Viktor and Aurelianne's gazes simultaneously turned towards Erica.

The atmosphere gradually grew silent.

Erica, being stared at by both of them, felt a bit shy, but her eyes remained determined.

Viktor remained silent for a moment, then said:

"Erica, you're already my student."

"That's not what I mean!" Erica said anxiously.

"The common knowledge taught by professors in the academy, I'll learn it sooner or later anyway."

This wasn't Erica boasting. In the entire Royal Academy, even among students senior to Erica, most were only first-tier mages, with second-tier mages being rare.

Erica had only been enrolled for a year, yet she had already reached the second tier.

The academy had nothing left to teach her, which was why Erica sought Viktor for extra lessons every evening after classes.

Her talent was evident to all.

But no matter how talented she was, after experiencing several life-threatening situations, she understood a crucial point.

No matter how much simulation training, how much knowledge, or how much magical power one possessed.

Academy-trained mages were destined to be inferior to those battle-hardened mages.

Recalling the several near-death experiences, Erica felt a chill of fear.

She was still too weak.

Viktor stood up, looking down into her eyes.

Seemingly intimidated by Viktor's subtle cold demeanor, Erica took a small step back, but still fearlessly met Viktor's gaze.

She wanted to become stronger!

But...

"I won't take you as my disciple."

Viktor rejected Erica's request.

His quick decision stunned Erica, making her heart sink a little.

Somehow, a feeling of disappointment welled up in her heart.

But she didn't show it. Even with tears glistening in the corners of her eyes, she stubbornly raised her head, looking at Viktor defiantly.

"Why?"

Even though she was rejected, Erica wanted a reason.

At least, she wanted to understand her shortcomings.

Viktor spoke calmly.

"Always remember, you are the Duke's only heir..."

"Then I'll convince him!" Erica's tone carried undeniable confidence.

"I can definitely convince my father, I promise."

Viktor narrowed his eyes, letting out a light chuckle through his nose.

"Is that so?"

"Then, we'll discuss the rest later."

Suddenly, his body burst into roaring flames, as if igniting half the night sky.

He turned around, looking at the slightly dazed Princess, and bowed slightly.

"I have some matters to attend to, so I'll take my leave early."

"Enjoy yourself, Your Highness."

As he spoke, his body gradually solidified, turning into a statue made of ashes.

A powerful wind, like a sharp blade, peeled away his body piece by piece until it completely dispersed into the air, carried away by the wind.

He disappeared from the banquet hall, leaving only ashes behind.

Erica stood there, slightly stunned.

Did Viktor... agree?

She wasn't sure, but at least she had a goal now.

Convince her father!

But just then, the Princess's delicate voice rang out:

"I know you, you're Erica, Erica du Cloye."

Erica snapped back to reality and looked at the Princess, only then realizing she hadn't greeted Her Highness yet.

In terms of noble etiquette, this was undoubtedly somewhat offensive.

She was about to curtsy when she saw the Princess staring at her intently.

It seemed she wasn't very friendly towards her.

"People outside say you're the youngest genius in the capital."

Indeed, being able to become a second-tier mage at seventeen was not common.

Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

Erica's genius was truly rare.

"Your Highness, you..."

Erica was about to say some flattering words to appease the Princess she hadn't met much before, but she heard her suddenly say:

"Are you trying to steal my teacher?"

Erica was stunned, then heard Aurelianne say in an unfriendly tone:

"I won't let you succeed, you can't take him away."

"Under his guidance, I will become an even greater genius than you, letting everyone know who his most outstanding student is."

Aurelianne said no more. The graceful princess stood up and turned to leave.

She didn't even give Erica a chance to speak.

Erica watched her gradually leave, unable to say a word herself.

......

Outside the palace, the air suddenly burst into sparks.

Crackle—Crackle—

Soon, the sparks turned into full flames.

Several flames ignited out of thin air, intertwining with each other, gradually revealing Viktor's figure.

Viktor waved his hand, and those flames turned into a black windbreaker draping over his body.

Vega stood on a pole, flapping its wings and flying to Viktor's shoulder.

"You're so slow, did something interesting happen in the palace?"

"The Emperor asked me to be the Princess's teacher, I agreed."

Vega raised an eyebrow curiously.

"Became a person with connections?"

Viktor didn't respond to it, but the crow started to complain:

"In the end, you'll still rely on me. I think your academy should give me a title too."

"Hmm... how about the Great Professor Vega!"

A blue teleportation magic circle lit up under Viktor's feet, and man and crow disappeared into the night.

......

It was nearly midnight when Lia returned to the mansion by carriage.

Socializing with a group of nobles was truly exhausting, nothing but pleasantries, attempting to establish connections with the Kravina family.

Dealing with all this had left her mentally and physically exhausted.

She had planned to drag her aching body to find Viktor and go home together, only to find that Viktor had already left.

After returning home and changing her clothes, she went to the training ground, where she finally found Viktor.

Viktor was still practicing with a sword, and his every move somehow made Lia feel there was something to it.

But remembering that Viktor had gone home without waiting for her, Lia felt a bit annoyed and couldn't help but mock him:

"What's this? Is our mage lord planning to change careers?"

Viktor didn't respond to her, but upon seeing Lia return, he sheathed the silver sword.

