“Already?”
Cale found it odd that Raon got permission to use magic.
“That’s right! I am allowed to use magic!”
“…What about the nose bleed? What about your body?”
Cale’s face turned serious as he remembered how Raon got a bloody nose while using magic.
Raon’s face stiffened up as he moved next to Cale.
He then patted Cale’s shoulder with his chubby front paw.
“Human. I am not feeble like you where I look like I will fall if someone pokes you.”
“…….”
“I am very strong.”
Cale silently held back a sigh. Raon didn’t care what kind of gaze Cale was looking at him with and puffed up his tummy with an extremely proud look on his face.
“What about Eruhaben-nim?”
“I’m here because gramps wanted me to bring you, human!”
It seemed as if he would need to hear the details from the ancient Dragon.
Cale looked back to where he was looking before Raon’s appearance.
Lock was standing there awkwardly while Koukan was desperately grabbing onto Lock’s arm.
Cale started to speak.
“Is the name of the Wolf tribe’s leader Jessie?”
“Excuse me? Y, yes sir!”
Koukan hesitated before clenching his eyes shut and then opening them back.
“I can only share details with the tribe leader-nim’s permission, but… If she takes young Lock here as her teacher-”
“One moment please.”
Cale stopped Koukan.
He remembered what Koukan had subconsciously said while holding onto Lock’s arm.
‘Lock! Our Jessie, no, please save our tribe leader!’
‘No, please teach her! Please teach our tribe leader how to properly go berserk! Please!’
Jessie, the leader of the Wolf tribe hiding in the Erghe Mountain Range, seemed unable to go berserk properly.
Based on how Koukan asked Lock to save her, her body’s condition was likely to be bad as well.
However, the most important thing was-
“It is up to Lock whether he becomes her teacher or not.”
A gentle and friendly smile was on Cale’s face.
If Lock wanted to be a teacher, he could, and if he didn’t, then he didn’t have to do it.
But this pure and clueless Lock might immediately agree to be a teacher for his fellow Wolves.
That was why he needed to say something like this to help Lock.
Cale calmly spoke to Koukan.
“The person involved is not here, you are unable to explain the situation clearly, but you just ask us to help you.”
His smile became bigger.
“Is that okay or not?”
“Ah-”
Koukan’s jaw dropped and Cale pointed at Koukan’s hand. To be more specific, he pointed to Koukan’s hand that was tightly holding onto Lock’s arm as if it was a lifeline.
“Please let go of the kid’s arm. Holding it that tightly will hurt.”
Cale got annoyed thinking about Lock’s feeble arm.
Cale had returned from the Central Plains having eaten and rested, leading to him gaining some weight, but this punk, Lock, never gained any weight despite eating a lot of food.
He heard that Beacrox, since returning from the Central Plains, was giving Lock quite a bit of his special steak every meal, but Lock was still not gaining any weight.
However, he continued to get taller.
“Tsk.”
Cale clicked his tongue feeling annoyed. He didn’t know why he was feeling annoyed, but he felt a bit better after clicking his tongue.
Cale looked at Koukan with a scowl still on his face before he quickly smiled. He couldn’t let out his anger on this person for no reason.
“…….”
Koukan quickly let go of Lock’s arm and stood up straight.
Hong mumbled.
“I didn’t know Lock hyung was a kid too, nya!”
“I didn’t either!”
Raon played along as well.
Of course, Cale naturally ignored the comments of the children averaging ten-years-old.
He looked toward Lock, whose face was flushed red. Lock was still in his berserk transformation and touching his arm.
‘I guess it hurt.’
Even he could tell that Koukan had been holding onto Lock’s arm extremely tightly.
This pure little boy couldn’t say no and didn’t know what to do.
‘Choi Han is pure but he is still smart so I’m not too worried about him. But Lock is too pure.’
Cale opened his mouth to speak.
“Lock.”
“Y, yes sir?”
“You can do whatever you want.”
He looked toward Gashan and Witira.
“Of course, seek advice from others as well.”
“Yes, yes sir.”
“And for our two esteemed friends…”
Cale looked at the Tiger shaman and the future Whale queen and pointed at Lock and Koukan.
“It seems I need to go to Eruhaben-nim for a bit. Could the two of you please help me with this issue here?”
“Of course. We will let you know once we’ve discussed and gotten things organized, young master Cale.”
Witira smiled at him.
‘Hmm?’
Cale flinched at the extremely gentle smile she gave him.
‘What is going on?’
She was looking at Cale with a satisfied gaze as if she found him to be cute. Cale felt an unexplainable sense of leeriness but just thought it was him seeing it wrong and got it.
