By deep night, Professor Sprout finally set down her quill.
She rubbed her sore wrist, then stamped her seal hard onto every envelope.
Only after watching the owls carry the letters away did she exhale.
In the candlelight, a strange smile crept across her face.
A low laugh echoed through the office.
"Heh… I refuse to suffer alone. The entire Herbology community must taste this pain."
…
Soon, in a greenhouse buried beneath thick vines and lush greenery, the sound of owl wings broke the quiet.
A well-dressed middle-aged witch was waving her wand over a row of plants when she noticed the letter.
"Pomona?"
She opened it and saw Professor Sprout's warm greeting.
"Dear Senior Isadora, I hope this letter finds you well."
"Recently, I have often thought back to our days at Hogwarts. The years have passed so quickly that it feels like yesterday."
"I still remember when I first helped in the greenhouses. You were the one who taught me patiently, step by step. Later, we spent a long time studying Herbology together."
"Now, when I look in the mirror, I can hardly believe so much time has passed."
"You have long since become an accomplished scholar, a recipient of the Order of Merlin, and one of the finest herbologists of our age. In this field, I still consider you ahead of me…"
Dame Isadora's gaze softened.
Those student days had once felt endless.
Yet looking back, they seemed impossibly brief.
So many classmates had gone their separate ways. Some had left Herbology and Magizoology altogether. Some had even departed the world because of illness or war.
Now, reading a letter from Sprout, and seeing Sprout acknowledge her seniority in Herbology, Isadora could not help feeling pleased.
Then she reached the final request.
Sprout wanted to borrow several rare seeds.
"So Pomona still hasn't given up on reviving the Whomping Willow and the extinct ancient herbs?"
Isadora sighed.
"Every plant from the age of myth is difficult. None of them are simple."
Had anyone else asked, she would have refused.
But for Sprout's sake, and because the letter had stirred old memories, Isadora took out three seeds and wrote a reply.
…
Similar letters reached several Herbology masters across Britain.
They were all leading figures in the field, and each had some connection with Professor Sprout.
After reading her sincere words and generous praise, they shook their heads at her stubbornness, yet still lent her seeds from their private collections.
In a castle covered in black ivy and thorny vines, a woman in dark robes sneered after receiving Sprout's letter.
"Pomona Sprout is asking me for seeds?"
"She still wants to complete that research?"
"How foolish. Plants of that type can't be revived in the current magical environment. That is already a settled conclusion."
"No wonder she has produced so little since becoming Hogwarts' Herbology professor."
At the thought of the Hogwarts post, the woman's fingers tightened.
"If I could go back to that year, with my current achievements and my teacher's support, how could I have lost to Sprout?"
"I don't care about the position anymore. But whenever I think of it, it still irritates me."
The woman sneered and packed a pouch with a dozen seeds before sending it off to Hogwarts.
"Twelve seeds. All rare, all difficult."
"Pomona, waste your time as much as you like."
"When my own research is complete, you can step aside and leave the Herbology professor's seat behind."
…
At Hogwarts, Professor Sprout looked at the seeds delivered by owl and smiled knowingly.
"The others only lent one each. Senior Isadora is still generous. Three at once."
"But Flynna, that bitter witch, is the real prize. She lost the Herbology professor position to me all those years ago and has never let it go."
"Later, some reclusive Herbology grandmaster took her as a student. That woman's position in Herbology is almost like Nicolas Flamel's in alchemy. I don't know what luck Flynna stumbled into, but she has produced result after result since then, and she never lacks rare resources."
"She must have been delighted when she received my letter. Twelve seeds? How generous."
Professor Sprout's smile deepened.
"I wonder how long she'll stay happy."
Then she looked toward the door with anticipation.
"Theodore, I've spent my reputation and old favors on this. Don't disappoint me."
When Theodore arrived and saw the pouches of seeds, his eyes immediately burned with excitement.
Professor Sprout really did care about him.
With these seeds, the herb garden inside his Origin Sea could finally take shape.
Once the plants matured, he could use his mastery of pill refinement to develop new formulas beyond the Demon-Refining Pill and the Ten Thousand Demon Golden Pill.
The Ten Thousand Demon Golden Pill still required bloodline material from an Old One. After Theodore destroyed Dagon's projection, it was unlikely another Old One would appear anytime soon.
So this herb garden would become the foundation for his cultivation speed.
"And the Herbology masters who lent these seeds…"
Theodore sighed inwardly.
"Good people. All of them are good people."
"As thanks, I'll make their seeds sprout as quickly as possible. I'm sure they'll be delighted."
After returning, Theodore carefully planted the seeds on the divine peak inside his Origin Sea.
He even skimmed through the relevant papers and prepared the most suitable conditions for each seed. The soil had been nourished by the Wutu Divine Light, and he did not hold back on Origin Sea power either.
Under such extravagant treatment, the seeds that had long been impossible to grow in the magical world began to stir with life.
By the next day, many tender shoots of different shapes and colors had pushed through the soil.
Theodore immediately reported the good news to Professor Sprout.
Professor Sprout stood from her chair at once, her face glowing.
