Chapter 406: Dark Demon Only Wished for a Peaceful Life (4.5k)
Lia Goethe looked at the envelope popping up on her card and suddenly felt an ominous premonition.
But after hesitating for a moment, she finally pressed her finger against it.
With the infusion of mana, the envelope opened, revealing its contents.
[Ophelia Brad, come to my office.]
[Sarah Shylph]
Lia Goethe fell silent.
She silently crossed out this “notice,” then flipped her card over and tapped the back with her fingertip.
A drop of fresh blood flowed from her fingertip, as if it had a mind of its own, snaking across the back of the card.
In just a few seconds, a highly intricate blood spell array was automatically drawn.
Immediately after, Lia Goethe began tapping her fingers in rapid succession, starting the ritual.
The blood threads instantly surrounded the entire card!
…
This scene caused Joseph Bruno’s pupils to dilate sharply, a sense of horror welling up inside him. He couldn’t help but feel relieved that he hadn’t acted rashly.
However, he wasn’t entirely idle…
“Are you still not leaving?”
Suddenly, Lia Goethe raised her head and asked.
Joseph Bruno instinctively swallowed, but ultimately chose to trust reason.
He whispered, “I believe you, but you mustn’t forget your promise. Otherwise…”
Lia Goethe turned away from him, “Otherwise, you’ll tell everyone what you know. It’s fine, you can even go find your professor right now. Goodbye.”
As she lifted her card and waved it at him, a bright red spider appeared on the back.
The spider’s eight legs clung to the front edge, emitting a faint red glow.
Joseph Bruno glanced at the card one more time before quietly retreating a step and quickly turning around, leaving hastily.
Those who knew better saw the depth of her skill, which to most magi, was merely a re-ritualizing of a mana card.
But Joseph Bruno recognized it immediately as a mysterious “blood sacrifice” technique. Those skilled in such methods…
His face paled, and he walked faster.
…
It wasn’t until Joseph Bruno’s silhouette completely disappeared that Lia Goethe showed hesitation, pondering.
Although she had sealed the card’s communication abilities with the “Blood Spider Seal,” she still couldn’t escape the possibility of being discovered by Professor Shylph.
Yet, she could never have imagined how Professor Shylph found out about her.
Logically, she shouldn’t have left any trace of her true identity.
“Could it be Metia betrayed me?”
“No.”
Ophelia Brad almost immediately dismissed this idea.
Metia had no reason to betray her.
“But if it wasn’t Metia, then who else?”
Ophelia stepped forward as she mulled over these thoughts.
Regardless, it was best not to stay here any longer.
As for Professor Shylph’s notice…
“She doesn’t think I’d come just because of a notice, does she?”
…
Half an hour later.
Professor Shylph’s office.
Ophelia Brad knocked on the door.
…
The end of the Easter Duel Festival didn’t dissipate the festive atmosphere.
After leaving the duel arena, the students split into two groups, one heading to Traveler’s Street and the other to the cafeteria.
Even though the cafeteria’s dinner still came with Easter eggs, most students lost interest after getting two boiled eggs in a row. With the competition ending, they took advantage of the remaining excitement and headed to Traveler’s Street.
Thus, fewer students chose the cafeteria.
Dark Demon and his group continued chatting and entered the cafeteria.
The halfling chefs noticed the golden-haired youth with a bat familiar and exchanged glances, smiling.
When Dark reached the front of the queue, the halfling aunt managing the eggs winked at him and pulled out a red petal egg, slipping it among the others.
Seeing the blatant cheating, Dark was momentarily stunned.
The halfling aunt congratulated him, “Congratulations on winning.”
Dark realized her intent and didn’t hesitate, reaching out to take the egg.
Of course, the Imp Beast didn’t forget to pick one too.
The cafeteria’s menu tonight was lavish. Large platters of meat filled the serving dishes, with rich aromas mingling with the sweet scent of desserts.
While picking his food, Dark noticed bottles of fruit wine.
There were no underage drinking laws in this world.
But out of concern for the students, the cafeteria served very low-alcohol content fruit wines.
Dark grabbed a bottle and added it to his tray, continuing to search for more food.
