St. Marian Is Gradually Being Consumed by Love-Brain / Dak Dimon Tries to Bring People Happiness

Chapter 18: Saint Marian Was Gradually Being Consumed by Romance-Brained Thinking

Knight Academy common room.

The common room was much quieter than usual. Victor and Robert were playing Magic Chess.

Magic Chess was a type of chess adapted from Capsule Monster Chess. Each side had twenty-one pieces, and each piece had its own attack, defense, and health stats, as well as skills and a set number of spaces it could move each turn.

By deploying pieces in their own territory and moving one piece per turn, players advanced and attacked their opponent's pieces, ultimately capturing the fortress and planting their flag to win!

This brand-new set of Magic Chess had been bought jointly by Victor and Robert, who were five credits in debt. Each piece was a miniature golem with an intelligence rating of 0.5. They could move in response to a few specific commands, and could sing, dance, and rap!

At that moment, Victor was ordering one of the Mermaid pieces to sing, listening with an utterly entranced look.

Robert, meanwhile, was ordering a Medusa piece to dance, enjoying himself immensely.

Not far away, Emma Metis watched them with a cold expression, inwardly sneering.

Two underachievers from Saint Marian Academy had no idea their good days were about to end!

Saint Marian Open-Air Duel Hall.

A beautiful, slender white dragon, so stunning it seemed capable of breaking through the barriers between species, coiled in the air. Its snow-white scales glimmered silver in the sunlight, and intense light gathered above its jade-like antlers.

Pandora Doragon sat on the Duelist Platform, her languid, graceful figure seeming almost one with the white dragon.

She leaned forward, elbows braced on the platform before her, her white-jade hands supporting her delicate chin as she gazed, bored, at the panicked classmate in the opposing contestant's seat.

Too easy.

Life had lost its appeal because everything went too smoothly.

Only by watching cute, innocent, bashful little boys could she find meaning in life.

Pandora lowered her head and played with her fingernails, which were a little narrower, longer, and sharper than those of an ordinary human. A dreamy smile appeared on her face.

When she looked up again, the classmate across from her had completely broken down.

Her fans from every walk of life in the stands were shouting her name. A huge banner displayed words so indecent they made one's toes curl.

As Pandora stepped down from the Duelist Platform, she waved toward the loudest part of the crowd. The atmosphere there immediately rose another few notches.

She smiled seductively.

This was none other than the fourth-year Magister House student, Silver Dragon Girl, Pandora Doragon, a hugely popular duelist with countless fans!

Traveler Street.

Rose had spent the entire afternoon being dragged around snack stalls by Diana. Now she was slumped, utterly exhausted, in a chair at an ice cream shop. She lowered her head and rubbed her slightly protruding, round little belly, unable to hide a wry smile.

"Rose, you have to learn to say no!"

But it was so sweet!

That was the beauty of youth. Everyone was moving forward at their own pace.

A card game called Love Divination quietly became popular.

Diana played with a Cherry Blossom Card that had come free with something from the candy shop. Suddenly, she shook it hard, sending the cherry blossoms on its face fluttering into the air.

They had really flown right off the card!

Pink-and-white cherry blossoms danced in the air as waves of fragrance drifted around them.

Once the blossoms had scattered and naturally faded away, the person she cared about most would appear on the card.

"Diana, did you get your result?"

Rose struggled upright, hoping to lean over and take a look.

Diana brushed aside the petals on the card. When she saw the person appearing on the Love Divination Card, a lovely blush spread across her fair cheeks.

She quickly raised her still-plump little hand to cover the card.

Then she looked at Rose unhappily. "Let me see yours first!"

Rose leaned back in her chair with a sorrowful look. "I told you, I don't have anyone. Oh, right—I heard yesterday that after you divine your lover, if you put more magic power into the card while feeling strong emotions, you can find out who that person likes. Want to try?"

"No!"

Diana shook her head vigorously, though magic power quietly stirred at her fingertips.

She peeked through her fingers. Suddenly, her face went pale. It wasn't her!

Back in the library, Pandora touched the blond little boy who had appeared on her Love Divination Card and seriously considered whether being three years older than him might be a good thing.

Emma Metis took a thumb-thick book from the corner of her desk and opened it at a gap between the pages. She glanced at the Lily Card Love Divination Card she was using as a bookmark, but still hadn't used it.

At the neighboring table, a corner of a Flower Card was also sticking out of Victor Gaude's textbook.

In the library's reading room, Dark carefully read through Basic Magister Theory 2.

The library didn't keep textbooks in its collection. This second-year Magic Theory textbook had been lent to him by Mrs. Bella, the library administrator, who said it was an old textbook left behind by a former student.

