Chapter 145

The massive mural densely embroidered across the ceiling of the Neltaran Temple. Yuwon’s gaze was immediately stolen by the otherworldly scene spread out before his eyes.

“‘This is it… This is what called me.’”

Even without his sixth sense telling him, it was something he could understand instinctively. Yuwon immediately shifted his gaze to the starting point of the mural and began reading the story it contained.

The beginning of the mural was filled with all manner of monsters, fairies, and beings that were clearly not human, their identities unknown. They fought, killed, ate, and were eaten as they struggled to survive. Among the creatures depicted, there were at least a few that Yuwon could recognize.

‘A bird that spews lightning. A Thunder Bird…! And opposing it is… could that be a dragon?’

The Thunder Bird was a being Yuwon knew well. It was fighting against a dragon, a creature that supposedly existed only in fairy tales. Most of the time, however, such encounters ended with the Thunder Bird becoming the dragon’s prey.

‘Then where are the humans…?’

In one corner of the scene where dragons and Thunder Birds clashed, breathing fire and lightning, several dots as small as ants could be seen.

‘No way… are those humans…?’

Yuwon enhanced his eyesight and examined the dots in the mural once more. Unbelievably, those ‘dots’ really were humans. Their place within the mural was absurdly small. Humans were depicted as tiny, fragile, and powerless beings.

Humans had nothing. Neither powerful muscles, nor sharp and sturdy fangs and claws, nor agile legs to chase prey, nor wings to cut through the sky—none of these were granted to them. In those days, humans were nothing more than mere prey, barely managing to survive without being wiped out.

‘But… in the end, they survived and became the most prosperous race.’

Yuwon urged his gaze onward along the long mural. Just as he thought, human figures were drawn endlessly across the ceiling of the temple, filling it densely.

At first, they occupied only a tiny corner, but as his gaze moved along the mural in chronological order, humans gradually—yet unmistakably—increased their presence within the scenes.

Humans learned how to use fire. They moved beyond hunting and gathering and began farming. Based on this, their numbers slowly grew, and by uniting with one another, they formed large groups, erecting fences to fend off invasions by smaller monsters.

Even so, battles between enormous lifeforms—too great to be called mere monsters—continued unabated. Ancient beings that Yuwon had never even read about in old tomes fought, perished, and vanished. Humans, too, faced several great crises, but the story did not end there.

After two steps back came one step forward again. The humans who survived steadily advanced once more, building upon knowledge passed down through generations.

Yuwon became so immersed that he followed the flow of the mural as if reading a book. Then, roughly around the middle of the long mural, his gaze paused.

‘How much time passed from here to here?’

In the scene where his gaze lingered, humans were no longer merely small and fragile beings. The villages where humans lived had increased to dozens, and those who once busied themselves uniting against monsters now began turning their blades against one another.

‘Is this… the first nation humans established on the continent…?’

Around the midpoint of the mural, humans learned how to handle mana and magic from fairies with whom they had formed friendly relations.

‘They look similar to humans, but… those pointed ears are strange. Were there fairies like this?’

If the mural was not all fabricated nonsense, then it had to be the truth. This realization brought a fresh shock to Yuwon.

‘Everyone in the world believes dragons taught magic to humans… If magicians learned this, they’d faint on the spot.’

The scenes that followed depicted humans thriving after learning magic. Yet, something about those scenes stirred doubt in Yuwon’s mind.

‘Humans caused all this chaos, and the other beings just stood by?’

No matter how strong humans became through magic, there was no way they could contend with creatures like dragons, whose very rank as lifeforms was fundamentally different.

‘Did humans who learned magic band together and drive out the dragons? That makes no sense….’

Sensing something amiss, Yuwon quickly swept his gaze across the mural all the way to the end. Near the mural’s final section appeared a figure presumed to be ‘Dant Ser Geiorn’—that is, Tang Seogyeom, Yuwon’s father—releasing mana from his sword. However, this did not answer Yuwon’s doubts.

Tang Seogyeom was a knight of Aphahiel who unified the continent, and the strongest human in all recorded history, past and present. Even so, there was no scene of him slaying dragons or anything of the sort.

‘The mural explains who wiped out the beastmen, fairies… and even some monsters like vampires. But why does it not show why the fairies and dragons who taught humans magic disappeared…?’

At that moment, a sharp conjecture flashed through Yuwon’s mind.

‘Could it be…!’

Among the secret manuals Yuwon had inherited from Tang Seogyeom, there was something Tang Seogyeom had once written.