Having won the championship, he planned to treat himself, so his tray piled up with meat.
But when he turned around with a full tray, he was shocked to see that two of the three people behind him had trays loaded with mountains of meat!
He looked down at his own tray, then up at Diana and Pandora’s trays, sighing.
Indeed, people were incomparable.
…
If earlier Diana and Pandora were still somewhat restrained due to their unfamiliarity,
tonight they let loose completely.
Besides, using “celebrating Dark’s victory” as an excuse, it wouldn’t seem odd for them to take more food.
So, a mountain of meat soon piled up on their table.
The Imp Beast stood on the table, staring up at the meat mountain in confusion, while Pandora’s familiar, “Young Wyvern,” looked ravenous, with a sleepy Grass Dragon at the corner.
“So, let’s open the eggs!”
Dark moved the egg with the red petals closer, eager to see what was inside.
“Yeah, let’s open the eggs.”
Pandora agreed, but didn’t touch her own egg, instead watching Dark intently.
Dark scanned everyone and realized they were all staring at him—not just his tablemates, but students from nearby tables as well.
“Hey, don’t hesitate, hurry up!” A senior from the Knight Academy urged impatiently.
Others chimed in.
Dark couldn’t help but laugh, “Looks like everyone wants to know what’s in this cheating egg.”
Diana held back for a moment before saying, “It must be a Phoenix egg!”
Rose whispered, “I told you there’s no Phoenix egg.”
Dark advised, “Just break it open and see.”
He pulled out the prize hammer and struck the egg hard.
“Crack!”
Dark had opened many eggs today, but this one’s shell was undoubtedly the hardest.
Despite the force, it only cracked slightly.
He frowned and put more effort into it, striking twice more.
But those strikes only added two more cracks.
“Inject mana,” Pandora reminded him.
Dark injected mana into the small golden hammer and struck again, activating the magical seal on it!
A rainbow halo spread out, drawing more attention.
Immediately after, the goose-sized egg shattered.
Dozens of eyes focused on the contents.
Inside the remaining shell, a waterdrop-shaped gem rose, emitting fiery red light.
“What is this?”
“A fire attribute gem?”
Discussion erupted as the gem suddenly blazed, raising the temperature dramatically!
“Click.”
Pandora casually extinguished the flame with a flick of her hand.
She examined the red gem briefly before handing it to Dark with a smile, “An unexpected treasure, don’t lose it.”
Dark took the gem without much thought and stuffed it into his card pack, “Alright, let’s eat!”
…
Dark Demon’s discovery of a gem from the cafeteria’s Easter egg was merely a minor incident during dinner.
As he quickly stashed the gem away, those around him quickly moved on, resuming their conversations.
Pandora, Diana, Rose, and the Imp Beast each cracked open their eggs afterward. The Imp Beast even got a credit voucher!
Though it was only worth thirty credits, it was enough to make it happy.
This brought the Imp Beast’s total credits to 200.
It happily shared its meat with the Young Wyvern, feeling extremely joyful.
Under the Imp Beast’s influence, the atmosphere became even more pleasant.
The mountain of meat on the table visibly decreased.
Diana ate with her mouth full.
Pandora ate daintily but at a steady pace.
Dark was already aware of her appetite and wasn’t surprised.
By the time they finished eating, it was already eight o’clock. They left the cafeteria feeling satisfied.
On Sunday evening, they had some free time.
After leaving the cafeteria, they didn’t return to their dorms but wandered slowly along the castle paths, treating it as a post-dinner stroll.
Unconsciously, they arrived at the “Lover’s Bridge” between the castle towers, leaning on the railing to enjoy the night breeze, squinting at the scenery.
It was quiet around them.
Most likely, everyone had gone to Traveler’s Street, leaving the Lover’s Bridge undisturbed.
Teenagers enjoyed the serene atmosphere, as if time paused, etching a timeless scene.
…
After a while, Dark broke the silence, “Senior, you mentioned the experiment…”
Pandora brushed her hair aside and softly said, “A small experiment. I’ll call you when needed.” Dark nodded and fell silent again.
Pandora added, “The gem you opened in the cafeteria contains a drop of blood from a fire attribute monster.”
