Chapter 223: Raising Talent 2

After distributing the infectious disease remedy to the Dragon Tribe leaders, Woohyuk returned to the Rhine Kingdom.

It was time for his talented personnel to come out of the training center.

Although a month had passed in this world, 40 years had passed for those in the training center.

“Dad, I studied hard!”

“.. I also didn’t get bad grades.”

Lia and Carnelian ran to Woohyuk with their certificate of completion.

They now looked like middle school students.

“Alright, eat this.”

“What is this?”

“It looks like medicine that we eat when we’re sick..”

Lia and Carnelian were confused and accepted a cure for the current epidemic that ravaged the dragons.

After explaining the efficacy of the drug to the two, Woohyuk talked to Leifina.

“Did your sword skills improve?”

“Yes, I practiced every day after reading the textbook.”

Fortunately, as a result of seeing her exemplify her skills, it seemed like she didn’t spend all her time on researching how to cook instead of swordsmanship.

“Next time, reach the level of Sword Master.”

“.. Huh?”

Leifina looked lost.

Woohyuk stroked her pink hair as if to say her expression was cute.

“Because you’re still lacking in skills, I will invite a suitable teacher for you. Won’t that be good?”

“Well. It’s not bad, but..”

Leifina blushed shyly.

It was because she felt that Woohyuk’s gaze was slightly different from usual.

“To have you stay by my side, I need for you to become stronger. Don’t forget that fact.”

“.. I won’t disappoint you.”

Leifina faced Woohyuk with a determined expression.

She was in a state of regret for not being able to assist the lord.

She tried not to miss the opportunity that Woohyuk gave this time.

‘I like the look in your eyes.’

historical

Was it because he saw the memories of his previous life?

He was starting to become more and more attached to Leifina.

Of course, even before that, she was always a special person to him, but the relationship had never progressed because of his guilt toward Lucretia.

Except for the night before he left.

‘I may have been too negligent to Pina.’

The reality that she tried her best for him deserved his respect.

Although her cooking ability was still a massive failure, it couldn’t be seen as a major flaw against her.

This was because everyone had a weakness.

Thus, even if he didn’t know about his past, he would love Leifina for who she was and for what she did for him.

“I’ll be looking forward to your progress.”

He couldn’t tell her everything yet.

After passing Leifina, Woohyuk looked at Maester Liberto next.

“Tell me about the educational achievements.”

“Song Anna improved and developed her fifth ability, the ability to transform.”

Song Anna had a hidden class called the Child of Seven Stars.

The first ability was to give a corporeal physical being to a spirit.

The second ability was to directly possess natural objects, such as animals and plants.

The third ability was to give a corporeal physical body to animals and plants.

The fourth ability was to create a new spirit.

And the fifth ability, discovered this time around, was to transform oneself and other objects into animals and plants.

“Up to now, it seems almost all her abilities are related to nature,” Woohyuk commented.

“She has tremendous potential. In particular, I focused on developing her communication skills with the spirits because she seems to possess special powers in that direction.”

The water spirit Undine, contracted by Song Anna, was also at the level of an intermediate mage.

Woohyuk nodded and asked about the status of the other talents.

“What about Yoo Kayoung and Silvia?”

“Yoo Kayoung has very good sensitivity to magic and has become an advanced mage. She can cast AOE magic by herself. She’s also learned teleportation and defensive barrier magic. Silvia is also able to use her skills as a Soul Linker.”

Silvia was now able to share skills or improve a party’s overall combat power by tying the souls of allies together.

Furthermore, the basic link range was greatly increased, so, after binding hundreds of monsters, it was possible to inflict tremendous amounts of damage simultaneously with a single group attack.

After listening to Maester Liberto’s words, Woohyuk looked satisfied.

“Everyone has grown quite a bit.”

“Everyone continued to practice for 40 years. Results will appear if anyone practices for that long.”

Certainly, the talents who entered the training hall were now at a usable level.

However, their development was still lacking.

It took a lot of practical practice to survive reality, not to mention overturning the world through cataclysmic actions and defending against high-ranking Demon Kings who were awakening from their sleep.

As he was pondering whether to send them to the Tower of Arkain,

“Hero King, aren’t you going to ask about me?”

Irene’s silver hair waved in the wind as she came up to Woohyuk.

Her tone of speech had become more formal and wore an academy suit, so she looked more modest than before.

Woohyuk asked her a question because she was also important,

“Were you able to achieve some results?”

“Yeah. By fighting Leifina every day, I improved my combat power. I also learned teleportation magic.”

Irene was a chimera who defeated the enemy by wielding Death Side.

However, being a chimera, Irene had the advantage of being able to absorb and replicate the abilities of others by eating the hearts.

Woohyuk took out Grandia and tested Irene’s developed skills.

Ka-Rang!

Ka-Rang!

Irene had a fairly leisurely exchange with Woohyuk.

Indeed, her chimera-like physical ability allowed her to keep up with him.

Compared to others, her growth rate was much faster, and her battle sense was good.

“Excellent.”

“Is this enough to accompany the Hero King?”

“It’s definitely possible. However, you’ll have to acquire more skills in the future.”

There must be a reason why Irene was given as a hidden reward on the last floor of the Twilight Tower.

