Florida Man in Magus World: Unleashing Liberty and Freedom

[You can verify it yourself when you leave this mirror world. Emperor Saucon Dragoon promotes slavery and war against neighboring countries. If you visit the local slave market, you will find our brethren among them. The nobles and merchants of that city treat us as pets and livestock.]

Felix narrowed his eyes. "And where is this slave market?"

[It's east of the city. They call it the Free Labor Market.]

"…Alright. I'll investigate that later. But for now, I don't know if I can trust you yet. I don't think I can cooperate or be your king at the moment."

[We understand. I'm sure you're worried that your actions will affect the trial result. So, we shall give you this.]

Diana's shadow turned around, and her servants brought over a box. She handed it to Felix and opened the lid, revealing a white orb inside.

[To prove our sincerity, we offer you this mark of virtue. But remember: Emperor Saucon Dragoon is not someone you can trust.]

Felix pursed his lips and accepted the gift. He looked at the white orb for a moment before asking them a hypothetical question. "If I accepted your request, what would happen?"

[The mirror would have mistaken your actions as hubris or narcissism. Then, the orb in this box would have turned black.]

"If that's the case, wouldn't that make your cause meaningless? If I help you, wouldn't I fail the test? Was that your purpose all along?"

Felix pointed out the contradiction in the shadow's reasoning, but she remained unperturbed, smiling.

[The mirror created us to test you. However, we inherit the memories and emotions of our original counterparts. Whatever we expressed are their true feelings. Now that we've delivered our message, we're satisfied.]

Diana's shadow and her followers dissipated into dust, which swirled into the sky and formed a hurricane. The dust gathered and condensed into a dimensional portal.

<Good job. You almost fell for it.> Jessica praised Felix.

Felix rolled his eyes. "I'm always humble. Why do you assume I'm one of those arrogant Karens?"

<Aren't you?>

"No. I was never a Karen… well, rarely."

Jessica stared at Felix dully, not believing him.

"Okay! I did it a few times! But that was never my nature, alright?"

Felix shrugged, placed the white orb into his inventory, and then entered the portal to the next stage.

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Mark of Modesty

You're neither prideful nor humble, maintaining a balanced approach. You never take on tasks beyond your abilities, nor do you underestimate yourself. When faced with a serious dilemma, you stop to reconsider the pros and cons, handling issues like a pro. However, when it comes to trivial tasks, you sometimes act impulsively, behaving recklessly and getting yourself into trouble.

This mark reflects your questionable self-control.

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The Gluttony stage posed no issues for Felix. Entering the stage prepared, he simply rejected any delicious-looking food that came his way. After rampaging and turning freshly cooked wagyu steaks into flying shooting targets for gun practice, the stage ended. He received a white orb as he had calculated.

In the last stage, Felix encountered the shadow of a wealthy man with 200 beautiful wives. The man forced Felix to join his party in a medieval mansion. The party went on for hours without showing a sign of ending. Felix, tired of the nonsense, shot the house owner, instantly failing the Envy stage.

In the end, Felix's score was five whites and two blacks. Though unsatisfied with it, he knew he had done his best. After collecting seven orbs, the mirror's portal sent him out of the other world.

Felix emerged from the mirror artifact, finding himself back at the test ground in the middle of the night.

Standing on the stage in front of the mirror, Felix checked the time. It was still 1 AM. With enough time to rest, he looked around, searching for a place to sleep and restore his stamina for tomorrow.

However, Emperor Saucon Dragoon had been waiting there all day. As Felix started walking toward the stairs to descend from the stage, the emperor approached him.

"Child," Saucon snickered, raising his arm to stop Felix, "You haven't given me the shadow cores yet. Hand over what you've obtained and state your name to the staff behind me. Then, you can rest."

"Oh, right. I forgot," Felix replied, speaking casually, forgetting the man was the emperor. Felix then ejected the orbs of virtues and sins one at a time from his jacket's pocket.

The emperor grinned and gestured for a servant to bring a container. A middle-aged maid, prepared to collect the orbs, pushed a cart over with a bamboo box. She carefully placed Felix's items inside, then brought out a wooden plaque and a brush pen.

"What's your name again?" the maid asked.

"Felix."

