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

Some time later, Victor returned to his dormitory.

Although it was already late into the night, all traces of sleep had disappeared from his eyes.

Upon arrival, the first thing he did was head into the underground training room.

The door sealed behind him with a click. Victor removed his coat, laid it across the chair, and walked into the center of the room.

Less than forty-eight hours remained before the assessment. Since the danger level had already risen to Extremely High, he could no longer train according to the original plan.

His first priority right now was strength.

Knowing the assessment had been tampered with gave him an advantage, but knowledge alone could not stop a blade. Before entering the assessment ground, he needed enough power to force every scheme into the open.

With a quick thought, his status materialized before him.

[Level: 21]

[Strength: 52]

[Constitution: 49]

[Agility: 77]

[Spirit: 51]

[Mana: 639]

[Heaven Burning Sword Art: Beginner 8%]

[Shadow Blink: Initial]

[Mana Devour: S+]

[Infinite Evolution: SSS]

His level was still twenty-one, and that problem was beginning to become increasingly apparent.

Although the system investments had given him enormous amounts of attributes, skills, and talents, allowing his actual combat power to far exceed his level, his life tier remained restricted by that very same level.

Once someone advanced beyond Level 20, the experience required for each subsequent level increased noticeably. Plus, with the academy’s slow training efficiency, Victor was progressing at a slow pace.

This imbalance could be concealed during an academy duel, where one decisive burst was often enough to settle the outcome. The coming assessment would be different. If he faced consecutive battles, ambushes, or an enemy prepared for him, even a small weakness could become fatal.

”Is there any way to gain experience quickly?”

[Kill real magical beasts.]

Obviously, Victor already knew that; the problem was that he could not simply kill magical beasts inside the academy whenever he wanted.

Just as he was about to close the system, however, something suddenly occurred to him.

The Alves family.

As a ducal family from the northern territory, they naturally possessed their own properties in the Imperial Capital, and among those properties was a private magical beast arena.

The original Victor had visited it before, although he had gone there not for training, but to watch noble beast fights.

The arena permanently kept large numbers of low-tier and Tier 2 magical beasts in captivity.

Victor immediately took out his identity card and sent a message.

[Karl.]

Several seconds later, a reply arrived.

[Young Master?]

He was still awake this late?

”Six tomorrow morning. Bring Evelyn and Bruno to the Academy East Gate.”

Karl quickly replied.

[Bruno still can’t fight at full strength.]

After thinking for a moment, Victor realized he was right. ℯℯ𝘭.𝘤ℴ𝘮

”Then bring Milo instead.”

[Understood.]

Victor sent his next message to Leah.

[Six tomorrow morning.]

A reply arrived within ten seconds.

[Where are we going?]

[To kill magical beasts.]

The other side remained silent for several seconds before another message appeared.

[Okay.]

She asked no further questions, which satisfied Victor.

The final message went to Noah.

[Six tomorrow morning. Bring your sword.]

His reply came just as quickly.

[Yes.]

Noah’s answer arrived so quickly that Victor suspected he had been training. There was no question attached to it, nor any hesitation despite the hour.

Victor closed the message and gripped his identity card tightly.

This group had not been chosen at random. Karl could hold the front line, while Evelyn’s speed was suited to reacting to unpredictable attacks. Milo would fill the vacancy left by Bruno, but Noah and Leah remained the people Victor intended to watch most closely.

Since someone intended to play dirty during the assessment two days from now, they could not blame Victor for dragging his people out early and allowing them to experience real bloodshed, especially Noah, whose [Sword Heart] had one final condition.

He needed to condense Embryonic Sword Intent during a life-or-death battle.

Victor had originally planned to wait until the Inferno Prison Secret Realm, but now, perhaps they could attempt it earlier.

Of course, he would not simply throw Noah into certain death, but fighting real magical beasts was completely different from facing training puppets, so Noah first needed time to adapt.

As for Leah, her greatest problem was not her level, but her lack of real magical-beast combat experience.

Before her seven failed awakenings, she had spent all her energy on profession research and basic training. Astral Chains and Starfall were both powerful, but deciding when to use them in a real battle, how to chain them together, and what to do once an enemy closed the distance were the things she could genuinely improve within the next two days.

Victor activated the training room formation, causing the Level 28 Crimson Armored Demon Ape to regenerate.

BOOM!

The enormous magical beast landed heavily, but this time, Victor did not draw his sword and merely raised his left hand.

[Shadow Blink.]

Buzz!

His body instantly disappeared, and when he reappeared eight yards away, he was already standing beside the Demon Ape.

His right hand pressed against one of its dark-red armor plates.

[Mana Plunder!]

[Mana Plundered: 16.]

The Demon Ape’s movements stiffened, but Victor did not attack; instead, he quickly retreated and began the sequence again.

What he wanted to practice was chaining his skills together.

Shadow Blink, make contact, activate Mana Plunder, draw his sword, and then unleash Flame Line.

If he could compress that entire sequence into less than one second, it would become extremely lethal against Tier 2 professionals or even those above that level.

The first attempt took 1.74 seconds, the second took 1.61, and the third dropped to 1.48.

After every attempt, Victor adjusted a detail—shortening Shadow Blink’s distance, turning his shoulder before he fully materialized, and positioning his hand closer to the Demon Ape’s armor. By the third attempt, his sword was leaving its sheath while Mana Plunder remained active.

During the fourth attempt, the Demon Ape suddenly changed its attack pattern and swept its tail sideways.

Bang!

For the first time, Victor was struck, and his body slammed directly into the rock wall.