Dark rubbed his forehead and started with Brown Eugenie's file.
The Eugenie family was extremely well known among the nobles of the royal capital, though sadly not for anything particularly flattering.
They had built their fortune in trade and later bought their way into the nobility, but their reputation had always been poor.
In any era, merchants give off an impression of cunning and mercenary calculation, and that goes double for a family that bought its title.
To change that, the previous head of the Eugenie family had spent his entire fortune supporting the army during the war. It earned him the king's appreciation and lifted the family's name a little.
The current head, Grandet Eugenie, served in the royal palace and was in charge of finance.
Grandet was nothing like his predecessor. He was a meticulous accountant who would happily split a single Saint Coin into two if he could.
But for a kingdom whose treasury had been emptied by the war, a man like Grandet was indispensable.
Ever since he took office, it had become harder and harder for the other departments to get funds approved from Finance, and the grumbling had grown loud.
Brown Eugenie was Grandet Eugenie's third son.
Brown attended the Royal Academy in the royal capital. Right now he was in the gap between finishing fifth year and starting sixth.
His grades were not good.
His two overachieving older brothers only made his incompetence stand out more.
Coursework at the Royal Academy ended with fifth year. Sixth year was a year of internship, and students had to produce real results to earn a diploma.
So someone who just coasted along couldn't graduate from the Royal Academy.
The same was actually true at St. Marian's Academy.
In other words, if Brown Eugenie wanted to graduate, he had to get something done.
As it happened, he had recently become hopelessly hooked on model surprise eggs, and it suddenly occurred to him to combine them with Magic Guide Chess.
Of course, the idea was half-baked.
Magic Guide Chess's developer didn't actually need the money, and it would be hard to persuade them to share profits in a partnership.
Still, Dark had genuinely drawn some inspiration from his proposal, so it was only right to give something back.
"Let me see. The Eugenie family hasn't shown any political leaning. Probably it's the usual merchant instinct of seeking profit and avoiding harm. They've been watching from the sidelines."
"But since their present standing came from the king's appreciation, they may be very loyal to him."
"Which means whoever the king finally names as heir will likely be the one they pledge themselves to later. For now, they're neutral."
"Not bad."
When Dark finished Brown Eugenie's file, he set it aside.
He honestly didn't care much about the Eugenies' stance. As long as they didn't take the money they earned off him and use it to sponsor his rivals, that was fine.
Besides, they were only one of many distributors.
If the duel disk was ever going to spread across the world, the best partners were actually the dueling halls, St. Marian's included.
Once there was a certain user base, he could consider distributing to small workshops for sale.
In short, that was roughly the plan.
…
After that, Dark picked up Felice Laman's file in a much more casual mood.
Felice's file was optional reading for him too, since their interests didn't truly intersect.
He was only skimming it out of habit, because a glance or two made him feel safer.
It was just that the full fifty pages of intelligence were a little intimidating.
"How detailed do you have to be to fill this many pages?"
Dark shook his head and turned to the first page.
One look, and he was a bit surprised.
"She's from the Holy Church's Mystery Academy?"
But after thinking it over, he relaxed.
Compared with St. Marian's Academy, the Holy Church's Mystery Academy was easier to get into.
Kyle of House Demon was also a student there, and a special admission at that.
In the royal capital, when a noble family's child couldn't get into St. Marian's Academy, the nobles would usually find a way to squeeze them into the Holy Church's Mystery Academy.
The Royal Academy came after that.
The Royal Academy was different from both. Its curriculum was broader and richer, and magic, Magic Guide arts and martial arts were only parts of it.
St. Marian's Academy and the Holy Church's Mystery Academy were both Magic Guide academies focused primarily on Magic Guide arts.
There were other similar academies, but most had sprung up like bamboo shoots after the rain once the war ended.
Some old-guard magic academies had also converted into Magic Guide academies.
Examples were the Elven Spellcraft Academy, the public Magitech Institute jointly run by the dwarves and goblins, and the beastfolk's War Totem School…
These schools couldn't match St. Marian's Academy or the Holy Church's Mystery Academy in depth of Magic Guide technology, but thanks to the older traditions of other disciplines, their teaching had distinctive strengths.
Dark flipped through it in a fairly casual manner, then put Felice Laman's file back.
Felice's family, the Ramans, was an ancient house that had lasted for hundreds of years. Her father, Earl Rex Laman, was one of the current thirty-six councilors.
