"But you must remember one thing: you cannot use it in competition-related events."
After all, the school, in principle, does not allow us to give Magic Guide Cards to students without charge, even
this kind of semi-finished product..."
As Dark clearly read these two lines, Principal Cynthia's tightly furrowed brows finally relaxed.
As indispensable components of the academy, the Professors wield power within St. Marian far exceeding what appears on the surface.
Arbitrarily deducting or adding points is equivalent to arbitrarily fining or printing money.
Although they have their own set of rules to follow, they still possess a great deal of freedom.
Therefore, the selection of every new Professor is extremely troublesome.
This time, Professor Claire did not express an intention to remain, so Principal Cynthia would have to find new Professors. If she truly couldn't find a suitable candidate, she would have no choice but to shamelessly beg Professor Claire again.
Now, it seemed Professor Claire was indeed a good choice.
Principal Cynthia felt very satisfied.
As a smile spread across her lips, her body transformed into light, instantly reverting to the form of the griffin imp.
"Good night, Demon."
Dark's thoughts shifted, saying: "Good night, Principal."
Then, the two imps flapped their wings and slowly flew away.
Dark finally breathed a slight sigh of relief.
Principal Cynthia's very presence was a kind of pressure; he couldn't fully relax.
But now, he could study this gift from Claire more freely!
From between the lines, he had probably guessed that the Magic Guide Card Claire had given him was, more than eighty percent, none other than [Zoo]!
This was a huge surprise for Dark.
After all, at his current pace of study, even setting aside the material costs, just learning the refinement of [Zoo] would take at least until after the summer vacation.
His original idea had shifted from making [Zoo] as quickly as possible to attempting the challenge under Claire's guidance after returning for summer vacation.
But now, if he could get it in advance, it would not only help with his studies and research but also greatly aid in the early cultivation of [Bonds]!
Provided, of course, that it really was [Zoo]!
Dark flipped the Christmas card over to the back.
The first line read:
"Shh, Principal Cynthia definitely thinks this is [Zoo]! Don't tell anyone."
"Uh..."
In that instant, Dark's face went blank.
If it wasn't [Zoo], then what could it be?
He looked up, involuntarily glancing in the direction the two imps had left, then instinctively closed the window tightly and drew the curtains before continuing to read.
▼
Press your thumb on the fingerprint impression at the bottom right corner of the Christmas card and inject magic power; you will then know how to complete that semi-finished Magic Guide Card.
Once you succeed, you will know what it is.
Of course.
If you fail...
Then it's better if you don't know.
D'ω'D[Cat Sigh.jpg]
▲
Dark frowned, then looked up at the wall clock.
"It's eleven o'clock, but I haven't used my brain much today, so I feel pretty good."
Even he couldn't bear to wait until tomorrow morning to continue at this point.
He quickly found the fingerprint impression on the bottom right of the Christmas card.
When he pressed his thumb onto the impression, he had the illusion of "fingerprint unlocking."
In any case, after injecting a wisp of magic power, information flowed back.
He read the information, picking up a pen and paper from the desk to quickly record it.
The level of this semi-finished Magic Guide Card far exceeded the semi-finished costume card [Tuxedo Mask Set] that Dark had previously activated, and its complexity even surpassed that of the academy cards.
But Claire had completed almost all the refinement steps, leaving only two steps: akin to injecting personal information and the final refinement.
The subtlety of this technique was truly masterful.
Dark wrote down the detailed methods for both steps, gulped down the apple juice on the table, and as his mind gradually cleared, he began to repeatedly read and understand.
This took about half an hour.
Afterward, he used [Meditation Art] to clear his distracting thoughts, then began the final completion of the Magic Guide Card.
"The first thing to do is to draw an array with magic power on your fingertip!"
This was an extremely clever imprinting method.
Ordinary methods involve drawing the array pattern on the Magic Guide Card with a magic pen, but this method involves drawing the array directly on the fingertip, then pressing the completed magic array onto the Magic Guide Card all at once, as if stamping it!
This demanded extremely high control over magic power.
Dark had practiced this while learning [Zoo] refinement and was already very skilled.
But this was merely the foundation.
The key to the first step was successfully imprinting the magic array onto the correct position on the Magic Guide Card.
