Capital City, Kravina Mansion, Training Ground.
It was already early morning.
A blue light slowly descended on the training ground, accompanied by the gradual brightening of the magic array. Viktor stood up from within the array.
He looked around at the familiar scene.
The maids had already started their work early, and seeing Viktor appear on the training ground, they all nodded respectfully from afar. Viktor acknowledged each one in return.
No one knew that Viktor had been gone all night.
After Viktor left, several maids gathered together, secretly discussing:
"Don't you think the master is so handsome and young?"
"Yes, yes, and the master's skin is really good too."
They chattered away, their faces inevitably flushing red.
"And Viktor is now a Count!"
"I think that was yesterday's news, I just heard about it too!"
Everyone cared about Viktor's promotion, and even these maids felt proud to be serving in a Count's household.
The status of a Count was quite different from that of a Viscount.
Now Viktor could even recruit his own private army.
Although there were some in the Kravina territory, those were mainly for protecting the safety of the domain.
Viktor now had the right to recruit a group of family knights directly at his mansion in the capital.
If he wasn't worried about affecting Helnason's work, he would have brought Helnason to the capital.
Such a powerful subordinate would make anyone envious.
But there were many things in the territory that needed Helnason, after all, he was the steward of Kravina. Coming to manage this small patch in the capital would be beneath him.
Vega yawned on Viktor's shoulder, it hadn't slept all night either and was very tired.
"I say, where did that inexplicable combat experience of yours come from?"
Vega knew that the soul in Viktor's body had changed, but his familiarity with spells made him always believe that Viktor must have been an incredibly powerful mage in his previous life.
As a result, Viktor once again broke his guess.
How could he explain this exquisite close combat skill?
Viktor didn't respond to Vega.
If conditions allowed, he could even demonstrate to Vega how to play all classes.
Viktor walked to the door, where a waiting maid, seeing him, hurriedly came forward and respectfully presented a letter with both hands:
"Master, your letter."
The letter had obvious magical energy. Viktor glanced at it, took the letter, and nodded.
He took the letter back to his study first, closed the door, and only then carefully read it.
The complexity of this magic and its power level were both very sophisticated.
Even if an ordinary third-tier mage could solve the puzzle of this magic, without enough magical power, they wouldn't be able to open this letter.
This was a magical puzzle set by a genuine fourth-tier old mage.
"Vega."
Hearing Viktor call him, Vega rolled his eyes.
"Really, don't you know I'm very tired?"
Despite complaining, Vega still pointed out the flaws in the letter for Viktor.
"See this rune? Yes, it's missing some fragments, complete it."
"And this line, the direction and path are completely wrong, change it."
"And here..."
Under Vega's repeated guidance, this difficult magical puzzle was quickly solved.
The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.
When Viktor inserted the last rune, the letter lit up with a blue fluorescence.
Correspondingly, Viktor's magical power suddenly dropped by more than half.
It almost drained him completely.
Viktor didn't pay much attention to this and opened the letter, taking out a white paper from inside.
He examined it back and forth, but there was nothing written on it.
When Viktor was about to activate it with magic, a virtual image appeared from the white paper and spoke:
"I'm truly surprised, Lord Viktor, your magical attainment impresses me immensely."
"This magical puzzle was jointly set by many fourth-tier mages of the council. You've proven that your strength is well-deserved."
Despite saying this, there was an almost imperceptible shock in the virtual mage's tone.
They could imagine Viktor solving this magical puzzle, but they definitely couldn't have imagined Viktor solving it in less than five minutes.
According to their expectations, even if Rachel Azure came, it would take half a day to work on this problem.
"Enough."
Viktor listened to the other's compliments and interrupted him in advance, saying coldly:
"Get to the point."
The mage in the virtual image was suddenly embarrassed, perhaps not expecting Viktor to be so impolite. He coughed lightly twice.
No wonder many people said Viktor had a bad reputation.
The old mage in the virtual image slowly opened his mouth and explained his purpose:
"I'm here on behalf of the Mage Council to invite you, Lord Viktor, to join us."
"As a fourth-tier mage, you deserve our personal invitation."
Viktor's fingers tapped on the table, completely ignoring the other's invitation, and asked indifferently:
"What are the benefits?"
"Naturally, you will receive any benefits equal to those of a fourth-tier mage."
The virtual image smiled in response, but received a cold laugh from Viktor.
"Empty promises."
The other side seemed a bit embarrassed, not knowing how to respond for a moment.
Then Viktor put forward his own requirements:
"I want access to the magic library."
The virtual image clearly paused for a moment, as if shocked by Viktor's unexpected words.
