"hm hm"
After receiving the method to create cards from Lucas's uncle, I immediately went down to Ceasar Street to buy the ingredients right away.
The necessary ingredients are blah blah bleh bleh, I think you don't want to hear that and just want the final result.
But unfortunately some things are quite expensive, so I had to study a few more days to earn extra credits. That's why I'll buy the cheap ones first.
"This afternoon there are 3 periods of contract card class, it seems Teacher Rook will let us practice creating new monster cards."
This will be the last time creating monsters, because later we'll create spell cards, trap cards and many other things.
"When is the duel between Gutius and Guardian going to happen?"
Everything has been reported by the journalism club faster than expected, now almost the whole school knows about that duel.
After all, the Guardians' reputation is undeniable, especially the person Gutius wants to challenge is the academy's big sister, everyone is obsessed with her beauty and gentle demeanor.
I don't, I'm scared of her.
But this is just the beginning period, when Alchemist summon or Dimensions summon haven't been unlocked yet and the secret of Yin Yang summon hasn't been revealed, so her power definitely won't be as strong as in the future.
And if we calculate based on the current time... She's only in grade 8.
...I have a theory that Gutius feels insulted because there's someone one grade below him who became a Guardian, so he wants to challenge her to prove himself.
It sounds unreliable but if he comes from the Gilgamesh class then everything makes much more sense.
...Thinking back, calling her the academy's big sister when she's only in grade 8 is a bit weird, right? Imagine a 12th grader seeing her and saying "hello big sister" — that would be crazy.
Thinking about something I shouldn't, I decided to head to the library to relax my mind.
The library was as empty as expected, so I went to a familiar spot to sit.
"Hm?"
Mint, the invisible girl in class, was drooling while engrossed in reading something.
'...'
I quietly sat down in my spot, avoiding letting her notice.
I took out the evolution theory book and read it slowly.
Time passed until someone tapped my shoulder.
"?" I looked behind and saw Mint looking at me a bit shyly.
"...what is it?"
"Um... it's 12:26 already."
"Oh, class is about to start? Thanks for reminding me." I immediately stood up, closed the book and smiled at her.
"I-It's nothing!!" She replied in a flustered way.
Just now, when she took a short break she realized Igor had been sitting right there.
'F-From when?!'
She hadn't heard any sound from him this whole time, how did he do that?!
D-Don't tell me... he's also the lonely type that no one talks to?! (No girl, why the hell are you thinking that way)
I knew it! No wonder I didn't notice him sitting nearby earlier, it must be because he's so lonely.
And those people around him chatting like friends definitely aren't real friends, he's just socializing to avoid being found out as the lonely type!
Um um! Everything makes perfect sense, poor guy, I should have noticed sooner... (Her imagination is really rich)
Looking at her eyes shining brightly and sparkling as she looked at me, I just tilted my head in confusion.
What was that look? Why is she looking at me like I'm some pitiful person who can't be abandoned?
"Thanks, Mint."
"N-No problem!"
"...do you mind going to class with me?"
"H-Huh?! Is that okay?!"
"Is there a problem?"
"N-No! I'd be very honored!"
We both went to class, it was already 12:34 by then.
Many people had already sat in their seats. After all, they were all looking forward to today's class because they would create their second monster.
"Hey, have you heard? The duel is tomorrow!"
"They're holding it here?"
"It's a special arena for those who want to challenge the Guardians, I heard the scale is much more serious!"
"It sounds so exciting!"
I sat in my seat and saw Kaiser next to me writing something.
As soon as I peeked, I realized it was drawings of his ideal types of dragons.
Well... he's only 11 years old, so having a bit of a childish personality is fine.
After a while, Teacher Rook also arrived.
"You all must have learned some basic alchemy knowledge by now, right? If so, after creating the monster, you will only be allowed to use free materials from me once. If you fail to create the monster, you should go buy them with your own credits."
Hearing that, everyone, especially Lucas, broke into a cold sweat.
"Alright then, I will continue lecturing on the necessary knowledge about monsters and cards. After you understand all of this clearly, we will talk about other types of cards."
So Rook began teaching.
Time passed until the third period.
Teacher Rook distributed blank cards and materials. This time he advised everyone to bring their own materials if they had any to create monsters according to their wishes.
"Hmm..."
Looking at the materials the teacher gave, I also checked the materials I had in my bag.
I planned to save them for making the Development Beyond Time spell card, so I decided not to use them.
