A gigantic blue light rose up from a stretch of grass, blue patterns spreading out through the space.
Violent airwaves instantly burst out from that deep, illusory tunnel, completely flattening the lush green grass.
A group of people slowly walked out from the massive blue gate.
The manor was extremely quiet. The birds that had been calmly perched on the branches were startled by the magic and immediately scattered in all directions.
Liya looked around, revealing a very relaxed expression.
"We're here."
It was Henny's first time coming to this place. After stepping out of the teleportation gate, she looked at the overwhelmingly natural scenery around her, her eyes sparkling like little stars.
"Wow, it's so big!"
She stretched out her finger, pointed at the ancient manor, and exclaimed.
Vanilla dragged the luggage and was the first to enter the manor to put things away.
After a while, rumbling sounds like small earthquakes rang out one after another, and waves of vibration spread through the ground.
A muffled, deep voice came through, "Master of the house, Miss Liya."
"Welcome back."
A bear-man butler stood beside all of them.
His tall body was extremely burly, and his steady breathing rose and fell with his chest, clearly audible to everyone.
A pair of gentle eyes carried a hint of seriousness, while a terrifying aura slowly spread from between his brows.
Henny and Cocotte both opened their mouths wide in shock.
"So… so big."
But Cocotte quickly recognized the extremely large demi-human in front of her.
"This is a bear-man?"
'This is actually a bear-man?'
Such a violent and ferocious race, yet here he was so calm.
And… every movement he made looked incredibly elegant, like that of a gentleman.
The massive bear-man looked at them gently and bowed.
Terrifying, elegant, powerful.
'Could this be the Clavenna family's code, something even a bear-man had to follow?'
Cocotte felt a bit surprised.
At this moment, Liya pulled Henny in front of her and spoke solemnly to Halnarsen, "Mr. Halnarsen, please prepare a room for her."
"As for that elf, there's no need. She'll find a garden to sleep in on her own."
The bear-man nodded, bowed slightly to Henny, and said, "This young lady, please follow me."
Henny was startled. Looking at Halnarsen, she felt a little afraid.
After all, she had never seen someone so huge before. Halnarsen, like a small giant, put quite a bit of pressure on her.
She turned her head back nervously, glanced at Viktor, then looked at Liya.
Liya nodded at her, giving her a reassuring look, then continued, "Follow Mr. Halnarsen to get your room ready first. I'll take you into the city later."
The Clavenna manor wasn't located inside Braeston City, but built separately outside of it.
From the manor to the city, it was at least another two kilometers.
Henny nodded, calmed herself, and followed behind Halnarsen into the manor.
After seeing the two of them leave, Cocotte rode the cloud beneath her and drifted over to Viktor, asking him quietly, "Hey, that was a bear-man, right…?"
"How did you pull that off?"
As a top-tier mage, she could clearly feel the power contained within that bear-man's body.
He might be able to punch her to death with a single blow.
Not that Cocotte thought he was stronger than her, after all, she was just a mage, and her body was fragile as hell.
Viktor glanced at Cocotte and said flatly, "You should know, I'm not omnipotent."
After hearing that, Cocotte leaned back slightly, raised her eyebrows, opened her mouth, and looked surprised.
"What!? This actually has nothing to do with you?"
Seeing this, Liya explained from the side, "Back in my grandfather's generation, Halnarsen was already working for our family."
"All those demi-human guards you see were trained thanks to him."
Cocotte's mouth hung open. This was completely beyond her expectations.
And the restrained power inside Halnarsen's body was also beyond her understanding.
What exactly was his profession?
"Martial Master. That's Halnarsen's profession."
Viktor's calm voice sounded beside her.
"Martial Master?"
As a former council member of the Mage Council, Cocotte's knowledge naturally went without saying.
But now, for the first time, she felt like what she knew wasn't enough.
Viktor didn't explain further. With his hands in his pockets, he continued walking forward.
The black raven on his shoulder shook its feathers and yawned lazily.
At this moment, Viktor's voice came from the side.
"You only need to know this, in the entire empire, there's only one Martial Master, Halnarsen."
Martial Masters were an extremely special profession, whether in terms of strength or how one advanced.
They were a branch of warriors and likewise didn't consume mana.
But what set Martial Masters apart from traditional warriors was this, they needed to practice "natural energy."
Only when the amount of energy stored in the body reached a certain level could one even qualify to become a Martial Master.
And that was just the most basic requirement.
Martial Masters did not advocate slaughter. They needed to spend time "nurturing energy."
