Chapter 297
Chapter 297: Viktor's Constitution Is Something Else
Heni stood on the floating cloud platform, gazing at her surroundings.
The magical texts circling around her released a continuous stream of spells, their chaotic Magic Power weaving and intertwining at high speed through the air.
Several ring-shaped formations of magic spun rapidly around her. The alien-colored Magic Power collided against itself, sending wave after wave of force surging outward.
The floating rocks nearby were pushed steadily back by the immense rushing Magic Power, and the shapes of scattered clouds shifted along with it. Where the Magic Power swept through, rippling crests rose like reef-stone ridges exposed by receding water.
Heni remained thoroughly at ease within this maelstrom of magical chaos—she looked entirely in her element.
She held the heavy Spellbook cradled in her arms, continuously inscribing something across its pages.
Her whole body was practically burrowed into the book, and behind her focused gaze flickered a hint of fervent, almost desperate longing.
Heim Horn watched with quiet astonishment. He had never seen anyone so utterly consumed by the pursuit of knowledge.
In the middle of a flow of chaotic Magic Power like this, any sane person would have chosen to retreat.
A person's life was worth more than a few books, after all.
But what shocked him even more was that Heni appeared to be accepting everything—all of it—without hesitation.
After the scales had been taken away, the dense Magic Power that had been sustaining them had erupted outward in full force.
It had pooled and compressed within that small chamber, and the result had been the catastrophic explosion.
The texts stored in the 4th-Tier magic section had long since been thrown into complete disarray, and the shelves had been blown apart entirely, sending their contents scattering in every direction.
Heim Horn could do nothing but watch Heni—or more precisely, watch the magical texts floating around her.
Those books, the ones recording 4th-Tier magic, were actively drawing closer to her.
And naturally, Heni committed the contents of every single one of them to memory.
Heim Horn stood there in a mild daze, feeling as though the entire worldview he had built up over centuries was quietly crumbling.
Hadn't she only just advanced to the 3rd Tier? How was she capable of comprehending 4th-Tier magic?
Did she have absolutely no fear of being buried alive under the sheer weight of all this knowledge?
He leaned down and turned to Cocotte beside him.
"Is she always like this?"
Cocotte had been lying sprawled on her cloud. She rolled over once before pushing herself upright and answered with a helpless sigh:
"She does have a genuine love of knowledge."
That much was evident from the way Heni came to her every single day with questions, diligent and eager to learn without fail.
Cocotte had never met anyone who worked harder than she did.
"3 months ago, she was still just a Trainee Mage with no magical aptitude."
"But her knowledge reserves are so extensive that even some 3rd-Tier Mages can't keep up with her."
That was no exaggeration. When Viktor held lectures, it was Heni who prepared his course materials for him.
And she did it to the standard of a 3rd-Tier Mage.
On top of that...
Cocotte pressed her lips together at this point and said nothing more.
Perhaps it was because she had only just entered the world of Mages, and felt some trepidation about the achievement she had so hard-won.
So even now, as a genuine 3rd-Tier Mage in every sense, Heni continued to push herself with the same relentless determination.
Heim Horn felt as though he had been struck by lightning. A trembling shock and a helpless, tingling numbness surged up his spine and shot straight into his skull.
This—this couldn't be right.
A Trainee Mage, through self-study alone, had mastered the theoretical foundations of 3rd-Tier magic?
But what baffled him even more was the detail Cocotte had mentioned—that 3 months ago, Heni had possessed absolutely no magical aptitude whatsoever.
When Heim Horn tried to make sense of that, only one name came to mind.
Viktor.
Perhaps Viktor had done something—something that awakened the latent magical aptitude hidden within Heni.
Heim Horn opened his mouth and asked:
"How did he manage that?"
He was referring to Viktor, naturally.
Based on what Cocotte had told him, it was only after Heni encountered Viktor that she had undergone this transformation.
So whatever change had occurred in Heni, it had to be connected to Viktor.
At the question, Cocotte suddenly looked a little flustered.
She pinched the edge of her cloud between both hands and replied in a small voice:
"Uh, well... I actually don't know the exact specifics of what Viktor did."
But...
A faint flush crept across Cocotte's cheeks, and she turned her head to one side.
"The truth is, Heni isn't human."
Hmm?
Heim Horn was puzzled.
From every angle, Heni looked exactly like a human.
A Demi-human?
Impossible. Demi-humans didn't have this level of intelligence.
An Elf was equally out of the question. There wasn't a single trace of natural energy to be felt anywhere on Heni.
Beyond that, there were almost no races that resembled humans in appearance but weren't actually human.
