Chapter 849: Seven Discounts – Dark Demon Never Bullies
Dark Demon was never one to kick someone when they were down.
Therefore, after securing his victory, he retracted his mana golem and turned towards the competitors’ platform, leaving behind a shattered-hearted Hank Willard, known as the “Giant Beast.”
Hank Willard’s mind was in disarray. The cheers that filled his ears transformed into mockery within his head, making his expression increasingly grim.
As the saying goes, the louder the boasting before the match, the more humiliating the defeat.
Hank Willard wasn’t particularly bad-tempered; he just had an unreliable mouth that often caused trouble.
If everything went smoothly, there wouldn’t be any issues.
But once faced with setbacks, what was bound to break always did.
Outside the academy, no one would indulge him anymore.
Relying solely on brute strength to solve all problems was absolutely impossible.
Losing to Dark today was indeed a lesson.
One could only hope he would recognize himself and accept the洗礼 (baptism).
After Dark left the competitors’ platform, he walked out of the outdoor duel arena and summoned his mana golems from his deck. Then, he headed towards the hidden laboratory behind the teacher’s dormitory.
The professors had made new discoveries after a week of research.
Although he didn’t fully participate, this experiment centered around him, so he needed to try out the final adjustments.
Thus, on weekends, he frequently visited that laboratory.
Every time, Professors Kazel, Harvey, and Eralganie were present. He could then bring up the questions he had accumulated over the week and get answers.
However, starting this Friday, he couldn’t stay in the hidden place all day.
At seven o’clock in the evening, Dark arrived at Professor Heldred Bode’s office for the second class of “Mana Language.”
Before officially starting the lesson, Professor Bode spent extra time testing the students’ grasp of the first lesson’s content.
Besides Dark, only Sarah and Emma had fully mastered the previous lesson’s content.
Sarah aside, it was quite unexpected that Emma had fully grasped it. It must have taken her incredible effort during the past 48 hours.
Professor Heldred Bode was very satisfied and praised her unusually.
This made Heidi, who had already mastered third-year content and joined the “Hidden Snake” organization, feel extremely ashamed.
As for Diana, Rose, and Wit, they hadn’t advanced to third-year content, so learning was slower.
However, their situation didn’t affect Professor Heldred Bode’s teaching progress.
He continued teaching at Dark’s pace without accommodating others.
…
The five-hour-long lesson ended at midnight.
Professor Heldred Bode didn’t say much. After the lesson, he gave the students only five minutes to organize themselves before leaving.
Naturally, he ignored the curfew tonight.
Clearly, he didn’t take it seriously, and since Dark and the others passed the curfew last time, they would pass again this time.
Anyway, Dark was there!
Dark estimated Professor Heldred Bode’s thoughts were roughly like this.
“Fine, I’ll understand their learning situation while escorting them back.”
Dark thought silently and asked after Professor Bode left.
He didn’t realize he had instinctively adopted a professorial demeanor.
But after asking two questions, Wit dodged, “Oh, right, Dark. Robert asked me to tell you something… Eh? Why is there a sound over there?”
Everyone stopped simultaneously, looked in the direction of the sound, and listened intently.
It seemed like someone’s footsteps, but very regular, moving back and forth within a certain range.
“Who’s still outside so late?” Dark frowned and whispered, “Where are the patrol golems in the castle?”
“Let’s go check?” Wit suggested excitedly.
The others also seemed interested, except Emma, who merely glanced over and showed no interest.
Dark thought for a moment and said, “Let’s go check. Hopefully, it’s nothing bad…”
Students who haven’t returned to their dorms by midnight are either night-wandering against their will or suffering from bullying.
The latter, Dark had seen before.
Don’t look at how high the overall quality of Saint Maryann Academy students is; there are still plenty who enjoy pranks.
Some even treat “bullying” as a form of “prank” and do it happily.
If they happened to encounter a bullying incident, it would need to be addressed!
Dark took a step forward, leading everyone quickly towards the source of the sound.
After turning two corners, he finally saw the source of the sound!
“Hank Willard?”
What appeared in his vision was clearly his opponent from the afternoon duel!
“W-Willard Senior?”
Wit exclaimed in surprise after seeing him.
Others who were less familiar looked strange.
Hank Willard stood with his hands behind his back, hopping up and down like a giant frog on the stairs.
Tall and muscular, he hopped two steps each time.
On his shoulders, there was a familiar-looking summon creature with big eyes and wings.
What was unusual was that the creature’s big eye occasionally flashed with numbers.
—It was counting!
…
“xxxxx7! xxxxx8!”
While hopping, Hank Willard counted out loud, suddenly emitting a peculiar aura that made the patrol golems avoid him.
Where there’s demand, there’s innovation.
Students wanted “freedom at night,” so they needed to avoid the patrol golems.
In a group of students skilled in high-level mana technology, it was only a matter of time before they figured out how to evade the golems.
But the guardian golems in each tower weren’t as easy to fool as the patrol ones. Once students chose to wander at night, they couldn’t return to their dorms after curfew!
“Cough!”
Dark watched Hank Willard, still persisting in his exercises despite his appearance, and couldn’t help but speak up, “Senior Willard, still exercising at this hour?”
Hank Willard had heard the approaching footsteps, but he had been surrounded many times tonight, making his face tougher than iron.
Especially after being surrounded by third and fourth-year juniors, he considered himself invulnerable!
