The Cornflower Witch Chapter 63

Chapter 63: Bloom-Flowering Method

The open space in the backyard of the mansion.

In the afternoon breeze, Madame Faran taught Hylial some knowledge.

“Lia, do you know the Three-Elements Law?”

“Scholar Hyde taught me a little. It seems to be Power (resources), Skill (knowledge), and Practice (trials).”

“Exactly. This is also called the Three-Phase Law, representing the truth and balance of the world.” Madame Faran picked up a broken branch from the roadside.

“The Three-Phase Law can be applied to many levels, whether it’s advancement, learning, or rituals, etc. But what I’m going to teach you today is just one of the secret techniques in the Gardener’s legacy.”

“It’s called the ‘Bloom-Flowering Method’.”

As she spoke, the broken branch in her hand was like a dead tree brought back to life, sprouting tender buds, unfurling delicate new leaves. Soon, a small flower bud appeared among the leaves, growing larger step by step until it fully bloomed, revealing white petals.

Although Madame Faran’s main affinity was Blazing Sun, what she demonstrated at this moment was the ability of the Jade Nectar affinity, which made Hylial quite curious.

It seemed that affinities were not entirely incompatible, she noted secretly in her heart.

“As the name suggests, the ‘Bloom-Flowering Method’ is a magic that makes plants bloom.” Madame Faran pinched the flower branch, letting the excess wooden branch below snap off and fall.

“I see.” Hylial nodded, not feeling surprised.

Seeing her rather vacant expression, Madame Faran found it quite amusing. Then she pinched the stem of the flower and gently swayed it, a faint fragrance wafting out, refreshing Hylial and making her a little more energetic.

“How do you feel now?”

“A bit more refreshed, it seems.” The girl carefully recalled the changes from just now.

“Exactly. The flowers of this White Kapok have an extremely subtle invigorating effect.”

“Generally speaking, this effect requires a large amount of kapok flowers to extract essential oil to achieve even a little, so no one would bother with such a thankless task.”

“Alright, I’m done explaining. How much have you understood now?”

“Oh, is that all?” The girl was surprised.

Blooming flowers, subtle effects… she fell into thought.

“You mean, by blooming, a subtle and unnoticeable effect can be amplified manifold? Is that right?”

“You are indeed very clever. In fact, many extraordinary abilities are like this. You need to have enough imagination, then explore and practice little by little, and finally develop them.” Madame Faran nodded approvingly.

“So, now that you know the ability of the ‘Bloom-Flowering Method’, have you thought about how to use this ability?”

“In that case, if a certain flower itself has the effect I need, I can use the ‘Bloom-Flowering Method’ to amplify it and achieve what I want.” She couldn’t help but recall how she had considered what would happen if she had advanced using a Swan Orchid.

She would then gain the effects and abilities of the Swan Orchid, but what if she used the ‘Bloom-Flowering Method’ to activate the Swan Orchid now?

Hylial quickly voiced her thoughts.

“Precisely. This is the most common and valuable aspect of this ability.”

Madame Faran gently raised her wrist, and a surge of intense heat erupted from the flower field, merging into the cold autumn wind, sweeping across the entire backyard of the mansion, making Hylial feel as if she were in the height of summer.

“You see, I didn’t even use much effort, yet such heat is enough to change the environment of the mansion.” She lightly tossed the white kapok flower in her hand, and it floated into the air.

Soon, an invisible current of heat gathered, and this kapok flower instantly ignited in the air, turning to ash and scattering.

“Even if a Level 3 – Castle knight invades this flower field, I can melt them and turn them into fertilizer for the flower field. Now you understand the use of this ability, right?”

“Yes.” Hylial felt a wave of admiration.

“But, Lia, don’t get too happy too soon.” Madame Faran seemed to guess the girl’s thoughts.

“If you want to activate the effects of an extraordinary plant, you must be a stage higher than that plant…” This meant that this ability was almost useless at the first stage.

“Unless, this plant was personally cultivated by you.” Her tone shifted, rekindling hope in the girl.

But currently, she had only cultivated three Swan Orchids. If she wanted additional abilities, she would have to work hard to cultivate flowers with combat effects.

Indeed, was the Gardener’s task just to grow flowers?

Thinking of this, Hylial couldn’t help but ask, “Teacher, if I want to have some self-defense combat abilities, what kind of flowers should I cultivate?”

“Do you remember the Fire Cloud Orchid and White Camellia I asked you to take care of some time ago?”

“I remember.” At this, Hylial seemed to understand something.

“Exactly. If the Fire Cloud Orchid is successfully cultivated, it will emit a scorching aura. This aura naturally can’t harm people normally, but what if it’s amplified by the ‘Bloom-Flowering Method’?”

