Two days passed like flowing water slipping through people's palms, quietly escaping in the blink of an eye.
The news that Viktor had returned to the estate gradually spread throughout the royal capital, and more and more visitors came because of his name.
However, Viktor still replied with just two words.
Not seeing anyone.
This left those who wanted to visit him somewhat helpless, but since they had long heard about Viktor's temper, there was nothing much to say.
The strong are always different.
And before long, another matter appeared and attracted everyone's attention.
That was…
The daughter of an imperial duke had become the youngest third-tier mage.
The entire royal capital was instantly covered in an atmosphere of celebration, unusually lively.
There was no other reason. This matter was simply too outrageous.
The youngest third-tier mage in history had been born.
This record was no longer held by Viktor, but had been replaced by the duke's daughter.
Erica du Croy.
She was not even an adult yet, only seventeen years old, and had already become the youngest third-tier mage.
This record was even three years earlier than Viktor's at that time.
Because this news spread out, some of those who had come from afar to visit Viktor happened to turn and visit the duke instead.
That allowed Viktor to have much more peace and quiet these days.
Let the duke deal with those weeds that sway with the wind.
Viktor stood in his wide garden, touching the petals of the differently colored flowers.
He stepped among the scattered fallen blossoms, his black windbreaker swaying with the breeze.
Cocotte lay on a cloud, supporting her face with one hand.
As petals danced in the wind and spun in the air, Cocotte boredly used her mind to grab the pink pieces one by one.
Her voice carried a bit of dissatisfaction.
"Why do I have to go too?"
Viktor was going to Endymion, but Cocotte did not want to go back.
She wanted to sleep more.
Viktor looked at the extremely lazy Cocotte and said calmly, "The other councilors probably still don't know that you've reached fifth-tier, right?"
"Huh?"
At those words, Cocotte suddenly reacted.
She blinked and slowly sat up straight.
Viktor's voice sounded again.
"In the entire Council, at the moment, you are the only one who has surpassed fourth-tier and become a fifth-tier mage."
"Don't you want them to know, to see the reactions of the other councilors?"
By now, Cocotte had completely sat up.
She looked at Viktor seriously and nodded hard.
"Mm-hmm! I'll go!"
'You should have said that earlier. If you had said it like this from the start, I wouldn't have been sleepy at all.'
Just then, Henny happened to walk over, holding a thick magic book in her arms.
"Professor!"
She loudly greeted Viktor.
Hearing that they were going to the City of Mages this time, Henny was very excited.
It was said that in the magic library of the City of Mages, there was mage knowledge accumulated over hundreds of years.
So Henny had been so excited that she did not sleep well all night.
After all, knowledge
was one of the two things Henny liked most in her life.
The other one did not need to be said.
At that moment, Cocotte, who had just sat up straight, trembled slightly when she saw Henny appear.
As if recalling some bad memory, she hurriedly controlled the cloud and hid behind Viktor.
Viktor glanced at the moving cloud, then looked back at Henny and continued, "Get ready and stay close to me."
This time, going to Endymion would not be as troublesome as last time.
Now that he was a councilor, he could teleport back at any time.
The badge on his chest gradually released light. The three heads slowly separated and floated up.
A strand of magical rope wrapped around Henny and Cocotte along with her white cloud, and the other end was linked to Viktor.
Light flashed, and a gust of wind rose.
The three of them quickly turned into faint rays of light and disappeared from the garden.
Only the differently colored petals were left, blown outward in all directions by the burst of wind.
Whoosh!
Everything around them gradually twisted, and the ground slowly moved away from them.
A streak of light moved through the clouds, as if guided by something, and went straight into the thick and tangled layers of clouds.
Above the vast white clouds were two endless stretches of pale whiteness extending for thousands of miles.
Only a blue crack remained between the layers, stretching far into the distance.
A phantom city floated between the two layers of clouds, quiet and magical.
The light instantly poured into the City of Magic.
The streak passed through the strange and tangled garden, where oddly shaped plants lifted their heads to watch the color fly past.
The streak passed through Rhea Gorge, and the chaotic currents of magic could not affect them at all.
In the deepest part of the Magic Gorge, a cluster of silver lightning slightly formed into the body of a giant dragon and looked toward the sky, as if sensing some kind of danger.
Passing through a phantom star rift, the surrounding blue began to surge, as if it had gained consciousness and started twisting its body.
A strong hazy illusion flowed through their bodies. The chaotic blue before their eyes gradually became orderly.
