In front of her stood a library so complex it looked like a maze, leaving Aurelian frozen in place.
But soon, a wave of warmth slowly welled up in her chest.
That feeling… it was nostalgic.
She remembered having felt the same thing as a child.
Her father had once pointed to her heart and told her she possessed extraordinary talent, that one day, she would make the Empire even greater.
Back then, young Aurelian didn't understand what he meant. In her mind, she only needed to do what her mother always said, be a well-behaved, sensible child.
And so, that's what Aurelian always tried to be.
From a young age, she followed every royal command. She almost never left the palace and rarely had contact with the outside world.
Even inside the palace, she maintained a sweet, pleasing image, always polite and respectful toward her two elder brothers.
All of that was her duty.
She still remembered the first time she brought back the corpse of a forest demon to the palace.
Her father wasn't frightened, nor did he scold her.
He simply smiled and patted her shoulder.
Then he said something she didn't understand at all.
"Child," he said, "It's my fault for protecting you too well."
Her heart began to heat up again, as though a strange energy were flowing into it.
Almost without realizing it, she reached out her hand toward a floating book in front of her.
The silver-white patterns flowing across its cover slowly converged and formed into a pair of eyes.
The moment Aurelian's fingers touched the book, a wave of dizziness struck her. When she looked around again, the library was gone.
Instead, she was in what looked like a magical world.
The ground seemed to have disappeared, and she couldn't tell where the sky began or ended. Two moons hung above and below her, mirroring each other. Aurelian gently stepped downward...
Solid ground.
But when she looked down, she saw nothing beneath her feet, only a faint, transparent bridge barely visible to the eye.
Then, a voice long hidden whispered softly by her ear, "Welcome, child."
"This is your world…"
The voice faded away again, and a spark of insight flashed through her mind. Images of magic began to form within her consciousness.
This was magic outside the six natural elements.
A type of powerful magic whose strength depended only on the user's soul and will, unbound by levels or ranks.
Aurelian froze as she recalled this unique spell from her memory.
It was a massive blade that connected directly to the caster's soul, unleashing devastating destruction.
A spell of the chaos element, beyond the six natural schools of magic.
Its name, "Moonlight."
———
A massive green body twisted violently in the void, scattering clouds of glowing pollen while summoning more of those strange creatures.
The waist-high wildflowers and grass had long been consumed by fire. Blazing flames filled the air, as though trying to burn away every trace of overflowing natural energy.
The greenery itself seemed to rebel against the man standing before it, a man exuding an aura of pure calamity. Two opposite environments clashed within the same void.
On one side, world-ending flames surged upward, devouring everything. On the other, dense natural energy birthed endless vegetation.
Viktor's entire body was wrapped in molten rock, thin veins of light running through his body like flowing lava. Two eyes appeared on the back of his long coat, glowing with a sun-like intensity.
A massive wave of natural energy rushed toward him.
"It's coming?" Viktor murmured.
Druja's body glowed faintly green as it opened its enormous mouth. Its three pairs of compound eyes turned milky white.
Behind it, several green circles emerged one by one, like ripples spreading across invisible lakes in the air.
"Thousand Arrows Barrage."
Viktor muttered the name of Druja's most troublesome skill.
Thousands of green spears slowly emerged from those ripples, their tips all aimed at Viktor.
In an instant, they shot forth together, piercing through the void. When they entered the scorched battlefield, the endless flames were pierced apart like fragile paper.
Viktor drew his weapon, Ulust, and held it before him, chanting softly. A wall of fire erupted in front of him. The barrage of spears slammed against it, like arrows striking solid stone, piercing deep but unable to break through.
Swish! Swish! Swish!
The wall trembled under the relentless assault, shaking violently.
Suddenly, Vega, perched on Viktor's shoulder, seemed to sense something. It didn't move, but its thoughts linked directly to Viktor's mind.
'Viktor, that girl you brought along just went into some weird place.'
Vega had intentionally left a trace of its consciousness on Aurelian, to monitor whether she'd run into danger.
"Don't worry about her," Viktor replied calmly as he maintained his defenses and rebuilt the collapsing fire walls.
"That's something meant for her."
Aurelian's talent, Eternal Furnace, was absurdly overpowered.
It allowed her to instantly learn any magic she witnessed being cast.
And because of that, she could even learn spells beyond the six natural elements, something impossible for any normal player.
"You, showing concern? Hard to believe," Vega muttered as Viktor waved his staff, conjuring another surge of flames that burned a swarm of small monsters to ashes.
Some of the spears slipped past the towering fire wall, but Viktor dodged them effortlessly, walking calmly through the battlefield as if taking a stroll.
He even had time to reply casually, "I got paid."
Getting paid to do a job, that was Viktor's code as a professional booster.
Still, Vega wasn't wrong.
Bringing Aurelian to the Mage Council to strengthen herself wasn't part of his original commission.
