Back in his dormitory, Dark studied the Moon God's "Lust" still sitting in the Thought Bottles, and scratched his head.
He had originally meant to store this Moon God "Lust" inside the Insect Tree, but the Insect Tree only had eight Bug Branches.
Under his daily care every last branch had developed well, and each could hold roughly three drops of "Major Sin" - yet even so, that came to only twenty-four drops of "Major Sin" total.
At present he held 6 points of his own "Pride" and 1 point of "Greed"; since it was concentrated, call it about 5 points' worth.
And because different "Major Sins" couldn't be mixed, storing them took three Bug Branches all by themselves.
That left only five branches free for the Moon God's "Lust".
In other words, fifteen drops of it at most.
Which left a full forty-five drops with nowhere to go.
To store those forty-five drops, Dark had borrowed a second Thought Bottle from Professor Kazel when he returned that set of test tubes...
But the Moon God's "Lust" in both bottles had now been kept as long as it could be kept. If he didn't use it soon, it would simply be gone.
So tonight he planned to squeeze every last drop of value out of it.
Under normal circumstances, a Magic Guide Card Forged from Moon God "Lust" ran the risk of going out of control, so a little of Dark's own "Lust" was needed to help rein it in.
"Lust" and "Lust" shared a common origin, after all, which made conflict unlikely.
The trouble was that the only "Lust" left in his hands was the Moon God version, and his personal "Lust" index sat at a mere 80 points - far too low to draw from with the Dragonfly-Skimming Method.
If there was truly no other way, he would have to try mixing in a different "Major Sin".
Before any of that, though, he had an experiment to run on the intermediate "Soul-Sucker Spell"!
"System, display indices," Dark ordered.
A moment later...
Seven readings unfolded across his vision.
[Pride: 95]
[Envy: 39]
[Wrath: 82]
[Sloth: 69]
[Greed: 95]
[Gluttony: 73]
[Lust: 80]
Compared with the start of last month, his "Major Sin" totals had dropped sharply across the board - "Lust" worst of all, crashing down to 80 points, low enough that extraction was out of the question.
"Pride" and "Greed" had risen and fallen and settled right back on the 95 line, equally beyond the reach of the Dragonfly-Skimming Method.
Thankfully he had finally broken through with the intermediate "Soul-Sucker Spell". Otherwise his only option would have been chasing growth in his "Major Sins" instead.
"I wonder if this time I can push the safe-extraction line down to 80 points."
"If I can, there's no need to take risks. I'd only have to find a way to nudge 'Lust' up a point or two, and that would be enough."
"Well - test it first."
"DemiDevimon!"
Dark called out to DemiDevimon.
"Coming, coming!"
DemiDevimon dropped down from above at once, landed on the desk and wiggled its little rump.
"Tonight," Dark said softly, "we're testing the safety of the 'Soul-Sucker Spell'."
"Soul-Sucker Spell?" DemiDevimon narrowed its eyes and thought about it, and at last dredged up the memory of the last test, with the beginner-grade version.
Then it patted its belly with one wing and tipped its head back. "Grope the big boobs!"
Dark laughed and immediately began weaving the simplified incantation for the "Soul-Sucker Spell".
About a minute later he leveled his Mana Pen at the spot between DemiDevimon's eyes. "Soul-Sucker Spell!"
A beam of light shot out.
The blast struck home. DemiDevimon's expression went faintly hazy, but it kept standing there, perfectly fine.
Dark watched closely, weighing what he saw. "So the intermediate 'Soul-Sucker Spell' really is far stronger than the beginner grade. Even after Professor Harvey's refinements, a slight dazing effect can't be avoided - and that's not a good sign at all."
If serious disorientation set in while a magic-brain dropper was drawing out "Major Sin", the consequences would be dire.
The dazing from the intermediate spell was still very faint. But what about the advanced grades above it?
Which meant that if Professor Harvey's refinements had genuinely reached their limit, then the higher-grade "Soul-Sucker Spells" likely could not be used at all to lower the safe line for drawing "Major Sin".