“Is it really a Phoenix?!” Diana’s eyes lit up, exclaiming in surprise.
Pandora calmly replied, “That’s not certain, but since it’s a reward specifically given to winners, the monster’s level wouldn’t be low.”
“Otherwise, a single drop of blood wouldn’t emit such intense fire elemental fluctuations. My advice is to directly ask the professor.”
Dark nodded, “I’ll ask Professor Kazel tomorrow.”
Pandora asked, “You seem to have good relations with the professors?”
Dark smiled, “Not bad.”
Pandora said, “Building good relations with professors is beneficial, but don’t rely on them too much. I believe you can balance it.”
Dark: “Of course.”
Pandora’s eyes showed a hint of laziness, then she took a deep breath, her heart stirring with the movement.
She said, “It’s getting late, I should leave. You should rest early too.”
Then she stepped back, waving at the three of them with a smile, “Goodnight.”
Dark and the others also waved back, “Goodnight.”
…
“Hey.”
After Pandora left, Diana became active again, “Where to next?”
Dark: “Back to the dorm.”
Diana: “Huh?”
Dark laughed, “I mean, we can sit in the common room.”
Rose took Diana’s hand, smiling as they walked toward the bridgehead, “Let’s go.”
They returned to the tower of the Noble Academy and sat in the common room for a while. When Rose showed clear signs of fatigue, they went back to their dorm.
“See you tomorrow.”
“See you tomorrow.”
…
Dark pushed open the door to room 201, his eyes showing a hint of weariness.
Continuous high-intensity mana duels were exhausting, especially mentally.
After entering, he first summoned his “Mana Book,” then entrusted the task of summoning other mana spirits to it, collapsing onto the bed unceremoniously.
Feeling the coolness of the bedding against his cheek, he dozed off after a moment.
Awakening abruptly, he instinctively sat up and saw that the clock’s hands had passed eleven.
“Eleven… It’s already eleven!”
Dark was startled and instinctively looked around.
The mana spirits, who were quietly doing their tasks, turned to look at him.
But after his gaze swept over their faces, he remained bewildered.
“Nothing happened…”
“Then what did Professor Metia’s warning mean?”
“Or did something happen that I missed?”
He sat there pondering for a while, suddenly remembering it was April Fool’s Day, and mechanically picked up the mana dropper, extracting a drop of “Greed.”
After this duel festival, his “Greed” had indeed increased significantly.
“In short, the top priority this month is to refine ‘Greed III.’ Other matters can wait.”
“The remaining ‘Greed’ from last month is 2 points, plus today’s 1.5 points, totaling 3.5 points.”
“To reach 10 points, I need 5 more days.”
“That means I can start refining next weekend.”
…
After extracting the greed, Dark injected it into the Worm Branch and organized his day’s gains, arranging the models of the Imp Beast, Deoxys, and the Pure White Dragon Princess on the bookshelf.
The model of the Gigant was temporarily placed in a drawer.
Afterward, he washed up normally, returning to bed and falling asleep shortly.
Perhaps due to the fatigue from the duel, or perhaps unwilling to wake the owner.
Tonight, the mana spirits didn’t crawl into his bedding.
And the “Mana Spirit,” “Lion Beast,” and “Meow” were, as always, stored in the mana cards, then placed on the small shelf on the desk.
“Lion Beast” sat within the mana card, awake.
It felt deeply ashamed for nearly being controlled by the “Parasitic Seed” during today’s duel, attributing it to a lack of willpower.
Having a “Heart of Justice” ultimate skill yet failing to resist such mental interference was truly unworthy of the title “Hero.”
Unlike Deoxys, who was indifferent, Lion Beast was quite concerned about the so-called “Hero Qualities.”
It wished to become a true hero who could protect everyone, as the term suggested.
But today’s experience proved its inadequacy.
How could it make up for its shortcomings?
Lion Beast felt confused.
Just as it was lost in thought, a familiar sound came from nearby.
The mana card of the “Mana Spirit” glowed.
At first, it paid no heed.
Every night, the Mana Spirit usually emerged from the mana card.
It was accustomed to it.
Until the glow from the mana card intensified!
