The delicate fragrance of jasmine wafted to his nose, likely from the perfume the girl wore.
The orange candlelight in the corridor emitted a warm glow, which, combined with the light streaming in through the half-open glass window in the study, illuminated the girl's face.
His fingers rested lightly on his robe; as he moved slightly, he felt a supple, smooth texture.
Real. It felt incredibly real.
This was a level of realism that no virtual game could ever achieve.
Li De took a deep breath. Looking at the girl waiting for his response, the sensation of talking to a real person was simply beyond what any so-called game could provide.
A soul.
Yes, he sensed a soul within this girl that only a normal human would possess.
She wasn't rigid like a game NPC, but a living, breathing person.
The girl's appearance shattered some of the conjectures in his heart, but in their place, a more fervent excitement grew.
"glory" was indeed not that simple; it wasn't just a virtual game.
What secrets were hidden within?
Why did Huaxia use the medium of a game to promote and release it?
As his thoughts raced, Li De's expression returned to normal, and his eyes showed little emotion.
With a cold expression, he shook his head.
"Vina, send lunch to my magic laboratory. I'll eat there."
Hearing that somewhat indifferent voice, Vina couldn't help but feel a bit disappointed.
She had seen the light in Li De's eyes just now and had felt a spark of joy in her heart.
But she hadn't expected that in the blink of an eye, the master of the Scarlet Mage Tower and the object of her greatest admiration would return to his usual composure.
She gave a respectful bow.
"Yes, Lord Li De."
With a sense of loss, she turned to make the arrangements.
Could Lord Li De really dislike women?
Thinking of the strange rumors within the Mage Tower, Vina felt her spirits sink.
To become the woman of a High-level Mage was something many dreamed of; besides, Lord Li De was so handsome.
Thinking of that handsome, pale face, Vina couldn't help but bite her lip.
Li De watched Vina's graceful figure depart and let out a small sigh of relief.
After meeting Vina, he could no longer treat these living people as mere NPCs.
Because his original body was a Vampire—a race long hated by humans—he had maintained a certain distance from the apprentices in the Mage Tower.
If his true identity as a Vampire were discovered, especially in a massive city like Green City with a population of a million and a Transcendent Mage standing guard...
No matter how strong he was as a Vampire Progenitor, he wouldn't be able to escape.
Had Vina been in any other Mage Tower, she likely would have been devoured by the tower's master long ago.
But with the original host, Vina was merely an ordinary Mage Apprentice used as a cover.
Naturally, he wouldn't rashly change the original host's lifestyle; it was better to be safe than sorry.
The Scarlet Mage Tower was named for the layer of red Alchemical Material on its exterior. It had seven floors and stood twenty-five ren tall.
A 'ren' was the unit of measurement for length in glory; one ren equaled one meter.
The first and second floors were where the Mage Apprentices lived. The third and fourth floors housed the library and the classrooms where Li De taught the apprentices.
The fifth floor was his living quarters.
The sixth and seventh floors were the warehouse for magic materials and the magic laboratory.
Although the original host was a Vampire Progenitor, he was extremely obsessed with magic.
However, this lineage of Vampires was only established two hundred years ago after Li De, the Vampire Progenitor, had accidentally devoured a Vampire treasure and became a Progenitor.
Their foundation was incredibly shallow.
That was why he had gone to such great lengths to infiltrate Green City and join the Mages Association to study magic.
This Mage Tower had been built three years ago with the financial assistance of the Mages Association after Li De arrived in Green City.
After learning about the background of this Vampire Progenitor, Li De couldn't help but shake his head.
The title of Vampire Progenitor sounded grand, but in terms of actual foundation, it couldn't even compare to a second-rate noble family in Green City.
At the very least, those nobles wouldn't have to sneak into enemy territory to learn magic because they lacked resources.
But regardless, the efforts of the Vampire Progenitor now belonged to him.
Stepping out of the study, he saw walls made of grey alchemical materials; the floors and walls faintly pulsed with the aura of magic traps.
A Mage Tower was a mage's lair, the most dangerous place for outsiders.
In Li De's memory, there were no fewer than five hundred Magic Arrays inscribed within this tower.
If some blind little thief were to break in without permission, triggering just one would blast them into an undead state.
He followed the grey wood stairs up to the seventh floor, the highest point of the Mage Tower.
It was also where Li De frequently conducted his magic experiments.
The seventh floor consisted of a single, massive room. The entire floor was covered in anti-magic oak planks.
Light shone into the room through a large stained-glass window on the left.
The surrounding walls were all Alchemical Materials, inscribed with dozens of defensive Magic Arrays. Even if a magic experiment exploded, it wouldn't damage the Mage Tower.
Various magic materials were scattered somewhat haphazardly around the room.
The head of a One-Eyed Beast, branches of Snow Maple wood, Orlia Magic Crystal Ore, Poisonous Magic Vines that hadn't been ground into powder—there were hundreds of items in total.
He walked to the glass window, which was carved with colorful patterns and said to be the work of highly artistic Elves, and looked down.
Without spending too much time admiring the Elven craftsmanship, he pushed open the vibrant, semi-transparent glass. For the first time, Li De saw the face of Green City, the largest city in the southern Nolan Empire with a population of over a million.
It was so vast he couldn't see the end of it.
A twenty-five-ren-tall Mage Tower was an absolute high-rise in Green City. In this magic world where productivity wasn't high, even nobles couldn't own buildings of such height.
The entire landscape was laid out before his eyes.
Medieval European-style architectural clusters stood tall. The houses along the streets had domed and pointed roofs, and the windows were painted with colorful patterns, mostly related to religion and deities.
In the distance, a stone statue was carved into a wall—a monument to a hero who had sacrificed themselves for Green City.
A spire towered over a tavern at a crossroads, where red-faced, stumbling drunks staggered in and out of a semi-circular archway.
Shops on both sides of the street sold various goods. Nobles in lavish attire rode Unicorns, strolling along the bluestone-paved streets, while the surrounding Commoners retreated in panic at the sight of them.
Porters in tattered short robes carried massive burlap sacks on their backs, unloading goods from carriages under the direction of elegantly dressed merchants.
A few beggars in ragged clothes looked at passersby with pleading faces, their broken bowls long since encrusted with black grime.
A group of slave traders led a pack of tall, robust Half-Orcs with sharp tusks by iron chains, walking down the road with their heads held high, refusing to yield even to the mounted nobles.
A band of mercenaries who had just completed a mission, covered in dark blood, walked past the beggars. One beggar accidentally tripped and fell, blocking the mercenaries' path.
With cold eyes, a mercenary drew a greatsword wider than two palms and severed the beggar's hand. In an instant, the bustling street was thick with the scent of blood.
The beggar screamed and groaned in agony.
The nobles turned a blind eye to the scene, the slave traders laughed loudly, and none of the Commoners dared to step forward to stop the departing mercenaries.
The wailing beggar was simply ignored by the passing crowd.
It wasn't until a shop owner by the street, unable to bear it, brought out medicine and food to give to the beggar.
Li De watched these scenes for a long time without speaking.
The cultural background here was similar to medieval Europe, yet far more mysterious. Ignorance and illiteracy coexisted with the arcane, and mystery walked alongside the gods.
Nobles, slaves, Orcs, Elves, Vampires.
A brilliant yet cruel world.
And also, a world of magic.
Li De raised his gaze.
In the distance, three towering Mage Towers appeared within Green City.
Those were the Mage Towers established by the three most powerful mages in the Green City Mages Association.
The master of each Mage Tower was an Archmage of at least level 15.