The Cornflower Witch Chapter 150

After finishing the assessment, Hylial temporarily found some leisure time, as it would still be a while before the evaluation results were announced.

During these days, she first submitted 5,000 catties of excellent quality wheat. According to the association’s procurement price of 2.1 Silver Coins per catty (70% of the market price), she earned 105 Gold Coins.

As for the ‘rare’ and ‘perfect’ quality wheat, she decided to hold onto them for now and wasn’t in a hurry to sell.

One day, while staying in Burntstone City, she inquired about learning combat-related abilities from the association staff.

“Hello,” a seemingly knowledgeable woman greeted her.

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“My name is Angela, and I’m the librarian of this branch,” Miss Angela said. She was one of the rare ‘Speech’ affinity users, with a power level around Third Rank.

“Hello, I’m Hylial,” the young girl introduced herself simply, though from the other party’s demeanor, it seemed she had already recognized her.

After some conversation, Angela understood the girl’s needs and proceeded to analyze them for her.

“Generally, Gardeners don’t participate in combat, as most of their abilities are unrelated to fighting.”

“However, it’s not absolute. There are still many Gardener factions that have developed combat-applicable abilities.”

“Currently, exploration and dealing with enemies within the woodland are conducted in small groups. Many Gardeners, before forming a team, will specifically learn an ability called ‘Vine Proliferation’.”

“Its purpose is to instantly stimulate the vitality of vine seeds or plants, causing them to grow rapidly to entrap or defeat enemies.”

“Compared to the Bloom-Flowering Method, this ability is relatively easy to learn, and most Gardeners can master it with diligent practice.”

“Additionally, the most popular ability right now is ‘Blood-Sucking Vine’ developed by the ‘Bloodthorn Garden’. Gardeners only need to buy a pile of ‘Blood-Sucking Vine’ seeds, implant them into the enemy’s wounds during combat, and they will burrow into the enemy’s body, absorbing blood to grow, with excellent results.”

Hearing this, Hylial roughly understood the principle and application of this ability.

“Furthermore, ‘Vine Proliferation’ is also the foundation of ‘Natural Growth’. If you learn ‘Vine Proliferation’, ‘Rapid Plant Growth’, and ‘Tree Sprouting’ separately, you can try to merge these three abilities into ‘Natural Growth’ at the Third Rank,” the other party continued to explain.

At this point, Hylial became curious and asked, “Does the ‘Bloom-Flowering Method’ have a subsequent advancement path?”

“The ‘Bloom-Flowering Method’, ‘Pollination Method’, and ‘Fruitfulness Method’ can be merged into ‘Floral Fruit Secret’ at the Fifth Rank. However, this ability is very demanding, and not many Fifth Rank Gardeners can master it.”

Hylial then learned about the origin and use of ‘Aromatherapy’.

“‘Aromatherapy’ is not popular on our continent, and I only learned about it through some books,” the other party recalled and answered.

“Actually, ‘Aromatherapy’ is a variant of the ‘Pollination Method’, or rather, it only extracts and amplifies the part of the ‘Pollination Method’ that stimulates floral fragrance.”

“Although the complete ‘Pollination Method’ has effects similar to ‘Aromatherapy’, it’s not strong. Its primary role is to select and improve plant traits for breeding and refinement.”

“Furthermore, the ‘Pollination Method’ is quite difficult, generally requiring Fourth Rank to learn, and the ‘Fruitfulness Method’ also requires Third Rank to master.”

Since she had learned so much about Gardeners, Hylial became concerned about the purpose and advancement of her other breathing method.

“Basic breathing methods are similar to meditation methods; both are ‘Blood Discipline’ affinities. But after proficiency, they can be transformed by integrating other abilities.”

“For example, the ‘Castle’ path can integrate ‘Iron Armor Protection’ and transform into ‘Iron Body’. The ‘Gold Steam’ path can integrate ‘Heat Breath’ and transform into ‘Iron Lung Breath’. The ‘Mist Shadow’ path can integrate ‘Voice Suppression Art’ and transform into ‘Silent Body’, and so on. This way, the breathing method retains its ability to strengthen oneself while also acquiring other effects, and subsequent advancements and enhancements will not interfere with the main affinity.”

After listening to Jian ‘an’s narration, Hylial felt somewhat satisfied, and then they discussed the choice of combat abilities again.

“If you can use a bow and arrow, combining it with ‘Vine Proliferation’ or ‘Rapid Plant Growth’ would have good effects,” the other party suggested again.

