Chapter 223: The Greedy Have Nothing (4k)
The Secret Realm Escape Device could be said to be a unique prop exclusive to Saint Maryann Academy.
It had another name, known as the “Dungeon Escape Device.”
This was a type of emergency escape device developed by the academy for students’ safety during their exploration in dungeons.
However, it could only be used within the confines of Saint Maryann Academy at present.
As a first-year student, Dark naturally had no experience with the Secret Realm Escape Device. He looked at Principal Altair with some surprise and asked, “So, even if dragon-slaying fails, there won’t be any danger?”
Principal Altair shook her head and said, “The Secret Realm Escape Device will only automatically activate when the owner faces life-threatening danger. Of course, it can also be manually activated.”
In other words, before encountering life-threatening danger, one would still suffer the injuries they were supposed to.
But injuries sustained within the academy could be healed as long as treatment was timely.
Dark slightly understood this and continued telling the rest of the story.
When he mentioned the mirror room inside the dragon’s lair, Principal Altair couldn’t help but laugh out loud, “So, the final test was indeed this?”
Dark looked puzzled.
Principal Altair recalled, “That was many years ago. Back then, Professor Kazel wasn’t yet the professor of mana theory…”
Dark became more alert and listened intently.
Professor Kazel and Professor Lily, like them, were invited to join Saint Maryann Academy after the war.
Before them, there were other professors at the academy.
One of the professors of mana theory was named Grandel Grandel, a very distinctive professor whose personality matched his name.
Although Professor Grandel was an excellent magus, he was more interested in knowledge outside of mana technology.
He called himself the “Magician of Saint Maryann” and developed many small devices that could be triggered without the use of mana.
He always had numerous innovative ideas. Whenever he invented something new, he would proudly show it off to his students like a child.
The mirror room left by Alvaraite and the hero Bret was all learned from Professor Grandel.
“Where is Professor Grandel now?” Dark couldn’t help but ask.
As Principal Altair spoke, her expression fell, “He sacrificed himself.”
Dark immediately closed his mouth.
Seeing his reaction, Principal Altair regained her composure, “War always involves sacrifices, and that is inevitable. The mana technology during wartime was not as advanced as it is now. Our academy, being the hub of innovation in mana technology, has always been a thorn in the side of demons.
Once, the academy was invaded by demons, and Professor Grandel bravely protected the students, ultimately dying a heroic d*ath! However, none of his students disappointed him.”
The students whom Professor Grandel bravely protected later became known as the “Golden Generation!”
Heroes, Valkyries, Beast Sages, Great Magi, bl**d Princesses…
Without Professor Grandel’s sacrifice, the Golden Generation might have perished before they could grow.
…
“I accidentally ruined the mood.”
Principal Altair took a sip of black tea and said, “Continue. I am already eager to know what Alvaraite left behind.”
Dark solemnly said, “It’s three interconnected conjure arrays!”
“Three interconnected conjure arrays…” Principal Altair exclaimed in surprise, “Could it be the Trinity Armored Conjure Array? She actually left this at the school?”
Dark seized the opportunity to ask, “What is the Trinity Armored Conjure Array?”
Principal Altair explained, “That was an armored alchemy array created by Alvaraite during her student days, which later became known as the ‘Alvaraite Conjure Array.’ It served as the foundation for the 99th array. At that time, she often turned her own handmade clothes into armed cards…”
Dark couldn’t help but ask, “Can ordinary clothes be turned into armed cards?”
Principal Altair smiled, “Under normal circumstances, they cannot. But Alvaraite’s Trinity Armored Conjure Array broke this restriction.
However, the Trinity Armored Conjure Array requires a combination of heart, mana, and armor, and can only be applied to clothes or weapons personally crafted. From this perspective, it is even harder to use than other typical armored alchemy arrays.”
Dark smacked his lips and immediately understood that he would have difficulty using this array in the short term.
Given that he couldn’t even make cosplay props, imagining crafting just the outer shell seemed impossible.
Farewell, Golden Sacred Garments!
Farewell, Capital Sin Weapons!
