After Harry, Cedric and Neville approached the tree together.
Looking at the two students from Hufflepuff, Professor Sprout's eyes were filled with admiration.
The two of them were undoubtedly the pride of Hufflepuff House!
Cedric resonated with the extremely rare Re'em fruit, while Neville, like Harry, received the recognition of the phoenix fruit.
That result came as quite a surprise to Professor Sprout.
Luna's situation was rather unusual.
She seemed reasonably compatible with every type of fruit, but none stood out above the others.
That left Professor Sprout in a difficult position.
In the end, she could only let Luna choose one for herself.
"Do you have any Crumple-Horned Snorkack fruit?" Luna thought for a moment before making her choice.
She was not interested in the strength the fruit could provide. She simply wanted to consume one so she could observe the characteristics of that rare magical creature.
"A Crumple... what? Do you mean an Erumpent?"
"No, a Crumple-Horned Snorkack."
Luna began explaining the existence of the Crumple-Horned Snorkack to Professor Sprout.
Professor Sprout fell silent.
She had a feeling there probably wasn't one.
Neither the fruit nor the magical creature itself.
After receiving a negative answer, Luna ultimately chose a unicorn fruit.
"Next, Miss Granger. It's your turn."
After sending Luna away, Professor Sprout could not help but breathe a sigh of relief.
She was eager to deal with a slightly more normal contestant.
Hermione resonated with a strangely shaped fruit. Professor Sprout had to think carefully for a while before remembering what it was.
It was a Sphinx fruit.
Like the Re'em fruit, only one contestant had gained its recognition so far.
"Sphinxes are extremely intelligent and knowledgeable magical creatures, so this fruit probably won't grant you tremendous physical strength, but it may enhance your ability to think. That isn't certain, though, because Sphinxes are actually quite formidable in combat as well."
Professor Sprout kindly explained the characteristics of the Sphinx to Hermione.
Daphne and Astoria were the last Hogwarts contestants to step forward.
Professor Sprout was somewhat surprised when she realised that Rhys had actually failed to pass the trial.
As he watched Daphne and Astoria walk forward, Rhys's emotions shifted slightly.
So far, no one had been recognised by the Basilisk fruit...
He had no expectations for Daphne, but Astoria might actually have a chance!
When a dragon fruit fell into Daphne's hand, Rhys showed no reaction whatsoever.
He had expected that result.
All of his attention was focused on Astoria.
The instant she stretched out her hand, Rhys even held his breath.
The fruits on the tree began to tremble.
Several shook particularly violently.
Rhys carefully examined their colours and patterns, and his heart leapt with joy.
Those were Basilisk fruits!
There was no way he could mistake them!
In the end, Astoria did not disappoint him and formed an exceptionally strong resonance with the Basilisk fruit.
"I'm telling you, the Basilisk fruit is probably the strongest of all the fruits in actual combat."
On the way back to the castle, Rhys was in unusually high spirits and even began explaining the various uses of the Basilisk fruit to Astoria.
"Why do you know so much about transformation fruits?" Daphne asked in confusion.
Hadn't Rhys arrived at the greenhouse at the same time as her and Astoria?
Why did he seem so familiar with the characteristics of the fruits?
"Because the Basilisk fruit was cultivated using Basilisk blood that I provided. I already knew about this tree before Christmas."
While revealing the truth, Rhys also casually disclosed part of the method used to cultivate the transformation fruit tree.
Now Daphne understood.
"Go back and prepare properly for the next stage. I expect it's going to be very difficult."
After giving the two girls a few reminders, Rhys returned to his dormitory.
Soon, seven days passed in the blink of an eye, and the second stage of the tournament officially began.
Once again, the contestants gathered on the Quidditch Pitch and waited for Ministry officials to take them to the entrance of the competition venue.
The stands were packed with spectators.
The moment the contestants departed, prolonged applause and cheers erupted throughout the stadium.
Amid the encouragement of the crowd, contestants from the various magical schools carried their prepared equipment through the passageway and entered the alchemical world.
Having already experienced it once, Rhys thought he was extremely familiar with the method of entering the alchemical world.
But when the transport began this time, he experienced something completely unfamiliar.
The instant he entered the passage, he felt as though something were calling to him.
Once the transportation truly began, a force even started pulling him toward a specific location.
'Hm?'
Rhys immediately became alert.
He knew very well that this world did not welcome him, so whatever was waiting for him was likely to be extremely dangerous.
By the time Rhys had prepared himself for battle, the transportation ended.
He landed on a structure resembling an altar.
Two people were kneeling in front of him, while below the altar stood a bizarre humanoid creature.
The creature was broadly human-shaped, but its skin was covered in pustules like a toad's and had an overall bluish-grey colour.
Even stranger, there was a structure on top of its head that resembled a volcanic crater, constantly releasing white smoke.
Rhys vaguely felt that the creature seemed to have some sort of connection to him.
'Where is this? How long has it been since I last left? What has happened to this world?'
Those were the three questions Rhys most wanted answered.
Rhys's appearance seemed to have stunned both people on the altar and the creature below it.
It took them several seconds to recover.
The person kneeling directly in front of Rhys immediately began rattling off a long string of words.
When he saw the confusion on Rhys's face, he seemed to realise something and quickly switched languages.
"Vidad... Demon Lord, answer you... cursed earth bring calamity... grant... power!"
Rhys frowned.
He could tell that the man in front of him was trying to communicate, but his spoken language was atrocious, with an accent even heavier than an Arabian's.
Rhys guessed that the man had mistaken him for some kind of deity and wanted him to grant them power.
Seeing that the other party seemed ready to continue, Rhys quickly stopped him and cast a Translation Charm on himself.
"Who are you?" Rhys asked patiently.
Seeing that the Demon Lord who had answered their summons could finally communicate with them, uncontrollable joy flashed in the eyes of the two men.
They hurriedly began introducing themselves.
Rhys listened to them ramble on for quite some time before finally understanding their origins.
The two of them wanted to obtain power from an ancient deity known as the "Demon Lord."
"O Demon Lord, it has been six hundred years since you destroyed the Eternal City, slew the false god of light, and spread your blessings across this land. For six hundred whole years, the creatures of this land have not basked in your divine might. Fortunately, you have finally answered our prayers..."
As Rhys listened, he suddenly felt that something was not quite right.
The "Demon Lord" you're talking about...
You don't mean me, do you?
The demon god was me all along?!
____
12 Chaps ahead at Patreon.com/HornyFBI