Chapter 130: The Horned Guy

’In here?’

Valerian’s eyes hardened when he looked at the man.

’Does he know this is a separate dimension? But then how did he get here? Did the principal place him here?’

The man let out a deep sigh when he saw the heavy look in Valerian’s eyes. Taking one of the wooden chairs, he turned it around and sat on it while leaning his arms on the backrest.

"Sit down, kid. I guess we need to talk."

Not moving for a second, Valerian tried to guess what the man’s plan was, but if he wanted to kill Valerian, then he could have just done so when he first saw him. Walking to the bed, Valerian sat on it and turned to the man, curious about what he would say next.

"How did you get in here, kid?"

Being called ’kid’ for the third time now, a tinge of annoyance came up in Valerian, but he kept it down and thought about the question.

’How much should I answer? I still don’t know who they are and why they are here.’

Going with the safe approach, Valerian answered.

"I was sent here."

Not looking impressed, the man held Valerian’s gaze.

"You know what I mean. How did you get in this dimension?"

This time, he let out a bit of his mana and pressed down on Valerian’s body. His weakened state could barely fight off the mana of an SSS-rank, but he refused to fall to the ground and held himself on the bed, if only barely.

’Shit, he knows this is a separate dimension. But how much does he know exactly?’

The weight of the mana lessened a bit, and he could sit up straight again.

"I was sent here to improve my space magic."

Asterion’s eyes became slightly interested as he heard Valerian.

"And these horns? What are you?"

Valerian’s brows furrowed.

"A dragon. That’s all you need to know."

Asterion just nodded and didn’t ask for more information. He stood up and put the chair that he took back to the table.

"You can stay here for now. But if you make any trouble, you’re dead."

Without another word, he left the room, leaving Valerian alone staring at his retreating back.

’What the fuck was that?’

First, there was a village in this separate dimension that he thought the principal prepared just for his trial. Then, it turned out they have been here for quite some time, and now there is an SSS-ranker who knows that this is a separate dimension?

’This is getting way too annoying.’

But he couldn’t deny that these people could help in mastering his space magic. He still remembered the status that he saw from the girl.

’Void-Touched, huh?’

And they looked suspiciously similar to himself, with their silver-white hair and purple eyes. Sure, he didn’t own these colors, but there was no way this was just a coincidence. It was Sylas Starlight after all, the elf with a strange obsession with Valerian.

’Brooding here won’t help me.’

He turned to the door that led out of the medical room, and after contemplating his choices for a moment, he made his way to the door.

The door was made from the pale white wood of the forest surrounding the village and felt old to the touch. When he pushed it open, he saw the rest of the village that he wasn’t able to see in the dark when he got here.

It wasn’t that big, but there were at least twelve wooden houses, with one large one at the center.

He could see little children with silver-white hair, these purple veins under their skin, and purple eyes running around, playing with each other.

In the distance, a group of middle-aged women with the same features were sitting together, cutting some sort of vegetable while talking with a smile.

A group of men walked out of the forest carrying bundles of white firewood, laughing loudly. But one of them was carrying something that caught Valerian’s attention: it was the corpse of a monster that looked like the beast that attacked him yesterday, with its head missing.

’Did they hunt it?’

He still remembered how helpless he felt in front of it. He wasn’t able to sense or see it; it only revealed itself centimeters before it was already too late.

He stepped out of the building. Some of the children who ran by him stopped and pointed at him.

"Look! Horned guy!"

’The fuck do they mean, ’horned guy’?!’

Keeping his swearing to himself, a vein popped on Valerian’s forehead. He had a deep pride in his race and blood, so hearing a random kid call him ’horned guy’ caused something in his bloodline to get angry at the child.

The women heard the child talk and turned in Valerian’s direction, confusion written all over their faces.

The village turned quiet for a moment, something the men didn’t miss. They walked to the women, and Valerian could see them say something while pointing in his direction.