This time, however, he didn't hang the long sword back on the wall.

The sword disappeared in his hand, stored in the player-exclusive inventory.

"You're back? Then let's prepare to depart."

Lia was slightly taken aback. To be honest, she had originally planned to leave in the afternoon, expecting to arrive at the territory early the next morning.

It was now too late to return to the Kravina territory by carriage.

But shortly after Viktor finished speaking, a blue magic circle lit up under his feet again.

This time it was much larger than before, with clearly visible patterns and runes.

A terrifying magical aura suddenly burst forth from the ground, and the shocking blue teleportation array rose from the ground, shooting straight into the sky.

The violent wind stirred up made Viktor's windbreaker flap wildly, the black coat swaying on his body, and Lia's hanging long hair stood on end from the wind.

Soon, the wind gradually subsided.

Accompanied by blue starlight gradually enveloping both of their bodies, a blue teleportation array also gradually formed above their heads.

Lia stood there stunned, asking Viktor:

"What is this?"

Viktor didn't look at her, just calmly explained.

"I spent two hours here, constructing a two-way teleportation array with 'Blaiston'."

Blaiston was a city under the Kravina domain, the second most prosperous city after the capital.

Viktor's old home was there.

Lia was slightly taken aback.

"So you came back early just to do this?"

Viktor didn't speak, which was as good as an affirmation.

Lia fell silent.

Thinking about how she had blamed Viktor for not waiting for her to return earlier, she actually felt a bit guilty now.

She tried standing inside the magic circle, feeling the astonishing magical power rushing towards her.

Even though Lia wasn't a mage, she clearly recognized Viktor's strength from this terrifying amount of magical power.

"The teleportation array can be maintained for a whole day."

"If all goes well, we can still use this array to return tomorrow."

Lia nodded, and in the next second, the two arrays gradually merged together. The two of them, along with the array, disappeared with scattered starlight, transforming into a blue light flying towards the distance.

Afterwards, a return teleportation array was left at the original spot, gradually dimming and being concealed.

......

In a dim room, a group of people wearing brown cloaks with hoods burst in.

These people all covered any parts of their bodies that might have distinguishing features, only revealing their different pupils. There was nothing inside the room, as if everything that could be taken away had been looted, now only four walls remained.

As if they were prepared.

Leanne entered the room, inspecting everything, and nodded upon hearing the report from her subordinate beside her.

"What about the clues? Do you know where he went?"

"He might have already left the city, but calculating the time, he shouldn't have left the territory yet."

Leanne breathed a sigh of relief and said:

"Fortunately, the young miss was prepared."

She took out a bronze-colored disc from her waist, with no directions engraved on it.

Half a pointer was pointing in one direction.

The subordinate, seeing the device in Leanne's hand, immediately knew what it was:

A rune tracker.

Leanne began to explain calmly:

"Miss Lia signed magical contracts with every merchant cooperating with the territory. As long as they are still within the territory, we can track them with this device."

Everyone suddenly realized, their eyes, the only visible part, almost all lit up with admiring stars.

"As expected of Miss Lia!"

"It's good that Miss Lia was prepared!"

"I envy Lady Leanne, she must use this to monitor Miss Lia's location every day!"

The others immediately turned their gaze to the person who spoke last.

Leanne waved her hand indifferently, when suddenly, a light spot lit up on the edge of the rune tracker.

This light spot looked somewhat special, which made the people around curious, but Leanne looked at it and put the rune tracker away.

She coughed lightly twice, as if nothing had happened, and gave orders to the others.

"You go after him first, I need to go back for a while."

After saying this, she leapt out of the window, her movements in the night sky like an agile cheetah, disappearing into the night in the blink of an eye.

......

Blue light gradually brightened, and Viktor and Lia appeared simultaneously in the backyard of the Kravina mansion.

The backyard was very spacious, much larger and more luxurious compared to the villa in the capital.

In the night, the backyard even had fireflies constantly flying about, like a private starry sky above the lawn.

This was Viktor's old home.

Although he didn't have many impressions of this place.

In his memory, he had only been here a few times when doing side quest investigations.

One second they were in the capital, the next they were suddenly back in the territory, which made Lia marvel.

"Magic is really convenient."

As the array gradually dissipated and hid under the lawn, Viktor's voice followed:

"Do you need my help?"

"What, you look down on me?"

Lia glanced at Viktor, saying nonchalantly.

"If we need to use our family's mage lord to catch a small thief who embezzled, that would be giving him too much credit."

"You just sleep in your own room first, and wait for me to come back. Oh right, you do remember where your room is, don't you?"

Viktor nodded. Since Lia didn't need help, he also believed she could handle everything well.

If it really was that Chur, with the resources Lia could mobilize, it would be enough to control him.

If she couldn't handle it... Viktor glanced at the glove on Lia's right hand.

The Mage's Hand would tell Viktor if Lia encountered any danger she couldn't resolve.

Lia didn't say anything more and hurriedly left.

After she left, Viktor still stood in place without moving.

Vega stood on his shoulder, curiously looking around at everything, and said:

"So this is where you used to live, it's really big."

Viktor didn't respond, which made Vega a bit confused.

"What are you doing? Why are you standing still?"

"Don't talk, I'm trying to remember where my room is."