The Hero Returns

When Su-hyeun asked that question, Luslec exaggeratedly looked around them before cautiously leaning in closer to say, “Please lower your voice. Someone might hear us.”

“But haven’t we already blocked off all sounds so that no one can hear us?”

Luslec laughed, “I just wanted to say something like that at least once.”

“Let’s get back to what we’ve been talking about, shall we?”

Tap, tap—

Su-hyeun drummed on the table with his fingers as if to say, “Please get a hold of yourself.” Only then did Luslec pull his torso back and sit upright, but he still cackled, anyway.

He said, “The Sage Arts is simply a name given by the folks of this side. It has no real agreed-upon title. It’s called the Sage Arts somewhere, while some other places call it aura control or even ‘inner energy cultivation method,’ you see.”

Su-hyeun also knew that much.

For instance, back when Fafnir was still an emperor of humans, he invented “aura control,” which turned out to be quite similar to the Sage Art, and then, he went on to completely master it.

The field of study similar to the Sage Arts but with different names, which ultimately allowed you to become “gods,” existed in other worlds as well.

“Well, that’s not the important part. The main point is this one.”

Tap, tap—

Luslec quietly tapped on the table as if to say, “Please pay attention.”

“There are no two the same persons under the heavens,” he declared.

“What do you mean by that?”

“Even if you’re talking about twins, it’ll be difficult for them to think about the exact same thing while looking at an object at the same time. As such, it’s utterly impossible for two exactly the same people to exist. That logic also applies to your unique abilities. Everyone may have some kind of an ability unique to them, but there are plenty of people who never get to find out what exactly it is even until their dying day.”

“If that’s connected to the Sage Arts, then well, that sounds rather obvious, doesn’t it?”

“Normally, you’d be right. However, Mister Su-hyeun, you aren’t exactly a normal person now, are you?”

When Su-hyeun heard Luslec’s reply, he had to nod while making a slightly awkward face.

Not a normal person, he said. Su-hyeun neither had a reason to deny that nor could he even deny that notion in the first place.

If he was “normal,” then no one in this world would qualify to be called “special,” and this wasn’t simply the matter of being stronger or more excellent than others.

“I’ve lived two lives,” he thought.

There was something unique and different about him compared to everyone else.

Every once in a while, Su-hyeun would be reminded of the fact that he was living his second life.

Of course, things had gotten a lot better these days.

At first, he would often feel that after waking up from his sleep, he would revert to being Kim Sung-in and would still be stuck in his previous life.

Such a feeling caused him many restless nights and even severe bouts of nightmares. He feared that the destroyed world was still his reality, and this was all merely himself dreaming away.

“In any case, there is a way, yes?” Su-hyeun asked.

“The simplest—the most basic—way would be to use the field of study you know as the Sage Arts to keep stimulating the doorway inside you and eventually opening it.”

“A doorway in me?”

“Yes, a doorway. Do you still remember that sensation when you first awakened your ability to wield magical energy?”

“Yes, more or less.”

“It’s quite similar to that. Basically, you’ll be opening your eyes to brand new power. Honestly speaking, though, I don’t know how to explain it in theory, at least any more than what I have. This is really a matter of you perceiving by yourself, so there’s not much you can do about it other than keep trying.”

“Meaning, it’s a problem only solvable through time. Is that it?”

“Basically, yes.”

“But that isn’t exactly a method per se, is it?”

“Argh, really now. Please listen to someone until the end, will you?”

Clap, clap—

Luslec clapped his hands and got back to the beginning of his explanation. “In the end, what you refer to as ‘methods’ are simply the know-how on how to shorten that required time, isn’t it?”

“Why do you sound like a junkie while saying that—?”

“What do you mean, a junkie? Please refer to me as an excellent physician, instead.” After quipping like that, Luslec cackled again, but when he saw Su-hyeun groaning softly, he quickly got back to the topic at hand. “Have you heard about elixirs?”

“Yes. I’ve already drunk a few, actually.”

