Chapter 279 That Feeling (4k)
Stepping outside the Teacher’s Dormitory, Dark slightly raised his head, and the sunlight slanted down, casting over his somewhat graying eyes.
He closed his eyes, lowered his head, opened them again, and couldn’t help sighing.
Most of life’s journeys are not smooth, eight out of ten times.
The older one gets, the more regrets they accumulate.
That’s why adults always wish for their children to have a happy childhood.
Because once they grow up, it becomes much harder to achieve.
The desire to merely “eat and live” seems simple, yet most people cannot attain it.
Dark held up the transparent bag, looking at it under the sunlight. Three transparent long hairs reflected colorful glass-like light under the sun’s rays.
These were the magical beast’s fur, core materials for crafting both Ibut and Ditto.
Whether they could be used for the “Ultimate Skill: Drink Milk” remained to be seen through practice.
The technique for crafting “Ultimate Skill Cards” wasn’t a mature technology.
Students’ efforts to find the corresponding core materials to craft certain ultimate skills was also a form of divergent thinking.
Professor Kazel probably didn’t hold much hope that students could successfully craft “Ultimate Skill Cards.”
Learning more knowledge during the process was already sufficient.
…
Returning to the dorm, Dark carefully put away the magical beast’s fur, then went out again, heading to Traveler’s Street.
Due to the Novice Tournament yesterday, many first-year students chose to purchase materials on Sunday instead, so familiar faces filled Traveler’s Street today.
Particularly in places selling essential base materials, first-year students had taken over.
Dark spent considerable effort queuing up to buy all the base materials—six sets in total, each worth around 100 credits.
Six sets meant three magical beast furs and three attempts at crafting the “Ultimate Skill: Drink Milk.”
If he still had no results after six tries, he would cut his losses.
…
By the time he had gathered all the materials, it was already two in the afternoon.
Before returning to the dorm, Dark visited Kitty Plant Shop but only circled around and left.
It seemed that the research on Cat Grass had hit a technical snag; it might take some time and luck to make new breakthroughs.
Afterward, he did not linger on Traveler’s Street, carrying his bags straight back to the dorm.
Some of the materials were unprocessed raw materials; he needed to follow the textbook instructions to process them before bringing them to class.
Additionally, he needed to extract at least three bottles of milk juice.
Today was destined to be a busy and fulfilling day.
…
The next day…
Monday…
Professor Shylph casually explained ritual summoning during the Summoning Spell class and lavishly praised Else Kevin’s ritual summoning in the Novice Tournament.
Next came the second class, the Young Magi eagerly awaited Magic Guidance Class!
“Thinking back, it seems like ages since our last experiment class,” Diana said with excitement.
Her victory in the tournament earned her 150 net credits, which she spent generously on materials.
While most students struggled financially, Diana was flourishing.
However, seeing the large bags beside Dark’s seat, she felt a pang of humility.
She exclaimed, “Dark, how many sets did you buy?”
Dark gestured a number.
Diana covered her mouth, “Can you finish it all in one class?”
Dark replied lightly, “We can continue after class.”
He added, “While it’s hot!”
…
Professor Kazel arrived a few minutes early, waving his magic wand and chatting with students, his wrinkled face full of kindness.
His state from the previous day’s drunkenness was like a different person.
People say that “drunkenness reveals true feelings,” perhaps there was a cold side hidden within him.
But everyone has multiple facets, a single personality only appears in novels, comics, or TV shows where it is deliberately emphasized.
“Ding-dong!”
The timely ringing of the bell cut the divide between inside and outside the classroom.
No matter how heavy one’s thoughts were outside, turning to the class made them naturally calm.
Professor Kazel tapped the blackboard and said, “The technology for crafting ‘Ultimate Skill Cards’ isn’t something I’m alone in researching. Everyone progresses differently, so what I teach won’t be the same as other magus teachers.
“If any of you master this technique, you can claim to be my student.”
As soon as he finished, whispers broke out among the students.
The “students” Professor Kazel referred to were different from the academy’s definition of students.
Their relationship was akin to Claire and Dark, a personal mentorship with technical inheritance, much closer than a typical student-teacher relationship.
Despite appearing like an old goblin, Professor Kazel was very well-known outside.
As a surviving alchemy master from the old era, mentioning his name brought significant benefits.
Even a practical young sage like Claire couldn’t compare to Professor Kazel’s reputation in academia.
Being acknowledged as his student was clearly an honor!
Everyone was invigorated.
Even Dark couldn’t help but become more serious.
Though their relationship was good, there was still a clear line between them.
If he could be acknowledged by Professor Kazel as a student, that line would blur slightly.
Among all the professors, Professor Kazel was the one Dark respected the most.
Sometimes, he subconsciously thought of him as a kind grandfather.
…
After a brief pause,
Professor Kazel continued, “Let’s review and delve deeper into last class’s content, remember to take notes.”
After saying this, he tapped the chalk with his wand, and a crafting array appeared on the chalk.
In just a moment, the chalk transformed into a magical puppet under the influence of alchemy.
He waved his wand, and the chalk leaped up, writing on the blackboard by itself.
This seemingly casual scene left Dark, sitting at the back, stunned. He couldn’t help but comment, “If we have this technology, why stand on a stool and painstakingly write?”
