Chapter 548

At Rian’s sudden declaration, the entire student body stared at him blankly.

As Hero Candidates, the students of Lumene had experienced all manner of strange things, but this was the first time they had met a child who abruptly claimed to be a god.

Under normal circumstances, they might have dismissed him as someone slightly unhinged.

However, Melina stood behind Rian.

There was not a single student at Lumene who did not know that Melina was the Dragon Lord.

It was simply an open secret that everyone kept quiet about because Melina herself insisted otherwise.

Everyone knew her true identity.

And this child had arrived with Melina herself.

Rather than merely being a mad child, it seemed as though Melina was personally vouching for Rian’s claim.

“No, but... a god? Does that even make sense?”

“I know, right?”

Chelsea and Carr stared at him in disbelief.

It was difficult to believe that a god, after vanishing from the world following the Era of Calamity, would suddenly appear before them.

Even if he had arrived with the Dragon Lord.

Doubting Rian’s identity, Chelsea and Carr glanced at Leo, who sat between them.

When they saw his serious expression, their faces went blank.

Carr quietly whispered to him.

“Hey, Leo. Don’t tell me... it’s true?”

When Leo gave a slight nod, Chelsea and Carr’s mouths fell open.

'A god?'

Wasn’t a god supposed to be an omniscient and omnipotent being?

They had imagined an absolute being whose very presence naturally compelled others to bow their heads.

But Rian was nothing like that.

Of course, his face was breathtakingly beautiful.

His features possessed an almost perfect beauty.

That alone was enough to draw the attention of everyone around him.

Yet he did not exude a divine presence or seem like a being who should be worshipped.

“Maybe only Rian is like that? Since he looks so young, perhaps he’s young even by the standards of gods.”

“That could be it.”

“Appearance means nothing to gods,” Leo said indifferently.

“Age is meaningless to them. If he looks like that, it’s purely a matter of personal preference.”

“Ah...”

“Besides, gods are surprisingly incompetent.”

“Incompetent? The ancient texts clearly state that they’re omniscient and omnipotent. Was that a lie?” Chelsea asked with a bewildered expression.

“They are omniscient and omnipotent. They simply can’t use those powers to influence the Mortal Realm.”

“Then why did the gods of the past descend to the Mortal Realm?” Carr asked in astonishment.

Research into the ruins and documents of the Age of Gods, which preceded the Era of Calamity, remained active even today.

It was a fascinating field of study.

Although the gods were gone now, there was no doubt that they had existed in the distant past.

During the Age of Gods, people worshipped the gods, and through that worship, the gods exercised tremendous influence over the Mortal Realm.

Because of this, scholars studying the Age of Gods believed that the gods had led that era to expand their own influence.

Leo calmly answered Carr’s question.

“Because they were bored.”

“What?”

“They came crawling down to the Mortal Realm because they had nothing to do in the Divine Realm.”

Chelsea and Carr’s mouths fell open at the unimaginable answer.

Those who lived in the present could not help but harbor fantasies about gods.

'Fantasies exist to be shattered. That’s how everyone grows up.'

With the mischievous expression of an adult about to ruin a child’s fantasy, Leo looked toward Rian.

'Is he planning to tell them what we discussed before?'

“First, I have something to tell you all.”

The smile vanished from Rian’s face.

Seeing this, the students of Lumene held their breath.

An overwhelming presence radiated from Rian, who had been laughing foolishly only moments before.

Though he remained a mysterious being, he now effortlessly overwhelmed the entire assembly of Hero Candidates.

“The story I am about to tell you concerns the final battle that determined the fate of the world 5,000 years ago.”

The battle that determined the fate of the world 5,000 years ago.

No one here failed to understand what that meant.

'The final battle of the Great Heroes...!'

It was a story recorded neither in the Hero Record nor in any surviving literature.

It had been passed down solely as a legend.

Recently, the general course of events had become known through Melina, the Dragon Lord, but the specific details remained a mystery.

Amid the silence, Rian, who had been exuding such overwhelming charisma, began fumbling with something inside his clothes.

He slipped finger puppets of the five Great Heroes onto the fingers of his left hand.

Then, after placing a puppet of Erebos on his right hand, he began a childish puppet show.

“Once upon a time, long, long ago, there was the Primordial Evil and the five Great Heroes.”

===

“Finally, left all alone, the Hero of Beginning stood before the Primordial Evil with the weight of the world upon his shoulders! He personally subjugated an evil that even the gods were powerless against! Yet the ungrateful world has forgotten the accomplishments of the Hero of Beginning! How could this not be utterly deplorable?”

After finishing his puppet show, Rian began praising Kyle at the top of his lungs.

“Other races may be different, but all of you are human! Who is the hero humanity should honor and revere above all others?!”

Rian spread his arms wide.

“I am speaking of Kyle, the Hero of Beginning! You should all worship and revere Lord Kyle, who accomplished a feat that even the gods could not! As Hero Candidates, you must honor Lord Kyle, the beginning of everything, with the utmost devotion! Yet even though such a great person exists in the Mortal Realm, some foolish children still harbor fantasies about useless beings like gods! I’m certain some of you are among them!”

'There were... but if you’re really a god, I think you shattered those fantasies today.'

Several Lumene students muttered inwardly.

