Unlike the students of Dormitory A, where she belonged, Elena Eshdid was not Hero-born.
In the past, cases like this had been common, but now, they were rare.
Because of that, Elena could not receive any support, but she realized that she had talent related to spirits.
‘What’s the problem?’
Since spirit-types were said to be without peer, Elena thought she would immediately walk a smooth, paved road.
However, a well-laid road was not easily granted to Elena.
Because she had a problem. Perhaps it could be seen as a simple problem.
‘It would be better if I had no mana at all.’
That problem was mana operation.
In Elena’s environment, there was no one who could tell her that it was because of the amount of mana she possessed, an amount difficult for a human to contain.
Thus, while blaming her own talent, Elena thought of the Academy as her way forward.
‘So I wasn’t special after all......?’
That was Elena’s overall assessment after observing the incoming students of this cohort. Rather, it became an opportunity for her to objectify herself.
‘What the hell is with him?!’
Among them, the especially outstanding incoming student was Lee Wonwoo. He seemed, quite literally, to have stepped outside the domain of humanity.
Perhaps because Elena could commune with spirits, he had left an intense impression on her.
It was hard to believe, but the spirits dwelling in nature had felt fear toward Lee Wonwoo.
That was why she had been flustered when Lee Wonwoo, who had made such an unprecedented move, apologized to her.
And what was happening now......?
Elena carefully asked Lee Wonwoo.
“Is this really, really the right place?”
Elena had never stuttered in her entire life.
“It’s not bad, but let’s go a little farther. It’s because this guy’s roots are as a magical beast.”
But he had been saying incomprehensible things for a while now, so how could she speak properly?
Just look at her now. At some point, she was searching for a sunny place with Lee Wonwoo.
Lee Wonwoo once again glared along Elena’s left side.
“Why are you throwing a fit right away when I didn’t even say anything wrong? Lord Virudhaka knows my innocence.”
Elena truly felt as if she would go mad.
Even so, perhaps the reason she silently followed him was because of his eyes.
His pitch-black eyes resembled an abyss that would embrace anything.
And since there was no lie in such deep eyes, should she say she trusted him more?
Tap!
At that moment, Lee Wonwoo grabbed Elena’s shoulder while she was drenched in thought.
“Watch where you’re walking.”
“......Phew.”
Elena exhaled to pull herself together, but her expression stiffened.
Her gaze was aimed to the left.
‘This, this was what was riding on me......?’
There was something there, a human-shaped being with a horse’s head.
Elena could show no reaction. No, it did not feel as if she had been allowed to.
She was afraid even the sound of her breathing might offend it. A tyrannical aura was tightening around her limbs.
‘......How can he joke around with something like that?’
The fact that Lee Wonwoo treated it as if it were nothing was enough to make her faint.
If Lee Wonwoo’s eyes always saw beings like this......
“What are you doing? Are you cold?”
Lee Wonwoo’s hand fell away from Elena’s shoulder. In that moment, the horse-headed man vanished like melting snow.
‘......It was only for a moment.’
Only then did Elena realize that the time that had passed for her had been nothing more than an instant.
***
Why was she suddenly acting like this?
‘She doesn’t look cold.’
She had been sulking alone, and then she looked as if she might fall, so I grabbed her. After that, she suddenly froze.
‘She’ll tell me later when the time comes.’
I had no intention of asking. I did not feel curiosity in that direction.
I simply thought everyone had their own reasons. Perhaps it was because I had always grown up with ease.
In any case, I stood in an open place, looked at Kubanda, and politely bowed my head.
“Now, please give it to me, Lord Kubanda.”
“Only at times like this...... Still, if even the Heavenly Hound did it, there is no way I cannot.”
Soon, Kubanda firmly gripped my arm. I felt a formless aura extending from his hand and passing into me.
Saaaaaah-!
At the same time, beside the Thunderbird’s mark, a horse mark with not a trace of dignity slowly engraved itself.
However, I did not even get to look at it.
“That startled me.”
When was the last time I had flinched? On top of that, I could not even remember when I had been startled aloud.
But Kubanda pressing in close enough that his corneas almost touched my skin was more than qualified to startle me.