“As for the White Camellia, it has detoxification abilities, which are effective for treating wounds or dealing with poisonous miasma environments.”

“Your energy is limited now, so just focus on cultivating these two plants.”

“Yes, Teacher.”

“Also, of the Swan Orchids you cultivated earlier, keep one for yourself, and I plan to take the other two and give them to a friend of mine. They have other uses.”

“Okay.” Hylial nodded in agreement.

“Aren’t you curious about their use?” Madame Faran couldn’t help but tease the unusually obedient girl.

“So, what is their use?”

“It has to do with a pure environment.”

“When you were an ordinary person, you would be slow to perceive the powers of various affinities and wouldn’t feel any changes or surprises.”

“But at higher stages, you will find that subtle and interwoven affinity forces are everywhere in life, intertwining and interfering with each other.”

“These extremely subtle affinity forces won’t cause any major changes, but for experiments requiring extremely high precision, such as refining special potions, and in alchemy, they can be fatal.”

“Even a slight difference can change the efficacy and outcome of the entire potion.”

“Therefore, special methods are needed to purify the environment in advance, and the most lasting and cost-effective way is to use plants with ‘purifying’ effects.”

“The Swan Orchid is just such a plant with this special effect.”

“Originally, he commissioned me to cultivate it, but after I shifted to Blazing Sun, my affinity power was no longer as pure as before. Moreover, the nature of the Swan Orchid is not suitable for being catalyzed by Blazing Sun; it would instead hinder the growth of such a delicate plant.”

“So, over the years, whenever someone asked me to learn gardening knowledge, I would give them Swan Orchid seeds to see who could cultivate them first.”

“The final result is that I waited for a lovely child like you.”

“Oh, thank you, Madame.” Hylial felt a certain fortune. If not for this, she wouldn’t have been valued by this lady.

“Alright, that’s all for today’s lesson. I’ll give you the materials and knowledge needed to learn the ‘Bloom-Flowering Method’ later, and then you can slowly master it.”

“Yes.” The girl agreed, but she didn’t leave immediately. Instead, she asked about the hidden situation she had just discovered.

“You said ‘shifted to Blazing Sun’ earlier. Does that mean you weren’t a Blazing Sun affinity Gardener before?”

“Of course, Gardeners generally start with Jade Nectar, but affinities are not absolutely unchangeable. If you can cultivate a very special and rare plant, then by relying on that plant to advance, you can change to that plant’s affinity.” At this, Madame Faran thought of something.

“Especially for Gardeners with limited talent, if they are stuck at a certain stage and cannot break through for a long time, their hope is to cultivate a plant higher than their own stage. This is the only remaining path to advancement.”

“It’s just that such a thing is not easy either.” She shook her head.

“Generally speaking, extraordinary individuals do not easily change their ‘affinity’ because it is an accumulation of many years of effort. The knowledge, skills, and other abilities they have learned are all related to their primary affinity. Once changed, many abilities will be weakened or ineffective.”

“Do you know Scholar Hyde’s story? In his early years, he was ambitious, pursuing ‘Arcane Language’ as his life’s goal. To this end, he traveled extensively to study, working hard for nearly a decade, achieving great success and writing travelogue books based on his experiences.”

“Once that book was finished and published, it would mean the crystallization of the ‘Level 3 – Arcane Language’ affinity.”

“But this process was interrupted. A friend of his, under the pretext of borrowing to study, stole his work and slandered him, claiming to be the author of the book, and that Scholar Hyde was the one who stole the results.”

“Because of this, Candlefort stripped Scholar Hyde of his scholarly status and imprisoned him for interrogation.”

“During this time, Scholar Hyde suffered greatly, but fortunately, many friends and students campaigned for him, finally clearing his name. Candlefort then reinstated his status and compensated him with a badge, a badge that only official Level 3 members of Candlefort should wear and possess.”

“But it was all too late. Years of hard work were destroyed, and the torment during his imprisonment disheartened Scholar Hyde. He eventually abandoned the ‘Arcane Language’ path, turning instead to the ‘Castle’ affinity, which he had always been indifferent to, becoming an ordinary scholar.” Madame Faran sighed.

“So many hidden details,” Hylial secretly exclaimed.

“What about the person who falsely accused Scholar Hyde?”

“That person also didn’t end well. He was stripped of his affinity stage by Candlefort and exiled, perhaps dying in some unknown corner.” Madame Faran shook her head.

“Some things are recognized taboos; once done, they will be severely dealt with by their respective schools.”

“Among us Gardeners, there are also recognized taboos, but I don’t need to tell you those dark things yet.”

After that, their learning and conversation ended. Hylial transcribed the knowledge of the ‘Bloom-Flowering Method’ given to her by Madame Faran and began to try and learn it.

(End of this chapter)