Edited by Sustain
Time passed quickly, it was now the last week of the first semester.
On Wednesday, students finally relaxed after turning in their final homework for the semester.
The second class in the morning was the final summoning class, and Professor Silver explained the holiday matters clearly.
Since there was only one week and two days of vacation, there was no homework, which made the students who had survived the semester very happy.
Because Saint Marian's castle on the surface was located on the outskirts of the kingdom and was very far from the center of the kingdom, only a small number of students could complete a round trip in these nine days.
Though if they spent most of their time on the road, it was obviously meaningless.
So few students chose to go home.
However, unlike students, professors still wanted to go for a walk even if they didn't go home. They had various things to do.
After Friday, a large number of professors would leave the castle, and Professor Claire was one of them.
Of course, she wouldn't ride the slow magic locomotive.
From the castle to the royal capital, it would take at least a week, including changing stations and other needs.
That was too long.
Claire would only ride a dragon!
And dragons were a type of creatures that would not let anyone other than their masters sit on their backs even if they had been tamed. Fortunately, Dark didn't want to hitchhike a dragon from the beginning.
The first Christmas spent with classmates at the academy would be a very important part of a little magisters' academic life.
According to statistics, there were never more than five first-year students who chose to go home at this time every year.
The weather was getting colder.
Even the warm school uniforms were becoming less useful, and students started adding scarves around their necks and wearing gloves of all kinds.
The scarves and gloves were some of the rare items of clothing that were not regulated by the school rules.
The girls couldn't change the damn school uniforms, so they thought of ways to change the scarves and gloves to make themselves more beautiful and fashionable.
Every time DemiDevimon flew outside the castle, it would think proudly: "Among all the familiar spirits, only I, DemiDevimon, have a scarf!"
...
Two in the afternoon.
Dark met Pandora-senpai at the entrance of the library.
They made an appointment last night and agreed to meet at the laboratory this afternoon to study the production of [Fusion] cards together.
Pandora-senpai had experience in the [Fusion] production method, but she had only successfully made three cards in total; she had failed many times before.
It could be seen how difficult [Fusion] refining was!
Dark had long since given up hope of succeeding on the first try.
If it weren't for the fact that he wanted to take this opportunity to learn more about Pandora-senpai, he would probably continue to study for a month before trying.
But hands-on experimentation was actually a great way to speed up his learning.
It was just a bit more expensive.
"Senpai, have you handed in your final homework too?"
"Yeah."
Pandora looked relaxed and happy.
It seemed that even [Silver Dragon Maiden] couldn't withstanding the power of the final homework.
She added: "I'm free until Christmas. It's one of the few rare free days I have in the school in a year."
Dark asked curiously; "What about after Christmas?"
Pandora: "I'm going on a long trip."
Why did she say she was going on a long trip?
Because Saint Marian was her home.
Her only home.
...
Dark didn't ask her why, but turned the conversation back to school matters.
For example, seemingly casually asking her when she started working as a part-time librarian.
Pandora told him that it was the second month of the first year when Traveller Street just opened to first-year students.
She was hiding in the library all day as everyone ran to Traveller Street holding each other's hand. Then she was noticed by Ms. Bella.
Ms. Bella was really a kind person.
Every time Pandora mentioned her, there was a hint of admiration on her face.
Dark could see that she respected Ms. Bella as a mother.
This made him realize quickly.
Senpai's life experience was not good.
She probably had no relatives.
Before trying to get to know her, Dark didn't feel any sadness in her at all.
Was it a manifestation of strength?
Or was it just camouflage on the surface?
Or maybe he just didn't find out because he didn't really know her in the past?
This was very different from the impression that Pandora-senpai had always given him.
The more Dark learned, the more he felt that he was really shallow.
There always seemed to be a delicate softness hidden deep within a woman's heart.
They were used to wrapping a layer of steel around their soft inner core.
There was more than one woman with such a personality by Dark's side.
And Pandora Doragon was only fifteen years old.
The opportunity for her to enter Saint Marian came from an "invitation letter".
...
There were basically two ways to recruit students at Saint Marian.
One was active.
The other was passive.
In every summer vacation, the school would actively look for children with high magic energy responses.
These children who had exceeded a certain magic energy index would easily trigger a phenomenon called "magic energy outburst" when they did not receive the correct magic energy education.
This phenomenon was once called "the omen of the birth of the devil" in ancient times, and the children who caused the phenomenon would be marked as "children of the devil" and would be executed!
Dark Demon was actually one of the victims of this phenomenon.
And the culprit of the "magic energy outburst" was the second princess Anna.
This was the biggest factor in the deterioration of the relationship between the two.
Among first-year students, many of them were actively recruited by the school. Otherwise, with their family backgrounds, they would not even be able to get in touch with Saint Marian.
The other, passive way, was the so-called "application for admission".
Many Noble House students were tested and admitted through the applications made by their parents.
The school would charge a certain amount of tuition according to the family background of those students.
On the surface, the school would also accept donations.
But compared to the huge teaching resources of Saint Marian, that little donation was a drop in the bucket.
The school in itself had an unusually large economy, and they were self-sufficient to make money.
...
Among the classmates whom Dark was more familiar with, Robert, White, and Rose were all recruited by the school actively.
Emma, Sara, and Dianna were admitted through the "applications for admission" that their parents helped to submit.
Even if the "application for admission" was not submitted, the three of them would still receive an "invitation letter".
In addition, Dark had been actively recruited by the school.
If it weren't for the "invitation letter" that suddenly flew in, he would've still been staying in the Duchess’ house.
The Duchess originally wanted him to enter school one year later.
The reason was that he wasn't mature enough.
In other words, she was worried.
...
There were basically no classes on Wednesday afternoon.
