The passages within the secret tunnel were labyrinthine, the terrain complex and prone to occasional shifts — which made an auto-recording, self-adjusting map system all the more essential.
And the Sorting Card already contained a map system, which proved the concept was feasible.
When Dark raised the idea, however, Professor Kazel shook his head. "A basic map-recording system is doable, but the auto-recording and auto-adjusting function would be extremely difficult to implement. For the most part, it would still require the Magic Guide to record and update things manually."
Dark mulled it over. "That's serviceable enough. But since we're intending to make the door card a symbol of status, it should at least have a tiered ranking system."
Professor Kazel raised an eyebrow. "A ranking system?"
"Yes — like the white, blue, purple, orange, and gold grades on Magic Guide Cards," Dark explained. "Higher-ranked door cards would grant more privileges. For instance, the number of times per month you can enter the secret tunnel increases, or you can bring others in with you."
"That's actually a solid angle. Let me think on it."
Professor Kazel felt a genuine spark of interest. Dark's thinking really was remarkably broad — full of useful reference points.
They talked through a few more details, and the conversation turned to how the door cards would be distributed.
Door cards could easily serve as rewards for various activities and competitions — even as a form of end-of-term prize.
Beyond that, to elevate the perceived value of the cards, Dark proposed setting up hidden treasures within the tunnel — rather like the treasure maps left by Heroes and Valkyries. It would give students a challenge to pursue, draw them deeper into understanding the tunnel, and gradually reveal its many uses in a natural, progressive way.
Leaving such a prime location sitting idle and untapped — Dark felt genuinely sorry on the academy's behalf.
Of course, all of that was a matter of future development.
As for the very first competition to promote the door cards, they tentatively settled on Easter Day.
Easter already came with a holiday break, so it made perfect sense to hold an Easter Dueling Festival, with door cards distributed as Easter eggs.
...
"But this year's Easter… is it really on the same day as April Fool's Day? That means there's still a whole month."
Dark turned it over in his mind as he left the office.
He had his eye on those door cards too, of course — but the odds of snatching one from the third-years were painfully slim.
Then again, thinking about it carefully, not many people actually knew much about the secret tunnel. Maybe the turnout for the Easter festival would be smaller than expected.
Standing in front of a crowd of seniors who were mostly there for a good time — maybe he could pull off a surprise upset.
Either way, the idea was sound. Whether reality would cooperate was another matter entirely — that would just have to wait and be seen.
...
That evening in Astronomy class, Professor Medea carried on as though nothing had happened.
She had a gift for hitting exactly what her students needed, and the lesson moved from one peak to the next without pause.
...
After Astronomy wrapped up, Dark naturally had no time left to forge any Armed pieces that night.
But tonight was the last day of February — which happened to free up just enough time for his monthly summary.
Back in his dormitory, Dark took out pen and paper. He opened his notebook and recorded his Major Sin values — at the end of every month he would tally them and compare against the previous month.
Before putting pen to paper, he paused to think, then summoned Meowth and carefully fastened the "Naughty Troublemaker" placard around its neck.
Spare the rod, spoil the child.
Teach without rigor, and the teacher is at fault.
Meowth was a textbook case of "born bad." Early education had to be strict — it needed to feel the sting.
For its own future, Dark had no choice but to steel his heart and play the villain.
"Meow."
Meowth shook its head vigorously at Dark.
It had spent a long time flipping through the dictionary the previous night and had finally tracked down the characters carved on the wooden placard — after which it had wanted nothing to do with the thing.
But that only went to show the method was working.
This was exactly how it needed to develop a proper sense of right and wrong.
At least a week… three days, fine.
Dark quietly revised the punishment period downward.
...
After assigning Meowth its homework, he opened the system panel and began his summary.
He compared it against the figures from the end of last month.
[Pride: 104 → 102]
[Envy: 38 → 38]
[Wrath: 85 → 84]
[Sloth: 64 → 63]
[Greed: 100 → 98]
[Gluttony: 69 → 70]
[Lust: 109 → 103]
Looking at the comparison, Dark suddenly became very aware of something.
"Have I really become this disciplined?"
He tapped his head, feeling a mildly troubled.
Over February, he had drawn a total of 3 points of "Pride," 4.5 points of "Greed," and 7.5 points of "Lust."
Theoretically, "Pride" should have dropped to 101, "Greed" to 95.5, and "Lust" to 101.5.