Woohyuk took out a dragon heart from his pocket and handed it to her.

“Come and eat this.”

“What is this? It has such an enormous magical power. I can feel it from here.”

It was the first time Irene had seen a dragon heart. She had on a strange, confused expression.

Afterward receiving the heart, she began to chew and eat it without much thought.

Munch. Munch.

An ordinary person would frown when they looked at someone eating a heart raw. However, this was on par for a chimera.

Woohyuk stroked Irene’s head to let her know she did well.

“Is the taste okay?”

“I don’t know about that, but I think I’m much stronger now.”

When Irene lifted Death Side, a cold force spread out and froze the air around them.

By absorbing the power of the dragon species, her combat power increased dramatically.

After seeing this, Woohyuk wondered if he should feed her Alice’s heart.

‘But Alice’s heart still has research value.’

The potential combat prowess and sheer force Alice showed in the last battle was enormous enough to leave a strong impression on Woohyuk.

If the research on her heart was successful, it would be of great help to him later on.

After speaking with his personnel, Woohyuk encouraged and complimented Maester Liberto, who had taught the talents so far.

“Good work. The Hourglass of Time will remain here for the time being, so I hope you will further develop these talents.”

“Please leave it to me.”

Maester Liberto politely bowed his head.

Woohyuk told his party members to rest up before he headed to the Royal Rhine Palace.

“It’s been a long time, my King.”

“How is it dealing with state affairs?”

“There is no difficulty, especially with the help of capable vassals. There’s also a strong guardian looking over everything.”

The guardian Joanna spoke of was Black Dragon King Drakia.

Woohyuk looked at Drakia, who was standing next to her with an expressionless face.

“But why are you here?”

“Joanna is the last lineage of my lovely Iona. So, from now on, I will always follow her and keep her safe.”

It seemed that the Rhine Kingdom would be safe even if Woohyuk wasn’t around.

Woohyuk nodded and told Joanna what he was doing back in the kingdom,

“Joanna, I intend to conquer the eastern area of the Eeth Continent. I probably won’t come back for a while. So, as I said before, the Rhine Kingdom is yours.”

“.. You’re going that far away? Unfortunately, I guess I can’t help.”

Joanna had already changed her surname to Clavis, which was her true identity.

After some time, once the succession to the throne was made clear, Woohyuk found Leifina.

“Did you call me, Lord?”

“I have to go out again for a while.”

The next destination was the Floren Province within the Rhine Kingdom.

It was a mountainous area to the left of the capital, Heidelberg.

There, he would find Choi Kayoon, who would become the Monster Lord in the future.

“Monster Lord.. do you intend to send her into the training hall as well?”

“It probably won’t take her 40 years.”

It was possible to secure a growth period of more than 40 years with one month inside the training center.

40 years was the amount of time he had spent in his previous life on this continent before returning, so he knew that a month in the training room would be enough for Choi Kayoon to become the Monster Lord.

He was also planning to add Tinia, the Wind Goddess, to the 2nd cohort of trainees.

“Lord, then, am I going to train in the Tower of Arkain?”

“Yes. You will become a Sword Master after your training there.”

If the teacher who taught Princess Eleonora could teach Leifina, she’d be able to reach the level of Sword Master.

Leifina was his closest aide who had always been by his side in his past life.

Although she was already strong enough, he wanted her to grow as much as possible.

As they traveled by carriage to the Floren Province, the two conversed on all the things they didn’t have a chance to talk about before.

“I remember the first time I met you, Lord. At that time, I was trapped in the Witch Angrboda’s Sanctuary gradually losing hold of my life.”

“.. All of that was the Creator’s tricks.”

As Archangel Raphael, he reincarnated with the help of Pina, the Goddess of Fate, but lost all his memories.

However, the Creator gave him Pina as a human companion.

Why?

Why did he summon races from other dimensions into this world and let him grow with Pina?

His ultimate goal was to control the demons that interfered with his system’s maintenance.

However, he was still unsure why the Creator was using him and Pina to achieve this goal.

‘I probably caused a problem for the Creator and died.’

Thus, only he and Pina could resolve the difficult problem they created.

When thinking of it this way, the story roughly fit.

The details can only be known by going to Urdarbrunn and retrieving the memories from his previous life.

When Woohyuk was contemplating all this, Leifina carefully opened her mouth to speak,

“Lord..”

“Yes?”

“I might be overly sensitive.. but I feel like you have something to say to me. You don’t have to hide it.”

Leifina felt sorry for Woohyuk since he always worried and planned alone.

So, she hoped she could be of help, which was also the reason why she started to learn how to cook.

Unlike others, her fate and life were intertwined with Woohyuk’s.

As she was in a situation where she would never betray him, she wanted Woohyuk to believe in her and tell her anything.

Woohyuk nodded at Leifina’s honest remarks.

“Yes, I don’t think I have been completely honest throughout our time.”

“I’m sorry if you felt bad from my directness. I think Lord is struggling a lot..”

“Leifina.”

“.. Yes?”

“First off, I want you to stop cooking.”

Woohyuk expressed his honest feelings.

A moment of silence flowed inside the wagon that rattled its wheels as it crossed the plain.