“A question! What kind of person is Lord Kyle?”

As Rian glared at them, the Lumene students exchanged glances.

Then someone cautiously raised her hand.

It was Eliana.

“Young lady, answer me.”

“Lord Kyle is greater than the gods?”

“Correct. A wonderful answer, young lady.”

Rian nodded in satisfaction.

“I hope none of you ever forget today’s lesson. Lord Kyle is so great that even gods cannot compare to him. You must never forget that.”

“Just how long is he going to keep this up?”

“Is he planning to establish an actual religion?”

Chelsea and Carr whispered wearily as they watched Rian continue praising Kyle.

“You may find it strange that I worship the Hero of Beginning so fervently.”

Rian smiled brightly.

“The reason is simple. He was the only one capable of saving the world.”

Rian looked at the Hero Candidates.

“Hero Candidates who carry on Lumene’s legacy, did you know that Lumene came to see me 3,000 years ago?”

At those words, the Lumene students began murmuring.

“Three thousand years ago... Do you mean during the Return of the Calamity?”

When Chloe raised her hand and asked, Rian nodded.

“Yes. To be precise, it was after the Return of the Calamity that you know of had ended.”

“The Return of the Calamity that we know of?”

Chloe looked bewildered.

Rian gazed at her and said, “I will now reveal a truth about the world that, for the past 3,000 years, has been known only to the successors of the Wise King and the descendants of Rodia, the Dragon of Genesis.”

The students’ gazes naturally turned toward Melina.

“The Return of the Calamity has not yet ended.”

For a moment, the Lumene students could not comprehend Rian’s words.

Rian continued calmly.

“The Fragment of Erebos that awakened 3,000 years ago during the Return of the Calamity has never been subjugated.”

“What?”

“What does that mean...?!”

Cries of shock erupted throughout the lecture hall.

“And the Genesis Heroes are still alive.”

At Rian’s declaration, everyone’s eyes widened.

“Three thousand years ago, a human reached the realm where I reside. His name was Lumene. He came to me seeking wisdom. He asked for a way to subjugate the Fragment of Erebos, which could resurrect endlessly.”

With an expressionless face, Rian revealed the truth of the world.

“I told him that there was no way to subjugate the Primordial Evil as things stood. However, there was a way to seal it.”

Rian looked up at the portrait of Lumene hanging in the lecture hall.

Then he began telling the story of how the Genesis Heroes had sealed Erebos 3,000 years ago.

(T/N: Here I was thinking he’d just spread his fanaticism toward Leo and Kyle, lol.)

===

It was truly shocking.

The fact that even the combined power of the Genesis Heroes had not been enough to subjugate Erebos.

The revelation that the resurrected Fragment of Erebos and the Genesis Heroes remained locked in an endless struggle.

Even the fact that Erebos was the reason the Hero Record had been torn apart 3,000 years ago.

It was an unbelievable tale.

Yet some of those present had witnessed proof that it was true.

“Elena. Then the Erebos we subjugated in Lady Luna’s world...”

“It seems... it was a piece of the first Fragment.”

Lunia and Elena spoke with grim expressions.

“Then Lady Seiren, who appeared in Seiren back then... Was she really Seiren herself?!”

Eiran covered her mouth and whispered in a trembling voice.

Celia raised her hand.

“I have a question! Was it because the Genesis Heroes lacked the strength to subjugate the Calamity Flame?”

“The Genesis Heroes are likely far stronger than you imagine. Since the world began, the number of beings stronger than them can be counted on one hand. Even the Primordial Evil could never defeat the Genesis Heroes while it remained fragmented. That is why the world still exists today.”

“Then why did they have no choice but to seal it within the Hero Record?”

Chloe looked confused as she asked the question.

Rian answered, “Even if the Wise King, the Founder of the Nebula, The Brave, and the Divine Blacksmith joined forces, they would still be unable to completely subjugate the Primordial Evil. That evil is an eternal and immortal being as long as its flame continues to burn.”

Later generations knew that Erebos bore the epithet “the unquenchable Calamity Flame.”

However, they had believed only that extinguishing Erebos’s flame was extraordinarily difficult.

But to think that the flame itself was truly immortal...

“Then how did the Great Heroes save the world?” Lily asked, raising her hand.

“The Calamity Flame has a natural enemy.”

Rian smiled faintly.

“Purity.”

“Purity?”

“It refers to one born with mana of incomparable purity. One who possesses Purity can become anything. It represents infinite possibility.”

“Do you mean... Lord Kyle?”

“Yes. The Hero of Beginning possessed the Mana Trait, Purity. He was the only natural enemy in this world capable of opposing the Calamity Flame.”

The students nodded at Rian’s explanation.

If that was the case, it made sense that the Genesis Heroes had been unable to subjugate Erebos.

“Wait.”

Eliana, who had been nodding, suddenly froze.

“Lord Kyle was an All-Class, wasn’t he?”

The moment that thought occurred to her, Eliana turned her head in shock.

She was not the only one.

Before they knew it, everyone was looking in the same direction.

The unprecedented All-Class.

“That is correct.”

Rian smiled brightly.

“He possesses the same Mana Trait, Purity, as the Hero of Beginning. In other words, he was born with the destiny to save this world.”

***