That is, the infusion of personal information!
The more sophisticated a Magic Guide Card, the more pronounced its "personalization" became.
The Magus's thoughts, magic power, soul, and other factors would cause different changes in the Magic Guide Card. Various adjustments made to the Magic Guide Card, taking all these factors into account, would result in only the Magus themselves being able to use that Magic Guide Card.
At this level, there was no need for a "mind lock" to ensure the Magic Guide Card could not be used by others.
And the so-called "mind lock" was a "mark of soul and thought."
It was equivalent to a binding measure.
Often used to protect Magic Guide Cards from being snatched and misused.
The difference was that a "mind lock" could be unlocked.
However, a Magic Guide Card with obvious "personalization" had no lock to begin with and could only be used by its owner!
Among the information Claire left, there were over a hundred questions that needed answering.
These questions required him to answer in a rapid-fire, seconds-per-answer format, while maintaining the state of "pressing the magic array into the Magic Guide Card," to reduce thinking time.
All the questions were very simple and intuitive, with only conceptual distinctions, not right or wrong answers.
For example: "What does the paradise in your heart look like?"
As long as he could envision a paradise in his mind, it counted as passed.
Even so, the entire process still consumed an enormous amount of mental energy.
By the time Dark completed this step, he was drenched in sweat!
He abruptly released his hand and saw numerous magic arrays, shining with different lights, continuously appearing on the Magic Guide Card's surface, layering, expanding, and contracting. He knew then that this semi-finished Magic Guide Card had been correctly activated.
But next, he still needed to continue injecting magic power.
And he had to meticulously adjust and optimize each magic array with magic power.
Although he had learned all these things in Claire's after-school lessons, he didn't have much practical experience.
So, everything had to be done with extreme caution.
However, Claire had clearly assessed his abilities before sending this semi-finished Magic Guide Card as a gift.
Thus, he ultimately made no major blunders, completing the first step relatively perfectly, and the Magic Guide Card, having received his infused thoughts, underwent a dramatic transformation!
In short, it gradually took on his shape!
This kind of semi-finished Magic Guide Card was many times harder to complete than crafting a Magic Guide Card itself.
Moreover, the crafting difficulty of this Magic Guide Card was already at its limit.
The deeper Dark delved, the more shocked he became, even doubting he could acquire such ability before graduation.
Claire truly lived up to her title as a "Sage"!
The second step was the final refinement.
In this step, what he needed to do was not add materials or engrave refinement arrays—in fact, these steps had already been completed.
According to Claire's message, this semi-finished Magic Guide Card had a program set to run automatically after activation.
So, in this step, he only needed to place the Magic Guide Spirit Cards he had personally refined around this semi-finished Magic Guide Card, upon each of the magic arrays that would subsequently appear!
This semi-finished Magic Guide Card would collect information from a large number of Magic Guide Spirit Cards, thereby perfecting the Magic Guide Card itself, to refine the final product.
Dark had long been prepared.
All the previous magic, with the completion of the first step, had already merged into the Magic Guide Card.
This time, he used his magic pen to touch the card face, and as magic power flowed in, over a dozen magic arrays instantly popped out, centering around the Magic Guide Card, appearing on the same plane, forming a ring!
Dark first picked up a [Magic Beast: Eevee] and placed it on the grey magic array representing general attributes of bird-beast type.
Then he picked up a [Trash Slime] and placed it on the green magic array representing plant-type grass attributes.
Next was [Shuckle], an insect-type rock attribute;
[Gatomon], a bird-beast type light attribute;
[Miltank], a bird-beast type general attribute;
[Sylveon], a bird-beast type fairy attribute;
[Magic Beast: Ditto], an elemental-type general attribute;
[Hawlucha], a bird-beast type fighting/flying attribute;
[Popplio], a bird-beast type water attribute;
And finally, [Curse Cage: DemiDevimon], a demon-type dark attribute!
A total of ten Magic Guide Spirit Cards.
After placing these ten Magic Guide Spirit Cards on the ten magic arrays, Dark used his magic pen to click away the remaining magic arrays one by one, before triggering the subsequent process.
