Konoha: Naruto will win no matter what choice he makes! Chapter 184

Character name suggestions:

– 西蒙斯: Simmons

– 达克: Dark

– 莉莉: Lily

– 亚尔薇特: Alvette

– 潘多拉: Pandora

– 迪路兽: Tailmon

– 小恶魔兽: DemiDevimon

– 伏地魔: Voldemort

– 艾波: AIBO

“Here, these are the wines you wanted.”

Simmons shook the three bottles of wine in his hand, then placed them one by one on the table.

“What kind of wines are these?”

Dark asked curiously.

Simmons chuckled, then picked out one bottle and said, “Let’s take it slow. First, this bottle is [Morning Dew].”

“Morning Dew?”

Dark examined it carefully.

This wine, named [Morning Dew], was contained in a transparent bottle. The liquid was a pale green, somewhat like green apple juice, but clearer and slightly transparent.

This gave it a dreamy quality.

“Stop looking, you won’t understand no matter how much you look,” Simmons said nonchalantly. “Anyway, this bottle is for little Lily. It’s 1000 academic credits.”

Dark: “Uh…”

He instinctively felt that Simmons was joking.

He knew that when he bought Fairy Wine here before, it only cost him 100 academic credits.

A tenfold increase like this, who could bear it?

But Simmons ignored his astonishment and continued to pick out the second bottle of wine, saying, “This bottle is [Eight Desolations], and only the Beast Sage is worthy of it.”

The so-called [Eight Desolations Wine] was a fiery red liquor!

Even without opening the bottle, Dark could feel the hidden fire within it, which was probably not something an ordinary wine lover could handle.

Simmons added, “This bottle of [Eight Desolations] hasn’t found a buyer for many years. Since we coincidentally met today, consider it a gift, 2000 academic credits.”

Dark: “Huh?”

What kind of gift was this?

Simmons didn’t care. He finally picked up the third bottle of wine and put it down, a soft light flashing in his eyes: “This third bottle of wine is called [Qingzi], it’s just a fruit wine made from Qingzi fruit.”

Qingzi fruit is a green fruit, very similar to a plum.

It’s sour and sweet, and can be used to make wine.

Among these three wines, only the Qingzi wine was very common and quite cheap.

Placing it alongside the other two wines gave it a sense of incongruity.

But precisely because of this, it stood out even more.

Dark immediately realized that it was the protagonist among these three bottles of wine!

And then, as expected.

Simmons picked up the Qingzi wine and said solemnly, “I know it’s hard for a first-year student to come up with three thousand academic credits, but if you promise me one thing, all three bottles of wine will be yours.”

Dark asked curiously, “Tell me clearly first.”

Simmons lightly tapped his middle finger and said, “Since you’re going to give wine to two professors, adding one more should be normal, right?”

…

Dark, leaving the tavern, looked like he wanted to say something but held back.

“Forget it, just consider it a favor.”

He then took the three bottles of wine and walked down the street.

Just having wine wasn’t enough; he also needed gift boxes to put the wine in, and each gift box needed a Christmas card.

Dark wandered around Traveler’s Street for a long time before finally finding suitable gift boxes for the wine.

Afterward, he went to a candy store and bought thirty-six chocolate gift boxes at once.

To carry all these chocolates back, Dark had to summon Tailmon for help.

Before dusk arrived, he finally rushed back to his dormitory.

A huge pile of gifts was stacked like a small mountain in the corner.

He carefully wrapped the three bottles of wine in his dormitory, feeling a slight sense of relief.

“Next, only Mother’s and Senior Pandora’s gifts are left.”

Dark thought for a moment.

He simply sat down and wrote a letter home to Alvette.

He wrote about his first time leaving home, the kindness of the professors, the friendship of his classmates, the busy and fulfilling academy life, his thirst and yearning for knowledge, the thrilling and exciting Moon God incident, and the joy and happiness of his first duel.

And, the daily life of raising the Catnip.

Finally, he enclosed a medal of the Scarlet Star.

A most precious gift for his mother was thus completed.

…

“Finally, only Senior Pandora is left.”

“What does she like? What does she need?”

“…”

Dark suddenly realized that he knew absolutely nothing about his senior.

He was only particularly concerned about her due to her appearance.

He was no different from those shallow nobles with their minds full of superficialities.

“Let me think, let me think.”

“Fourth-year, Magic Academy, top of her class, excellent grades, part-time librarian… raises a Chinchilla Grass…”

“Is that all?”

Dark leaned back in his chair and stared blankly for a while.

