Book 1 Chapter 910

910.

Leo's morning began extremely early.

Early dawn, even before the sun rose.

Leo was sitting in a meditative pose with his eyes closed in the backyard of the inn.

It always snows here, the northernmost part of the continent, a land of bitter cold.

Perennial snow that never melts rests on the mountain peaks, and the winds that blow are always biting, like cold blades.

When spring comes to the continent, the intensity of the bitter cold lessens, but it only becomes slightly warmer.

The snow does not melt.

And so, when winter arrives, the winter in the northernmost part of the continent becomes so severe that it seems endless.

Now, in autumn, is the time when the continent's cold reaches its peak.

It was a challenging weather even for the elves who had made this place their home.

But even amidst that bitter cold, Leo was calm.

He had his eyes closed, concentrating his mind even in the biting wind.

Despite wearing clothes that were too thin to endure winter, he showed no signs of being cold.

Without using any aura, magic, or spiritual power whatsoever.

He was enduring the bitter cold with his bare body alone.

Whoooooosh-!

An even stronger wind blew.

Swish-

At that moment, Leo's calmly closed red eyes opened.

What he saw then were blue eyes.

"Black Rabbit, aren't you cold?"

Ar, who was squatting with her knees together in front of the opened-eyed Leo, tilted her head and asked.

Ar's white tail wagged- wagged.

"I am cold."

At Leo's calm reply, Ar's head tilted even further.

"If you're cold, what are you doing sitting on the ground?"

"Mental concentration."

"Hmm?"

At Leo's words, Ar's wagging tail momentarily turned into a '?'.

And then, a moment later, it turned into an '!'.

"Aha! You're practicing summoning magic!"

"Do you express emotions with your tail now?"

"Ugh! Th-this is a racial trait of cat beastkin, you know?"

"Among the cat beastkin I've seen, you're the only one who does that, you know?"

"How many cat beastkin could Black Rabbit have seen, no matter how many… Ah!"

Ar, who was speaking, was startled.

And then she stealthily observed Leo.

She had suddenly realized.

Who Leo was.

'Normally, people who realize my identity can't help but be conscious of it, even if they try not to be.'

The world's savior, the hero of beginning, Kyle's reincarnation, and the one who can completely subjugate Erebus.

Quite literally, a great hero living in the present.

Those who knew Leo's identity couldn't help but change their attitude, even if they pretended not to.

Even if they tried their best to treat him as before, it was unavoidable.

But Ar truly seemed to have forgotten that Leo was Kyle until just a moment ago.

Because she was only now realizing and observing him.

"It's a recent trend among cat beastkin!"

Leo pulled Ar's ear, who was making a brazen claim.

"Where did you learn such a lie?"

"Let go! Let go!"

Ar tried to shake off Leo's hand irritably.

'She doesn't care at all that I'm Kyle.'

That's why the conversation was enjoyable.

"Is she absurdly foolish? Or incredibly bold?"

"Isn't it obvious? Incredibly bold! I am the successor who followed Great Warrior Azonia-nim and then Arion-nim!"

Ar proclaimed, declaring with her chin raised confidently.

"Just you wait! I'll catch up to Arion-nim and Black Rabbit soon!"

Watching Ar, Leo stood up.

"You really don't resemble Arion at all."

"Don't resemble! Even if Black Rabbit denies it, I am the successor recognized by Arion-nim!"

"Not resembling him is a compliment."

Unlike Arion, who was always timid, Ar was always self-assured.

But Ar's confident demeanor resembled the ideal that the always-cautious Arion had hoped for.

Ar's blue eyes gazed directly at Leo.

Ar couldn't see the shadow of the great hero behind Leo.

For Leo, Ar made him feel at ease because of that.

He had no desire to be treated as the savior of the world.

After all, Kyle alone didn't save the world in the first place.

'If it was something I could have done alone, there would have been no need to share the burden in the first place.'

The reason Leo selects many heroes with Melina.

The reason he chose Lunia, Ar, and Driana, passed on the legacies of the great heroes, and helped countless hero candidates grow.

It's because Leo cannot defeat Erebus alone.

'He is not a being that can be defeated by force.'

Up until now, he had defeated the fragments with a stroke of luck, combining divine power and various complex situations.

But all the fragments of Erebus that had been subjugated so far were stuck in the past.

The first fragment that had just recently awakened.

The fragment of Nyx, the evil god who was defeated in the past.

Also, the fragment that drew upon past power while isolated from the outside world through Silord's magic.

That was why they could be conquered.

'But there's no law saying Erebus will stay in the past forever.'

Leo recalled the remaining fragments of Erebus.

One fragment whose location was still unknown, and the fragment within the world of genesis that was still burning.

Especially the fragment within the world of genesis, which was burning and constantly changing.

To the extent that it was difficult to guess what form it would take when it burned down the entire world of genesis and burst out into the real world.

'Finally, the fragment held by the Lich King.'

He couldn't be relieved just because the seal hadn't been broken.

Because the things the Lich King was causing through that fragment were not ordinary.

'The exercise of authority, and the legion's record.'

Even just that meant time was no longer on Leo's side.

'And even if the seal isn't broken, if consciousness has awakened…'

Erebus might also be formulating a strategy to defeat Leo.

'I need to become stronger than I am now.'

He needed to surpass his past self as soon as possible.

And at the same time, he had to lead the comrades who would move forward with him into the future.

"I have so much to do, it's chaotic."

"Because the leader is the one who bears many burdens."

Ar grinned.

Looking at Ar, Leo said,

"Hurry up and grow so you can help carry some of this burden."