This practice not only gave Martial Masters healthier, stronger bodies, but also extended their lifespan.
Thus, the more energy one nurtured, the stronger the Martial Master became.
On the other hand, Martial Masters who fought frequently would lose energy, and their physical condition would become relatively weaker for a period of time.
As a result, the strength of Martial Masters wasn't fixed, and very few players chose to specialize in this path.
While Cocotte was still thinking, Liya suddenly spoke from the side, "Hey, done chatting? If you're done, we should get going too."
Cocotte tilted her head and asked in confusion, "Going where?"
Liya looked at her with a smile, speaking mysteriously, "To take you to a place an elf should go."
———
Thick smoke billowed.
Crisp metallic hammering and the clashing of materials filled the massive workshop.
Dozens of workers moved back and forth inside, carrying various materials and steel as they methodically crafted something.
When the workers saw Viktor and Liya standing at the workshop entrance, they all stopped what they were doing and hurriedly bowed to Viktor.
"Count!"
"Good day, Count!"
"Good morning, Lord Viktor!"
The workers greeted Viktor with utmost respect, their movements uniform.
Viktor didn't respond much. After giving a light nod, he walked forward on his own.
The black raven laughed mockingly beside his ear.
"Oh my, Lord Viktor."
"Such impressive official presence."
Viktor shot an annoyed glance at the talkative raven and didn't reply.
Their salute wasn't out of respect.
It was for survival, to avoid being remembered.
Strictly speaking, this was also one of Viktor's past mistakes.
In many places, people's impression of Viktor had changed due to his actions, from notorious villain to widely known genius mage.
Except for Viktor's hometown, Braeston.
There were simply too many people in the entire city who had suffered under Viktor.
Even the dogs on the roadside looked down on him.
No matter how good Viktor's reputation was outside, once he returned to Braeston, inside Viktor's own home, the workers all had only one thought.
Is this really the same Viktor?
As they went deeper into the factory, Cocotte curiously looked around.
Dozens of craftsmen were gathered around an extremely long table, repeatedly assembling parts and calibrating precision.
Soon, a pitch-black firearm was assembled and hung among a row of finished products on the wall.
Cocotte watched from the side, eyes wide open.
What kind of strange new thing was this?
Viktor kept his hands in his pockets and asked Liya casually, as if it were nothing unusual, "So, can this already be mass-produced?"
"You know, making this kind of firearm isn't difficult, but we're lacking energy."
Liya spread her hands helplessly.
"In one day, we can only make ten pistols like this."
Liya stepped forward, ignored the craftsmen, and took a finished gun down from the wall.
She flicked off the safety with her thumb, raised her arm, narrowed her eyes, and aimed at a distant shooting target.
Then she pulled the trigger.
Bang!
Compressed magic power exploded with tremendous force, and a black iron bullet shot out, shattering the wooden target hanging in midair.
Cocotte had never seen anything like this before. Her mind went blank.
She could feel that Liya didn't have much mana, yet this casually fired weapon had power comparable to a small cannon shell.
This was far more useful than a bow, she thought.
Liya put the pistol back on the wall and took a semi-finished one from the craftsmen.
The gun body of the semi-finished piece was different from the completed one, a green eagle was engraved on it.
She held it, looked it over from side to side, then handed it to Cocotte and said, "Try summoning the natural energy that elves are best at."
"Huh?"
Cocotte took the gun, weighed it in her hand, feeling confused, but still followed Liya's suggestion.
A green glow began to appear in her palm, and natural energy gradually coiled up her arm.
The entire gun body was slowly wrapped in light, flowing into the pre-set eagle engraving.
The green color slowly traced along the edges, finally gathering in the sharp eye.
As if it had opened its eyes, the pattern became clear and vivid.
Cocotte didn't quite understand. She watched helplessly as Liya took the gun back from her hand and examined it.
Then Liya skillfully picked up six iron bullets from the table and loaded them one by one.
She aimed at the target again and pulled the trigger.
In an instant, a burst of green energy violently erupted from the barrel. The bullet tore through space at a terrifying speed.
In the blink of an eye, the light pierced straight through the entire wooden target, and only then did the violent wind pressure explode outward.
It was twice as powerful as before.
Cocotte, "..."
A very bad feeling suddenly rose in Cocotte's heart.
She saw Liya put down the gun and smile brightly at Cocotte.
"Worthy of the Elf Queen."
"Alright, now let me think about how I should use you."
The premonition came true.