The initial reason for his transaction with his senior was that she promised to guide him in the refining of [Fusion] magic cards.

But in reality, during his free time over the past two weeks, Dark had almost entirely been studying the prerequisite knowledge for refining [Zoo] magic cards, and he hadn’t even finished yet.

As a result, the research on [Cursed Cage] and [Fusion] was naturally put on hold.

The good news was that “Advanced Magic Language: Resurrected Characters” was also within the scope of what he was currently learning.

So his mastery of magic language was deepening day by day, which was beneficial for the refining of both [Cursed Cage] and [Fusion].

“[Fusion] isn’t possible yet, but [Cursed Cage] can actually be attempted already.”

“Also, since I have time, I can refine one or two first-tier magic spirits to fill my deck.”

“Tomorrow is Sunday, so I’ll use one night to prepare!”

“As for Senior Pandora’s gift… I wonder if she’ll be free next week?”

…

Once Dark made up his mind, he displayed terrifying efficiency.

That evening, he first reviewed the refining steps for [Cursed Cage], identifying and re-familiarizing himself with the various materials he had prepared.

Finally, the most crucial step was to rely on his own understanding to write his unique magic spell using magic language!

Magic spells are broadly divided into general spells and exclusive spells, depending on whether they are universal.

From this, general spell cards and exclusive spell cards are derived.

Due to the production process of spell cards, most spell cards are exclusive spell cards because they are imbued with the creator’s imprint, allowing only the creator to use them fluently and freely.

If they are to be sold and popularized on the market, they need to undergo “generalization.”

“Generalization” is a more advanced production process, very difficult to get involved in.

So Dark can currently only write exclusive spells.

The “exclusive” limitation of exclusive spells is mainly because the writing of a spell is not done stroke by stroke; it involves using one’s magic power to allow certain parts of the magic language that form the spell to naturally evolve, making the final spell compatible with the magician’s own magic power.

In short, it’s very difficult.

It wasn’t until one in the morning.

Dark had only initially succeeded in writing it, but it was not perfect.

However, his brain, forcefully stimulated by apple juice, was already operating on overload, so he had to rest for the night.

…

Sunday morning, seven o’clock.

A fine drizzle drifted outside the window.

After washing up, Dark temporarily put aside his morning exercise and immediately began further adjusting and refining the [Cursed Cage] spell.

Around seven-thirty, DemiDevimon returned with breakfast and the morning paper.

But he didn’t stop until eight-thirty, trying to clear his mind while eating, and then flipping through “The Great Sage’s Daily.”

“The Great Sage’s Daily” on weekends always tried to create big news to boost sales.

This time, the newspaper’s headline belonged to the Holy Church’s Twin Holy Knights.

The Twin Holy Knights in the photo were very young, seemingly top students who had just graduated from the Holy Church’s Secret Ritual Academy last year.

They were a pair of twin siblings.

With golden hair and blue eyes, they were incomparably handsome.

The Holy Church seemed intent on making them the flag bearers of the new century, having extensively publicized them since their time in the academy.

Their appearance in the newspaper this time was due to the siblings’ combined efforts in eradicating a heretical cult.

According to the newspaper, it was a terrifying cult that attempted to resurrect a demon on Christmas Day.

And as Christmas approached, such organizations were becoming more numerous.

Humans always seek stability in chaos, and plot chaos in stability.

Demons were indeed eradicated, but魔人 (demon-humans) with demonic bloodlines still exist, and humans who are religiously inclined towards demons also exist, and even the Demon King has not been completely wiped out.

Just as a centipede dies but never stiffens.

The reproduction of demons differs from that of humans; it includes oviparity, fission, drawing丝 (silk), and even contamination and demonization.

It’s just that the strength of demonic bloodlines generally decreases by class; the lower the class, the weaker they are.

In other words, low-sequence demon remnants pose little threat, but if even one high-sequence demon remains, it’s a great disaster!

And the Demon King, without a doubt, is at the pinnacle of the demonic sequence!

Once the Demon King is truly resurrected, it won’t take long for the demon race to rise again.

“If the Demon King here is analogous to Voldemort, then is it really a seven-part Demon King?”

…

Dark put down the newspaper and shook his head slightly.

What the hell is a Demon King, what’s the use even if it’s resurrected?

The decade it spent lying in its coffin was a period of rapid development in the new era, with an explosive growth in magic technology, incomparable to the time of war.

Ten years ago, the Hero had to sacrifice himself to seal it.

Ten years later, it probably couldn’t withstand a kick from a Valkyrie!