Because they were close in age and family standing, Felice Laman and Angus Jeffrey had known each other since childhood and often got together, as they had yesterday.
But since Felice was his only child, Count Raman cared a great deal about raising women's status. He didn't share the aversion some old-fashioned nobles had to women inheriting, so he'd shown little leaning toward Charles.
In short, that was roughly everything on the Raman family.
As for Felice herself…
Dark didn't take it too much to heart. After all, who knew when they'd meet again?
He had no intention of inviting anyone to tea again, and he wouldn't be going out for a good while… probably.
With the Forging of [Zoo] finished and the [Armament] course winding down, he had more private time.
His next tasks were to Forge three more Magic Guide Spirits, thoroughly master the Transformation Spell, and write Arithmetic II.
Studying the Transformation Spell would naturally mean asking Claire, who was exceptionally skilled in it.
At this critical time, Dark certainly wasn't going to add to her troubles.
"Then let's focus on Forging Magic Guide Spirits first!"
…
July 9th.
The second Monday of July.
The Magic Guide Spirits, having relaxed for two days, plunged back into their busy study routine.
Diana and Aurora kept up their self-study for the [Armament] course.
Dark, meanwhile, went to find Madam Plante.
"An apple that contains magic power?"
As the former director of the Royal Botanical Garden and a specialist in Grass-type magic, Madam Plante was naturally deeply versed in magical plants. Calling her a living encyclopedia wouldn't be an exaggeration.
Dark handed her a glass of iced lemon tea and nodded. "Yes. I want an apple with magic power to serve as the core of a Magic Guide Spirit Forging. Do you have any varieties to recommend?"
"As the core of a Magic Guide Spirit?"
Madam Plante thought for a moment. "I don't know much about your Magical Transmutation, but for a core you'd need plenty of magic power and a distinctive character, wouldn't you?"
"If you have one, of course that would be great," Dark said with a nod.
Madam Plante took a sip of iced lemon tea. "When it comes to apples with immense magic power, nothing beats the golden apple. But with the Alliance existing in name only, getting golden apples from the elven lands or the Fairy Realm is much harder now, practically impossible. Second best, then. Would the fairly common Self-Destruct Apple meet your conditions?"
"Self-Destruct Apple?" Dark was a little surprised.
Madam Plante raised her wand and tapped the table. A bit of magic power gathered at the tip into the shape of a seed.
The seed of magic power sprouted and grew quickly, and in the blink of an eye it was a small apple tree.
Green and red apples hung from it, no different from ordinary apples.
"This is the Self-Destruct Apple."
Madam Plante gave one of the apples a light tap. With a "pop," it burst into fragments of magic power.
"It looks exactly like a normal apple, but when an animal comes to steal it and touches it, it explodes instantly and blows the thief to pieces on the spot."
"The dead animal's body is dragged underground by the roots and becomes fertilizer for the apple tree."
"So they look harmless, but they're actually very dangerous."
"When you adventure in the wild, you must be careful to tell Self-Destruct Apples from ordinary ones."
…
Dark stared at the apple tree of condensed magic power and shook his head.
If he wanted to Forge Grass-type Magic Guide Spirits with [Self-Destruct], like [Ferroseed] or [Ferrothorn], he could mix in a little Self-Destruct Apple.
But since his goal was an apple of Greed, it was best not to use this kind.
…
Seeing him shake his head, Madam Plante raised her wand and tapped the top of the tree again. The Self-Destruct Apple tree of magic power collapsed and turned into a tangle of thorny poison vines.
At the tip of the vines, a bright red apple hung all the same.
"Then how about this Poison Vine Fruit?"
"It usually clings to leafy trees. It Wraps around the branches and lets its apple-bearing tip dangle down, luring prey closer."
…
Dark studied the Poison Vine Fruit carefully, then shook his head again. "Is there anything else? I mean, ideally something with a bit of insect or dragon in it."
"The Dragon-Bug Fruit?"
Madam Plante offered a new magical plant without a moment's hesitation.
Then she added, "But it isn't an apple-type magical plant. It isn't even purely a plant. This is what it looks like."
The Poison Vine Fruit dissolved into magic power and reshaped itself, finally condensing into a fruit shaped like a pineapple.
The whole Dragon-Bug Fruit looked like a pineapple, but its surface was covered in scales, and a worm grew from where the stem would be.
Dark's brows lifted. A feeling of "that's the one" rose in him at once.
