A cheer suddenly erupted from the hall below. Victorique looked down and saw that one of the spatial gates was completed. However, it could not be activated yet; it would only illuminate once all five spatial gates were ready.
She was pleased by this as well, gulping down the rest of the cocktail she had mixed, letting out a small hiccup, and lounging lazily on the stone beam. Suddenly, her nose twitched. She caught a whiff of an odd scent and glanced aside in confusion.
To better capture details for her paintings, Victorique kept the miracle "Hyper-Sense" permanently active. It not only vastly enhanced her senses, but even allowed her to perceive the ripples left by sorcery traces. She hadn’t noticed before, but upon closer inspection, she discovered faint, subtle colors of sorcery lingering on the stone beam. In her memory, she had never seen traces like this, nor smelled such an odor.
It was difficult to describe the traits of these traces or the nature of the scent; Victorique only knew that as she looked and smelled, her heart suddenly raced, and a flush of heat came over her body... though perhaps the alcohol was just kicking in.
A second cheer echoed from below—the second spatial gate was ready. At that moment, a transmission arrived via her miracle bracelet. Victorique knew her break was over, so she leapt directly down into the hall to patrol the most critical thoroughfare.
When her petite body in its frilly skirt touched the ground, it didn't draw a single glance. As she walked past the working sorcerers, not a single person took notice.
Indeed, the Painter's appearance was rather... childlike.
This was a hereditary trait in her family, and if one dug into it, it was hardly glamorous. In aristocratic circles, the Eunol family had always been known for their adorable, youthful neoteny—men and women alike. This meant that for certain nobles with peculiar predilections, the Eunols were practically their only lawful choice, as any illicit desires would be eradicated by the Stars' Blessing.
Relying on political marriages, the Eunols had stood firm in Jialesi for centuries until an anomaly like Victorique came along. Victorique didn't actually harbor any resentment toward the Eunols' way of survival, since their marriage partners were all legitimate nobles, and at least every Eunol could spend their life in happiness. But Victorique couldn't follow that path, because if graded by appearance, she ranked at... the very bottom of the family.
It wasn't that she was unattractive, but rather that she had long grey hair. Compared to her brightly colored, adorable, dazzling siblings, she had lost critical points on the crucial aspect of hair color. Since childhood, everyone called her the "Little Grey Wolf." Consequently, she resolved to make something of herself, and through an unexpected turn of events, accidentally became the foremost genius sorcerer in a century.
This was also why very few people had ever seen the Painter in combat, as she typically used Painting miracles to hide her presence. In the past, she had resented that she wasn't cute enough; now, she resented looking far too cute among elite powerhouses... Otherwise, how would that old bastard the Alchemy King ever dare look down on her!
When Victorique went on patrol, a third wave of cheers nearly brought down the roof of the hall.
If Victorique had been genuinely glad before, her feelings were now somewhat complicated.
According to the original schedule, the permanent spatial gates couldn't possibly have been rushed to completion within half a month. Yet now they were actually pulling it off, which could only prove one thing...
The radiance of the stars was gradually beginning to permeate the land. Even ordinary Starry sorcerers could benefit from it.
The Starry Supreme was about to take command of the starry skies once more. And unlike the past thousand-plus years, this time she would no longer need to rule the earth with a false starry sky; she would claim the true starry sky for herself.
This would undoubtedly cause all manner of upheaval, but as far as Victorique was concerned, she only knew that her carefree vacation was coming to an end.
The starry sky would once again become a cage for the earth, and sorcerer nobility would don their eternal shackles anew.
*I'll be drawing manuscripts until I drop dead,* Victorique thought.
Surprisingly, Victorique didn't feel much resistance to this.
Because she knew the Starry Supreme was right. In the past half a month without the binding of the stars, even though legendary and sanctuary sorcerers had tacitly suppressed the intensity of their battles, many ordinary people had still met violent ends.
Sorcerers had to be subjected to the strictest regulation and serve the public wholeheartedly. As a reward, they would become high-and-mighty nobles, enjoying boundless wealth and glory... Only this perfected mechanism could guide society into a proper, virtuous cycle and prevent atrocities.
