Chapter 485: Dark Demon Ascends as Zookeeper (4k)
“Only one material left.”
Dark took a deep breath and began tidying up the broken experimental tools.
Maid Supervisor Jasmine heard the noise and knocked on the classroom door.
After Dark called her in, he instructed, “Replace the experimental equipment.”
Then he directly laid out paper and pen in one corner of the classroom to meticulously review the entire experiment process, attempting to identify the primary reason for the failed alchemy.
Back when he was refining “Fusion,” he also made frequent mistakes, but with Senior Pandora by his side, every error was quickly discovered and pointed out.
This time, with no one watching him, he could only rely on himself to find the flaws.
But to be honest, this was extremely difficult.
Even harder than advanced mathematics.
But before he found the issue, he couldn’t proceed.
Because the remaining materials were just enough for one last attempt!
…
Jasmine quickly replaced the new experimental equipment, but Dark still didn’t successfully pinpoint the error.
Seeing this, Diana and Aurora quietly left the classroom and went to another room to sit for a while.
Aurora then said to Diana, “Sister, do you want to come to my room?”
Diana’s eyes lit up instantly, “Sure!”
She had no such close companions back at the Gretebail household, and during her recent visit to Viscount Florette’s house to play with Rose, she found Rose so busy that she barely had time to play.
Viscount Florette seemed to compensate for years of neglect by hiring six tutors for Rose, including one who just graduated from Saint Maryann Academy!
These tutors worked almost round-the-clock, covering everything from noble etiquette to violin playing, from basic knowledge to magus theory, from tea art to fashion… arranging everything for Rose perfectly.
Now with her cousin here, it filled the void left by losing Rose.
Thus, Diana happily entered Aurora’s room.
Aurora’s room was very tidy, perhaps due to rarely going out shopping, making it somewhat monotonous.
However, details still revealed a youthful touch.
Diana glanced around sneakily and noticed a small crib, curious, “Why is there a little bed here?”
Aurora walked to the crib, lifted the cover slightly, and said, “Mom said I stayed at the Duke’s Mansion for some time, this is the crib I slept in back then.”
“Oh, is that so?” Diana circled the crib twice and suddenly asked, “Why don’t I remember sleeping in such a small bed?”
Aurora paused, “Maybe it was too early for me to remember.”
“Right.” Diana nodded.
Aurora let her sit on the sofa for a moment, then took out a box of crystal honey cakes, prepared a full set of tea utensils, brewed lemon tea, arranged snacks, and sat down to chat about girl topics with Diana.
The two had grown closer over these few days of studying together.
Diana was very interested in Aurora’s Free City.
Aurora wanted to learn more about life at Saint Maryann Academy.
They chatted more and more comfortably.
…
While these two sisters were enjoying their conversation, Dark Demon was still deep in thought.
To avoid interrupting his thoughts, he even skipped lunch. It wasn’t until three in the afternoon that he found some clues.
Starting from these clues, after an hour of deconstruction and analysis, he finally discovered the errors in the previous experiment.
Then, he casually picked up a pastry sent by Olivia and immediately started his final alchemy experiment!
Normally, he should rest before starting the alchemy.
The excitement of finally finding the problem after spending so much time made him lose control and decide to forge ahead.
But surprisingly, he didn’t make any mistakes; everything was stable.
About two hours later, the spell inscribed on the Mana Card suddenly condensed, and the card surface gradually displayed a similar zoo layout to the previous one.
Various “Avian-beast Kin” shadows were scattered throughout the different zones of the zoo.
“Finally completed again?”
Dark took a deep breath, picked up the tweezers.
Given the previous failure, he did not simply assume that the Mana Card was successful.
“Before a successful summon, every Mana Card could be a dud. Just like before lighting a firework, every firework could be a dud!”
Dark carefully used the tweezers to pick up the Mana Card, suspending it for a moment. When he noticed that it did not suddenly glow as the previous card did, he relaxed slightly and rinsed it under the faucet.
As the dirt adhering to the Mana Card was washed away, the card became clearer.
Dark had seen Claire’s “Zoo,” but the card faces were clearly different.
Specifically, the style of the zoo was different.
This was not strange.
Even the same-named Mana Cards would have slight differences.
In this world, there were no completely identical Mana Cards.
Dark placed the cleaned Mana Card back on the desk and picked up the Magic Pen to slowly inject a bit of Mana.
Mana flowed into the card smoothly.
Dark finally confirmed that the Mana Card wouldn’t explode.
He gradually smiled, injecting Mana to gather information.
[Card Name: Zoo]
[Type: Field Card]
[Effect 1: Reduces summon time for bird-beast kin golems by 1 second.]
[Effect 2: Increases Mana, Attack, and Defense by 200 points for bird-beast kin golems in the zoo.]
[Effect 3: Increases Mana recovery rate by 1 point per second for each additional bird-beast kin golem in the zoo, up to a maximum of 10 points per second.]
[Effect 4: Grants the ultimate skill “Release of Beasts.”]
The influx of information through Mana feedback made Dark show a surprised expression.
“So this ‘Zoo’ field card actually has four effects?”
“The field effects are generally limited to bird-beast kin golems, and besides reducing summon time by 1 second, there are indeed three-dimensional attribute boosts.”
“But compared to ‘Paradise,’ the three-dimensional attribute boosts of ‘Zoo’ cannot stack and are fixed at 200 points.”
