Essie was also stunned, shaking her head slightly in helplessness.
Angulo asked Locke, "Can't we solve it like last time?"
Locke pointed at the complicated condition on the bed and smiled bitterly. "Do you really think that's possible?"
"The Electro-light Bamboo on his body has already tightly fused with his flesh, replacing his arm."
On the bed lay a bizarre sight—a First Class Wizard Apprentice lay weakly, his right hand entwined with several twisted bamboo segments. These segments resembled a giant claw gripping his right shoulder, merging completely with the flesh of his right arm.
Essie carefully added, "This isn't just an ordinary fusion with his right arm. The roots of that Electro-light Bamboo are also connected to his heart. If we try to forcibly replace the Magic Plant, we'd be taking his life."
A flash of anger crossed Angulo's eyes as she muttered darkly, "This is a direct provocation against us. I just don't know how our last treatment procedure got leaked. She must have seen the records of our treatment method and modified her Curse accordingly."
Locke stepped forward, lowering his gaze to the name carved into the Electro-light Bamboo with an Enchanter's Inscription Knife—Seffrin Sagamore.
Her again.
Locke raised an eyebrow. "She's really testing us."
"Not only can we not forcibly replace the Magic Plant, but I also can't use the Magic Resonance Breeding Method to weaken it because the plant has completely merged with him now."
Locke then turned to the only outsider in the isolation room—Carrie Ackerman, a First Class Wizard Apprentice from Angron's special workshop.
Carrie Ackerman was dressed stylishly, her hair tied in a ponytail, wearing a meticulously tailored White Wizard Robe that accentuated her slender, graceful figure. Her eyes carried a hint of allure, and her face was adorned with delicate makeup—red lips and eyeliner.
Upon hearing about a special patient being sent to their small team, Carrie had invited herself along. Clearly, she wanted to see if Angron's workshop could easily handle the case. If they could, it would earn both Angron and herself some performance points.
She and Angron weren't here at the treatment center to work seriously—they were here to rack up performance points, aiming for the Outstanding/Exceptional Healer titles and to secure Angron's position as this year's Potioneering rising star.
Locke looked at Carrie, who had come to gather intel. "Well, Senior Ackerman, do you have a solution? Otherwise, I might as well hand this patient over to your workshop."
Essie and Angulo immediately perked up.
A complicated case like this was a hot potato. If they couldn't solve it, not only would it drag down their evaluation scores, but more practically, it would waste a lot of potions—possibly even putting them at a loss.
This hot potato would be better off pushed onto someone else if possible.
Carrie Ackerman took a step back, clutching her documents, and raised an eyebrow. "I was just here to observe."
"Our Angron Workshop tackles the most complex problems."
With that, Carrie Ackerman squared her shoulders and... swiftly fled the scene.
Angulo and Essie rolled their eyes in unison.
Essie scoffed, "She bolted fast enough. The moment she saw how tricky this case was, she bailed. If it were an easy fix, I bet their workshop would've snatched this patient right up."
Locke shook his head slightly. "Let's focus on the patient. I don't have any good ideas at the moment."
As he spoke, Locke pulled out a vial of Lesser Emerald Potion. "I'll try using this to counter the curse."
Angulo and Essie's eyes lit up.
Essie exclaimed, "Locke, you've finally mastered the Lesser Emerald Potion! The Emerald Magic Potion is the most versatile Unbinding Magic Potion. I'm so jealous your mentor gave you a simplified version that even a First Class Wizard Apprentice can brew."
"Go ahead and try it—it might work. After all, it's a derivative of the Emerald Magic Potion."
"If we can cure this guy, I'd love to see the look on that haughty Carrie Ackerman's face!"
"Locke, you're progressing so fast. You've already learned the Lesser Emerald Potion." Angulo, too, held high hopes. "I'll prepare the Bear Spirit Bile Potion infusion for him. Strengthening his Physical Magic Resistance this way, combined with your potion, might help him suppress the Magic Plant parasitizing his flesh using his own [Magic Pressure Structure]."
The trio began working together.
Half an hour later, Locke had administered the Lesser Emerald Potion via infusion. Fortunately, the patient had signed a loan agreement before falling unconscious, so cost wasn't an issue—they could afford the best treatments.
