As Dark spoke, he laid the ox horn and lion fangs down on the cloth.
The milky-white ox horn was crystalline and jade-smooth.
The two lion fangs had distinct blood-lines running along their inner sides.
Although they hadn't dropped from the body of the Floor BOSS, the Two-Headed Demon, in terms of quality they seemed a cut above, making their origins hard to guess at.
The other three seated around him studied these three materials—each entirely suitable to serve as a Magic Guide transmutation core—and all fell into careful thought.
After a while.
Rose reached out and pointed at one of the lion fangs, the first to speak: "Then I'll take this lion fang."
There was only one ox horn, but six lion fangs.
Clearly she was using this as her basis, reasoning that the ox horn was rarer and more precious than the lion fangs, which was why she'd picked a lion fang.
"No."
Diana immediately objected: "Apart from Dark, you contributed the most. You should take the ox horn!"
Emma chimed in: "That's right, I think so too."
"But…" Rose said, troubled despite herself, "even if I take it, it won't be of much use to me…"
...
What good children they all were.
Dark spoke up at this point: "How could it be useless? Even though you didn't join the Dueling Club this semester, by your second year you'll surely have use for it. This ox horn has a very pure feel to it—it suits you well."
"Exactly." Diana nodded at once. "It really suits you!"
Rose was still hesitating, unable to decide.
Emma, however, raised her voice slightly: "Here's the thing. I'm not all that interested in either the ox horn or the lion fangs. If you'd be willing to pay me some Magic Crystal Coins, I'll give up the share of materials allotted to me."
Magic Crystal Coins were valuable in their own right, but compared to these rare materials that could serve as transmutation cores, they still fell somewhat short.
It was just that Emma's need for Magic Crystal Coins outweighed her need for other materials, so for her personally, the value of Magic Crystal Coins could rival those two core materials.
If this deal could be struck, it would benefit both sides.
But Diana didn't think that far. She simply went along with Emma's meaning and asked: "Then will ten be enough?"
Emma smiled faintly and nodded: "Of course that's enough. If you pay me ten Magic Crystal Coins, I won't take part in the distribution of these core materials."
"Then it's settled."
Diana nodded, then turned and counted out ten Magic Crystal Coins from her backpack—hers and Rose's Magic Crystal Coins were kept together.
After Emma took the ten Magic Crystal Coins, having obtained the reward she wanted, she was evidently quite satisfied.
"Well then…"
But Diana, who had obtained the remaining two lion fangs, rolled her eyes about thoughtfully for a moment, then suddenly picked up one lion fang and placed it in her palm, thrust it forward, and said to Dark: "Here! Five Magic Crystal Coins!"
This sudden move not only surprised Emma and Rose, but even Dark couldn't help laughing.
Without saying much more, he counted out five Magic Crystal Coins from his backpack and stacked them one by one onto Diana's palm, laughing: "Five it is."
Diana couldn't help laughing all the more happily.
Dark then took the lion fang from her palm.
With that, he too had obtained a new core material.
The remaining one, of course, was Diana's own.
Watching the interaction between them, Emma couldn't help feeling envious.
But some things couldn't be gained through envy.
She sighed slightly, and could only devote herself to studying the Magic Crystal Coins she'd obtained.
Twenty Magic Crystal Coins in all—perhaps the opportunity for her to achieve a breakthrough.
...
As for Dark, after obtaining that one lion fang, the haul from this dungeon trip rose another notch.
Summed up, they were:
① a rusty sword;
② an eighteen-faced crystal;
③ the Bloodthirsty Giant Axe;
④ Living Metal;
⑤ a lion fang;
⑥ Magic Crystal Coins ×5;
As for the other materials, they could perhaps be ground into various powders for experiments, or serve as auxiliary ingredients in Magic Guide transmutation, but they weren't important.
Dark pinched the lion fang—which had ended up in his hands after all—between two fingers, pondering how to use it.
"If only I had Lion Grass, I could fully use this lion fang together with the '[Fruit of Pride]' nurtured by Lion Grass to attempt transmuting a 'Coronamon.'"
"But to successfully steer toward a 'Coronamon,' I'm afraid I'd also need to add some fire-attribute auxiliary ingredients."
"Let's do this—I'll go ask at the Catnip Flower and Wood Shop tomorrow."
