From the moment Dark began planning his trip to Traveler Street to buy the things he needed, he started deliberately saving up credits.
In first year, earning credits was incredibly easy for him.
As a new student at Magister House, no one was going to snatch even a single credit from him!
His only rival was Emma Metis.
Whenever a professor asked a question, Emma was always the first to answer.
Dark found it annoying, so he changed tactics and earned extra credits by helping professors "grade assignments."
Professor Lily even wished she could hand over the lectern to him during Arithmetic Class.
As a result, he earned a full 1,200 credits in his first month!
Even Emma, who was just as good at earning credits, couldn't compare.
After spending 1,000 credits, Dark still had 200 left. He went to the general store and bought a complete set of basic experimental tools.
And with that, his trip to Traveler Street came to an end.
Three in the afternoon.
While most of the new students were still wandering around Traveler Street, Dark had already returned to his dorm.
Before the weekend was over, he had to learn how to use the Magic Brain Dropper properly.
He had already borrowed some relevant books from the library and spent a while looking through them.
The Magic Brain Dropper User Guide, tucked away on the twenty-third level of the bookshelves, detailed nearly every method of using the Magic Brain Dropper.
It covered not only how to draw out specific memories, but also how to stir up emotions so they could be absorbed more easily.
Using a Magic Brain Dropper was extremely dangerous. It required exceptional magical control and more than a little knowledge.
One careless mistake could permanently extract part of a person's memories and cause them to lose those memories forever!
History even recorded one very unlucky mage who accidentally sucked away the "sorrow" from "happiness, anger, sorrow, and joy." From then on, he could never feel sadness again.
The safest and simplest method was called the Dragonfly Skimming Method.
In short, you placed the tip of the Magic Brain Dropper against your temple, then gently squeezed the "magic brain" that had replaced the rubber bulb. Emotions, desires, and other things that naturally seeped out would be drawn into the "magic brain."
As long as you didn't delve into the brain's thoughts, you could minimize the danger!
That was exactly the method Dark planned to use!
It was probably the only method he could use at the moment, too.
He placed the other tools he had prepared on the bedside cabinet, then lay down and followed the book's instructions to calm himself.
Only once his breathing had steadied could he focus and use his thoughts to evoke a particular emotion or desire!
But he skipped that step. Instead, he picked up the Magic Brain Dropper and pressed its tip against his temple. He gently squeezed the magic brain between two fingers, then let go.
A thread of black, thin as a hair, was drawn out of his brain!
Just as I expected. I don't need to focus and evoke an emotion at all. My Pride has been leaking out for ages.
Dark thought to himself. He wasn't sure whether he should be happy about that or not.
In any case, he definitely couldn't get angry!
"System, display the stats."
[Yes.]
A moment later.
Seven stats appeared in Dark's field of vision.
[Pride: 112]
[Envy: 44]
[Wrath: 96]
[Sloth: 60]
[Greed: 82]
[Gluttony: 58]
[Bliss: 90]
Pride stood out from the rest!
As one thread of black after another was drawn away, Pride finally dropped from 112 to 111!
"Eeeee—"
The Magic Brain Dropper suddenly let out a piercing squeal!
Dark immediately stopped squeezing.
He'd read that a squeal meant the Magic Brain Dropper's capacity had reached its limit.
"So it can hold just about one point of Pride."
He carefully sat up, got out of bed, and went to the bedside cabinet. Then he moved a semiprocessed blank Magitech Card to the center of its surface.
Making this kind of semiprocessed blank Magitech Card required great skill, and crafting one was as time-consuming as carving a sculpture.
So most mages chose to buy them directly from shops.
A blank Magitech Card on Traveler Street cost 10 credits.
By the exchange rate, that was more expensive than the market price.
The markup attracted more traveling merchants to set up shop on Traveler Street.
Dark had bought only five blank Magitech Cards.
He pressed the Magic Brain Dropper's tip against the blank card. Ignoring its squeals, he suddenly squeezed the magic brain hard!
"Eee! Eee! Eee!"
The Pride stored inside the magic brain burst onto the blank card!
The snowy-white card face seemed to have been splashed with a drop of dark golden ink, which suddenly spread outward!
The Little Demon Beast Wants to Stand Above the Heavens
Ripples of spreading ink flowed outward in rings.
