In the end, they were all just fairly useless materials, so of course he tossed in as much as he could.
As Dark kept adding them, he couldn't help but recall the circumstances of last year, when he had transmuted "Shuckle."
He couldn't help but smile, and then he flicked in a bit of powder ground from a Vine Monster. In that very instant, the No. 1 Transmutation Circle blazed with light, its reaction growing noticeably more intense.
"Enough already?"
Something stirred in Dark's heart, and he immediately concentrated, fine-tuning with his mana.
Only a moment later, all of the materials were drawn into the light circle.
The No. 1 Transmutation Circle also rapidly contracted.
But this time the materials were clearly far too mixed and impure, so even after the transmutation circle began to contract, it still spent quite a while continuing to smelt them.
After that, a large amount of impurities was spewed out.
Those solid-and-liquid mixed impurities were pitch-black and foul-smelling, and the stench made all the Magic Guide Spirits whimper and squeal.
Sylveon shot a disgusted glance at the experiment table, then used its ribbons to open the window, quickly airing the room out.
It wasn't until several minutes later that the Magic Guide Card, just as expected, formed itself into a cocoon of light.
Dark quietly wiped away a bit of sweat, lowered the hand that had been covering his nose, and got ready to see his prize!
...
Dark's most ideal Magic Guide Spirit would of course be Bulbasaur, one of the three starters from the original Pokémon series—after all, that was a memory of his youth, with a nostalgia bonus attached.
But magic transmutation had never been a matter of getting whatever you wanted.
He held his breath, drew a small mercury knife from the rack, and sliced open the cocoon of light. At once, a puddle of even more foul-smelling black water flowed out.
"What on earth did I even transmute?"
Dark hurriedly covered his nose again, switching one-handed to a pair of tweezers, and carefully pinched the Magic Guide Card out of the black water, placing it under the faucet to rinse.
As the filth on the surface of the Magic Guide Card was gradually washed away, a sliver of light radiated out.
It was a purple glow—rather rare among the Magic Guide Spirit Cards Dark had transmuted!
White, blue, purple, orange, gold.
This purple quality sat in the middle of the five-color quality spectrum—merely average.
But in truth, Dark was already very satisfied.
"Even with just these materials I could transmute a purple card. It seems my luck with magic transmutation really is pretty good."
In his delight, Dark couldn't wait to slide the water-dripping Magic Guide Card right in front of him.
"This is…?"
Once he saw the face of that Magic Guide Card, Dark abruptly knit his brows tight.
The pattern displayed on the card face was not any Magic Guide Spirit he had guessed.
"Lately I keep feeling like a lot of things are out of my control."
Dark couldn't help rubbing the spot between his brows, gradually letting his furrowed brow relax.
Then he set the Magic Guide Card down and quickly cleaned up the foul-smelling mess on the table.
First tidy the tabletop, then examine the Magic Guide Card.
No rush...
It was a few minutes later that he finally picked up this Magic Guide Card that had so caught him off guard.
Only to see, displayed plainly on the card face, a magic book strikingly similar to the crest of the Magic House!
He had originally wanted to use the Lolo Tree Frog's skin to transmute a frog-type Magic Guide Spirit.
But what ended up becoming the "core" seemed to be the book Blood Sacrifice itself?
Although he completely couldn't understand the principle behind it, the fact that even such a haphazard transmutation could succeed was already lucky enough.
But just what use would this Magic Guide Spirit shaped like a magic book be?
The first thing Dark thought of was Honedge, which was likewise an "item," and then he thought of "Rotom" from the Pokémon world.
And so he came to have even more expectations for this Magic Guide Spirit shaped like a magic book.
"I can finally give it a proper study."
Dark channeled his mana into the Magic Guide Card, and soon received feedback.
...
[Card Name: Magic Guide Scribe]
[Type: Spirit Card]
[Level: ??]
[Species: Fairy Species]
[Attribute: Fairy-type]
[Mana: 1000]
[Attack: 0]
[Defense: 0]
[Ultimate Moves: Auto-Scribe, Auto-Summon]
...
"A two-star Magic Guide Spirit named 'Magic Guide Scribe,' huh?"
"This should be my second two-star Magic Guide Spirit—it can make up for my shortage of two-star sacrifices."
"Mana 1000, that's a top-tier value for two-star."
"Attack and defense both at 0, which means it isn't suited to fighting head-on."
"Still, a magic book like this couldn't possibly fight on the front lines anyway; it's bound to be a support type."
"Let me have a looksee at its two Ultimate Moves..."
The most important elements of a Magic Guide Spirit Card are its star rank and its Ultimate Moves.