"Just Felix?"

"Felix Ariel."

The maid silently wrote his name on the plaque and inserted it into the top of the box cover. Then, she handed the box to other servants for safekeeping.

After the servants took care of the items, the emperor smiled at Felix. "You've passed the practical exam. Get some rest. The written exams start tomorrow at sunrise."

Felix tilted his head. "Tomorrow, as in the upcoming sunrise or the sunrise after THIS sunrise?"

The emperor snickered. "The sunrise after THIS sunrise."

"Got it," Felix replied, relieved. He yawned and stepped down from the stage, walking toward an empty area 100 yards behind the mirror. Ignoring the stares from others, Felix opened his system menu, checked the map, and noted the nearby people.

Aside from him, sixteen exam takers had already exited the mirror before Felix and were resting around the same bonfire. All of them appeared as green dots on Felix's map.

Felix recognized one of them. Rosaline, the blindfolded priestess, was among them, along with others in similar nun uniforms.

'I guess those nuns are pure at heart. Good for them. Traditional girls are rare these days. If I remember correctly, all school girls claimed they had their first time when they were freshmen. Man… I just lost mine a few months ago. Talk about unfairness…' Felix's thoughts wandered, and he started missing his wife.

He took an empty spot 50 yards away from the girls, sitting down to bring out his sleeping bag and ATV.

*BEEP*

<Warning! Strong hostile entity approaching!>

Jessica's warning jolted Felix awake. He looked at the map and saw a red dot approaching from the south. Looking up, he spotted a man walking toward him.

Sean Smith.

Felix was immediately on alert. He slipped his right hand into his jacket and grabbed his Beretta pistol, ready to draw it at any moment.

As if sensing Felix's intent, Sean stopped and smiled. "Junior, would you like some help with a campfire? You seem unprepared for a night outside."

"I'm fine, thank you. I don't need a fire," Felix replied, not mentioning that the flames in his lungs and blood kept him warm through the cold night. Even though his skin felt a little chilly, he had no issue with the temperature.

"I see," Sean nodded and turned around, but not before offering a warning. "For a moment, I thought you might have ill intentions toward the sisters. Please, stay away from those pure girls."

Felix bit back the urge to retort, "Talk about yourself," but kept his mouth shut. He also considered taking out the serial killer on the spot but chose not to because of the emperor and his strong retainers.

He had once made the mistake of killing a king without thinking it through the last time. Learning from that, Felix now considered the escape plan or aftermath before acting.

Once Sean was gone, Felix returned his gun to the inventory. He wanted to bring out his precious ATV to set up a barrier but decided against it, wary of revealing any modern items with Sean around.

Instead, Felix laid on the grass and looked up at the stars. As soon as he looked up, he finally noticed the anomaly. Floating screens broadcasting the other contestants' actions in the mirror world caught his attention.

Seeing the live broadcasts, Felix remembered the time he murdered his shadow and others. He wondered if the emperor and Sean had seen that. The thought sent a chill down his spine.

"Oh, shit," Felix sat up. His adrenaline spiked as he began observing the emperor and his retainers, trying to gauge if they had noticed anything.

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Meanwhile, Sean returned to his tent, where he had set up for the night. The other staff members, instructors, and mage tower headmasters had also erected their tents to rest.

Earlier, with most of the staff on a break, Sean took the opportunity to scout the area, searching for prey. Earlier, he had approached Felix, intending to steal his lifespan. However, Felix had been on guard, and Sean's attempt had failed.

'Not an easy target,' Sean noted, marking Felix as difficult prey. He decided to search for an easier victim instead.

As he lay on his makeshift bed, Sean's thoughts drifted to a sexy woman he had met on the street several days ago. Unfortunately, she was out of his reach due to her status as a follower of a fallen noble.

Thinking of Jane stirred Sean's dark desires, and he found himself needing to vent. For him, sexual pleasure and bloodlust were intertwined. As long as he could torture a helpless victim, he could reach a state of ecstasy without even touching himself.

'Ah, I want it. I want to kill!'

Unable to suppress his inner desire, Sean got out of bed and began wandering toward the gathering area of bystanders and nobles. He wondered if he could find a stray noblewoman or a lady alone in the woods.