With that thought in mind, Dark set Meowth aside for the moment and called Gatomon over instead, explaining things to her carefully and in detail.
Gatomon tilted her head and listened with complete focus.
Once she understood, she immediately hugged the "White Fish Hat" and began concentrating, feeling it out.
Among all of Dark's Magic Guide Spirits, Gatomon's comprehension was second to none. If even she couldn't manage it, then this idea would have to remain in the realm of theory.
"Mew!"
Sylveon, who had been listening in from the sidelines, let out a protest of her own.
Dark gave the soft paw she'd stretched toward him a little squeeze, then summoned her small skirt as well. Light shimmered and swirled, and the pink Moonlight Skirt materialized around Sylveon's waist.
Sylveon gave a smug little wiggle, then mimicked Gatomon, pawing at her skirt and feeling it out with great concentration.
The other Magic Guide Spirits watched on with envious eyes.
Dark blinked, then offered a word of encouragement: "Come on, give it your best. If you can master the control and output of magical power — and going by the principle that a Magic Guide and their Magic Guide Spirit are counterparts — you should theoretically be able to use the Magic Guide Cards I've forged directly."
"Then you'd be able to change outfits all on your own."
At that, both Sylveon and Gatomon applied themselves with even greater earnestness.
...
Once that was settled, Dark finally turned his attention to Meowth.
He sat down at the desk, patted his knee, and said: "Come here."
Meowth was deeply unwilling — but a Magic Guide's commands carried a compulsory force over their Magic Guide Spirits. No matter how much it protested inwardly, its body had no choice but to obey.
A moment later, Meowth hopped down from the bookshelf and climbed up onto Dark's knee.
Dark had it sit properly, then took both its paws in his hands and said in a serious tone: "Do you know what you did wrong?"
"Meow——" Meowth shook its head vigorously, its gaze pointedly drifting to the other Magic Guide Spirits, who were all watching with unabashed curiosity.
The meaning was clear: Can we maybe do this somewhere else? Meowth has a reputation to uphold, you know?
Dark couldn't help but find it funny. If you care so much about your reputation, maybe think before you act next time.
On the other hand, he felt genuinely at a loss.
Meowth was the embodiment of [Greed] — greed was its very nature. It could be restrained, but never cured.
Reining in its personality would probably require a great deal more moral education. And the truth was, Dark didn't have much time to give it lessons in ethics — and on top of that, since it hadn't been registered in [Paradise], it could only come out of its card in the evenings.
That one difference had created a gap between Meowth and the rest of the Magic Guide Spirits.
In the upbringing of children, being "different from the others" was actually something that needed very careful handling — it could easily cause a child to become withdrawn.
That was why so many parents went to great lengths to ensure their children had a similar environment to other kids. Even if things were tight at home, they'd cut corners everywhere else to give their children the best they could.
Dark couldn't quite say how he felt about that sort of thing — but since [Paradise] had come along and he'd spent more and more time with his Magic Guide Spirits, he'd found himself, somehow, beginning to understand that mindset.
For instance, he'd been constantly thinking of ways to let his Magic Guide Spirits move freely beyond the dormitory walls. He'd taken Sylveon to classes. He'd taught Meowth woodcarving. As for their basic education — that went without saying. And every weekend up until now, he'd been steadily buying whatever they needed for the dormitory.
"Wouldn't it be nice if the Magic Guide Spirits could actually enroll at the academy..."
The absurd thought surfaced in Dark's mind out of nowhere.
He immediately cut it off, reminding himself that right now was supposed to be Meowth's lesson time!
So he thought it over and told Meowth the story of The Little Monkey Who Picked Peaches.
A little monkey went down the mountain to pick peaches.
After picking peaches, he spotted some corn — so he dropped the peaches and broke off some corn.
After getting the corn, he spotted a watermelon — so he dropped the corn and picked a watermelon.
After picking the watermelon, he spotted a rabbit — so he dropped the watermelon and chased the rabbit.
But the rabbit ran away and left not even a shadow behind, and by then the sky had gone dark.
The little monkey had been running around all day — and came home empty-handed.
...
After finishing the story, Dark looked at Meowth hopefully and asked: "Did you get anything from that?"
Meowth just shook its head. "Meow."
Dark let out a sigh. "This story is telling you not to be like that little monkey — no principles, never satisfied, and in the end you end up with nothing to show for it. No matter the time or place, you can't let your own greed blind you."
Meowth: "Meow——"
(But I'm a cat!)
Dark's expression soured.
