Chapter 294
Chapter 294: I'm Completely Stunned
Heim Horn had been stagnant at the 4th-Tier Mage level for nearly a hundred years.
The stronger a Mage's Magic Power, the longer their lifespan would be.
And Heim Horn was not human—his lifespan could not be measured by the same standard as a human's.
Yet throughout those long years, Heim Horn had spent every single day reading books and expanding his knowledge.
His talent was no less than exceptional, but he never imagined that Cocotte—that lazy dog of an Elf—would become a 5th-Tier Mage before him!
Seeing Cocotte's smug expression, Heim Horn was so furious his teeth itched.
The pain of one's own failure was one thing, but the success of a friend was somehow even more grating.
Magic Power overflowing with abundance gathered across Cocotte's body. The emerald-green radiance of Magic Power mixed together with Natural Energy and began to converge at her back.
Several Magic Power rings flickered with dazzling light, spreading outward in all directions, casting green luminescence across the milk-white marble floor.
The Magic Power rings linked layer upon layer, stacking endlessly behind Cocotte.
The surging Magic Power atop those rings seemed to take on a will of its own, continuously advancing in a single direction.
Magic Power rings.
That was the physical manifestation of a 5th-Tier Mage's Magic Power.
This meant one thing.
Cocotte Yadh was currently the only 5th-Tier existence within the Mage Council.
No—there was an even more absurd truth to be reckoned with.
Because Cocotte had long since ceased to be a member of the Council.
She was a former Council Member. At present, she was employed as a member of the Clavena Family's staff.
It made even the prospect of publicizing this fact extremely difficult for the Council.
"How," he asked, "did you manage it?"
He was naturally asking how Cocotte had become a 5th-Tier Mage.
At that moment, Cocotte sat bolt upright, insufferably pleased with herself, nostrils tilted skyward with pride.
She sat cross-legged atop her cloud and let out a few haughty little hums.
"Why, naturally it was my genius-level talent, paired with my relentless, unwavering effort."
"……"
Heim Horn fell silent. The face concealed beneath his phantom guise betrayed nothing of his expression.
Cocotte was the Queen among Elves—her talent was beyond question.
But her claiming relentless, unwavering effort……
Did she even hear herself?
Cocotte seemed to thoroughly enjoy the bewildered look Heim Horn was giving her.
Showing off in front of a former colleague appeared to bring her enormous satisfaction.
And so she continued.
"So then, go ahead and bring out those 5th-Tier Magic spells you've been hoarding in the Magic Archive."
Indeed—within Endymion's Magic Archive, there existed countless 5th-Tier Magic spells that most Mages had never laid eyes on.
Heim Horn remembered it well.
The City of Mages, Endymion—its founder.
He was the only legend the world had ever called the Dark Archmage.
His mastery of Magic was unfathomable. Every spell seemed like an extension of his own body.
With the lightest flicker of intention, he could summon mountain floods and molten lava, thunder and lightning of ten-thousand-weight force.
Over the hundreds of years the Council had been in operation, the treasures this Dark Archmage had left behind for Endymion were truly beyond count.
The Magic Archive, for instance.
He had once taken every spell he had ever learned—thousands upon tens of thousands of them—distilled them all into knowledge, and placed them within the Magic Archive.
Within it was the life's work of the Dark Archmage.
From the most fundamental 1st-Tier Magic at the lowest end, all the way to everything he had mastered by the time he became a 5th-Tier Mage.
In the entire history of the Mage world, his contributions were enough to be remembered by every Mage across the world for generations to come.
Only—since then, not a single Mage had ever come close to achieving what the Dark Archmage had achieved.
"The fact that most nations pay so little regard to their Mages is what created this state of affairs."
It was different from the Dark Archmage's era.
The age he had lived in was the age of Magic's birth.
Combining elements with Magic Power to form elemental Magic, one spell after another.
The Mages of that generation were all feeling their way forward in the dark, without a map.
And now……
The number of people who wished to become—or were even capable of becoming—Mages grew fewer and fewer with each passing era.
Because of the difficulty.
To become a Mage was extraordinarily difficult.
Talent and effort—neither could be missing.
The structural complexity of Magic alone was enough to drive those learning it to the brink of despair.
Some people might spend an entire lifetime and never even brush against the edges of Magic.
And even those who succeeded in becoming Mages might not necessarily be able to persevere on that path.
Because to become a high-Tier Mage was even more difficult than becoming a Mage in the first place.
Many Mages, in their pursuit of advancement, had to overcome all manner of arduous hardships.
If one had talent but applied no effort, the end result was inevitable stagnation—halted by lack of knowledge.
But without talent, one would likely spend an entire life in mediocrity, achieving nothing of note.
This was also why Rashel had chosen to establish the Magic Academy.
Yet even so, those who wished to become Mages remained too few—unavoidably so.
Heim Horn looked at Cocotte and accepted the reality that she had become a 5th-Tier Mage.
At the very least, Cocotte was still a member of the Mage Council.
Heim Horn set aside his feelings about Cocotte and turned to look at Viktor, speaking up:
"Then let us first conduct an assessment to determine whether your Teaching Assistant here qualifies to join the Council."
He was naturally referring to Heni, who stood behind Viktor.
Perhaps out of concern that Heni might feel nervous, Heim Horn offered a word of reassurance:
"Don't worry—we're simply going through the formalities."
The moral standards of Mages were known to be quite flexible.
After all, rules were made by people, and old Mages knew how to adapt with pragmatic wisdom.
If Heni truly had only been a Mage for 3 months—
Then so long as she was not some irredeemably wicked villain—
The doors of the Council would remain open to Heni always.
