It began like a farce.
It ended in a similarly farce.
Seeing that Mina had relayed Enrique's message, Link didn't linger.
He wasn't planning to get involved in this mess any further, unless Rivers and Enrique didn't fight, or they provoked Link again; otherwise, Link wouldn't even give them a second glance.
He simply asked Jasmine to keep an eye on the situation and let him know if there were any developments or changes.
As always, Link's current focus was on studying, studying, and more studying.
While the part-time job was to earn magic stones, it was also a valuable opportunity for practical experience.
Having only visited the Third Botanical Garden twice, Link's understanding and mastery of the Lesser Mist Rain and Growth-Inducing spells were deepening, and his knowledge of plants and plant breeding was no longer just theoretical without practical application.
Therefore, any part-time job that helped his learning was always welcome.
Jasmine readily agreed to Link's request.
After all, she was the one who caused this trouble, even though she was also an innocent victim.
Through this experience, Jasmine gained a lot, most importantly two things:
first, she gained a deeper understanding of the inherently unsafe nature of the wizarding world, as danger could strike at any moment, and from any unknown source;
second, she gained a deeper understanding that true strength is the foundation of one's existence, and even someone as averse to trouble as Link had to take a roundabout approach to resolve this matter.
Jasmine had every reason to believe that if Link had been given more time to master power greater than Rivers, he would have directly confronted him instead of wasting time instigating internal strife.
She was also deeply grateful that she had made the decision to enroll at the Rivosos Biological and Medical Academy with Link.
Otherwise, she would have taken many more detours and encountered many more setbacks, leading to her current insights and transformations.
"You idiot, blockhead, I'll hold you tight, don't even think about shaking me off!"
Deliberately falling behind by two or three steps, Jasmine pursed her lips and made a gesture as if to pinch Link's back.
Link seemed to sense this and glanced back, only to find Jasmine walking seriously behind him.
"What's going on?"
Link frowned slightly, somewhat puzzled.
Since the successful "refinement" and construction of the second Will Rune, Link vaguely felt that his sensory abilities had improved, his intuition was becoming increasingly sharp, and he even had a bit of a sixth sense.
Just now, Link vaguely sensed that Jasmine was making some small movements behind him.
But when he turned around, he didn't find anything.
Link looked ahead again, puzzled
, and strode forward. Jasmine breathed a sigh of relief. She almost got caught. This blockhead is getting more and more amazing; he could even sense that.
But he still didn't catch me, did he?
Hmph.
Jasmine thought smugly, then pouted and stuck out her tongue at Link's back, making a face.
But before she could finish sticking out her tongue, Link quickly turned around and caught her red-handed.
"Childish!"
Link chuckled lightly, somewhat speechless.
However, considering Jasmine's age, she was indeed still in the childish stage, so Link didn't say anything, simply ignoring what was behind him and walking towards the library.
While researching plant breeding materials in the library yesterday, Link discovered a new function of his personal AI.
While in the library, Link could find a link in a secluded corner of the academy's "official website" program, which redirected him to an advanced literature database.
Link was certain this was a feature added to his personal AI after he advanced to First-Class Wizard Apprentice; it wasn't available before.
This filled the gap in the library's collection, which only contained basic, popular books and lacked advanced texts on advanced knowledge.
Reaching his usual corner in the reading room,
Link ignored the hesitant Jasmine, took out his personal AI, pen, and notebook, and began studying. Knowledge was intoxicating, and learning brought him joy.
Through the "official website," Link accessed the advanced literature database via a link and entered the keywords "Misty Rain Spell," "Growth Accelerator," "Breeding," and "Silver Star Flower."
Hundreds of entries of various kinds appeared on the screen.
Link browsed through the entries, selecting some documents related to the individual and combined use techniques of "Misty Rain Technique" and "Growth Acceleration Technique," and began reading them first.
The great scientist Newton of his previous life famously said, "Standing on the shoulders of giants."
In Link's view, standing on the shoulders of giants meant learning from and absorbing the knowledge discovered, summarized, and generalized by predecessors, and then innovating upon it.
There's also the saying, "The stones from other mountains can be used to polish jade."
Only through continuous reading and learning, enriching one's knowledge and broadening one's horizons, can one refine one's scholarship and improve one's abilities.
Once he started reading, Link became completely absorbed, forgetting time and everything around him. It wasn't
until his personal AI vibrated, and the alarm clock reminded him it was time to return to his dormitory, that Link left this sea of knowledge.
For safety reasons, Link first escorted Jasmine back before returning to his dormitory.
Before opening the door, Link very politely requested the intelligent law enforcement puppet to end its protection.
Watching the intelligent law enforcement puppet, resembling a fixed-wing drone, depart, Link entered his dormitory and went straight to his study. He jotted down his thoughts, insights, and inspirations gleaned from reading literature in the library in his notebook.
The Lesser Mist and the Growth-Inducing spell truly lived up to their reputation as a highly effective combination, especially in plant breeding.
Whether ordinary or extraordinary, normal or problematic seeds, using Lesser Mist and Growth-Inducing spells, perhaps with the addition of some nutrient solution and disease-specific agents, almost any plant could be successfully cultivated.
Link also learned several techniques for using these two level-0 spells together.
For example, for the Silver Star flower seeds in the third greenhouse of the third row, using Lesser Mist and Growth-Inducing spells once a day for seven days successfully made the seeds germinate and sprout.
After learning this technique, Link initially thought there was a problem with his own breeding plan.
After all, the botanical garden's requirement for him was to successfully breed plants within a week.
After reading several articles about Silver Star Flowers, Link discovered that their seeds often had difficulty germinating. This
was especially true for Silver Star Flowers cultivated using a daily Minor Mist Rain spell and a germination-inducing spell; the chances of these seeds germinating were significantly higher than those cultivated using ordinary methods.
Link pondered deeply which step was wrong.
Was it a problem with the Silver Star Flower's "genes"?
Or the cultivation method?
Or perhaps both?
Link didn't know the answer yet.
But he had a hunch that once he successfully cultivated Silver Star Flowers according to his own method, his understanding of the problem would become much clearer.
Then, Link could conduct targeted experiments to verify his hypotheses.
For now, the focus was on collecting data.