Once Dark had written down his findings, he used a "Joy Card" on DemiDevimon.
Under the "Joy Card", DemiDevimon sank into a visibly deeper daze than it had without the "Soul-Sucker Spell" layered on top.
No other drawbacks surfaced.
Dark deliberated carefully for a long while, and finally decided to run the experiment on himself.
"No pairing it with the [Nether God Art] for now. Just a clean test of the intermediate 'Soul-Sucker Spell'."
He steadied himself a little, pointed at his own temple and cast the intermediate version.
"Soul-Sucker Spell!"
In that instant a light tremor ran through his skull, and his thoughts scattered, refusing to hold together.
His eyes hardened. He clenched his teeth and forced his mind back into a single point, and it took a good while before he held steady.
"Casting this 'Soul-Sucker Spell' repeatedly might even train mental focus."
He gave a small shake of his head, then - while the spell's effect still lingered - took up the magic-brain dropper from the workbench, shut his eyes, and reached out with his senses.
He started with "Pride", already at 95 points.
Once the emotion had been stirred up, he could clearly feel thin wisps of "emotion" drifting outward.
But he didn't use the magic-brain dropper to draw any of it. He only felt out the "Major Sin" with the perception he'd honed over all these months.
"The overflow amounts to about 5 points..."
"So it only moves the line up to 90?"
Dark frowned, then quickly gathered his thoughts, reined "Pride" back in, and roused his 80 points of "Lust" instead.
"Lust" was arguably the easiest Major Sin to rouse, yet no matter how hard he pushed, not a trace of it would overflow.
Three minutes later, Dark let himself relax.
By now he was certain: the intermediate "Soul-Sucker Spell" could only bring the safe-extraction line down to 90 points, and not one step further.
"Ninety points. As things stand, that lets me draw 'Pride' and 'Greed'."
"And if it's one or the other, obviously 'Pride'."
...
On this point he didn't hesitate.
He rested for half an hour, then cast the "Soul-Sucker Spell" and the [Nether God Art] together, stirring his emotions until "Pride" spilled out past his skull, and successfully drew off a single drop worth 1.5 points.
That brought his stock of his own "Major Sin" to 7.5 points of "Pride" and 1 point of "Greed".
"Two experiments. One is cultivating the Fruit of Pride and Forging a dragon breed. The other is Forging 'Lust III - Moon'."
"Start with the easy one."
Dark drew a deep breath, laid out the materials and tools he'd prepared in advance, and began with the Forging experiment for "Lust III - Moon".
From the very outset he had braced himself for failure.
The seven so-called "Major Sins" each carried their own affinities and traits, after all.
"Pride" and "Lust" in particular stood for sun and moon, light and dark - flat opposites.
Simply blending them together would almost certainly end in conflict.
"Greed" and "Lust", on the other hand, had a certain compatibility.
At the level of raw emotion, at least, they didn't clash badly.
Dark had wanted to try mixing "Major Sins" for a long time, but his demand for them was heavy and he had never had any to spare.
This time his hand had been forced - but it was also, at last, an opportunity.
One point of "Greed" and thirty points of the Moon God's "Lust" as the main materials, and a few theories to put to the test.
...
Once everything was ready, Dark set a blank Magic Guide Card in the center of the desk and started the Forging.
His proficiency at crafting a [Major Sin Card] was high enough now that failure wasn't a concern.
Within moments he had boiled down the "brain fluid" and the "sealing solution", and spread the brain fluid evenly across the blank card.
With the coating done, Dark picked up the magic-brain dropper with great care and drew out the "Greed" first.
Adding that single point of "Greed" first was meant to give him a clearer view of how "Lust" and "Greed" reacted to each other.
Compared with Dark's own "Lust", the Moon God's version - aside from lacking certain special factors - was like the same substance diluted threefold.
One drop of Moon God "Lust" equaled about one-third of a point of his own.
Which actually made it easier to observe.
"Nnngh! Nnngh!"
Dark pressed the tip of the magic-brain dropper holding that 1 point of "Greed" against the blank card and squeezed the brain hard.