He felt extremely curious.
Why would Viktor know about the existence of the magic library?
However, Viktor's demands were just the beginning.
"I want a staff made from a unicorn's horn, a fourth-tier magic dragon's tail, and a hundred-year-old locust tree branch."
"Fourth-tier golden jade dragon scales, a robe made from ominous spider web and magic stone powder."
...
The mage was speechless upon hearing Viktor's demands.
All these equipments were top-grade treasures.
Not only were they expensive, but the materials were also difficult to obtain.
Dragon species weren't common goods.
Although the virtual image had no face, Viktor could still see the other's confusion and difficulty in his pause.
"Lord Viktor, forgive me for saying, but these things you want..."
"If you don't agree, then I have no need to join the Mage Council."
After saying this, Viktor ignited a flame in his hand.
The virtual mage felt surprised, he stared at the flame in Viktor's hand and continued to speak.
"This letter has been specially treated, ordinary flames cannot burn it..."
But soon, Viktor showed him what a surprise really was.
One side of the letter suddenly caught fire, gradually spreading upwards.
Seeing the letter ignite with what seemed to be intense flames, the virtual mage was stunned.
He could only stare blankly, listening to Viktor's voice fall again:
"One day's time, give me an answer."
"Remember, my demands remain the same."
Soon, the letter was completely burned to ashes, and the virtual image's voice abruptly stopped.
After the annoying voice disappeared, Viktor sat calmly in his chair.
Vega, seeing him so relaxed, asked the question in its heart.
"What kind of place is the City of Mages?"
This name, it had first heard in Rachel's sea of knowledge.
At that time, it had intended to ask about it, always feeling that place seemed to be very interesting.
Hearing Vega's words, Viktor recalled his memories.
The City of Mages, also known as 'The Sky City — Endymion'
This was the paradise that all mage players dreamed of going to.
There was a huge magic library there, with an unknown area, but the labyrinth-like library was filled with all kinds of magic.
Only mage players with enough contribution points could learn truly powerful spells there that ordinary mages couldn't access.
Even magic above the fifth tier had a chance to be learned.
Endymion didn't belong to any country.
It was a mage's land independent of all countries.
Here, one could see powerful mages from various places, various races, and various ages.
Any mage who could enter the City of Mages might be one of the best somewhere.
Of course, although there was no state control, Endymion had clear legal regulations.
If you only followed the law and ignored morality, you could still live well in Endymion.
But when you left Endymion, that was another story.
It wasn't uncommon for such disgusting scum to be collectively erased by mages.
Therefore, Endymion was also known as — the final place of morality.
By the way, only mages above the third tier could enter the City of Mages, and they needed to be recognized by the Mage Council.
The former Viktor, although strong enough, had such a bad reputation that he couldn't get in.
But now...
The public achievement of defeating a demon was enough for the Mage Council to ignore his morality and actively invite him.
As for his demands, would they agree?
They certainly would, these old mages wouldn't miss out on a young and powerful new blood.
After the recollection, Viktor briefly explained to Vega.
"It's a city floating in the air."
Vega's eyes lit up, it sounded very interesting.
But it was very sleepy now, Vega yawned, just wanting to sleep.
Feeling that it could hardly lift its eyelids, it weakly complained to Viktor:
"I'm serious, do you know how important it is for a crow to get supplementary sleep?"
Viktor gave Vega an extra look and lightly mocked:
"The great evil god finally admits its species is a crow?"
Vega didn't want to respond to him, flying to his shoulder, apparently ready to fall asleep directly.
Seeing this, Viktor slowly stood up and took out his pocket watch.
It was still early, indeed time to catch up on some sleep.
He slowly walked towards his room, passing by Henie's room, Viktor even took a special look.
His eyes flashed with a yellow light, Viktor didn't sense any biological presence in Henie's room.
"Already awake?"
He didn't pay much more attention and went straight back to his own room with Vega.
Viktor's room was very large, so large that an ordinary person living alone in such a spacious room might feel scared at night.
Some plants climbed onto the ground, yet there was still a large space.
Vega saw the perch it had been longing for, quickly flew up, and started to doze off.
But just before falling asleep, it suddenly sensed something, looked at Viktor's bed, and the whole bird became alert.
Its eyes were full of mischief as it said to Viktor:
"Why aren't you sleeping, Viktor?"
Viktor was silent for a moment, he looked at the bulge in the blanket on his bed, reached out his hand, and tugged at the blanket.
A soft succubus rolled out from under the blanket, still sweetly asleep.
Occasionally, she would mumble in her sleep.
"Mmm... Viktor... Professor... Hehe."