Legendary Hero is an Academy Honors Student - Chapter 577
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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577.
At Rian’s words, Cal gulped down his dry saliva.
When he first saw a being called a god before, the emotion he felt was surprisingly ordinary, contrary to what he had expected.
If it hadn’t been for the Dragon Lord’s guarantee, he wouldn’t have believed Rian’s identity, let alone any words that came from his mouth.
But now, from the being before his eyes, he could feel a presence that transcended imagination.
‘My breath…’
Just facing him made his breath catch and he felt difficulty breathing.
It wasn’t that Rian had done anything in particular.
He was just looking at him as if observing.
However, that alone had the power to freeze his entire body.
He realized that the being before his eyes was on a different dimension from all the races he had encountered so far.
He was literally overwhelmed by his very existence.
‘This feeling… I’ve felt it before.’
Cal, who had been trembling, regulated his breathing and quickly regained his composure.
Seeing this, Rian’s eyes lit up.
“This must be your first time meeting a god face to face, yet you regain your composure quickly?”
Since he had become part of Hero Record long ago to become the administrator of Hero Record, Rian couldn’t strictly be called a god.
But the fact that he was a being rivaling the gods remained unchanged.
Ordinary humans lose their composure just from Rian revealing his presence.
And Cal was a human who fell well within the category of ordinary.
‘If they were children with great vessels, they wouldn’t have been shaken in the first place.’
In the eyes of an absolute being, Cal was nothing more than a common pebble scattered on the roadside.
At Rian’s question, Cal scratched his cheek.
“It feels somewhat similar to when I saw Erebos.”
“Ah. You mean that abomination.”
Rian nodded.
“Certainly, when the hero came to this world through Hero Record, you also met that abomination, didn’t you? Then this wouldn’t be your first time meeting a divine being.”
“Is the Calamity Flame also a god?”
“Essentially, it’s the same as us. Of course, what we pursue is different. While we want the world’s continuation, that abomination desires the world’s destruction.”
“Why is that? Weren’t you originally comrades or something like that?”
“Not at all. That abomination was born that way from the beginning. It exists solely to burn the world to ashes.”
Rian shook his head as if recalling something disgusting.
‘Even though he’s seen Erebos, the fact that he quickly regained his composure seems to be this child’s ability.’
The more he looked, the more interesting it became.
Despite having nothing, he stood out.
‘Luck must have followed him too. But what Cal Thomas has achieved isn’t something that can be done with luck alone.’
“But you said I have two things that Lord Lumern didn’t have. What are they?”
Expectation appeared on Cal’s face.
“Could it be that I have some hidden talent or something?”
Rian, who had been staring at Cal asking in a slightly excited voice, smiled brightly.
“Ugliness and foolishness”
“Excuse me?”
For a moment, Cal made a dumbfounded expression.
“Lumern wasn’t foolish, so he didn’t do the ugly act of clinging to impossible things.”
Rian gave Cal a thumbs up.
“Cal Thomas! You’re such a terribly foolish human that you’re clinging to impossible things! That’s why you look very ugly!”
Thud-!
Cal put his hands on the ground and knelt down.
“Hold your chest up proudly! You’re doing something Lumern could never do.”
“Don’t tease me. It makes me depressed.”
“What are you talking about! It’s praise! Praise!”
Rian patted Cal’s back with slap- slap- sounds.
“A god is praising you, so why are you getting depressed?”
“Of course I’m depressed! Someone who’s a god spoke so plausibly that I thought I had some hidden talent I didn’t know about!”
“I clearly said earlier. You’re a student who doesn’t resemble Lumern at all.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means you’re not heroic at all.”
Rian shrugged his shoulders and took out a sculpture doll made of jewels from his chest.
It was a sculpture of Lumern, the Knight of Dusk.
“Although Lumern was born with the status of a slave, he was born with a very noble soul.”
Rian said while examining the Lumern sculpture from various angles.
“The heroes the gods love most are undoubtedly the Great Heroes. But the next heroes they love are Lumern.”
“He must have been born with great talent for being loved by the gods.”
“There’s a flaw in that statement.”
Rian glanced at Cal.
“There are certainly beings loved by the gods. But that doesn’t mean the gods give special talents to those beings. That would far exceed the authority originally permitted to gods.”
