“Where the fuck is he?”

  “Find him!”

  “Damn it! That elixir is mine!”

  Not far from the auction hall, several Magi in ornate robes frantically scoured the surrounding area. However, no matter what methods they employed or which direction they searched, Victor was nowhere to be found.

  Meanwhile, as the commotion grew louder, a hunched elderly man with a wrinkled face and a crooked cane shuffled past without drawing any suspicion. He moved slowly, like someone whose magic had long since waned, staring ahead as he entered the elevator leading to the Magus market’s exit.

  “What a bunch of fools,” the elderly man muttered under his breath as the doors slid shut. Of course, he was Victor.

  Right after escaping from the auction hall, he had used the Mask of Impersonation to change his appearance. Unless someone had seen him activate the magic tool in real time, there was no way to connect him to the elixir’s buyer.

  To begin with, Victor’s real appearance wasn’t widely known. Only the staff of the auction hall might have a glimpse of his face from the initial room registration. But even that wasn’t much of a concern. Reputable auction halls were known to fiercely guard the privacy of their patrons. Extracting that information would take time, influence, or a great deal of wealth — none of which could be wielded fast enough.

  Once Victor was on the surface, he quickly opened and stepped through another rift in space, almost instantaneously teleporting back to his rented inn. The familiar walls of his room greeted him as he emerged, and only then did he deactivate the mask’s transformation, letting his youthful face return.

  He exhaled slowly, a trace of fatigue catching in his breath. “Well, I should lie low for tonight and get on board the dirigible first thing in the morning,” he muttered to himself, stretching his limbs.

  There was no doubt that the elixir had stirred the hornet’s nest. Even now, he could sense faint probes of mana sweeping across the city, and he wasn’t about to give them any more clues. He had no intention of using the elixir tonight since any residue left behind by such a powerful concoction would be like a beacon for mana-sensitive Magi.

  Having said that, Victor sat cross-legged on the floor in his room and slipped into a deep meditation. He began to circulate his mana slowly, recovering from the day’s mental strain and replenishing his reserves.

  The next morning, Victor arrived at the floating platform airport. The place was bustling with activity — mostly Magi, nobles, and wealthy merchants — all preparing to board the massive dirigibles looming above like silent giants in the sky.

  Still in his hunched elderly man disguise and wearing the Mask of Impersonation, Victor made his way toward the designated dirigible. At the boarding checkpoint, he presented his ticket plate. The staff glanced at it, nodded, and politely directed him to the VIP gangway. Without a word, Victor entered the sleek interior of the passenger vessel.

  As expected, the VIP cabin was luxurious — polished wooden flooring, ambient mana lighting that gently illuminated the corridor, and enchanted soundproofing that muffled the outside world. A row of private suites stretched down a long, elegantly decorated hallway.

  Victor found his assigned room and stepped inside. He briefly surveyed the space, checking for anything that might be suspicious, but found nothing. Satisfied that everything was in order, he turned and made his way back out into the lounge.

  As soon as he entered the lounge, Victor was surprised to see several familiar faces.

  Seated at the long table was Wyne, lounging comfortably in his fine robe, accompanied by the blonde-haired female acolyte from the inn. Across from him, calmly sipping tea, was a stern older man with weathered features and sharp eyes, emitting a familiar mana fluctuation; he was the same sixth-sigil Magus who had occupied VIP Room Four during the auction.

  Victor immediately understood. That elder was Wyne’s protector — likely a family retainer sent to ensure his safety on this journey. Which meant the Wyne family had business in the eastern region… perhaps to uncover something significant. Though their eyes briefly passed over Victor’s disguised form, none of them reacted. The Mask of Impersonation was working flawlessly. No Magus below the Nexus Temporal rank would be able to detect the illusion, let alone pierce it.

  Victor quietly took a seat at the far end of the cabin, choosing a spot where he could observe without drawing attention. Of all the people to share a dirigible with... how amusing.

  As he thought of that, he suddenly noticed that a new side mission had appeared in the Headmaster’s Journal.

  Mission: Unravel the Eastern Secrets

  Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

  A powerful noble family has dispatched their scion and guardian to the eastern region — a location suspected to hold remnants of ancient ruins. Observe and uncover the purpose behind their journey and reap the benefits.

  Type: Side mission

  Reward: 2,000 academy points

  Ho… So, my suspicion was correct. They are indeed looking for something...

  Victor tried to eavesdrop on their group, but the Magus had deployed a soundproofing spell. Even with his enhanced senses, he couldn’t make out a single word of their conversation. However, this wasn’t a problem for him at all as he secretly cast {Eyes of Space-Time}. The magic spell wasn’t limited to visual and divination functions — it also had the ability to trace and reconstruct sound from the surrounding temporal layers.

  Soon, Victor was able to hear their conversation.

  “Damn that brat from the auction yesterday! He dared to snatch that elixir... If we weren’t in such a hurry, I would’ve taken my time hunting him down!”