But that was precisely what set Heim Horn apart as a Council Member.
A centuries-old Mage had simply seen too much of the world.
He went rigid all at once, his voice coming out strangely distorted, his tone trembling, his eyes wide with disbelief.
There was, in fact, one race known for their rapid growth in power, their human-like appearance, and their extreme sensitivity to magic.
"A Suc...cubus?"
Cocotte gave a somewhat red-faced nod.
Seeing Cocotte's reaction, Heim Horn immediately turned his gaze back toward Heni.
He looked—carefully, for several long seconds.
She remained as she had been, surrounded by magic and books, absorbed without pause in her studies.
Since advancing to the 3rd Tier, she no longer needed that oversized, loose-fitting robe to conceal the allure that had once been beyond her control.
And so her sinful figure was no longer hidden.
Not a trace of bare skin was exposed, but beneath her ordinary garments, that upright, graceful silhouette was all the more... difficult to ignore.
No. He had to stop looking.
That settled it. She was definitively a Succubus.
The charm that radiated naturally from Heni was simply impossible to resist.
Even he—a genderless, centuries-old Mage—had nearly lost his composure.
But then the thought struck him, and he found himself thinking that Viktor was something else entirely.
Succubi required the absorption of living beings' Mental Energy to increase their own Magic Power.
And every time a human was drawn upon by a Succubus, the Magic Power within their body would diminish proportionally.
Most critically of all, a Succubus could only increase her Magic Power through a certain... indescribable act, through which her desires were fulfilled.
How on earth had Viktor managed to turn this Succubus into a 3rd-Tier Mage within 3 months?
And he hadn't been drained dry in the process?
"Is Viktor actually human?"
No ox had ever plowed the earth this hard.
Faced with Heim Horn's soul-level inquiry, Cocotte had no idea how to respond.
Hold on—a Succubus?
How could a Succubus have morals this high?
Which meant just now...
Heim Horn recalled the pure white sacred light that had poured from the scales during the assessment, then thought about the fact that Viktor had touched those scales.
That settled it. Those scales had absolutely been broken.
Good riddance.
A faint bitterness settled into Heim Horn's heart.
At this point, Heni had already finished recording all the floating magical texts.
She gave each of the books around her a gentle, affectionate stroke, then emerged from the pile.
The books continued to sway in midair even after she left, as though delighted by the attention she had given them.
Heni held the enormous record-keeping Spellbook tightly to her chest and walked toward Heim Horn.
"I apologize, Council Member Horn—I couldn't help myself when I saw all of these."
"But I've mostly finished sorting through them. The rest will just need a bit more time."
Heim Horn had still been turning over the question of the relationship between Heni and Viktor in his mind.
When he looked up and saw Heni approaching, he realized she had already taken care of everything.
She had even voluntarily organized the magical texts.
"Ah... th-thank you very much, Miss Heni."
Though compared to the rest of the archive's chaos, what she had sorted through was barely a drop in the ocean.
But Heim Horn was genuinely moved.
Centuries. He had been in this archive for centuries.
He spent almost every single day organizing the magical texts within it.
And in all that time, not once—not a single time—had he ever seen anyone willing to help during a mess like this.
Wasn't this miles better than Cocotte, who only ever slept?
If this wasn't an angel, then what was?
The scales had been right all along.
And then the realization hit him—the scales had been right all along, and Viktor had still taken them.
The ache in Heim Horn's heart deepened considerably.
***
Endymion was an enormous domain suspended in the sky, floating amidst the azure heavens.
At its center, a vast sky city had been built from nothing.
It was divided from top to bottom into 7 distinct zones.
The Mages who came to the City of Mages moved about within these 7 zones.
Because those 7 layers of space were the true City of Mages.
The Rhea Gorge—also known as the Magic Power Gorge—was the Storm Dragon King's domain.
It served solely as a test to determine whether Mages were worthy of joining the Council.
Only after passing through it could one truly arrive in Endymion.
Beyond Endymion lay zones filled with wondrous, spectacular, and dangerous things.
The location Viktor and Ryan had arrived at was a colossal floating island outside the City of Mages.
【Twilight Expanse】
This was one of the most dangerous aerial zones in all of Endymion.
The surrounding terrain resembled the aftermath of a world shattered and then haphazardly reassembled—floating chunks of shattered rock gleamed in the faint purple luminescence, and between the great boulders, connections of flesh-like Magic Power bound everything together.
Yet the enormous floating island itself was strikingly different from the jagged sandstone in the air around it. Its entire surface radiated a faintly green-tinged white, with dim light seeping upward from within, giving the whole place an air of mystery that defied description.