“Excuse me?”
“Humans loved by gods have earned that love themselves. Remember this, Cal Thomas.”
Rian, who had been grinning, shrugged his shoulders.
“Well, the gods originally have preferences too.”
“What kind of preferences are those?”
“Heroes like Lumern.”
“…”
“Overflowing with talent, upright character, handsome, strong, achieves great deeds, popular with women. And also…”
“I’m increasingly feeling that life is unfair, so could you please stop?”
Cal burst into a hollow laugh.
“Lord Lumern really doesn’t have a single similarity with me. I can see why he’s loved by the gods. The gods like perfect people.”
“There are no perfect people. There are only people with few flaws.”
Rian shrugged his shoulders.
“That’s why during 5,000 years, there has been no hero like you, Cal.”
“I know best that I can’t become a hero.”
“Then why don’t you give up?”
“Because I’m ugly and foolish.”
“…”
“If I set my goals high, I can get even a little closer to those guys, can’t I?”
“You’ll hit your limits soon.”
“I have to overcome them. Like Lord Lumern.”
“…”
“I don’t know about other things, but I learned clearly at Lumern that I have to resemble him in that aspect.”
“Cal Thomas! Where are you?”
“Huh? Eliza?”
Cal, who had turned his head at the sound of Eliza calling, turned his head back in confusion.
“God, I think I should go now? Huh?”
Cal, who turned his head again, realized that Rian had disappeared and searched around the restroom before scratching his head.
“Did he leave?”
“Cal Thomas!”
“Are you pressuring someone who’s in the restroom?”
At Eliza’s voice, Cal sighed and left the restroom.
Rian, who had appeared again at some point, shook his head.
‘Really not heroic at all.’
In the long era of heroes spanning 5,000 years, which was by no means short, someone like Cal had never once had their name recorded in the Hero Record.
It wasn’t simply because he didn’t match the gods’ preferences.
‘It’s because he can’t achieve great feats alone.’
In the end, those who achieve great feats are beings with powerful strength.
Heroes, the beings who protect and lead the world, inevitably must excel in individual martial prowess.
‘He’s ordinary. Cal Thomas is too ordinary.’
The gods don’t take interest in ordinary humans.
They only favored special humans.
Rian was the same.
But…
‘You’ll never be able to resemble Lumern, Cal Thomas.’
Rian looked at the jewel fragment of Lumern he had created.
‘Lumern gave up because he was too foolishly ugly to bear.’
He closed off his own possibilities himself.
Rian smiled slightly.
‘Instead, you resemble the Hero of the Beginning.’
Of course, comparing Leo, who has pure mana characteristics, with Cal doesn’t make sense.
‘But Lord Leo also saved the world because he struggled foolishly and uglily.’
Rian took out an uncarved jewel from his chest and fiddled with it.
‘Cal Thomas is not heroic at all. But that’s only by the standards of the Age of Gods.’
Even now, fragments of the Age of Gods remain.
‘But the Age of Gods already came to an end 5,000 years ago.’
Rian laughed.
‘And it ended as a failed era at that.’
By the gods’ standards, the Age of Gods was clearly a failed era.
It’s true that they suppressed Erebos for a long time and created a world full of light.
But in the end, they couldn’t stop Erebos.
Rather, they burned away all too helplessly.
It was only within that failure that singularities called great heroes appeared and saved the world.
And they welcomed a new era.
But…
‘Is the Age of Heroes truly an age of heroes?’
Though the gods disappeared, the divine legacy called Hero Record supports this era.
‘I might be an incredibly lucky person.’
He abandoned his divine status and fell to become merely part of a system.
But…
‘I might be witnessing the true beginning of a new era right before my eyes.’
Rian’s mouth stretched from ear to ear.
How thrilling and exciting was this!
‘Ah, my choice wasn’t wrong! I might be able to witness an era where gods are truly worthless right before my eyes!’
***
The second round of the Festival of Heroes featured 2nd year students.
It was a competition to see which school’s attack team of ten members could conquer the Heroes’ World faster.
The audience was excited by the different scale from the 1st years.
Moreover, the current 2nd years from every school were all called the golden generation.
As such, expectations couldn’t help but be even greater.
“We can actually see them conquering the Heroes’ World directly!”
