Cornflower Witch

Chapter 63 The Art of Blooming Flowers
The open space in the backyard of the mansion.

In the afternoon breeze, Madame Fran explained knowledge to Hiltia.

"Tiya, do you know the three-element rule?"

“The professor taught some things, it seems to be strength (resources), skill (knowledge), practice (trials).”

“That’s right, this is also called the Three-Phase Law, which represents the truth and balance of the world.” Mrs. Fran 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, but what I'm going to teach you today is just a secret technique from the gardener's lineage."

Its name is "Blooming Flower Method".

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

Although Lady Fran's main cultivation is the 'Blazing Sun' aspect, she is currently using the 'Emerald Honey' aspect, which makes Hiltiya quite curious.

It seems that their personalities are not so incompatible after all, she thought to herself.

"As the name suggests, the 'Blooming Method' is the magic that makes plants bloom." Mrs. Fran pinched the flower branch with her fingers, causing the excess wood below to break off and fall.

“I see.” Hilti nodded, not finding it surprising.

Seeing her looking so dazed, Lady Fran found it quite amusing. She then pinched the flower stem with her fingers and shook it slightly, releasing a faint fragrance that refreshed Hilti and made her a little more alert.

How are you feeling now?

"She seems a bit more energetic." The girl carefully recalled the changes she had just experienced.

"That's right, the flowers of this white kapok tree have a very slight refreshing effect."

"Generally speaking, it would take a lot of kapok flowers to extract essential oil to achieve even a little bit of this effect, so no one would do something so thankless."

"Okay, I'm done explaining. How much of it have you grasped?"

"Oh, is that all?" the girl asked in surprise.

The blossoming and flowering had a faint effect... She fell into thought.

"You mean that by blooming, a subtle or inconspicuous effect can be magnified many times over, 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." Mrs. Fran nodded approvingly.

"Now that you know about the 'Blooming Flower Technique', have you thought about how to use it?"

“In that case, if a certain flower has the effect I need, I can use the ‘Blooming Flower Method’ to amplify it and achieve what I want to accomplish.” She couldn’t help but recall what would happen if she used the ‘Swan Orchid’ for advancement when she was advancing before.

That way we can obtain the effects of 'Swan Orchid', but what if we use the 'Blooming Method' to activate Swan Orchid now?

Hiltiya quickly shared her thoughts.

"That's right, this is the most commonly used effect, and also the most valuable part of this ability."

With a slight lift of her wrist, Lady Fran caused a surge of heat to erupt from the flower field, blending into the chilly autumn wind and sweeping across the entire backyard of the mansion, making Hilti feel as if she were in the height of summer.

“Look, I didn’t even use much force, yet this amount of heat is enough to change the environment of the mansion.” She gently tossed the white kapok flower in her hand into the air.

Soon, an invisible heat flow gathered, and the kapok flower instantly ignited in the air, turning into ashes and scattering away.

“Even if a knight of the ‘Third-Tier Castle’ were to trespass into this flower field, I could melt him down and turn him into fertilizer for the flower field. Now you understand the use of this ability.”

"Yes." Hiltiya felt a surge of admiration.

“However, Tia, don’t be too happy yet.” Mrs. Fran seemed to have guessed what the young girl was thinking.

"If you want to activate the effects of a supernatural plant, you must be one level higher than that plant..." This statement is tantamount to declaring that this ability is useless at the first level.

"Unless, you cultivated this plant yourself." Her change of tone rekindled the girl's hope.

However, she has only cultivated three Swan Orchids so far. If she wants additional abilities, she will have to work hard to cultivate flowers with combat effects.

So, a gardener's job is to grow flowers?

Thinking of this, Hilti couldn't help but ask, "Teacher, if I want to have a certain ability to fight and protect myself, what kind of flower should I cultivate?"

"Do you remember the 'Fire Orchid' and 'White Camellia' that I asked you to take care of a while ago?"

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

“That’s right. If the ‘Fire Orchid’ is successfully cultivated, it will emit a scorching aura. Normally, this aura cannot harm people, but what if it is amplified through the ‘Blooming Method’?” “As for the ‘White Camellia’, it has the ability to detoxify. It is effective in treating wounds and dealing with some poisonous miasma environments.”

"Your energy is limited right now, so you only need to focus on cultivating these two plants."

"is teacher."