Of course, Basic Magister Theory 2 was nothing like Harry Potter's Advanced Potion Making, a precious edition from the Half-Blood Prince.

It was just an ordinary textbook with class notes in it.

Even so, those notes helped Dark understand some of the textbook's more difficult concepts more easily.

Starting in second year, the difficulty of the courses at Saint Marian Academy increased dramatically.

If first year was just an introduction, then second year was when students began diving straight into serious study!

The leap in difficulty was so great that students who hadn't taken first year seriously would suddenly struggle to keep up with their courses, then fall into an endless hell of extra lessons!

Even Dark found the material rather tough to chew through.

Fortunately, he had a very solid grasp of the written word. By working through it bit by bit with the help of the notes, he could eventually understand it all.

Soon, he found the chapter on "Making Refined Emotion Cards."

The first-semester textbook for first year only taught students how to make Simple Emotion Cards.

To improve Pride 1, he had to learn more complicated, more advanced methods!

"I see. Transmutation Circle No. 7 is only an imprinting circle, copying the power of an emotion onto a Magitech Card."

"To refine an emotion, I need Transmutation Circle No. 13."

"To amplify the effect, I need Transmutation Circle No. 9."

"To prevent energy loss, I need Transmutation Circle No. 18."

"To make it reusable, I need Transmutation Circles No. 21, No. 33, and No. 34!"

"I didn't realize there were so many intricacies to a little Emotion Card."

Dark drew a slight breath.

Besides the Transmutation Arrays, refining an Emotion Card also required a few extra materials.

He glanced at the few credits he had left and decided it might be better to ask his Magic Theory professor for temporary access to the laboratory.

After all, who didn't love getting things for free?

Chapter 19: Dark Demon Tried to Bring People Happiness

Nine thirty in the evening.

Dark left the library and sat for a while in the common room.

Then he returned to his dorm, took a bath, and rested his eyes.

Afterward, he would drink a glass of milk and go to sleep.

There was nothing he could do about it. The life of an honor student was this simple and orderly.

Before this, Dark had never imagined he could develop such good habits. It really was true that people grew step by step under pressure!

To support healthy physical development, Dark tried to get eight hours of sleep a day.

In other words, he was doing what people usually called "going to bed early and getting up early."

Lately, he often wondered whether he would return to his old routine if he truly managed to purge the Demon God Bloodline.

The answer was uncertain.

But he guessed things probably wouldn't change too much.

Habits were shaped by all sorts of factors, but once you successfully formed one, it was relatively easy to maintain.

Dark was gradually starting to feel that this kind of life wasn't bad. The only downside was that the restraints placed on him caused a little psychological pressure.

And what he wanted to do now was get rid of that pressure.

He got up at six in the morning.

Dark went to the common room and picked up a copy of the kingdom-issued Great Sage Daily. He was about to enjoy breakfast brought to him by DemiDevimon while reading the paper when he heard the rustle of footsteps coming from the stairwell.

Usually, he wouldn't run into anyone while reading in the common room at this hour.

Enjoying the vast common room by himself had gradually become a pleasure.

It seemed today would be different.

Two first-years came down the stairs, still half asleep. They had changed out of their uniforms and put on new clothes—no doubt they were planning to head to Traveler Street early and go play in the waves!

After all, this was the first weekend Traveler Street was open. Dark understood.

He didn't look at the two students again. Instead, he turned his attention back to the newspaper, holding a spoon and stirring his sweetened milk.

"Morning, Dark."

"Morning, Dark."

"Morning, Roentgen, Sievert."

They exchanged greetings, then each went on with what they were doing.

Roentgen and Sievert had just left the tower when they looked at each other and started whispering.

Roentgen exclaimed, "So Dark gets up this early?"

Sievert said, "No wonder he's always ahead of us in his studies. Hard work really does pay off."

Roentgen said, "Maybe we should try being more diligent, too?"

Sievert said, "Yeah."

Roentgen said, "I really didn't expect Dark Demon to be like this in person... I think I could become friends with him."

Sievert said, "That might be difficult. He seems friendly, but he doesn't appear to interact with people much."

Roentgen said, "Ah, forget it! Let's have fun for the next couple of days! We'll start working hard on Monday!"

Sievert said, "Let's do it!"

The two gradually disappeared into the distance.

DemiDevimon flapped its wings back and flew over, giggling as it repeated Roentgen and Sievert's conversation.

Dark shook his head with a wry smile. Was this another classic case of "I'll work hard tomorrow"?

If they always put off the hard things until tomorrow, weren't they afraid they'd never take that first step?