“Then I will head out for now.”
Cale motioned with his eyes to the children averaging ten-years-old. Raon, On, and Hong came to his side.
The four of them left the underground training ground and Lock quietly observed Cale’s back as he walked away.
He then looked down. He saw his still buff arm as he was still in his berserk transformation.
‘…It didn’t hurt at all.’
No matter how tightly Koukan grabbed him, it wasn’t even a tickle for Lock.
Lock felt awkward and embarrassed. However, the fact that Cale still called him a kid echoed in his ears.
He wanted to quickly become an adult and do his part. He needed to become more reliable as there were younger siblings for him to look after.
‘A kid?!’
Did he still seem as young to Cale as when they first met?
However, Lock knew that was not the case.
‘He trusts me.’
Cale’s comment about how it was up to Lock whether he becomes her teacher or not.
That already implied that it was fine for Lock to become her teacher. Lock could feel that Cale believed he had the qualifications to become Koukan and the Wolf tribe leader’s teacher.
That was why Lock knew what Cale meant by calling him a kid.
‘Really-
Cale-nim really is like my uncle.’
Multiple emotions filled Lock’s mind. However, it was not a bad feeling. In fact, seeing Koukan cautiously looking at him made him think that he too could become a teacher, an existence that felt so so far away for him.
“At my old age, both of you seem cute.”
Lock turned toward Witira after hearing her voice.
“Excuse me?”
Lock subconsciously asked back. Witira just shrugged her shoulders and addressed Koukan instead.
“Why don’t we hear about the Erghe Mountain Range and the Wolf tribe first? Please share the problems the Beast people of this place have as well.”
She looked so cold that Lock’s shoulders tensed up.
Gashan laughed and watched as Koukan cautiously started speaking.
* * *
In another part of the castle, there was someone else waiting to hear what an individual had to say.
“Eruhaben-nim.”
It was Cale.
He went out to the back of the Black Castle.
Crunch. Crunch.
Cale’s steps were slow as he stepped through the snow-covered ground.
‘Do I really need to do this?’
He was currently bundled up in fur clothes.
His shadow looked like a snowman.
‘This doesn’t seem right.’
Cale scowled and looked away from his shadow before seeing Ron’s benign smile and relaxed his face.
He then approached Eruhaben without any other thought.
“You’re here?”
Rasheel, the Dragon with the Indomitability attribute, and the Dragon half-blood were with the ancient Dragon.
“Meeeeeow!”
Hong ran past Cale and through the field of snow. He then walked up to the Dragon half-blood’s side. The Dragon half-blood slowly offered up his side and moved his wing to create a round area.
“There’s no wind here, nya! It’s warm, nya!”
On and Raon had rushed into the dome of the arched wing as well and relaxedly leaned against the Dragon half-blood’s bones.
Cale quietly watched before making eye contact with the Dragon half-blood.
Swish.
The Dragon half-blood avoided his gaze again.
‘…This punk-’
Came became upset again and subconsciously commented.
“Hey. Are you upset because I still haven’t given you a name? I’ve already prepared-”
Cale could not finish his sentence. He saw it.
“…Ha!”
The Dragon half-blood looked at him with disbelief.
“…….”
He also saw On shaking her head.
Of course, Raon and Hong were too busy making a snowman to even look at Cale.
“Mm.”
Cale felt extremely iffy after seeing the Dragon half-blood sulk his shoulders and turn his head to the other side.
Something definitely seemed off with the Dragon half-blood.
‘What is going on?’
Based on what Cale saw, he seemed to get along with the kids and with Lord Sheritt as well.
‘What is the problem?’
He couldn’t figure it out at all.
However, Cale’s thoughts could not continue.
“The reason Raon can use magic is indeed because of his attribute.”
It was because Eruhaben got right to the point.
“Do you remember the Grey Eye Forest?”
“Yes, Eruhaben-nim. I remember it. That is where I got the Sky Eating Water.”
Cale stood next to Eruhaben and recalled his memories.
The Grey Eye Lake.
That was a place on the Eastern continent.
Eruhaben’s friend, Olienne… After getting information from the deceased Dragon’s lair, they went there to find the Water of Judgment.
Of course, the ancient power had cast aside the name, ‘Water of Judgment,’ as given to it by a god and introduced itself as the Retrogressive Water and the Sky Eating Water.
‘And that place was-’
It was also the place Raon visited during his first growth phase.
“I’m sure you remember it as well, but… Your plate was in danger of breaking at that time.”
The war against the Indomitable Alliance.
