"Habika?"

Victor was slightly startled, memories from the game began to surface in his mind.

This was one of the many gods in the game's background. He only appeared in the game's background, and was only mentioned in the storybooks for collecting tasks.

No one had ever seen his true form.

According to the records in the game's story, every time Habika appeared, he would either bring disasters or calamities. There was one record of the most serious incident, where Habika's appearance reduced the world's human population by half! He was a very evil and terrifying god.

"Of course, you can also call me by my current name, Vega." The crow, calling itself Vega, courteously folded its wings across its chest and bowed.

Victor couldn't quite grasp the other party's intentions, so he didn't respond.

Seeing Victor's silence, Vega flapped its wings and adjusted its posture.

"Interesting, it seems you've heard of me."

"I don't know you."

He knew very well that being entangled by gods was not a good thing, which was a universally recognized fact among players, especially with gods like Habika, who existed in the background story and seemed very dangerous.

But why did this god, who had never appeared in the game plot, come looking for Victor in advance?

Vega opened its beak, and in a hoarse voice like a crow's, it said ahead of him, "You are not Victor, your soul is not filthy enough."

It stared at Victor with its single eye, trying to see a hint of 'panic' on his face, but Victor's usual poker face disappointed it.

"Gods can see through souls," it said. "But it doesn't matter, I'm here to find you."

Vega shook its feathers, and a long, black feather fell onto the table, turning into a black piece of paper. White, twisted stripes began to form into a pile of words, like a devil's contract.

Victor looked at the contents of the paper and felt a headache. He had just arrived in this world and hadn't done anything, yet he was already signing two contracts in one day.

"I am a substitute coach! Not some miserable laborer." He took the paper and read it, mocking, "Aren't you a god? Fallen on hard times?"

He had never thought that even gods would come out to sign contracts.

The contract stated an agreement. If he signed his name, he would have to provide food, clothing, shelter, and even help build a church for this crow, and help this evil god develop followers. The contract stated that the more followers, the stronger its power.

And that was it.

Victor, "..."

Even a tyrant's contract wasn't so outrageous, providing for your food, clothing, shelter, and even finding followers for you, but what do I get in return?

He looked speechlessly at the crow, which was elegantly pecking at its feathers, like a noble bird.

If only he could ignore its single eye.

"My power has been sealed by more than half, and I can only seek shelter from others. If you take this deal, you will gain the friendship of a deity."

"It's worth it," Vega said as it continued pecking at its feathers.

Victor was speechless. Friendship with a god? What a load of crap.

The crow gave him a sidelong glance with its single eye, seeming to see through his thoughts, and said lightly, "It can save your life."

The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

"Deal!"

Victor signed his name grandly on the contract. He wasn't too worried about being cheated because gods always kept their promises.

Even evil gods.

Signing the contract, he felt a very subtle connection between them. It was as if, with just a thought, he could locate the crow wherever it was.

The crow flew to Victor's shoulder and pecked at its feathers.

What Leah said was right. Keeping a crow as a pet was indeed a questionable taste. But since he had just arrived and had already signed the contracts, he might as well treat it as keeping a pet without taste. After all, he only needed to provide it with food and shelter. As for the church, he could just spend money to build one later.

He turned to look at another contract on the side, which also required his signature. This was a contract from the Advanced Magic Academy, sincerely inviting the protagonist to become a teacher at the academy and promising the title of professor.

He suddenly remembered that although Victor was a villain, he was also a magic genius. Countless old mages were stuck at the second rank, while Victor had reached the third rank at the age of twenty. Converted into the game, Victor silently recited, and a game panel appeared before his eyes.

[Name, Victor Klevena]

LV, 39

HP, 1000/1000

MP, 4900/4900

A typical glass cannon mage.

This confirmed his speculation. He had indeed crossed into the game world. As a third-rank mage, corresponding to levels 30 to 39 in the game, further levels would follow accordingly.

In the background story, Victor had not improved in nine years, and the title of genius had long been forgotten by the world.

Crossing into Victor's body, he realized that Victor was hiding his skills. He had accumulated experience points for upgrading who knows how many times, and he could have easily crossed the threshold of the third rank and become a fourth-rank human saint mage.

But Victor had never done so; he had always been planning something.

Although his character was not good, the title of genius was real. This contract had to be signed.

Not to mention that this title was fought for by his sister and fiancée. With the title of professor, he would have the protection of the magic school, and the Duke's side would not dare to trouble him easily.

At least, on the surface, he needed a reasonable excuse. The reason that an underage daughter was confessed to by a scumbag? This reason was untenable. Everyone loves beauty; would your daughter never get married?

Victor picked up the pen and signed his name on the contract, then asked the servant to send it to the magic school before getting up and walking towards the backyard of the mansion.

Vega finally stopped pecking its feathers and asked him what he was going to do.

Victor didn't turn his head, telling it, "I'm going to the school tomorrow to teach and practice some magic so I don't get rusty."

"Take me with you," Vega stood on his shoulder, chattering incessantly.

In a blink of an eye, they arrived at the martial arts field, where several huge stone targets stood. Victor looked up at these towering stone statues, feeling somewhat surprised.

In the game, players' backyards also had such magic stones for improving skill proficiency. The stones would display damage numbers, which could be used to determine the proficiency of skills and their own attribute proficiency.

Now that Victor saw these things in the backyard of his mansion, he couldn't help but feel emotional. Vega looked at him in surprise, thinking he hadn't practiced for a long time, and was intimidated by the target.

Then it started to chatter like a crow.

"Magic requires a lot of skills..."

Blah blah blah, Vega talked to Victor about many things, such as how to release magic efficiently and increase its power.

"If I had the power, I would show you some powerful advanced magic."

Victor didn't say anything, letting it continue to ramble.

Before it finished, Victor raised his hand, and with a bang, a black lightning bolt burst out.

[First-rank spell, Black Thunder Spear]

Victor's face didn't change at all. Casting magic was as simple as eating, drinking, and going to the bathroom for him.

Then, various second-rank and third-rank skills burst out like fireworks, leaving traces on the giant stones, as if bombing the entire backyard dazzlingly.

Vega, standing on Victor's shoulder, fell silent.

Victor looked at his nearly depleted MP and felt somewhat dissatisfied. The boss's body was weak, and he ran out of mana with just a few skills. If a player put on a bunch of equipment, easily reaching over ten thousand mana, would they still worry about conserving mana?

"Don't you need to draw magic circles when you cast spells?" Victor didn't answer.

The mage profession was called the magic machine gun among players because the game setting's magic circles didn't require any operation from players. They just needed to press a shortcut key, read the pre-cast, and the skill would be released.

As a substitute player who had played all professions, he was already proficient in the skills of any profession. Casting a spell? That wasn't a big deal for him.

Seeing that he could already perfectly control the release of skills, Victor was ready to leave. Vega suddenly spoke, "Don't rush to leave. I'm very interested in the way you release spells. Can you show me a few more?"

Victor ignored him. Did he think this was fireworks? If you want to cast, just cast.

Just as he had this thought, he glanced over, only to see Vega's single eye shining with a dazzling blue light, enveloping his body. He felt as if there was a rope tied between him and the crow.

Victor called up the panel and looked at it again.

MP, 999999/999999

He looked down at Vega.

"I'm going to report you! You're cheating!"