“Effect 3 should be the reason why golems can persist long-term in the ‘Zoo.'”
“This mechanism is likely the same as ‘Paradise,’ forming an energy loop between the field and multiple golems to provide additional Mana recovery.”
“The difference is that ‘Paradise’ initially records ten golems, so regardless of how many are summoned, the Mana recovery rate remains at 10 points per second.”
“If ‘Paradise’ is upgraded to version 2.0, the Mana recovery rate will further increase!”
“What’s surprising is Effect 4.”
“Claire didn’t mention that the ‘Zoo’ field card comes with an ultimate skill?”
After careful consideration, Dark injected more Mana to examine the effect of the ultimate skill “Release of Beasts.”
[Release of Beasts: Golems (bird-beast kin golems) summoned from (Zoo) gain a group attack boost within 30 seconds. For 10 golems, attack increases by 200; for 100 golems, attack increases by 2000.]
“This effect…”
Dark frowned.
For ordinary magi, even if they were proficient in bird-beast kin, it was difficult to summon a hundred bird-beast kin golems in one battle.
Unless they used special methods to summon groups or used effects like “Grand Release” to separate individuals into groups.
Besides the number restriction, the group attack boost within 30 seconds was still considerable.
Especially the 2000-point attack boost when “a hundred” beasts are released, which was truly shocking. This “Zoo” was far stronger than he anticipated.
Based on this, it was easy to imagine what level of field card “Animal Kingdom” might be — perhaps it could truly achieve “release of thousands of beasts!”
The “Beast Sage” was truly terrifying in a certain sense!
…
“Finally, let’s find an open space to conduct the summoning experiment.”
Dark looked around and grabbed the “Zoo” to head for the door.
But when he opened the door, he found quite a few people waiting outside.
“Teacher Camilla, haven’t you gone home yet?” Dark raised his head slightly and asked among the crowd.
Camilla smiled and said, “There’s no helping it, Diana insisted on waiting until your experiment was over.”
Diana pouted instantly, “I want to know the final result!”
Aurora covered her mouth and laughed, “Not knowing the final result is really hard.”
“Exactly.” Diana said matter-of-factly, “What if I can’t sleep at night?”
Dark scratched his head, “Then what about Teachers Cyrus and Plant?”
The former director of the royal botanical garden, Ms. Plant, smiled, “It seems curiosity was piqued by Camilla.”
The silent sage Cyrus asked curiously, “So, was it successful?”
Dark nodded slightly, “Although the final summon hasn’t been done yet, this time it should be successful.”
Cyrus was surprised, “I never expected you to succeed in refining Claire’s ‘Zoo’ at this age!”
Dark modestly replied, “It’s thanks to Ms. Claire’s guidance.”
Cyrus leaned on his cane and said, “Would you mind letting us observe?”
Dark smiled, “Of course not.”
He pushed the door open and slowly walked outside.
Soon, everyone arrived at an open area outside the mansion.
Dark held the Mana Card tightly with his index and middle fingers, then raised his head sharply and swept the Mana Card across his chest.
Instantly, a surge of Mana surged forth.
“In the name of Dark Demon, Mana Summon!”
“Field deploy, manifest ‘Zoo’!”
…
Mana spread out like a tide in all directions.
Dark stepped forward, and the surrounding ground was covered with a web-like network of Mana.
The architecture of the “Zoo” appeared instantly under the effect of “True Projection.”
Though less magnificent and dreamy than “Paradise,” it still evoked a sense of wonder.
The magic and mystery of field cards always made people think of miracles.
Of course, those present didn’t think this way.
Dark watched the successfully summoned “Zoo” with excitement.
Though “Paradise” was superior, this “Zoo” was the first field card he had personally refined.
This carried a different significance.
Unfortunately, among his current golems, he only had eight “bird-beast kin” golems.
If the imp beast evolved into a black diarumon, he could barely add one more.
But this wasn’t enough to build a bird-beast kin deck centered around “Zoo.”
Moreover, a single “Zoo” card was hard to form a complete system.
He needed to return to the academy, purchase more materials to refine more “Zoos,” and learn more series of Mana Cards from Claire.
…
Dark didn’t continue experimenting with the “Zoo.”
He soon deactivated the manifestation of “Zoo.”
As the large building disappeared, the tutors also came over.
Ms. Plant marveled, “Magus field cards are endlessly fascinating. I wish I could get a ‘Botanical Garden’ field card someday.”
Sage Cyrus glanced at her and said, “That might be difficult. Mana Cards of this caliber don’t have a generic type.”
Ms. Plant raised her voice, “Is it too late to start learning Mana now?”
Cyrus smiled faintly, “Not at all. Learning has no end. I plan to start teaching the lovely students some basic Mana knowledge in August. You can join as well.”
Ms. Plant’s eyes lit up, “Coincidentally, I plan to teach them some grass-type magic in August.”
Cyrus narrowed his eyes, “I hope Ms. Plant won’t use their assignments to take up time for Mana studies. Especially听说您想让他们写什么花草生长的观察日记？有那时间做什么不好？咳，咳！”
Cough yourself to death!
Ms. Plant glared at him fiercely, unwilling to argue.
Next to her, Camilla covered her mouth and smiled gently.
Diana and Aurora were surprised.
Dark rubbed his forehead and suddenly noticed, “Where is Mr. Cook?”
Camilla smiled, “Probably detention.”
Dark was stunned, “It’s already been over an hour since the last class ended, right?”
