Chapter 405: Dark Demon’s Ascension Ladder (4.5k)
“Who knows what Dark Demon will draw?”
The audience watched as Joseph Bruno was tackled by nine little pigs and couldn’t help but turn their attention to the other victor on stage.
If this gentle-looking golden-haired youth were also knocked down and licked by the little pigs, the scene…
But who knew, they really wanted to see it!
People always enjoy seeing immortals fall to earth.
Thus, the audience, with their strong sense of malice, became even more interested in Dark Demon’s drawing.
“Dark-kun, it’s your turn,” Judy reminded him.
Dark had no choice but to pick up the small gold hammer again.
In fact, he was also very excited about the prize inside the Easter egg.
Although Joseph Bruno looked quite disheveled now, the mana card he obtained wasn’t simple.
From the intelligence of the nine little pigs, it could be seen that they weren’t just magical creations but nine real mana spirits.
This type of mana spirit card was similar to the “Fairy Choir” of senior Anjelia from the Mana Academy, belonging to the “Legion” type of mana spirit cards, which were extremely rare and precious.
With a special magic card — “Grand Release” — one could instantly obtain nine individual mana spirits.
Of course, compared to its practical value, its research value might be even higher.
Similar mana cards included Diana’s “Bear Den.”
And the “Bear Den’s” ultimate skill — “Three Little Bears” — had a similar effect to “Grand Release,” turning three bears into independent entities after the “Bear Den” collapsed.
“If I could also get a mana card like this, perhaps I could use it as a foundation to try researching the creation of ‘Weakling Fish.'”
Dark steadied himself and gave a powerful strike.
“Bang!”
The small gold hammer forcefully struck the top of the Easter egg.
The magic attached to the hammer triggered, releasing a rainbow-colored spell circle that expanded outward.
Then, the huge egg began to crack from the top, and the intense light from the cracks made Dark squint his eyes.
When he opened his eyes again, only one-third of the eggshell remained.
He glanced around, revealing a look of astonishment.
At the bottom of the eggshell lay three cards.
“Could it be that even the number of prizes depends on luck?”
Dark couldn’t help but glance at Joseph Bruno beside him.
It seemed this senior’s luck wasn’t too good.
Thinking this, Dark reached into the eggshell and first retrieved the door card.
Unlike Joseph Bruno’s white card, the door card in Dark’s hand emitted a faint blue glow, indicating it was a higher-level blue door card.
This meant he could bring an additional person into the secret passage and could enter and exit twice a month.
“It’s still okay,” Dark couldn’t help feeling delighted.
Without affecting his studies, he would probably choose to enter the secret passage during weekends.
With four weeks in a month, two opportunities were just right.
“Now, for the other two prizes.”
Dark looked at the two cards, a hint of helplessness crossing his face, but he still extended his hand.
These two mana cards had blank faces, unknown to him.
Dark randomly picked one, pinched it between his fingers, and placed it in his hand.
Sure enough, he felt a slight drain of mana.
The mana card automatically began to melt, then triggered itself, suddenly shooting out a beam of white light. Dark smiled wryly and didn’t dodge, allowing the white light to shine on him.
Then he suddenly felt his body become lighter, and he shot straight up into the sky!
The sudden change made Dark abruptly realize.
“Suspended spell, floating spell, or flight spell?”
The feeling of being off the ground wasn’t pleasant.
Dark looked at the rising view, feeling dizzy.
Humans have always been fascinated by the sky, but once they reach high altitudes, they often feel fear.
Although Dark wasn’t afraid of heights, he still felt a shiver.
He slightly lowered his head and noticed the spectators in the stands rapidly shrinking, cries of surprise constantly echoing.
The noise in his ears actually calmed him down.
He immediately reached for his mana card deck, but quickly realized the unknown magic card was already in his hand.
So he injected mana, and soon received feedback.
“It’s the ‘Flight Spell’!”
The “Flight Spell” was a general magic spell, but compared to the five major spells in the first-year textbook, the “Flight Spell” was significantly more complex.
During his learning of mana language, Dark understood that mastering this spell was far beyond his current level.
Therefore, upon realizing it was a “Flight Spell,” he instantly turned his shock into joy.
There was nothing to fear.
