Chapter 456: Combine vertically and horizontally

Chapter 456: Combine vertically and horizontally
After the rules were explained, all contestants were given a satchel. Inside was a number of compartments for storing raw materials, a pair of dragon-skin gloves, a silver knife, a shovel, and a compass-like prop pointing to the entrance to the magic garden.

Then, everyone followed Hector and the three judges out of the tent and came to a plain-looking wooden house in the west of the village. It looked quite ordinary inside, with a bed, a desk and a chair, an unlit candlestick hanging from the ceiling, and an old wardrobe, just like an ordinary wizard's home, nothing special.

Hector first lit the candlestick, then opened the drawer of the desk, and then turned over the pillows on the bed.

Finally, he opened the closet door and walked in.

All the contestants hurried to catch up, and finally the three judges came in.

This is undoubtedly a magic door. The furnishings in the house must be adjusted to the correct opening position according to the set order in advance before the magic door can be activated.

In front of Xie Ling was a vast forest, which was no smaller than the Forbidden Forest of Hogwarts at first glance.

Is this the magic garden?

The contestants looked around curiously and found that behind them was a pile of stone ruins of a house that looked hundreds of years old. They could vaguely tell where this place was from the houseplate erected in front of the house.

Quintia McQuaid (1377-1407), the great pharmacist who died while researching and inventing a magic potion to cure malaria.

This is exactly McQuaid's former residence. The Inter-School Wizarding Potions Championship was created in her memory. Who would have thought that they would build the entrance to the magic garden in her former residence.

After the referee blew a sharp whistle, the seven contestants immediately entered the designated forest area. This magical garden did not look as gloomy as the Forbidden Forest. There was a sense of magic within the field of vision. The wizards had obviously used magic to transform this forest, making its environment suitable for the growth of various magical plants.

Xie Ling walked forward slowly, in no hurry at all, recalling in his mind the list of ingredients that needed to be collected - the list of ingredients covered a very wide range, enough to make more than five different kinds of potions. Obviously, the judges did this on purpose so that the contestants could not guess what potion they would make tomorrow.

Since the contestants cannot guess the content of tomorrow's competition, it also means that the contestants cannot rely on luck and must collect all the raw materials.

Soon, Schelling came to a swamp. He carefully avoided mud pits that he might sink into and Dugbogs that might suddenly appear and attack him. Surprisingly, he discovered a very rare sopophorous plant.

The sleepy tree has a long, thin stem, and large leaves with blood vessels clearly visible, which dye the leaves a light red. Beside many of the leaves grow pods, and inside the pods are found sleepy beans with powerful magical powers. Sherin carefully trimmed all the pods, and then used a silver knife to peel open each pod. Inside each pod, a pearly white shriveled bean appeared, which looked like an overgrown mistletoe berry.

Xie Lin showed a satisfied smile, he harvested ten sleepy beans, you know, this is a very rare commodity, it is not easy for other contestants to find another sleepy tree. Sleepy beans are one of the raw materials needed for many potion making, because this kind of beans contains a silvery juice, which can remove people's memory when taken directly. Strangely, this magical effect will disappear after the beans are made into potion.

The presence of swamps meant that water was not far away, so he continued walking and came to a lake as he expected.

He used the Kanegas Magus to transform into the dragon man mode, dived into the water, and began to look for the target he needed. It must be said that although this was a potion competition, magic power and combat power were not of much help, and it was more of a test of the contestants' knowledge reserves and collection skills, but Xie Lin still had many advantages that other contestants did not have.

He possesses the secret of Amaterasu, which means he can observe his surroundings very quickly and find his target more quickly;
He has a body transformed by the source of life, which gives him extraordinary physical strength and endurance when exploring and trekking in the wild;

He has the ability to detect heat with his snake eyes, and is a good helper when tracking prey.

Soon, he found a clump of aquatic bulbous grass. While collecting it, he did not forget to be alert to the surroundings. This dark lake bottom environment could easily breed creatures like grindylo and sea snakes.

But probably because of the dangerous aura emanating from his dragon-man form, no dangerous creature dared to approach him. After collecting everything, he immediately began to look for the next thing on the list - eel eyeballs and frog brains, lionfish spines and the mucus secreted by water snails...

At the same time in the forest.

Mara Cainda leaned against a huge old tree, casually tossing a freshly picked poppy fruit in his hand. He grinned at Rafaela Correa who was standing not far away: "So, sister, you think so too?"

Rafaela rolled her eyes, put one hand on her waist, and shook the leaves from her hair with the other hand: "Nonsense, if you want to win, you have to be ruthless. Just relying on yourself to fight alone? That's stupid."

As they were talking, a faint sound of footsteps approached them. The two turned their heads alertly and saw a petite figure standing there timidly - Alison Baker, the representative of Ifamoni.

Alison seemed a little embarrassed and raised her hands to indicate that she meant no harm, then whispered: "Uh... I just heard your plan. Are you... really going to do this?"

"Of course!" Mara laughed, then raised an eyebrow and looked at her, "Do you want to join?"

Alison hesitated and looked down at the herbs in her hand. She knew that collecting them by herself would not be as good as their strategically-planned gathering. And - although this was a little unethical, there was nothing in the competition that said that she couldn't do this...

After a moment, she nodded gently: "Okay."

"That's settled then." Rafaela grinned, casually pulling off a vine from the tree and playing with it in her hands. "The three of us will split up and collect as many herbs and fruits as possible, leaving nothing for others."

Alison frowned and asked quietly, "Then...what about the others?"

"They?" Mara shrugged. "They'll have to find another way."

The three of them looked at each other, smiled knowingly, and then quickly dispersed and took action according to the pre-assigned areas.