"In addition, of the 'Swan Orchid' you cultivated before, you keep one for yourself, and I plan to give the remaining two to a friend who has other uses for them."

“Okay.” Hiltiya nodded in agreement.

"Aren't you curious about what it's used for?" Mrs. Fran refrained from teasing this exceptionally obedient girl.

"What use is that?"

"This is related to a clean and quiet environment."

"When you are still an ordinary person, you are dulled to the power of various sexual aspects and do not feel any changes or surprises."

"But at a higher level, you will find that there are extremely faint sexual forces everywhere in life, intertwined and interfering with each other."

"These extremely weak elemental forces will not cause any changes, but they can be fatal for some experiments that require a high degree of precision, such as the refining of special potions and alchemy."

"Even the slightest difference can lead to a change in the efficacy and outcome of the entire drug."

"Therefore, special methods are needed to purify the environment in advance, and the most durable and lowest-cost method is to use plants with 'purifying' effects."

“'Swan orchid' is a plant with such special effects.”

"Originally, he entrusted me to cultivate it, but after I transformed into 'Blazing Sun,' my spiritual power was no longer as pure as before. Moreover, the nature of 'Swan Orchid' is not suitable for 'Blazing Sun' to catalyze, and it will instead damage the growth of this delicate plant."

"So, over the years, whenever someone asks me to learn about horticulture, I give them seeds of the 'Swan Orchid' and see who can cultivate it first."

"The final result is that we've finally welcomed you, our lovely child."

"Ah... thank you, Madam." Hiltiya felt a sense of luck; otherwise, she wouldn't have been valued by this lady.

"Alright, that concludes today's lesson. I will now provide you with the materials and knowledge needed to learn the 'Blooming Flower Technique,' and you can gradually master it."

"Yes," the girl replied, but she did not leave immediately. Instead, she asked about the hidden situation she had just discovered.

"You just said 'transformed to blazing sun,' does that mean you weren't a 'blazing sun' horticulturist before?"

"Of course, most gardeners start with 'Emerald Honey,' but their nature isn't immutable. If you can cultivate a very special and rare plant, you can use that plant to advance and change its nature." As she said this, Mrs. Fran seemed to be thinking of something.

"Especially for some gardeners with limited talent, if they are stuck at a certain level and cannot break through for a long time, their hope is to cultivate plants of a higher level than themselves. This is the last remaining way to advance."

"But this kind of thing won't be easy either." She shook her head.

"Generally speaking, extraordinary individuals do not easily change their 'nature' because it is the accumulation of years of effort. The knowledge, skills, and other abilities they have learned are all related to their primary nature. Once changed, many abilities will be weakened or malfunction."

"Do you know about Hyde's experience? In his early years, he actually had lofty ambitions and regarded 'secret words' as his life pursuit. For this purpose, he traveled to various places to study, working hard for nearly ten years and achieving great success. He also wrote travelogues based on his own experiences."

"Once that book is completed and published, it will signify the condensation of the sexual essence of the 'Third Order Secret Word'."

"But this process was interrupted when a friend of his stole his work under the pretext of borrowing it for study and falsely accused him of being the author of the book, while Hyde was the one who stole his work."

"For this reason, Candleburg stripped Hyde of his maester status and imprisoned and interrogated him."

"During this time, Maester Hyde suffered a great deal of torment. Fortunately, many friends and students worked on his behalf and eventually cleared his name. After that, Candlekeep restored his status and compensated him with a badge, a badge that should have been worn and possessed only by Tier 3 members of Candlekeep."

"But it was all too late. Years of hard work were destroyed, and the torment during his imprisonment left Maester Hyde disheartened. In the end, he abandoned the path of 'Secret Words' and turned to the 'Castle' aspect, which he had always been indifferent to, and became an ordinary maester," Lady Fran sighed.

Hiltiya sighed inwardly, surprised that there were so many hidden secrets.

"What about the people who framed Mathematician Hyde before?"

"That person didn't fare well either. He was stripped of his sexual phase rank by the Candleburg and exiled. Perhaps he died in some unknown corner." Lady Fran shook her head.

"Some things are generally considered taboo, and once done, they will be severely punished by their respective schools of thought."

"We gardeners also have our own taboos, but there's no need to tell you those dark things right now."

Afterwards, the two finished their study and conversation. Hilti copied the knowledge of the 'Blooming Technique' that Lady Fran had given her and began to try to learn it.

(End of this chapter)