He said quickly, "Where does the Dragon-Bug Fruit come from?"
Madam Plante smiled. "It's both a plant and an insect. Like the Dragon Saliva Fruit, it's a species that accompanies dragons. You could think of it as what you'd get from fusing a Dragon Saliva Fruit with insect eggs. Of course, that isn't how it actually works."
"How can I get one?" Dark asked.
Madam Plante answered unhurriedly, "If you want, I can contact the people at the Royal Botanical Garden and arrange a meeting."
"So the Royal Botanical Garden grows them?" Dark said, enlightened.
Madam Plante nodded. "They do, but they're subspecies transplanted out later. The pure Dragon-Bug Fruit can only be found in Dragon Canyon, and that's far too difficult. And if you like, I can even cultivate an apple-type Dragon-Bug Fruit for you."
"You can do that too?" Dark asked in surprise.
Madam Plante smiled. "It's only ordinary magical plant grafting. With magic, they can be propagated quickly. With luck, a day or two at most. And if I remember right, the Botanical Garden has finished ones in stock. By the way, how many do you want?"
Dark opened his mouth. "The more the better, of course."
"Then I'll get in touch tonight when I go home," Madam Plante said with a nod.
…
So the next day.
Dark, who had just decided not to go out anymore, boarded a carriage and headed for the Royal Botanical Garden under Madam Plante's guidance.
Naturally, Trina accompanied him as always.
The Royal Botanical Garden lay not far outside the royal palace.
It was said that the garden had originally been built inside the palace, but a later director had transplanted some extremely dangerous magical plants from who-knows-where, causing several huge uproars.
So the Royal Botanical Garden had been moved outside the palace.
The reason it hadn't been shut down, only forced to relocate, was obvious: magical plants really were worth more than ordinary ones!
To this day, the aged king often took the queen consort for walks in the Royal Botanical Garden.
Around nine in the morning, the Duke's estate's carriage stopped at the garden gate.
Dark helped Madam Plante down, had the Dragon-Taming Guard lead the carriage to the stables, and went in.
The guards at the Royal Botanical Garden had clearly been notified in advance and didn't try to stop them.
Madam Plante was the former director and had only recently retired. Her authority remained, and they passed everywhere without obstruction.
She deliberately avoided the dangerous magical plants, though, and took only the relatively safe paths.
Even so, Dark saw plenty of rare flowers and exotic plants.
He marvelled at them, and he couldn't help feeling a little covetous too.
"What plant is that?"
When he suddenly saw a banana tree more than ten meters tall, Dark finally couldn't help stopping.
Bananas are herbaceous plants. They look like trees, but they have no real trunk.
Yet this one, laden with enormous bananas, had a perfectly clear trunk!
But Madam Plante only looked puzzled. "Isn't that just a banana tree?"
Dark opened his mouth and couldn't get a word out for a long while.
"Maybe banana trees are woody plants in this world…"
He muttered it, then asked, "Does this banana tree have any part rich in magic power?"
Madam Plante smiled. "An ordinary banana tree isn't a magical plant, but if you need one, I could cultivate a banana tree with magic power."
Dark scratched behind his ear. "Can I put in an order ahead of time?"
Madam Plante teased him. "Of course. I doubt the Duke's estate would skip out on the bill."
Dark couldn't help smiling, delighted inside.
If he could get a banana tree with magic power and extract its essence, then even if the Forging of Pride IV failed, he might use the leftover Pride to Forge a Tropius with the [Solar Power] trait!
[Solar Power] was a powerful trait that draws strength from the sun.
Pokémon that could have [Solar Power] included Charmander, Sunkern, Houndoom, Tropius and Heliolisk.
Just from the name of the trait, you could tell it was a perfect match for Pride.
And if he raised a [Fruit of Pride] from Dragon Grass, he would get the dragon element.
[Fruit of Pride (Dragon)] + [Banana Tree Essence] = [Tropius]
This Forging equation was somewhat idealistic, but it was broadly possible.
The only problem was that the Dragon Grass Dark kept was a water-affinity blue Dragon Breed. It would pair beautifully with Forging the Water-type Gyarados or Dratini, but using it for a Grass-type Tropius was a bit dicey.
Fortunately, Water and Grass had a certain affinity. Adding more Grass-type elements might turn it from Water to Grass.
By comparison,
Dark actually wanted to use [Fruit of Pride (Dragon)] to Forge a Charmander.
