The Hero Returns

Chapter 345: Chapter 345

Act 6

Su-hyeun chatted with Ellid for a long time. He did the most of the talking, though, because Ellid wished to hear about his own people more than anything else.

Ellid asked, "What happened to the demonic creatures?"

Su-hyeun replied that they were all gone.

"Who was leading the dragon kind now?"

And Su-hyeun replied that the oldest surviving dragon, Blanc, was leading them now.

"Were they doing well?"

Indeed, they were, according to Su-hyeun.

After listening to all of Su-hyeun's answers, Ellid brought him outside the shabby house.

"Grandpa!"

"Grandpaaa!"

When Ellid began walking on the street, several children ran up and clung to him.

They seemed to be around six, maybe seven, years old.

A total of five kids were in this group. The oldest of the lot, a boy about 10 years of age, bowed his head at Su-hyeun as a greeting.

"Aigoo, these kids. You are getting too heavy for me now. Huhuhu."

"Grandpa, who is this uncle?"

"He's my friend. You should all greet him. Now, now. You should say hello."

"Hello."

The other kids also bowed their heads belatedly.

After a brief round of greetings, Ellid walked past the group of kids. Su-hyeun walked alongside him and glanced back at the kids.

He asked, "Were they the kids you told me about earlier?"

"That's right."

"They are far younger than I expected."

"They are good kids. It's the same story for the other villagers. Although the current hardships have placed them on edge, their original nature is to be kind and considerate."

While saying that, Ellid gently waved his hand and greeted the villagers passing by.

He continued to walk on the outskirts of the village like this and then drew a huge circle on the ground surrounding the village itself. The next thing he did was to inject magical energy into it.

Giiii-iiiing—

This circle acted as a medium, and the wall was generated once more.

Su-hyeun stared in amazement at the wall that instantly rose up to surround the village.

Bang, bang—

He lightly tapped on it with the back of his hand and felt the hardness of the structure.

"It's not as hard as the previous one, but even then, it'll still be very useful," he thought.

Most monsters wouldn't be able to break through this wall. Even if some did manage that, the wall would surely buy enough time for Ellid to sense something was amiss.

"As expected of the dragon emperor."

"I really enjoy it when people praise me like that," Ellid laughed.

Ellid relaxedly placed his hands behind his back and guffawed before snapping his fingers.

Right away, a huge wave of magical energy whipped all around Su-hyeun, but he didn't respond and simply let it be.

Almost at the same time, the surrounding view changed.

The village itself had become a blurry little dot in the distance. In the blink of an eye, they had teleported several kilometers away.

"Alright, now. This is a good place for a conversation, don't you think?"

"Well, yes. It's not so bad. The weather is fair as well."

"I'm relieved to hear you say that."

Snap—

Crunch, creaaak—

Ellid snapped his fingers again, and several wooden branches rose up from the ground to transform into chairs. He sat down on one of them.

Su-hyeun stared in amazement at the wooden chairs. "You could do such things with magic?"

"Water and fire, wind and earth, and beyond that, even gravity and the powers of attraction and repulsion. Magic allows you to create something out of nothing or turn something into nothing. So, wooden chairs like this? It's nothing special."

He wasn't wrong there.

For sure, this field of study called "magic" was so amazing that it even made bringing down a meteor from outer space possible.

The sole issue would be whether you've learned the subject in question or not.

"Magicians or wizards wouldn't normally learn magic like this, after all."

Using magic to create a tree and then turn that tree into a chair? Without a doubt, as far as utility and application were concerned, "magic" was more outstanding than any other fields Su-hyeun was aware of.

"What's wrong? Do you want to learn?"

"Excuse me? You mean, magic?"

"That's right. Well, it's not all that tough to learn, you know? And from the look of things, fella, you seem to be quite proficient with magical energy already."

Gya-ong—

Miru nodded to say that's true.

Su-hyeun was flustered by that abrupt offer out of nowhere, but at the same time, he was hurriedly making some internal calculations.

"Well, the offer itself isn't bad at all…"

In all honesty, learning magic from a dragon would be great from Su-hyeun's perspective.

Su-hyeun had researched magic several times in the past. Even the Awakener Authority researched the field of magic and had achieved some success.

However, the results from all that research could only be classified as insignificant at best. Compared to a dragon, referred to as the progenitor of magic, or even to the archmages found in various worlds out there, the awakeners capable of using magic were only on the level of a low-ranking magician.