He couldn't understand Meowth's words, but just from looking at its face, he could tell — this cat felt not a single ounce of remorse.
"Hey."
DemiDevimon poked its head out from the plank above the desk. "Translation," it announced helpfully: "It's saying that if it had been there, it definitely would've caught the rabbit. And the peaches, corn, and watermelon — it wouldn't have dropped any of those either! Heh heh, running after a rabbit while carrying peaches and corn and a watermelon — heh heh heh——"
Meowth: "Meow!"
(You're making that up!)
...
Seeing Meowth's legs already tensing to launch itself away, Dark reached out and held down its shoulder, quietly giving up on any remaining illusions.
"I suppose sometimes talking reason just doesn't cut it."
He took a deep breath and decided to try a different approach. "Meowth — you don't have any little red flowers yet, do you?"
"Meow." Meowth shook its head, eyes going wide involuntarily.
It still didn't know exactly what the little red flowers were for — but all the other Magic Guide Spirits had them, so of course it wanted some too.
Dark, however, said: "Then I'll note it down for you: minus ten flowers."
Meowth: "Meow?!"
Dark didn't look at the contorted cat-face staring back at him. Instead, he picked up a scrap of wood from the desk and quickly carved some characters into it, then threaded a string through it.
He held the wooden placard out for Meowth to see: "Do you know what these words say?"
"Meow." Meowth shook its head.
It was still only a beginner reader.
Dark smiled. "That's all right. You'll know soon enough."
With that, he hung the placard around Meowth's neck. The words carved on it read: Naughty Troublemaker. "Every evening after I summon you, make sure you're wearing this. The day you understand what it means — I'll take it off for you."
"Meow?"
Meowth looked thoroughly baffled, but a Master's order had to be obeyed.
It raised a paw and grabbed the placard, then glanced around at the other Magic Guide Spirits — and suddenly noticed that Miltank was also watching it.
"Moo——"
Miltank gave the silver nameplate around its own neck a little jingle, as if to say: I've got one too.
Meowth's gaze traveled back and forth between that silver plate and its own wooden placard, and a deeply ominous feeling quietly began to take root in its small heart.
...
There's a saying: teach through play. The idea is to weave education into entertainment.
Whether Meowth found it entertaining or not was anyone's guess — but the other Magic Guide Spirits certainly did.
Once that business was wrapped up, Dark moved on to cleaning up the experimental remnants and writing his summary notes for the night.
The evening had been full of unexpected incidents, but the harvest was rich.
Not only had he successfully forged the "White Fish Hat" with directional properties, but he'd also found a method for teaching his Magic Guide Spirits to learn mana control. Most importantly, the theory that "a Magic Guide and their Magic Guide Spirit are counterparts" had been confirmed.
For most Magic Guides, this theory would be of very limited use.
But for Dark, it was an extraordinarily significant discovery. With it as a foundation, the things he could accomplish were vast.
...
The night had grown deep and quiet.
Dark was already sitting up in his bed.
In recent days, being so occupied with Armed synthesis, he'd gone several nights in a row without practicing [Nether God Art]. Tonight, there was no way he was letting it slide.
Only — unlike usual, tonight he had company.
Two Magic Guide Spirits who'd decided to copy him were sitting at his sides.
Sylveon and Gatomon had both taken up the same posture as him.
One person and two spirits — the three of them together had something of a "trinity" feel, almost like the [Tri-Armed Transmutation Circle].
But by the time Dark finished his practice, neither Sylveon nor Gatomon had managed to develop any real sense of magical awareness.
Dark questioned them carefully and confirmed that they'd both picked up at least a faint inkling of something, and let out a breath of relief.
As long as there were signs, that was enough. Expecting them to succeed in such a short time had never been realistic to begin with.
...
The moon set and the sun rose — time passed quickly.
On Wednesday afternoon, Dark had been hoping to work overtime and forge a few more Armed pieces, but the moment he brought Gatomon out to the balcony for a solar charging test of the "White Fish Hat," a message came in from Professor Silf.
With no other choice, he set aside what he was doing and made his way to Professor Silf's office.
As for the results of the "White Fish Hat" solar test...
It went exactly as expected.
The hat could indeed absorb sunlight and convert it into magical power — but even at peak intensity in the midday sun, the efficiency was only about 1 point per second. That wasn't even close to offsetting the drain from an Armed card; it couldn't fill so much as the crack of a fingernail. It was, for all intents and purposes, as good as useless.