But since water and fire don't mix, it seemed hard to reconcile.
Unless there was a way to completely turn a Water attribute into a Fire attribute.
And for Gyarados, he'd probably need a [Fruit of Wrath (Dragon)] or a [Fruit of Wrath (Carp)].
As for Dratini, he'd roughly need a [Fruit of Envy].
At present, Envy was hard to obtain. Wrath wasn't actually hard to obtain. What was hard was the resolve it took to get it.
Dark's current plan was to use a [Dragon-Bug Fruit] plus a [Fruit of Greed (Dragon)] to Forge an [Applin] that could evolve into a [Flapple] or an [Appletun].
But like Forging a [Tropius], that would also need extra materials to turn the Water attribute into Grass.
So he was still at the preparation stage.
…
Following Madam Plante deeper through the Royal Botanical Garden, Dark saw more and more marvelous plants he had never heard of. It was quite an education.
After nearly half an hour, the two finally reached the experimental garden where the [Dragon-Bug Fruit] was grown.
The [Dragon-Bug Fruit] didn't have special effects like the [Dragon Saliva Fruit], but it was no less rare.
"In theory, Dragon-Bug Fruit can't be cultivated anywhere without dragons, but we used a special technique to graft it onto the branches of other trees and succeeded in raising a subspecies."
Madam Plante explained as she led the way.
"The Dragon-Bug Fruit obtained that way is inherently unstable. Change the species of tree used for grafting, and the fruit can change dramatically in appearance."
Dark didn't understand at first, but the moment he stepped into the experimental garden, shock showed on his face.
The garden held more than ten kinds of fruit trees. Besides the apple trees Dark wanted, there were pear trees, orange trees and many more.
Nothing about their outward appearance set them apart from ordinary fruit trees, but the moment someone entered, colorful little worms wriggled out of the apples, pears and oranges all at once, enough to make anyone's scalp crawl.
Dark had only imagined a single Dragon-Bug Fruit. He'd never imagined the visual impact of so many together.
He couldn't help looking away.
The corner of Madam Plante's mouth curved slightly. "These Dragon-Bug Fruits are a rare species with the traits of two kinds of life. They have the nature of a plant and a small part of an insect's. They aren't as marvelous as the Catnip you brought, but their research value is considerable. Come to think of it, Catnip was very likely inspired by species like the Dragon-Bug Fruit."
Dark let out a breath. "Then how many can I take?"
Madam Plante thought for a moment and made a gesture. "Three."
"Three is fine," Dark said with a nod.
With three [Dragon-Bug Fruits], he might even be able to Forge three [Applin], if all went well.
Right now he didn't have enough Greed, but he could always gather it later.
"Would you like to choose them yourself?" Madam Plante asked.
"May I?" Dark said.
Madam Plante smiled and nodded.
Suppressing his instinctive revulsion, Dark said, "Then I'll pick."
[Applin] was a Pokémon rather like a snail.
Its body was a green worm that lived inside an accompanying apple shell.
The flavor of the apple decided which way it evolved.
If the apple was sour, it would evolve into [Flapple].
If the apple was sweet, it would evolve into [Appletun].
With that in mind, Dark deliberately chose one half-ripe green apple and two fully ripe red ones.
He couldn't be sure what bad effects an unripe green apple might have on the experiment, so he took only one.
As for the Saint Coins to buy the three [Dragon-Bug Fruits], his personal maid naturally paid.
Dark Demon, never carried money when he went out.
…
Once he'd finished choosing, Dark hurried out of the experimental garden.
Then, after thinking it over, he voiced his needs. "Madam Plante, do you happen to know of any special material that can convert a Water attribute into a Grass attribute?"
"Why would you ask that?" Madam Plante said in surprise. "Converting between attributes isn't easy."
Dark chose his words carefully. "I have a material that holds a factor I need, but it's Water-attributed, and what I want to Forge is a Grass-type Magic Guide Spirit."
"Isn't the Dragon-Bug Fruit alone enough?" Madam Plante asked.
"It might be," Dark said. "But I'd like more insurance, to narrow the range the Forging points toward."
Madam Plante thought it over. "As I said, my understanding of Magical Transmutation is limited. But Water and Grass aren't fundamentally in conflict. You could simply add more Grass-attribute elements to cover up the Water."
"That's what I thought too," Dark said. "But what if I used that Water-attributed material to Forge a Fire-type Magic Guide Spirit? How would I get past the conflict between Water and Fire?"
