Editor : Amethyst00



“Who are they?” Leo pointed to the students from Wisdom standing behind Lunia and Aru and asked.

“So you're Leo Plov, huh? Nice to meet you! I'm Ryden! A student from Wisdom!”

“Wisdom?”

“It’s an educational institution in Dragonia, raising dragons to inherit the will of Lysinas.”

Seeing Leo’s puzzled expression, Chelsea explained from beside him.

“She’s right. We’re Guide candidates. The successors of the great Lysinas.”

“Really? And what does a successor of Lysinas want with me?”

“We came to judge your qualities as a hero.”

Leo’s face twisted in confusion. Chelsea opened and closed her mouth, dumbfounded. Lunia covered her face with a hand and leaned back with a sigh.

“Come again? I must’ve misheard you.”

“We came to test you.”

‘What the hell is this brat talking about?’

Leo let out a disbelieving laugh.

“This is ridiculous! Who do you think you are, testing Leo?” Chelsea snapped, unable to stay quiet.

Leo is the Hero of Beginnings. The great hero who defeated Erebos and saved the world 5,000 years ago. The ancestor of all heroes!

And they were talking about testing him?

‘Unbelievable!’

“And you are?”

“Chelsea Lewellin, 2nd year in the Department of Magic at Lumene!”

“The Lewellin family of the Lordren Empire?”

At Chelsea’s shout, a tall girl from Wisdom stepped forward and stared at her.

“What are you staring at?” Chelsea asked, narrowing her eyes. The tall girl suddenly pulled her into a hug.

“So tiny! Like a doll! Super cute!”

Crack—!

A vein popped on Chelsea’s forehead. She absolutely hated being called small more than anything else.

Aru snorted, trying to suppress laughter as Chelsea’s legs flailed in the air.

“She really is small when you look at her like that.”

‘You’re dead later, you damn cat!’ Chelsea ground her teeth, swearing to dropkick that smug face.

“Would you let me go, please?”

“Oh! Sorry.” The tall girl coughed awkwardly.

“Siren. Don’t lose your dignity as a student of Wisdom.”

“Sorry, sorry.”

The girl, apparently named Siren, let out a hearty laugh and introduced herself to Chelsea.

“Nice to meet you, Chelsea Lewellin. I’m Siren. A Wind Dragon. I’ve been interested in your Lewellin family and studied a lot about you.”

She lifted the hem of her skirt and greeted Chelsea with elegant poise.

“Seeing the winds around you… I can tell. You’re still young, but amazing.”

Chelsea looked up at Siren with a sour face.

‘She means no harm.’

But it felt strange. How should she put it?

‘Like she sees me as beneath her?’

It wasn’t like the elf supremacists obsessed with blood purity she’d encountered during the Lumeiren Competition last year.

Siren clearly respected Chelsea. She didn’t look down on her.

‘Right. She just thinks she’s supposed to lead me.’

And that was annoying.

Chelsea is a student who represents Lumene.

Sure, during her first year, she wandered aimlessly, unsure of her path. She had the wind named Abad that had been with her since childhood. And Leo, who entered Lumene with her.

There were times she got swept away by stronger winds.

But not anymore.

She now clearly knows what she wants to do. Who she wants to become. Chelsea is creating her own strong wind.

So Siren’s attitude — radiating the aura of “I’m the one who will lead you” — was irritating.

‘Does she think I’m some idiot who needs someone else to guide me? What the hell?’

And Chelsea wasn’t the only one who felt that way.

It was curious.

When they entered the Hero Academy, they dreamed of being chosen by dragons.

All those chosen by dragons had achieved great feats. As hero candidates, it was only natural to admire them.

But now that they were face-to-face with that admiration, it didn’t feel good.

Leo, glancing around, let out a faint laugh.

‘They’ve grown.’

They had found the path they wanted to walk.

What they wanted to become.

Clear goals they wished to achieve.

Moving forward without hesitation was proof of growth.

‘To people who know where they want to go, pushing a path on them without asking is offensive. It’s like meddling in someone else’s life. Anyway…’

Leo looked at the Wisdom students.

‘So immature.’

Dragons are the strongest race.

And these students were the cream of the crop among dragons.

So it was no surprise they were intelligent and gifted.

But…

‘They’re arrogant.’

They were different from the dragons Leo had met during the Age of Heroes.

Those dragons had their own circumstances, their own ideals.

Even though they were all different, each carried a fragment of Lysinas’ legacy.

They were dragons, but never arrogant.

They always humbled themselves and met other races eye-to-eye.

These students from Wisdom were not like their predecessors.

They resembled the dragons of the Age of Calamity— guardians of the world who clung to pride and refused unity while the world burned.

Before meeting Lysinas, that was how Kyle had perceived dragons.

‘Now how should I put these cocky lizards in their place?’

While pondering, Leo spotted someone on the roof.

It was none other than Melina and Enkinas.

