“…Shit.”

The final wrath test… Clopeh subconsciously walked backward after facing the test.

He never expected the final test to be something like this.

He actually preferred the indignity test.

* * *

“Eat it.”

Plop.

All sorts of fruits and a few cooked meals were placed in front of Cale. Cale watched this with a relaxed look on his face before turning his head.

Boom!

Choi Han placed this something that wasn’t an animal or a monster that he had hunted, in front of Cale.

“It’s bearable if you roast it.”

Cale still had a relaxed look on his face as he started thinking while listening to Choi Han.

‘Raon is better.’

How could Cale eat meat that wasn’t even prepped properly? Even if Venion’s lackey’s body was healthy, trying to prep this large thing and roasting it would probably take longer than half the day.

‘Mm… But I guess Choi Han had to eat these things.’

There were not many things Choi Han could eat in the Forest of Darkness except for fruits and some plants.

It was hard for him to expect properly cooked food, and he was probably not in a situation to even think about farming. Choi Han could have struggled for a while to even find fruit when he was weaker.

‘If I think about it that way, he might have gone out of his way to find something precious that even he doesn’t get to eat often.’

The problem was that it was something way too big for Cale to handle.

However, he could tell something from it.

‘He’s a bit more difficult to talk to than current Choi Han, but he’s still a good guy. He worked so hard to feed a bastard he met for the first time.’

Cale had a satisfied smile on his face as he addressed Choi Han.

“You must have worked hard to get this.”

It was at that moment.

Boom!

Cale turned his head toward the source of the noise after hearing the ground rumble. Raon was slamming the ground with his two front paws while glaring at Choi Han.

‘What is going on?’

Cale thought about it for a moment before figuring out the answer.

“Ah. Eat with me. I can’t eat all of this alone.”

Raon frowned and his eyes, which were a bit rounder than when he was four years old, scowled.

“You terrible human…! Stupid……!”

‘Stupid? Who? Me?’

“I’m actually on the smart side. I guess you don’t know me very well. But I am a terrible bastard. I am human trash, total trash. I am trash.”

Raon’s jaw dropped and he could not say anything.

“Pfft.”

Cale turned his head to the side after suddenly hearing someone laugh. Choi Han’s shoulders were moving up and down trying to hold back his laughter.

‘And what’s up with him?’

Cale found this to be odd, but felt pity for Choi Han, thinking that chatting about anything with someone else would seem enjoyable to someone like Choi Han who had spent such a long time alone.

‘Yes, it’s fine as long as he’s laughing.’

Laughing and even living was hard in this harsh world. It was good to laugh.

Cale decided laughing was a good thing and nodded his head as he nonchalantly commented.

“Whether you live alone or you live with people… No matter how you live in this world, you need to learn about the world.”

Cale picked up a fruit after he was untied.

The Dragon’s eyes sparkled as he watched before he looked at Cale’s lips.

He knew that this human was talking to him right now. Choi Han was leaning on a tree watching this.

Actually, Cale was speaking to both Raon and Choi Han.

“There will be times when you need to face the world. For example, when you meet new people. Or maybe you move to live in a new place.”

Cale wanted Raon to meet Choi Han so that he had the chance to make a friend or a family.

Furthermore, he was planning on making a home for him in the Forest of Darkness that he could always come back to.

Finally, he was planning on teaching Raon a lot of things.

‘Then he should slowly forget, overcome, or suppress his indignity.’

Even if this was an illusion, he couldn’t just leave the hurt Raon alone.

Cale spoke to Raon with a serious look on his face.

“There is a very important thing for living in the world.”

It was silent for a moment as Cale stopped talking.

The sky over the Forest of Darkness was slowly turning red with the sunset.

Both the black Dragon and Choi Han were looking at Cale.

‘Something is weird.’

The black Dragon felt something was inconsistent while looking at Cale.

This terrible bastard had been in total panic when he was dragging him to the Forest of Darkness not too long ago. Furthermore, he seemed extremely scared that a Dragon may kill him.

He also did not remember what he had done for the Dragon and what kind of incident he had caused.

However, this person he was looking at right now…

First of all, his eyes were different from that bastard’s.

The color, size, and shape of the eyes were all the same, but they were definitely different.

This person in front of him right now… his eyes were sparkling.

They were full of something that this black Dragon had never felt before as this guy looked at him. Unlike his nonchalant tone and crude actions, his eyes had something that tickled the black Dragon’s heart.

