Villain's Evolution: Investing in My Minions Yields Crazy Returns!

Despite his excitement, Victor did not choose immediately because being impulsive could cause him to make a mistake.

Fifty million gold coins was a lot. An enormous amount, actually. But as long as House Alves had not fallen, money was not something he currently lacked.

The Tier Six Dragon Blood Tempering Fluid was obviously immensely valuable just from its name.

The Flame Demon Bloodline was equally tempting.

But what was Victor’s profession right now?

It was Magic Swordsman.

He already possessed High Level Fire Affinity.

Yesterday, he had also acquired [Mana Devour], which could continuously increase his maximum mana.

If he obtained a high level fire sword technique on top of that... Victor’s gaze landed on the third option.

[Heaven Burning Sword Art]

[Quality: King Rank]

King Rank! This was no longer something ordinary students had any chance of accessing.

At Starlight Royal Academy, skill grades progressed from Common, Fine, Rare, Epic, and only then King Rank.

Even some Tier Three or Tier Four instructors at the academy might not possess a core skill at that level.

”Choose Option Three.”

[Selection Successful.]

Boom!

Almost the instant the notification appeared, an enormous amount of information surged directly into Victor’s mind without the need for any skill book or learning process.

The mana circulation routes of the Heaven Burning Sword Art, its methods of exerting force, its sword variations, and the complete method of attaching fire elemental power to a blade were rapidly engraved into his consciousness as though he had already practiced them countless times.

[Congratulations, Host. You have obtained the skill: Heaven Burning Sword Art.]

[Heaven Burning Sword Art]

[Quality: King Rank]

[Current Proficiency: Beginner]

[First Form: Flame Line]

[Condense highly compressed fire attribute mana along the sword’s edge and execute an extremely fast single point slash, greatly increasing armor piercing capability.]

[Subsequent forms will gradually unlock as proficiency increases.]

Victor slowly exhaled as he tried to conceal his excitement.

This was his first true explosive increase in direct combat power.

If yesterday’s [Mana Devour] represented long term growth, then the [Heaven Burning Sword Art] represented immediate fighting strength.

He almost wanted to find someone to test it against.

But not yet, because the system required three effective investments.

And so far, he had only completed two, which were Bruno and Noah.

Victor raised his head again and looked at the remaining people before him. Compared to earlier, the atmosphere on the training ground had clearly changed.

The Fourth Tier Star Vein Potion alone was worth more than 150,000 gold coins, and together with an entire month of access to an advanced swordsmanship training room, Victor had spent a total of 173,000 gold coins on Noah.

These things were not promises Victor had casually made, nor were they rewards he claimed he might consider giving Noah if he performed well in the future.

Just now, in front of everyone, he had directly handed them to Noah. It was completely different from merely hearing Bruno say yesterday that Victor had paid 80,000 gold coins for his treatment.

Watching Victor personally take out that huge amount without hesitation just to cultivate Noah, someone who had almost no presence among the twelve of them before today, naturally had a much greater impact.

Especially on the few people in the group who also came from ordinary families.

They understood better than anyone else what more than a hundred thousand gold coins actually represented.

For the Alves family, perhaps it was merely an insignificant expense. But for them, it might be wealth their entire families would be unable to accumulate even after several years, or perhaps more than a decade.

And Victor had simply seen Noah’s value, then given it to him.

[Karl’s Loyalty +2.]

[Current Loyalty: 93.]

[Milo’s Loyalty +4.]

[Current Loyalty: 83.]

[Jerome’s Loyalty +3.]

[Current Loyalty: 75.]

[...]

A continuous stream of system notifications flashed before Victor’s eyes. He looked at the numbers without any visible change in expression, but internally, he had become even more certain about what he needed to do next.

This was exactly the result he wanted.

Cultivating subordinates had never been as simple as throwing resources at them. Resources themselves were the most direct way of demonstrating one’s attitude.

If he merely occasionally rewarded them with a few gold coins and had them run errands or fight for him, then they would forever remain nothing more than a group of ordinary followers.

But if he could give them higher level skills, better equipment, more precious potions, and even directly solve growth defects that might otherwise limit them for the rest of their lives, then the relationship between both sides would naturally change.

Loyalty was certainly important. But Victor had never believed that a truly sustainable force could survive purely on emotions or so called personal charisma.

Benefits, strength, a future.

Those things were equally important.

As long as following him allowed them to obtain things no one else could give them, they would naturally become less and less willing to leave.

Victor continued looking through the group.

Soon, his gaze landed on a red haired young woman.

She looked around eighteen years old, with a tall figure and long legs. Her dark red hair was tied into a high ponytail, and two short blades hung from her waist.

Ever since Victor entered the training ground, she had stood off to the side with her arms folded, wearing a somewhat casual expression.

Evelyn Moore. She was one of only two girls among the original Victor’s twelve regular followers.

[Name: Evelyn Moore]

[Level: 18]

[Profession: Dual Blade Assassin]

[Talent: Intermediate Weakness Perception]

[Potential Evaluation: A]

[Current Loyalty: 76]

[Current Need: Higher quality movement skill.]

[Investment Value: High]

’A Rank? Perfect.’