Chapter 293
Chapter 293: The Face of a Former Council Member
2 days passed like water slipping through one's fingers—gone in the blink of an eye.
News of Viktor's return to the Manor had gradually spread through the Royal Capital, drawing an ever-growing stream of visitors who came seeking an audience.
But Viktor's answer remained the same 3 words.
Not seeing anyone.
Those who had hoped to visit Viktor were left with little recourse—though having long since heard of his temperament, there wasn't much to be said about it.
The strong, after all, were always a breed apart.
Before long, however, something else emerged and seized everyone's attention.
That was...
The daughter of an Imperial Duke had become the youngest 3rd-Tier Mage in history.
The entire Royal Capital was instantly swept up in a wave of celebration, alive with extraordinary excitement.
The reason was simple: it was simply too outrageous.
The youngest 3rd-Tier Mage in history had been born!
This record was no longer Viktor's to hold—it had passed to the Duke's daughter.
Erika du Chloe.
Still a minor, only 17 years old, and already the youngest 3rd-Tier Mage to ever exist.
This record surpassed even Viktor's own achievement by a full 3 years.
Because this news had spread far and wide, a portion of those who had traveled from afar to visit Viktor ended up going to visit the Duke instead.
Which gave Viktor considerably more peace and quiet over those days.
Let the Duke deal with those opportunistic weeds that bend with the wind.
Viktor stood in the vast garden of his Manor, fingers brushing over petals of unusual colors.
He walked through the scattered blossoms drifting down around him, his black Coat swaying gently in the breeze.
Cocotte lay draped over her cloud, one hand propped under her cheek.
Flower petals danced on the wind, spinning through the air. Cocotte idly reached out with her mind, plucking at the scattered flecks of pink, thoroughly bored.
Her voice carried a faint undercurrent of discontent.
"Why do I have to go?"
Viktor was heading to Endymion, but Cocotte had no desire to return.
She would much rather sleep.
Viktor looked at Cocotte—lazy to her absolute core—and said in a composed tone:
"The other Council Members probably don't know yet that you've reached the 5th Tier."
"Hm?"
At those words, Cocotte suddenly snapped to attention.
She blinked, and slowly straightened up.
Viktor's voice continued.
"In the entire Council, you're currently the only one who has surpassed the 4th Tier and become a 5th-Tier Mage."
"Wouldn't you like to let them know—and see the look on the other Council Members' faces?"
By now, Cocotte had sat fully upright.
She stared at Viktor with complete focus, then gave a firm, rapid nod.
"Yes, yes! I want to go!"
You should have said so from the start—if you'd said it like that, I wouldn't have been sleepy at all!
Right at that moment.
Heni came walking over, cradling a thick, heavy Spellbook in her arms.
"Professor!"
She called out to Viktor at full volume.
Having heard that they were headed to the City of Mages this time, Heni was buzzing with excitement.
Rumor had it that the Magic Archive of the City of Mages housed centuries' worth of accumulated Mage knowledge from across the City's entire history.
As a result, Heni had been so thrilled she'd barely slept a wink the night before.
Because knowledge.
Was one of the 2 things Heni loved most in this world.
The other one went without saying.
At this moment, Cocotte—who had just straightened up—gave the faintest shudder the instant she saw Heni appear.
As though recalling some unpleasant memory, she hastily maneuvered her cloud to hide behind Viktor.
Viktor flicked a glance at the cloud that had drifted away, then turned his gaze back to Heni and said:
"Get ready. Stay close to me."
This trip to Endymion wouldn't require nearly as much trouble as the last one.
As a Council Member now, he could teleport back at any time, from anywhere.
The emblem on his chest gradually began to glow. The 3 severed heads slowly separated and rose into the air.
A cord of Magic Power wound itself around Heni, Cocotte, and her white cloud, its end anchored to Viktor.
Light flared. A rush of wind exploded outward.
The 3 of them rapidly dissolved into a barely visible shimmer of light and vanished from the garden.
Nothing remained but petals of unusual colors, sent whirling in every direction by the burst of wind.
Whoosh—!
Everything around them began to warp and distort. The ground gradually pulled away beneath their feet.
A streak of light threaded through the clouds, as though guided by some unseen force, plunging straight into a thick and turbulent mass of cloud cover.
Above the white expanse of cloud layers stretched 2 boundless sheets of pale white extending endlessly in every direction.
Between them, only a single streak of deep blue extended far into the distance.
A city of illusions floated suspended within those 2 layers of cloud—still, and wondrous.
The light flooded into the City of Mages in an instant.
It streaked through the winding, fantastical garden, the strangely shaped plants craning upward to watch the colors flash past.
It streaked through the Rhea Gorge, where even the turbulent Magic Power currents couldn't disturb them in the slightest.
Deep within the Magic Power Gorge, a mass of silver lightning faintly assembled itself into the shape of a great dragon, gazing upward into the sky, as though sensing some approaching danger.
They passed through a rift of illusory stars, and the deep blue all around began to surge and churn—twisting as though it had gained consciousness.
A powerful wave of hazy disorientation washed over every inch of the body. The churning deep blue gradually shifted from chaos toward order.
When the deep blue finally fell completely still, a beam of pure white radiance poured in through the exit of the star rift, meeting the group head-on.