It felt as if an unknown source of heat was rising up from somewhere within the Dragon’s body.

‘…This is a different person.’

The Dragon’s instincts helped him reach the truth.

There were two people in one body?

This Dragon that had yet to see the world didn’t know whether that was possible.

However, the Dragon wanted to know the truth behind what his intuitions were telling him. His dark blue eyes became deeper as he opened his mouth to speak.

“What is that very important thing for living in the world?”

The corners of the silent Cale’s lips curled up.

However, his eyes were serious. He looked at the young Dragon who was focused on him as well as the old person who had lived a long time on his own as he opened his mouth.

“Money.”

“…What?”

The Dragon hesitated before asking, but Cale just nodded his head and continued speaking with certainty.

“Yes, it is definitely important.”

He didn’t care how Choi Han and Raon were looking at him and had an extremely satisfied smile on his face.

“Just trust me.”

He then asked Raon a question.

“Can you roast that meat using magic?”

He then pompously asked Choi Han.

“Can you prep it? I don’t know how.”

Both the black Dragon and Choi Han shook their heads a bit but did as Cale asked them to do without any comments.

* * *

Crack, crack, crack.

The branches crackled as they lit on fire.

It was now the middle of the night in the Forest of Darkness.

Choi Han’s gaze moved to the side.

This person was sleeping defenselessly on the ground as if he had no anxiety at all.

He didn’t know this guy’s name.

He just knew this weird guy as, ‘terrible bastard’, because that was what the black Dragon had called him.

This person did not seem scared of the night in the Forest of Darkness at all.

‘I only learned that this was called the Forest of Darkness because of this person.’

Choi Han had just thought that this was a crazy forest.

‘No.’

It wasn’t that this person was not scared of the forest.

He was sleeping so defenselessly in an extremely lethargic position because he knew that Choi Han and the black Dragon were strong.

“…Ha.”

Choi Han quietly scoffed in disbelief.

Tens of years… Or maybe he lived here for over a hundred years. No, he had spent so much time flailing around to survive in this forest all that time but he had never seen anyone or anything like this guy.

Even Choi Han had just recently reached the peak, in order to be able to catch a breath in this forest. This was truly an interesting person.

Shhhhhhhhh.

Choi Han could see something silently crawl between the deeply asleep man and himself and curl up.

The black Dragon glared at Choi Han and positioned himself in front of the sleeping man despite being unable to cover the man with his small body.

“Pffft.”

Choi Han sneered and turned away.

“…Don’t laugh.”

The Dragon could not say it loudly and simply said it seriously in a quiet voice.

It was not scary at all.

“I can laugh if I want.”

Choi Han responded to the black Dragon’s comment and turned toward the fire.

Crack. Crack.

When had they had a moment like this?

When was the last time they were not alone to spend the night?

No.

There were many nights they spent with enemies.

However, they couldn’t remember how long it had been since he had a peaceful night like this without enemies around them.

It was the second time in his life for the black Dragon.

It was the first time since deep in his memories to a distant time for Choi Han.

‘…This isn’t bad.’

Choi Han didn’t know this, but his voice subconsciously sounded a bit excited even when he was almost arguing with the black Dragon.

The black Dragon was looking at Choi Han as if he was suspicious as he checked the sleeping terrible bastard’s temperature before raising his head.

Unlike the black and rough darkness of the cave ceiling, the night on the outside was filled with colorful and beautiful darkness.

The black Dragon closed his eyes while looking at the lights sparkling in the darkness.

However, he was not sleeping.

He was simply enjoying this moment.

Unfortunately, it was only for a moment. The black Dragon opened his eyes again and warned Choi Han.

“Don’t eavesdrop on us while hiding.”

Choi Han started to smile.

“And we can’t take you.”

The black Dragon and Choi Han… The two of them were keeping an eye on each other but spent a not so bad night together.

* * *

The next day.

“…Such a place……!”

It was rare for Choi Han’s emotions to be visible on his face like this.

The emotion currently on his face was astonishment.

The so-called terrible bastard put Choi Han in the front and the black Dragon in the rear and started moving the group somewhere as soon as he woke up.

He was headed toward the north of the Forest of Darkness and he led them to a cave to some underground area.

Choi Han saw something shocking as soon as they made it out of that dark cave.

“…My goodness……”

There was a large area. This area was bright, unlike the path they just walked through.