Until that familiar, demonic voice broke everything!
Hank Willard’s ears visibly reddened.
Without turning his head or responding, he stopped hopping and jumped upstairs, sprinting towards another staircase far away!
“Uh…”
Seeing Hank Willard disappear like a plague, Dark couldn’t help but touch his nose, feeling somewhat awkward.
“I was thinking about offering to help with the curfew…”
His words elicited varied reactions from the others.
Wit turned to look at Dark, eyes showing a strange expression, “Sometimes, Dark can be quite straightforward…”
Hank Willard’s appearance was just a minor interruption.
Everyone continued toward the mana academy’s tower.
Dark briefly mentioned today’s events and moved on from the topic.
…
That night quickly passed.
The next morning.
At eight o’clock, Dark left for the outdoor duel arena to prepare for today’s warm-up.
Today’s opponent, compared to Hank Willard yesterday, wasn’t particularly famous, belonging to the type you’d forget where you heard the name.
But this didn’t mean the opponent was weak; he might rarely participate in duels, and this was just a coincidence.
Of course, even if he was truly weak, there had been instances in mana duels where luck alone led to surprising victories.
Dark cautiously stepped onto the competitors’ platform and walked off three minutes later.
“Lucky.”
He thought, feeling relieved.
These consecutive victories hadn’t pushed him past Matthew Billbrom’s twelfth place.
Nor had they widened the gap between him and Eluria Clarissa in thirteenth place, but at least he stabilized his position.
He checked the schedule. Eluria Clarissa had four matches this Monday. If she won all four, she would surpass him and move to thirteenth place.
He would fall back to fourteenth.
Below him, the fifteenth-ranked player had applied for five matches.
However, this player lost both matches yesterday and temporarily dropped to sixteenth, nearing elimination.
Clearly, many considered him an easy target, so many challenged him.
The player who entered fifteenth due to this momentum was strong and should not be underestimated.
As for sixteenth and beyond…
It was likely intense competition.
Dark carefully calculated. His ranking was relatively stable; unless he suffered consecutive defeats, he wouldn’t drop out of the top sixteen.
Advancing to the top sixteen was just the first goal.
From the qualification round to the main tournament, the “Golden Cup” had a single-elimination round where eight players would be eliminated, reducing the main tournament participants from sixteen to eight, followed by a double-elimination round.
To avoid a quick exit, players should aim for the top eight.
The rules for the first round of single-elimination were that the top eight ranked players would sequentially pick opponents from the bottom eight ranked players for duels!
To avoid a quick exit, the top eight players usually picked weaker opponents from the bottom eight or those with strategic weaknesses.
Of course, occasionally, due to grudges, arrogance, or wanting to challenge stronger players, some choices might seem inexplicable.
Generally, the higher the ranking, the better.
This would make the top eight players estimate your strength higher, thus avoiding battles with the top few players.
Dark Diemon had reached the point where he needed to consider advancing to the second round in the main tournament.
…
During the day, Dark continued assisting the professors in experimenting with “Demon King Two” in the hidden laboratory.
Professor Steven Harvey had completed the “Soul Book” containing all knowledge of “Demon King Two” and replicated several copies for backup.
Eralganie immediately snatched one from his hands. Dark rubbed his head and asked for one too.
The contents of the “Soul Book” were diverse and unorganized but could be searched through with mental energy.
Dark occasionally took breaks to flip through the “Soul Book.”
Basically, the knowledge recorded in “Into the Abyss” could be found here.
If this book became public, it would surely become a coveted treasure.
But now, considering the saints had detained Demon Kings for many years, they must have their own “Soul Book.”
They certainly extracted a large amount of live blood from Demon Kings as reserves.
If the saints wanted, they could potentially cultivate many new demons.
They might even add sacred elements to these new demons, transforming them into special beings.
“Frightening.”
Dark shook his head, gathering his scattered thoughts.
…
At noon.
Dark and the professors ate in the laboratory.
Eralganie suddenly said she wanted to try “dieting” and eat only two meals a day.
Dark looked at her slender waist and confirmed she was just joking, so he ignored her.
Steven Harvey said proudly at the table, “Do you remember the dream machine?”
Dark’s heart stirred, “Developed?”
Harvey raised his finger, waving it, “Using Demon King Two as an experimental subject recently, we accumulated a lot of experience and accidentally succeeded.”
“Even though we broke through the final stage last night, with my help…” Eralganie muttered quietly.
Harvey’s expression stiffened but quickly recovered, “That’s making full use of resources!”
Dark instantly understood. He used Eralganie’s “Brain of Wisdom.”
But solving problems with “Brain of Wisdom” meant they were incredibly difficult.
The final results would undoubtedly be impressive.
He couldn’t help but ask, “How complete is it?”
Harvey said proudly, “If I say it’s essentially the same as what the Mud Nightmare Demon can achieve, would you believe it?”
Dark smiled, “There’s nothing unbelievable about that.”
Harvey smiled, “Moreover, I opened a window in the ‘dream,’ connecting it to reality. Maintaining a dream under such conditions is something even the Mud Nightmare Demon can’t do! Thanks to Eralganie.”
“Brain of Wisdom” is really useful!
Dark said, “Is it really that magical? Let’s try after eating.”
…
…
[What’s going on? Why can’t I see the moon ticket? What’s happening?]
[I have to go out for something. I’ll write when I return.]
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