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

Bang!

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

The impact emptied his lungs and left his arm numb from shoulder to wrist. Before the Demon Ape could follow, Victor drove his heel against the wall and pushed himself sideways, avoiding the descending claw.

[Simulated Injury: 9%.]

When he stood again, he was not angry and instead smiled, because this was what training should be.

Remaining unharmed every single time did not necessarily mean someone was strong; sometimes, it simply meant their opponent suited them too well.

Victor began again, continuing through the fifth attempt, the sixth, and one attempt after another until three in the morning.

[Skill Combination Completion Time: 0.97 seconds.]

Finally, he had broken the one second threshold.

Victor exhaled slowly as sweat slid down from his temple.

[Shadow Blink Proficiency increased.]

[Heaven Burning Sword Art Proficiency +2.]

[Current Heaven Burning Sword Art: Beginner 10%.]

Those two hours had not been wasted.

Victor shut down the simulation, but just as he was about to leave, his identity card suddenly lit up.

It was from Cecilia.

At this hour? Victor furrowed his brows as he opened the message.

[Are you still awake?]

[Yeah.]

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

[I found something.]

Victor’s expression became serious. Cecilia wasn’t the type to disturb him at this hour over something insignificant.

[About what?]

[Grant Carter.]

Ryan’s uncle, the person who had proposed moving the freshman assessment forward. That name alone was enough to make Victor more interested.

[Continue.]

Cecilia’s next message quickly appeared.

[He wasn’t in the Imperial Capital a month ago. Official records show that he has been handling a magical beast uprising in the western territories.]

Victor’s fingers stilled above the identity card.

[But seven days ago, someone used his academy board member authorization to submit the proposal adjusting the freshman assessment.]

For a moment, he simply stared at the message, already sensing that something about the timeline was wrong.

Seven days ago? Victor’s face hardened.

That was what the authorization record claimed, but at that time, he had not even transmigrated yet, and Leah had not awakened either.

However, the System had previously stated that the Regional Core Contest did not belong to the original fate trajectory. Therefore, either another Fate Interferer had already changed events before Victor arrived, or someone had apparently forged, backdated, or altered the authorization date afterward.

The next message arrived.

[I contacted the western garrison. Grant Carter is still in the western territories.]

Then who had used his authorization?

Before Victor could follow that thought any further, the familiar translucent light appeared before his eyes.

[Critical Intelligence obtained.]

[Understanding of Fate Correction updated.]

[The authorization record appears to have been falsified.]

[An existing hidden faction plan predates the current Fate Deviation and appears to have originally targeted Ryan.]

[Unknown faction detected laying groundwork in advance.]

[Possible overlap detected between the world’s original plot and hidden faction activity.]

[Recalculating...]

[Conclusion: Host’s changes to the plot did not create this danger.]

[Instead, Fate Correction redirected the consequences of an already altered event toward Leah Vane.]

[The Leah specific Abyss Induction Crystal and Star Devouring Shadow Beast were added after her awakening.]

Victor slowly narrowed his eyes. Without his interference, who would have been the most unusual freshman during the assessment originally scheduled for nine days after Leah’s awakening?

Ryan, the protagonist of this world.

Although Ryan was already Level 18, according to the academy’s year system, he was still...

Wait.

Wasn’t Ryan a first year student?

Victor suddenly realized an important detail.

According to the original Victor’s memories, Ryan had indeed only entered the academy this year; he had simply awakened early and possessed an absurdly high level, allowing him to reach Level 18 already.

That meant he would also participate in the freshman practical screening.

Things had suddenly become much more interesting.

With Ryan’s protagonist luck, he might have turned the attack into an opportunity, perhaps even counter killing his attackers. Leah’s unexpected awakening, however, had changed where the consequences would fall.

That... was the true meaning of ”Fate Correction.”

As Victor stared at the system panel, he finally understood for the first time what it meant by fate.

It was not some mysterious force that forcibly summoned lightning from the heavens to strike someone. Countless people, factions, and events already existed, and once one part changed, everything connected to it naturally shifted as well.

There didn’t need to be an invisible hand moving every piece on the board.

That was actually even more dangerous, precisely because everything followed logic.

At that moment, Cecilia sent one final message. This one took noticeably longer to arrive.

[There’s another problem. Grant Carter’s authorization key was changed to a private soul binding system three years ago.]

[Theoretically, other than Grant Carter himself, no one can use it.]

Victor stared at those words, and several seconds later, a certain name suddenly resurfaced in his mind.

’Elias.’

He was the one who had said something earlier.

”Knowing the outcome and knowing the process are two different things.”

Now it seemed that whatever was hidden behind this assessment was far more complicated than a single Level 27 Star Devouring Shadow Beast.

Victor closed the identity card, and although the night remained silent, his mood only grew better.

Complicated?

It didn’t matter.

More enemies?

That didn’t matter either.

What he lacked right now had never been enemies, but opportunities to grow fast enough.

And now, one after another, they were delivering themselves straight to his doorstep.

”Tomorrow is going to be a long day,” Victor muttered to himself as he slowly exited the underground training room.

That night, he couldn’t really get any sleep, as his mind was constantly contemplating the next step to take.

In the blink of an eye, the first ray of sunlight filtered through the windows, bathing his handsome face.

.....

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