The first thing he saw was a large five-story villa made of marble. This building made him think of a western palace that he had only imagined in the past.

Furthermore, there were marble sculptures in what looked like a garden despite not having any trees, a smooth and flat floor, and even a small fountain.

This place looked as if it was out of a fairytale.

The black Dragon’s eyes were opened wide as he looked around.

Cale watched the two of them with a satisfied look on his face before energetically walking forward.

However, he found something to be odd.

‘I don’t hear the voice of the ancient power?’

Originally, he should have heard the Scary Giant Cobblestone’s voice from when they were in the dark path but it was very quiet.

The Scary Giant Cobblestone and his hidden Super Rock Villa seemed to have been made properly based on this place being here, but…

‘Is it because it is an illusion test?’

Cale didn’t put much thought into it and walked without any hesitation.

He peeked at the stone pillar at the side of the area that blocked the path to the Eastern continent but he hurried to inform the two others about the important things first.

Once he was on the third floor of the villa…

He pushed the door open.

Screeeeeech- boom.

“Here, money.”

Choi Han’s eyes hurt from brightness for a moment.

There were all sorts of accessories and jewels sparkling there.

They were not shining. They were sparkling. It was so bright that shining was not strong enough of a word for it.

“Hey, Dragon, look at this.”

The black Dragon looked at Cale.

“This is called a jewel. You can exchange this for money. Money is what you need to buy most things. By the way, there are a lot of things you cannot buy with money as well. There are many important things among those things you cannot buy as well. You’ll realize those things one by one as you live.”

“…Is this money thing important?”

“Mm. It’s quite important if you want to live a relaxing life?”

Cale resumed walking and headed to another room.

The Dragon observed Cale’s back with an odd gaze.

It was because the black Dragon had flipped over Venion Stan’s villa before he destroyed the mountain. The mages had tried their best to protect some things, so he had transported all of them with him.

He destroyed the pretty sturdy container and found sparkling things like what was in front of him right now. He had kept them with him for now since they looked pretty. The black Dragon nonchalantly asked.

“Are you giving these things to me?”

“Yes. You two split it amongst yourselves. You’ll need it.”

Cale watched the cute Raon making sure to take care of himself with satisfaction. Raon was much cuter than Choi Han, who was just standing there with a blank look on his face.

Raon had quite a lot of jewels hidden in his spatial dimension but he did not bring it up.

“Hey terrible bastard, I’m going to choose what I want! We need to look at everything together!”

“Okay. I’ll teach you.”

Cale chuckled, nonchalantly responded, and opened the door to another room.

Screeech, boom.

“There are weapons here. You can sell these or use these. Up to you.”

“Ho.”

Choi Han looked at Cale with disbelief.

Creeeeeak. Boom.

“Ah, these are currency. There are gold and silver coins, but they are older designs and not used these days. They still have a lot of uses though. These are similar to jewels as well.”

“…….”

Choi Han followed behind Cale without saying anything.

Screeech, boom!

“These are all sorts of records. I’ll teach you how to read, so try to read them. You’ll be able to learn ancient history, locations of hidden treasures, and even things to be careful about.”

These were all things belonging to his friends that the Super Rock had gathered after they passed before him.

Choi Han was silently watching before he peeked toward the black Dragon. The Dragon looked as if none of this fazed him as he observed the things the terrible bastard showed him.

Cale watched the two of them before turning toward the window. The large training ground was visible through it.

“These things should be very helpful for the two of you to survive in this world.”

He looked away from the training ground and observed the two individuals from the illusion.

Raon and Choi Han…

In some ways, they were the two who had been through the most incidents with him. On and Hong probably had a similar amount as well.

Cale was being very serious as he nonchalantly delivered this message.

“Live an easy and relaxing life. Don’t push yourselves too hard.”

Even if this was an illusion…

That was Cale’s true thoughts.

That was why he was planning on teaching the two of them.

“Anyway, just follow me.”

The black Dragon asked.

“Where are we going?”

Cale responded normally after receiving the sparkling gazes from both of them. He didn’t know whether they themselves knew they had such gazes on their faces right now.

“The world.”

An extremely wealthy whale appeared at the Henituse territory that day. (TL: Whale is a slang term for people who spend a ton of money. The raw has extremely rich person but that’s boring, don’t you think?)

“Hahahaha!”

It was the most excited Cale had ever been.

—

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