Wizard: Start consuming attributes from the equipment slot.

Chapter 53 The Self-Circulation of Morningstar City

The burning passion quickly cooled down.

Viktor was not someone who had never seen money before. His luxurious life as the heir to a duchy since childhood had instilled in him a natural contempt for wealth. Even though these magic stones were an astronomical sum, this instinct still allowed him to quickly calm down.

But after calming down, Viktor felt even more troubled.

This discovery, while representing immense wealth, also signifies immense trouble.

Even for a formal wizard, tens of thousands of magic stones is a considerable sum, and it would take a long time to accumulate them. This means that even formal wizards would be tempted by these magic crystals.

Not to mention, this underground pipe itself belongs to Morningstar City, which means that these magic crystals are, strictly speaking, the property of the academy.

If it gets discovered and spreads, it's fine if it can be resolved in time. But if it's not handled well and it blows up, in the end you might not be able to get a single magic stone and will end up with nothing but a mouthful of duck feathers.

Moreover, Victor still had many questions about the origin of these magic crystals.

After all, if it were just a pure magic crystal, that would be one thing, but the one in his hand contains death magic, which means that the environment in which it was born contained abundant death magic... Could the magic crystal in that underground pipe be the work of some powerful wizard?

So, although it seemed like he'd won the lottery, this prize was difficult to claim, impossible to announce, and could potentially cause trouble. Victor truly experienced a rare moment of feeling caught between a rock and a hard place...

After careful consideration for almost ten minutes, Viktor finally made a decision:

"Let's go find the viper first and see what's going on."

Garl watched Viktor stand up, his fists clenched, and the life energy within his body subtly flowed across his skin, forming a barely perceptible layer of red light. He had practiced swordsmanship for half the day, knowing that he might be doing something important today:

"Yes, Your Highness!"

......

Without stopping, Victor and Gar quickly arrived at the Snake Venom Gang's territory and found Viper.

It was getting late. Viper, who had been making out with a woman in the bedroom, rushed out of the house after receiving news of Viktor's arrival, not even bothering to get dressed properly. He saw Viktor and Viktor dressed in ordinary clothes.

"Sir, what's wrong...?"

Viktor, not wanting to waste words with him, asked directly:

"Where is that underground pipe you mentioned?"

"Take me there!"

The viper was startled:

"Now?"

Victor's brows immediately furrowed, and he stared at him:

"What's wrong? Is there a problem?"

The viper trembled at his terrifying gaze and quickly waved its hands.

"No...no, sir, I'm fine."

"I just wanted to say that it could be dangerous to go into the underground pipes at night."

"It's alright during the day, but at night the entire underground pipes become the territory of man-eating rats. If you go in carelessly, it might trigger a riot by those rats, and then it could be dangerous..."

At this point, the viper sensed a dangerous glint in Garr's eyes and quickly added:

"Um... sir, I wasn't questioning you."

"But there are just too many rats in the underground pipes. Everyone in the West District knows that you should stay away from any underground pipes at night. If you don't believe me, you can ask other people."

Victor glanced at him and knew he wasn't lying, not to mention that his senses were always at their maximum.

Ever since entering the West District, in order to prevent Viper from betraying him and setting traps, he had been keeping an eye on the small map in the corner of his eye. The other side always showed green, representing his own people, so there was no need to lie about it.

But he was still somewhat puzzled:

"Man-eating rats?"

"Are there many underground pipes? Why haven't they been cleaned?"

The viper looked helpless upon hearing this:

"You don't know this, but there are a lot of man-eating rats, so many that they are impossible to count. If you add up all the man-eating rats in the underground pipes of Morningstar City, you could estimate that there are hundreds of millions of them."

"Moreover, although a few of these man-eating rats do not pose a threat to humans, once their numbers increase to a certain extent, they become incredibly bold and will swarm any creature that comes their way, devouring a person completely in a short time."

"When I first arrived in Dawnstar City, I unfortunately witnessed that scene... Even now, I still feel some fear."

"Fortunately, the man-eating rats hate sunlight. Every day after the sun rises, they obediently hide underground and don't come out. Otherwise, the West District would probably be flooded by these rats."

Viktor understood what he meant, but he was still somewhat puzzled:

"This number of rats...isn't that a rat infestation?"

"Doesn't the academy intend to clean up the mess?"

Viper seemed unsure what to say, but understanding that Victor was indeed unfamiliar with the situation in the West District—after all, the other man didn't live there—he patiently explained:

"Sir, that's because these stinking rats also know how to bully the weak and fear the strong."

"Moreover, for wizards, all they need to do is place some magical traps or barriers in the underground pipes, and no matter how many man-eating rats there are, they can't get through, so there are no such rats in the East District."

"But the West District is different..." He sighed, "Actually, sir, you should know that the West District makes up the majority of Morningstar City's population, yet the majority of them are poor, aren't they?"

"Morning Star City has no land and is built on a mountain, so there is no way to farm."

"How are we going to feed so many people, sir?"

"These stinking rats are arguably one of the reasons why West District maintains such a large population."

"I see... These rats serve the purpose of both eliminating the excess population in the West District and supporting the majority of the West District's population."

Upon hearing this, Viktor naturally understood. He wasn't really a 17-year-old; having been a journalist for so many years in his previous life, he knew a lot about shady dealings and had even reported on some. He wasn't unfamiliar with this kind of exploitative behavior and could only sigh:

"That's very much in line with the style of wizards. The big shots in the academy really know how to do things!"

But he had no intention of becoming a saint. These things might seem cruel, but they were not things he should be thinking about. This was just the self-perpetuating cycle of Morning Star City, and it had nothing to do with him.

So what he was more concerned about was when he could get in:

"When can we go in?"

"Also, are you sure you really saw a magic crystal that stretched for tens of meters?"