A black shadow squeezed out from a crack in the wall, spreading like ink across the floor. It began to rise gradually until it covered the entire room.

Startled, Henie took a few steps back, unable to discern the creature within the dark ink.

She hurriedly pulled out a box of matches from her pocket, intending to light one.

Just as she struck a match, before she could even raise her gaze, the tiny flame was instantly extinguished by the darkness.

"Why... again..."

"Isn't one or two times of mockery... enough?" Henie asked, her emotions on the verge of collapse.

The inky shadow fell silent, just staring at her quietly.

Yes, just staring at her.

As if it had seen through Henie's thoughts, it opened its pitch-black, ink-like maw and spoke. The voice, like demonic sounds, poured into Henie's ears.

"I know what you need, little girl."

"Just stay here and wait for me."

The voice abruptly stopped, and the darkness in the room dissipated instantly with the cessation of the sound.

The entire office once again became utterly silent.

Henie raised her head, kneeling powerlessly on the ground, her face devoid of any discernible emotion.

...

Soon, the ink shadow that had just disappeared returned.

The suffocating black ink once again filled the entire room.

It was like a gust of wind, freely entering and exiting the Mage Tower.

Henie looked up at the ink shadow and suddenly froze.

She just realized that this was the Mage Tower.

Only those with proper authorization could enter and exit freely.

Why could this ink shadow appear here?

Before she could ponder further, the ink shadow before her eyes suddenly took on a more defined form.

She couldn't make out exactly what it was, but she could vaguely see the monster open its large mouth and violently thrust its arm into its own throat, stirring around.

After a series of gurgling sounds, the ink shadow extended its giant hand.

It pulled out three orbs of light from its stomach, like beacons of hope in Henie's despair.

"Little girl," the ink shadow spoke, followed by a series of strange noises, "Hmm... ugh... smack smack..."

"You need power, don't you?"

"I..."

Henie trembled slightly, not even knowing what was happening, completely disregarding how disgusting the thing before her was.

"Come on, this is the power you need."

"Touch it, and it will be yours."

Henie felt something was terribly wrong, but every word from the ink shadow seemed filled with intense temptation.

As if possessed, she reached out her hand and touched the orb of light.

The ink shadow's smile grew even wider.

...

Early the next morning, Viktor got off the carriage and stood at the entrance of the academy.

He was back.

Back at this academy after a long absence.

In fact, if it weren't for Lia angrily shouting and kicking him out early in the morning, Viktor had planned to stay at home for another morning.

'Should I send her back to the territory?' Viktor thought to himself, but quickly abandoned the idea.

Even if he sent her back, Lia would surely keep traveling back and forth between the capital and the territory for business reasons.

She'd still end up nagging him a bit anyway.

Viktor entered the academy, feeling a gaze sweep over him.

It was the Chancellor's spell—[Natural Sparrow].

When he was a third-tier mage, Viktor couldn't sense this natural force.

After advancing to the fourth tier, he could clearly detect the discordant flow of magic in the air.

Viktor looked up at the sky, where countless natural sparrows were darting about the academy.

The Chancellor's gaze covered the entire academy.

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The gaze quickly left him, presumably having confirmed his identity.

The royal family had already made an announcement, declaring Baron Levi and Viktor innocent.

Of course, only a handful of nobles knew about the series of events from the near-eruption of the volcano to its conclusion.

So Viktor's return didn't cause a stir at the academy.

Viktor walked naturally on the path, completely disregarding the gazes around him, fully immersed in thoughts about how to transition into his upcoming classes.

The students passing by Viktor, who were originally happily welcoming a new day, suddenly froze in place upon seeing Viktor's 'deadpan' expression.

They became tongue-tied.

Viktor was completely unaware of how his appearance had shaken the cognition of the surrounding students.

"Who is that? Such a terrifying pressure..."

"Yeah, when he walked past me, I almost felt like he was going to drain all my magic..."

One student suddenly pulled the others away and said in a hushed voice:

"Are you all crazy!? That's Viktor Kravina! Don't let him hear us talking bad about him!"

"He... is that infamous bastard mage!?"

"So scary..."

Viktor walked through the campus, maintaining his poker face, breathing in the fresh air of the school grounds.

Soon, he encountered an unpleasant situation.

The commotion ahead caught his attention.

It was at the student dormitory.

A group of students were gathered at the entrance, and three unconscious students with ashen faces were being carried out.

"Something's not right," Vega whispered in Viktor's ear.

"These unconscious students have lost their 'magic power'."

Hearing Vega's words, Viktor needed a source of information, so he spotted someone wearing a white coat.

It was the school doctor.

The surrounding students felt a chill as they saw a figure approach.

"What happened?" Viktor's voice rang out.

The school doctor turned around, saw Viktor, and was startled, his glasses falling off.

Viktor bent down to pick them up and handed them back to him.

The doctor naturally knew who Viktor was. Aside from his infamous reputation, there was also that highly influential incident recently circulating among the nobles of the capital, which involved him.

Yet this person, whom everyone believed to be guilty, had been declared innocent by the royal family.