In the original work, it was even annihilated by a Hero’s son who hadn’t even graduated, which shows how weak it was.

As the saying goes, knowledge is power.

Unless it “learns from the barbarians to control the barbarians,” diligently studies magic technology, and becomes the new century’s [Demon King·Magic Type], otherwise it poses no major threat.

In the past two years, the Holy Church has been propagating the “Demon King Threat Theory,” frequently breaking out “Demon King resurrection” prophecies, but it’s only to consolidate the power of the hawk faction.

…

Dark saw this very clearly.

After all, though he didn’t know the process, he knew the ending well: the final BOSS of the game wasn’t the Demon King, but the Demon God.

A Demon King that isn’t even the final BOSS is only capable of bullying students.

“Eh, wait!”

“Aren’t I a student?”

Dark fell into contemplation.

…

Around half past nine.

Dark resumed his research, continuing the compilation and refinement of [Cursed Cage].

It wasn’t until half past ten in the morning that he finally achieved satisfactory results.

He calmed himself down, finished lunch first, and then began the refining of [Cursed Cage].

Although [Cursed Cage] is a magic card, it needs to be compatible with the refining method of magic spirit cards.

Like [Fusion], it is an extremely special magic card with a magic spirit card base.

Using [Cursed Cage] allows one to temporarily seal familiars, golems, and other pseudo-life forms, using them as magic spirit cards.

The first half of [Cursed Cage]’s refining is basically like refining a magic spirit card.

It only gradually transforms in the latter half.

Because he had experience refining [Blink Spell], Dark didn’t mess up in the latter half of the refining.

So learning is a progressive process; if you want to get fat in one bite, unless you’re already fat.

…

Considering that the materials for one [Cursed Cage] refining cost a full 1500 academic credits, Dark was unprecedentedly serious and cautious.

He spent two full hours preparing and another hour and a half refining.

When he finally succeeded, even he himself found it incredible.

A single success!

This meant that his mastery of magic language had already reached a high level among second-year students.

…

The completed [Cursed Cage] was a magic card with a wooden cage on its face.

Each side of the cage had a talisman贴 (stuck) on it, inscribed with several key magic characters.

Dark picked up the [Cursed Cage] and examined it meticulously several times before excitedly looking up, searching for AIBO’s figure.

It wasn’t until five minutes later that the DemiDevimon, who had secretly slipped out, was called back by the forced command of the Sorting Card…

“DemiDevimon.” Dark showily shook the [Cursed Cage] card. “From now on, you can be my magic spirit and fight alongside me on the duelist’s stage, aren’t you happy?”

DemiDevimon shook its head violently.

“Good,” Dark narrowed his eyes. “You’re so happy you’ve lost your mind.”

Then he suddenly activated [Cursed Cage]!

A strong light shone, and a cage base immediately appeared beneath DemiDevimon’s feet. Then, wooden bars descended from the sky, “啪啪啪” (clack clack clack) nailing onto the base, and a wooden lid sealed the top.

Golden magic characters appeared on each side of the wooden cage.

Finally, a giant character “咒” (curse) merged!

DemiDevimon was immediately trapped within the cursed cage, and then, along with the cage, transformed into light, drilling into the magic card in Dark’s hand.

The card face rapidly changed, and a world-famous painting—“DemiDevimon Trapped in a Cage”—was unearthed!

Dark extended a finger, infused magic power, and poked the cage on the card face.

The cage swayed slightly, and the DemiDevimon trapped inside hugged its head with its wings, shrinking into a corner of the cage.

Dark couldn’t help but laugh.

…

[Card Name: DemiDevimon]

[Type: Spirit Card]

[Level: ✪]

[Race: Demon Species]

[Attribute: Dark]

[Magic Power: 100]

[Attack: 100]

[Defense: 100]

[Special Move: Small Dart]

…

After transforming into a Magic Spirit Card, DemiDevimon could gain a special move even without using [Arrogance I].

And the advantage of having wings allowed it to fly into the sky, avoiding most attacks.

“By the name of Dark Dimon, come forth, DemiDevimon!”

As the normal summon was completed, DemiDevimon materialized in a burst of light.

Appearing as an ordinary Magic Spirit for the first time, DemiDevimon flapped its wings and flew outwards.

Dark grabbed its claw, held it in his arms, and coaxed, “Be good, if you’re good enough, I promise I won’t lock you up outside of duels!”

DemiDevimon: “Ah ah ah ah ah!”

…

…

Two-in-one, 4100 words.