The Cornflower Witch

Chapter 63: The Art of Flower Blooming

In the open space of the mansion's backyard.

In the afternoon breeze, Lady Franne explained knowledge to Sylutia.

"Tia, do you know the Three Elements Law?"

"Scholar Hyde taught me a little. It seems to be Power (Resources), Skill (Knowledge), and Practice (Trials)."

"Correct. This is also called the Threefold Law, representing the truth and balance of the world." Lady Franne picked up a broken branch from the roadside.

"The Threefold Law can be applied to many levels, whether it's advancement, learning, or rituals, and so on. However, what I'm going to teach you today is just a secret art from the gardener's inheritance."

"Its name is the 'Flower Blooming Method'."

After speaking, the broken branch in her hand seemed to experience a revival in spring, sprouting tender buds and unfurling new, delicate leaves. Soon, a tiny flower bud appeared among the leaves, gradually growing larger until it fully bloomed, revealing white petals.

Although Lady Franne's main cultivation was the 'Blazing Sun' Aspect, the ability she was currently using was from the 'Verdant Nectar' Aspect, which made Sylutia quite curious.

It seems that Aspects are not so incompatible after all, she noted to herself."As the name implies, the 'Flower Blooming Method' is magic that makes plants bloom." Lady Franne pinched the flower stem with her fingers, causing the excess wood below to break and fall off.

"I see." Sylutia nodded, not finding it particularly surprising.

Seeing her look so blank, Lady Franne found it quite amusing. She then pinched the flower stem and gently shook it. A faint fragrance wafted out, refreshing Sylutia's senses and making her feel slightly more energetic.

"How do you feel now?"

"I seem a bit more refreshed." The girl carefully recalled the change just now.

"Correct. This white kapok flower has an extremely weak refreshing effect."

"Generally speaking, this effect requires a large amount of kapok flowers to be refined into essential oil to manifest even a little, so no one would bother doing such a thankless task."

"Alright, I've finished explaining. How much have you understood now?"

Huh, is that it? The girl was surprised.

Blooming flowers, a weak effect... She fell into thought.

"You mean, by using the blooming method, a certain weak and inconspicuous effect can be amplified many times over. Is that it?"

"You really are clever. Actually, many Transcendent abilities are like this. They require you to have sufficient imagination, then explore and practice bit by bit, finally developing them." Lady Franne nodded approvingly.

"Then, now that you know the ability of the 'Flower Blooming Method', have you thought about how to utilize this ability?"

"In that case, if a certain flower itself has an effect I need, I can use the 'Flower Blooming Method' to amplify and expand it to achieve what I want to accomplish." She couldn't help but recall her previous consideration during advancement about what would happen if she used a 'Swan Orchid' to advance.

That would probably grant the effect and ability of the 'Swan Orchid'. And now, what if I use the 'Flower Blooming Method' to stimulate the Swan Orchid?

Sylutia quickly voiced her thoughts.

"Correct. That is the most commonly used effect and the most valuable part of this ability."

Lady Franne lightly raised her wrist, and a surge of intense heat erupted from the flower field, blending into the cold autumn wind and sweeping across the entire mansion backyard, making Sylutia feel as if she were in the midst of summer.

"See, I didn't even use much strength. Such heat is enough to change the environment of the mansion." She gently tossed the white kapok flower in her hand into the air.

Soon, invisible streams of heat converged. The kapok flower ignited instantly in mid-air and turned to ashes, scattering.

"Even if a 'Third Tier - Castle' knight were to barge into this flower field, I could melt them and turn them into fertilizer for the field. Do you understand the use of this ability now?"

"Yes." Sylutia felt waves of admiration rise within her.

"However, Tia, don't get too happy too soon." Lady Franne seemed to guess what the girl was thinking.

"If you want to stimulate the effect of a Transcendent plant, you must be one tier higher than that plant..." This statement essentially rendered this ability useless at the First Tier.

"Unless, the plant was personally cultivated by you." Her words took a turn, reigniting hope in the girl.

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

So, a gardener's task really is to grow flowers, after all.

Thinking of this, Sylutia couldn't help but ask, "Teacher, if I want to have some combat ability for self-defense, what kind of flowers should I cultivate?"

"Do you remember the 'Fire Glow Orchid' and 'White Camellia' I asked you to take care of some time ago?"

"I remember." At this point, Sylutia seemed to understand something.

"Correct. If the 'Fire Glow Orchid' is successfully cultivated, it will emit a scorching aura. Naturally, this aura usually cannot harm people, but what if it's amplified and magnified by the 'Flower Blooming Method'?"

"As for the 'White Camellia', it has detoxifying abilities. Whether it's treating wounds or dealing with some poisonous miasma environments, it has quite good effects."