Enkinas met Leo’s eyes and gave a polite nod.

Melina gave an awkward smile and mimed putting her hands together.

‘So she’s asking me to go easy on them?’

Just because they reminded him of past dragons didn’t mean they were truly the same.

‘They’re just inexperienced kids.’ Leo scratched his head.

‘Still a pain, though.’

If it were Luna or Dweno, they’d have already smashed them into pulp for their arrogance.

Leo was no different.

‘But Lysinas would’ve handled it differently.’

She would’ve shown them that the world was much larger than they knew.

Just like she once reached out to Kyle.

Thinking that far, Leo stretched out a hand and patted Chelsea’s head, her face still twisted in a scowl.

Her expression softened slightly.

“You said you wanted to judge my qualities as a hero, right?”

“Yes.” Ryden nodded confidently.

Leo smirked at him.

“Fine. Try testing me.”

“Great decision!”

“But before that.”

“Hm?”

“Mind if I test you all first?”

“You want to test us?”

“Is there a rule that says heroes can’t test their guides?”

“Well… that’s true.”

‘Leo Plov is already a hero. And beyond that, chosen by the gods… the only one who can defeat Erebos.’

Ryden was Wisdom’s honor student.

He held a strong desire to one day contribute to the world alongside heroes as the inheritor of the great Wise Queen’s will.

And among the heroes of this era, no partner was more ideal than Leo.

‘Honestly, even if Melina or Enkinas were chosen as guides, no one would question it.’

That meant he had to prove his worth.

Ryden nodded.

“Alright. You’ve already made your mark on the Hero Record. You have every right to test me!”

‘Leo probably just wants to crush your spirit to dust.’

Lunia clicked her tongue watching Ryden.

“So, what test do you have in mind? I’ll overcome whatever it is.”

“The test itself is simple. Just break out of my illusion spell.”

“Illusion magic? Dragons are generally resistant to illusions. And if I know it’s coming, it’ll be even easier to resist. You should know that, right?”

Ryden tilted his head, confused.

Leo chuckled.

“Don’t worry about that. In fact, why don’t the rest of you try it too?”

He addressed the other Wisdom students watching from the back.

They exchanged glances.

“Sounds fun.”

“I’m curious what kind of magic an all-class hero uses.”

They too looked intrigued.

Leo turned to Chelsea.

“By the way, Chelsea will be taking the test with you.”

“Me?” Chelsea blinked and pointed at herself.

“You’re going to adjust the illusion spell to Chelsea’s level?”

“What would be the point of a test if I did that?”

“Then it might be dangerous.”

Ryden looked concerned.

Chelsea frowned deeply at that.

“Don’t worry about me. Worry about yourself.” She snapped sharply, and Siren cupped her cheeks in delight.

“She’s so tiny and snappy—adorable!”

“Snappy doesn’t cover it. She’s a brat.”

“Leo, can I punch this cat in the gut before we start?”

“Catching her won’t be easy.”

Chelsea clicked her tongue at Leo’s reply.

“There’s no need to worry about Chelsea.”

Resisting illusion magic takes strong mental resilience.

Ryden assumed Chelsea was still an inexperienced hero cadet—thus his concern.

‘Sure, Chelsea’s not perfect.’

Neither were Lunia, Aru, or Drianna.

But that was by Leo’s standards.

For Ryden to judge Chelsea so easily—he had no idea the path she had walked.

‘She stood on the battlefield against Erebos, after all.’

When the 3rd fragment of Erebos resurrected, Chelsea had stepped up to the frontlines to help Aaron.

‘That kind of experience changes everything.’

Chelsea was not just a fledgling hero candidates.

She was a magician worthy of the title "hero."

*‘If it were me, I’d have just beaten the lesson into them. But you… you’d give them a chance to learn. Right?’

Thinking of his old friend, Leo gave a gentle smile.

“Alright, ready?”

“Of course.”

Ryden and the other Wisdom students stood confidently.

Chelsea nodded too.

“Then…”

Leo gathered his mana.

Ryden, watching closely, tensed.

‘What kind of magic…?’

At that moment, Leo’s gray mana shifted—turning into a jet-black darkness.

“What the—?”

It wasn’t like the foul darkness of Tartaros.

It was soft, almost comforting, as though it embraced everything.

But precisely because of that, it was deeply unsettling

‘Is this… dragon mana?’

Ryden’s eyes widened as he looked at Leo.

He realized in that instant that Leo’s eyes had turned from red to obsidian black.

They were the same as his own kind.

‘Draconic magic!’

The eyes of every Wisdom student widened.

It was a high-tier dragon magic—something far beyond what they could attempt.

From ages past, the Wise Queen had reinterpreted the curse of Tartaros into the dragon’s curse.

Recognizing the spell structure, Ryden gasped.

‘Nightmare?’

And in the next moment—

He was swallowed by the rising shadow like a painting.