When Tang Seogyeom later created an underground chamber beneath the library for the successor who would follow after him, he had left behind a grumble in the manual while pursuing a Dragon-Scaled Serpent. That complaint served as the basis.

‘As humans—who were never meant to wield mana—began using it, were the beings who lived by mana naturally driven to extinction…!’

It was nothing more than Yuwon’s speculation, yet it did not feel like a light or careless one.

‘Mana was never meant for humans in the first place. That’s why other beings declined once humans awakened to mana… And that’s why only the Great Jungle, barely touched by human footsteps, maintained such a bizarre ecosystem.’

The speculation gradually turned into conviction. Just before it fully solidified, a familiar voice was heard from behind Yuwon.

“So you’ve already made it this far. As expected, you’re fast. Just like someone bearing ‘that mark’ should be.”

Yuwon snapped back to his senses and turned toward the source of the voice. Standing there was a figure already familiar to him.

“Teacher… so it was you.”

The nameless man who had taught Yuwon ‘sixth sense’ when he had stepped into the Great Jungle knowing nothing. Teacher. Yuwon’s blue eyes pierced straight through him.

‘I always thought he was suspicious, but….’

Only then did it make sense. The power of Teacher, which even Yuwon could not grasp.

“What, is there something on my face?”

At one point, Yuwon had wondered whether Teacher might be one of the Dragonkin said to have been wiped out. But that was wrong. Dragonkin were nothing more than an illusion created by humans.

‘Teacher is not some Dragonkin….’

With a solemn gaze, Yuwon looked at the mysterious figure standing before him—the absolute ruler of the Great Jungle, ‘Teacher.’ As if reading Yuwon’s thoughts, Teacher spoke.

“Well, there’s no point hiding it after coming this far. I was going to help if you hadn’t understood, but judging by that look in your eyes, it seems you’ve already figured it out.”

Yuwon quietly nodded in place of an answer. Standing before his eyes was the last dragon.

“Wait… if Teacher really is a dragon, how did you survive? Weren’t all the other dragons wiped out after humans took mana?”

At Yuwon’s question, Teacher let out a soft chuckle and replied.

“There’s no reason to hide it anymore. That is precisely the debt Aphahiel owes me.”

“…A life debt? How did Aphahiel…?”

At Yuwon’s words, Teacher nodded.

“For the same reason as you.”

“For the same reason as me? What does that—ah, could it be…! Not a mana heart, but…!”

The dantian! At the mention of the same reason, Yuwon thought of the dantian and inner energy. Seeing Yuwon’s reaction, Teacher feigned surprise and pointed at Tang Seogyeom, sword raised at the end of the mural, as he spoke.

“You’re quite perceptive. Yes. By chance, I crossed paths with that fellow and learned it. How a being born of mana could hide the Eye of Mana, the source of life.”

Mana and inner energy shared similarities, yet there were clear differences. And the greatest difference lay in the vessel that held that power. Teacher, alive and well before Yuwon’s eyes, was surviving in a world where dragons had gone extinct—by deceiving the Eye of Mana with martial arts from the martial world, not knowledge of this world.

‘A dragon living with inner energy stored in its dantian….’

“Now then, Emperor of Aphahiel. What do you intend to do from here on?”

“Hm…?”

“You and I are the only ones in this world who know my true identity and the true past of this world.”

“What I read was nothing more than an old tale. Nothing changes.”

“Oh… then do you truly intend to become emperor? Living as the king of the Great Jungle wouldn’t be so bad either.”

“Before being a king, I am an emperor.”

Yuwon’s answer was short and clear. The words he did not say aloud lingered in his mouth.

‘I already ended the life where I endured after having what was mine taken from me. I am the Emperor of Aphahiel. Unless I step down from that seat myself, no one can take it from me.’

Yuwon’s answer was exactly the one Teacher had been hoping for. Teacher replied with a satisfied smile.

“Good. Then let me help you a bit more, as a final gesture. As the immediate disciple of Dant Ser Geiorn… no, of Tang Seogyeom, this is the last gift I give to my junior brother.”

― There is an abundance of such pure energy in this world, so why is there nothing that could be called a spirit beast? No matter how I think about it, it’s strange. With this level of energy flow, it wouldn’t be odd for a snake eating dirt to become an earth dragon, or for a small creek’s serpent to become a true dragon… The only thing I can barely place my hopes on is a Dragon-Scaled Serpent.

― In the later years of my life, what began as a way to pass the time has turned into my final life goal—stuffing this damn snake into an underground chamber. Considering the time and effort I’ve put in so far… If the Dragon-Scaled Serpent isn’t even a spirit beast, or doesn’t have an inner core inside it, I might just die of rage.

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