The Lord Demon King is Unfathomable!

Chapter 1197 - 357: Shadow Beneath the High Tower (Part 2)

The assistant promptly replied, "Professor, his name is Marko Gage."

"Marko Gage..." Hector repeated the name, as if etching it into his mind, and excitedly continued, "You must immediately go to the border! Host his interview—"

Halfway through his words, he suddenly changed his mind, unable to mask the urgency on his face, and stood up with a flourish of his sleeve.

"No, I'd better go personally!"

He was already eager to discuss the theories about the Void Realm face-to-face with that candidate!

Hector could even imagine—when the legendary Professor Hector stood before him, inviting him to join his research team, how ecstatic that talented youth who yearned for the Academic State would be!

...

A perfect exam paper, submitted by a candidate named Marko Gage, had stirred a small wave in the highest levels of the Tower of Sages.

Professor Hector Rain had already decided to go personally to the border to welcome this once-in-a-century talent.

However, what the sages atop the High Tower didn't know was that behind this masterpiece exam paper, there wasn't a radiant soul to match it, but rather a monstrosity they and the Empire had nurtured.

Just as Professor Hector Rain was astounded by a "perfect exam paper," an apprentice named Minos was, under an elder's cover, stealthily leaving the Academic State's temporary camp at the Rhode Kingdom border, quietly slipping into the virtually undefended Eagle Rock Territory.

As a preparatory student from the Northern Duke Territory of the Rhode Kingdom, he was unlike his martial peers, having yearned for mysterious magic since childhood.

It wasn't just an interest.

He was also fortunate enough to possess a talent for delving into the mysteries of the occult!

An accidental fall into the water unexpectedly awakened in him the ability to fly, even though he couldn't utter a single spell at that time, leading his parents to briefly believe that it was a divine miracle from Saint Sis.

Upon realizing it wasn't a divine miracle, but a sign of awakening to extraordinary power, his parents almost unhesitatingly sold their last few acres of thin fields, turning from freemen into peasants, just to finally scrape together the travel expenses to send him to the Academic State.

Minos's talent was soon verified, showcasing his prowess in the written exams, and due to his outstanding "soul potential," he received an olive branch extended from the Tower of Great Sage.

So far, the story was beautiful, and Minos firmly believed that he would soon become a distinguished mage and bring his parents from their lord to his Mage Tower.

However, he still overestimated the weight of genius.

This was, after all, the Academic State gathering magic talents from the entire Aus Continent, and he was just a boy who miraculously survived an accidental fall into water.

There were countless transcendent beings here with legends even more remarkable than his.

Not to mention those nobles who could learn magic with a mere wave of their hand, able to cast spells without going through any ridiculous mishaps... if only they were willing to learn it.

Compared to those true "favorites," his aptitude was at best mediocre.

After struggling at the bottleneck of promotion for several years, he not only exhausted all his savings but also lost heart, with the prospect of bringing his parents off the lord's land becoming a distant dream.

He knew very well that this was the extent of his talent, and the accumulated blessings of his past lives and the life before have all been used up, with the Bronze Level being the limit of his soul level—he would never突破 it in this lifetime.

Unless—

He used a method outside the system.

Minos had heard of a place called the "Void Realm," which was the highest secret of the Academic State, rumored to have something that could enhance a mediocre soul level without any side effects!

Even though he knew the use of these things required paying a huge price, for someone at the end of their rope like him, there was no other choice.

He needed money!

A lot of it!

Though to redeem his elderly parents, who could no longer work the fields, didn't actually require heaps of gold, or even a single gold coin, his endeavors for half of his life surely weren't just to allow his parents to return to the life they originally could have.

If that were the case, what would all the hardships and wanderings he experienced along the way count for?

A bright mind like his deserved at least to be a guest of honor for the Northern Duke, or even a family mage—only then, at the time of his retirement, could he at least secure a knight's title and pass the fief to his future eldest son!

Fortunately, the Academic State had many clever people like him who were eager to advance, and he quickly found accomplices within this chaotic Utopia.

The Tower of Great Sage had an obscure task, which was being responsible for the once-yearly winter apprentice recruitment assessment. Many masters were extremely annoyed by this tedious job, but there were actually hidden benefits to it.

Even though the Academic State had a recommendation letter system, not every recommendation letter would ultimately be recognized.

Especially when the person holding the recommendation letter possessed only worldly wealth, without any worldly power...

They would select one who was easiest to exploit and one who was the hardest to exploit among these easily bullied people, making a minor, harmless adjustment to their fates.

For instance, the wealthy but not so smart Marko Gage was the child who needed adjustment.

As part of a business family that was wealthy beyond measure in the Rhode Kingdom, Marko Gage's father, Dorian, possessed wealth that could rival an entire nation, yet unfortunately lacked the power to match it.