As the brain's shriek rose, the point of "Greed" fell onto the card's face and spread rapidly through the brain fluid.
The blank Magic Guide Card stained over in a dull blue tone.
Dark focused, drew a drop of Moon God "Lust" from the Thought Bottle, brought the dropper's nozzle over the card again, and squeezed.
Drip.
The bead of pink liquid fell through the air and landed on the surface already dyed blue with "Greed".
That faint pink sat there like a film of oil floating on water, entirely separate from the "Greed".
Dark didn't rush to a verdict. He kept watching.
But after roughly three minutes of observation, he shook his head.
It differed slightly from his prediction: "Greed" and "Lust" would not merge at all.
The two "Major Sins" might not clash, but neither did they fuse.
"So - press on, or cut my losses now?"
Dark's brow creased.
"Just because pure 'Greed' and 'Lust' won't merge on their own doesn't mean they can't merge under an outside force. Maybe the Forging itself will push these two into some degree of blending. Look at Gatomon and Black Gatomon - they're a Fusion of 'Pride' and 'Lust' too."
After thinking it through, he chose to continue.
No investment, no return.
This was no time to be stingy over a point or two of material.
So he went on adding "Lust".
Only once all thirty estimated points of Moon God "Lust" had gone in did he brush the sealing solution over the top and begin inscribing the Forging array line by line.
And in the end... the Forging array lit up smoothly enough.
Dark could clearly sense a reaction taking place inside the Magic Guide Card, but what it actually amounted to would have to wait.
He wasn't in any hurry. Only when the card had fully set did he pick it up and rinse it clean.
The finished Magic Guide Card wore the same pink as always, with a single blue dot dead center representing "Greed".
And not the faintest foreign tint had bled into that dot.
"On the surface at least, 'Greed' and 'Lust' still haven't fused. They just seem to be stacked on top of each other... let's see what it does!"
After that first look, Dark poured in mana to pull up the card's information.
"This one's still 'Lust III - Moon', I suppose!"
But once he'd parsed it in detail his brow furrowed and something odd crossed his eyes.
Nothing in this "Lust III - Moon" description showed any trace of "Greed" whatsoever. It was as though that single point had been wrapped up and smothered by thirty full points of Moon God "Lust" - no conflict, no fusion, no relationship to the Magic Guide Card at all.
He thought about it, then summoned DemiDevimon over again.
This time bitterness spread across DemiDevimon's face, and it ventured cautiously, "Is it... that?"
Dark nodded. "It's that."
"Wahhh!"
DemiDevimon let out a wail and spun to flee on reflex.
But its whole body locked up mid-turn, frozen stiff. Out of the corner of one eye it caught little Drifloon snickering by the wall - it had used its Ultimate Move, "Psywave".
Dark seized the moment and activated "Lust III - Moon"; the two of them worked in perfect sync.
Bathed in the radiance of "Lust III - Moon", DemiDevimon's form warped violently, and in the blink of an eye it tore free of Drifloon's psychic hold.
Once the evolution into "Black Gatomon" completed, its eyes turned into hearts and it lunged at Dark on instinct.
"Stop."
At Dark's single word, its feet halted and it stood perfectly still.
...
"So the 'Greed' had no effect - but 'Lust III - Moon' came out controllable."
Delight lit Dark's eyes, and he set about analyzing it at once.
A long while later he'd teased out a thread of something, and wrote in his notebook: "Most likely some special factor contained in that drop of 'Greed' took effect and altered 'Lust III - Moon'."
"Thirty points of Moon God 'Lust' suppressed a mere 1 point of 'Greed', yet failed to suppress that particular factor."
"For now, name it the 'Demon God Factor'... no, better to call it the 'Dark Factor'!"
"What's certain is that this factor exists. Whether it truly belongs to the Demon God is another question."
"Its precise effects are also unknown."
"Perhaps the reason a [Major Sin Card] can awaken intelligence, and the reason 'Major Sin' can protect a soul from being ground away during Forging, both trace back to this special 'Dark Factor'."
"Tsk. Naming it after myself feels a bit shameless. Maybe I should pick another name after all?"
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