Editor : Amethyst00



Leo and Lunia took only half a day to wipe out all the bandits in the area.

Since they were just rural thugs, they were no match for Leo and Lunia — the bandit gang was crushed in no time at all.

“This is such a stress reliever!”

Crackle— crackle—

As the sun set and darkness fell, Lunia stretched with a groan in front of the campfire she had built.

“Tomorrow we should be able to sweep up the ones who ran away, right?”

“Hup—” Sitting in front of the fire, Lunia fell into thought.

‘Leo said he’s on a field mission, didn’t he? Then once the bandits are cleared, will he just go straight back to Lumene?’

Thinking that made her feel a little disappointed.

‘We finally met again after such a long time.’

Free-spirited by nature, Lunia always felt comfortable and happy around Leo — someone who didn’t mind her carefree attitude and never judged her.

‘Should I ask him to explore a Hero Dungeon with me? No… that’s not something I can just decide on my own. And even if we did, the seniors would definitely disapprove of him.’

Resting her chin on her hand, Lunia groaned as she thought — then suddenly looked toward the ruins.

‘By the way… what’s he been doing over there all this time?’

Curious, she stood up and walked into the ruins where Leo was.

“What are you doing over there?”

“I was just checking out the ruins here.”

At Leo’s words, Lunia tilted her head as she looked around the crumbled remains of Godthrone’s castle.

“There’s nothing special here, though.”

Ruins related to Heroes were treated with great importance, since they sometimes held relics that could activate Hero Pages.

But these ruins were already deemed unremarkable — just old, nothing more.

‘People have probably already forgotten where Godthrone even existed.’

People still knew that Godthrone had once been real.

But beyond a few mentions in records and the Hero World, no other information remained.

‘Its must’ve been Tartaros’s doing.’

To Tartaros, Godthrone’s walls would have been a symbol of hatred.

Because Godthrone held out till the end, the surface races were able to launch their counterattack — and that led to the dawn of peace.

Tartaros probably didn’t want to leave alone the place that once symbolized hope.

‘And this region wasn’t a very livable place even before the Age of Calamity.’

After that era ended, people abandoned Godthrone and sought new lands.

‘Then the empty Godthrone must’ve been attacked by Tartaros and buried underground.’

The faint traces of dark mana lingering in the soil must’ve been remnants of that destruction.

‘The entire city was buried in the earth…’

Leo felt a bitter pang at the thought that a place holding memories of his old comrades had completely vanished.

“For now, let’s rest. We can check out the ruins again in the morning.”

At Lunia’s suggestion, Leo nodded and headed back to the campfire.

“Huh?”

When they arrived, Lunia froze for a moment — two figures were already sitting by the fire.

“Elena-sunbae?”

“Hardin-sunbae?”

Both Leo and Lunia spoke their names at the same time.

“Are you two camping out together at night? We’re not interrupting a date, are we?”

“That’s not it at all!”

Lunia shouted back, flustered, at Elena’s teasing question.

Watching her, Hardin asked, “You haven’t finished clearing out the bandits yet?”

“There are still stragglers left. But this person… she’s a Lumene student, right?”

“Hello. I’m Elena Zeron.”

She lifted the hem of her uniform skirt slightly and bowed gracefully, leaving Lunia staring in surprise.

“The representative of Lumene’s third-years?”

Elena was one of the most famous students at Lumene.

She had even taken down upper-year students from Seiren during the Lumeiren Competition — the number one student Seiren regarded as a threat.

So it was no wonder Lunia was caught off guard seeing her suddenly appear here.

“What brings you here, Elena-sunbae? I thought you went to explore a dungeon in another region?”

“Oh, that? I left it to the rest of my party.”

Leo looked dumbfounded as Elena answered as if it were nothing.

Elena was the leader of the Blue Moon party — and yet she ditched them to come here?

“I just found you more interesting than that dungeon.”

Her pink eyes gleamed.

“What about my other sunbaes?”

“They were rude, so I taught them a lesson in manners.”

“What?”

Lunia looked puzzled, but Leo had a pretty good idea what she meant by that.

Hardin adjusted his glasses. “Don’t you think you went too far, Elena Zeron?”