The battle between the Breck Kingdom and the Indomitable Alliance.
The grand battle at the Gorge of Death.
Cale had used up all of the Dominating Water during that battle, and the balance of ancient powers that he was barely maintaining had crumbled.
As a result, Cale’s plate was supposed to break and his life was to be in danger, but…
He thankfully got three days of time.
‘It was thanks to the Super Rock.’
He used the Scary Giant Cobblestone’s power for the first time in the Gorge of Death.
The Super Rock told Cale that he would protect him.
He used that power to create a countless amount of stone spears to fight against the Dragon half-blood. Once the balance in Cale’s body had crumbled, the Super Rock had turned Cale’s body hard to slow down the process of his plate breaking.
It allowed Cale to go to the Grey Eye Forest on the Eastern continent to get the Sky Eating Water and restore the balance in his body to protect his plate.
Furthermore, his plate became bigger.
‘Raon was going through his first growth phase while that was happening.’
From the Battle of the Gorge of Death to Cale getting the ancient power at the Grey Eye Forest…
It had taken Cale a few days to do all of that. While that was going on, Raon was unable to wake up and suffering from a fever as he went through his first growth phase.
As a result, he got his attribute called the ‘present.’
“At that time, I was able to understand Raon and your conditions to a degree.”
Eruhaben looked at Raon, who was making a snowman.
“Cale. Your plate grew bigger at that time, right?”
“Yes, Eruhaben-nim. It is made of glass but it did get bigger.”
Cale nodded his head and heard the ancient Dragon’s calm voice.
“And Raon’s plate disappeared.”
“…Excuse me?”
Cale had not heard about this.
“He…has no plate?”
Was that possible?
The ancient Dragon saw Cale’s confused gaze and recalled what happened at that time.
“The first growth phase. That is when a Dragon meets itself in an illusion. The way they treat themselves as an adult changes the way and result of the growth phase.”
Raon should have seen himself as an adult Dragon.
“They are unable to use mana during the first growth phase.”
However…
“But Raon used it. That led to Raon’s body changing.”
A Dragon’s first growth phase is when they create the foundation for explosive growth during the second and third growth phases. That is why there are significant changes internally despite basically having no changes externally.
“As for Raon, his plate disappeared.”
The ancient Dragon made eye contact with Cale.
“To be more accurate, the boundaries of his plate disappeared.”
The ancient Dragon looked around.
“The world became Raon’s plate.”
This was Eruhaben’s thoughts at that time.
“I thought that meant that Raon’s plate was that big, showing his potential to be a Dragon Lord.”
It could hold and learn an endless number of things.
That was the reason whenever Raon told Eruhaben that he just needed to learn something and tried his best to learn it, Eruhaben thought that this disposition was the reason the borders of his plate had disappeared.
“But thinking about it now in conjunction with Raon’s attribute, I understood it in a different manner.”
Raon’s attribute was the present.
“With the world being Raon’s plate, the ‘present’ was not just relating to time. To Raon, this space, this time… Everything that exists within it is his plate.”
Eruhaben looked at the still little black Dragon who was now seven years old.
This little child-
“He has no restrictions. Raon has no restrictions. Even a restricted world can become his plate.”
Cale suddenly recalled how Maxillienne had called Raon an existence that had changed his fate.
“Raon-”
Eruhaben chuckled.
He seemed quite happy.
“Raon, this little kid, he truly was great and mighty. No, to be more accurate, he just ‘exists.’ He can exist as his full self wherever he may be. So if he awakens his attribute and grows-”
The ancient Dragon thought about Raon as an adult Dragon.
If he properly awakens everything…
He might be exaggerating a bit, but…
Raon-
“He can break any chains and control any space and time as he wishes.”
The ancient Dragon knew the meaning behind these worlds.
No matter the chain… Even if those chains were the chains of fate…
Raon would be able to destroy it.
No, he could exist as himself even within it.
“…Basically, he can be a variable that can change anything.”
Cale looked at the black Dragon rolling around in the snow.
He thought about the black Dragon he saw in the dark cave.
He thought about the dark blue eyes that sparkled while looking up at the stars.
An existence that was supposed to die but survived and changed fate.
“For Raon, being alive in the present… That itself is that child’s power.”
Eruhaben laughed.
“There is nothing greater than being alive. That child is, as he always says, a great and mighty Dragon.”
Author’s Notes
I think that you would be able to enjoy this chapter even better if you read through chapters 255 – 257 of Part 1. Haha!
—
Translator’s Comments
It makes sense since Raon wasn’t supposed to be alive *cri*
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