’Don’t tell me they want to fight me now?’

If they managed to kill that beast, then he wasn’t sure if he could defeat them in his current state, but he was more than ready to defend himself to the last drop of blood... well, you know what he means.

The group of men walked over to Valerian, and he met them halfway, keeping his eyes cold and his head held high.

All of them had the same hair, eye color, and markings as the rest of the people he had seen, only they were tall and packed with muscles all over their bodies.

"Who are you, and why are you in our village?"

The man leading the group spoke, his voice deep and rough. Valerian met his gaze without flinching and activated his [Dragon Eyes], as his purple eyes began to glow and the status of the man lay bare in front of him.

│─────── STATUS ─────── │

│ Name : Brutus Rock

│ Age : 72

│ Race : Void-Touched

│ ─────── ORIGIN ─────── │

│ Bloodline : None

│ Physique : None

│ Core : B+

│ ────── ATTRIBUTES ────── │

│ Vitality : A-

│ Strength : A-

│ Agility : B

│ Dexterity : B

│ Intelligence : B-

│ Mana : B+

│ Charm : C+

│ ─────── AFFINITIES ─────── │

│ Space

│ ─────── TITLES ─────── │

│ Riftfall Hunter

│ ─────── SKILLS ─────── │

│ [Racial Skills]

│ Spatial Veins

│ Void Adaptation

│ Phase Shift

│ [Unique Skill]

│ None

│ ─────── BOND ─────── │

│ Bound Entity: None

’B+, and he’s built for strength instead of speed. Should be doable.’

While he was confident that he could beat Brutus, he wasn’t so sure about the other four men who stood behind him. If they all were to attack at the same time, he wasn’t sure if he could win.

’Maybe I don’t have to fight them.’

Their ’guardian’ had allowed him to stay here as long as he doesn’t cause trouble, so fighting should be the last thing he did.

"My name is Valerian, an-"

"Let him be!"

Before he could finish his sentence, a girl stepped in front of him like she was shielding him from bullies.

’Is that the girl from earlier?’

One quick activation of [Dragon Eyes] confirmed that it was the same girl he met when he woke up, and Valerian wasn’t sure what to do now.

The girl, Lyra, was standing in front of the men with her arms wide. She clearly didn’t look convinced by her own act of chivalry, but she refused to back down.

"Lyra, what are you doing? He is a stranger!"

Brutus yelled at the girl, causing her to slightly flinch, but she didn’t step back and stood her ground.

"Sir Asterion allowed him to stay here! So what are you doing?!"

Brutus’s eyes wavered for a second, and he looked back at his group with uncertainty. He turned back and looked at Valerian in a different light.

"Is that true, Lyra? Sir Asterion said he could stay?"

"Yes! So you better leave him in peace!"

With a deep sigh, Brutus scratched the back of his head and turned around.

"Fine, but be careful, Lyra. He is still a stranger."

With that, he walked away. Valerian looked at the girl standing in front of him. He could see that she was breathing a bit heavily as the adrenaline from standing up to an adult settled in.

"You didn’t need to do that."

She slightly flinched when she heard him talk, and with an embarrassed face, she turned around.

"I know... It’s just... they were starting a fight... and I wanted to step in."

She didn’t meet Valerian’s eyes and stared at the ground, embarrassed. Valerian looked at the girl and sighed. He wasn’t blind, and he wasn’t dense. He obviously knew that she was acting like this because of his high charm and because she saw him without his shirt.

’Really, this charm is getting slightly annoying.’

With a charm at SSS+, his very presence was attractive, not just in a sexual way, but also in a way that made people listen to him and believe what he said, and it could also develop into romantic feelings.

But he already had a girlfriend that he loved, and now his charm just felt like a hindrance.

With a sigh, he looked at the girl.

"My name is Valerian, by the way."

The girl looked up and met his eyes through her hair.

"Lyra..."

"Okay, Lyra. Can you show me around the village?"