The sunlight was bright, and the sea breeze was gentle.
The sunflowers planted atop the castle had fully matured at an astonishing speed, each standing as tall as a person.
Their flower heads were as enormous as palm-leaf fans, yet they did not droop. Instead, they held their heads high, gazing straight at the sun as they drew in its magic power.
They were distinctly different from ordinary sunflowers-
Their flower heads were scarlet, and their petals were red as fire. The sunflower seeds growing in their heads were enormous, their shells translucent as crystal, with a faint golden glow shimmering within.
The sunflower seeds grew outward from the center of each flower head, maturing one by one rather than all at once-he did not know whether this was a trait of the modification or simply how this magic plant grew.
That made them look somewhat sparse.
Overall, though, they looked less like plants and more like works of art painstakingly crafted by an elven sculptor.
Beautiful and mysterious.
That was the allure of magic plants.
Kroya was very pleased with what he saw.
"You've grown beautifully. All that daily watering with magic spring water and the potion I prepared certainly weren't wasted."
He reached out to stroke a sunflower's head, letting his fingers linger on its seeds for a moment. He immediately sensed the sunflame magic power within-not brimming, but substantial nonetheless.
They felt warm and smooth, like crystal.
He was a little surprised. "You've only just matured."
They already contained so much magic power despite having only just matured.
From the looks of it, they absorbed sunflame magic power far faster than Kroya himself could as a mage. He could almost see the sunlight in the sky bending toward them with the naked eye.
Wisps of sunlight streamed down.
That was a sign of sunflame power being rapidly absorbed.
"I'll pick one and take a closer look." He deftly pinched a seed, then plucked it off and examined it carefully in his palm.
Upon inspection, he found that its shell had the translucent texture of crystal, but there was no sunflower kernel inside as there should have been. Instead, a wisp of golden vapor had taken its place.
In other words, this golden vapor was likely the physical manifestation of sunflame power.
Kroya looked thoughtful. "Could it gradually condense sunflame power into a sunflower kernel?"
Generally speaking, a mage's conjectures were fairly reliable.
Besides, the description had already specified that the power would gather in the seeds.
"It looks good, but how does it taste? Surely it hasn't become inedible.
"Should I try it?"
Since he had already plucked the sunflower seed, there was no way to put it back and let it keep growing, so Kroya simply cracked it open.
The moment his tongue lightly touched it, he experienced a wondrous texture: magic power that should have been intangible felt as silky and creamy as ice cream.
Hot ice cream!
"Hmm?"
After swallowing it, Kroya could not help licking his lips.
It tasted far better than he had imagined.
The sunflower kernel was indeed exceptionally pure sunflame magic power, and it had not yet become too scorching, so eating it felt wonderfully pleasant.
Filtered through the sunflower's natural vitality, the completely nonirritating magic power slid straight down his throat into his esophagus, warming his entire stomach.
For a mage, consuming such gentle magic power was sheer pleasure. After all, in a certain sense, mages had something of a "magic addiction."
"Resist, resist. They haven't finished growing yet. I can't eat them, I can't..."
He reluctantly looked away, suppressing his mounting urge to keep cracking sunflower seeds-he had to admit, eating them really could be addictive.
"Now, how do I get you to fire a Sunflare Ray..."
According to the panel, it "could be commanded when necessary." Did that mean Kroya could give it orders?
At that thought, Kroya extended his mental power toward the sunflower and issued a silent command: Fire!
Then he sensed a fluctuation of magic power. The golden vapor inside the seeds seemed to be absorbed, and the scarlet petals around the edge of the flower head began to tremble.
Kroya immediately sensed trouble.
He hurriedly stepped back, but he had barely moved when a scarlet beam of magic power burst straight out of the sunflower's petals.
The magic power was terrifyingly pure.
It instantly struck a seagull soaring freely through the sky. The poor bird promptly dropped from above with a thud.
It landed right beside Kroya's feet.
The scarlet beam had pierced its body, killing it outright, and it even gave off the aroma of roasted meat.
"...Huh?"
It even automatically targets enemies?
Kroya had seen it clearly: the flower head had turned, aiming directly at the seagull in the sky.
Moreover, the magical strength of this Sunflame Impact seemed only slightly weaker than his own. And this sunflower had only just matured!
It had barely had time to absorb any sunflame magic power.
According to the description, the more sunflame power it stored, the stronger it would become. What if he let it build up for several months?
There was plenty of sunlight by the sea!
The longer it stored power, the more formidable a hidden trump card it would become, wouldn't it?
After all, Sunflame Impact had another terrifying property-the more magic power it contained, the farther its ray could reach!
An ordinary first-tier mage might only manage fifteen or twenty meters, but an Archmage or a magister could easily fire it hundreds of meters.
A higher-ranking Legendary Mage could even launch a strike from the heavens across thousands upon thousands of miles.
Granted, that surely involved the manipulation and control of magic power, but couldn't the sunflower continue refining its spell inscription?
Kroya was truly eager to see how far it could develop.
Still, he had currently inscribed two kinds of magic plants: sunflowers and Thirsty Sea Glow Algae.
The former's description specifically stated that it could refine its magic, but the latter's did not. Was that because the Rainbow Poem, from which the Song of Red originated, was too high in rank?
Was that why it could not be refined any further?
He felt his guess was probably correct. After all, Sunflame Impact was merely an ordinary second-tier spell, whereas he did not even know where the limits of the Song of Red lay.
Of course, it could also be because he had only inscribed its first movement.
"Should I take a look first?"
After a brief hesitation, Kroya activated the Astral Body Inscription Technique, looking through countless densely packed threads to see the sunflower's true form.
He also saw the spell model of Sunflame Impact that he had personally inscribed. Wrapped in the sunflower's phantom image, the model seemed to be absorbing something.
Kroya examined it carefully and found that it appeared to be drawing in the sunflower's astral spirit body-or rather, accelerating their fusion.
"Could I inscribe more spells, such as enhancement effects like precision and abundance?" Kroya pondered as he tried constructing a spell model, but the sunflower clearly rejected it.
It felt like someone who was full and could not eat another bite.
So Kroya could only give up.
He was certain that assimilating the Sunflame Impact inscription would take a long time. If he wanted to add more inscriptions, he would probably have to wait until it had finished digesting this one.
He was not disappointed, though. The sunflower was already good enough as it was.
Afterward, he checked the magic crystals beneath the Magic Field, making sure they still held enough magic power before getting up to leave.
Next, he would experiment on a magic beast for the first time.
The Kaba Beast had been waiting for him for quite some time.
Before you continue