"Your energy is limited now. Just focus on cultivating these two plants."

"Yes, Teacher."

"Also, regarding the 'Swan Orchids' you cultivated earlier, keep one for yourself. I plan to take the remaining two and give them to a friend. He has another use for them."

"Alright." Sylutia nodded in agreement.

"Aren't you curious about what they're for?" Unable to resist, Lady Franne teased the exceptionally obedient girl.

"What are they for then?"

"It's related to creating a purified environment."

"When you were still an ordinary person, your perception of the power of various Aspects was dull. You wouldn't notice any changes or anomalies."

"But when you reach higher tiers, you'll discover that extremely weak Aspect forces are interwoven and interfering everywhere in daily life."

"These extremely weak Aspect forces won't trigger any major changes, but for experiments requiring extremely high precision, such as refining special potions or alchemical manufacturing, they can be fatal."

"A tiny, minuscule difference can lead to a complete change in the potion's efficacy and the final result."

"Therefore, special methods are needed to purify the environment in advance. Among these, the most lasting and lowest-cost method is to use plants with a 'purification' effect."

"The 'Swan Orchid' is precisely such a plant with this special utility."

"Originally, he commissioned me to cultivate it. However, after I transitioned to 'Blazing Sun', my Aspect power was no longer as pure as before. Moreover, the 'Swan Orchid's' nature isn't suitable for catalysis by 'Blazing Sun'; it would instead damage the growth of this delicate plant."

"So, over the years, whenever someone came to me wanting to learn gardening knowledge, I would give them 'Swan Orchid' seeds to see who could cultivate them first."

"The final result was that I waited for a lovely child like you."

"Ah, this... Thank you, Lady." Sylutia felt a sense of luck. If not for this, she probably wouldn't have been valued by this lady.

"Alright, that's all for today's lesson. Later, I'll give you the materials and knowledge needed to learn the 'Flower Blooming Method'. Then, practice slowly."

"Yes." The girl agreed, but she didn't leave immediately. Instead, she asked about the hidden detail she just discovered.

"You just said 'transitioned to Blazing Sun'. Does that mean you weren't a 'Blazing Sun' Aspect gardener before?"

"Of course. Gardeners mostly start with 'Verdant Nectar'. However, Aspects are not absolutely immutable. If you can cultivate a very special and rare plant, then by relying on that plant for advancement, you can transition to that plant's Aspect." At this point, Lady Franne thought of something.

"Especially for gardeners with limited talent, if they themselves are stuck at a certain tier and cannot break through for a long time, then their hope is to cultivate a plant that is of a higher tier than themselves. This is the only remaining path for advancement."

"Of course, such a thing isn't easy either." She shook her head.

"Generally, Transcendents do not easily change their 'Aspect' because it represents years of accumulated effort. The knowledge, skills, and other abilities they have learned are all related to their primary Aspect. Once changed, many abilities will weaken or fail."

"Do you know Scholar Hyde's experience? In his early years, he actually had great ambitions, pursuing 'Secret Word' as his life's goal. For this, he traveled everywhere to study, busy for nearly ten years, achieving great success and writing a travelogue based on his own experiences and observations."

"Once that book was completed, published, and disseminated, it would have meant the condensation of the 'Third Tier - Secret Word' Aspect."

"But this process was interrupted. A close friend of his, under the pretense of borrowing it for study, stole his work, slandered him, and claimed to be the true author of the book, while accusing Scholar Hyde of being the one who stole the achievement."

"For this, Candlekeep stripped Scholar Hyde of his scholar status and imprisoned him for interrogation."

"During that period, Scholar Hyde suffered greatly. Fortunately, many friends and students campaigned for him, finally clearing his name. Afterwards, Candlekeep restored his status and compensated him with a badge—the kind of badge that should only be worn by official Third Tier members of Candlekeep."

"But it was all too late. Years of hard work destroyed, coupled with the torment during imprisonment, left Scholar Hyde disheartened. He ultimately abandoned the 'Secret Word' path and turned to the 'Castle' Aspect, which he had always been indifferent to before, becoming an ordinary scholar." Lady Franne sighed with emotion.

She hadn't realized there was so much hidden history. Sylutia sighed inwardly.

"What about the person who framed Scholar Hyde before?"

"That person didn't end well either. Candlekeep abolished his Aspect tier and exiled him. He probably died in some unknown corner." Lady Franne shook her head.

"Some things are universally recognized taboos. Once done, they will be severely dealt with by their respective schools."

"Among us gardeners, there are also universally recognized taboos. But there's no need to tell you those overly dark things now."

Afterwards, their lesson and conversation ended. Sylutia transcribed the knowledge of the 'Flower Blooming Method' given to her by Lady Franne and began trying to learn it.