With the help of skills, one could exhibit power that is similar to magic, but it was still not possible to wield numerous different magic spells like real magicians.

"Are you going to teach me for free?"

"Of course not."

As expected.

Ellid's quick reply prompted a nod from Su-hyeun as if the latter had already foreseen it.

Although the offer to teach him how to use magic sounded really tempting, he realized that there had to be a reason for Ellid to make such an offer in the first place.

The creatures called dragons were rather calculative. Unlike humans who could sometimes act out of goodwill without expecting anything in return, dragons placed quite a heavy emphasis on the concept of giving and taking.

If a dragon was willing to give something first, then it must have perceived that there was something of equal value to receive in return.

Most of them would try to hide their real intentions just in case their calculations weren't spot on. But then again, Ellid wasn't the type to hide his intentions.

Su-hyeun asked, "What's the condition?"

"I want you to become this village's hero."

"Hero"—a word Su-hyeun didn't really like suddenly popped up. He hated it in all honesty.

However, it was also true that he wasn't as miffed about it nowadays compared to the past.

And…

"Isn't that price a little too much?"

Su-hyeun knew better than anyone what Ellid meant by the word "hero."

"That's a suitable price to pay if you want to learn magic from me."

"Alright. I can handle that much."

It was connected to the goal of this trial, anyway. What he needed to do remained the same, so he wouldn't be losing out on anything if he got to learn magic on top of it.

"It's not 'that much,' fella. You have no idea what kind of a bastard we're dealing with."

"No, I do know. Although it's not the same creature, I know of a similar one."

"You do know?"

"The demonic creature that showed up in your world, it's called Fafnir in my home world."

Ellid's eyes widened in an instant.

For the first time ever, Su-hyeun revealed his own backstory to someone. "My world was destroyed. At the hands of that monster, actually. I couldn't stop that bastard and nearly died, but somehow, I managed to survive in the end."

"You…really ran into that thing?"

"Yes. However, I couldn't even put up a proper fight back then. Unlike how it was with you, sir."

"Well, I'll be."

Ellid seemed to have found it hard to believe since he began chuckling wryly while staring into Su-hyeun's eyes.

Fafnir—that creature was easily the worst of all demonic beasts Ellid knew in existence, and it was also a predator.

The odds of running into a monster that traveled to different dimensions and devoured worlds were very low. Ellid was certain of this since he knew about the existence of multiple dimensions out there. There were as many as the stars in the night sky, so naturally, it would be much harder than forming a connection in the same world.

As such…

"It's not a coincidence but fate. Is that it?"

Ellid came to accept that this meeting with Su-hyeun, and Miru's figure next to him, could not be a simple coincidence.

"No, wait. Maybe it's been arranged that way."

"Arranged, you say?"

"I'm simply positing that you reaching this place is no coincidence. Well, such thoughts are popping up in my head, anyway."

What Ellid said just then made Su-hyeun feel just a little guilty inside.

For sure, he didn't coincidentally come to this place. The trial, as set up by the administrators, had brought him here.

In other words, rather than "coincidence," it was indeed far closer to someone "making arrangements," just like Ellid said.

"He's got a sharp intuition."

Ellid was a dragon that had lived an uncountable length of time. Maybe, the length of his life so far could even rival the Bull Demon King's.

And those long years not only afforded Ellid knowledge on various abilities like magic but also granted him the keen intuition on solving problems.

Ellid spoke up, "Let me ask you this first. How did you get here, and what are your plans from now on?"

"Even if you ask how, I have no way of answering that. It wasn't my choice to come here, you see."

"You didn't come here by choice?"

"Yes. When I regained consciousness, I found myself already in this world. That's the only way I can explain to you."

Just like before, Su-hyeun replied in an ambiguous way this time as well.

It couldn't be helped. He couldn't provide detailed explanations on stuff related to the tower and the system, after all.

That had been prohibited by the administrators from the get-go, and he might get hit with a "reward penalty" if he deliberately tried to disclose the truth.

"Are you trying to hide it? Well, fine. I can understand that much."

Ellid didn't believe Su-hyeun's explanation. However, he didn't continue to dig for the truth of the matter.

Instead, he asked something else. "In that case, what do you planning to do here?"

"I'm thinking of helping you so that the villagers can get their home back."

