In fact, everyone was shocked.
"…Did you say die?"
Meeeeeeow?
Ron, who had been quietly standing to the side, and even Hong, who had been half-falling asleep, both looked toward Eruhaben with shock.
"None of you knew?"
However, Eruhaben's response was so casual that Cale forgot what he was going to say.
He had never heard about this before. He did not know that he might end up dying from having too many ancient powers.
Eruhaben clicked his tongue at Cale's gaze and started to speak again.
"They say that ancient powers are fateful encounters where you need the Mandate of Heaven to acquire. They are precious powers, even if they may not be that strong. You know that much, right?"
"We know! So, hurry up and explain, Golden Dragon!"
Bang!
Raon's paw slammed down on the golden table, leaving behind a paw print.
"How stupid. A Dragon doesn't even know this much and needs an explanation."
Eruhaben did not hide his contempt as he scoffed at Raon and stared. He then waited for Raon's reaction.
"I am not stupid. Hurry up and explain!"
Eruhaben smiled at Raon, who was looking at him while waiting for an explanation rather than getting angry. He then started to explain.
"Many ancient texts and legends have recorded the humans who have held the power of ancient power in the past. But."
Cale had an ominous feeling.
"The majority of them only had one ancient power. Why do you think that is the case?"
Eruhaben's question was directed at Cale. Cale felt like he knew the answer.
'Did all the people with multiple powers die? Is that why there are no records of them?'
Now that he thought about it, there was nobody in, 'The Birth of a Hero,' who had even two ancient powers. Cale had never questioned that before though.
Eruhaben saw the deep look in Cale's eyes and knew that Cale had come to a conclusion. He then started to speak again.
"Anybody with more than two ended up dying. That is why they are not in the records. Of course, they could still live if the Mandate of Heaven allowed them to have multiple ancient powers with the same elemental affinity, but when the ancient powers have different affinities like you have…"
Eruhaben stretched out his beautiful white fingers.
"The human body expands like my fingers are doing right now until they blow up, leaving nothing behind."
"No!"
Raon had a look of despair on his face as he shouted. Raon slowly turned to look at Cale while banging on the golden table with his paw.
"Weak human! Why did you keep on eating up those useless things! Huh?"
The veins in Raon's short neck were all popping up.
"You suffered so much! You even coughed up blood! I am amazed by your method of doing things! Pah, don't cover my mouth!"
Cale casually petted Raon's face. His gentle touch made Raon shut up for now. Cale looked around at the worried expressions on everyone's faces before turning back to look at Eruhaben as he started to speak.
"But I am still alive."
He did not die, even after taking in so many ancient powers.
He had a total of six ancient powers right now if he included the Fire Suppressing Water in the, 'Absorbing Necklace.'
Eruhaben agreed with Cale.
"Yes, you are still alive."
Raon interjected once again.
"Will you die soon?"
'Haaaaaa. Does he have to say something so scary?'
Cale once again petted Raon's face and head while Raon continued to huff and puff. Eruhaben watched this with curiosity before snorting and starting to speak.
"Die? No, he is weird and amazing because he has not died yet."
The Gold Dragon pointed to the necklace on Cale's neck.
"There's water in that necklace, right?"
"Yes."
The Dominating Water was inside of the Absorbing Necklace. (This is the second time the author is using Dominating Water instead of Fire Suppressing Water. I'm going to use Dominating Water from here on. )
Eruhaben shook his head in disbelief as he looked at Cale. The reptilian vertical pupils of the Gold Dragon inspected Cale's body.
"There is the power of wood, the power of wind, and the power of fire."
The Indestructible Shield was the power of wood.
The Sound of the Wind was the power of wind. (Looks like it is now wind and not water. Makes so much more sense. )
The Fire of Destruction was the power of fire.
"And there is a human power too."
The term, 'human power,' made Cale think of his last remaining ancient power.
'The Vitality of the Heart.'
Cale and Eruhaben made eye contact.
Eruhaben described the last ancient power this unique human had in his possession.
"Restoration."
Cale responded to that word.
"That power must be what is keeping me alive."
"Yes. The strong vitality that belonged to an ancient human. The healing abilities of that ancient power are controlling all of the other powers and slowly fusing them all together."
'The Vitality of the Heart.'
Cale recalled how the Vitality of the Heart that he had gotten to strengthen the Indestructible Shield had influenced the Sound of the Wind as well.
'So, it wasn't strengthening it. It was actually fusing them.'
"I presume that was either the first or second ancient power you picked up."
"You are correct. It was the second ancient power."
"That is how you managed to live."
Eruhaben observed Cale as if he was looking at an interesting research specimen.
"You had the power of restoration before two affinities clashed with each other. Thanks to that, it prevented anything from happening."
Eruhaben made a mental note of the name of the human in front of him.
'I believe that he said his name was Cale Henituse.'