“I gave them a chance to apologize. They’re the ones who threw it away.”

Elena replied coolly, and Hardin let out a deep sigh.

This could easily turn into an interschool issue.

“In any case, Leo. The bandit hunt can wait! You know there might be a Hero Dungeon here, don’t you?”

“Seiren’s already been looking for it, though.”

“So what? With Hero Dungeons, first come, first served.”

Elena pushed Leo’s back and walked toward the ruins.

“Come on, come on! Juniors should listen to their seniors! I’ll teach you how to explore a Hero Dungeon properly.”

Watching her go, Hardin spoke. “Lunia, we’re following.”

“Eh? What about the other seniors?”

“They’re injured and can’t move. We can’t just let that fox of a woman take the lead.”

His voice showed a flicker of competitiveness.

Hardin Dertian, the honor student of Seiren’s third years — one of the strongest in the whole academy.

And yet, every year at the Lumeiren Competition, he suffered bitter defeat at Elena’s hands.

‘I won’t lose this year.’

Clenching his fist, Hardin glared at her back.

‘Now it’s turned into a competition.’

Lunia, who had just been cooperating with Leo moments ago, couldn’t help but feel a bit conflicted.

‘Still, I can’t lose either.’

As Seiren’s class representative, Lunia straightened up with determination and followed after Leo and Elena.

bl

“Leo! You’re amazing! You don’t seem like a first-year at all!”

From the moment they started exploring the Hero Dungeon, Elena kept fussing over him with endless praise.

It wasn’t empty flattery — Leo really was moving with the confidence and skill of someone far beyond a first-year.

Hero Dungeons were strange spaces created when a Hero’s Page went berserk.

Because of that, exploration required extreme caution.

First-years usually learned only theory; they were never allowed to practice.

Yet Leo calmly used mana detection to map the area, showing no signs of difficulty.

Elena watched him with a curious look.

“Hm? What’s wrong?” she asked.

“You just seem… so different from how you are at school.”

“How was I at school?”

“You had this cool, queenly vibe.”

“Oh my, you saw me that way? How adorable.”

Elena smiled and gently patted his white hair.

“How do I seem now?”

“Goofy.”

“Not a kind, caring senior who looks after her juniors?”

“Nope.”

Elena narrowed her eyes.

Any other student would have panicked at that look, but Leo didn’t even flinch.

Elena slung an arm over his shoulder.

“Leo, look over there.”

She pointed at Hardin.

“He’s the serious type. People like that are so fun to tease.”

“How are you going to tease him?”

“Watch.”

Elena grinned and raised her voice just enough for him to hear.

“Our first-year rep is definitely stronger than Seiren’s!”

“I can’t accept that,” Hardin said immediately, striding over.

Elena released Leo’s shoulder and stood in front of him.

“Oh? Why not?”

“Lunia is in no way inferior to Leo Plov.”

“Our Leo interpreted the magic of the Poet of the Star and played a key role in subduing a Gigantes. Has your junior achieved anything comparable?”

“You can’t judge a person by achievements alone. Lunia may still be a first-year, but she’s already being considered for student council president. Do you think Leo Plov could be a candidate at that age?”

“Student council president? Me?”

Lunia blinked in confusion, while Elena gave a sly smile.

“She seems surprised to hear that. And you’re the next candidate, aren’t you? I get that you want to compete with my dear junior, but you shouldn’t make things up. A first-year council candidate? Impossible.”

“Lunia may still lack experience,” Hardin said seriously, adjusting his glasses, “but she’s greater than I am. I personally recommended her. She, Eiran, and Luca — the three of them will become Seiren’s pride someday.”

Elena twitched slightly at his words, and Lunia looked stunned.

‘Wait, didn’t he dislike us?’

Lunia, Eiran, and Luca — the three current Seiren first-year reps.

Hardin always seemed disapproving when he looked at them.

And now he was openly expressing his faith in her — even claiming he’d recommended her?

‘He recommended me… for student council president?’

That had never happened in Seiren’s history.

And Hardin wasn’t the type to joke or speak carelessly.

As Lunia stood there dumbfounded, Elena smirked.

“Then our Leo’s also a candidate.”

“Hey, don’t make things up.”

“I’ll just nominate you when we get back.”