Farewell, Iron Man!
…
Seeing his undisguised disappointment, Principal Altair shook her head and said, “The requirements for physical armors in the Trinity Armored Conjure Array are not so high. Alvaraite used weaving instead, and you can use wood carvings or similar objects. Given your steady hands, learning carving isn’t difficult.”
Dark’s heart stirred, “This is a path.”
If he truly mastered carving, he might even make his own figurines!
However, he had many things to learn at present and couldn’t spare the time.
Knowing that he understood, Principal Altair continued, “Since you met with Wit and others, you should know something. Did he find his treasure?”
Thinking of the hero’s treasure, Dark felt somewhat helpless.
He recounted everything he knew.
Principal Altair was stunned, “The hero’s treasure is located next to the dragon’s lair mirror room? And it’s also a mirror room?”
Dark nodded, “Yes. That vampire directly pierced through the wall, allowing me to help them.”
Principal Altair sighed, “That sounds like something Bret would do. Then, where is his treasure?”
Dark shook his head, “I’m not quite sure about that.”
Principal Altair, “Then tell me about the vampire.”
Dark, “Vampire Vlad. These past few days, I’ve occasionally thought that he seems to have no memories!”
Principal Altair was surprised, “How did you figure that out?”
Dark, “He never cast any spells throughout, and his combat style was rather basic. He is completely different from the vampires described in records who are masters of magic. It was sheer luck that I defeated him.”
Principal Altair, “I see. So, the possibility of external invasion has decreased. But that vampire remains a formidable foe, and the professors haven’t found his trail to this day.
Unfortunately, the secret passages are full of mysteries, even I can’t thoroughly investigate them. For now, we can only temporarily seal the entrances and exits of the secret passages.”
Dark, “Let’s hope it works.”
“Very well…”
After a moment of contemplation, Principal Altair suddenly asked, “How much do you know about the Holy Grail?”
Here it comes!
Dark’s spirits lifted, and he replied, “Very limited.”
Principal Altair clapped her hands, and a small elemental creature flew over carrying a key.
She took the key and said, “The usage of the Holy Grail is very simple. Just close your eyes and make a wish after opening the grail. The key point is the size of the wish.
But this standard varies from person to person. Some people can use wishes to break through the limits of their mana capacity, while others can’t even achieve a centimeter of growth.
The safest choice is to wish for material things. Generally speaking, the probability of achieving the same items is relatively fixed. Here is a wish list compiled from years of experience; you can refer to it.”
As she spoke, she opened a drawer and pulled out a 4K-sized wish list.
The small elemental creature flew over to Dark with the wish list, and he reached out to take it, examining it closely.
The wish list listed numerous wishes, each annotated with approximate probabilities of realization.
The probabilities for “Mana Growth” and “Mana Breakthrough” were different, with the latter having less than 10% chance of realization!
Yet, the fact that this data could be statistically gathered indicated that many students had chosen the “Mana Breakthrough” wish.
Mana was indeed a human weakness.
For past mages and current magi, this was a very important wish.
If the Holy Grail helped achieve a breakthrough in mana, their status as a mage or magus would instantly rise a level!
Compared to this, the probability of “Mana Growth” exceeding 70%.
Dark quickly browsed through the list and roughly understood the rules of wishing.
The reason why the probability of “Mana Growth” was much higher than “Mana Breakthrough” was largely because the “Mana Growth” wish did not limit the amount of mana growth.
Young magi had not yet reached their limits in terms of mana growth, making success easier.
From this, Dark gained some understanding of the scope of wishes the Holy Grail could grant.
He continued reading further down.
Material wishes were easier to fulfill, with relatively fixed probabilities.
The probability of obtaining a candy house was above 80%.
Hmm…
Does this mean there are enough instances to gather statistical data?
In general, the easier something was to obtain, the higher the probability of successfully fulfilling the wish.
And the rarer an item, the harder it was to realize.
The probability of obtaining legendary items through the Holy Grail was almost zero—wait, not exactly zero?
Dark suddenly looked at the column labeled “legendary items.”