Choi Han and Rosalyn were not very interesting for the Gold Dragon. In fact, the pure-blooded Wolf boy and the Cat children, who also seemed to be pure-blooded but mutated in some way, caught his attention more than Choi Han or Rosalyn.
'But they are not as interesting as this human.'
The luck to gather six ancient powers could not just be considered to be caused by the Mandate of Heaven. Having that much luck would require a god to give a divine blessing to the human, however, the only divine power Eruhaben could feel on the human was from a vow of death.
'What a crazy bastard.'
Cale was a crazily lucky bastard.
He looked at the human who had no problem looking directly at him while talking to him and felt more curiosity than anger.
"Then I guess I do not need to worry."
Cale's calm expression made Eruhaben think that he was even more amazing. He did not seem to be shocked at all, even though he would have died if he had picked up the ancient powers in a different order.
Contrary to Eruhaben's opinion, Cale's heart was currently going wild.
'I could have been on my way to the afterlife if I went after another power first.'
Cale could feel goosebumps on his back. At that moment, Eruhaben started to speak again.
"You can relax for now."
"For now?"
"Yes. Well, your body is currently a ticking bomb. You'll blow up if your power of restoration screws up even by a bit."
Boom!
Raon's front paw slammed down on the golden table again. Eruhaben found it funny that a Dragon was in despair over a human's life, but continued to speak after seeing the little Dragon's vicious gaze.
"But there is a way."
Cale felt like he knew the answer.
'…Is it earth?'
Why was he thinking about that scary Super Rock right now?
Eruhaben continued to speak.
"The power of water in the necklace is considered as being a part of you, so you'll be fine as long as you go find the power of earth and create a balance in your body. All of the elements will balance each other if you collect them all."
'So, I really do need to go find this Super Rock.'
Cale thought about this ancient power with a name that already scared him. At that moment, Cale could feel a stubby front paw on his shoulder.
"Human, let's go find the power of earth right away."
Eruhaben scoffed once again. No matter how much of a lucky bastard Cale was to gather six ancient powers, it would be almost impossible to collect all five of the elements.
"Little kid, you need divine luck to find ancient powers."
"A great and mighty Dragon can create something stupid like divine luck! Do you not know about the might of a Dragon, Goldie?"
Eruhaben looked back toward Cale and asked.
"Why did he grow up like this?"
'I know, right?'
Cale did not know why Raon grew up like this either.
– Human, let's use that book that the Elf Chief gave you to find the power of earth. I will definitely find it for you, so do not worry! You will live a long life!
Cale held back his sigh at Raon's voice that was going off in his mind, but ended up sighing in the end. It was because of Eruhaben.
"Did you say your name was Cale? Is your family perhaps a Dragon slaying family?"
"…What the-."
'What kind of scary and crazy shit are you saying?'
Cale held back from saying that part. The Dragon didn't have that pompous attitude he expected, leading him to almost speak openly, just like he did with the crown prince.
"No?"
"Of course not."
Cale laughed at Eruhaben's statement and waved his hand. However, he got chills seeing Eruhaben stare at him without any emotions on his face, and thus could not help but look at the others.
"Ron, isn't my family just a small noble family?"
"…Yes, young master-nim."
Ron avoided the Dragon's gaze and answered after a while.
'It looks weird because you are avoiding his gaze.'
Cale started to frown. Why was this old assassin acting like this? He then changed his target to Choi Han next.
"Choi Han, isn't my family's level of strength weak?"
Eruhaben's gaze turned toward Choi Han as well. Choi Han and the Gold Dragon made eye contact. Thankfully, Choi Han answered in a more relaxed manner than Ron.
"…Yes, it is weak."
Cale was satisfied with Choi Han's answer and looked toward Eruhaben.
The Henituse family was a wealthy family that was average when it came to physical strength.
Eruhaben asked in a gentle tone, as if he found Cale's confident demeanor to be cute.
"So, it is not a Dragon slayer family?"
"No. How could there be a person who can kill a Dragon?"
"Why not?"
'There are actually Dragon slayers?'
"A Dragon slayer family existed in the past."
Eruhaben put his chin on top of his clasped hands and slowly continued to speak.
"It was a crazy family. They did not get scared, even under the influence of Dragon Fear, and could even stand up against it. That power was only passed down through the family bloodline."
The Gold Dragon found Cale, who had no problem making eye contact with him since the beginning, to be entertaining.
An adult Dragon had a unique dominating atmosphere around them, even when they did not use Dragon Fear. Eruhaben lowered that atmosphere around him to a minimum for Pendrick, so it made sense for the Beast people to be okay, but most humans would still find this level of atmosphere to be difficult to handle.
There was a reason why Ron and Choi Han's responses were a bit delayed, as well as why nobody was saying anything other than when he mentioned that Cale would die.
That was why the way the group was looking at Cale was different than before.
Eruhaben continued to speak to Cale, who did not seem to notice any of this.