Many mages who didn't know the truth couldn't accept it.

But life was more important, so they had to be polite to Viktor on the surface.

"Professor Viktor... what are you doing here?"

"Answer my question."

Viktor's expressionless face made him shudder again.

The doctor hurriedly explained, "These students' physical examinations showed no problems, but they're in a coma, seeming to be in a state that's difficult to wake from."

"These three are from the same dormitory. No one knows what happened. They were found like this by students from the neighboring dorm."

"We're preparing to take them to the infirmary for a magic power check to see if there's any problem."

Viktor nodded, moving his body aside. The other person left hurriedly, as if relieved of a great burden.

'Obviously, these people don't know what happened,' Viktor explained to Vega beside him, with no one else around.

"Absorbing others' magic power, such a dirty method easily reminds me of that filth."

"It seems they've infiltrated quite quickly."

What Vega referred to, of course, was those demons.

Viktor was also helpless, encountering such a big issue right after returning to the academy.

However.

"If demons appear, let's just deal with them while we're at it."

Not to mention that the demons' filth would make people feel depressed.

This thing, after all, was also worth experience points.

Viktor stopped paying attention and returned to his office with Vega.

[Identity verification successful—Professor Viktor, welcome back to the Mage Tower]

After verifying his identity at the Mage Tower, with a flash of the teleportation array, Viktor stepped into his office.

The office wasn't much different from when he left, except for the flower pot on the windowsill that was missing.

That was the flower Henie had given him. In fact, Henie really liked that pot of flowers and often used helping Viktor water it as an excuse to enter and exit the Mage Tower.

"Did she take it back to her dormitory to care for it?"

Viktor hadn't been back these days, so naturally, Henie didn't need to come to the office to find him.

Frequently entering and exiting the Mage Tower was quite a journey, so taking the flower back to care for it would at least save her from going back and forth so much.

He sat in the chair, noticing a few books missing from the desk.

Similarly, those were Henie's books left here. In her spare time, she would always hug those books she had read countless times, flipping through them again and again.

Viktor didn't mind, just as with the flower pot, he had found a reason for the disappearance of these books.

Henie didn't need to come to the office, so naturally, she took the books back to read.

He took out the magic book he hadn't finished reading yesterday from his bag, reading while passing the time.

He sat like this until noon.

The sound of turning pages rustled, very quiet.

Vega, standing on the desk, was dozing off when suddenly its head hit the desktop, startling it awake.

"What? Oh, she didn't come..."

This time around noon was when Henie most frequently came to the Mage Tower.

She would almost always bring that thick book, then happily tell Viktor what kind of lesson she had written today.

Each time, she would wake up the sleeping Vega.

So waking up at this time had almost become a habit for Vega.

This time, Henie didn't come.

Vega glanced at Viktor, who didn't even raise his head, just turning pages, seemingly immersed in his own world.

Vega suddenly remembered that the little girl probably didn't know Viktor had returned to the academy.

It didn't care, feeling drowsy again, and dozed off once more.

Time always passes surprisingly quickly when sleeping.

In the afternoon, the faint sunlight slanted through the window, elongating the shadows.

"Vega, it's time to go."

"Hm? Where to?"

The crow, woken up, blinked its eyes, seeing Viktor put away his book in a daze.

"It's time for class."

"Oh, okay."

Vega flapped its wings and stood on Viktor's shoulder.

To be honest, I was looking forward to the afternoon.

At that time, how would that timid little girl react when she saw Viktor?

Would she run away in fear like a startled deer?

Or would she shyly avoid eye contact?

Or perhaps she would excitedly surround Viktor, happily jumping up and saying:

"Professor Viktor! You're finally back!"

No matter which reaction, it all seemed quite interesting to Vega.

The teleportation array descended upon Viktor.

The man and the bird disappeared from the Mage Tower.

When they reappeared, the two were already in the corridor of the teaching building.

The corridor was empty, with occasional teaching sounds coming from other classrooms.

Viktor's footsteps were very crisp in this environment.

Tap—tap—tap—

"So, based on this magic array, we..."

Suddenly, Viktor's footsteps stopped.

His gaze, deep and unfathomable, looked ahead.

That was where Class One was located, and similarly, the voice of a professor lecturing could be heard from inside.

Vega also stared straight ahead, its single eye fixed on the front, its voice devoid of emotion.

"This is quite troublesome—"

Tap—tap—tap—

The footsteps sounded again, but this time, they were heavier than before.

Finally, Viktor arrived at the classroom door.

The voice inside became clearer.

He pushed open the door.

Suddenly, the entire room fell silent.

"Who dares to enter without knocking during class time..."

The voice abruptly stopped, like a duck with its neck wrung, shrill and unpleasant.

Viktor looked towards the source of the voice.

His gaze locked onto the person standing on the podium.

"It really looks like a pig..." Vega quipped in his ear.

Viktor didn't respond, perhaps silently agreeing.

His face expressionless, his tone flat.

Yet it made people feel the indescribable anger in his voice.

"Let me think, your name is Devin..."

"Devin Reiser, right?"