"Even if Lion Grass's nasty habit of biting people still hasn't been solved, I could go the rental route."
"Tsk… I just can't shake the feeling that doing this has a bit of the flavor of a scumbag finding someone else to do that whole surrogate-preg-whatchamacallit."
"No—I still have to make a trip there!"
Coronamon was the prior evolutionary form of Apollomon, the sun god of the Olympos Twelve God Clan in 'Digimon Adventure.'
In Dark's research plan targeting "Pride," it held a rather important position.
If, in the course of his research, he could push "Coronamon" to evolve into the Ultimate-level "Apollomon," then his research on "Pride" would basically be complete enough for him to graduate on.
So even if it might fail, it was necessary for him to attempt the transmutation.
By the same token, transmuting "Dianamon" was also part of the plan.
...
Time gradually slipped by, and the dozen-odd groups on free activity returned one after another.
Professor Nini counted the number of returning groups on her fingers, and only when the students of the last group appeared in her field of view did she quietly let out a sigh of relief.
"Everyone's arrived!"
Limited to free activity on only the first and second floors of the dungeon, the danger really had been reduced to a minimum.
As long as they kept firmly in mind the knowledge points taught in class and stayed careful and cautious, the first-years bold enough to form teams and adventure were basically unlikely to run into trouble.
Even at the beginner stage, a Magic Guide Master was far stronger than other combat-vocation practitioners of the same tier.
And so it was, in fact.
Had he not triggered the hidden space, Virt, relying on a single "Troll" alone, would have been enough to sweep through this second floor.
So in the end, only two people triggered the "Dungeon Escape Device."
This cost was just barely within Professor Nini's range of tolerance.
It was just that she'd probably have to scrimp and save for the month that followed.
Professor Nini patted her cheeks, thinking those two were truly a nuisance, then lifted her spirits and said: "Since everyone's here, next is the spoils-display segment. Starting with the Noble House, line up and present the drops you obtained from hunting monsters as proof, and I'll register them one by one. How well you completed this task will serve as a reference for your end-of-term grades."
The students had long known there would be this segment, so for now they merely discussed it in low voices.
"Let's go first."
Dark didn't bother with modesty, and simply had Meowth shoulder the Bloodthirsty Giant Axe and go forward to display it.
The students had in fact long since seen this giant axe, but only when Dark formally explained did some of them finally realize that Dark and his group had actually succeeded in hunting a Floor BOSS!
This achievement was astonishing.
Immediately after, Diana and Rose took their turns as well.
Then came Doron's group...
The whole process went very quickly—basically everyone went up and came right back down.
Before long, Professor Nini had completed the entire registration process.
Looking over what she'd recorded, she was quite satisfied.
"If I tell Auntie Silf that my students successfully hunted a Floor BOSS, she should ease up a little on her reproach of me, right?"
...
Finally, under Professor Nini's lead, the first-years returned to the entrance of the first floor at an even faster pace than they'd come, then stepped out through the doorway.
By now the sky had darkened.
The magic gate, like a curtain of water, radiated brilliance, illuminating the twelve giant statues standing around it.
The upperclassmen passing in and out of the magic gate would always cast a curious glance at this band of first-years, guessing how dreadful their first experience must have been.
Yet apart from a mere two of them, the first-years' dungeon experience this time had been very good indeed.
The students on free activity had gained the adventure experience they wanted, and the students who'd followed Professor Nini had likewise gained the spring-outing experience they wanted.
No one paid any mind to the two students still in the infirmary, enduring Sister Carian's punitive education.
Only when it came to punishing students would Sister Carian never go easy.
...
And so March's first Monster Studies class, bathed in the radiance of the magic gate, was formally declared over.
In the end, Professor Nini, imitating Professor Silf's tone in convincing fashion, ignored the strong protests of the little Magic Guide Masters and, keeping a straight face, assigned today's homework—to write a dungeon-adventure diary of no fewer than five hundred words.
After that, the whole team dispersed on the spot.
The students, long since famished, immediately swarmed toward the Canteen inside the Castle.
Of course, some turned aside midway and ran off toward the already-open Traveler Street.
Dark's trio chose to head for the Canteen.
As he walked out of that circular building, he thought it over and also called along Emma, who was walking together with his two deskmates.