“The combat abilities of Gardeners are ultimately inferior to those Transcendent beings who specialize in combat. Engaging in close quarters combat would be extremely dangerous. Using a bow and arrow to shoot, while infusing it with various plant seed effects, would be a better combat style.”

“This is not our original creation. On the Fourth Continent, the elves there are generally skilled archers and are also adept at using arrows to attach various ‘Emerald Honey’ affinity secret techniques.”

“I understand,” Hylial nodded slightly. It seemed ‘Vine Proliferation’ was a necessary ability.

She then applied to the association to learn ‘Vine Proliferation’ and ‘Rapid Plant Growth’, each costing 40 points, totaling 80 points. During these six months, according to the tasks she received as a First-Rank student, an evaluation of ‘pass’ yielded 10 points per month, ‘good’ yielded 20 points, ‘excellent’ yielded 40 points, and ‘exceptional’ yielded 80 points.

Gardener tasks were settled every six months. She had just completed her first task, earning 6 x 80 = 480 points. After subtracting 80, she still had 400 points remaining.

Not long after, a Third-Rank Gardener from the ‘Four Seasons Alliance’ began to instruct Hylial. This person happened to be the same capable old man, Ude, whom she had met before.

That day, the two came to a practice garden of the association, where various plants grew and the ground was covered with fine sand.

“I didn’t expect such great progress in just three months,” the old man sighed with emotion upon seeing her again.

Originally, this old man wanted to take Hylial as his apprentice because he knew through testing that the girl had a solid foundation and excellent talent.

Unexpectedly, everything happened too quickly. This silver-haired girl was already a rising star watched by many important figures in Burntstone City. When it came to taking apprentices, it was no longer his turn.

Hylial didn’t know how to respond appropriately, so she just smiled and nodded.

“Thank you for the compliment, teacher.” Being humble at this point would be a bit hypocritical.

“Heh heh, never mind. Teaching you new abilities this time, I suppose I can be considered your teacher for once,” he stroked his short beard and began his instruction.

“First, what Gardeners are best at is cultivating plants. So, how to transform this strength into combat power, rather than spending extra time and energy learning other abilities, becomes paramount.”

“Most plants do not have direct attack capabilities and are difficult to move. To overcome this, we need to constantly carry seeds or other smaller plants to deal with combat situations.”

“Among these, ‘vines’ and ‘grasses’ are the most convenient to use and control.”

“Thus, the two basic abilities ‘Vine Proliferation’ and ‘Rapid Plant Growth’ were derived.”

“As the name suggests, these two are abilities to rapidly accelerate the growth of vines and grasses to defend against enemies. This method of stimulation is fundamentally different from how plants are normally cultivated.”

“The former is about rapid, reckless growth to bind the enemy, while the latter carefully nurtures various conditions, striving for the plant’s state to be perfect.”

“Therefore, these two can be used roughly and without worrying about overexertion. In fact, they can even be enhanced in various ways to strengthen one’s own affinity for more powerful effects.”

“Now, I’ll demonstrate,” he said, opening his palm to reveal a seed, which fell into the sand. Then, as if fast-forwarded, the seed sprouted and branched out, spreading everywhere, entwining a nearby stone pillar, constantly covering it upwards until the entire stone pillar was bound by thick vine branches, with no gaps visible.

“This is the first time, Hylial,” he told the girl, then began the second demonstration. This time, he didn’t move too fast, and explained the key points during the process: how to guide with spiritual power, how to control direction, how to adjust the manifestation of affinity, and so on.

“I understand.”

After watching the second time, Hylial felt she pretty much understood, but the old man didn’t stop. Instead, he began a third demonstration.

This time, after the seed landed, it erupted. Several branches twisted like living things, extending rapidly in all directions, completely filling the surrounding environment with lush green vines and leaves. The vines tightly gripping the stone pillar finally snapped with a crunch, grinding the stone into fragments.

“This…” Hylial was surprised, secretly shocked.

“This is me using the Third-Rank affinity to drive this ability. You don’t need to deliberately pursue this level just yet.”

“I understand, teacher.”

For the next two days, Hylial followed Ude, learning these two abilities until she had completely mastered them.

【Vine Proliferation Lv.1】 (Emerald Honey); An ability that promotes the rapid growth of vine plants to bind enemies.

【Rapid Plant Growth Lv.1】 (Emerald Honey); An ability that promotes the rapid growth of grass plants to parasitize enemies.