"Hmph. Don't worry, this body is growing gallantly every day. Soon, I'll be strong and beautiful enough to make Black Rabbit fall in love, you know?"

Leo chuckled, watching Ar make a conceited expression.

"In that sense, if you're done with your summoning practice, let's have a match!"

Whack-!

Looking at Ar, who was hitting her palm with her fist, Leo said,

"I wasn't practicing summoning magic."

"Huh? Then were you practicing magic?"

"I was practicing aura."

"Sitting still with your eyes closed and enduring the cold wind is aura training?"

Ar's head tilted as if in doubt.

Her tail also formed a '?'.

Looking at her, Leo said,

"Don't you meditate?"

"Why meditate?"

Leo sighed, looking at Ar's perplexed expression, and sat in his meditative posture again.

"Sit here."

Ar knelt in front of Leo.

"Watch closely."

Leo spread his palm.

With that, gray mana flowed out.

"This is my mana."

"I know. The mana of All-Class!"

"No. This is the power of purity."

"Purity?"

"Yes. The characteristic of my mana is purity."

Leo looked at Ar and said,

"The primordial mana that can become anything. That's why I can be All-Class."

"Ah."

Ar, who understood Leo's explanation, widened her eyes.

"So that's why Black Rabbit's attacks damage Erebus!"

The characteristic of Erebus, the primordial evil, was black flame.

That flame, which had burned unextinguished since primordial times, was fundamentally pure in a sense.

Therefore, to quell that unextinguished black flame, the power of purity was needed.

"But purity? That doesn't suit Black Rabbit at all!"

Thud-!

"Shaaaak!!"

Ar, who had her head smacked for saying something unnecessary, glared with her eyes wide and hissed.

And she tried to bite Leo's hand that had hit her head.

Of course, her head was held by Leo, pressed down, and she was forcibly seated.

Ar, with an angry face, looked at Leo and asked,

"So? What does Black Rabbit's mana characteristic have to do with meditation?"

"Look at this."

The gray mana soon transformed into gray aura.

It was Leo's symbolic aura, which Ar had seen many times.

But a moment later.

Ar's eyes widened.

The gray aura soon turned pure white.

"They say the color of an aura is the color of the user's soul."

"Isn't that just a theory?"

"Yes. But I think it's largely true."

Whatever else, it is certain that aura is the foundation of the user.

If so, it cannot but be influenced by the soul.

That's why everyone has their own innate aura color.

Of course, aura also changes.

A representative transformed form of aura is Zerdinger's flame.

Or in cases where aura power is inherited as a reward for conquering a Hero's Record.

But ultimately, the innate unique color does not change.

But now, Leo's aura color had changed.

He hadn't imbued it with an attribute, nor was he using another's power obtained through conquest.

It simply changed from gray to pure white.

Looking at the bewildered Ar, Leo said,

"It's a form closer to the origin."

"A form closer to the origin?"

"Yes."

Leo's mana characteristic was purity.

But even if it's pure, the one who manifests the mana is ultimately Leo.

The mana of purity becomes gray-tinged under Leo's influence.

"This is a kind of awakening."

"Awakening…!"

Ar swallowed hard.

"Does that mean aura gains new power?"

"That's right."

"Then what power has this white aura gained?"

"It's become purer."

"Huh? That's it."

"Yes. For me, that's it. But…"

Leo looked down at the pure white aura and said,

"For Erebus, it will become an even more fatal blade."

"Ah!"

Ar, who had gasped, her eyes sparkling.

"Did Black Rabbit come up with the method to awaken aura?"

"No."

"Then it must be Arion-nim after all!"

"No. It's Licinus."

"Eh? Licinus-nim?"

"Yes."

Leo nodded.

"Licinus had a lot of knowledge, befitting her title as the King of Wisdom."

Before her mission, Licinus's infinite thirst for knowledge was one of her symbols.

"Licinus thought for a long time about how aura, magic, and spiritual power could approach their origins."

As a result, mages could approach their origins through the pursuit of truth through magical research.

Summoners could approach theirs through interaction with the spirits and phantom beasts that form the world.

Knights could approach theirs by understanding their inner selves through meditation.

"Oh, then all the great heroes must have approached their origins?"

"No. In my previous life, only Arion approached the origin."

"Really?"

Ar's face brightened.

"Then Arion-nim must have been the strongest among the great heroes!"

"Approaching the origin doesn't necessarily make you stronger."

Approaching the origin means understanding the essence of power.

However, that doesn't necessarily lead to strength.

Leo said calmly,

"The ability Arion gained by touching the origin was 'precognition'."

"Precognition?"

"Yes."

Leo nodded.

"A divine realm, no. Perhaps, for that moment, he transcended even the omniscience of a god."

When his supersenses approached the origin, the power Arion gained was to see the future.

Even though gods are beings close to omniscient and omnipotent, they cannot perfectly see the future.

"Then will I also see the future like Arion-nim?"

"That, I don't know."

Having said that, Leo gazed fixedly at Ar.

Ar was wagging her tail, staring intently at Leo's white aura.

She seemed to be very interested.

"Want to give it a try?"

"Yes!"

Ar, whose eyes were sparkling as she looked at Leo's face, paused.

Leo was giving her a kind smile.

'Black Rabbit made a similar expression before, I think…?'

She then remembered that Leo had water-tortured her.

"Ah, I just remembered I have something urgent to do."

Ar tried to quickly slip away, but Leo was faster in grabbing her tail.

"Nyaaaaak!"

"Where are you running off to?"

"No! You're going to torment me again! I'm leaving!"

"Coming is your choice, but leaving is not."

"Noooooo!"

Ar's scream echoed.