And so, including Susan and Lucy, the party of six found a spot in the Canteen and ate a celebratory meal.
The friction between the Noble House and the Knight House wasn't reflected in the slightest among these six.
Susan and Lucy were the type to warm up quickly, and before long they were getting along famously with Diana.
The two of them chattered away, asking about their ordeals in the dungeon, and Diana recounted it all vividly, at times even acting it out with exaggerated body language, making the atmosphere very lively.
When they parted after the meal, the several of them all felt they hadn't had their fill of it.
But each of them had things to do, and they couldn't keep chatting in the Canteen forever.
Dark, together with Diana and Rose, returned to the Noble House tower, and braving the sharp gaze of the Feathered Serpent Golem, shouldered the Bloodthirsty Giant Axe into the common room.
After that they found an empty table in the common room and set about another round of dividing the loot.
Only this time, what they were splitting were those ordinary monster materials.
Basically, it was an even split among the three.
But adjustments would also be made according to each of the three's inclinations and preferences.
Because there were quite a lot of odds and ends, it took over half an hour in all to finish the distribution.
By the time the three of them returned to their dormitories, each carrying a large pile of materials, it was already eight in the evening.
"It's not yet time to slack off!"
Looking at that big pile of materials, Dark decided to deal with them right away.
It was around ten at night before he finished processing all the ordinary materials and sorted them away by category.
Afterward he glanced at the rusty sword and the giant axe leaning in the corner, suppressed the urge to study them at once, and turned to go take a shower in the bathroom first.
Only after coming out refreshed all over did he unfurl "[Paradise]" and summon out all of his Magic Guide Spirits.
Then Dark instructed Miltank to look after the three Catnips, and began using "Soul-Sucker Spell" and "[Nether God Art]" to draw out today's portion of "Major Sin."
On the first day of March, what he'd chosen to extract was 1.5 points of "Greed."
And today, it was likewise "Greed."
Although he had a plan to attempt transmuting a "Coronamon," it wouldn't be too late to extract "Pride" after he'd confirmed a channel for obtaining Lion Grass.
After settling the routine matters, Dark could finally calm his mind and study the thing he most wanted to study—that rusty sword!
Ever since learning that the hidden space had been triggered by Emma, Dark had had a feeling about it, and held even greater expectations for the value of this rusty sword.
By the usual patterns, a treasure of this type was very likely the key item that ran through the entire plot in this sort of game with a Hero as protagonist—a Holy Sword!
Even though it was covered all over in rust.
Even though this world had Spell Cards like the "Holy Sword Spell" capable of summoning forth a holy sword.
But before Magic Guide technology appeared, things like the "Holy Sword" had in fact existed long ago.
The "Holy Sword" of that era certainly couldn't have been any sort of spell or projection.
It was a true Holy Sword, a sacred weapon capable of inflicting special damage on the Demon race!
The attribute of a "Holy Sword" wasn't necessarily light, but it definitely possessed a sacred nature.
If this rusty sword really was the legendary "Holy Sword" whose power only a Hero could bring out, then could he, as a reservist of the "Demon God," cause this "Holy Sword" to react?
Since such a possibility did indeed exist, Dark hadn't dared to try it the whole way back.
But since even the Feathered Serpent Golem at the entrance of the Noble House had failed to see through the "Demon God" factor hidden within his body, it was evident that, with his Demon God bloodline at 0% awakening progress right now, he was still a human of pure blood.
It was merely that his mana-related talent, affected by this, slightly exceeded the human limit—that was all.
So as to what the final outcome would be, it still required deeper research.
"First, let's start by injecting mana."
Dark picked up the rusty sword, examined it carefully, and prepared to inject mana and observe the reaction.
With "[Paradise]" enveloping the area, certain auras weren't easily released outward either.
As a wisp of mana gathered at his fingertip, Dark, keeping a single finger's distance away, released the mana toward that rusted short sword.
"Thump."
The rusty sword visibly moved.
"There's a reaction!"
Dark immediately and cautiously withdrew his hand.
He couldn't be sure whether this was an affinity reaction or a rejection reaction.
But since there was a reaction, it meant that this rusty sword at least belonged to the category of Magic Tools.
"Then, next, let's continue."
Dark swallowed a little, and gathered his mana anew.
His curiosity, in truth, was no less than a cat's.
____
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