The sky began to show the first light of dawn as Henie hurriedly rushed towards the training ground.

"Professor Viktor! Professor Viktor!"

Viktor, who was practicing swordsmanship, heard Henie's voice and put down his sword.

With a 'thud', the sword pierced into the ground.

"Professor Viktor, the batch of fine steel you ordered has arrived."

Hearing that his ordered fine steel had arrived, Viktor nodded to Henie, sheathed his sword, and hung it back on the wall.

"Let's go."

Viktor led Henie towards the mansion's main gate.

Seeing a cart full of fine steel outside the gate, Viktor merely lifted the cover to take a quick look, then called for the servants to receive it.

"Professor, don't we need to weigh these fine steel bars specifically?"

"There's no need for that."

This batch of fine steel was of superior quality from the Delin family. Gwen paid great attention to this, so naturally, there wouldn't be any shortages.

The money had been paid in advance.

The driver cracked his whip, and the cart gradually departed.

Viktor turned and led Vega back to the mansion, while Henie remained in place, tilting her head as she watched him, muttering:

"Why is the professor so busy every day?"

She shook her head and skipped towards the flower patch.

...

With a 'creak', Vega smelled a damp, metallic odor.

This was the basement of Viktor's mansion, and also Viktor's 'laboratory'.

Vega knew that once Viktor appeared here, it meant he was going to tinker with his strange little toys again.

Viktor laid some fine steel on the table, his gaze fixed on the player's crafting book.

To ensure a constant supply for the item shop, he would make two hundred bottles of magic potions in the basement every day, and always kept one hundred health potions on hand for emergencies.

As a power leveler, the habit of stockpiling potions was ingrained in his soul.

Because of this, his crafting proficiency had already risen to lv3.

He could now start making some level three crafted items.

Viktor took out a pile of various colored crystals from the player's inventory.

"Oh? These are the leftovers from what Gwen brought back from the volcano, and these are what the little princess helped you collect yesterday, right?"

Vega looked curiously at the crystals in Viktor's hand.

But Viktor just kept his hand under his chin, frowning, staring at the air in front of him.

Seeing him like this, Vega understood that Viktor definitely wouldn't respond to it, so it didn't ask any more questions.

After searching through the crafting list for a while, Viktor finally found an item that satisfied him.

According to the materials needed on the item list, Viktor weighed and prepared the crystals and fine steel.

The weight was just right, without even a gram of difference.

Soon, the table was filled with red and green crystals, with three uneven pieces of fine steel placed on top.

Viktor gradually built a formation on the synthesis table, with triangular patterns as the core and square circles as auxiliaries, inlaying runes on top.

Instantly, a burst of strong light erupted from the crafting table.

Vega stared at this strong light, which immediately illuminated its fur like a white bird.

In fact, it had never been able to understand Viktor's crafting technique that only required materials, and could only attribute it to a one-in-a-million creation magic.

As the light gradually faded, Vega widened its eye, looking at Viktor's final product.

These were two small, exquisite iron cards, glinting coldly, extremely sharp.

The patterns on them were also different, with one card covered in green patterns and the other in red patterns.

Viktor looked at the pair of cards before him, knowing he had succeeded not only in crafting a level three item but also in infusing it with wood and fire elements.

"What's the use of this thing?"

Vega asked curiously, looking at the iron flying cards, unable to understand.

No matter how powerful or sharp these things were, they were just flying cards after all.

It would be great if flying cards could kill enemies, but such fragile iron cards might be easily dodged, and the two cards would completely lose their effect.

Viktor didn't answer it, just silently repeated the previous steps.

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Bursts of strong light kept flashing from the basement.

After who knows how long, Vega felt its eye was about to be dazzled.

Viktor also stopped.

Numerous iron cards filled the entire crafting table.

"One, two, three... twenty... seventy-three... one hundred and eight."

"You made two decks of poker cards? Want to draw a few out as jokers?"

Poker cards existed in this world, as one of the few pleasures for gamblers.

Back when he was power leveling, Viktor's favorite thing to do in his spare time was to run to the casino and have an exciting gambling session with one gambler after another, always winning more.

So, how to identify if an NPC is a gambler in the game?

It's simple, just ask if they want to play a game of cards.

To some extent, NPCs' gambling addiction is even greater than players'.

But Vega was very confused. If he wanted to make weapons, why not make wands, or at least daggers for close combat?

Unexpectedly, Viktor made a bunch of these things.

Viktor put a deck of cards of the same color in a magic array. This time, the array had fifty-four small circles, with a position for each card, and the largest circle in the middle.

