A total of 105 points of [Pride], with an overflow of more than 5 points.
This meant that the [Great Sin] node, from which he could draw using the "Light Touch Method," had advanced a short distance. The new threshold could be 95 points, or maybe even 90.
But since the 89 points of Wrath had yet to overflow, it indicated the node was still above 89 points.
But this was already very good news.
The [Great Sins] that originally required over 100 points for safe extraction could now be drawn once they exceeded the low nineties.
Not only did this indirectly increase the total amount he could draw, but it also lowered the danger threshold, allowing for more leeway in future research!
Dark suppressed his excitement and began to patiently sense the approximate value of this node.
"5 points, 6 points, 7 points..."
At 10 points, the overflow of [Pride] finally reached its limit!
"So the final node is around 95 points?"
After careful perception, Dark opened his eyes, waited quietly for over ten minutes, and then used the same method again to increase the overflow amount of [Lust].
The final result confirmed that the current node was indeed around 95 points.
The 95-point baseline was a 5-point advancement from the previous 100.
Five points might not seem like much, but its significance was immense.
Because it showed Dark a new possibility!
As everyone knows, both the [Soul-Losing Charm] and the [Hades Art] can be improved!
...
"Using the Hades Art to increase the concentration and output rate of emotions, making the [Great Sins] easier to extract."
"Using the Soul-Losing Charm to reduce the brain's containment effect, making the [Great Sins] overflow more easily."
"The former increases the amount drawn in one go."
"The latter increases the upper limit of what can be drawn."
"If I can continuously lower the baseline, not only can I secure experimental materials, but the safety will also keep increasing!"
"Unfortunately, both the [Hades Art] and the [Soul-Losing Charm] are extremely difficult spells to improve."
"And among them, the [Soul-Losing Charm] is even harder to improve than the [Hades Art]."
"If I get another chance to use the Holy Grail, I could work on the [Soul-Losing Charm]."
...
Dark put down his pen, picked up the Cerebrum Dropper from the side, and prepared to extract the day's portion of [Great Sins].
According to his original plan, he would first extract one drop of [Greed] as research material.
After that, he would consider the other options.
For example, collecting seven points of [Greed] to cultivate the [Fruit of Greed].
Or collecting ten points of [Pride] to refine [Pride III].
Alternatively, he could extract a bit of each type, accumulating them until he had enough to attempt refining a [Great Sin IV].
But as his research deepened, Dark discovered that the refinement methods for emotion cards seemed insufficient for the subsequent [Great Sin IV]. He would likely need to develop a dedicated refinement array to continue.
If his judgment was correct, forcibly refining [Great Sin IV] without a dedicated array would have an extremely high failure rate, leading to a massive waste of time and resources.
Therefore, he was now somewhat hesitant about the option of accumulating [Great Sins] to refine [Great Sin IV].
In comparison, the options of cultivating the [Fruit of Greed] and refining [Pride III] were more appealing to him.
The [Fruit of Greed] could be refined into a new Magic Guide Spirit.
[Pride III] should be able to unlock a new evolutionary form for [Magic Beast: Eevee].
Of course, if he collected seven points of [Pride] to cultivate a [Fruit of Pride (Fox)], it might be possible to refine another Eevee evolution corresponding to Sylveon.
In short, there were a great many options available.
...
Dark picked up the Cerebrum Dropper, pressed its tip against his temple, and then cast the [Hades Art], drawing out a single drop of [Greed].
Then, he dripped that drop of [Greed] into a Thought Flask, beginning the final procedure of the night—observation and recording!
This drop of [Greed] still had a volume of 1.5 points.
It exuded an extremely faint, yet surprisingly familiar, aura!
"This is..."
Dark thought carefully and suddenly felt that the aura of [Greed] bore a slight resemblance to the strange aura emitted by the Holy Grail!
This discovery came as a huge surprise.
But upon further reflection, it also felt natural.
As if this similarity was perfectly reasonable.
This prompted Dark to ask a question: "What, exactly, is Greed?"
...
However, such a philosophical question was destined to have no fixed answer.
He didn't ponder for too long before getting up to inject that drop of [Greed] into the Insect Tree for storage, then packed up his experiment tools and went to wash up for bed!