Madam Plante frowned. "If it's Water and Fire, maybe you could strip out the Water attribute of that material first, then give it a Fire attribute. For that, I'd advise asking Cyrus. It's Magic Guide technology, after all, and my own experience might lead you into mistakes."
Dark thought it over carefully. "Then I'll have to ask when I get back."
Madam Plante's brow smoothed. "Well, since you're here, would you like to keep touring?"
"Is that all right?" Dark asked.
Madam Plante nodded with a smile. "Of course. I've raised some special magical plants in the garden. Let me show you."
"Special magical plants?" Dark asked doubtfully. "They surely can't use magic?"
Madam Plante paused, then laughed. "You guessed it. You know that some magical plants are born able to use certain skills, but that doesn't count as magic. My plants can use real magic."
…
Madam Plante was very warm and kind, especially when introducing her plants, which she treated as tenderly as children.
Dark watched trumpet flowers that could chant spells nuzzle her palm like children, and he couldn't help thinking of his own Catnip.
If even trumpet flowers, which can't normally make a sound, could chant magic, why couldn't Catnip, which could meow, do the same?
And Magic Guide Spirits, in theory, ought to learn magic even more easily.
But after soothing the trumpet flower, Madam Plante looked up. "Are you thinking that if even these plants can learn to chant, your Magic Guide Spirits should find it even easier?"
Dark nodded, a little embarrassed.
Madam Plante shook her head with a smile. "That's not how the logic works. The magic I teach these plants is custom-tailored to each one's unique traits. It's the plants' own specialty. For your Magic Guide Spirits to learn magic, they still need brains. Once the basic lessons are done, I'll start a basic magic course. If you need it, you're welcome to sit in."
…
Dark not only toured the garden to his heart's content but also shared a meal with Madam Plante there.
The vegetables and fruits grown in the Royal Botanical Garden tasted wonderful. Even simply stir-fried, they were sweet and delicious, and they left a deep impression on Dark.
After resting for a while, they took the carriage back to the Duke's estate.
They met no obstruction the whole way.
…
Back at the Duke's estate, Dark first put away the three apple-type [Dragon-Bug Fruits], then hurried off to find Sage Cyrus, the Silent Sage.
Sage Cyrus was in the middle of teaching, so Dark listened for a while outside the door.
The Magic Guide Spirits all looked very earnest.
The Trash Slime, whose intelligence had been lacking, seemed to have gotten much sharper after Madam Plante's tutoring.
Its once-floppy body had gathered into a small heap, and it was writing on paper with a tiny pen.
The writing was crooked for lack of strength, but it was recognizable.
The little Misdreavus, normally especially mischievous and hyperactive, was surprisingly quiet in class. One glance at the small bottle on its desk told Dark it held a calming potion Sage Cyrus had brewed himself.
According to Sage Cyrus, a Misdreavus's restlessness was written into its genes and determined by how its life was built.
It was like depression, which looks like a mental illness but is really a physical one.
So to calm a little Misdreavus, you needed potions.
Every drug has some poison, and too much has side effects.
But a Magic Guide Spirit only had to disperse its magic power to return to its Magic Guide Card in its purest form, so there was no concern on that front.
Watching the Misdreavus study on drugs, Dark was reminded of students doping up to cram for the college entrance exams, and he sighed a little.
"Even the little Misdreavus is working this hard. It shouldn't fall behind in the mid-month test, right?"
Dark shook his head and waited quietly for the lesson to end.
As if they sensed Dark outside the wall, the Magic Guide Spirits suddenly began raising their hands and answering with great enthusiasm.
Sage Cyrus cast a discreet glance toward where Dark stood and carried on with the lesson.
When class finally ended, Dark walked into the classroom.
"How was this trip to the Royal Botanical Garden?"
Sage Cyrus spoke before he could.
Dark recalled what he'd seen at the garden. "Good. Madam Plante is every inch a veteran Grass-type specialist. I benefited a great deal."
"Is today's visit related to that?" Sage Cyrus asked as he gathered his things.
"Yes." Dark nodded and laid out what he wanted to know, point by point.
After listening carefully, Sage Cyrus said, "So the problem is converting between attributes?"
"Yes. I'd like your advice."
Cyrus picked up his papers and walked out of the classroom. "Come on. We'll go to my office first."
The four tutors' offices were right next to the classroom.