Even if he couldn’t handle it, the professors below would intervene.
Moreover, the key to solving the problem was already in his hands.
Dark immediately held the “Flight Spell” card in front of him, trying to inject his thoughts along with mana into the card to adjust direction and speed.
After several sudden accelerations and turns, he suddenly realized that controlling the “Flight Spell” was not as difficult as he thought. He quickly mastered the essentials of controlling the spell, a smile spreading across his face.
“Woohoo—”
…
Dark’s sudden ascent truly made Alvaraite in the audience area tense, her heart nearly leaping out.
If she hadn’t clearly seen Dark calm down visibly, she might have fainted.
“Really, are you that scared?”
Claire looked at her calmly.
“Mew,” the fat cat in her arms protested, feeling pain.
The big princess tightly closed her mouth.
…
Apart from the initial shock, the atmosphere in the dueling arena was quite good.
When the audience suddenly noticed the golden-haired youth who had been sent into the air could now fly freely, the previous exclamations turned into cheers.
Dark flew in the air for two more circles before diving back to the ground, performing an “L” shaped dive in mid-air and landing gracefully, returning to the stage.
He looked like a magician finishing a performance, smiling at the audience.
The applause grew louder.
But this lottery did not end yet.
Dark put away the “Flight Spell” mana card and reached for the last remaining card.
With the experience of the “Flight Spell,” he was no longer worried and instead looked forward to it even more.
“I wonder what this one will be?”
As Judy said, this indeed tested one’s luck.
When Dark’s finger touched the third card, there was no previous sensation—the mana wasn’t drained.
This disappointed him.
But he quickly brought the card closer to his eyes and discovered some words added to the card face.
– [Transfiguration Spell]
“Transfiguration Spell!”
Dark’s eyes lit up, and he was overjoyed.
“No wonder…”
If the difficulty of the “Flight Spell” lies between second and third years, the “Transfiguration Spell” can only be learned by fifth and sixth years.
Furthermore, transfiguration spells are not general magic spells; part of them must be written by the magus themselves.
Therefore, it cannot be a semi-finished card, activated simply by absorbing a bit of mana.
This means Dark wouldn’t trigger it immediately.
Otherwise, he might actually turn into a cat or something, gaining a shameful nickname like “Dark Cat.”
“In any case, this unfinished ‘Transfiguration Spell’ should serve as a stepping stone to get private tutoring from a professor.”
Dark nodded contentedly and put away the “Transfiguration Spell” card.
Then he looked up at Judy with a meaningful smile.
Judy, looking disappointed, quickly adjusted her expression and said, “It seems both contestants are very satisfied with their prizes. As the host of this duel festival, I congratulate them again.
Congratulations to Dark Demon from the First-Year Noble Academy and Joseph Bruno from the Sixth-Year Mana Academy, the ultimate winners of the first Easter Duel Festival!”
“Clang!”
The piano suddenly changed tone, and the music in the arena became intense.
Dark Demon and Joseph Bruno left the stage.
…
After these two stepped off the stage, the audiences from various branch venues also began to leave.
“It’s over again.”
Alvaraite showed disappointment, reluctant to leave.
But after the duel festival ended, the connection between the branch venue and the main venue would be cut off.
No matter how much she lingered, it wouldn’t change anything.
Claire came over and said, “Let’s go. There’s something to take care of next.”
“Right.” Alvaraite adjusted her expression and straightened herself.
What Dark had shown in this duel festival wouldn’t affect the kingdom’s situation greatly at this moment, but that was because it was not yet the right time.
If not taken seriously, the situation could escalate unpredictably.
Just as she had said before, some things stick once they’re on.
Sighing, Eliza held back two sisters who were trying to escape.
Outside the branch venue, the capital city was still drizzling.
…
While the crown prince and the crown princess were taking action, the mayor of the Free City, Montiel Farley, finally made a decision.
“Aurora, prepare for the internal handover.”
“Handover?”
Aurora hesitated, “Isn’t it still five months away?”
Mayor Suna Montiel Farley turned her head toward the direction of the royal capital and softly said, “If you insist on your own thoughts, we need to prepare sooner.”
Aurora, being so clever, immediately understood.
She lowered her head, her face slightly red, and whispered, “Yes.”