Thus, even though Victorique foresaw her busy future, she obediently accepted this fate. The so-called "right way" always came with a price.
Besides, what else could she do? All five nations were the domain of the Stars. Where could she run?
Was she supposed to follow the Sword Princess's example and chase after a cult leader?
Thinking of that girl, Victorique couldn't help but smile faintly. She had never imagined that one day, the most famous figure of Sword Flower University would no longer be herself, but a female student who hadn't even graduated... But that was only natural; after all, she was merely a legendary sorcerer, while the other was already a demigod.
Because she had always been busy rushing manuscripts, Victorique hadn't paid attention to Sonia before. Only after the latter advanced to Sanctuary did she learn that such a genius would actually come to Sword Flower University... She had always thought Sword Flower University was merely a mating ground for noble scions.
Even her position as the principal of Sword Flower was just an honorary title she took because the board of trustees had made an offer she couldn't refuse.
Yet right up until Sonia defected from the Starry Kingdom, Victorique had never met her in person. Another student who had dropped out alongside her, however, was someone Victorique had seen once from afar.
Felix Voslodar.
After all, Felix was Duke Voslodar's child, so she had spared some time to pay attention. A Painting sorcerer's understanding of human anatomy was second only to a necromancer's, so she had seen through Felix's true gender at a glance. That was the only thing that had improved her opinion of Duke Voslodar—regardless of what he thought as a father, he had ultimately given his daughter the right to decide her own fate.
Word had it that Felix had also followed the cult leader. The new Duke Voslodar had suppressed the arrest warrant, so the outside world was unaware, but to Victorique, it was no secret... After all, the reason their group of legends was stationed here was precisely to guard against this band of Four Pillar Cult evil sorcerers.
According to the intelligence sent by the Church, the syndicate of evil sorcerers comprised the following members:
Cult Leader: Yaxiu Heath.
Starry Diva: Daedalose Lena.
Duke's Second Son: Felix Voslodar.
Witch Queen: Name unknown, demigod sorcerer.
Sword Princess Queen: Sonia Sierwei.
Spectre Prophet: Vichy.
Even setting aside his heinous track record, just looking at this roster was enough to show how vile Yaxiu Heath was—he was one man surrounded by five female sorcerers. What reason could there be other than indulging his overflowing selfish desires? Perhaps, as the rumors claimed, Yaxiu relied on miracles to dominate the female sorcerers' souls, allowing him to do whatever he pleased. Otherwise, why would these genius female sorcerers follow him? It couldn't possibly be because his technique was just that good, could it?
At the thought, the Little Grey Wolf couldn't help clenching her fists. As the principal, she felt an added sense of duty to rescue her student.
Speaking of which, Victorique still didn't know what Sonia looked like. She hadn't paid attention to the wanted posters, vaguely remembering only that she was supposed to be a red-haired beauty.
*I'll look up a photo when I get back,* the Little Grey Wolf thought.
Victorique turned the corner of the corridor. Just two steps in, she suddenly sensed that something was amiss and whipped her head around toward the open space behind her. The miracle "Kaleidoscope Staining" quietly activated; any area caught in her gaze was stained with chaotic hues of sorcery, neutralizing all miracles that manipulated vision!
With the interference of the kaleidoscope of colors, the empty corridor suddenly became crowded, and seven figures appeared before the Painter's eyes.
In an instant, she recognized three of them: Daedalose, the greatest beauty beneath the stars; Felix, the duke's second son; and Yaxiu Heath, the heinous cult leader!
She had never seen the maiden carrying the silver lantern or the white-haired little girl, while she had a faint suspicion about the pink-haired elf in a maid outfit, though she couldn't say for sure.
When Victorique's gaze swept over the red-haired girl gripping her sword hilt, a flicker of surprise flashed through the latter's eyes, quickly followed by a sweet smile. Like a student bumping into a teacher on the street, she greeted cheerfully:
"Hello, Principal."
A brilliant flash of blood-red sword light dazzled the Painter's eyes in an instant!
Chapter 1086