A considerable number of dangerous Magical Creatures made their home here.
Countless creatures—their forms like two hands fused together, with legs sprouting from below—scurried frantically across the rock faces, their massive bodies and limbs working in tandem, like a dense swarm of spiders.
Others had 3 great maws full of lolling tongues spread across their faces, their bodies thick and powerful as pythons.
Ryan stood in a state of complete bewilderment, seemingly not yet recovered from the abruptness of their arrival.
What was happening?
How had they ended up outside the City of Mages in the blink of an eye?
Just as Ryan was sinking into a daze, a thunderous roar echoed to the ends of the eerie floating island—BOOM—cutting through his thoughts like a thunderclap.
Ryan stood frozen in place, thoroughly lost.
He sensed a powerful and strangely familiar force.
He turned his head, and there it was—a great dragon lurking between the white boulders and purple floating rock.
"What the—!"
Ryan stared at the sight ahead and couldn't help but let the oath slip out.
Council Members were generally of high moral character, but Dwarf artisans had a particular habit of cursing when they were shocked, as a way of expressing the full force of their feelings.
There, coiled within the dim air, was an enormous and darkly menacing dragon.
It had 9 heads, and its body looked as though several dragons had wound themselves entirely around one another.
All 9 heads reared upward, and every inch of its body was set with scale after trembling scale, each one emanating a purple glow.
They had walked right up to the front door of a Dragon King's lair!
Countless scales vibrated along with the dragon's deep, furious roar, sending waves of purple dust drifting outward in all directions.
Its unfathomable dragon claws thrashed wildly through the air, as though trying to tear the entire world apart.
The dragon's tail—thick and mountainous—was enough to send a shock of fear through anyone who simply looked at it, radiating an aura of raw intimidation so powerful that the entire island seemed to tremble beneath its movement.
Coiled into an enormous mass, the dragon's tail was so immense that a single glance gave the impression it could split the whole island apart.
Ryan was utterly at a loss, his body going stiff as stone.
He had been told to prepare himself—so how had they been teleported directly to this Dragon King's doorstep?
How were they supposed to fight this?
Viktor, meanwhile, stood before the great dragon with perfect composure, his Coat whipping wildly behind him in the gale.
5 alien-colored patterns covered the entire surface of the Coat. Endless magical elements surged and resonated within it, as though transformed into a raging, wild beast.
Viktor tilted his head slightly, glancing sideways at Ryan from the corner of his eye:
"Ready to start recording?"
Ryan stared at Viktor with wide eyes, his beard blown skyward by the wind, his mouth hanging open as the gusts battered his face.
He was preparing to fight under these conditions!?
Was he joking?!
Seeing that Ryan had no response, Viktor said nothing further.
The natural elements around them began to surge violently, coalescing behind Viktor into something that felt like a lofty, inscrutable presence.
Weija let out a sharp cackle—heh-heh—and the light beneath her solitary eye shimmered with a deep, crystalline blue.
In that instant, she had already established a Magic Power link with Viktor.
Several intricate and complex formations began to take shape rapidly behind him.
Layer upon layer of Formation structures fused seamlessly together, then continuously split apart and reconstituted themselves.
Arcane Runes flowed through the formations, flickering with alien-colored radiance, making the formations look all the more intricate and mysterious.
Interlocking patterns branched outward like tangled tree roots spreading across the formations.
An awe-inspiring Magic Power that could stretch for hundreds of miles was being rendered at terrifying speed into its most exacting form—like art being carved into stone.
The Chaos Dragon King sensed the enormous danger carried by that immense surge of Magic Power, and even the scales on its body seemed to grow more agitated and uneasy.
The terrible Magic Power converged into a blooming alien-colored rose, its scattered petals drifting across the entire white island like a scattering of jewels tumbling through the air.
At the rose's heart, something shimmered like a golden star, dense natural energy gathering within it, gradually coming to stillness.
The rose shrank slowly, until Viktor closed his fingers gently around it.
A flash of azure color crossed his eyes. His calm voice rose quietly.
"Council Member Kent—didn't you say you wanted to record the magic I release?"
He regarded the rose in his hand with an unhurried gaze, then lightly tossed it toward the great dragon.
The Magic Power of the entire world seemed to freeze completely in that moment.
Only the alien-colored rose drifted forward through the slowing stream of time, carried along by Viktor's voice.
"Then let this Chaos Dragon King give you a full show of it."
【War Magic: The Golden Rose That Sings to the Starry River】