"However, the final successor of that family disappeared, and the Dragon slayer bloodline ended."
Cale felt iffy about the fact that the person had disappeared. However, all of his doubts disappeared after hearing what Eruhaben had to say next.
"The Dragon slayer power is a power that is full of courage."
The word, 'courage,' made Cale start to smile.
It was a power that had no relations to him whatsoever.
The only type of courage he had was the ability to bluff thanks to a scam ancient power like the Dominating Aura.
"I see. Anyways, I am not a Dragon slayer."
Eruhaben nodded his head and accepted it after listening to Cale's stern response.
'I guess he does not know about it yet.'
Eruhaben did not say anything else after seeing that Cale did not seem to know.
Most people who challenged Dragons in the past would tuck their tails and hide once they saw a Dragon that was tens of meters in length. However, there was one human who never cowered and continued to charge at the Dragons. He was the greatest Dragon hunter.
The greatest and only Dragon hunter in the past had an aura that Dragons both liked and hated. It was because it was a power that could stand face to face with them.
"Well, I guess that is the case if you say so."
Eruhaben did not explain everything and just gently smiled.
Cale had an ominous feeling after seeing Eruhaben's smile, but brushed it aside. He did not have any power relating to courage.
"But more importantly."
'Not again.'
Cale wanted to sigh after seeing that Eruhaben was about to say something else. A ticking bomb and Dragon slayers, what could come next?
"Little kid."
Cale relaxed after seeing that Eruhaben was talking to Raon and not him.
"What is it, old man."
"Ho!"
Raon's sassy response made Eruhaben scoff.
– Did I do well?
'Yes, you can't just let him look down on you without dishing it back.'
Cale petted Raon's head.
Eruhaben shook his head and casually said what he needed to say.
"You haven't even reached your first growth phase yet."
"I am still strong."
Eruhaben stared at Raon. There was a reason why he was more benevolent compared to the other Dragons.
"Yes, you will definitely be strong in the future. However, if you were to meet another Dragon right now, you'd be flattened into a pancake."
"What? Flattened? Pancake? That would not happen!"
Raon strongly objected.
However, Raon slowly avoided Eruhaben's gaze and looked up at the lair's ceiling. Eruhaben continued to watch Raon as he started to speak again.
"You really are not like a Dragon. How cute."
Raon looked back at Eruhaben and shouted back.
"What? I am not cute!"
"I will help you."
'Hmm?'
Raon tilted his head in confusion. He then looked toward Cale with an expression that seemed to be asking, 'what did I just hear?'
Cale had a confused look on his face as well.
At that moment, the human and Dragon duo heard Eruhaben's voice again.
The ancient Dragon wanted to pass everything he had to someone else in order to leave his mark on this world before he died.
"Stay in my lair."
Eruhaben knew that he was dying. He had five years to live at maximum.
He did not have enough time.
The reason that he was benevolent to other Dragons was because only another Dragon could carry on his legacy. He had now met a Dragon that was quite good and cared a lot about friendship.
"I will pass on everything I have."
Any normal Dragon would find this to be annoying and decline. They did not want to carry on another Dragon's legacy. However, Eruhaben asked, thinking that this Dragon would be different.
'But he may still decline, since he is a Dragon.'
This little kid was a Dragon after all. Eruhaben was worried that Raon would decline.
"Of course, you can decline if you don't want it. I am a generous Dragon, so I will not seek to get revenge like other Dragons might. So, feel free to say what is on-."
Eruhaben stopped talking after looking toward Cale and Raon.
Cale had an odd expression on his face.
Raon also had an odd expression on his face.
The former seemed to be confused, while the latter seemed to be excited.
'Excited?'
Raon was talking in Cale's mind while Eruhaben was being confused by Raon's expression of excitement.
– Human, it is free! He said he will give me everything!
Raon was starting to smile the same way Cale smiled every time he sold something to the crown prince.
"Golden Dragon!"
"What is it? You can decline if you'd like, but I think you will be able to learn everything in about three months-"
"Is lodging and food free as well?"
Eruhaben blinked a few times, wondering if he had heard correctly. Raon was smiling.
Eruhaben finally managed to speak after a while.
"…What?"
"If you are going to teach me for free, do I get to stay here for free as well?"
"…Yes?"
Raon pointed to Cale and the rest before asking once more.
"Is it free for all of us?"
"…I guess so?"
Bang!
Raon slammed down on the golden table with excitement and quickly shouted.
"Then I'll do it! I'll do it!"
Raon started to shout in Cale's mind.
– Then I will become even stronger! If I get everything that belongs to this Golden Dragon, I will be at least twice as strong!
– And it is all for free!
Cale smiled awkwardly after seeing that Eruhaben, who was unable to understand Raon's energetic response, looking toward him instead.
"Hahaha-."
Yes, this was good.
Cale petted Raon's head one more time.
He felt oddly proud and satisfied.
He had taught Raon well.