Friday's schedule was blissfully light—only one Dueling class in the morning.
At noon, the passage to Traveler's Street opened and would remain open until midnight on Sunday. During that time, every student in the academy could freely enter and exit.
Upperclassmen who had been cooped up for a week poured out like water released from a dam.
St. Marian provided all daily necessities for free—but anything beyond that had to be bought at Traveler's Street.
Students could spend their credits however they liked:
Strange candies. Toys. Accessories. Clothes. Dolls.
But most importantly—potions and materials for crafting magic cards.
Senior students often received assignments that required a week or even a month to complete. The materials had to be purchased here.
Some students even set up stalls, selling potions, items, and half-finished magic cards.
Those allowed into the dungeon hunted magical beasts and sold materials to merchants for credits.
At Traveler's Street, 1 credit ≈ 16 Holy Coins, fluctuating with the market.
Freshmen didn't yet realize that simply attending one class seriously earned them the equivalent of 160 coins.
Twelve classes a week.
That was a monthly income of 7,680 coins.
And today, Traveler's Street was about to teach some inattentive students a harsh lesson.
…
"Darc, want to go together?"
"Not today. I have something to do."
"Then Rose and I are going first! I heard there's a novelty candy shop!"
Diana dragged Rose off like a hurricane.
Darc shook his head. He had a very specific objective.
Before leaving, he took out a notebook filled with entries he had copied over the past month:
Vampire Fang — induces calm; side effect: intense pleasure from blood loss.Hat of Humility — forces humility; removing it triggers rage.Mermaid's Tear — slimming potion via induced anorexia.Margaret's Red Shoes — perfect dancing; cannot be removed.Catherine's Poison Apple — absorbs envy, causes eternal sleep.Grandet's Gold Coin — induces extreme greed and miserliness.Voodoo Doll — pain through envy.Jar of Desirelessness — removes desire, including desire to think.Starry Ring — induces cosmic insignificance and mental collapse.Mind Pipette — extracts emotions, desires, knowledge from the brain; overuse causes memory loss.Holy Cross — purifies mind; erodes brain.Soul Bell — induces absolute calm, even in death.Moon Deity Incense — purifies mind, improves focus.Wrath of God — turns anger into magical flames.
Page after page.
All items related to resisting the Seven Sins.
Most had unbearable side effects.
Two stood out as barely acceptable:
Mind Pipette and Moon Deity Incense.
The incense might dangerously amplify his hunger for knowledge.
So today's target was clear:
Mind Pipette.
An alchemical tool used in advanced magic-card crafting.
If used carefully and sparingly, it could extract emotions and desires.
Specifically—
Pride.
…
Only after the crowd thinned did Darc walk toward the castle gates.
Despite his inner urgency, his posture remained impeccably noble.
The passage to Traveler's Street was inside a pavilion at the center of the lake outside the castle.
After crossing a garden bridge, he arrived.
Eight stone tables. Each with eight stone stools.
A line carved into a pillar read:
If we search hard enough, there will always be room for improvement waiting somewhere.
Darc watched students sit, twist their hips, and vanish.
Others twisted for minutes and stayed put.
"The entrance shifts. Eight tables, eight stools each. Only the correct ones work."
He glanced at Robert and Veit, both red-faced from embarrassment.
Then calmly chose a stool no one had tried.
He waited patiently until others failed.
Then gently shifted his weight.
And disappeared.
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