This meant that, in all likelihood, only a gold-tier "White Fish Hat" would have any chance of reaching the effect Dark had in mind.
In the end, what is the true nature of Armed pieces? Is there any material that can generate magical power on its own? If Armed pieces were crafted from something like that, could they offset the drain?
Lost in thought, Dark soon arrived at the door to Professor Silf's office.
He had a rough idea of why Professor Silf had called him — and sure enough, when he pushed the door open, he found Professor Kazel waiting there at his leisure.
After what felt like a long while, the two of them were playing Magic Guide Chess again.
But when they saw Dark come in, they stopped — judging by the board, the game had only just started.
Professor Kazel waved him over. "You're here."
Dark nodded and closed the door behind him.
Professor Silf said: "Good afternoon, Demon."
Dark: "Good afternoon, Professor."
Professor Silf looked relaxed. "Can you guess why we called you in?"
Dark smiled slightly. "Is there a problem with the door card design?"
"I knew you'd figure it out," Professor Kazel said with a laugh. "We actually just wanted to hear more thoughts from a student's perspective. I've got a prototype here — take a look."
With that, he reached into his card pouch and drew out a Magic Guide Card, holding it out.
Dark took the card and examined it carefully.
His first impression was that it felt very similar to a Sorting Card — but it clearly lacked that same weighty, substantial feel.
In terms of craftsmanship, the door card was evidently a step below the Sorting Card.
Professor Kazel explained: "The main functions of this door card are the same as what we discussed last time. It borrows from part of the Sorting Card's design and can receive notifications from the academy.
"The plan is to first produce a semi-finished version, then have students activate it with their own magical power — which would ensure the real-name registration you mentioned.
"It's also been fitted with a mystery realm escape device, but unlike dungeon passages, the hidden corridors can't guarantee the escape device will activate properly.
"So I'll leave an opening in the barrier at the corridor entrance and exit, and link it up with the door card. Using the door card will temporarily unseal it."
Dark tried channeling magical power into the card — and got no response at all, just as expected.
It seemed this door card was already keyed to Professor Kazel's shape alone.
He handed the card back and said, puzzled: "This seems fairly well thought-out already, doesn't it?"
Professor Kazel's expression grew slightly more serious. "No other additions to suggest? This is something being officially rolled out across the academy, after all — we need to be thorough."
Dark thought it over, settled himself on the sofa, then mused aloud: "Come to think of it, I've always had a question. Our Sorting Cards can already receive notifications from the academy — so why can't they send messages back to the academy? That way, students in danger could call for help more easily."
"That's a very good question." Professor Kazel sighed. "Unfortunately, the Sorting Card is only a receiver. The reason we can transmit messages to students across the academy is because of the barrier overhead."
Dark looked up involuntarily, genuinely surprised.
That was very different from what he'd imagined.
Professor Kazel smiled. "Otherwise, why do you think that with just a word from us, your credits get deducted? The barrier at St. Marian's is no small thing."
Dark thought back to the time he'd been substitute teaching and had casually added and deducted credits himself — and let out a dry laugh.
People had a tendency to overlook the very environment they lived in. He'd witnessed the barrier's power firsthand, yet somehow never stopped to pay it any real attention.
St. Marian's barrier was like a vast net — not only protecting the castle from outside intrusion, but weaving through the students' daily lives to provide all manner of conveniences... Wait. A vast net?
Dark suddenly had a flash of inspiration, the association sparking in his mind — the internet!
He asked: "But why can a professor's words reach a student's Sorting Card? Is it simply because you're a professor?"
"That's..." Professor Kazel turned it over thoughtfully. "I actually never thought about it. Maybe because our identities have been verified?"
Dark shook his head. "I'm not sure exactly how professor identity verification works. But the fact is — when I was substitute teaching the arithmetic class, I was also able to exercise a professor's privileges.
"If the barrier can do that much, there's no reason it couldn't let Sorting Cards receive messages from students. Is it perhaps because the student numbers are too large and there are concerns about handling the load?"
Professor Kazel hesitated. "That question, we'd need to ask the Principal."
Dark's mind began quietly turning over a small scheme.
If the issue really was the sheer number of students — then wouldn't a door card limited to a specific group be a perfect form of identity verification? Only those who held a door card could send and receive messages between door cards.
If the door card came with that kind of exclusive privilege, it would definitely attract far more people competing to obtain one.
And besides — since this was a door card for the hidden corridors, there was one feature it absolutely had to have.
"Setting aside the messaging question for now," Dark said, "I think the map issue is more important. ..."
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