Under Dark's conscious — and not-so-conscious — steering, those values had all nudged upward somewhat.
But only by a little.
The end result was an overall drop across the board — and a fairly noticeable one.
It meant he had genuinely been restrained this month.
Even Valentine's Day had barely stirred his desires.
"Pride," "Greed," and "Lust" had all gone up, but only by the tiniest amounts.
"If this keeps up, I may eventually have to find ways to actively release my desires just to harvest [Major Sin] at all."
"Unless [Nether God Art] advances further and lowers the threshold for what can be drawn."
He thought back to how desperate things had been when he first enrolled, and looked at where he stood now.
What a reversal.
Dark shook his head, shelved the thought for the moment, and turned to careful planning.
As of today, he still had a decent reserve of [Major Sin] on hand.
"Pride" had 2.8 remaining.
"Lust" had 7.3 remaining.
"Greed" had 0.5 remaining.
These were approximate figures, of course — the actual values wouldn't be that neat.
As for the remaining core materials available to him:
① [Dragon's Reverse Scale]
② [Wind Spirit's Blessing]
③ [Seven-Star Coin]
④ [Soul Powder (Vlad)]
And the techniques he had yet to master: [Zoo], [Ultimate Move: Transform], and [Love Magic Circle].
On top of that, the [Tri-Armed Transmutation Circle] still needed deeper study.
Just this rough accounting alone made clear that his studies in the months ahead would be keeping him very, very busy.
"For March, I'd better think seriously about how to strengthen the deck."
"February looked productive on the surface, but the only real power boost was Meowth."
"And the Easter Dueling Festival may have an entertainment angle to it, but it's still an official competition — requiring forty Magic Guide Cards."
"And I don't have forty high-quality Magic Guide Cards that are actually competition-ready."
"Looking carefully at my current [Pride], [Lust], and [Greed] — [Greed] is the only one without a Tier III card. It's time to forge a [Greed III]."
"But forging [Greed III] requires 10 points of 'Greed.' At 1.5 points per drop, that's at least 7 drops — which would leave only 3 drops' worth of margin."
"Three drops is 4.5 points of [Major Sin]…"
"If those 4.5 points went into 'Pride,' combined with the 2.8 I already have, that would total just over 7 — enough to cultivate one [Fruit of Pride]."
"The 7.3 stored 'Lust' is also enough to cultivate one [Fruit of Lust]."
"That would let me forge two new Magic Guide Spirits."
"But among my core materials, [Wind Spirit's Blessing] and [Seven-Star Coin] are both off the table for now — which leaves only [Dragon's Reverse Scale] and [Soul Powder]."
"[Fruit of Pride], [Fruit of Lust], [Dragon's Reverse Scale], [Soul Powder], Catnip, Fox Grass, Cow Grass…"
"This is a nightmare."
...
Dark couldn't help pulling a long face.
He genuinely had no idea what to do.
The [Dragon's Reverse Scale] practically screamed "top-tier dragon-forging material" — it might even yield a five or six-star Magic Guide Spirit.
But the Catnip Flower and Wood Shop had nothing in stock that would suit a dragon-type…
"Wait — don't I have a Snapdragon plant? Could that work with the [Dragon's Reverse Scale] to forge a Magikarp that could eventually evolve into a Gyarados?"
"But Magikarp is a carp, isn't it? Would Snapdragon even work?"
"And Gyarados probably needs 'Wrath' rather than anything else."
"What about Feebas, then — the one that can evolve into Milotic? It should be a Magic Guide Spirit with extremely high affinity for 'Lust.'"
"But what species is Feebas exactly? Surely it's not also a carp?"
"So goldfish just have no rights around here?"
"If what came out was a Goldeen, that would be a serious waste."
"Better to think this through properly."
"This [Dragon's Reverse Scale] — I'd still like to use it to forge a proper dragon-type Magic Guide Spirit. Something like Blue-Eyes White Dragon, or even a Charmander would do."
"But that would definitely require Dragon Grass or Lizard Grass — something in that family of catnip."
Most importantly of all:
This [Dragon's Reverse Scale] was the first gift Pandora had ever given him. He wasn't keen on spending it too casually.
But if he wasn't going to use the [Dragon's Reverse Scale], that left only the [Soul Powder].
And the [Soul Powder] was its own headache.
"Material like this [Soul Powder] generally carries two attributes — one tied to its source, which would be 'Vampire,' and one for 'Soul.'"
