Darc frowned at the Mind Pipette in Morgan's hand.
"Why does it look so… sickly?"
Morgan replied lazily, "Been sitting around too long."
Then added, "A good one's not something you could afford anyway."
Charming.
A month of mental training had made Darc immune to petty provocation. "Let me see it."
Morgan handed it over.
Holding the pipette by its narrow neck, Darc examined it closely.
This wasn't mere aging from storage.
The brain sac had visibly deteriorated.
Mind Pipettes were alive. Intelligence rating: 0.1—barely above a paramecium. But life was still life.
Their normal lifespan was ten years.
This one was dying.
"How old is it?"
Morgan looked at him properly for the first time. "Eight years and six months."
"Still over a year left… acceptable."
"Price."
Morgan grinned. "One thousand credits."
In truth, even a dying pipette was worth far more. Morgan only quoted the price to prove Darc couldn't pay.
Darc thought this was normal pricing.
He even tried bargaining.
Morgan didn't budge.
"Fine. Wrap it."
"…Pay first."
Darc placed his Sorting Card atop Morgan's merchant card. With a thought, 1000 credits transferred.
Morgan stared at the card in disbelief.
A freshman. One month. One thousand credits?
But a deal was a deal.
He filled a bottle with water, placed the pipette inside, sealed it, and handed it over.
"Name?"
"Darc Dimon."
…
Darc had earned 1200 credits in one month.
Emma couldn't compete.
Answering questions. Assisting grading. Inventing long division.
Arithmetic class alone had become a credit farm.
After spending 1000, he still had 200 left.
He bought basic lab tools from a general store.
Traveler's Street trip: complete.
…
3 PM.
Most freshmen were still wandering.
Darc was already back in his dorm.
He had until Sunday to master the Mind Pipette.
He had borrowed The Mind Pipette Usage Guide from the 23rd shelf of the library.
It detailed everything:
Extracting specific memoriesAmplifying emotions to ease extractionRisks of permanent memory loss
One historical mage had accidentally extracted the concept of sadness from himself and could never feel sorrow again.
The safest method was called:
Dragonfly Skim.
Place the tip at the temple. Gently compress the brain sac. Absorb only naturally leaking emotions. Never probe deeper.
Darc skipped the emotional stimulation step.
He placed the tip against his temple.
Squeezed.
Released.
A thin black thread emerged.
"As expected. No need to stimulate anything. My Pride has been leaking on its own."
"System. Show indicators."
Pride: 112Envy: 44Wrath: 96Sloth: 60Greed: 82Gluttony: 58Lust: 90
Pride stood alone at the top.
As thread after thread was absorbed—
112 → 111
The pipette suddenly screamed.
Capacity reached.
"So this is how much Pride equals one unit."
He carefully stood up and moved to the cabinet.
He placed a blank magic card at the center.
These blank cards required extremely delicate craftsmanship. Buying them was easier. Traveler's Street sold them for 10 credits each.
Darc had bought five.
He pressed the pipette tip onto the blank card and squeezed hard, ignoring the pipette's shriek.
Dark-golden ink sprayed onto the card.
The pure white surface spread like ink dropped in water.
Something was forming.
Advance Chapters available on Patreon
https://patreon.com/RogerTL