After confirming the actual effects of Mimic Grass, all sorts of ideas instantly flooded Ron's mind.
Among them, the one most relevant to him right now was naturally its potential application in magic duel matches.
Previously, what Ron found most regrettable was that during magic duels, spectators could only watch players play cards. Over time, ordinary audiences would inevitably grow bored.
But if every time a player played a card, a corresponding projection of the magic appeared on-site, it would greatly stimulate the audience's senses.
Especially for high-tier magic of the fifth and sixth tiers—or even legendary-tier spells—the sheer scale of the visuals would absolutely surpass the Spring Martial Tournament.
After all, no matter how popular the Spring Martial Tournament was, its combat level was limited to around the second or third tier.
Even the most talented participants would at best reach the fourth tier.
For example, Wardson—although currently only a third-tier warrior—likely had combat strength comparable to an ordinary fourth-tier.
But in the end, the Spring Martial Tournament was still confined to mid-level combat. It could never showcase high-tier or legendary-level power.
The Human Empire had a massive population. The number of high-tier warriors and mages was roughly close to 100,000.
Among them, sixth-tier individuals made up about a tenth, around 10,000.
But at the legendary tier, the numbers dropped sharply.
Currently, there are only around thirty to forty known legendary individuals in the entire Human Empire.
Compared to a population of billions, that was an incredibly small number.
So if high-tier magic suddenly appeared in a match, wouldn't that be incredibly spectacular?
And what if it were legendary magic?
If the audience wasn't informed beforehand, it might even cause panic…
Thinking this way, Mimic Grass clearly had value far beyond just tournaments—it had strategic applications as well.
Imagine facing an enemy and repeatedly casting fake legendary spells.
After a while, the enemy would grow accustomed and stop taking them seriously.
And then—
You cast a real one.
"That's… pretty dirty," Ron muttered, stroking his chin, before his thoughts drifted elsewhere.
For example—
What if you placed Mimic Grass in a bathroom, and after a girl finished bathing, you retrieved it… Wouldn't that basically be a "bathing beauty" video?
Ron coughed twice, forcibly suppressing that line of thought.
He was aiming to be an upright, honorable young man, after all!
But…
That kind of "movie" was off-limits.
However, normal films? Totally fine.
Mimic Grass was essentially a 360-degree, fully immersive camera. By recording enough dynamic material, he could compile a high-quality film.
Using it for certain "genres" would be a waste!
Ron's imagination ran wild.
All kinds of races existed in this world—making something like The Lord of the Rings wouldn't be too much, right?
With battle aura in the setting, he could even recreate something like Battle Through the Heavens—and in another world, that wouldn't count as copyright infringement, right?
"Thirty years east of the river, thirty years west—"
"…okay, maybe tweak that part."
Or maybe a personal biopic?
A romantic story between a prince and a "Cinderella" like Nora?
Unfortunately, Mimic Grass could only replicate things it had actually seen—it couldn't generate scenes purely from imagination.
Otherwise, Ron could truly create things that would astonish the entire world.
Beyond that, Mimic Grass also had applications in surveillance.
Unlike Puppet Tree communication, which required Ron's consciousness to actively connect, Mimic Grass could continuously record its surroundings—but only for later playback.
For example, placing it on a street—
If a crime occurred, its recorded imagery could be reviewed to reconstruct the event.
This could greatly improve urban security.
Pulling himself back from his ever-expanding thoughts, Ron continued testing Mimic Grass.
He soon discovered that its light-sensing system could be turned off manually.
This prevented situations where it recorded something inappropriate, and that footage later got exposed.
…which, admittedly, had a certain "thrill" to it.
If relying only on its natural secretions, Mimic Grass could mimic within a radius of about three meters and a height of four to five meters.
Beyond that range, the projection would start to "lag" and immediately appear fake.
At distances beyond seven or eight meters, the image became extremely blurry—like heavy mosaic distortion.
However, if the fruit was crushed and its mimic secretions dispersed into the surrounding air, the range increased dramatically.
At present, there seems to be virtually no upper limit.
Ron tested it by spreading the secretions across a ten-meter radius.
With a single thought—
The space instantly filled with multiple "Rons," standing and walking, each indistinguishable from the real one.
Wherever the mimic particles spread, Mimic Grass could project.
It was practically capable of creating a mirage.
The only drawback was that the current "material library" was too limited, so there wasn't much variety yet.
Shaking his head, Ron harvested some seeds from the Mimic Grass and planted them in the cultivation space, producing five more plants.
Since these grew from the original plant, they were naturally linked to Ron through blood.
Moreover, as soon as they matured, they inherited their "mother's" material library—including the image of "Ron."
This was even though they had never seen him themselves.
Clearly, this data was inherited.
To test the relationship further, Ron placed the original Mimic Grass into another cultivation space containing a Nether Orchid seed, letting it record the plant.
After taking it out, he checked the "children's" material libraries—
They did not gain the Nether Orchid seed.
Even when placing one of the "children" beside the "mother," it still couldn't acquire the new material.
Thus, Mimic Grass offspring could only inherit what the parent had already recorded at the time of seed formation.
Any new material gained afterward would not be shared.
At first glance, this seemed meaningless—
But actually, it was quite useful.
It meant the offspring didn't need to re-record existing materials—they were "born ahead of the starting line."
From this perspective, it was extremely practical.
For example—
If Ron used Mimic Grass to record a movie, then each new plant grown from its seeds would essentially be a copy of that movie.
Like physical discs.
Nodding in satisfaction, Ron planted a batch of Mimic Grass and stored them in his [Inventory], then exited the dimensional space.
For now, he set aside thoughts about filmmaking.
Those ideas could be pursued anytime.
The priority was to see whether Mimic Grass could be applied to the upcoming Magic Duel tournament.
He already had a rough plan in mind.
Returning to the flower shop, Ron connected to the Puppet Tree at the private experimental area and spoke to Edith:
"Could you make a trip to the Magic Academy? Ask Dean Vosbites and the two vice deans if they're available. I'd like to visit in the next few days—and ask for their help."
Edith didn't have much to do lately aside from assisting Illya and Harper, so she readily agreed.
Given Ron's current status, arranging a meeting with legendary figures wasn't particularly difficult.
After all, to obtain the "materials" for those rare legendary-tier spells in magic duels—
He would need the help of those "kind and approachable" legendary experts.
Ron smirked to himself, thinking that offering some divine-grade Nether Orchid seed as a gesture of goodwill should smooth things over.
That evening at dinner, Ron turned to Nora and asked about the recruitment progress for the Card Research Institute.
Nora immediately replied:
"The Royal Capital Magic Academy has mostly completed recruitment. There are dozens of mages now."
"I heard there are over ten sixth-tier mages alone. Mid-tier mages can't even get in unless they have something particularly unique."
Ron nodded, satisfied with the academy's efficiency.
After all, with "flexible" research funds available, it made sense they'd move quickly.
But since they were hired—
It was only fair for them to help complete the catalog of magic materials below the legendary tier, right?
When the time came, Ron would place Mimic Grass in the training grounds and have these mages freely cast spells.
That way—
The holographic projection system for the Magic Duel tournament would be complete.