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"Isn't it weird?"
"Yeah. It's definitely not a normal animal."
"I know, right? It might be a monster, but it's not attacking us first."
Davian and his group were hiding behind a rock, watching.
A lion with a huge horn on its head was strolling around.
Its size seemed to be even bigger than the buffaloes in Bure Prairie.
Its fierce eyes and large fangs were enough to send shivers down anyone's spine.
Coming closer, they could feel an unknown aura emanating from it.
Liber turned to Latia and asked,
"Is that a unicorn?"
"Idiot! Unicorns are horses. That's obviously a lion."
"But Latia, do lions eat leaves?"
"Well, no, they don't."
The horned lion in front of them was leisurely munching on the leaves of a large tree.
"It has a lion's face, but look at its feet. Aren't those horse hooves?"
"What on earth is that thing? That big bird from earlier too. Everything here is strange."
Then Davian stood up abruptly and stepped forward.
Surprised, Nubes reached out his arm and shouted,
"Hey! Davian!"
"It's eating leaves. If it doesn't attack first, it might be okay."
That was when it happened.
The monster with a horn on its forehead, bigger than a buffalo, with a lion's head, and horse hooves on its feet, snapped its head around.
Its fierce eyes glared at Davian.
The four fangs, two on top and two on bottom, looked bigger than Davian's forearm.
But Davian held out both hands and slowly approached.
"It's okay. I won't hurt you. Good boy."
Latia, hiding behind the rock, opened her mouth in disbelief.
"Did he just say 'Good boy' to that monster? Has Davian gone crazy from being too scared?"
Nubes said in a low voice,
"If something goes wrong, I'll run out first. Latia, you get ready to attack."
He was cowardly but knew how to keep his loyalty.
Even though he was trembling, he took out his shield and held it up.
Ready to rush out to protect Davian at any moment.
"Seriously. He's trembling on his knees, but he's ready to run out to protect Davian? You're amazing too. In a way."
That was when it happened.
The lion that had been glaring at Davian turned its head again and started eating leaves.
Liber made big eyes, stretching his eyelids with his thumbs and index fingers, and said,
"Maybe it's not an angry look? Maybe that's just how its eyes look?"
"Sigh."
Latia shook her head and slowly came out from behind the rock first.
Nubes and Liber followed behind.
Davian and his group slowly moved away from the leaf-eating lion.
How much further did they walk?
Nubes, the tallest, shouted,
"Guys! Over there!"
Following Nubes' fingertip, they saw something bluish.
"...A lake!"
"Yeah, it's a lake. Just like Liber said, there really was a lake in the south!"
Latia crossed her arms and said,
"The path we've walked, it might be the same path that King Erium Alcancia, the first king at the age of eight, walked in the legends."
Nubes looked at Latia.
"This dangerous path? An eight-year-old kid?"
"What's dangerous about it? If you don't attack first, they just let you pass."
"Ah... I see. That's true."
As they went down the hill, a really wide lake appeared.
"Okay, we've arrived at the southern lake. Now we just need to find the stone? What does that Stone of Enlightenment look like?"
"I don't know either. It was just written as the Stone of Enlightenment."
"Let's search around for now. Aside from the Stone of Enlightenment, we need to find a way to get back to the academy."
The time when the sun was about to set over the western fields.
"This is bad. We haven't found anything."
"If that sun goes down, it'll be morning at the academy, right?"
"Soon everyone will know we've disappeared."
Nubes bent down and picked up a small pebble.
"There are only these small pebbles everywhere. Is the Stone of Enlightenment among these?"
Fwoosh.
The pebble that Nubes threw skipped across the surface of the lake.
Skip, skip, skip, skip... splash.
The pebble, after skipping over a dozen times, fell into the lake.
Then.
Kaaaa!
"Eek!"
"Kyaa!"
Two huge creatures soared into the sky from the lake.
"S-Snakes!"
"D-Dragons!"
"E-Eek! What's that! Is it a hydra?"
Three friends with different opinions.
But Davian knew the name of the creature that had risen above the lake.
It wasn't a name he learned from his fourth life.
It was a name he already knew before he came to this world.
When he was Kang Eun-seong living in Korea, he had seen that image countless times since he was young.
"...Dragons."
Two giant dragons rose above the lake.
They had no wings but were flying in the sky, and their bodies were covered in scales.
They had deer antlers on their heads and long beards on their faces.
They had four legs and were even holding a wish-fulfilling pearl.
Only then did Davian think he vaguely knew the identities of the monsters he had met earlier.
They weren't as familiar as dragons, but they were definitely things he had seen in books when he was young.
'Then those were phoenixes and haetae...'
Liber's urgent voice was heard.
"W-What should we do, Davian? Should we just wait again this time?"
On the other hand, Davian became calmer.
"Well, should we? If that's really the dragon I know, then there's nothing we can do now."
A being that rivals the strongest creature in this Western fantasy world, the dragon.
No, maybe even more.
A sacred animal that started from a lowly animal crawling on the ground and reached a position closest to God.
