The Magic Junior Disciple Desired

Guter first extracted the difficult points he had yet to understand from the portion he had recently read.

Then, using extremely tiny handwriting, he wrote as much of the unresolved knowledge as possible onto a single sheet of paper.

After several attempts, he looked at the dense, pitch-black mass of tiny characters covering the paper before him and let out a long breath.

This level of condensation was the limit of what he could achieve.

If this still resulted in waste, then Guter had no other recourse and would have to accept it.

Fortunately, "luckily," when Guter slapped the [Memory Bread] onto this page of "concentrated knowledge," the system chimed with a [Use Failed] prompt.

The reason was that the knowledge on this paper had already reached the upper limit a single slice of bread could hold, so there was no need to worry about wasting the item due to condensation technique issues.

However, "unluckily," Guter still had to reduce the knowledge and rewrite it to find the exact upper limit of what a single [Memory Bread] slice could carry.

Page after page, each one reducing the knowledge by one point compared to the last, through this repeated back-and-forth, Guter finally managed to test out that "upper limit."

"Slap!"

After a soft sound, this time the [Memory Bread] slice pressed onto the paper, and the system no longer issued a use-failed prompt. The knowledge points on the paper were all absorbed onto the [Memory Bread].

"Phew—all done."

Guter let out a long sigh, picked up this bread imprinted with countless pieces of knowledge, deliberately ignored the creases left from repeated pressing, and stuffed it into his mouth in one go.

With a jolt to his spirit, a clear sense of enlightenment lingered in his mind.

The knowledge points carried on the Memory Bread were slowly released in a very gentle manner, and after a few breaths, Guter had fully comprehended them all.

Feeling his deep grasp of the knowledge, Guter had never imagined he could understand the essence of magical formulas to such a thorough degree.

Still unsatisfied, Guter flipped through the Magic Book on the table, wanting to "condense" another portion of knowledge and swallow it.

But then, he noticed the sky outside the window seemed to be glowing with the first light of dawn. Guter startled and immediately looked at the clock in the room.

Had an entire night passed without him realizing it?

Guter stood up from his chair and stretched his body, which had been sitting for the whole night.

Looking at the several sheets of painstakingly written "concentrated knowledge" on the desk, Guter roughly understood where the time had gone.

After washing his face with cold water, Guter put on his coat, picked up the takeout box from last night, bought a few loaves of bread along the way, and headed toward his teacher Serie's residence.

Arriving near the destination, he looked at the figure dozing off on the stone slab by the door and froze, not expecting that this time he was the one who had come late.

Stepping forward, he tapped Gumi on the head, then sat down beside her, handing her a freshly baked loaf of bread as he asked.

"Why are you here so early? There's still half an hour until the agreed time."

"Ah?! Senior Brother."

Whether awakened by Guter's tap on the head or "lured" awake by the aroma of the fresh bread placed before her, Gumi opened her eyes, sweetly called out "Senior Brother," took the still-warm bread, her eyes curving into crescents, and happily began to munch on it.

While eating, she answered Guter's question.

"I thought since this is my first time coming to Teacher's house after becoming her disciple, I wanted to come a bit earlier."

"Ah~"

Suddenly, a sigh came from behind them. Guter and Gumi quickly turned around and found the door behind them had been pushed open at some point.

Their teacher, Serie, was standing at the entrance, covering her mouth as she yawned.

"Come in."

"Every single one of you, coming so early. Do human mages not need to sleep anymore?"

But after saying this, Serie paused for a moment, looked at Guter, and added.

"Well, you really didn't sleep."

After this jab, Serie turned and walked into the house. Guter signaled his Junior Disciple Gumi to follow with a glance, and the three of them headed together toward the library inside Serie's residence.

Entering, Serie sat down in a carefree posture on the throne symbolizing supreme knowledge, crossed her fingers, and after introducing the [Privileges] of becoming her disciple to Gumi, she scrutinized this new disciple with interest, pondering what kind of answer she might get from her.

Standing to the side, Guter was also thinking about this.

Based on his impression of Gumi over the past two days, this lively, cheerful, food-loving Young Girl mage—what kind of magic would she ask Teacher Serie for?

Would it be [Magic for Finding Food]?

Or [Magic to Make Food Exceptionally Delicious]?

Or perhaps, for a young girl like Gumi, asking for [Magic to Make Oneself Beautiful] wouldn't surprise Guter too much.

But despite his lively and cheerful Junior Disciple Gumi, her answer was none of these.

"Teacher Serie..."

"I want magic that can deal massive damage to [Demons]. Magic that can make them die in agony."

As Gumi spoke these words, Guter could even hear the sound of her gritting her teeth, and the expression on this Junior Disciple's face at that moment became utterly unfamiliar.

The boundless hatred in that icy visage and the raging fury hidden beneath her calm gaze struck Guter's heart like a hammer blow.

It was at this moment that Guter's understanding of the "Demon rampage" in this world no longer remained on paper but gained a visceral realization.

Now, it is still wartime.

Even though the Demon King died long ago, the bloodshed and conflict between humans and Demons have never ceased.

On the throne, Serie showed no surprise at the hatred displayed by the disciple kneeling before her. Instead, a rather approving expression crossed her face.

"Causing massive damage to the Demons and making them die in agony."

"There is indeed a magic that fits your requirements."

As Serie spoke, she raised a hand, and a Magic Book flew over from the bookshelf in the library, landing before Gumi.

"This is Destructive Thunder Magic. It has a restraining effect on most Demons, and those struck by it will suffer excruciating pain."

"Thank you, Teacher."

Gumi, kneeling on one knee, carefully cradled the Magic Book in her arms as if it were a treasure. After rising, she offered an apologetic smile to her senior brother, Guter, who stood nearby.

"Sorry, Senior Brother. I hope I didn't scare you just now."

"It's fine."

Guter shook his head with a complicated expression. After a moment of hesitation, he reached out and gently patted his Junior Disciple's hair, saying nothing more.

On the throne, Serie watched the scene below and nodded silently.

After a moment, she spoke.

"Guter, give the Barrier Terminal from the examination site to Gumi, then stay behind."

"Gumi, take the Barrier Terminal to the examination site and maintain order there alongside Lairn."

"Understood, Teacher."

Gumi bowed lightly, accepted the Barrier Terminal handed over by her senior brother, and took her leave.

Now, only Guter and his teacher remained in the residence.