  “Sir Fernando, are you not concerned that he might belong to a powerful Magus force?” Wyne asked cautiously.

  “So what?” the Magus, called Fernando, scoffed. “If I obtain that elixir, my chances of advancing to the Nexus Temporal rank will increase significantly. Would those Magus forces dare to offend a future Nexus Temporal Magus over an Elemental Adept?”

  He sneered. “Besides, if he hands over the elixir and the battle beasts willingly, I’ll let him live. Otherwise… hmph.”

  “Don’t worry. Once we uncover the ancient vault, you won’t have to worry about not being able to break through,” Wyne said, trying to reassure him.

  “I hope your information is accurate,” Fernando muttered, clearly irritated. “Your father entrusted you to me, so I’ll help you this time. You’re a promising talent within the family — but remember, anything valuable and beyond your current rank must be handed over to me.”

  “That is only natural.” Wyne smiled with glee.

  Ancient vault?

  This will be interesting, Victor thought, already devising plans on how he could exploit the situation to his advantage.

  If Wyne’s group truly had accurate information regarding the location of an ancient vault, then they were unknowingly handing Victor an opportunity. No matter what it might be, anything left behind from a forgotten era was worth investigating — or stealing.

  Let them pave the road. I’ll simply walk ahead of them when the time is right.

  Soon, the dirigible’s engine core activated, and a soft tremor passed through the floor beneath Victor’s feet. The vessel lifted gracefully from the floating platform and ascended into the morning sky, gliding effortlessly through layers of clouds. Below, the grand Tesserath City gradually shrank into a miniature of brass towers and sprawling districts, eventually vanishing behind the clouds entirely.

  Inside the lounge, Wyne’s group returned to casual chatter for a while before he and the blonde-haired female acolyte retired to their room — Victor didn’t bother to imagine what they were doing there. Meanwhile, Fernando remained seated in silence, eyes occasionally flicking toward the horizon through the window.

  Victor remained at the far end of the room, maintaining his role as a disinterested bystander. He leaned back in his seat and closed his eyes — not to sleep, but to think. If an ancient vault really awaits in the east… then it’ll be more than just Wyne’s group drawn to it. Things are about to get complicated.

  It would be best to leave a mark on Wyne now and act only after they’d uncovered something worthwhile. Let them do the hard work, and when the time came, he would take what mattered.

  A few hours passed quietly.

  Eventually, a waitress approached and served Victor his meal with practiced politeness. He gave her a nod of thanks, watching her retreat before turning his attention to the food. The meal consisted of fancy steak, a consommé, and a glass of vintage wine. With little else to do and plenty of time before arrival, he decided to eat. The taste was quite good, which was as expected from a VIP-tier ticket.

  As more time passed, Victor returned to his private suite and slipped into a meditative state. His breathing slowed, and the elemental energy in the cabin subtly shifted as he began circulating his mana in silence. He stayed like that for several hours, only opening his eyes when he sensed a change in altitude and speed — clear signs that the dirigible was beginning its descent.

  Victor stood and approached the reinforced window of his cabin. Drawing the curtain aside, he gazed out toward the horizon.

  In the distance, jagged mountain peaks jutted out like fangs from the earth, partially cloaked in mist. Below them stretched vast, rolling forests with dense canopies of snowy dark green, and a serpentine frozen river carved its way through the terrain like a silver thread. Near the center of the valley, cradled between cliffs, was a mid-sized settlement — Twin Amber City.

  This was the Aporo Region, Victor’s destination, and this city served as its primary hub of civilization. Just over two hundred kilometers to the southeast lay the territory of the Asteriscus Magus family. This place was also the border region between civilized territory and the eastern wildlands. Beyond this point lay unexplored ruins, sealed domains, and fragments of ancient empires long buried beneath the soil.

  In a nutshell, it was similar to the Thornwood Forest, only that it was located at the opposite end of the kingdom.

  Shortly after, the dirigible began its descent toward the city’s airport. As it landed with a soft tremor, the passengers began to line up in the corridor, preparing to disembark. Victor spotted Wyne emerging from his suite and began his plan. Still in his disguised form as a hunched old man, he calmly walked toward him, then, with calculated precision, bumped into him.

  Being the arrogant person that he was, Wyne snapped with irritation. “Hey, watch where you’re going, old man!”

  Victor turned his head slowly, narrowing his eyes at the younger man. A thin trace of killing intent slipped out, just enough to chill the air around them while saying “I apologize” to him.

  Wyne’s breath caught in his throat. “Ugh...” he grunted, stepping back slightly. Though clearly annoyed, he didn’t dare escalate the situation further.

  Victor then moved along as if nothing had happened. In that brief moment of contact, he had already placed a subtle spatial mark on Wyne’s robes — invisible to the eye and undetectable without specialized spells.

  Let’s see if this leek will give me a surprise, Victor thought, already several steps ahead.

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