But the mayor suddenly frowned, “Don’t get too excited. I’m not going to propose, but to withdraw the proposal.”
Aurora: “Eh?”
…
Dark Demon did not realize the far-reaching impact of this duel festival.
In fact, even if he did, he probably wouldn’t care much.
Because it was not within his considerations.
His purpose remained clear.
After stepping off the stage, Dark summoned the imp beast, freeing it from the spell cage.
The imp beast, now returned to its familiar form, regained its tracking ability.
With the help of the imp beast, Dark quickly found Diana and Rose.
Sure enough, Senior Pandora was also with them.
“Dark Dark, what card did you draw last? Why didn’t it activate?”
Diana ran over like a bear cub, and Dark stopped to avoid colliding with her.
Amidst the crowd, Rose and Pandora arrived close behind.
Pandora looked at Dark and smiled, “Indeed, we were expecting you to be tackled by the pigs.”
Dark gave a helpless smile, “Luckily, the last card was the ‘Transfiguration Spell.'”
Diana blinked, “Then why didn’t it transform?”
Pandora smiled and looked down, “The ‘Transfiguration Spell’ records transformation spells, which are not general spells. They usually require the magus to personally write them to create usable spell cards.”
Diana instinctively covered her head, “Do you need to use mana language to write them?”
Pandora gently said, “Yes, you’ll start learning it from second year. Mana language is a lifelong study for magi. Don’t slack off while learning, especially you, Diana.”
Diana stuck out her tongue, pretending not to hear.
Rose chuckled.
The four continued moving with the crowd and soon left the outdoor dueling arena.
As the sun set, the evening sky was filled with light, and everyone’s faces reflected a different kind of red.
“Today’s Easter was unexpectedly peaceful.”
Dark looked back at the outdoor dueling arena, reminiscent of the Roman Colosseum, with deep meaning in his eyes.
…
Once the crowd dispersed.
Joseph Bruno, who had come down the stage with Dark, arrived at a prearranged spot in the competitors’ passage.
Only Leah Goethe was waiting there, in the dimly lit passage.
Leah had bet on two people, but naturally, she had bet separately and hadn’t let them know about each other.
Tom Nixon’s failure was within her expectations—though the process was somewhat different.
She originally thought Tom would lose to Winnie Scarlet, but unexpectedly, he faced a major setback against Dark Demon.
Fortunately, Joseph Bruno won the final victory as expected.
“Hello, Miss Goethe.” Bruno walked up to Leah, a faint smile appearing on his delicate face.
Leah raised her head, showing the same face Dark had seen in the old bookstore, and smiled, “Congratulations on winning.”
Bruno took out the door card directly and said, “Rest assured, I left my mind on it before touching it and didn’t activate it.”
Leah smiled slightly, “That’s very grateful.”
But Bruno shook the door card, “You promised me that if I helped you win this door card, you’d guarantee my position in the academy. I want to see concrete evidence.”
Leah stared into his eyes and said, “I never lie.”
But in the next instant, Joseph Bruno felt a sudden dizziness, and his vision blurred.
When he regained his senses, the door card in his hand was gone.
Leah casually activated the door card, completing the binding.
A key-shaped figure popped up on the card, bowing, “Identity verification successful! Identity verification successful! Hello, my master, please register your name.”
Leah observed the figure with interest, “Is this a smart system similar to familiars? It does resemble the selection card. I wonder what other functions it has besides opening doors?”
“Some say it has communication functions.”
Joseph Bruno’s voice became noticeably lower, his fingers already reaching into his card pack, his gaze towards Leah full of caution.
Leah waved the door card and said softly, “Relax. I keep my word. You’ll be the only one to successfully stay this year.”
Joseph Bruno asked, “Evidence?”
Leah shook her head, “No need for evidence. You’ll know when the time comes. You should believe your knowledge is enough to secure your position. Otherwise, even if I want to help you, I can’t. By the way, don’t do anything rash. You understand.”
Joseph Bruno’s hand, which had entered the card pack, didn’t retract, but he didn’t move either.
Leah was about to continue speaking when she suddenly raised her eyebrows.
Then…
“Beeep—”
A nostalgic sound came from the door card in her hand.
It was the same notification sound as the selection card.
She looked at the card, and a letter popped out.