"If it's the 'Vampire' attribute, the best match would be 'Lust' paired with Bat Grass."
"If it's 'Soul,' the obvious candidate would be Gastly — the one that can eventually evolve into Gengar."
"But what would Gastly need? 'Greed' and Gas Grass?"
"Or what about Drampa — the one with both Dragon-type and Ghost-type attributes?"
...
"Or — I could just throw caution to the wind and run a basic transmutation on that vial of [Soul Powder]."
"Who knows, maybe I'd get another DemiDevimon."
That thought made Dark's gaze drift, unbidden, toward DemiDevimon hanging upside-down from the bird perch.
He then noticed that DemiDevimon was peering down with a mocking expression at Meowth, who was hunched over the small table diligently doing its homework.
Dark didn't pay it much mind, and turned back to his thoughts.
The more he considered it, the more restless he became.
It was, of course, the classic gambler's itch — but Dark had experience under his belt: he had already forged Shuckle, Trash Slime, Hawlucha, and Popplio through exactly this kind of unrestrained approach.
Granted, those three besides Shuckle weren't as powerful as his other Magic Guide Spirits — but they were still quite decent, all things considered.
Besides, there was something about Vlad's [Soul Powder] that made him quietly uneasy.
A part of him almost felt like: just burn through it and be done.
"Throw in that vial of [Soul Powder], add a touch of 'Lust,' leave the range wide open, let chance decide — I wonder what I'd get."
"I'm actually a little excited."
...
Having at least knocked out one possible use for a material, Dark set down his pen for the moment and spent the last remaining time of the evening going to sit behind Meowth.
In two things and two things only — learning to read and woodcarving — Meowth never cut corners.
It put effort into reading because it was clever enough to.
It put effort into carving because it genuinely loved it.
All in all, there were genuinely likable sides to its personality.
Dark realized he hadn't spent much time teaching it directly, so he gave it a proper lesson that evening.
Around half past ten, he wrapped things up and headed to the bathroom to wash up.
Once he was done, he burrowed under the covers and absently reached over to pluck Catnip from the little sleeping basket on the bedside table, pulling the Magic Beast close for a cuddle.
He'd barely gotten started when he noticed Meowth — homework finished — sidling over with an eager, hopeful look on its face.
Dark looked at it, mildly puzzled.
Meowth could walk on two legs, but its instincts still leaned toward the feline — it usually got around on all fours. Yet here it was walking upright, its front paws hidden behind its back, shuffling and fidgeting.
"Meow——"
Meowth stopped obediently at the edge of the bed and looked up at him.
Dark sighed and set Catnip aside, then lifted Meowth up onto the bed.
He gave the coin on Meowth's forehead a light touch and said, "All right, out with it. What's going on?"
Meowth first tugged at the "Naughty Troublemaker" placard around its neck — and then brought forward the left paw it had been hiding behind its back, turning the palm toward Dark and opening the little paw wide.
There, nestled in the pink cushion of its paw pad, was a small, perfectly round bead.
"What's this?"
Dark didn't understand at first.
But after only a moment, the realization hit him — and he broke into a delighted grin. "Pay Day?"
"Meow!"
Meowth gave an emphatic nod.
Then it raised the wooden placard around its neck again.
"It's bargaining with me!"
Dark couldn't help but laugh.
He'd already decided internally to keep the punishment to three days — tonight was the second night, so there was only one more to go.
But Meowth had no way of knowing that…
It must have genuinely wanted to be rid of the placard badly.
Dark rubbed its head and asked, "Do you know what you did wrong now?"
Getting the embodiment of [Greed] to voluntarily hand over something it treasured — Meowth must have gone through quite the inner battle.
If it could feel ashamed over this, that was the beginning of truly understanding its mistake.
Sure enough, Meowth nodded again — and then pressed the bead into Dark's palm.
A show of sincerity?
Dark thought for a moment, then picked up the bead and examined it carefully.
The bonus effect of Pay Day — "Lucky Fortune" — was nothing short of miraculous.
The bead Meowth had conjured was a deep, rich purple, smooth and flawless as jade, with a luminous inner glow that seemed to shift and flow on its own.
Simply holding it in his palm, Dark felt a strange, sticky pull — as though the bead wanted to cling to him.
On a whim, he turned his palm over — and the bead stayed fixed in place, not falling.
"This bead…"
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