“But it’s not a Hero Dungeon, right? So it’s not dangerous, is it?”
“Know what you’re talking about before speaking! Hero Dungeons are just Hero Records going berserk! Hero Dungeons are ultimately Heroes’ Worlds too!”
“Let’s see… Leo Flobe isn’t participating for Lumern?”
“Isn’t it because he’s already risen to the position of a hero?”
“But look! Runia El Runda is participating for Seirun!”
“Hmm… Is it because he’s busy as student council president? No wait. Runia El Runda is also student council president though?”
Seeing Leo not participating, voices mixed with doubt erupted from here and there.
Watching this, Runia muttered.
“At least they have some conscience. Seeing that they excluded Leo.”
Honestly speaking, if Leo participated, the result would be obvious.
Though it was frustrating, the current Seirun would have difficulty handling Leo.
‘Not just Seirun, any school that came wouldn’t be able to handle him.’
Runia sighed softly.
“Still, it’s fortunate that it’s conquering the Heroes’ World.”
“This isn’t easy either, so what’s fortunate about it?”
When Eiran spoke from the side, Aris Twina asked with a puzzled expression.
“I was worried after seeing the 1st years that we might have to fight Lord Leo.”
At those words, Aris’s twin, Garin Twina, made a puzzled expression.
“Is that a big problem?”
“Did you forget that Leo Flobe swept away all the Lumern 2nd years? Conquering the Heroes’ World is at least better than fighting a monster beyond estimation.”
At Aris’s words, when Garin crossed his arms and nodded.
“Certainly, now that I hear it, that’s true.”
“By the way, Cal Thomas? Isn’t he the kid who conquered Lord Dweno’s world? I heard his grades themselves aren’t that impressive, but he was selected as a representative?”
When Aris made a puzzled expression, Runia said.
“If it’s him, he deserves to be selected.”
“That’s right, if it’s Lord Cal, the Lumern people will feel reassured too.”
When the valedictorian and salutatorian reacted this way, the Seirun students made puzzled expressions.
Wooong-!
Suddenly, a resonant sound arose from the ground.
[Hero Record Open.]
At the suddenly appearing message, the Seirun 2nd years showed slightly flustered expressions.
But they soon regained their composure.
“We’re used to these sudden situations now.”
Runia laughed as if it were ridiculous.
It wasn’t just Seirun Academy.
Similar reactions erupted from other schools as well.
Suddenly, Eiran’s ears perked up.
“Didn’t they clearly say we’d conquer the ‘same’ Heroes’ World in order?”
“Yeah.”
“But it seems like students from other schools also got Hero Record messages?”
“What?”
The moment Eiran, whose hearing had entered the realm of supersenses, made a bewildered expression.
[Lumern’s Wor■. ■apter: ■■■■■]
“What?!”
At the message before her eyes, Runia made a shocked expression.
At the same time, bright light burst forth and swallowed the students who were at Erek Training Ground.
“Kugh?!”
When Runia urgently opened her eyes.
She saw a fist flying toward her.
“Kyaak?!”
Runia reflexively dodged the fist.
“Kyaak? Kyaak? Where are you being disgustingly cute! You pretentious elf!”
“Eek!”
Runia calmly assessed the situation upon hearing the words of her opponent who had thrown a punch.
‘I don’t know what’s going on, but we’re fighting! I need to counterattack…!’
Just as Runia was about to aim for her opponent’s opening.
“Huh?”
Runia let out a dazed sound after confirming her opponent’s face.
“Where are you spacing out! Your side!”
“Ugh?!”
Her opponent mercilessly struck Runia’s side.
“Finishing move! Solar plexus!”
Thwack-!
“Guegh?!”
Hit in the solar plexus, Runia made choking sounds – guegh- guegh- as if she couldn’t breathe, then promptly collapsed to her knees with a thud.
“Huh? You actually got hit by that?”
And her opponent, who had struck Runia, was even more flustered after landing the hit.
Clutching her chest and gasping for breath, Runia called out to her opponent.
“Ro… dia… nia…”
Thump-
And she rolled her eyes back and fainted.
“Hey! Breathe! Breathe! I said breathe!”
Slap- Slap-!
Rodia frantically slapped Runia’s cheeks.
“Seirun! Breathe!”
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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