“To think it would truly work. Speak even now. Are you certain you are human?”
“Yeah.”
“......Look at the manners on this brat.”
I was not usually this rude. It was because I was suffering from an unpleasant sensation tightening around my entire body.
‘Is it because his roots are as a monster?’
It chilled me to the bone, so perhaps even answering had been the best I could do.
‘Still, this will do.’
Fortunately, Kubanda’s mark was full, so I should be able to use it right away.
Inwardly, I had wanted Kubanda’s Authority. After all, the Heavenly Hound’s special ability had been useless in crossing the barrier.
Thus, the selfish power called mana absorption would be a great help to my Academy life.
‘Now only this is left.’
Only now did my body feel a little more comfortable. My promise with Kubanda was simple. I had to absorb Elena’s mana.
Before keeping that promise, I thought I should at least give the person involved some kind of heads-up.
“Listen carefully. The reason Kubanda is staying by your side is because you have too much mana. More precisely, he said it’s out-of-standard mana.”
Elena replied in a flustered tone.
“Then everything that’s happened until now......”
Elena’s answer was closer to a murmur. She seemed to have many things to think about, so I waited calmly.
‘Well, she did say there’d been no one to tell her until now.’
Perhaps Elena had grown up in an environment similar to mine.
“Still, he says it’ll be solved if we absorb a portion of your mana. So don’t worry.”
Elena shook her head, organizing her scattered memories and thoughts, then looked at me with clear, decisive eyes.
“Okay!”
“And...... according to Kubanda, I’ll absorb it until you can operate your mana. If you feel like you can do it, operate it right away.”
Then Elena asked me an unexpected question.
“But why are you going this far for me?”
There was no need to think about it. Perhaps it had already been decided from the moment I crossed the barrier.
“Because you’re dreaming the same dream as me.”
I had always longed only to become a Hero.
There was no way someone like me would not respect someone who shared the dream of becoming a Hero.
“A dream...... You’re right.”
After finishing all preparations, I asked Kubanda.
“Isn’t there something like a spell?”
Kubanda set the mood. He was as weighty as a horse head could be.
“Human words contain will. When mana fills that will, it becomes a spell, so there is nothing fixed.”
Dignity and majesty settled into his once-thin voice.
‘He could’ve just said will is important.’
Still, since he had passed his Authority down to me, I could not tease him like before.
I closed my eyes for a moment and selected an intuitive word that would express my will.
“......Reclaim.”
At that moment, I felt a formless power stretch from my hand toward Elena.
Since I could not see it with my eyes, I had no idea what was what.
‘I think it worked.’
They say there are things you can only see if you know, but sometimes, there are things you can only know if you see them.
And because that was possible for me, I activated the Heavenly Hound’s special ability.
In an instant, the surrounding scenery and Elena warped within my eyes.
‘Holy shit...... She’s just a monster.’
When I saw Elena through the Heavenly Hound’s eyes, my will almost scattered.
Inside the vessel that was a human, a vast strait stood silently and firmly in place.
Only now did I understand Kubanda’s words. No human could operate that much mana.
Kubanda’s special ability, which I was finally able to see, was a gigantic hand whose form was not intact.
The moment that hand touched Elena, the great sea that had been calm began to flood toward me along with a storm.
“......Urgh!”
The wave of mana destroyed the levee that was my body in one blow and tore through me at random.
A pain like my bones were being ground into powder arose. But more than that, the nature of Kubanda’s special ability was the bigger problem.
‘Was the laundering incomplete?’
A bizarre sensation, as if I were walking inside a beast’s belly, dominated my entire body.
At that moment, Kubanda spoke like a seasoned instructor.
“Focus. Right now, not only are you handling an Authority that is not your own, you are also making another person’s mana your own.”
It was all information I knew, so it was not particularly helpful.
‘Haah......’
At some point, deep in my heart, an impulse began to entice me. It was a sinister impulse telling me to plunder everything.
‘Is this why he said he needed help?’
Perhaps Kubanda had been wary that he would be ruled by that impulse and steal all of Elena’s mana.
‘I think that’s right. If he did it alone, it would take longer.’