Normally, players couldn't learn spells outside the six elemental schools.
But...
If an NPC who knew such a spell was willing to teach you, Viktor could simply pay with some materials and a few Geo coins.
Of course, no one else knew about this.
"Let's see," he murmured. "Let's see how many useful spells she can learn."
He had high hopes for Aurelian.
After all, she was the one who had ascended the throne at eighteen and earned the title Eternal Witch.
Her talent was far from ordinary.
After blocking the final wave of spears, Viktor turned sharply, dodging a surge of natural energy and refocusing his gaze on the wooden calamity before him.
The battle had dragged on for some time now, and Viktor still relied solely on fire-element counter-magic.
But Druja's endless regeneration and absurd health made it nearly impossible for Viktor to inflict real damage.
At this rate, even pushing it into phase two would be difficult.
Viktor's voice rang out coolly, "Haim, Cocotte."
The two standing behind him, who had been watching the battle in awe, snapped out of their daze as if waking from a dream.
Why was Viktor suddenly calling their names?
"Reinforce the barrier," he ordered.
Cocotte shouted back, "Reinforce it? It's already maxed out!"
Viktor's calm voice replied, "At least make it strong enough to withstand war magic."
Haim and Cocotte froze.
"He said what!?"
In an instant, countless blue potion bottles appeared in their hands.
They were noticeably larger and darker in color than the ones Viktor had sold before.
These were [Mana Potions (Intermediate)], newly brewed after Viktor upgraded his crafting level.
"If you run low on mana, drink them," he said flatly. "If you can't hold the barrier, and Endymion blows up, that's not my problem."
Haim's face twisted in disbelief. After chugging a potion, he exploded in anger.
"Damn it, Viktor! If you blow up Endymion, I swear I'll, I'll..."
But halfway through his curse, his mana suddenly surged back to more than half, leaving him speechless.
Cocotte shot him a teasing look. "Well? You'll what?"
"Tch. Thought you had some guts," she sneered.
Grinding his teeth, Haim forced himself to calm down and split into multiple clones, sending them to channel energy into the barrier from every direction.
What else could he do?
Fight Viktor? Not a chance.
So he obeyed.
Cocotte also trusted Viktor. After drinking her potion and feeling the incredible surge of energy, she raised one delicate hand and lazily drew in the air.
Instantly, overwhelming natural energy erupted from her body, surging upward to the dome.
The moment it touched the barrier, a massive green tree descended from the sky, planting itself before Cocotte and stabilizing the trembling shield.
And soon enough, they understood why Viktor had told them to do this.
A terrifying surge of power suddenly roared up from the scorched battlefield, like a flame piercing the heavens.
At that moment, Viktor looked like a raging beast. The molten mantle behind him whipped violently, expanding larger and larger, until it became a burning black cloak that filled the sky with fire.
It looked like a second sun descending upon him.
Columns of molten flame erupted across the void, transforming the battlefield entirely.
Vega's eyes gleamed with excitement.
"The big one's coming!"
[Flamebreaker's Wrath]
A massive torrent of lava exploded out of the void, surging forward like it could drown the entire world, roaring toward Druja with enough force to shatter a mountain.
The heatwave warped the air itself, twisting space until even the darkness seemed to melt, dripping molten droplets that fell into the forest below, burning vast craters into the ground.
Sensing mortal danger, Druja's three pairs of eyes snapped open wide. It gathered a vast amount of natural energy in its jaws, draining the life from every plant around it until the forest withered to dust.
The towering lava wave took the form of a dragon, while Druja's own energy condensed into a giant serpent. The two collided midair.
BOOM!
The explosion tore through everything. Blinding white light swallowed the entire space, followed by a long, heavy silence.
———
A carriage slowly came to a stop before the Clavenna estate.
Liya stepped down gracefully with the help of servants.
But when she looked up, she froze.
A whole squad of guards stood at the gate, armed with long shields.
Liya blinked in confusion.
Only the royal family received this kind of treatment.
'What in the world is going on?'
'Has the princess come in person?'
She quietly slipped past the guards and entered the manor.
A servant opened the door, and Liya flopped onto the sofa with a long stretch.
Then she remembered, the time. Viktor should be in his study right about now. But the guards outside still nagged at her curiosity.
She climbed the stairs to the second floor to greet him.
"Viktor, about those guards outsi..."
She froze.
Standing before her was a female guard she didn't recognize. The woman looked at Liya; Liya looked back at her.
"…"
After a few seconds of silence, Liya slammed the door shut, pulled a communication crystal from her waist, and activated it.
Soon, a familiar voice came through.
"Liya? You're back already?"
"Gwen, don't say anything yet. And don't freak out. I need to tell you something."
"…Huh?"
A confused pause, then Liya said in a very serious tone,
"I think the princess came to spend the night with Viktor."