From the beginning, Davian and his friends were not opponents they could handle.
If even one of those two dragons decided to harm Davian's group, they wouldn't even be able to run away from here, let alone fight.
At least, that's what Davian thought based on his common sense.
That was when it happened.
An old man with long white hair appeared on the lake.
It was unclear whether he had risen from the water or fallen from the sky.
He wasn't there a moment ago, but he was standing there naturally as if he had been there from the beginning.
The old man slowly opened his mouth.
"It's been a while since I've had guests."
"Gasp! A... A god!"
Liber prostrated himself on the spot and slammed his head into the ground.
The instinctual sensing of authority and dignity.
A being too distant and different from himself.
Latia also knelt down without realizing it, and Nubes also knelt down next to her.
Only Davian was still standing.
"An interesting boy. Like that child from a thousand years ago. He doesn't worship me."
"You must be... a god."
"Hahahaha. That's right. Come to think of it, boy. You're a little different from the other children."
"I'm a bit unique."
"Did you torment the phoenix on your way here?"
"We mistook it for another creature. I'm sorry."
"Hahahaha. It's okay. In the first place, it's not a being you can do anything to."
"I guess not."
"Then you must have met the haetae on your way here too. At this time, it would have been tearing off the leaves of the chinaberry tree, right?"
"I don't know what kind of tree it was, but it was tearing off leaves."
The god tilted his head and stroked his long white beard.
"Weren't you scared? Those fierce eyes and sharp fangs."
"I've learned that creatures that eat grass are relatively docile."
"Haha. You're a child who can see the inside rather than what's on the outside. Like that child from a thousand years ago."
"The child you keep mentioning from a thousand years ago, is it perhaps Erium Alcancia?"
"That's right. You know that child too."
"Then did you perhaps give that child the Stone of Enlightenment?"
"Stone? What are you talking about?"
"Didn't you give the Stone of Enlightenment?"
"Hahahaha. I taught him the Dao, and that young one called it a stone."
'Stupid Erium.'
But that could be, since Erium came here when he was eight years old.
"Then could you perhaps teach us that Dao too?"
"Haha. I don't welcome guests in my space, but I'm not so stingy as to just turn away guests who have come after such a long time. What kind of enlightenment do you want?"
"Don't you already know?"
"What a peculiar one. Hahahaha. Then I'll give you enlightenment for a while."
A long sermon on nature and energy continued.
The sermon did not stop until the sun had set and risen again twice.
Davian and his group were sitting still, listening to the god's sermon, but strangely, they didn't feel hungry or sleepy.
But it was inevitable that their concentration would wane.
Liber whispered.
"Hey, Davian. I don't understand any of this. How long do we have to listen?"
"I don't know either."
"Hey, Nubes. Do you understand what's being said right now?"
"..."
"Are you sleeping? With your eyes open?"
"..."
"Haa, I can't even fall asleep. I'm going crazy, it's so boring. I'm almost jealous that you're asleep, Nubes."
"...I'm not sleeping either."
"Then why didn't you answer?"
"I was spacing out."
Even so, the god's sermon continued.
"...Thus, if the energy absorbed through breathing is spread through the twelve meridians to the eight extraordinary meridians, and is able to flow freely in the Conception and Governing Vessels, the Conception and Governing Vessels will open and the Microcosmic Orbit and Macrocosmic Orbit will occur simultaneously."
Liber this time asked Latia.
"Hey, Latia. Do you understand what's being said? You're supposed to be really smart."
Latia was just staring at the god's eyes without any reaction.
"Oh, she really seems to understand? I guess she really is a genius, like everyone says."
"Shut up."
"Huh?"
"I said shut up. I'm bored to death too. What on earth is he talking about?"
"...You have suffered a lot from listening to the sermon for a long time. I hope that a layer of enlightenment has been added to your lives. Now then, I must give gifts to the guests who have come after such a long time."
The god slowly extended both hands towards Davian and his group.
"A place that is open when you are a baby, but closes as you gain human wisdom. I will open that place. That must be what you desire most."
"Aaaagh!"
Liber screamed first, clutching the top of his head.
Liber, with a grimace on his face from the extreme pain, rolled around on the floor.
"Uaaaaagh!"
Nubes also screamed in succession and rolled on the floor.
"Kyaa!"
"Ugh!"
Even Latia and Davian.
All four friends, in extreme pain, clutched the tops of their heads, rolled on the floor, and lost consciousness.
How much time had passed?
Davian opened his eyes with difficulty.
'Is it night?'
It was dark all around, and he couldn't see anything.
Fwoosh.
He created a small flame and looked around.
His three friends were lying collapsed nearby.
Judging by the way they were wiggling, they seemed to be waking up soon.
He made the flame a little bigger and checked further away.
A rectangular, huge underground space.
"Huh? Where is this?"
Creak.
The tightly closed stone door opened, and a long staircase leading to the surface was visible.
"Have we returned to the academy?"
Ding.
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[Hidden Event 'Find the Stone of Enlightenment' Completed]
As a reward, the mana points you earn from now on will be doubled.
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