It was already very late, and he had classes tomorrow.
...
January 2nd, Tuesday.
St. Marian Academy finally welcomed the true start of the second semester of the school year.
The first-year's second-semester schedule was largely unchanged from the previous semester.
However, the first class of the new semester was temporarily changed from Dueling Class to Professor Sarah's Summoning Class.
Furthermore, Magical Beast Studies, a class that had never been held before, was rumored to be offered at irregular intervals this semester!
In addition, the Dueling Club's recruitment drive was scheduled for this Friday afternoon.
Aside from these points of interest, there was nothing else of note.
On the first morning after the short holiday, most of the first-year students had not yet shifted out of their leisurely state.
It wasn't until Professor Sarah entered the classroom that the students instinctively fell silent.
Dark looked up from his textbook and saw Professor Sarah, as always, with a bare face. The delicacy of her features and the exquisiteness of her face were more perfect than those of a noble lady with a full face of makeup.
That ethereal beauty, inherited from her elven bloodline, was like a masterpiece of nature, always making one feel inadequate.
Dark sometimes thought that her habit of constantly wearing a sour expression might actually be a good thing for the students.
Otherwise, if the students' attention was firmly captured by her beauty, how could they possibly study diligently?
Alas, every family has its own troubles.
...
The first Summoning Class of the semester was half-spent listening to Professor Sarah's speech.
The other half was used to review the knowledge points from the previous semester, especially the theory and practice of Tribute Summoning!
Dark was called up to the stage to demonstrate, using practice [Summoning Cards], of course.
[Summoning Cards] were also divided by star level, but their faces all depicted various colored orbs of light with 100 Magic Power and 0 Attack and Defense.
He first used Normal Summon to activate two 2-star [Summoning Cards], with the casting time for each between three and four seconds.
Then, he used Tribute Summon to call forth a 4-star [Summoning Card], with a casting time of under ten seconds!
"Not bad. Total time was less than 25 seconds."
Professor Sarah showed a rare hint of a smile.
One of the final exams for the first-year Summoning Class required students to use Normal Summon to activate three Magic Guide Cards within two turns.
One of the final exams for the second-year Summoning Class required students to complete a Tribute Summon of a 4-star Magic Guide Spirit within a single turn.
Dark's summoning speed had already far surpassed the first-year standard, and even exceeded the exam standard for second-year students!
Furthermore.
The limit time for both Normal Summon and Tribute Summon was 3 seconds.
Therefore, the theoretical limit for summoning a 4-star Magic Guide Spirit was 15 seconds.
Improving summoning speed becomes progressively harder the faster one gets.
Being able to complete the summoning of a 4-star Magic Guide Spirit within 15 seconds was already considered top-tier.
Even average sixth-year graduates might not be able to reach that limit.
But every duelist who had mastered the art could consistently maintain that top-tier level.
...
Dark's excellent performance elicited a round of fierce applause.
He placed a hand on his chest, gave a slight bow, and walked off the stage.
No matter when or where, he was always so eye-catching.
From below the stage, Yulara watched the blond boy descend, as if she were looking at a radiant sun, more dazzling than ever before!
Her eyes shimmered slightly, and a strange blush appeared on her cheeks.
When Dark's gaze swept over her, she quickly lowered her head, pretending she had been listening attentively the whole time.
In the back row, Virt and Robert were, surprisingly, not goofing off.
Diana met his gaze with a smile.
Yes.
The new semester had begun.
...
During the break after Summoning Class.
Dark headed towards the arithmetic classroom.
A new semester didn't necessarily mean a fresh start in all things.
The Little Magic Masters, having gone through the baptism of coursework at the end of last semester, had all reverted to their old selves at the start of this one.
Besides Diana and Rose who followed Dark, only Emma had arrived early in the arithmetic classroom.
Overall, however, things were more orderly compared to the last semester.
Five minutes before the bell rang, all the students had already arrived.
The students gathered in twos and threes, discussing all sorts of topics, still full of vigor despite the increasingly cold winter.
...
"Ding-a-ling-ling."
A small pixie with dragonfly wings flew in dazedly.
After Christmas, Dark had only seen her once at the opening ceremony.