Leo sighed at their pointless pride match and suddenly turned his head — he’d felt a faint pulse of mana.

He walked toward the source.

“Did you find something?”

Lunia came closer, curious.

Kneeling, Leo brushed away the dust on the floor.

She watched him, then focused — and faintly sensed it too.

‘He noticed that?’

It was barely a trace, like a fading echo of mana.

Lunia realized it only because she saw Leo’s reaction; alone, she’d never have noticed it.

In awe of his sensitivity, she called over to the others.

“Hey, Leo found something.”

“As expected of Lumene’s first-year rep!” Elena said proudly.

“Tch…” Hardin clicked his tongue in frustration.

Lunia made an awkward face watching them.

“What’s wrong?” Hardin asked.

“I thought you didn’t like me. You always scolded me.”

“I just wanted you to carry yourself properly as Seiren’s rep.”

Back to his usual stern look, Hardin adjusted his glasses again.

“I’ve never disliked you.”

“You could’ve been nicer, you know. I’ve been misunderstanding you this whole time.”

Hardin chuckled softly. “So you didn’t like me?”

‘He really is hopelessly straightforward…’

Lunia sighed, shaking her head with a wry smile.

The three of them gathered around Leo.

“Strange mana waves,” Hardin noted.

“It looks like a magic formula,” Elena said. “But I can’t unravel it… must be ancient magic from thousands of years ago.”

Magic from that era had completely different structures.

Without expertise in ancient magic, deciphering it was near impossible — and if you couldn’t decode it, you couldn’t activate it.

Elena, Lunia, and Hardin all looked troubled — but Leo was different.

‘A warp gate.’

He’d decoded the structure and recognized the coordinates — a location burned into his memory.

‘Godthrone’s warp gate…’

That meant a warp gate existed beneath them.

‘If it’s still active, then Godthrone might still be intact underground!’

He’d thought the city was long buried and destroyed — but maybe not.

If it had truly collapsed, the gate wouldn’t still function.

After a moment of thought, Leo raised his mana.

Vwoom—!

The others stared in shock as Leo quickly constructed a temporary link to the connected gate.

Vwoom—! Vwoom—!

“A warp gate?” Hardin exclaimed.

Elena narrowed her eyes. “How did you make that?”

“I was decoding the magic formula and realized it was a warp gate, so I just made a temporary one. Seems the other end’s still active.”

He spoke casually.

Creating a new warp gate was hard — but making an entrance linked to an existing one wasn’t too difficult for a student-level mage.

‘But deciphering an ancient spell structure… that’s another story. No wonder Professor Len and Torua-sunbae praised him so highly for his understanding of magic formulas.’

“Where does it lead?”

“Guess we’ll find out when we go.”

Elena smiled and stepped onto the gate.

Hardin and Lunia followed.

“Leo, come on.”

Leo nodded.

‘…Could Godthrone really still exist below?’

His heart trembled at the thought of the place that held memories of his friends from another life.

He stepped onto the gate.

Elena activated it with her mana.

Flash—!

With a burst of light, the warp gate activated.

And then…

[Hero Record Open.]

“What?”

“The Hero World?”

All four of them gasped as a message appeared before their eyes.

[■■’s World. Chapter: Prologue – Balharun.]

Reading the next line, they all realized what it meant — they had entered a Hero Dungeon.

But Leo’s eyes widened at one word.

‘Balharun…!’

Fwoosh—!

His vision vanished.

Suddenly, he found himself standing in the middle of a corridor.

Having experienced Hero Worlds several times before, Leo first checked the mission display.

[Objective: –]

‘As expected, no objective — it’s a Hero Dungeon.’

He took a deep breath.

‘First, I need to regroup with the others…’

Thud!

Crash—!

“Ah! I’m so sorry!”

Something bumped into his back — followed by the sound of things scattering.

A flustered girl’s voice.

Leo turned — and froze at the sight of a girl hurriedly stacking up fallen books.

When she looked up and saw his face, she squeaked, “Ack!”

Her expression said it all: Oh no, I got caught!

Leo’s heart pounded.

She was clearly younger, but he knew her.

A tight ache filled his chest as he whispered her name.

“…Luna.”