Chapter 423: Dark Demon Across Time (4k)
After Sister Carrian learned of his intentions, she looked surprised. “To be honest, you’re the first person to come to me asking for help with a mana golem.”
Dark sighed, “My mana golem might be special.”
But Sister Carrian shook her head. “Even if it is special, it is still a mana golem. You should know that all its attributes are already recorded on the mana card when it was created. Height, weight, appearance, and racial traits—all are determined at birth. These things cannot be changed.”
Dark asked, “What do you mean?”
Sister Carrian spun her pen and said, “What I mean is that the ‘madness’ you speak of is part of the basic factors of the lion beast. It is an unchangeable part. Unless you reforge the mana card.”
Dark frowned slightly, “Reforge the mana card?”
Sister Carrian nodded, “Yes. Disassemble the existing mana card, add new materials, and reforge it without destroying it, thus correcting the defects in the mana card or appropriately enhancing it. However, this is a very advanced application, involving a lot of knowledge. And once it fails, the mana card will be completely destroyed, posing great risks. I think you wouldn’t want to take such a risk.”
Dark fell silent for a moment and said, “It seems I have no other choice.”
Sister Carrian smiled and said, “There’s no need to worry so much. Each mana golem has its own traits. Whether it’s fallen, bloodthirsty, or mad, these traits are just part of what makes them unique. These traits may bring some flaws, but they also make certain aspects stand out. You need to learn to understand them and use them reasonably, rather than treating them as a disease.”
Since it wasn’t a disease, there was no medicine.
When Dark left the infirmary, he felt somewhat conflicted.
However, Sister Carrian’s words changed his mindset. Perhaps the madness factor of the lion beast wasn’t entirely bad?
Thinking too much about it was futile.
Dark soon arrived at the classroom and started today’s classes.
On Tuesday, the first class was a duel class. Professor Pavar Jones called Dark up to the podium early in the class, asking him to assist in analyzing several classic duels from the Easter Duel Festival.
During the analysis, Dark gained a deeper understanding of his own shortcomings in dueling, making significant progress.
The second class was Professor Lily’s arithmetic class. He had special privileges in her class and could focus on his own work.
In the afternoon, the first class was the History of Magic.
Seeing Professor Ryan Hux again, Dark found that he showed no embarrassment but seemed more relaxed.
Thanks to Professor Metia’s star barrier, the events that happened on Easter night did not spread.
Neither inside nor outside the academy, there were no obvious changes.
After the History of Magic class ended, Dark went to Professor Shylph’s office to inquire about related matters.
Professor Shylph informed Principal Altair about the matter, but the principal allowed her to handle it herself. Thus, she chose to remain silent.
“Of course, after you return, you can choose to tell Alvaraite or Claire; they are both trustworthy.”
Professor Shylph rarely laughed, but she thoroughly defined the outcome of the matter.
People tend to have biases and cannot expect everyone to be absolutely fair.
Professor Shylph was like this, and so was Dark.
He smiled and said, “We can discuss this during the break.”
…
With only two months until the long holiday, Dark still had many things he wanted to accomplish.
Originally, he wanted to create the “Zoo” before the break, but now it seemed difficult.
Additionally, his research on the “Love Spell Array” had made no progress—not even started.
However, he inadvertently learned about the contents of “Blood Sacrifice.”
Besides that, he needed to learn the improved “Soul Curse” from Professor Harvey, at least mastering it to a basic level.
Originally, he thought he could use the “Holy Grail” to achieve a breakthrough, but now it seemed there might be another opportunity.
Magic learning was incredibly profound, especially high-difficulty spells like the “Soul Curse.”
If he could learn the improved version of the “Soul Curse” from Professor Harvey and have the chance to experiment with the “Holy Grail” by the end of the term, he could use this opportunity to further advance his “Technique of the Shadow God.”
But he was only a first-year student and had little ability to influence the “Holy Grail.” He could only hope that the upperclassmen from the Noble Academy could fight for the Academy Cup.
Fortunately, the Noble Academy had always been competitive in the Academy Cup.
Dark still had a chance to win easily.
Compared to that, learning the “Transfiguration Spell” could be postponed.
“For now, mastering the basic “Soul Curse” is most important. Ideally, I should learn it by May.”
“My foundation in the “Soul Curse” is solid enough, so mastering the basic level shouldn’t be too hard, but for intermediate and advanced levels, long-term planning is necessary.”
“Of course, all this depends on Professor Harvey completing the improvement of the “Soul Curse” quickly.”
“Also, I can start preparing for the secret path exploration.”
“I can start working on my idea about living metal!”
Returning to the dorm, Dark took out the last three flower cards from his deck and picked one adorned with white datura.
This pure white datura flower card, which he initially obtained through a crack in the door, held extra symbolic meaning.
“Seeing this flower will remove evil. I hope it brings me good luck.”
…
The next day, Wednesday, after lunch, Dark arrived at Professor Kazel’s office.
Professor Kazel was still busy, seemingly having skipped lunch.
Looking at the thick stack of assignments on his desk, Dark suddenly felt embarrassed about disturbing him.
But Professor Kazel looked up and smiled, “What, are you ready to learn the “Transfiguration Spell”? ”
Dark replied, “Not exactly. Actually, I want to ask you for a favor.”
As he spoke, he took out the white datura flower card and waved it at Professor Kazel. “I want to ask you to forge another card like the one I had before.”
Professor Kazel’s thoughts shifted, “The orchid card?”