Whoosh—
The white light slowly faded.
The 3 who had become light drifted through a stretch of misty open sky.
Shattered marble and clouds mingled together, suspended in the air.
In the distance, enormous rings of stone turned without cease, one layer interlocking with the next.
Vast, heavy white wings shifted slightly in the surging Magic Power, and thick clouds trembled continuously—unstable, like countless writhing eyes fused onto the body of some colossal beast.
The peak of the City of Mages floated above the roof of the world. A ring-shaped opening at its apex poured a constant cascade of heavenly light down into the interior.
3 shattered skulls formed from marble—broken as though someone had smashed and then cleaved them apart—
Drifted slowly through the heavenly light pouring down around them, fragments tumbling in a languid flow.
The light shot through the air at great speed, piercing into the enormous, writhing structure before them.
Gradually, it descended toward the structures deeper within.
Standing on the cloud-like surface beneath her feet, Heni felt a wave of dizziness.
She barely managed to steady herself, staring out at this unreal world, half-convinced she was no longer among the living.
Just now, she had felt as though her very soul was trying to leave her body—as if it would never belong to her again.
Looking out at the drifting cloud wisps in the distance, Heni felt the vertigo threatening to return just as she'd begun to recover.
"This place is....."
"The 7th Layer of Endymion."
Cocotte spoke up to explain before Heni could finish.
Being back in Endymion seemed to relax her somewhat.
After all, this was a place where she had lived for several decades.
She flopped forward into her cloud, feeling the Magic Power from all around begin to gather toward her body.
The pale cord of Magic Power faded away. Viktor's Coat swayed lightly in the air.
At this moment, Heim Horn stepped out from a nearby wisp of illusory cloud, his peculiar, phantom-like voice ringing out.
"Welcome to Endymion."
The welcome was, naturally, directed at Heni.
Heni blinked in mild surprise, looking at Heim Horn before her.
She couldn't make out this Phantom Mage's face clearly—it seemed to have a thousand faces at once, making it impossible to even tell whether the figure was male or female.
In truth, Heim Horn was studying Heni just as carefully.
Without having seen her in person, he had half-suspected Viktor was simply stringing him along.
How could anyone possibly go from a 1st-Tier Mage to a 3rd-Tier Mage in just 3 months?
Even now, standing before her, he couldn't make out what exactly was special about her.
Since he couldn't tell by looking, he might as well wait for Viktor to tell him himself.
With that thought in mind, Viktor's voice happened to ring out right on cue.
"Council Member Kent hasn't arrived yet?"
Heim Horn looked toward Viktor and explained with a hint of sheepishness:
"Hmm... Council Member Kent is already on his way. It's just that he mentioned his self-developed flying machine had run into some trouble, so it'll be a little while longer before he gets here."
Unnecessary.
That was Heim Horn's first thought.
As a Council Member, a single thought was all it took—no matter where in the world one happened to be, one could arrive at the 7th Layer of Endymion, the Sky Grounds, in an instant.
But since the man enjoyed the sensation of flying here under his own power, there wasn't much to be said about it.
Every Council Member had their own little quirks, after all.
Viktor gave an understanding nod, and his composed voice continued:
"Then, while we wait for Council Member Kent to arrive—Heim, open the Magic Archive first."
The Magic Archive housed the complete crystallized magical knowledge of the entire City of Mages.
Heim Horn had no objection. After all, Heni, who had only just become a 3rd-Tier Mage, did genuinely need to study some 3rd-Tier Magic to consolidate her foundation.
He even kindly spoke up to advise Heni:
"When entering the Magic Archive, you need only visit the standard areas accessible to 3rd-Tier Mages."
"Try to avoid straying near the 4th-Tier zones. The magical knowledge there may cause confusion for you."
It was common knowledge that a Mage should avoid exposure to knowledge belonging to a Tier above their own.
But at that, Heni simply gave Heim Horn a faint smile.
"Senior Heim."
"The one who wants to study Magic... isn't me."
Heim Horn blinked in blank confusion, then looked back at Viktor.
Not you? Then surely it's him?
He had a very clear picture of what kind of freak Viktor was.
Someone like that—could he possibly be short on Magic to use?
Just as Heim Horn was about to ask what was going on, Viktor put both hands in his pockets and turned his gaze toward Cocotte.
"The one who wants to study Magic is her."
"Huh?"
Amid Heim Horn's utterly bewildered exclamation, Cocotte sat bolt upright.
She raised one hand, a smile of supreme confidence spreading across her face.
A vast ocean of Magic Power erupted from her body in a sudden swell.
Within mere moments, it overflowed and filled the entire space of Endymion's 7th Layer.
Hmmm—Hmmm—Hmmm—
Countless star rings engraved with what appeared to be Runes grew outward from behind Cocotte, one after another.
These were not Magic Formations—yet the sight left Heim Horn more stunned than any Magic Formation ever could.
Heim Horn had seen this before.
That was something only a 5th-Tier Mage could possess.
Magic Power rings.
"Oh my, how embarrassing."
Cocotte's gaze carried a note of playful mockery, her tone utterly swollen with self-satisfaction as her voice drifted lazily into Heim Horn's ears.
"Suddenly hit the 5th Tier, and I find my Magic is running a bit short."
"Council Member Horn—why don't you recommend a few for me?"