The position of “probability of realization” clearly stated 0.01%!
A probability of one in ten thousand!
Over ten thousand people had wished for legendary items.
And one person had successfully achieved their wish!
Dark couldn’t help but look up at Principal Altair, thinking, “Didn’t you say greedy people have nothing?”
…
Principal Altair guessed what he wanted to say from his expression and smiled, “You know, only those who have nothing are true greedy ones.”
Is that how it works?
Do you think my Chinese lessons in primary school were taught by a PE teacher?
Dark widened his eyes, and all his previous speculations about the Holy Grail were instantly overturned.
The three remaining wish-granting artifacts in the world might be even more terrifying than he imagined!
Principal Altair’s statement practically gave him permission to be as greedy as he wanted!
Even if he failed because of it, so what?
The wishes with high probabilities of realization were mostly things that could be obtained in reality.
But if they could be obtained in reality, why bother making a wish?
This rare opportunity to make a wish should be used for something hard to obtain!
No wonder so many people wished for legendary items!
…
In that instant, Dark couldn’t resist the urge to wish directly to remove the demon god’s bloodline!
To make a wish with a probability lower than one in a million!
But he ultimately restrained himself.
Such a rare opportunity.
Lowering the requirement slightly.
And if this wish were to come true, there would be no “Capital Sin” to draw from.
Let’s seek a relatively reliable wish!
…
After a cup of tea’s worth of time, Dark put down the wish list, his mind already made up.
…
Principal Altair asked, “What do you think? Should you make your wish tonight or wait a while?”
Dark replied directly, “Tonight, let’s strike while the iron is hot!”
Principal Altair nodded, “Then follow me.”
She then stood up from her seat and walked towards the room behind her.
Dark originally thought it was a secret room, but it turned out to be a fully equipped common room.
Principal Altair closed the door and walked to a blank wall, waving the golden key in her hand.
She explained, “This is a gate key. As long as it is inserted into a sufficiently smooth surface, it can open a door to a fixed location.”
She inserted the key into the wall, and the contact point instantly rippled like water.
The ripples rapidly spread, transforming into a real door!
“Click.”
Principal Altair turned the key to unlock the door and gently pushed it open.
A blank room containing only the Holy Grail came into view.
The Saint Maryann Holy Grail was made of pure gold.
Gold was considered a magical metal in the eyes of ancient mages and was often used in the creation of precious magical artifacts.
The Saint Maryann Holy Grail was also known as the “Wish Cup,” said to be a divine work.
Principal Altair stepped into the room, followed closely by Dark.
He carefully observed the design of the Holy Grail and finally found an inscription in ancient script on the base.
“Greeders have nothing. Non-greeders have nothing.”
…
Seemingly sensing someone approaching, the Holy Grail emitted a strange light.
Principal Altair slightly raised her hand, and Dark stopped.
Just two meters away, the aura of the Holy Grail was clearly discernible.
Principal Altair herself did not advance further but instead waved her sleeve, drawing a wand from it.
The wand, barely finger-length, was lightly pulled by her, extending to the length of her arm.
She raised the wand and gently touched the Holy Grail, causing light points to slowly gather within the grail.
“When the prayer power in the grail is full, you can make a wish, and the Holy Grail will respond to your prayers.”
…
The prayer power in the Holy Grail swirled like liquid wine, with its deep base resembling the night sky, dotted with flickering stars.
The liquid gradually filled, inviting one to drink.
Dark couldn’t help but step forward, but Principal Altair gently stopped him, bringing him back to his senses.
Instilling fear!
“The Holy Grail attracts greedy people, but humans themselves are a conglomeration of greed. There is no one in this world who is not greedy.”
Principal Altair’s voice echoed in his ears.
Guided by her, Dark closed his eyes and prayed sincerely.
Knowledge-based wishes were stricter. Acquiring previously unknown knowledge had a low probability, comparable to legendary items.
But existing knowledge, even if already known, had a much higher probability of realization if acquired through a wish.
Dark’s wish was to improve the technique of using the Mana Dropper!
…