He was being truthful with that answer.

This was the trial Su-hyeun had to carry out, but at the same time, it was also Ellid's wish. Now, it was Su-hyeun's wish, too.

People were in trouble, and Su-hyeun possessed the abilities to aid those people.

As such, he was able to reply quickly to the second question.

"You're being truthful on this one," said Ellid.

Shu-wuwu—

Crimson-colored irises could be seen on Ellid's eyes.

Only then did Su-hyeun realize that the magical energy leaking out from the old dragon had penetrated through his body without him noticing it. The change in Ellid's eyes had been so subtle that it would've been impossible to notice without consciously looking straight into his gaze.

"Is it like the insight skill?" Su-hyeun guessed inwardly.

"Insight."

It was a skill that allowed the holder to "discern" what's in the other party's mind, but almost no one had mastered it as magic.

Apparently, only Johnny Brad, the awakener who was most proficient in illusion-type magic, as well as an S-Rank awakener from Italy, knew how to use the "insight" skill. Depending on the level of proficiency, this skill even allowed one to read an opponent's subconscious as well.

Of course, the skill wasn't omnipotent, as it either didn't work against an opponent with a far higher level than the user, or its effects would be greatly curtailed in such a case instead.

However, Ellid at the very least didn't fall that much behind Su-hyeun in terms of his abilities.

"At least he should be able to discern whether I'm lying or not."

Ellid must've figured that if even the first answer was a lie, it didn't matter in the end as long as the second question was truthfully answered.

When Su-hyeun openly stared at Ellid's eyes, Ellid sneakily avoided meeting his gaze. He placed his hand on his forehead and smiled awkwardly. "Ah, sorry about that. If it was at all possible, I didn't want to resort to this, but it's not easy to figure out what kind of person you are."

"I'm willing to overlook it, but only this time."

Su-hyeun certainly didn't feel good about being subjected to this skill, "insight," at all.

If you were a living person, then you would have a dark side—maybe a thought or even mindset—that you wouldn't want anyone else to know, but this skill completely bared such secrets in the open.

And it felt far worse than being forced to strip in front of strangers.

Su-hyeun was willing to accept being subjected to it once or twice if it was absolutely necessary, but even then, he did not enjoy having his inner thoughts pried into without his permission.

Ellid also knew this, and that was why he apologized right away.

He said, "Well, then. Shall we start the class right away?"

"Pardon? So soon?"

"Why, do you need time to prepare? You don't look tired to me, so now is the perfect moment. Wouldn't you agree?"

"I guess you're right."

"Alright. In that case, let's start with the theories of—"

"Actually, let's go with the quickest route, please."

"Quickest, you say?"

Ellid pondered for a little bit and then began waving his hand around.

Rumble, dudududu—

A thin branch rose from below, and Ellid grasped it. He used this branch to draw a circle on the ground. "In that case, using magic through magic circles is the answer. After all, you don't have to memorize all those difficult formulas and just simply picture the images you want."

"I do know a little bit about magic circles, but I don't know how to use magic through the magic circles."

"Is that so? What a relief that at least you know some. In that case…"

Scribble, jot—

Ellid filled in the magic circle on the ground with various "lines." Once all those snake-like twisting lines were completed, Ellid opened his mouth. "Restrict him—"

Shu-rururuk—

"Bind."

Whoosh—

Thin strands of magical energy shot out from the magic circle and wrapped around Su-hyeun. He didn't try to free himself and quietly observed the process.

"A magic circle is basically turning the magic formula into a drawing. Whether it's the formula or magic circle, what you really need in the end are 'will' and 'magical energy.'"

"Will and magical energy…"

"You seem to have plenty of magical energy, so that leaves us with the question of will…I'm thinking that it might take you a while to add your will to—"

"Restrict him—"

Flaaash—

The moment Su-hyeun spoke, the magic circle emitted a faint light.

At the same time, Ellid's eyes opened wider.

"Bind."

Whoosh, slap, tighten—

Thin and sturdy strands wrapped tightly around Ellid next. These purple-colored strands were far stronger and tougher than what he had produced earlier as a demonstration.

"…"

"Well, it's not as difficult as I thought." When the magic spell came to life easier than he expected, Su-hyeun tore off the strands and freed himself before sheepishly scratching the back of his head. "This thing called 'will,' that is."