"Good!"
"Very good!"
"Excellent!"
Then she pulled out her quill and began writing letters again.
In Dame Isadora's greenhouse, Isadora looked puzzled when another owl arrived.
"Why another letter so soon?"
"Does Pomona want to discuss cultivation methods?"
But when she opened the envelope, she saw Sprout's elegant but energetic handwriting.
"Dear Senior Isadora, I hope this letter finds you well."
"The seeds you lent me have been entrusted to one of my students. One of them has already sprouted today."
"Please see the illustration attached."
Isadora froze.
Then she rubbed her eyes and read the letter several times.
"What?"
"What is going on?"
"It sprouted?"
"That seed had been in my collection for years. I studied it myself. I tried every method. It never reacted at all. I had nearly decided it was dead, which was why I lent it out in the first place."
"And now, in Sprout's hands, a student planted it casually, and it sprouted in one day?"
A complicated emotion rose in her chest.
"I was clearly the one who had it first…"
But soon, Isadora took a deep breath and calmed herself.
"Herbology is built on diligence and persistence. Perhaps this is Pomona's reward for all the years she spent on this subject."
"She makes it sound easy in the letter, but in truth, this must be the result of decades of research."
"I have nothing to envy. I should not be jealous. This is what Pomona deserves."
"Even if it goes no further than germination, this result is enough to dominate the top Herbology journals."
With that thought, Isadora wrote a congratulatory reply.
The other Herbology masters reacted similarly.
They congratulated Professor Sprout, though some did so through gritted teeth.
Only Flynna, who had never let go of her resentment toward Sprout, nearly crushed the letter in her hands.
"One of the seeds I lent her actually sprouted?"
"Damn it. I tried growing those too. Why didn't I find it?"
"Why is her luck always this good?"
After a long while, Flynna finally calmed down.
"It's only one seed. A useful result, perhaps, but it can't compare with the research I'm about to finish."
"Let her be proud for now. Temporary pride means nothing."
But the matter did not stop there.
Another day passed.
The Herbology masters received a second letter from Sprout.
More seeds had sprouted.
Dame Isadora fell silent.
All three seeds she had sent had germinated.
That was beyond imagination.
Even for rare magical plants still alive today, no herbologist could guarantee a one-hundred-percent survival rate.
Yet these were ancient seeds that should no longer have been able to grow in the modern magical world.
And in Sprout's letter, she claimed they had been grown casually in flowerpots.
Isadora did not know how to reply.
The other Herbology masters also fell into a strange silence.
That day, no replies were sent to Hogwarts.
Professor Sprout's lips curved.
"Now you understand the unfairness of the world, don't you?"
On the third day, she sent another letter.
This one broke them completely.
"What?"
"Sprout didn't just borrow seeds from me? She borrowed from others too?"
"She borrowed nearly twenty seeds in total, and the current germination rate is…"
"One hundred percent?!"
"How did she do it? Flowerpots? No special care? Casual planting?"
"I don't believe a word of it!"
The Herbology masters began breathing heavily.
They understood exactly what this meant.
Sprout had almost certainly mastered a method to revive ancient seeds. From now on, more and more extinct plants might return to the magical world.
The entire field of Herbology was about to change.
But after realizing this, their hearts felt unbearably sour.
They were masters. They had pride.
Now that pride had been trampled flat.
Sprout and a student named Theodore Snow had achieved, with ease, what they had failed to do after a lifetime of effort.
That Theodore Snow had simply planted the seeds in flowerpots and revived them?
"I am a master. I will not be angry. I will not be jealous. I must maintain my dignity…"
"…"
"To hell with dignity!"
"My entire life's work was surpassed by a student?"
"I nurtured those seeds with rare potions and delicate charms, and they never even twitched. Why could Theodore Snow bring them back in a flowerpot?!"
"I don't understand!"
Those famous figures of the Herbology world began questioning their lives.
Had they spent all these years studying Herbology for nothing?
Was their knowledge already outdated?
What meaning did a lifetime of effort have before that kind of genius?
Flynna looked almost deranged as she clutched her head.
"I don't believe it."
"I refuse to believe it!"
"This is impossible!"
"It violates every principle of Herbology!"
"No one in the magical world could have a one-hundred-percent germination rate with ancient seeds. Not even my teacher could do that!"
"Fake. It must be fake. It's a fraud."
"I'm going to Hogwarts. I'll expose Sprout myself!"
Meanwhile, at Hogwarts.
Theodore was happily observing the growing herb garden when a dense flood of system notifications suddenly appeared.
[A medicinal Dao wandering immortal's Dao heart has collapsed.]
[Another medicinal Dao wandering immortal's Dao heart has collapsed.]
[You have formed a casual acquaintance relationship with a medicinal Dao wandering immortal.]
[…]
[Qingfeng, attendant of Great Immortal Zhenyuan, has suffered a Dao heart collapse and now bears hostility toward you.]
[Your relationship with Qingfeng has reached cold hostility.]
[Qingfeng is preparing to come seek revenge. Host, please be careful!]
[Beware Zhenyuanzi!]
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