The Ultimate Moves are the key to whether a Magic Guide Spirit Card is useful.
The star rank, in turn, is the key to whether the Ultimate Moves can take effect.
Dark first looked at this first Ultimate Move—"Auto-Scribe"!
"The name of this Ultimate Move always makes me think of that magic tome library with a hundred and three thousand grimoires... I wonder if it has that kind of function for automatically casting magic?"
[Auto-Scribe: Capable of automatically recording text, images, and other information.]
"That's it?"
"Isn't this just the equivalent of gaining one more auto-transcribing notebook?"
Once he understood the function of "Auto-Scribe," Dark couldn't help darkening his face.
But only three seconds later, a thought struck him, and he suddenly cheered up again: "Being able to automatically record text and images, that actually seems not bad?"
For a normal Magic Guide Master with only average mana talent, this Ultimate Move would in fact be quite useless.
But for Dark, whose mana recovery rate alone was enough to offset the mana consumption of a Magic Guide Spirit, it amounted to truly gaining one more automatic recording machine!
What's more, he could even use a "Major Sin Card" to awaken its intelligence.
Once this "Magic Guide Scribe's" intelligence level was raised to nearly human level, it would be far more than a mere automatic recording machine—at the very least, an automatic typing machine!
An automatic typing machine—enough to make every writer beneath the heavens die of envy!
That would be the equivalent of evolving from a paper notebook into a computer!
The moment he thought of this, Dark faintly had the feeling of having struck gold.
"No rush, there's still one more Ultimate Move!"
Restraining the urge to immediately use a "Major Sin Card," Dark looked at the second Ultimate Move—"Auto-Summon"!
The name of this "Auto-Summon" Ultimate Move would, at first glance, give people some rather impractical associations.
But with "Auto-Scribe" as a precedent, Dark's mindset was much more level, so after he understood it he didn't feel any disappointment.
If anything, he even felt a little secret glee.
[Auto-Summon: Select one summoning technique to record; can perform summoning in place of the Magic Guide Master. The recording target is limited to the Magic Guide Master himself.]
"Record a summoning technique, auto-summon... this is simply fantastic! As long as I record Normal Summoning, I'll never again need to spend nearly half an hour summoning 'Leomon.'"
The first thing Dark thought of was the convenience in daily life; only afterward did he turn his thoughts toward dueling.
He immediately discovered that this "Auto-Summon" Ultimate Move was also quite practical in duels.
According to the description, the summoning technique recorded by this "Magic Guide Scribe" must be one mastered by the Magic Guide Master himself.
Although each summoning required consuming 100 points of mana, the summoning speed and cooldown were kept consistent with the recording target—the Magic Guide Master himself.
If what was recorded was "Normal Summoning," it would mean that the speed of normal summoning was directly doubled, and he could even consider using Normal Summoning to summon a four-star Magic Guide Spirit!
If what was recorded was "Sacrificial Summoning," it would mean he could entrust the task of "Sacrificial Summoning" to the "Magic Guide Scribe," or, when he had enough sacrifices, simultaneously perform Sacrificial Summoning of two high-star Magic Guide Spirits.
Besides that, no matter which summoning technique it was, it could free up more decision-making time for the Magic Guide Master himself.
Making good use of the "Magic Guide Scribe" would surely boost his combat power significantly.
"But the question right now is, can the 'Magic Guide Scribe,' with both attack and defense at 0, survive for long within a dueling field?"
"How long is the switching cooldown for 'Auto-Summon' to record a summoning technique?"
"Let me summon it out and take a look first!"
Thinking this, Dark immediately used Normal Summoning to summon out the "Magic Guide Scribe."
The "Magic Guide Scribe" that materialized within the summoning light was roughly the size of a sheet of 4K paper, with a thickness exceeding three centimeters, completely different from Blood Sacrifice, the core material.
But when Dark grasped it in his hand, he didn't feel the slightest weight at all.
Just as its species—Fairy Species—suggested, this "Magic Guide Scribe" was the fairy of a magic book: outwardly steady and solid, but in reality illusory and ethereal.
With just a little force, his fingers passed straight through the book.
Clearly it too shifted between substance and void.
This kind of structure, much like a ghost, was inherently endowed with extremely high physical immunity.
And there was no need even to test it—its spell resistance was, in all likelihood, quite low.
In actual combat, he could absolutely keep the "Magic Guide Scribe" by his side, but within a dueling field, it, like the Magic Sphere, belonged to the category of things that needed protecting.
Fortunately, the length and width of a sheet of 4K paper weren't especially large, and its substance-and-void nature also ensured it could hide in some not-too-large crevices, making it easy to protect itself.
