The private quarters of the Nightshade Dukedom inside the Academy were more luxurious than most kings' palaces. High vaulted ceilings, dark mahogany furniture, and enchanted chandeliers that burned with smokeless, eternal blue flames.
Victor tossed his silk gloves onto a silver tray and sat down on a plush velvet armchair by the massive arched window.
"System," Victor called out in his mind, his tone relaxed but predatory. "Show me the harvest."
A translucent, futuristic blue screen instantly materialized in front of his eyes, casting a faint glow in the dimly lit room.
[Host: Victor Nightshade]
[Age: 18]
[Mana Rank: Novice (Tier 6)]
[Talent: S-Rank (Shadow Sovereign / Ancient Dragon Blood)]
[Villain Points: 6,500]
[Inventory: Swamp Slime & Stinkweed Trap (Used)]
Victor swirled a glass of expensive amber whiskey in his hand. Six thousand five hundred points.
Crushing Leon's pride, shattering the Awakening Monolith, and twisting the Saintess's worldview had paid off handsomely.
"System," Victor commanded. "Open the System Shop. What can I buy with this?"
[Opening System Shop...]
[The Host currently has access to Tier-1 and Tier-2 Items, Spells, and Bloodlines. However, the System highly recommends the 'Supreme Villain Gacha Wheel'.]
[Cost: 500 Villain Points per pull. 5,000 Points for a 10-Consecutive Pull (Guarantees at least one A-Rank or above reward).]
Victor raised an eyebrow. "A Gacha system? You truly know how to drain my points. Fine. The protagonist won't stay down forever. I need absolute superiority. Activate the 10-Consecutive Pull."
[Ding! Deducting 5,000 Villain Points.]
[Activating the Supreme Villain Gacha...]
The blue screen shattered, replaced by a massive, glowing roulette wheel spinning with terrifying cosmic energy. The wheel was divided into thousands of tiny slivers, glowing with white, blue, purple, gold, and a deep, ominous blood-red.
The wheel began to spin at blinding speed.
Whoosh! Whoosh!
Ten glowing orbs shot out from the center of the wheel, hovering in the air before Victor.
Victor tapped the first eight orbs. Most of them shattered into faint blue and white light.
[Acquired: Minor Healing Potion x3]
[Acquired: 10,000 Gold Coins]
[Acquired: Tier-3 Fireball Spell Scroll x2]
[Acquired: C-Rank Mana Regeneration Ring]
[Acquired: Poison Resistance Pill]
"Garbage," Victor scoffed, dismissing the items into his spatial ring. He had enough gold to buy a country, and C-Rank rings were things his servants wore.
He turned his attention to the final two orbs. One pulsed with a blinding, sinister purple light, and the other radiated a deep, terrifying blood-red aura that seemed to distort the space around it.
Victor tapped the purple orb first.
[Ding! Congratulations! You have obtained an S-Rank Movement Skill: 'Shadowstep'.]
[Description: The ultimate assassin's technique. Allows the Host to instantly teleport between any shadows within a 100-meter radius. Costs minimal mana. No cooldown. At higher masteries, the Host can step into the Shadow Realm to avoid physical and magical damage entirely.]
"Now that," Victor smiled, taking a sip of his whiskey, "is a villain's tool."
He didn't hesitate. "Learn it."
The purple orb shattered, turning into a stream of dark runes that drilled directly into Victor's mind. His body underwent a subtle change. When he looked at the shadows cast by the furniture in the room, they no longer looked like absence of light, but rather... like doors waiting to be opened.
Victor locked his gaze on the shadow cast by a bookshelf across the large room. He willed his mana.
Swish.
He didn't move his legs. The world simply blinked, and in less than a fraction of a second, Victor was standing seamlessly next to the bookshelf, his whiskey still perfectly still in his glass.
"Flawless," Victor whispered. With this, killing those arrogant "heroes" would be as easy as breathing.
He then walked slowly back to the center of the room, his eyes fixed on the final, blood-red orb. Red was higher than gold in the System's hierarchy. It was the color of Mythic items.
Victor reached out and crushed the red orb.
[Ding! CONGRATULATIONS! You have triggered a 0.01% drop rate!]
[You have obtained the Mythic-Tier Item: 'Absolute Obedience Soul Contract'.]
A piece of ancient, weathered parchment materialized in Victor's hand. It felt like human skin, covered in writhing, glowing crimson runes that seemed to whisper demonic chants.
[Description: A contract forged in the deepest abyss. If the Host can get a target to drop even a single drop of their blood onto this parchment, their soul will be permanently bound to the Host.]
[Effects: Absolute loyalty. The target cannot lie to the Host, cannot harm the Host, and cannot disobey a direct command, even if ordered to kill themselves. Betrayal is fundamentally erased from their conceptual existence.]
[Warning: Single use only. Choose your slave wisely.]
Victor stared at the bloody parchment, the corners of his mouth curling up into a wide, chilling smile.
"A Mythic item that creates a perfect, unquestioning slave," Victor chuckled softly, folding the parchment and tucking it into his breast pocket. "System, you truly are wicked."
[The System exists solely to serve the Ultimate Villain.]
"Good." Victor walked back to the window, looking out over the sprawling Academy grounds as the sun began to set.
Tomorrow was the beginning of the 'Whispering Woods Trial', a mandatory survival test for all freshmen.
According to Victor's perfect memory of the game's plot, Leon Bright, desperate to fix his newly shattered Dao Heart and broken Light mana, would risk his life to venture deep into the C-Rank danger zone of the woods. There, the protagonist was destined to find a miraculous [Starbloom Herb] guarded by a powerful beast, allowing him to level up and swear revenge.
Victor swirled the last drop of whiskey in his glass and downed it.
"A rat is always most active when it's desperate," Victor muttered, his violet eyes glowing in the twilight. "Lead the way to the treasure, Leon. Your nightmare hasn't even begun."