Dark nodded, “Yes.”
But after hearing this, Professor Kazel put down his pen and said seriously, “Are you thinking of…?”
Dark didn’t hide it, “The Temple of the Moon, I want to find it again in the secret path.”
Professor Kazel frowned, “That’s not a good thing, and the Temple of the Moon from last time has already collapsed and disappeared. To recreate the Temple of the Moon requires more than just luck.”
But Dark shook his head, “I believe the Temple of the Moon, or at least a statue of the Moon Goddess, still exists somewhere in the secret path.”
Professor Kazel asked curiously, “How do you confirm that?”
Dark smiled mischievously, “It’s a secret, professor.”
Professor Kazel stared at him for a while, then pondered for a bit and said, “In principle, I encourage your exploration. After all, the purpose of issuing identification cards is for this. But finding a new statue might be more dangerous.”
Dark smiled, “But wealth lies in danger.”
“Fine,” Professor Kazel smiled helplessly. “Since you’re prepared, I can help. Just remember to use the communication function on your identification card if you encounter danger.”
Dark: “Of course.”
Modifying the flower card wasn’t complicated.
Professor Kazel spent half an hour modifying the card into a magical device capable of tracking the Moon Goddess’s aura.
But when Dark reached out happily to take it, he lifted it and said, “100 credits.”
Dark was taken aback but quickly smiled and paid the crafting fee.
The modified flower card was not a mana card but a magical artifact crafted through alchemy.
After Dark infused it with mana, the white datura slowly floated out of the card, orderly arranging itself in the air like a row of pure white wind chimes, emitting a sound like silver bells.
Though it wasn’t as lively as the orchid card releasing butterflies, the white datura was still beautiful.
Dark waved his hand gently, and once the row of datura slowly returned, he collected it and thanked Professor Kazel.
Professor Kazel looked helpless, “Be careful.”
Dark smiled, “I usually don’t take risks.”
…
Now that he had the flower card, Dark didn’t disturb Professor Kazel any longer. He quickly left the office, returned to the dorm, and then went to the library.
He planned to wait until Friday evening to gather 10 points of “Greed” before crafting “Greed III” and then act.
Before that, of course, he needed to finish his homework!
When he arrived at the library, Senior Pandora was working at the counter.
After several days apart, Senior Pandora remained youthful and vibrant as always.
“Register,” she pushed the registration form towards Dark and whispered, “Why haven’t I seen you around these past few days?”
While registering, Dark said, “I’ve been busy.”
Pandora frowned and complained, “I thought you forgot about me.”
Dark paused and looked up, “Isn’t it just that I haven’t come to the library for two days?”
Pandora still looked resentful, “Did you forget what you promised me?”
Seeing the students around looking odd, Dark immediately realized, “How could I forget the invitation, time, and place, senior?”
Senior Pandora finally stopped pretending. She chuckled and said, “Next Wednesday afternoon, same place.”
“Same place,” Dark nodded and quickly finished the registration, handing the form to the next person before swiftly entering the library.
After that night, his “Bliss” had dropped to 92 points, which was in a relatively safe range.
He originally planned to maintain this until the long holiday, but now it seemed a bit challenging.
…
The next two days passed unusually peacefully.
Every morning, Dark checked the newspaper, but there was no news from the Saint Church. Even the usual stories, like a priest helping an elderly lady cross the road or a pastor providing free medical treatment to elderly people in rural areas, suddenly disappeared.
This eerie calm created a sense of urgency.
It wasn’t until Friday morning that The Wise One Daily suddenly carried a news story about the Saint Church—but it was still unrelated to the Demon King.
Dark searched the newspaper for a long time before finding a small message: “Saint Rite Academy’s top student Maria Euphemia returned a wallet containing valuable items to Viscount Gabi Eugene after searching for three days—what a joke?”
Dark was silent for a moment and put the newspaper away.
On Friday morning, there were two classes: Duel Class and Beast Mastery.
In the Duel Class, they continued to analyze classic cases from the Easter Duel Festival, while in Beast Mastery, Professor Nina taught theoretical knowledge for the first time.
Professor Nina had somehow acquired a book as thick as a brick and struggled to read from it.
She clearly wasn’t skilled at lecturing this way, but if she wanted to become a formal Beast Mastery professor, this was a necessary step.
Although rote teaching was often criticized, if she couldn’t even do that, she certainly wouldn’t be a good teacher.
Professor Nina was also striving for her dream.
…
On Friday afternoon, as soon as the gate to Traveler’s Street opened, Dark immediately followed the crowd into the street.
He needed to buy many things, including preparations for entering the secret path, as well as furniture and small toys for children around eight or nine years old.
He also needed to buy a small bed.
Although the vampire noble probably wouldn’t use it, children are most concerned about what others have that they don’t. Given his conditions, Dark wouldn’t neglect any mana golem.
By the time he bought everything, it was already six o’clock in the evening.
Dark casually bought a pile of food to share dinner with his mana golems in the dorm, and waited until eight o’clock to extract mana again!
Starting from April 1st, he had extracted one drop of “Greed” every night, totaling six drops, or 9 points of “Greed.”
Adding the point from tonight, he had a total of 11 points.
11 points of “Greed” should theoretically be enough to craft “Greed III.”
After successfully extracting tonight’s “Greed,” Dark resisted the urge to start the crafting immediately. He gave himself thirty minutes of rest before beginning the crucial experiment.
He was truly excited about the potential changes “Greed III” could bring!