Besides, the materials the teacher gave were more than enough anyway. What comes out depends on my luck or misfortune.
"Well, anything goes."
So I started working.
BOOM!
What?! Someone already failed?!
I and many others looked toward the source and saw Tryo with his afro hair.
Ah, so it was Tryo. Well, just blame it on his bad luck.
Ignoring him crying and begging the teacher for another chance while the teacher ignored him and watched the others work, I also focused on making my card.
Like last time, I didn't have any problems creating the card. In fact, it was a bit easier than before.
And the result came.
Light emitted, the materials were sucked into the card. I picked it up and looked.
This time it was a level 2 monster, which surprised me with my luck.
How should I say it? With completely basic materials from the teacher, creating a level 2 or level 3 monster is quite rare.
"This is..."
Looking at the information, I saw the image of the monster inside the card.
A ice spider, quite blocky in some parts like the legs. It wasn't scary but rather... cute?
Frost Weaver (lv 2)
Type: Ice/Bug
Atk: 200
Hp: 600
Race: Insect
Passive: Predator
Skills: Spider Silk, Defensive Cocoon
Information: Frost Weavers are creatures that live in packs and are very social. They are extremely meticulous and patient when starting a hunt. They always set traps throughout the snowy forest very carefully. When they catch prey, they share the food with the others.
...I thought spiders were arthropods? Are they just copying Konami by classifying all spiders into the insect race?
Whatever, the notable thing here is that the monster has 2 skills! I was really lucky!
Passive: Predator: When facing monsters with lower level than it, those monsters will automatically deal 50% reduced damage.
The passive is very good, perfect for a predator like it.
Spider Silk: Creates spider silk, which can be used to slow down opponents or bind their legs (usable 5 times / recovers 1 time per turn)
Defensive Cocoon: Immediately shoots out silk to create a cocoon, granting 100 Def. Can create cocoons for allies (cooldown 2 turns)
If you're curious, Def points are like temporary health. If the opponent has 100 atk and attacks, the Def points will be reduced while the actual health remains fine.
'Great, this one will be good support!'
I was quite satisfied with this new monster so I immediately summoned it.
Inside the card, a spider was trying to build its nest when it felt someone trying to connect with it.
Although it was just born and didn't understand many things, it knew its master was calling it, so it abandoned what it was doing and accepted the call.
"I normally summon Frost Weaver!"
Immediately, Frost Weaver appeared on my desk.
"?!!" Kaiser jumped in shock when he saw the spider, nearly knocking over everything he was working on.
...does he have arachnophobia? Poor guy.
Looking at the somewhat dazed and innocent-looking spider, he realized it was indeed not as smart as his starter monster. It even lacked self-awareness.
"Come here."
The spider obeyed, showing no emotion or complaint.
"Come to my hand."
The spider then climbed onto my hand, its eyes looking at me.
...quite cute? I was really looking forward to unlocking its intelligence.
I then looked at Kaiser, who was trembling while looking at the spider.
"...you can go back now Frost Weaver, thank you for answering my summon."
So Frost Weaver returned to the card. Kaiser breathed a sigh of relief then glared at me.
"Remind me next time."
"Yeah, sorry."
He went back to making his monster. I then took out my Fluffy Snowflake card and brought them close together.
"I hope you two get to know each other."
Fluffy in the picture moved a bit. It looked at the new monster its master created and jumped in shock.
Wait?! Isn't this its natural predator?! Why is that spider here?!
Unaware that Fluffy was trembling, I put both cards in my pocket and cleaned up my desk a bit.
After some time, Kaiser also successfully created his monster.
"I summon Wind Dragon!"
After that, a dragon taller than Teacher Rook by half a head appeared.
The others widened their eyes at its size and its extremely cool appearance!
It had some features quite similar to Kaiser's starter monster, but with additional light green details.
And of course I knew this dragon. It was pretty generic, to be honest. If there was any difference, other people's Wind Dragons would look identical, while Kaiser's looked more like his starter dragon.
Special privilege of main characters? I guess.
"Hm hm" Kaiser looked at his Wind Dragon with satisfaction, then let it return to the card.
Then a few others also successfully created their monsters.
Lucas surprisingly created a quite noteworthy monster.
It was a fire salamander, of course not Charmander.
Alice created... an apple with a skull drawing on its face, and inside the apple was a worm?
Alvin created a monster that looked like a floating spherical speaker. Why do his monsters seem so unrelated to each other?
Mint created... a pufferfish?