Cyrus had Dark sit across from his desk. "All right, you can say it now. What kind of material do you want to convert?"
Dark thought, then ventured, "How should I put it... a plant fruit rich in psychic power and animal factors?"
"A what?" Sage Cyrus couldn't help rubbing the corner of his eye, convinced he was getting old and hadn't heard properly.
So Dark repeated himself. "A plant fruit rich in psychic power and animal factors."
Sage Cyrus was speechless. "Your Catnip bore fruit?"
Dark smiled knowingly. "That's what happened."
Cyrus lowered his hand. "If it's the fruit of Catnip, then the plant is the carrier. A plant's elemental attributes are relatively easy to remove. Grass and Water are the exceptions."
"If you're trying to convert a Water-attributed plant into Grass, that's completely unnecessary. The fruit of Catnip already carries the Grass attribute. It's just a surface-level attribute, so it may not be obvious."
"But Magical Transmutation is really a process of discarding the dross and keeping the essence. If it were me, I could separate the Water and Grass attributes during Forging itself, drive out the one I don't need and bring out the one I do. You can't do that yet. For now, you just add some Grass attribute powder."
…
"Grass attribute powder?"
Dark frowned slightly, suddenly feeling he'd gotten something wrong somewhere.
Whenever he'd Forged Magic Guide Spirits with the fruits of the Major Sins, he'd always added the matching attribute powder.
If he Forged an [Applin] or a [Tropius] this time, he'd certainly add Grass attribute powder as well.
In other words, there was no need to worry so much.
Water and Grass don't conflict.
The reason he'd suddenly had this worry was that, apart from Dragon Grass, none of his Catnip had shown any attribute leaning.
"Then what if I wanted to use the fruit of Catnip to Forge a Fire-type Magic Guide Spirit?"
He couldn't help asking.
…
Cyrus looked him in the eye and shook his head. "Can't be done."
Dark hesitated. "Why can't it be done?"
Cyrus rolled his eyes at him. "Try putting your Catnip over a brazier and roasting it. See if it still meows."
Dark said, "It... would still meow."
Cyrus sighed. "Then why must you use the fruit of Catnip to Forge a Fire-type Magic Guide Spirit? One conflicting attribute would be bearable, but both Grass and Water clash violently with Fire."
Dark thought for a moment. "What I need isn't the plant factors of Catnip but the animal part of its factors."
Cyrus said, "In that case, why not find a real animal?"
Dark said, "Because animals don't bear fruit."
Cyrus: "..."
It seemed there was no getting through to him.
Dark sighed inwardly.
As expected, even a sage had limits.
In that case, if he wanted to Forge a Charmander, his only option was to find another Dragon Grass with no attribute leaning.
Trace amounts of Grass could easily be stripped out during Forging.
But his current Dragon Grass had originally been an accident during the development of Loach Grass, and who knew how many years it would take for the Catnip Flower and Wood Shop to produce another one.
"Maybe I should change my approach. Lizard Grass?"
"After all, Charmander isn't Dragon-type."
…
After that, Dark sat in Cyrus's office a little longer and asked some more questions about Magic Guide arts, all of which got patient answers.
Then he thanked Cyrus and left quickly.
Since Forging an [Applin] raised no attribute conflicts, there was no need to put it off until tomorrow.
Back in his room, Dark poured himself a glass of apple juice, and while it was still early, started preparing the Magical Transmutation experiment.
"When was the last time I Forged a Magic Guide Spirit?"
He thought it over as he prepared.
But once he actually started, he found not a trace of rustiness.
It was as though every step had been carved into his bones, making a mistake impossible.
He had been building up to this experiment aimed at the [Applin] for a long time.
"The Forging method is [Dragon Breed – Grass Attribute]."
"The core materials are the [Fruit of Greed] and the [Apple-type Dragon-Bug Fruit]."
"What I need to prepare: spirit nectar, brain-lobe essence water, active egg fluid, Grass attribute powder (a lot)..."
"Start by cultivating the [Fruit of Greed]."
…
Dark soon fished Dragon Grass out of its dark water tank.
Timid and afraid of light, it squinted and let out a small cry.
Dark carefully dried the water from its body, then carried it over to the Insect Tree and held its mouth to the tip of a Bug Branch filled with Greed.
"Slurp~"
Dragon Grass quickly forgot its fear and lost itself in sucking.
