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

By the time night completely enveloped Starlight Royal Academy, there were almost no students left near the old clock tower.

The clock tower stood in the northwestern corner of the academy and had been built even earlier than the White Tower.

Due to the deterioration of its internal magical structures, it had ceased normal operation more than a decade ago and now retained only its most basic function of marking the time. Students occasionally passed through the area during the day, but once night fell, the surroundings quickly became silent, leaving only the low chime of the bronze bell above whenever the night wind stirred it.

Right now, the time was exactly 11:53 p.m.

Victor climbed the final stretch of stone steps alone.

Just like the unknown message had said, he had not brought any of his subordinates. He had not even told Leah the exact purpose of tonight’s meeting.

The reason was simple. Since the other party had explicitly demanded that he come alone, it meant they possessed at least a certain level of intelligence-gathering ability. Rather than deliberately bringing others and provoking them, Victor preferred to first see what this suddenly appearing ”insider” actually wanted to say.

Of course, being alone was only true on the surface, as he was not stupid enough to trust the other person completely.

The moment he stepped inside the clock tower, the system scan had already silently activated.

[Investment Scan activated.]

[Remaining uses today: 2.]

Dark red ripples silently spread outward, rapidly covering the entire clock tower and the surrounding five-hundred-meter area. Several faint points of light representing ordinary students and night guards gradually appeared within his vision, but inside the clock tower itself, there were only two life signals.

One was him, and the other was on the top floor.

[Target Distance: 47 meters.]

[Potential Evaluation: Unable to Determine.]

Unable to determine?

Victor did not stop walking, but his gaze darkened slightly.

This was the first time since the system activated that it had produced such a result for a living person.

Cecilia was SS, while Leah had originally appeared as a red Fate-Leap-type target but now possessed SSS potential. Even Ryan, despite being the protagonist of this world, could still have his identity and Luck directly displayed by the system.

Yet this person’s potential could not even be identified.

Either the other party possessed some special ability, or something was interfering with the system.

After seeing Fate Correction actively at work, trying to force everything toward the original plan, Victor was leaning further toward the latter possibility.

Slowly, Victor climbed the spiral stone staircase. The closer he came to the top of the clock tower, the weaker the mana fluctuations in the air became. It was not that there was no mana, but rather that some extremely unusual suppression structure existed here, restricting most energy fluctuations to an extremely low level.

At 11:59 p.m., Victor pushed open the wooden door leading to the top floor.

Creak.

The night wind instantly rushed inside, sending a cold sensation across his skin.

The top of the clock tower was a semi-open platform supported on all four sides by thick black stone pillars. Above them hung the ancient bronze bell that had existed for more than two hundred years.

Someone stood near the edge. He was wrapped in a large gray cloak, his back facing Victor.

Judging from his build, he was probably a man.

”You arrived earlier than I expected.”

The voice was surprisingly young. Victor deduced that the man was somewhere in his twenties.

He stopped about ten meters away and calmly replied, ”You didn’t say I had to arrive exactly on time.”

The gray-cloaked man chuckled.

”You really are different from the rumors.”

”If you called me here just to evaluate my personality, then I might take my leave, as I have other things to do,” Victor said, his tone firm and cold.

Now, did Victor want to know what information this person had? Definitely, but at the same time, he did not want to come across as desperate.

”Of course not.”

The gray-cloaked man turned around. The hood still concealed most of his face, revealing only his chin and a small portion of pale skin.

”I’m here to save Leah Vane.”

Victor showed no reaction whatsoever on his face. ”And?”

”You’re not surprised?” the cloaked man asked, sounding slightly shocked.

”I’ve already been warned that something is going to happen to her.”

The gray-cloaked man visibly paused.

”Someone else?”

Victor quickly changed the topic. ”Who is going to kill her?”

For a brief moment, silence settled over the clock tower, broken only by the night wind sweeping through the open arches, stirring Victor’s hair and sending the man’s gray cloak billowing behind him.

The gray-cloaked man finally raised his head.

”It isn’t about someone wanting to kill her. At least, not on the surface.”

He raised one hand. A small projection mana crystal appeared in his palm. Pale blue light illuminated the darkness as a map rapidly projected itself between them.

It was the Seventh Magical Beast Trial Ground, the area where the freshman practical screening would take place two days from now.

The entire trial ground had the structure of a long, narrow canyon, surrounded by the academy’s large defensive barrier and divided internally into four regions: forest, wasteland, rocky valley, and underground caves.

Three red markers appeared at different locations on the map.

...They were Mana Core Badges.

The gray-cloaked man pointed toward the northernmost one.

”This one. Don’t let Leah touch it.”

Victor’s gaze settled on the red point.

”Why?”

”Because it isn’t an ordinary Mana Core Badge. There’s an Abyss Induction Crystal sealed inside.”

’That term again.’ Victor’s eyes narrowed.

The first one had been associated with Cecilia. Now, Leah.

Just how far did this conspiracy reach? ℯℯ𝘭.

Shaking away the thoughts that would not have any answers until the future revealed them, he asked, ”What does it do?”

”It releases a high-frequency mental fluctuation,” the gray-cloaked man answered. ”Ordinary professionals can barely sense it, but for someone who has only recently completed the reconstruction of a special mana core, it’s extremely dangerous.”

’So he even knows about Leah’s awakening.’

Although the man did not say it outright, it was quite easy to tell that he knew, because Leah had only reconstructed her Astral Core yesterday.

Although its stability had improved, the core was still in its most vulnerable stage.

”What happens then?” Victor continued asking.

”Loss of control. If she remains in contact with it for more than three minutes...”

The gray-cloaked man paused, then added, ”Her Astral Core will collapse from within.”

At those dreadful words, the atmosphere turned cold, and the wind suddenly disappeared as though it had never been there.

Victor finally understood why the system had directly raised the danger rating of this assessment from Low to High.

This was not simply a matter of adding a few magical beasts. Someone had directly inserted something specifically designed to target Leah into a core part of the assessment.

”Who put it there?” Victor asked, perhaps the most important question.