The ten magic arrays gradually began to rotate on their own axis and revolve around the semi-finished Magic Guide Card.
They actually formed a galaxy map!
By this point in the experiment, Dark had developed an exceptionally strong anticipation for this semi-finished Magic Guide Card.
What kind of Magic Guide Card was this, that even its final completion required gathering such a vast amount of information?
It seemed somewhat similar to the refinement method for [Zoo].
But [Zoo] clearly didn't require such a complex procedure.
Although the step of "collecting information" didn't look that difficult, the core of this Magic Guide Card lay in how it processed this information...
Where exactly would it use this information?
But impatience was useless.
At this moment, he could only wait!
Time passed by bit by bit.
The Magic Guide Card continued to operate autonomously, even leading one to suspect it was stuck!
Dark tried to restrain his restless hand and continued to wait.
Until after midnight.
The ten magic arrays suddenly retracted!
The ten Magic Guide Spirit Cards consequently scattered across the table.
"Is it over?"
But just as Dark thought the final refinement was finally complete, new magic arrays reappeared on the Magic Guide Card's surface!
On the self-rotating magic arrays, constantly emerging were scenes of fantastical mountains and seas, along with some very modernized amusement park facilities.
Such as Ferris wheels, haunted houses, roller coasters, carousels, bumper cars, log flumes...
But ultimately, the scenes of these facilities all disappeared.
Only an empty fountain plaza remained on the magic arrays.
In the end, even the fountain was gone!
The magic arrays rapidly contracted.
The semi-finished Magic Guide Card released one last powerful flash, then settled into calm.
Completion successful!
After restraining himself for two minutes, Dark finally, unable to hide his excitement, picked it up.
The Magic Guide Card's face had formed, revealing a scene of a paradise with a giant Ferris wheel in the background and a carousel in the foreground!
The paradise under the dark night was quiet and peaceful; semi-extinguished neon lights provided the only remaining illumination.
The carousel, adorned with colorful lights, slowly turned to silent music.
The Ferris wheel in the background behind it was submerged in the night sky, with only half of it still lit.
Further in the distant background were undulating mountain ranges.
The moment magic power was injected.
A massive amount of information flowed back.
Dark was momentarily surprised.
This was indeed another Field Card.
And it was an advanced card constructed upon [Zoo]—[Paradise]!
This Field Card, named Paradise by Claire, was a unique Field Card she created through her many years of travels.
However, Claire's own [Paradise] was a natural paradise encompassing various elements such as grasslands, forests, mountains, valleys, and lakes.
But the [Paradise] that Dark completed was themed after an amusement park.
Even more incredible, this [Paradise] was not yet finalized!
After its refinement, including the initial information collection, it had a total of seven opportunities to input information and readjust!
Which meant six opportunities remained.
This implied that this [Paradise] was only version 1.0; it could still have versions 2.0, 3.0, all the way up to 7.0!
With Dark's current knowledge, he couldn't even imagine how Claire achieved this.
"Is this the Hero who has been sung about since the war era?"
Dark gained a deeper understanding of the power of a "Hero."
He glanced at his bedroom and unfolded [Paradise] indoors!
Field Cards generally have two deployment methods: full deployment and partial deployment.
The magic power stored by a Magus in a Field Card generally lasts for about three minutes.
After that, the Magus needs to inject it themselves!
Naturally, partial deployment consumes much less magic power.
Of course, there are also Field Cards like Claire's [Zoo], which can form an energy cycle with bird-beast type Magic Guide Spirits within the field and possess an "energy-saving mechanism" that absorbs external energy to replenish itself.
The [Paradise] in Dark's hand was of this type.
A single deployment could last for more than half an hour.
If a certain amount of magic power was continuously injected after deployment, it could easily last for twenty-four hours.
Moreover, like [Zoo], it also allowed Magic Guide Spirits that form an energy cycle to live there for extended periods.
However, the Magic Guide Spirits that could form an energy cycle with the [Paradise] field were limited to the ten that had already been registered.
As Dark partially deployed [Paradise], the radiance emanating from the Magic Guide Card illuminated the entire bedroom, and a carousel appeared in the empty space beside the bed.
"Tap-tap-tap?"
"Whimper?"
"Moo!"
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