"Once you return to your dorms, don't forget to use your Sorting Card to review the school rules. Finally, I wish all new students a fulfilling six years at St. Marian Academy!"
The opening banquet ended in cheers.
Headmistress Arthe didn't give any cryptic, plot-foreshadowing speech like Dumbledore in Harry Potter. That left Darc a little unsure.
But after thinking it through, he relaxed.
Even if something did go wrong, the protagonist would be the one dealing with it. What did that have to do with a villain like him?
Better focus on himself.
St. Marian was a closed campus. Except for long holidays, students weren't allowed to leave.
Once the gates shut, money, power, and connections were all locked outside.
Knowledge, ability, and credits determined everything inside.
Even as the duke's son, if he ended up at the bottom of the rankings, he'd still be looked down upon.
And the students here were all future magisters. They didn't fear noble authority.
Darc knew his reputation outside wasn't great. Only House Nobility students felt any affinity toward him due to shared status.
Which suited him perfectly.
Fewer social ties. More self-cultivation.
Maintain a Buddhist-like lifestyle. Study hard. Find a way to remove the Demon God bloodline before it fully awakened.
If the method couldn't be found in St. Marian—the place with the deepest knowledge reserves in the kingdom aside from the Church's Secret Ritual Academy—then he was basically doomed.
…
Led by upperclassmen, the new students left the grand hall, climbed marble staircases, passed winding corridors filled with portraits, crossed a high-hanging bridge, and finally reached the southwest tower of the academy—
The House Nobility dormitory.
There were four such towers in St. Marian. Each had nine floors above ground.
1st floor: Common room2nd–7th floors: Dorms for years one through six8th floor: Duel practice room9th floor: Observatory
The guardian of House Nobility was a legendary creature known as the Feathered Serpent.
With brilliant multicolored wings, these beings were wise, gentle, and elegant.
They could not lie. They saw through illusions and perceived truth. They were known as Truth Speakers.
Because of the Feathered Serpent statue guarding the entrance, House Nobility's tower was the only one that required no password or key to enter.
Just walking past it was enough for it to determine whether you belonged.
Darc followed Diana as she dashed into the tower.
But as he passed the statue, the Feathered Serpent suddenly opened its eyes.
Its pupils narrowed into slits, bright and alert—nothing like a lifeless statue.
Darc froze.
A white light scanned over him once.
Then the eyes closed again, motionless.
Darc hurried inside, finally letting out a long breath.
"That almost exposed the Demon God bloodline…"
He had thought the awakening progress bar meant there was room for error.
But now he realized—even at 1%, this thing could see straight through him.
"Is this what they call Hell difficulty?"
…
"Darc! What's your room number?"
Diana ran over, waving her Sorting Card.
Still shaken, Darc infused magic into his own card.
The crown symbol faded, revealing the information he wanted.
"Room 201."
"Oh! Diana's 233. That's so far away!"
"It's the same building," he replied vaguely, already heading upstairs.
He found his room at the very front of the second floor.
Only after locking the door behind him did he finally relax, a bitter smile forming.
"I've never felt this much pressure across two lifetimes combined."
The dorm was single-occupancy, with a soft bed and a private bathroom.
Fresh daily necessities and a full set of first-year textbooks were neatly arranged on the bed.
Darc barely managed to make the bed before his mind blanked out from exhaustion.
"I'll think tomorrow…"
…
At dawn, Darc opened his eyes wearily.
A brass clock hung on the wall opposite his bed.
6:00 AM.
"Six? Class starts at eight… I'll sleep a bit more…"
[Sloth +1]
The system's merciless prompt floated before his eyes.
Darc jolted upright, instantly wide awake.
"…A plant."
No Wrath increase. He wiped his forehead in relief.
Right now, Pride and Wrath had the least margin for error. Envy and Gluttony were comparatively safer.
Fifteen minutes later, Darc—now dressed in uniform—arrived at the common room.
House Nobility's uniform was black with gold trim, a small crown embroidered on the chest. The academy also provided a matching card pouch capable of holding twenty-one magic cards.
The common room was quiet. Magic lamps on the walls lit automatically as he entered.
Having lost the pleasure of going back to sleep, Darc sat down with a gloomy expression and took out his textbooks.
To remove the Demon God bloodline, he needed both the right method and sufficient knowledge.
Imagine finding the correct spellbook but being unable to read it. That would be true despair.
"The opposite of sloth is diligence."
He picked out the book for the first class of the day:
Beginner's Guide to Summoning.
Summoning was the fundamental method for activating magic cards. Every magister had to master it.
Scheduling this class first thing Monday morning was intentional—it taught students how to summon the familiar sealed within their Sorting Cards.
Under the dim yellow light, Darc Dimon opened the book and began previewing the material in the empty common room.
…
Within minutes, he fell into a focused state.
In his previous life, he had at least completed a university degree. His reading comprehension was far above average.
Among children his age, no one likely matched his grasp of text.
"Maybe becoming a top student isn't such a bad idea?"
[Pride +1]
Darc noticed with satisfaction that he didn't even curse this time.
…
When you truly entered the rhythm of studying, it actually felt good.
You could clearly sense yourself improving.
The human thirst for knowledge was instinctive. Accumulating knowledge, exploring the unknown, solving mysteries—that was how eras advanced.
After studying diligently for an hour—
[Greed +1]
"…Damn it!"
[Wrath +1]
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