Seeing that Heni had no objections, Heim Horn gave a nod, then turned to Viktor and said:
"Shall we go?"
He turned, and several phantom silhouettes flickered out from his body, gradually encircling the group.
Those wisps of phantom light slowly obscured the scene before their eyes, and a strange, tugging sensation enveloped their bodies.
Whoosh—!
As a flash of dizzying light swept through, the group felt the ground beneath their feet seem to crack and crumble, growing increasingly hollow.
When the haze before their eyes gradually faded and the phantom silhouettes began to withdraw from around them—retreating back to Heim Horn's side—the ground beneath their feet became solid and real once more.
In an instant, they had arrived before the Magic Archive.
2 enormous white marble doors slowly parted to either side, and a weighty, ancient aura surged forth from within, washing across everyone's faces.
Viktor raised his head and looked up at those familiar doors.
The Magic Archive.
This was a place he had visited more than once.
He still remembered those days of endless grinding without rest, gathering resources and earning Geo.
All for the sake of learning every single spell housed within the Archive.
To the point where the paths within the Archive had long since become overly familiar to him.
The doors swung open, and the 4 of them entered the intricately layered Magic Archive.
The moment they stepped inside, they were met with an overwhelming tide of chaotic Magic Power.
Like ten thousand vines, it wove and intertwined through this magical forest.
Of everyone present, Heni was the weakest.
She was the first to be impeded by the surging, tangled Magic Power—unable to help herself, she squeezed her eyes shut just as she crossed the threshold.
Only then did she truly feel the awe that radiated from within the Archive.
The paths of the Magic Archive were a labyrinthine tangle. Both the upper and lower levels were lined floor to ceiling with dense volumes, and elegantly crafted bookshelves were arranged with deliberate order throughout the entire Archive.
It was like 2 worlds had been completely inverted and overlaid upon each other, dazzling to behold.
Heni's eyes lit up before her involuntarily.
"This……this is unbelievable!"
She could no longer maintain her composure, and a cry of wonder escaped her lips.
This place felt like an entire world called knowledge.
Heim Horn looked at Heni's expression and spoke:
"Everything inside the Archive—you may browse freely."
He paused for a moment before continuing:
"However, you must take care not to be drawn in by knowledge that is far too advanced for your current level."
A Mage could not forcibly absorb Magic that clearly exceeded their comprehension.
A 2nd-Tier Mage, for instance, could absolutely not attempt to forcibly learn 4th-Tier Magic.
"The knowledge in these spells will remain here indefinitely. Once you become a member of the Mage Council, you may come here to reference and study at any time."
"For now, let us attend to the matter at hand."
As Heim Horn led the way, he continued speaking:
"The reason we subject those seeking to join the Council to a moral judgment and assessment—"
"—is because it is a rule that was established at the very founding of Endymion."
"That is to say—"
His voice fell. The staircases surrounding the Magic Archive began to rotate, twisting upward in a spiraling, contorted shape toward the sky.
And upon that mysterious spiraling staircase, a door materialized out of thin air.
In the next instant, everyone found themselves in a new room.
The room was vast and empty, its white walls gleaming with stark brightness on all sides.
Within the entire room, there was only a single golden scale, resting upon a table.
As a former Council Member, Cocotte had long since grown accustomed to this sight.
She lay draped across her cloud, gazing at the scale in the center.
"The Goddess of Justice's Scale."
Heim Horn's voice sounded once more.
Heni, standing to the side, stared wide-eyed at the golden scale before her.
Heim Horn seemed quite pleased with Heni's reaction. He smiled and gave a nod.
"Of course, this is merely a replica."
The original had long since vanished without a trace.
If the original were to resurface in the world—that would likely spell serious trouble.
Heim Horn turned to look at Heni and offered words of encouragement:
"Miss Heni, go ahead and give it a try."
Joining the Mage Council required passing this assessment to evaluate each person's moral character.
The evaluation was necessary.
With the exception of Viktor.
Heim Horn did not dare test Viktor's morality.
Heni glanced back at Viktor, seeming a little uneasy.
But after seeing Viktor nod, Heni finally mustered her courage.
Heni stepped forward, reached out her hand, and touched the golden scale.
The instant the scale received Heni's touch, it began to tremble and shift form. The pans on both sides started to sway.
The dagger on the right rested quietly in its pan, while on the left, a phantom feather composed of Heni's Magic Power materialized.
When the feather settled fully into place—
The entire scale did not move so much as a fraction.
Not even a hint of tilting to either side.
This left Heim Horn utterly stunned.
His mouth fell open. He rubbed his eyes, seemingly completely unable to believe what he was seeing.
What was happening?
The scale was this perfectly balanced?
Was there truly such a pure and virtuous soul in this world?
This was precisely the moral standard the Council needed most.
Weija, perched atop Viktor's shoulder, observed all of this and found it entirely reasonable.
After all, this was a Pure-hearted Succubus whose mind was consumed by nothing but study and Viktor.
Heim Horn immediately grew animated, his phantasmal form trembling faintly with excitement:
"Miss Heni, congratulations—you have passed the assessment."
"You may join the Mage Council at any time."
Heni listened to Heim Horn's verdict, feeling a little embarrassed. She gave him a small bow and said, "Thank you."
Heni was well-behaved. In front of outsiders, she would never do anything to make the Professor look bad.
Suddenly, she seemed to remember something. She turned her head to look at Viktor not far away, and a single sentence slipped from her lips—stunning everyone present:
"Professor."
"Would you like to take the test as well?"