...
"In the name of Dark Demon, Magic Guide Summon!"
A magnificent dark-golden light lit up the bedroom. From the face of the "Pride I" card flew out the light orb of "Pride," which in an instant bored into the "Magic Guide Scribe."
Only a moment later, the magic book that had been floating motionlessly above his palm began to tremble violently.
It was as if, after a glacier had melted, an ancient life sealed within the glacier had awakened from its eternal slumber.
Consciousness and body became connected.
The "Magic Guide Scribe" had obtained the sentience that Magic Guide Spirits find so hard to attain!
Although Dark had grown accustomed to it, bestowing the sentience of a higher life upon a quasi-life was always a power that seemed like a miracle.
And amid this miracle, the "Magic Guide Scribe" was reborn anew!
This Magic Guide Spirit, which in actual combat could at most assist with summoning, had its own value comprehensively sublimated!
"Magic Guide Scribe 0001, offering my loyalty to my master!"
What astonished Dark to no end was that this Magic Guide Spirit, which was not a Digimon, had unexpectedly mastered the ability of "language" the very instant its sentience was awakened.
Although its voice was mechanical and stiff like an AI's, it was clearly making statements by relying on its own will.
"'0001' is too much of a mouthful, so I'll just call you 01, Zero-One."
"Yes, Master, I am Zero-One, I am Zero-One, beep beep beep, beep beep beep."
Watching the Magic Guide Scribe happily spin in circle dances through the air, Dark suddenly realized that beneath its "knowledgeable" exterior there very likely hid a "goofball" heart.
He pondered for a moment, then suddenly asked: "Zero-One, since you now possess the ability to recognize sound, can you convert sound into written records?"
"I can try, I can try, beep beep beep!"
"Attempt failed, attempt failed, beep beep beep!"
So noisy!
Dark hurriedly said: "What's the reason for the failure?"
The Magic Guide Scribe immediately responded: "Reporting to Master, Zero-One can't read, beep beep beep!"
"All right then!"
Dark took a deep breath; this was indeed a problem.
But who could have imagined that a book wouldn't be able to read?
"Looks like I'll have to teach it from scratch again. Still, a Magic Guide Scribe able to automatically record text and images shouldn't be bad at learning. Now there's another problem..."
Dark couldn't help looking at the Magic Guide Scribe that was still spinning in circles, and casually picked up a pen from the desk: "Zero-One, can you record images from reality, for instance... this pen!"
"I can try, I can try, beep beep beep!"
The Magic Guide Scribe finally stopped spinning, automatically flipped open to its first page, and then aimed at the pen and began recording.
The recording process was just like a sketching process.
On that page, at a speed visible to the naked eye, the entirety of a pen was drawn out!
Apart from being black-and-white 2D, even the details were completely identical!
This was far more than sketching—it was simply photography!
"Very good!"
By this moment, Dark had gained a new understanding of this Magic Guide Scribe.
The function of "Auto-Scribe" was far stronger than he had imagined.
From now on, whether it was reading notes or recording scenery, everything would be much more convenient.
When he encountered a mural that needed recording, it could also save the time of drawing.
If, through education, the "Magic Guide Scribe" could gain the ability to process this kind of text-and-image information, it would transform even further.
"From now on, you'll just stay by my side."
"Thank you, Master... Hmph! It's not like I'm happy about getting to stay by Master's side! Beep beep beep! Beep beep beep!"
"Hm? Still under the influence of 'Pride'? Then never mind. Now let's test the function of 'Auto-Summon.'"
...
Testing "Auto-Summon" was also very simple.
Dark held the "Magic Guide Scribe's" Magic Guide Card in his hand, infused it with mana to form a mana cycle, and then began to cast "Normal Summoning."
At the instant the summoning succeeded, this summoning of his was completely recorded by the "Magic Guide Scribe."
From then on, until he switched summoning techniques, the "Magic Guide Scribe" would keep using this template to perform auto-summoning.
With this function, summoning out Magic Guide Spirits one by one later in the dormitory or elsewhere would be very convenient.
The limitation was that only one summoning technique could be recorded at a time.
Moreover, the cooldown for switching summoning techniques was as long as an hour, so it basically couldn't be switched freely.
But even so, it was already an extremely useful Ultimate Move.
To be able to transmute such a rare and useful Magic Guide Spirit out of a pile of "junk"—he really couldn't ask for any more!
"A greedy heart, like a snake trying to swallow an elephant."
The smile on Dark's face gradually bloomed.
"Beep beep beep! Beep beep beep!"
"In the name of Dark Demon, Magic Guide Summon—'Silence Potion'!"
____
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