Soon, another burst of strong light flashed.

Vega's vision went white, and it suddenly felt dizzy.

It could only hear a harsh metallic collision sound in front of it, as if something was forcibly compressed together.

As the light gradually dissipated, Vega only saw two iron cards, but compared to before, they were a bit thicker.

"How did you do that? They merged together?"

Viktor ignored it and just picked up one of the flying cards and threw it at the wooden dummy.

The moment the red flying card flew out, one card instantly turned into a deck of cards. Fifty-two iron cards pinned onto the wooden dummy, bursting into roaring flames.

As soon as the flames ignited, the cards returned, and a white mist like steam instantly rose, cooling down the temperature of the cards.

They hovered around Viktor, the card bodies emitting a faint red glow, like loyal guards.

Vega blinked, watching the numerous flying cards spinning around Viktor.

Viktor calmly explained:

"It can compensate for my shortcomings in close combat."

Vega pondered his words.

Shortcomings in close combat?

That's not what you say when you're fighting warriors and knights in close combat.

Vega thought Viktor just wanted to show off, but it had no evidence.

At least it hadn't seen anyone who could get close enough to Viktor to threaten him, not even Calamity could do that.

"So, do these cool poker cards of yours have a name? I've never seen this kind of weapon before."

Viktor narrowed his eyes, his consciousness slightly moved, and the flying cards stopped spinning, recombining into a deck, attaching to Viktor's waist.

"I call it, Fate."

Vega said very supportively:

"What a perfect name."

...

Viktor put away Fate and walked out of the basement.

As soon as he came out, he saw the little succubus running over very anxiously.

"Pro-Professor!"

She was a bit out of breath as she handed Viktor a letter.

Viktor frowned in confusion.

Delivering letters was usually done by servants.

Henie rested for a moment and then explained:

"Professor, I was about to go to the item shop when this letter flew into the mailbox at the door, addressed to you for signing."

"So I brought it to you."

Henie smiled happily, as if helping Viktor made her especially happy.

Viktor nodded, no longer confused, but saw that Henie was still standing there, fidgeting, with a look of expectation in her eyes.

Viktor: "?"

As he was wondering if he had forgotten something, Henie spoke up somewhat embarrassedly.

"Professor, you haven't patted my head today yet."

"..."

Alright, daily pat.

He put his hand on Henie's head and rubbed it.

Filled with a sense of happiness on her head, Henie was very satisfied.

After Viktor withdrew his hand, she seemed a bit reluctant to part, but then suddenly seemed to realize what an outrageous request she had just made, and her cheeks turned bright red.

"I-I-I... Professor! I'm going to work now!"

Saying this, Henie ran away covering her blushing face.

Viktor's hand hung in the air.

Just now, he had seen Henie's level.

lv7.

Wasn't this succubus leveling up a bit too fast?

Vega stood by, its gaze thoughtful.

"What are you thinking about?"

Viktor asked the crow, and Vega slowly said:

"I suddenly thought, primal demons are magical aggregates that induce emotions, they don't have substantial physical bodies or souls."

"I'm guessing a possibility that when you blasted Yem, part of its qualities didn't completely leave Henie's body, so Henie gained part of the power of greed."

"In conclusion, the reason this little succubus keeps getting stronger might be because you've been satisfying her greed."

Viktor pondered for a moment. This was quite bizarre; he had never seen such a situation before.

But Vega's words made sense, or rather, it was currently the only explanation for how a succubus could increase her magical power without going through certain special sexual acts.

"If that's the case, then Henie's greed is really too easy to satisfy."

Towards the end, even Vega didn't quite believe it.

Could it really be considered greed if all it took was a daily head pat and hug to self-satisfy?

Viktor quietly listened to Vega's words, weighing the letter in his hand.

"It's not harmful anyway."

"You're right, so, has the Mage Council sent you another letter?"

The magical residue on the envelope was still very powerful, but this time there was no magical puzzle on it.

Viktor took Vega back to the study and opened the envelope with magic.

The illusory mage appeared on the letter once again.

"We meet again, Lord Viktor."

Viktor still looked at him coldly and said flatly:

"If the council hadn't agreed to my request, they wouldn't have replied to me, but agreeing to all my demands doesn't seem like your style."

"Tell me, what matter is worth you inviting me at all costs?"

The mage shook his head and smiled bitterly.

There's really nothing to hide from you, Professor Viktor.

He straightened his posture, and a serious voice came out:

"In fact, we of the Mage Council do need your help."

"According to the prophecy, soon, Endymion will suffer a calamity."