NOVEL ONLINE FREE Chapter 19
Chapter 19 – Dark Demon Tries to Bring Joy
At nine-thirty at night.
Dark left the library and took a short rest in the common room.
Then he returned to the dormitory, took a bath, and closed his eyes for a moment.
After coming out, he drank a glass of milk and went to sleep.
There was no other way; the life of an excellent student was simple and regular.
Before this, Dark had never thought that he could develop such good habits—indeed, people grow through pressure!
To ensure healthy physical development, Dark tried to get eight hours of sleep each day.
In other words, “early to bed, early to rise.”
Recently, he often wondered if he would return to his original routine if he successfully removed the Demon God’s bloodline.
The answer was uncertain, but he guessed it wouldn’t change much.
The formation of habits involves many factors, but once formed, maintaining them becomes relatively easier.
Dark gradually felt that such a lifestyle was quite good, even though it felt like being shackled and caused some psychological pressure.
What he wanted now was to remove this pressure.
…
At six in the morning.
Dark came to the common room, picked up the Kingdom-issued “The Wise One Daily,” and was about to enjoy breakfast prepared by the little demon beast while reading the newspaper. Unexpectedly, he heard footsteps at the staircase.
Previously, when he read or looked at newspapers during this time, he rarely encountered anyone.
Enjoying the large common room alone had become a kind of pleasure.
But today was different.
Two first-year students, still half-asleep, walked out from the stairs. Seeing them take off their school uniforms and put on new clothes—yes, they must have wanted to go to Traveler’s Street early!
It was the first weekend since Traveler’s Street opened, so Dark understood.
He didn’t look back at the two classmates and refocused on the newspaper, stirring the sugared milk with a spoon.
“Dark, good morning.”
“Good morning, Dark.”
“Morning, Lentchen, Shiweite.”
They exchanged greetings and continued their own activities.
Lentchen and Shiweite left the tower and then looked at each other, whispering.
Lentchen sighed, “So Dark gets up so early?”
Shiweite replied, “No wonder he always stays ahead of us. Hard work pays off, indeed.”
Lentchen: “Perhaps we should be more diligent?”
Shiweite: “Yes.”
Lentchen: “I never imagined Dark Diemon would be like this… I feel I can be friends with him.”
Shiweite: “That might be difficult. He seems kind, but he doesn’t seem to interact much with others.”
Lentchen: “Oh well! Let’s enjoy ourselves these two days! Starting next week, we’ll work hard!”
Shiweite: “Go for it!”
…
Their figures gradually disappeared.
…
The little demon beast flew back, flapping its wings, and chuckled, repeating what Lentchen and Shiweite had said.
Dark smiled bitterly, shaking his head. Was it another classic case of “try again tomorrow”?
Always postponing tough tasks for tomorrow, wasn’t he afraid of never taking the first step?
Tomorrow after tomorrow, how many tomorrows are there?
But then he thought again.
Without the threat of the Demon God’s bloodline, perhaps the person who would say “try again tomorrow” would be himself.
Even, he might become even more decadent!
“Indeed, everything has its pros and cons.”
Dark sipped his sweet milk.
…
Professor Kazel, the teacher of Mana Theory, was a very kind old man.
It was said that he existed even in Merlin’s era and was one of the few remaining alchemy masters.
Due to his extensive knowledge and eloquence, Professor Kazel’s class was very interesting, far surpassing those of the two little imps.
Because of his goblin heritage, Professor Kazel stood only 1.43 meters tall, taller than a pure-blood goblin but shorter than a normal human.
Yet, no one discriminated against him because of his height.
In fact, among all the teachers, he was the most popular—if only Mana Theory were a bit simpler!
When Dark found Professor Kazel, he was fiddling with something in the lab.
“Diemon? Why are you here?” Professor Kazel noticed him first.
Dark asked curiously, “Professor, what experiment are you doing?”
Professor Kazel smiled proudly, stirring a large bucket of pumpkin sauce, “I’m preparing to make ‘Jack Pumpkin’!”
Dark instantly understood and exclaimed in surprise, “Really, Professor? It’s still a month until Halloween!”
“Start early, that’s my motto.” Professor Kazel laughed.
…
Dark easily got the key to the neighboring lab from Professor Kazel.
It was partly due to his excellent performance, making him a model student even better than Emma, which made all the professors like him.
This time, when he proposed practicing the creation of an emotion card, Professor Kazel lent him the key without any suspicion and even offered to guide him personally!
Dark naturally did not want him to come, so he declined under the pretense that the professor was busy.
Arriving at the neighboring lab.
Dark locked the door and opened the cabinet.
Sure enough, it was filled with various materials.
Although they were basic materials, the creation of an emotion card did not require anything too advanced.
He carefully counted and found that everything needed was there. He took out a compartment tray from beside and gathered the required materials from the cabinet, placing them in the compartments.
Next, he would attempt to create a “Refined Emotion Card” according to the textbook!
Dark flipped open the textbook to the page explaining the method and placed it on the table, pressing it down with a small object.
Then he began to prepare the potion!
“Pleasant Sound” potion, which makes people laugh joyfully after drinking it.
This potion does not truly bring joy, but it can serve as a substitute for “joyful emotions,” acting like ink.
If one thinks of joyful things while using it to make an emotion card, it enhances the effect.
Magi have always believed that emotions can be spread through mana.
Instead of using the Mana Dropper to inject emotions, they simply use “Pleasant Sound” potion as a replacement, spreading it over the blank Mana Card, then performing the炼成 to create a Mana Card with joyful emotions!
Originally, the simple method of creating an emotion card used “Pleasant Sound” potion.
Dark merely omitted the potion and directly used “Pride” instead.
But since he was conducting a real experiment on “Refined Emotion Card,” he needed to start from the preparation of the potion.
All of this he had learned and practiced in Potions Class!
Dark spent a little over half an hour brewing a light green potion identical to the one in the textbook, then poured it into an ink bottle.
Next, he used the Magic Pen to draw the green ink onto a blank Mana Card, completely covering its surface.
Green brought joy, and Dark’s mood was still decent.
Then he boiled various materials into a paste and spread it over the Mana Card’s surface, letting it dry naturally or with hot air to form a transparent film.
Finally, he drew the 7th炼成 array on that transparent film, performing a preliminary炼成 to fuse the “Pleasant Sound” potion with the Mana Card.
Then he drew the 18th炼成 array on the back to form a frame, locking energy within the Mana Card.
Next came the simultaneous炼成 of the 21st, 33rd, and 34th炼成 arrays to create an energy loop, allowing the Mana Card to recover autonomously after mana depletion.
Lastly, he performed the 13th精炼 and 9th增幅!
The entire process was quite complex, with each炼成 array overlapping partially.
While starting, every炼成 array needed to function correctly without interfering with others.
Despite practicing many times in the library last night, he failed on his first official attempt!
He did not lose heart and succeeded on his second attempt!