"Ah—hahahaha!"
The little demon beast flew into the air, looking down at its master as it clung to the ceiling and let out an unrestrained, arrogant laugh.
Dark paid no attention to such a trivial matter. "Little demon beast, use your other skill on the wall."
A Familiar couldn't resist its Magus's formal commands.
In this respect, Magic Spirits, which had no such valve, actually had more autonomy.
Of course, under normal circumstances, a Magic Spirit with an intelligence rating of 2.0 couldn't even conceive of disobeying its master.
So, even though the little demon beast was deeply unwilling, it still used its other skill on the wall. Its eyes suddenly widened, and two spiraling beams of light shot from its dark golden irises!
If the wall hadn't been completely unharmed, Dark might really have thought it had learned some kind of "Special Beam Cannon (Eyes)" skill.
But he soon realized that this was probably a skill meant exclusively for living creatures.
So Dark immediately summoned "Magic Beast: Eevee."
Magic Spirits weren't living creatures in the traditional sense, but they still counted as pseudo-lifeforms.
Sure enough, the spiraling beams fired from the little demon beast's eyes finally had an effect. Eevee-chan's eyes grew hazy, and she eventually fell asleep!
→[Special Move: Demon Hypnosis]
→[Demon Hypnosis: A hypnotic wave fired from the eyes to put enemies to sleep.]
After completing this little experiment, Dark began planning his next goal.
"I still have five points of 'Pride' left in my monthly allowance... Somehow, it doesn't feel like enough anymore."
"Thought Bottles only last three days. Maybe I should earn some credits and buy a higher-grade one."
"Also, I kind of want to try making Magitech Cards from the other Deadly Sin Series."
"Hmm—let's see. The values closest to 100 are Wrath and Bliss..."
"Wait, why would I even think that?"
"Dark? Dimon, this is dangerous!"
Dark hurriedly cast aside the dangerous thought. For now, his main goal was still to lower his "Pride" value before he could continue with his other experiments.
After a month of practice, his self-control had grown much stronger. Aside from "Bliss" being hard to control and "Wrath" posing a hidden concern, only "Greed" was even a little dangerous.
As long as he brought the hardest one to control, "Pride," down, he wouldn't have any problems in the short term.
Once his self-control improved further, he could try keeping a particular Great Sin fluctuating around 100...
"Yikes! Dark Dimon, that's a dangerous idea!"
As dark clouds spread across the sky above St. Marian,
the first-years arrived for their second Potions class of the week.
Dark still arrived early and waited in the classroom, but to his surprise, there were two people there whom he almost never saw.
Victor and Robert had, for once, arrived early!
"What's gotten into them? Did their Familiars clamp down on their heads?"
He'd noticed that something was off about the two of them a couple of days ago, but hadn't thought much of it.
This morning, though, it was impossible to miss!
Victor wasn't as flashy as some people, but he usually paid quite a bit of attention to his appearance.
Dark had never seen him with hair this messy before!
And what was wrong with his eyes?
Had someone picked on him?
Could someone besides me, Dark Dimon, really have dared to bully the Son of the Hero?
OMG!
What was that thing tied around Robert's forehead?
"Victory?"
Were you making your idol debut or something?
Dark looked speechless.
As class time drew closer, more and more people entered the classroom.
Someone couldn't help asking about it.
Victor chewed on his pen as he pored over his book, his face growing more and more ferocious.
Robert's soul had long since left his body. Half asleep and seemingly out of it, he replied, "It's nothing. This is just the price of studying!"
So studying came at that high a price?
Had you two been cramming all night?
Going to bed at ten and waking at six, with a half-hour nap at noon, was what it took to stay alert all day and work efficiently.
Staying up all night wasn't a good idea!
Dark really wanted to pass on his hard-earned advice.
But it didn't look like he'd get the chance.
"Ding-a-ling—"
The bell rang promptly at eight.
Professor Thompson entered the classroom right on time.
"Today's a theory class."
Those few words were enough to quash the students' enthusiasm.
Practical classes were harder, but the first-years clearly preferred brewing potions themselves to sitting through dull theory lessons.
Victor and Robert, however, had eyes that gleamed red!
"We got lucky, didn't we, Robert?"
"Sure did, Victor. Looks like Lady Luck has smiled on our efforts."
"In today's Potions class, I'm definitely going to beat you by five more points!"
"Hahaha, you've got guts, Victor."
Five minutes into class.
Professor Thompson finally asked the first question. "How do you purify Spirit Honey Nectar during preparation? I remember covering this last week. Does anyone remember?"
Victor shot his hand up!
But before Professor Thompson could notice, he quickly lowered it again.
That up-and-down motion had been truly nerve-racking, like an elevator gone out of control plunging straight to the ground floor.
Victor wiped his sweat, suddenly wide awake.
Robert asked anxiously, "What's wrong, Victor?"
Victor gave an awkward laugh. "Hahaha, how could I possibly know what we covered last week? What about you, Robert?"
Robert stared blankly. "If you don't know, how could I possibly know?"
Thirty-six minutes into class.
Victor gave Robert a hard pinch on the thigh.
"Ow!"
Robert sprang up like a grasshopper, but quickly clamped his mouth shut.
Professor Thompson, who had his back to them as he wrote on the blackboard, didn't notice.
Robert had just dozed off for the third time.
Falling asleep in Professor Thompson's class was no joke.
Professor Didi, who taught History of Magic, would only take off ten points at most—wiping out all the basic points for a lesson.
Professor Thompson would give you a negative score!
Robert was sweating profusely. His eyes felt even more swollen, and his eyelids were as heavy as iron.
Sixty-three minutes into class.
Professor Thompson finally reached the topic they'd prepared for last night: how to use magic power to assist in brewing potions.
Victor had confidence in only one thing: his magic power.
Professor Thompson poured a "Rainbow Liquid" containing many different colors into a five-liter beaker, then took out a glass rod with a mercury core. He was about to call a student up to demonstrate how to use magic power to mix the Rainbow Liquid into seven clearly separated layers of color.
Victor, whose eyes were now as swollen as a toad's, immediately raised his hand!
"Hmm? Victor Gaude, you can come up."
The walk from the back row to the front of the classroom wasn't easy for Victor.
This wasn't his first time at the front of the classroom, but it was the first time he'd been so confident.
That walk marked the end of one inner journey.
At Professor Thompson's gesture, he took the mercury glass rod.
Mercury was the most cost-effective Magic Guidance material, with a magic-power transmission rate of over 93 percent. That was why both Magic Pens and glass rods used mercury as their core.
Victor felt the faint chill coming from the glass rod as his gaze swept casually around the classroom.
Emma was sitting right at the front, easy to spot.
But she didn't seem to care about him at all. She was simply staring at the rainbow-colored mixture, lost in thought.
The Knight Academy students looked visibly surprised, probably because he'd never been so eager to volunteer before.
The Noble House students seemed more like spectators at a circus, waiting for the show to begin.
—He didn't know that students from both academies were merely startled and amused by his messy hair and dark circles.
The last row of the classroom.
Dark was by the window... looking down at a book?
Why wasn't he called on when he ignored the front of the classroom during class?
Victor had no time to think about it. His mind was in a muddle. Staying up for 24 hours and overworking his brain made him feel as if he were about to explode.
Only his strong mental power had kept him going.
Otherwise, he would have been nodding off like Robert.
Speaking of Robert... why was he slumped over again?
Victor suddenly snapped to attention, sweat beading on his feverish forehead.
"No, I have to get Professor Thompson's attention!"
And so, without thinking, he plunged the mercury glass rod into the beaker!
Before you continue