Perhaps he didn’t want to show off.
Or perhaps he valued the unity of man and pen, wanting to personally write.
Who knew?
…
In short, with the earlier encouragement, students took their note-taking seriously.
Regardless of understanding, they copied the notes first.
About half an hour later, the review of theoretical knowledge and specific steps were complete.
Students had an hour to focus on their experiments.
A quick glance revealed that most students prepared only one set of materials, with some having a bit more consumables.
However, the core materials, which were expensive, generally had only one or two different ones.
Given their current knowledge level, it was hard to determine the exact core material for a specific ultimate skill.
Dark prepared “magical beast’s fur” and “Huhu’s Milk Cow Grass Juice.”
Diana prepared a claw tip from what was said to be a type of bear-like magical creature.
Rose prepared a small piece of shell from a creature resembling a “sea dragon.”
The shell was adorned with colorful crystals and glowed under sunlight.
During the preparation stage, Dark couldn’t resist observing other students’ materials from the back row.
He was particularly interested in Emma, but her posture was upright, and from his angle, he could only see a shimmering gold.
This reminded him of Emma’s Christmas gift—the ancient gold coin!
“Where did she get so many ancient coins?”
Dark looked troubled.
Wasn’t this overkill?
…
Shifting his gaze from Emma, Dark naturally turned to Robert and Wit, who were seated at the back.
Over the past two weeks, they had stopped pranking in class, so they had accumulated enough credits.
Although they still struggled financially, they managed to gather the materials for this class.
A quick glance showed Robert’s table filled with mechanical parts, though it was unclear what skill he intended to extract.
Wit’s table had a small bottle of dark red liquid, possibly modified blood.
It was somewhat confusing.
…
“Everyone has their own path.”
Dark shook his head and focused on preparing for the experiment.
Crafting “Ultimate Skill Cards” involved three core arrays.
The first array’s function was “identification.”
The second array’s function was “reading.”
The third array’s function was “reconstruction.”
These three core arrays were specially adjusted by Professor Kazel for crafting “ultimate skills.”
They had no numbering and were not publicly released.
Most students were unaware of their value.
They simply followed the steps written on the board, crafting step-by-step.
From brewing potions and processing materials, despite inevitable errors, this semester’s crafting experiments were smoother than last.
Ultimately, students admitted to Saint Maryann Academy had higher-than-average magical guidance talents.
Even someone like Diana, who was considered slow-witted, had high magical talent.
Robert, while seemingly clumsy, had excellent physical-magical compatibility.
For magic experiments, this translated to higher magical conductivity.
Vit, who excelled in every aspect, needed no further mention.
Professor Kazel nodded approvingly as he walked around the classroom, pleased with the visible growth of his students.
Soon, he approached Dark.
After waking up from his drunken state the previous noon, he recalled Dark’s visit.
Thinking about selling the magical beast’s fur to a student for 1000 credits per strand, Professor Kazel couldn’t help but want to cover his head.
Headache!
In the past, he took pride in being able to stay sober even when drunk.
Now, he wished he could just pass out immediately.
The 1000 credit price per strand was market value—mostly unattainable—but as a professor, he offered discounts to students.
Basically, he could sell three strands for 1000 credits.
Once sold, it was gone for good.
So he was already considering how to return the extra 2000 credits to Dark.
“What does he need?” Professor Kazel paused beside Dark.
In his eyes, Dark had exceptionally high talent in magical guidance—or alchemy!
If it were the previous era, he would have taken him as an alchemy apprentice.
But in this era, alchemy had become obsolete. Sometimes, he thought it best not to mislead others.
Teaching foundational things like “Technique of the Shadow God” was fine.
But teaching too complex systems could lead to complications due to conflicting core concepts.
When he transitioned from alchemist to magus, he spent great effort adjusting his mindset.
…
Sometime along the way,
Dark no longer felt constrained by Professor Kazel standing behind him, observing.
His operations were consistently steady, correcting unavoidable errors promptly. Six sets of base materials gave him room to redo if needed.
In about ten minutes, his desk was filled with various materials in dishes, beakers, petri dishes, and test tubes.
Again, he extravagantly used blank mana cards worth 50 credits each.
In the next ten minutes,
the blank mana card was already layered with materials, stacked half an inch high.
He carved the 7th crafting array above the materials and used the mana pen to press it down.
The entire stack of materials was gradually transmuted, integrating into the mana card.
By the end of the process, sweat dotted Dark’s forehead.
He put down the mana pen, wiped his forehead with a nearby towel, then moved on to the next step—carving the three core crafting arrays!
These arrays had to be drawn in one fluid motion, requiring precise control of mana.
Many students failed here.
But for Dark, whose mana levels increased daily, this was not difficult.
In just half a minute,
the three arrays were perfectly carved.
Then, he injected mana to activate them.
Three magnificent light arrays instantly sprang forth!
[Identification]
[Reading]
[Reconstruction]
[Oo]
Dark retrieved the Ditto mana card, ready to place it on the “Identification” array, but suddenly, inspiration struck. He whispered to Ditto, “Can you recall the feeling of transformation in your mind?”
“Baizi??”
…