After the Lesser Emerald Potion took effect, the wizard apprentice's pallor improved slightly. The curse energy within him was steadily being purged.
The Emerald Magic Potion was the most universally effective Counter-curse Potion, frequently brewed by Sophia the Witch. Its simplified version, the Lesser Emerald Potion, naturally delivered astonishing results. Removing a curse of this level posed no real challenge.
Five minutes later, the patient's complexion had fully restored to a healthy flush, and the curse energy in his body was nearly entirely cleansed.
Yet the three remained grim-faced.
Locke frowned. "It's not working."
"The curse on him isn't the real issue—it's minor. But whoever cast it cleverly used it to mutate the Magic Plant."
"A mutated Magic Plant can't revert to its original state."
"This mutated plant keeps injecting new curse energy into him. In other words, unless we address the root cause, he'll need constant doses of Lesser Emerald Potion."
"He'll require periodic cleansing of the curse energy. But does he have the funds for that? And since I'm the only one who can brew the Lesser Emerald Potion, I can't exactly dedicate myself to his care full-time."
Locke concluded, "We might not solve this immediately. Let's present this case to all the Potionology Assistants on the second floor and pool our ideas."
Angulo shook her head slightly. "If they had the ability to resolve this, they wouldn't have pushed it to us. The enemy is truly cunning—using malignant mutations of Magic Plants to create such a thorny situation."
"Seffrin Sagamore..."
"That woman is terrifying. If I encountered her in the wild, I probably wouldn't stand a chance against her." A trace of fear had crept into Angulo's voice. "Even if we solve this problem, what if she comes up with an even harder challenge next time?"
Locke glanced at Angulo and interrupted, reminding her, "Angulo, stay calm."
Angulo snapped out of it. Ignoring the odd looks from the Second-Class Wizard Apprentice assistants around her, she coughed lightly and nodded slightly at Locke, whispering, "Thank you, Locke."
"I really lost my composure just now."
"As a Potionology Assistant, admitting defeat to a curse master like this is truly shameful."
Locke gave a slight nod before turning his gaze to the patient on the bed, lost in thought. 'Restoring mutated Magic Plants to their original state is indeed beyond the capabilities of an ordinary Breeder.'
'The opponent anticipated this, which is why they exploited this mechanism to create such a complex Curse. But if we think about it differently, the root cause of Magic Plants backfiring on wizards is an imbalance in the Plant Magic Formula, combined with insufficient Magic Resistance to counteract the backlash, resulting in plant magic recoil.'
'So, I need to break free from rigid thinking. The correct approach isn't to solve the problem after it occurs—it's to prevent it beforehand. As long as we can temporarily boost Magic Resistance in a short period, we can prevent Magic Plants from successfully backfiring on their owners.'
'This way, no matter how intricate or advanced Seffrin Sagamore's Magic Plant Curse becomes, we can fundamentally resolve it at its core. We can shatter the confidence of curse masters in this type of Curse and halt further research into it.'
'Otherwise, this will never end.'
Locke thought of the Bear Spirit Bile Potion, but its current efficacy was far from sufficient.
He turned to Essie and Angulo and said, "Keep him stable for now."
"At least ensure he stays alive until we find a solution."
Locke studied the patient, ideas already forming in his mind.
This Magic Plant Curse wasn't particularly useful against him as a Breeder—he knew Magic Plants too well and had numerous methods to prevent such plant magic backlash.
The reason he couldn't solve it immediately was that the opponent had optimized the Magic Plant Curse after observing his previous solution.
It was like a duel between masters—the opponent had already made two moves, while he had only countered once, so he needed time to figure out how to resolve this.
Of course, the depth of their Curse Magic research was also a factor.
Locke pondered: 'Enhancing Magic Plants with anti-curse properties is another preventive solution. I recall the Lijin Secret Language mentioned the sale of Curse-Breaking Lilies.'
'Curse-Breaking Lilies inherently possess curse-defensive abilities.'
'However, that Magic Plant is a type of anti-curse plant specifically designed to counter ordinary Curses targeting wizards. Due to the fact that the Magic Plant Curse had never appeared before—or at least, the wizards of Lilith's Cottage had never encountered it—this area remained a completely unexplored field.'
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