Although that’s how Su-hyeun replied, the truth was that he had taken more than just a few.

Starting from the magic catalyst, Su-hyeun had consumed all sorts of elixirs until now—all in his pursuit of raising his stats even higher.

While he was making his reply, Su-hyeun’s expression became really distorted to a kind of face that he would normally never put on.

However, that’s because the better the effects of an elixir were, the worse its taste usually tend to be.

Luslec chuckled slightly, “Judging from your expression, you certainly seem to know them well.”

“Yes, I told you already.”

“And that’s exactly it—the method I’m talking about.”

Su-hyeun simply made a confused face.

What did Luslec mean by that was the method?

“To be a bit more specific, there’s an elixir that allows what we’ve been talking about. Yup, it’s a truly incredible elixir that—”

“Ah, I see. So that’s what it was,” Su-hyeun retorted with a deflated voice.

He barely managed to suppress an even heavier groan from escaping his mouth. Even if such a thing existed for real, Su-hyeun was in no position to acquire it this instant, after all.

“First of all, something like that doesn’t even exist in this world,” he thought.

He didn’t have the ability like Luslec had, which let him hop over to other dimensions.

However, even Luslec probably couldn’t enter and leave a dimension as he pleased. He managed to come to this side only because he had borrowed the power of an external item. Meaning, Su-hyeun would have to get seriously lucky and receive the system’s help if he wanted to acquire such a thing.

“It’s unrealistic to wait for a coincidence like that,” Su-hyeun thought.

Just as Su-hyeun was prepared to forget about it…

“Why do you look so disappointed so soon? You’re making me feel bad here, you know.”

“Sorry?”

“I know where you can acquire that elixir, and rather obviously, I can also take you there.”

Brightness returned to Su-hyeun’s eyes at what Luslec said just then.

“I guess you’re finally interested.”

“Yes, I am.”

Enlightenment of one’s abilities—that was something Su-hyeun had been looking forward to for a long while now. The Bull Demon King previously said that the enlightenment of one’s unique ability through the Sage Art was like the fruit of one’s attainment in the Art itself.

The unique ability varied greatly from person to person, but if Su-hyeun could acquire an ability similar to Sun Wukong’s cloning technique, then well, that would be one hell of a jackpot, indeed.

“Even if my unique ability turned out to be not all that good, acquiring an elixir like that wouldn’t be a bad thing overall,” he pondered.

Su-hyeun’s current magic count was 98. If that stat could be raised up 100, then excluding the Death Aura stat, he would have raised all of his other stats to the triple-digit mark.

“But the thing is, it’ll be tough with me alone. I need someone’s help,” Luslec said.

“You mean, my help?”

“Well, yes, your help. More or less,” Luslec replied with a nod after pondering something for a little bit. “The red dragon called Miru is part of your strength, after all.”

* * *

1

Gya-ong—?

Miru was brought outside, but it began tilting its head in slight confusion when Su-hyeun and Luslec stared at it with a somewhat different light in their eyes.

Even though Miru was growing up at a slow pace, it was the size of a small elephant now. It had barely begun shedding some of its immature sides, in other words.

Su-hyeun patted Miru’s head and then looked over to Luslec. “Okay, so what you’re saying is, you need Miru’s power?”

“That’s correct.”

“I know that red dragons can travel between dimensions, but that’s only after one matured into an adult, so don’t you think it’ll be difficult for Miru? As you can see…”

Growl, groooowl—

Miru seemed to enjoy being patted and rubbed its head against Su-hyeun’s hand even more. Su-hyeun watched his red dragon for a bit before continuing from where he left off, “Miru’s still a child, you know.”

“Even then, it’s still a red dragon. There might be some difference in the distance of dimensions it can cross, sure, but its unique power engraved deep into its instinct is still the same.”

“But the problem here is that Miru hasn’t awakened that power yet.”

“And that thing over there will help with that problem,” said Luslec while pointing at the marble stuck on Miru’s forehead.

It was the divine artifact of the dragons, the Cintamani.

Luslec even knew about it as well.

