Golden-Quality: Dark Magic!

"Congratulations, Host. Charlotte Roselei's favorability has increased by 20."

"Congratulations, Host. Charlotte Roselei's favorability has increased by 20."

He was about to break through the major threshold of 100 favorability, and the second gate of his Eight Gates would soon be unlocked as well.

Carl wore a perfect eight-toothed smile, looking utterly refreshed.

He cast Charlotte a grateful look, one that held both admiration and an indescribable emotion.

Of course, if Carl had explained it himself, he would have said he was grateful for the favorability Charlotte had given him. But from Charlotte's perspective, this guy had blatantly been giving her meaningful looks and expressing his feelings several times already.

Charlotte truly found it hard to sit still.

But at that moment, Yami and Asta were both practically drunk.

With a crash, their foreheads knocked together as they glared at each other.

"You brat, do you know who I am? The Black Bulls! I never get drunk, and I definitely won't get drunk because someone else forced drinks on me!"

Asta roared loudly in response:

"What are you talking about? This juice is so good, I can drink a hundred cups—no, ten thousand cups! I'll fight you until dawn!"

Yami's ears hurt from Asta's booming voice.

"Then let's compete! Why are you shouting so loudly, brat?"

With one slap, he nearly smacked Asta into the table.

The two kept their foreheads pressed together, then rolled beneath the table like a pair of fighting bulls.

[Ding! Host has activated Mission 1: Hundred-Victory Wizard King!

Use your strengths to attack your opponent's weaknesses. Defeat an opponent with special magical talent in the field of drinking to obtain a golden legendary magic attribute. (Repeated victories can improve its quality.)

Congratulations, Host. You have obtained the reward: Golden-quality attribute: Dark Magic!]

Only the grimoire on the cover quietly bloomed with light.

Yuno glanced at the two of them, then ultimately set down his cup. It seemed only reckless brutes could do something like this. Yuno certainly could not.

But just after comforting himself with that thought, he glanced at Charlotte beside him, who was still drinking through a straw, and his expression immediately became a little unnatural. Of course, Charlotte did not count. A powerhouse like her should not be included.

At that moment, only Carl and Charlotte remained drinking in the entire tavern.

Carl's actions had long since made Charlotte give up resisting.

What a joke.

No matter how fast she drank through a straw, how could she possibly match Carl pouring drink into his stomach by the mugful?

With that strong, sculpted body and those perfect lines, his stomach barely even bulged. Instead, the scent of alcohol wafting from him and the dense magical fluctuations around him had even eased her cursed injuries considerably.

Charlotte looked at Carl beside her, her face flushed red.

"Um... I surrender! But that Magic Stone..."

Carl immediately smiled and called over the owner.

"Boss, do you think I won this match?"

The owner looked at Carl as if he were a god.

"In over thirty years of business, I've never seen anyone who could drink this much beer. You're practically the reincarnation of the God of Wine!"

"I've decided that if you come drink here in the future, you'll get half off!"

Carl burst into laughter.

"What if I bring other people with me?"

The owner hesitated for a moment, then said generously:

"As long as it's Lord Carl coming to support my tavern, the whole place gets fifty percent off!"

Carl laughed heartily.

"Now that's generous, Boss!"

Then, with great tact, the owner took down the cup of beer resting atop the enormous barrel, which even seemed slightly chilled. The frostflake mark on the Magic Stone fragment beneath it was incredibly obvious, and it even emitted magical fluctuations.

Carl looked at the beer before him and immediately gulped it down.

Beer steeped with a Magic Stone really did have more kick, and the magical fluctuations within it were stronger too.

Carl felt as though even his body had been nourished.

The Magic Stone was now in his hand.

Yuno and Charlotte, the two people who wanted the Magic Stone most, both stared intensely at the stone in Carl's hand.

Carl revealed a teasing smile. It seemed the ownership of this Magic Stone really was worth discussing.

But he instantly activated the system and continuously drew out the magic power within it, causing the Magic Stone's glow to rapidly dim. It continued until the system's prompt sounded within his body:

"Congratulations, Host. You have unlocked the Eight Gates exclusive skill—Morning Peacock."

Feeling the magical skill fluctuations gathering within him, Carl's expression finally turned excited.

In his original world, although Morning Peacock was extremely powerful as an Eight Gates exclusive skill, it was said that at least the Fourth Gate had to be opened before it could be used.

But this was not the world of ninja, after all. This was the world of the Four-leaf Clover.

Nourished by the magical aura around him and infused with other magical energies, Carl felt his physical abilities improving by leaps and bounds.

If his senses were correct, once he opened the second gate of the Eight Gates, the Gate of Rest, he would be able to briefly unleash a Morning Peacock.

But if he wanted to unleash more than one, he would need to raise the Eight Gates to a deeper level, or find something that could strengthen his physical body.

Coming back to his senses, Carl smiled faintly at the disappointed looks in their eyes.

Then, the excess magic power he had absorbed earlier burst forth from his body and completely enveloped Charlotte.

A dense magical radiance shimmered around her. Anyone who was not blind could tell what was happening.

Charlotte was startled at first, then looked around somewhat shyly.

But when she felt the Rose Curse within her being rapidly suppressed, only delight remained on her face.

She had no idea how Carl had done it.

But the special, refreshing magical fluctuations Carl released not only restored her magic power rapidly.

She could even sense a special scent within that magic power.

It was a unique power of blood and vitality, impossible to describe and impossible to grasp. This was the true core of suppressing the curse.

Sol Marron beside them finally opened her hazy, drunken eyes.

She looked up and saw Carl and Charlotte in an intimate position, their magical auras entwining them together.

Sol Marron leaped up at once.

"What are you doing? Let go of my sister! You beast!"

A massive hammer made of stone appeared in Sol Marron's hand, looking as hard as if it had been forged through countless hammer blows.

It was even more lethal than granite or marble.

Earth Creation Magic—Giant's Hammer.

She raised the hammer, nearly bringing it down.

However, Charlotte frantically signaled to Sol Marron with her eyes.

Sol Marron's body stiffened, but she still refused to let it go.

"You actually made my sister cry! You damned filthy man, you're asking for death! Take my hammer!"

With a great leap, the trembling waves around her and her ample, proud chest bounced wildly through the air.

Then, the massive hammer came smashing straight down.

Charlotte froze, her expression stiffening as she tried to stop her.

But her magic power was in the crucial stage of recovery, so she could only scream:

"Stop, Sol! He's helping me—!"

Hearing Charlotte's shout, Sol Marron stiffened completely.

But she could no longer halt her momentum, and could only force the enormous stone hammer in her hand to dissipate.

Yet her body still lunged straight at Carl, her two massive mounds crashing toward him like eighty-pound sledgehammers.