It seemed that he had been slowly taking only a little at a time because he had been alone.
Certainly, if there were two people, the time needed to absorb the mana would be reduced, and they could also check each other’s condition.
“Are you going to take all of it? Why not just kill her?”
“Ahem...... Let us not behave rashly!”
Kubanda, who had been sweating beside me, jerked his chin as if pulling himself together.
“......”
I did not show it much, but I could feel myself gradually reaching my limit.
‘I figured it would be like this.’
The truth was, it was not as if I could immediately use an Authority that had been passed down to me exactly as it was.
When I first looked at the world through the Heavenly Hound’s eyes, I had been blind for a short while.
I had thought of it as the price for using the power of a being on par with a god.
Kubanda’s words floated through my mind vaguely, as if scattering.
-An Authority that is not your own, in the form of a special ability......
It was not wrong, but at some point, even when I activated the Heavenly Hound’s special ability, my eyes only felt stiff. I no longer went blind.
That meant it had adjusted to me over time. Then whose power was it now?
I had never thought about it before.
‘To think a horse head would become my teacher......’
Kubanda’s words gave me a strange realization.
‘It’s my power. If it’s inside me.’
Because it had been tamed by me and adjusted to me, I now considered it my power.
My thoughts extended to Kubanda’s special ability as well. Then the impulse trying to swallow me slowly faded.
Through the gap in the vile impulse, Elena’s voice squeezed in.
“I think I’ve got it. No, I got it!”
Her tone was so bright that when I checked on her, laughter came out first.
‘Why does that work?’
It had gone from an ocean to a lake.
“Still, it worked out well......”
My mind grew distant under the surging fatigue.
Even then, I hoped the last thing I saw would not be Kubanda.
‘Ah, thank goodness.’
Fortunately, I saw Elena smiling. It felt rewarding in its own way.
‘Still, this is my limit.’
It would be a pleasant fainting, but if this counted as sleep, then sleep it was.
***
I came to my senses from the unfamiliar sensation I felt at my fingertips. The smell of medicine filled the air.
When I put my weight on my palms and raised my upper body, I saw Elena asleep while leaning against the windowsill.
‘So this is the infirmary...... To think she waited for me.’
Looking at the risen moon outside the window, I could tell that quite a bit of time had passed.
“You did well.”
Kubanda’s thin voice. Maybe because we had gone through hardship together, I had grown attached, so it was bearable to hear.
“I said you did well.”
No, I had not.
But why was he still here?
“What else is left?”
“How was it? The alluring power called mana absorption. This selfish power, along with the impulse to take everything away.”
Oh, so he had been waiting for an evaluation.
“Hmm, maybe because its roots are as a monster, it’s a little unpleasant.”
“What did you say?!”
“I’m joking. Thank you!”
I meant it, since I had obtained a special ability too.
And through this incident, I vaguely thought that perhaps the esteemed Virudhaka might become aware of my existence.
Normally, this would be the time to exchange farewells, but I did not.
“They’re all the same.”
Because by the time I said thank you, not even Kubanda’s afterimage remained.
But still.
‘Why did I do that?’
Even when I thought about it myself, I had treated Kubanda comfortably to a strange degree.
‘They’re all so shy.’
I also thought that perhaps Kubanda had been considerate of me.
In any case, my lower abdomen felt heavy. Not my stomach, exactly, but since the lower dantian was in an ambiguous place, the sensation was similar.
‘Did mana build up there?’
Well, Kubanda and I had split the sea between us and turned it into a lake. It would be hard to measure the amount.
“......?”
Then my gaze came to rest on the Thunderbird’s mark.
‘It’s filled in, isn’t it?’
It was only a tiny bit, about the size of a fingernail, but I placed meaning in the fact that it had filled in at all.
‘Looks like it fills with mana.’
Since the only thing I had done was mana absorption, it was a thought that made plenty of sense.
If it worked this way, the Thunderbird’s special ability was growth-type, and perhaps every special ability I possessed was growth-type.
The act of adjusting to me itself would be no different from growth.
‘I hope tomorrow comes quickly.’
Maybe because I had ended up relying on the infirmary from the very first day, I was looking forward to Academy life even more.