Wow, the monsters were so diverse, no duplicates at all. As expected from a game that borrows ideas from all 3 famous series.
"You all seem to have succeeded, except for a few. Congratulations on successfully creating your second monster."
Everyone was satisfied with their results except Tryo who was crying and a few others who were disappointed.
Teacher Rook smiled and gave some more reminders. Everyone nodded even though no one was really listening.
And when the third period ended, Teacher Rook said goodbye to the class and left.
Ugh, there are still 2 more alchemy periods...
Even I was starting to get tired. Sure enough, not everyone likes going to school.
*****
Click!
The sound of the door opening rang out, cold air from inside the room flowed out.
"Phew." I walked in, closed the door, and lay down on the bed exhausted.
5 periods full of theory. Although the knowledge was all necessary, it was overwhelming...
Let me check what classes I have tomorrow...
I stood up and looked at the schedule.
5 periods of Astrology in the morning, 4 periods of Mathematics in the afternoon. Scary.
"Huh..." I then put the Development Beyond Time formula paper into the desk drawer to do tomorrow since I was still missing materials.
I then opened the evolution theory book to continue reading and pondered over some things.
"..." then I glanced at the monsters from my cards.
After thinking for a while, I took them out and summoned both.
"Wu- WUU?!" Fluffy lazily made a sound, then saw Frost Weaver right next to it and jumped back in shock.
"You two, say hello to each other."
Frost Weaver looked a bit confused. Although it didn't know if that order was useful or not, it still followed.
It looked at Fluffy, who was cautiously looking back at it.
...why does it look familiar? But I can't remember why.
I looked at both of them and smiled, then stood up to go to the bathroom.
"WUU!!" Fluffy saw I was about to leave it with Frost Weaver and anxiously floated over to me and clung on.
"What's wrong?"
"Wu wu!!"
"...you want to bathe together?"
"Wu!"
Then I looked at Frost Weaver, intending to ask its opinion too, but Fluffy clung to my face and distracted me.
"Alright alright, I know! Not inviting Frost Weaver, right? I told you two to greet each other, not hate each other okay."
Sighing, I started taking off my coat. The cold from my body immediately burst out intensely.
Hot water also turned into cold water, but luckily I wouldn't catch a cold because of my special body.
I left Fluffy nearby and started washing my hair. Fluffy watched the shampoo intently then looked at its own white fur.
It was quite curious what would happen if it used it on its fur.
Even though it thought that, in the end it didn't ask anything and just waited for me to finish bathing.
After a while, I came out of the bathroom with a towel on my head. Fluffy was lying on my hand.
Frost Weaver had been standing still in the same spot the whole time, making me realize my mistake.
It wasn't like the starter monster. It didn't have much self-awareness and only followed orders. Its intelligence wasn't high either, so standing still like that was understandable.
'This sounds like abuse, I don't like it at all...'
"Frost Weaver, what do you think of my room?"
The spider looked around the room.
It was a large room in its eyes and all four directions were blocked by walls, so initial assessment: safe.
The room temperature was ideal! If it got even a little hot it would be uncomfortable.
And there were also great places to build nests. It could even make some spider webs.
Only one word: Perfect!
"Grug!" Frost Weaver made a satisfied sound.
"Oh really? Then why don't you choose a spot to build your nest?"
"Grug?" It looked confused.
Is that an order?
"That's a suggestion. You can refuse. The decision is yours, though I'll be happy if you're sincere about it." I said, patting the spider's head.
The spider stood there for a while as if thinking, then decided to climb up to a corner of the wall and started spinning silk.
It seemed it had decided. Good.
This was the way to gradually let them develop their own awareness and independence.
"Well, it's getting dark already. Let's sleep a bit earlier."
I then got on the bed, pulling Fluffy along.
"Wu~"
Looking at Fluffy lying next to me, I looked at it for a while then picked it up.
"Wu?"
"Do you want a name?"
Hearing that, Fluffy thought for a while and happily agreed.
If it had a name, wouldn't that be wonderful? Like it was loved while the others weren't~
Unaware of what Fluffy was thinking, I started choosing a name for it.
It starts with F, looks cute too, so we'll give it a girl's name.
"...Felia, do you like it?"
"Wu!"
"Hmm, good that you like it..." I smiled.
Suddenly, Fluffy Snowflake's card glowed, startling both me and Felia.
I took it out and looked at the information.
Felia - Fluffy Snowflake (lv 1)
...so that's allowed too, huh?