Her usual hangover didn't affect the little pixie's appearance.
But Professor Didi's departure had had a lasting negative effect; Professor Lily would occasionally show a particularly lonely side.
However, she didn't show it too much in front of the students.
Today's little pixie was still cheerful, cute, and lazy... and when her eyes occasionally met the blond boy's, there was an unmistakable hint of shyness.
Dark: "???"
...
Arithmetic class got down to business from the very first minute.
Professor Lily drew a circle, a triangle, and a square on the blackboard and began teaching plane geometry.
Aside from occasionally feeling her gaze deliberately avoiding his area, Dark had no other thoughts.
For him, the new semester's arithmetic class was still material he could grasp with his eyes closed.
He simply took out his problems on [Fusion] and [Zoo] and used the arithmetic class time to think them through.
He wasn't sure if it was just his imagination, but he always felt that his efficiency in reading and solving problems during class was higher than after class—especially when solving problems unrelated to the lesson.
He made quite a bit of progress in the hour-plus he spent solving problems.
...
The process of learning is, for the most part, tedious.
We cannot always expect to find fun in learning.
Just as we cannot always expect to learn something from playing games.
After arithmetic class, Dark, Diana, and Rose went to the cafeteria for lunch. Then, instead of heading to the library as he did at the beginning of last semester, he returned to the Noble House tower.
The moment he entered his dorm, the noisy atmosphere instantly froze.
The Magic Guide Spirits slowly turned their heads to look at their master appearing at the door, quietly ceased their ruckus, and pretended to be seriously holding their early education picture books, which they couldn't actually understand yet...
The director of Noble House Room 201's kindergarten, Dark Demon, once again covered his forehead.
But he had to eat the fruit from the seeds he himself had sown.
Magic Guide Spirits were, in essence, incapable of disobeying their master's commands.
If he wanted to, he could perfectly well issue the command "study diligently" and force the Magic Guide Spirits to "read themselves to death" while he was away.
But doing so would be putting the cart before the horse.
"Let's just let nature take its course."
Sighing, Dark threw himself onto his bed for a nap.
When he woke up, there were several more curled-up Magic Guide Spirits beside him.
But he had gradually grown used to this situation. After getting up, he simply gave one of the Magic Guide Spirits a gentle pat on the head before getting out of bed and leaving.
Tuesday afternoon was Magic History, the first class with the new Magic History professor.
Unlike some students who were greatly influenced by appearances, he was very interested in the first lecture by Ryan Hucks, the "Hero of the Spear," and wanted to hear the war stories he had personally experienced.
...
But the moment Dark stepped out.
Sylveon, who had just been lucky enough to receive a "Dark-pat," shot its eyes open, and shot a smug look at its biggest rival in the room—Gatomon!
"Hmph, childish."
Gatomon slowly sat up on the bed, its tone dripping with disdain.
But Sylveon understood in an instant: the creature was showing off its ability to communicate with their master through words!
And so, a tug-of-war invisible to Dark began once more!
...
Ryan Hucks did not inherit the position of Head of Fool's House.
Instead, he continued the Magic History teaching practice from the end of last semester, gathering students from all four houses into one large lecture hall for a combined class.
Magic History, in essence, didn't require overly detailed explanations, so holding one class instead of two made little difference.
For the new professor, gathering an entire year of students for one class actually made it easier to get used to the position.
In fact.
Magic History's place on the St. Marian Academy curriculum was that of an "ideological education" class.
On one hand, the academy wanted students to remember history; on the other, it hoped they would learn from it, adopting good ideas and establishing correct values.
Thus, the content of Magic History lectures had always been broad.
The three professors from last semester—Didi, the Principal, and Claire—all taught completely different material.
But the core ideas they expressed were similar.
Remember the sacrifices of heroes, and cherish the hard-won peace of the present.
It was a dovish way of thinking.
But the moment Mr. Ryan Hucks opened his mouth, Dark immediately understood that this Professor Hucks was a thoroughgoing war hawk!
Even though he had lost an arm, a leg, and an eye on the battlefield.
Even though the war had brought him no tangible benefits besides honor.
But his nostalgia for the war period was something you could tell with your eyes closed!
________________________________________
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