When the blue completely stopped, a beam of pure white holy light shone in from the exit of the star rift and greeted them.
Whoosh!
The white light gradually faded.
The three figures, still in the form of light, floated in a misty space.
Broken marble and clouds mixed together, suspended in the air.
In the distance, huge rings of rock kept turning, one layer connected to another.
Massive white wings slowly flapped along with the surging magic. Thick clouds constantly trembled, as unstable as twisting eyes and the body of a giant beast.
The top of the City of Magic floated above the peak of the world, and an open circular gap continuously poured heavenly light inward.
Three broken heads made of marble looked as if they had been smashed and then cut apart.
Countless fragments of stone bathed in the heavenly light and slowly drifted.
The light moved quickly through the air and entered the huge twisting structure in front of them, gradually descending toward the building deeper inside.
Stepping on the cloud-like ground beneath her feet, Henny felt dizzy.
She barely steadied herself and looked at this unreal world, thinking she might no longer be alive.
Just now, she felt as if her soul was about to leave her body and no longer belong to her.
Looking at the drifting clouds in the distance, Henny felt like she was about to faint again.
"This is…"
"The seventh layer of Endymion."
Cocotte explained to Henny first.
Returning to Endymion seemed to relax her a little.
After all, this was also a place where she had lived for decades.
She fell headfirst into the cloud beneath her and felt the surrounding magic gather toward her body.
The pale magic rope gradually disappeared, while Viktor's windbreaker lightly swayed.
At that moment, Haim Horn walked out from a nearby phantom cloud layer, and that special illusory voice sounded.
"Welcome to Endymion."
This welcome was naturally directed at Henny.
Henny was slightly stunned as she looked at Haim Horn.
She could not see the face of this phantom mage. It seemed as if it had a thousand faces, making it impossible to tell whether it was male or female.
To be honest, Haim Horn was also observing Henny.
Before seeing her, he had thought Viktor must be fooling him.
'How could someone go from a first-tier mage to a third-tier mage in only three months?'
Even now, he could not see what was special about Henny.
Since he could not figure it out, he might as well wait for Viktor to explain.
Just as he thought that, Viktor's voice sounded at the right time.
"Has Councilor Kent not arrived yet?"
Haim Horn looked at Viktor and explained somewhat awkwardly, "Mm… Councilor Kent is already on the way. It's just that he said his independently developed aircraft had some malfunction and he needs to wait a bit longer before coming."
Unnecessary.
That was Haim Horn's first thought.
As a councilor, with just a thought, no matter where they were, they could instantly reach Endymion's seventh layer, the Broken Sky.
But since the man liked the feeling of flying over, he had nothing to say.
After all, every councilor more or less had their own little quirks.
Viktor nodded in understanding, and his calm voice continued, "Then, before Councilor Kent arrives, Haim, open the magic library first."
The magic library contained all the magical crystallized knowledge of the entire City of Mages.
Haim Horn had no doubts. After all, Henny, who had just become a third-tier mage, indeed needed to learn some third-tier magic to stabilize herself.
He even kindly said to Henny, "After entering the magic library, you only need to go to the standard areas for third-tier mages."
"Try not to approach the fourth-tier areas. The magical knowledge there may cause confusion for you."
Mages should avoid contacting knowledge above their own tier. That was common sense.
But at this moment, Henny only smiled slightly at Haim Horn.
"Senior Haim."
"The one who wants to learn magic isn't me."
Haim Horn blinked in confusion and looked at Viktor again.
'If it's not you, then is it him?'
He knew very well what kind of monster Viktor was.
Would someone like that lack magic to use?
Just as Haim Horn was about to ask what was going on, Viktor put his hands in his pockets and looked at Cocotte.
"The one who wants to learn magic is her."
"Huh?"
Amid Haim Horn's extremely confused voice, Cocotte sat up straight.
She raised one hand with a very confident smile.
A vast ocean of magic suddenly surged from her body.
In just a moment, it overflowed and filled the entire seventh layer of Endymion.
Buzz! Buzz! Buzz!
Countless rune-like star rings grew out one after another from behind Cocotte.
This was not a magic circle, but Haim Horn was even more shocked than if he had seen one.
He had seen it before.
That was something only fifth-tier mages could possess.
Magic rings.
"Oh dear, how embarrassing."
Cocotte's eyes were teasing, and in an extremely smug tone, her voice slowly rang in Haim Horn's ears.
"I suddenly reached fifth-tier, and my magic isn't quite enough."
"Councilor Horn, how about recommending a few for me?"