After it had absorbed seven points of Greed in a row, a dark blue, purple-tinged [Flower of Greed] gradually bloomed, and then slowly produced a [Fruit of Greed].
Dark plucked the [Fruit of Greed] from its head, snipped off the [Stem of Greed] and saved it, then put the Dragon Grass back in its tank.
It immediately let out a happy cry and curled itself into a ball again.
Dark carefully covered the tank with a black cloth to block the light, turned, set the [Fruit of Greed] on the table, and chose the greenest of the three [Dragon-Bug Fruits].
First, the [Dragon-Bug Fruit] had to be "exterminated."
The worm in a [Dragon-Bug Fruit] wasn't a real insect. It had only some insect traits, was ecologically closer to a plant, and had no mind of its own.
But before Forging, the worm body still had to be "exterminated" so it wouldn't have a stress reaction.
Since this was his first time following Madam Plante's instructions, it took him quite a while to finish the "extermination," and then he used a special method to stir up the magic power inside the [Dragon-Bug Fruit].
Once the [Dragon-Bug Fruit] was properly treated, Dark remembered to borrow [Shuckle] from the classroom and had it ferment the [Fruit of Greed] into juice.
As for the [Dragon-Bug Fruit], he kept it in its original form so as not to damage its characteristics.
After he had a maid return [Shuckle] to the classroom, the real Forging experiment began.
He first drew a breath to focus his mind, then threw himself wholeheartedly into the experiment.
Although there were three [Dragon-Bug Fruits], the seven points of Greed he had already spent wouldn't regenerate.
So this Magical Transmutation, too, could only succeed. It could not fail!
Soon, he spread spirit nectar evenly over a blank Magic Guide Card and dripped on a single drop of brain-lobe essence water.
Once it had dried a little, he applied a layer of translucent yellowish "active egg fluid" and sprinkled on Grass "attribute powder," three times the usual amount to make sure the Grass leaning held.
Half an hour later,
Dark had completed all the early and middle steps and quickly, accurately drew the No. 1 Transmutation Circle.
During this, he had considered swapping the mercury core of his mana pen for the blood of a water drake, but since the water drake was a Water-attributed Dragon subspecies, he decisively gave up the idea.
The finished No. 1 Transmutation Circle looked fairly perfect.
He poured in magic power to activate it, first pouring in the juice pressed from the [Fruit of Greed (Dragon)], then adding the saliva catalyst and stirring it all together.
When a nebula-like vortex appeared in the circle's halo, he carefully lowered in the treated [Dragon-Bug Fruit], and finally sprinkled in some Grass attribute powder and other auxiliary materials.
The radiance of the No. 1 Transmutation Circle grew dazzling, then abruptly contracted.
All the materials were Fused and refined, and glowing threads drilled out of the card face, weaving the Magic Guide Card into a white cocoon.
Then he waited four minutes.
Only when the reaction inside the cocoon had completely stopped did Dark cut it open with his mercury knife.
The light that spilled from the gap told him this experiment had gone smoothly too.
When the light cocoon suddenly parted to either side like unspooling silk, a pool of surprisingly clear, viscous liquid poured out with a splash.
Dark hurriedly grabbed a towel and ringed it around the spot so the liquid wouldn't run off the table.
As he did, his gaze drifted to the Magic Guide Card that had clearly been Forged.
The card face was spotless, and a faint golden halo glowed along its edges.
It was unmistakably the mark of a gold card!
Dark was quite used to that by now. What he cared about was the card itself: what kind of Magic Guide Spirit had he Forged?
Was it an [Applin]?
The image on the card face gradually sharpened, and its outline was plainly different from an apple-shaped [Applin]!
Was it another Grass-type Pokémon with the [Gluttony] trait, then, a [Bellsprout] or a [Pansage]?
Clearly not that either.
The Magic Guide Spirit appearing on the card had neither the Grass attribute nor the Water attribute, and wasn't even a dragon!
Dark couldn't help showing a look of utter astonishment.
Although this "Basic Transmutation Method" was theoretically random as well, the race and attribute had been subdivided and the materials used were all related types. Under normal circumstances, there shouldn't have been any case of "something from nothing."
Yet the Magic Guide Spirit Forged this time had done exactly that.
With mixed feelings, he picked up the Magic Guide Card in his hand, took a careful look, and then couldn't help bursting out laughing.
This Magic Guide Spirit really did have a certain "all rivers flow into the sea" feel about it.
…
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