NOVPUBThe morning light streamed through the skylight, lingering on the wooden beams and bookshelves. The faint scent of wood and the bedroom fragrance that Talia had placed on the cupboard mingled together, giving off an aroma that was reminiscent of herbs and rum - refreshing yet not overpoweringly sweet.
"Ugh..."
Lanci seemed to have not anticipated that Talia’s attitude towards him was steadily worsening.
But he didn’t mind, as he had once again brought something he was certain Talia would appreciate.
"I have come to pay the tuition."
With a mischievous grin, Lanci revealed his signature trademark smile, brimming with innocence and a hint of naughtiness.
He handed a Magic Card over to Talia.
[Shadow World Recording Program]
[Category: Magic Card]
[Grade: Purple Rarity]
[Rank: 1]
[Passive Effect: Records the challenger’s information while in the shadow world, can be turned off or on at will.]
[Notes: issued by the South Continent Shadow World Management Association, registered challenger: Lanci Wilford.]
Talia glanced at it coldly, seemingly uninterested in the card.
"What do I need it for?"
She blurted out, but her heartbeat speed up just ever so slightly.
Originally, Talia hadn’t figured out how to tactfully ask Lanci for this thing.
Unexpectedly, he readily handed over the Magic Card that contained complete information about the Demon Shadow World!
This left Talia wondering—
How did Lanci know she wanted this? He clearly couldn’t know about her being part of the Demon Race.
"Tata, the Shadow World I challenged this time isn’t ordinary, guess what I found in it?"
Lanci said, speaking with confidence, as though certain his next words would pique her interest.
"What."
Talia folded her arms and glanced at Lanci with slight curiosity.
"The magic that can transform beast fur!"
Lanci snapped his fingers, revealing the answer.
Talia’s face fell at his words, all vestiges of interest completely extinguished.
It felt like Lanci was making another tasteless joke at her expense.
This guy was becoming more and more annoying.
However, as if anticipating Talia’s reaction, Lanci leaned a little closer to her chair and bent down to whisper in her ear:
"We could work together, a powerful alliance could allow us to research the magic of transforming human hair. Imagine if in a fight, you could help style the hair of your adversaries. Wouldn’t that show ’friendship first, respect for the opponent’?"
"...?!!"
Talia instantly glanced at Lanci’s grinning face.
It seemed this fool was on the verge of opening another forbidden door!
Fighting and messing up the enemy’s hair.
The enemy won’t rest until Lanci is dead.
However, knowing well that this is a more dangerous magic than kneeling or staying silent.
After witnessing Lanci’s previous magic cards, Talia was once again interested.
"So, Tata,"
Lanci stared into Talia’s golden eyes, knowing she was intrigued,
"Even though the content about ’Magic Beast Fur Transformation Magic’ has been recorded in my mind, and not in the [Shadow World Recording Program] to prevent this core technology from being seen by others, the [Shadow World Recording Program] also records my entire challenge process. I believe that before developing new magic, you should understand the related process and background, in case I missed something?"
He continued to speak gently in Talia’s ear.
Persuading with emotion, explaining with reason, nothing like a demon’s whisper.
"..."
Talia lowered her head and pressed her brow.
She always felt like she was under Lanci’s spiritual magic, and couldn’t resist him each time.
The complete history of the demon world in the recording program was just an added gift, and was already something she wanted.
The "Magic Beast Fur Transformation Magic" which was the main part of the deal, also intrigued her.
Once again, Lanci seemed to know what she needed, allowing her to happily, without worries, acquire what benefited her.
Despite initially feeling like she didn’t want to deal with Lanci today, Talia felt like she should be a bit nicer to him instead.
Human life is short and this boy was filled with immeasurable value.
She might very well spend decades by his side, fully extracting his value.
So rather than always suspecting him, it’s better to be slightly nicer to him, making him more willing to work for her.
"These, will only suffice for teaching you until the fourth order."
Without taking the Magic Card from Lanci, Talia’s tone softened a bit.
If she continued teaching, Talia wouldn’t have any generic card-making techniques left to offer, unless she taught Lanci the completely wild demon race-style card-making techniques.
But that was out of the question.
Teaching Lanci the third order was already the limit, and she wouldn’t teach him anything else no matter what he said afterwards.
"No problem."
Lanci decisively agreed, and Talia immediately took the Magic Card from him:
"I will return it when I finish reviewing."
"All right, take your time."
Lanci nodded, knowing he didn’t need to rush in taking back the card until his next challenge to the Shadow World, leaving him plenty of time— two whole months.
"Tata, before researching the ’hair remodeling’ magic, I ran into a problem. I want to increase my card-production success rate as much as possible for the Registered Card-making Master exam, could you help me test your previous theory about the magic type compatibility?"
Apart from reaching a new deal with Talia,
The most important thing was finding the future direction for his card-making journey.
"...Card-making Master exam."
Talia knew Lanci needed to get the South Continent Registered Card-making Master status to make money quickly. And the higher the initial rank a cardmaker has, the greater the benefits and discounts were. 𝒏𝙤𝙫𝒑𝙪𝙗.𝙘𝒐𝙢
The money Lanci earned indeed all belonged to her. So, it was necessary to help Lanci pass this slightly difficult exam.
If they let the just promoted to third order Lanci to make his best spiritual magic card during the exam, the chance of making a successful card within a limited number of tries was not high, it wouldn’t be strange if he took one or two years to pass.
They still needed to find if Lanci had a higher compatibility with other types of magic.
But Talia couldn’t guarantee whether the "better" compatibility of spiritual magic was already the best among all Lanci’s magic types compatibility.
"Come with me."
With that, she stood up and led Lanci to an inner room on the side.