The Cintamani was capable of forcibly awakening the powers of dragons and greatly amplifying them.

Luslec continued, “Mister Su-hyeun, can you go ahead and speak to the dragon first?”

“What should I say?”

“Please tell Miru to trust me.”

The light in Luslec’s eyes became serious. He then took a step closer to Miru and reached out with his hand.

Gya-rrrrr, grrrrrr—

Miru became wary at the unfamiliar hand and bared its fangs. Su-hyeun quickly walked up to the red dragon and patted its head. “Hey, Miru.”

Grrrr—

“It’ll be fine. It’ll be fine.”

Su-hyeun kept patting Miru’s head.

The red dragon never opened itself to anyone else nor trusted them, but was it because Su-hyeun was patting its head that Miru stopped baring its fangs and accepted Luslec’s touch?

Giiii-iiiing

Soon after that, the bangle on Luslec’s arm and the Cintamani stuck on Miru’s forehead began emitting light at the same time.

Shortly after that…

Giii-iiiii

A doorway appearing through the light coming out of Luslec’s bangle slowly opened up.

“Nicely done, Yong-yong.”

Grrrr…

Miru narrowed its eyes after being called Yong-yong and growled lowly again. It seemed that the dragon didn’t like Luslec all that much after he used a different name to call it.

Su-hyeun stared at the wide-open doorway emitting a crimson light. This would be his first time looking at a doorway that led to not the tower of trials but to a completely different world.

“I’ll explain the details after we get there. This doorway will close in around 10 minutes, you see.”

* * *

1

Rub, rub—

A pair of hands slowly wiped a long staff covered in dust, but then, the owner of the hands stopped and yawned grandly before staring at the cloud below his feet.

“Man, I’m getting bored to death here.”

For some weird reason, this trial featured a lengthy waiting period.

“Hey, you! Isn’t there anything fun to do around here?”

The owner of the hands, a “man,” turned his head and stared at a monkey currently standing upside down on its hands.

The monkey lightly leaped using one of its hands and easily landed back on its feet. It walked over like a regular person and stood behind the man and then replied intelligently, “Please wait for a little bit longer. We’re in a world where there really is ‘nothing,’ after all.”

“What’s taking so long to prepare, anyway?”

“How should I know? It’s not like I’m in charge of the preparation, you know.”

“Hey, you said this is already the eighth turn, didn’t ya?”

When the man asked that, the monkey silently nodded in reply, and right at that moment, the man’s fist came flying in.

Smack—!

“Ouch!”

“Where’s your verbal answer, dude?! Impudently nodding your head like that and all.”

“I—I’m sorry.”

“It’s the eighth turn, right?”

“Yes, sir. That’s correct!”

“How many more days until that elixir shows up?”

“The exact date is unknown, but according to my own experience, it should reveal itself within the next five days, sir!”

“Oh, really? In that case, there will be plenty of strong guys, right?”

“Yes, there will be lots of them—seriously incredible people the likes of which I can’t even compare.”

“And that bastard called the predator is among them, too?”

“Most likely, they are also aiming for it.”

“Dang it! That means I don’t have a choice but to wait for a few more days. I’ll really die of boredom at this rate.”

The man roughly scratched his head in irritation. The monkey winced a little, wondering if its conversation partner would start swinging his fists around again.

“In any case, you’re saying that there’s nothing fun to do around here, right?”

“Yes, sir!”

“Ha-ah! By the way, why do you have to be so weak? If only you had some skills, we could be fighting a bit to kill some time, but you’re no fun at all.”

“I’m sorry…”

“Why do you apologize so much, anyway? Being weak isn’t a crime, you know? Get going, you dumbass.”

“Yes sir!”

The monkey’s attitude when answering the man changed every time it got hit in the head by the latter. The man waved his hand dismissively and chased the monkey away before groaning out. “Man, at least it wasn’t boring when the youngest bro was around…”

The man sighed again, before peeking below the cloud at the far-off mountain.

“How are you doing these days, little bro?”