In the castle where no one walked around, the cold wind swirled gently. Thus most students preferred to stay around the fireplace in the common room.
Dark and Pandora came to the laboratory.
Dark stepped in first, and then quickly made preparations for the experiment.
Pandora asked, "Has your [fusion] Magic Charm been written yet?"
Dark said with some embarrassment: "I encountered some obstacles."
Pandora smiled: "If you have any questions, you can tell me. Our core goal this afternoon is to adjust the [Fusion] Magic Charm to a usable level, which is more difficult than you think."
Dark responded: "I'm mentally prepared."
Having said that, Pandora-senpai was not a person who would teach baby birds how to flap their wings step by step. She was more like an eagle who would throw baby birds off a cliff so they could learn how to fly by themselves.
In other words, Dark had to rely on himself most of the time.
Pandora-senpai would only give some pointers at critical moments.
However, the more complex the Magic Charm, the more things needed to be involved.
There were a large number of links that needed to be scrutinized and verified by experiments.
Moreover, whether each spell, or even the usage of each spell, was correct or not, it needed to be determined through experimental results.
So it was indeed more difficult than Dark imagined.
After all, he had successfully written a usable [Curse Cage] Magic Charm, so he somewhat underestimated the difficulty of writing a magic charm.
However, the difficulty levels of the two were completely different!
Once the preparation started, neither of them had the heart to chat again.
Time quickly flew to 6:30 in the evening, and it was already dark outside.
But they still haven't started the experiment yet.
Dark packed up his tools and said, "Senpai, let me treat you tonight."
Pandora asked curiously, "A treat? In the cafeteria?"
Dark smiled mysteriously and pointed upwards.
...
What's it like to stand on top of a castle?
It's hard to imagine for someone who hasn't experienced it firsthand.
"Ooh!"
Dark opened his arms, facing the wind.
Apart from the Spiral Clock Tower, this was already the highest place in Saint Marian.
Now that Professor Didi had resigned, few people had the time to climb the top of the clock tower to look around.
So the probability of them being found was minimal.
Standing on the top of the castle and looking down, although the whole castle couldn't be seen at a glance, this kind of feeling made it even more magnificent.
The castle of Saint Marian itself was like a timeless art piece.
From the structure, decoration, and reliefs of the castle, it seemed that traces of every era could be found.
Dark was so immersed in it that he almost forgot about the girl beside him.
Pandora reached out and pressed down the blown strands of hair, she didn't seem to mind it.
...
Not long after, DemiDevimon, holding the vegetable basket with its claws and flapping its wings vigorously, appeared in their field of vision.
This charming scenic spot was initially discovered by DemiDevimon.
When it had nothing to do, it always liked to lie in this high place overlooking all living beings and… rolling around.
Looking at DemiDevimon's struggling appearance, Pandora couldn't help covering her mouth, smiling: "Is this your familiar spirit?"
Dark nodded proudly.
Pandora also summoned her familiar spirit, which was a round, cute little dragon with two small wings.
Its big belly made it look like a western dragon, but a closer look revealed that it was just an oriental dragon with a rounded belly.
Just a little shorter.
"Go!"
Pandora poked the little dragon's belly, and it reluctantly turned its head and flew toward DemiDevimon.
With the cooperation of two familiar spirits, the heavy basket full of tools and ingredients was finally pulled up.
Dark took the basket and took out the tools to assemble them skillfully.
This was a set of barbecue tools borrowed from the halfling chefs. The vegetables and meat that had been cut and washed in the vegetable basket were also prepared by the halfling chefs according to his instructions.
Dark didn't know if any students before him had done this.
But at least their legends did not circulate in the academy.
He quickly ignited the small magic energy stove with magic energy so the flames from the stove could heat up the bottom of the grill.
Glancing at Pandora, who had a nostalgic look, Dark asked curiously, "Senpai, have you ever had a barbecue before?"
Pandora pursed her lips slightly for a while and then said, "Yes. In the wild, barbecue is the easiest way to cook food, and it requires the least tools."
There were no fluctuations in her tone.
But it made Dark's expression drop.
He bit the bullet and asked, "Was it a field trip?"
Pandora chuckled, "It was for survival ."
...
It was impossible to generalize between people.
Dark used to think his grilling skills were average, if not top-notch. But it didn't take long for him to become an assistant who could only help in grilling.
DemiDevimon didn't even look at his finished product, but focused on the grilled product in Pandora's hands, drool dripping from the corner of its mouth.
In the impression of outsiders, Pandora should have been a girl from a wealthy family.
But now she showed incredible culinary skills.
Dark had a lot of questions, but he didn't ask anything in the end.
Pandora's eyes were not focused, as if she was lost in thoughts.
...
Nine o'clock sharp.
The biological clock rang in her heart.
Pandora glanced in the direction of the clock tower and slowly got up while pressing the skirt of her school uniform.
"Time to go."
"Mhm."
Dark moved too.
He turned around and hugged DemiDevimon, who had been snoring for some time.
The familiar spirit was such a wonderful creature.
Clearly, they didn't need to eat or sleep.
But DemiDevimon was able to both eat and sleep.
Dark held it like a baby, carried a basket full of tools and scraps, and went downstairs with Pandora-senpai.
Walking in the quiet and silent castle, the two tacitly did not make a sound.
Pandora would sometimes turn abruptly, and Dark would follow immediately.
Along the way, they did not encounter a single patrolling golem.
Dark sent her all the way outside the bridge of the Magister House tower.
Pandora walked across the bridge in a few steps, turned around at the other end of the bridge, held the hem of her skirt with one hand, and tucked her hair with the other, showing a bright smile.
"I am very happy tonight."
"Me too," Dark responded.
Link...
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