In an instant, the entire Magitech Card had turned a thick, dark gold!
Once the dark gold on the card had evened out, Dark immediately picked up a Magic Pen and, using what he'd learned in Magic Guidance, began drawing Transmutation Circle No. 7 on the front of the card.
This was a simple way to make emotion-series Magitech Cards, which could produce cards that embodied emotions such as "sadness," "happiness," and "anger."
Using one of these Magitech Cards let a person experience the corresponding emotion.
The Happiness Card was especially popular among the upper classes.
After a busy day, nobles could sit down and take a hit from a Happiness Card. It would banish their worries and put them in a more positive mood for the next day's—work.
In duels, skilled mages made good use of emotion-series Magitech Cards to heighten the emotions of their own or their opponent's Magic Spirits. This could boost their own Magic Spirits' fighting strength—or cause their opponents' Magic Spirits to let their guard down.
Since emotion-series Magitech Cards were so easy to make, they were set as the new students' learning objective for their first month.
Dark was the fastest and steadiest in his class at drawing Transmutation Arrays. For a while, he was even known as Eagle Hand.
A Magic Pen was hollow, with an interior modeled after blood vessels.
The mercury flowing through the pen's internal channels guided magic power to the nib, making it easier for a mage to gather and refine magic power, then draw finer lines.
Even mature mages could do the same without a Magic Pen. Still, using one reduced the loss of concentration and improved efficiency.
Of course, a beginner like Dark couldn't do without a Magic Pen anytime soon.
A Transmutation Array had to be drawn quickly, steadily, and accurately.
Dark finished drawing Transmutation Circle No. 7 in just seven seconds. His final stroke closed the circle and connected the circuit.
The moment the Transmutation Array was complete, it burst into brilliant white light!
But the light quickly changed, turning the same dark gold as the Magitech Card itself!
Dark stared tensely at the card.
The final stage of crafting a Magitech Card was like putting all the ingredients in a pot and letting them simmer. No one knew what was inside until the lid came off.
That was the final step the new students completed during the Sorting Ceremony.
But the Sorting Card had been adjusted so that the process began automatically as soon as it was infused with magic power.
The card before him, however, was the first Magitech Card Dark had made with his own hands!
Its success would mean more than a great deal to him. It would also mean he'd finally found a way to turn the Seven Deadly Sins into power.
The essence of magic was subjective.
To magic, knowledge, emotions, ideas, and creativity were all sources of power.
There was no reason the Seven Deadly Sins couldn't be turned into power!
A few seconds later, the Transmutation Array seeped into the card and through to its back, refining the material together with the Magitech Card!
When a clear Transmutation Circle No. 7 appeared on the back of the card, the crafting process was complete!
Next came the testing phase.
Even Magitech Cards made according to standard procedures could produce different effects due to various factors.
And this card was one Dark had made himself.
He needed to conduct a small experiment.
Naturally, he couldn't use himself as the subject.
Dark glanced around, then looked toward the Little Demon Beast perched upside down on a bird stand attached to the ceiling, imitating
an owl.
Then he gave it a kindly smile.
Although Familiars were only quasi-life forms, they still had an intelligence level of 2.5, emotions, and independent awareness.
That meant they could be affected by emotion-series Magitech Cards.
Dark beckoned to the Little Demon Beast.
It tilted its head, then spread its wings and flew down.
Dark picked up the Pride Magitech Card and moved it to the desk on the other side of the room. Then he pulled a bird leash out of the desk, opened its clasp, and fastened it to the ring around the Little Demon Beast's left foot.
The window had been shut the whole time, and the curtains were drawn tight.
—It made for a perfect Chamber of Secrets.
After the ring was fastened around its foot, the Little Demon Beast put on a pitiful little expression (,,.,,).
Dark watched it for a while, then noted the time in his notebook.
"It's 3:29 p.m. I'll wait one more minute."
Right on the dot, it was half past three.
"My turn. Magic Guidance Summon!"
Dark held the Pride Magitech Card between his index and middle fingers and activated the Summoning Technique!
In an instant.
The Magitech Card activated!
Black light shimmered across its face. A dark golden orb of light with a long tail shot out of the card, wobbled through the air, and burrowed into the Little Demon Beast's head.
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