Chapter 81
Chapter 81
“Judging by the clock… it has not even been a full hour since you stepped past the threshold of the gate, Hunter.”
“Barely an hour?”
“Indeed. If we are being precise, approximately fifty-five minutes have elapsed.”
Days had slipped by during my ordeal on the other side, and yet here on Earth, barely sixty minutes had trickled away?
A faint breath of relief slipped past my lips at the realization. Had months crawled by as I had dreadfully anticipated, my relatives along with Sia—not to mention Rokan, forced to witness her downward spiral—might have been completely crushed by grief.
At the very least, this was a singular stroke of fortune amidst a string of misfortunes.
“Mr. Minjun, did the passage of time beyond the portal… diverge drastically from our world’s flow?”
Given her affiliation with the Hunter Association, the woman appeared to grasp the underlying meaning behind my inquiry almost immediately.
“It did. However, detailing the entire ordeal here would be rather complicated…”
Turning my head, I took in the surrounding onlookers whose eyes were fixed intently upon me. While swallowing some water had helped replenish my depleted stamina, attempting to address the endless curiosity of such a massive gathering right now seemed both impractical and deeply exhausting.
Cooperating with the Hunter Association officials was understandable, but catering to every inquisitive spectator held no obligation for me whatsoever.
‘How do I slip away from this mess?’
Before I could properly formulate a plausible pretext, a mental resonance rang directly inside my consciousness.
[Minjun, are you unharmed?]
The voice undeniably belonged to Rokan, yet lacking telepathic skill, I had no clue how to send an answer back. All I could manage was glancing around in confusion, attempting to spot his location.
Almost immediately, Rokan’s voice sounded in my head a second time.
[I am veiled by magic, so your eyes will not uncover me. If you can perceive my words but lack the means to transmit a reply, simply blink your eyes twice.]
Following his guidance without hesitation, I blinked two times.
[Noted. Offer those people a reasonable justification to depart, seek out an uninhabited corner, and remain there. I shall join you shortly.]
Since that aligned with my own intentions, I resolved to heed Rokan’s suggestion and take my leave under a convenient pretext.
“My apologies, but a pressing matter requires my immediate attention. I shall leave my personal contact details with the representative from the Hunter Association, allowing us to discuss the details at another time.”
I made a move to withdraw, but several onlookers were entirely unwilling to let the moment pass and continued firing inquiries at me.
“Hunter! Just a single answer, please!”
“What kind of environment was waiting inside that gate?”
Having already promised a full explanation down the line, I owed them nothing at this moment. Even so, simply walking away without uttering a single syllable felt somewhat disrespectful, prompting me to toss them a single fragment.
“I can share this much with you: whatever your wildest thoughts might envision, reality surpassed it entirely.”
Uncertain of what information was safe to disclose and what demanded absolute secrecy, I settled on a purposely ambiguous remark that would give them plenty of room to theorize amongst themselves.
A flurry of hands rose into the air as more questions threatened to erupt, but reiterating that further details would follow later, I finally put distance between myself and Yongduam.
Having slipped clear of the dense throng, I searched for an isolated spot where Rokan and I could rendezvous. Regrettably, due to the sheer chaos ignited by the Yongduam Gate, the surrounding area remained packed with curious crowds.
I began to worry that reaching a truly deserted spot would require a lengthy walk, until the Stealth skill—unlocked right before my return to Earth—crossed my mind.
Activating it would likely make finding a hidden alcove far simpler. Curious to verify the capabilities of this fresh ability, I engaged Stealth without delay.
Initially, no strange physical sensation confirmed that the skill had taken effect. Yet upon lowering my gaze, my hands had faded into absolute translucence. Taking several tentative steps to see whether merely my visual form had vanished, I noticed that my footsteps produced zero sound as well.
The Stealth skill was performing flawlessly. Surveying the street, I noticed a man and woman opposite my position gaping in utter bewilderment; someone had abruptly evaporated into thin air before their very eyes, so their flabbergasted reaction made complete sense.
Taking advantage of my concealed state, I ducked into an abandoned alleyway devoid of bystanders before deactivating the ability. Merely a heartbeat after my physical form reappeared, Rokan manifested before me.
“Sir Rokan!”
Given that several days had passed from my perspective since our last encounter, my greeting carried more volume than I had intended.
“There will be ample time to converse, but our priority must be departing this location.”
Before a proper exchange of pleasantries could occur, Rokan instantly shifted our location, transporting me directly into his private sanctuary. Pulling over a seat, I settled down, but Rokan gave me zero time to catch my breath before firing an abrupt question.
“By what method did you accomplish that?”
“Excuse me?”
Utterly baffled by his words, I blinked, yet Rokan’s visage remained strikingly stern.
“I am inquiring as to how you masked your presence so absolute and thoroughly.”
Presuming his initial curiosity would revolve around my experiences beyond the gate, Rokan’s unexpected topic caught me completely off guard. Although I had employed Stealth, I had still assumed a mighty entity like a dragon would track my movements effortlessly despite the skill.
Evidently, that assumption had fallen short of reality.
“I was tracking your aura closely, and then without warning, every trace of you vanished completely from my perception.”
“You… genuinely could not track me?”
“Indeed. Under ordinary circumstances, someone possessing your current prowess should find it impossible to conceal themselves or escape my senses in such a manner. How, then, were you able to—”
Rokan cut his own sentence short as a realization seemed to dawn upon him. Fixing his eyes squarely on mine, he pressed forward with the question that had truly been gnawing at his thoughts.
“What occurred during your time within that realm?”
“The tale is extensive, and portions of it may sound far-fetched. However, prior to beginning, Sir Rokan…”
The rapid whirlwind of events had nearly caused me to overlook a crucial step.
“Might we reach out to Sia so she may listen as well?”
“Naturally. I had every intention of contacting Shasha regardless.”
Rokan initiated the transmission toward Sia immediately, and the moment the connection resolved, her tear-stained visage appeared on the screen, looking as though another sob might escape her at any second.
[Oppaaaa!]
Focusing on the image, damp tear stains clearly marked Sia’s cheeks. She had undoubtedly begun weeping the exact second she learned I had been pulled inside a gate.
[What on earth happened to you?! You promised you were merely stepping out to clear your head! How did you end up trapped beyond a gate all of a sudden…?!]
Before her previous tears had even ceased flowing, fresh moisture was already gathering in her eyes. Witnessing her distress brought an ache to my own throat, and my eyes stung with rising warmth.
“I apologize. I caused you an immense amount of terror, didn’t I? The truth of what occurred is…”
Clearing my throat with a brief cough, I laid out the sequence of events with care, describing how the gate pulled me in and recounting every encounter I faced within that place—in other words, the entirety of my journey through Elysium.
As my extensive account drew to its conclusion, the lingering anxiety within Sia finally gave way, and she dissolved into fresh sobs.
[Even with all that… I am simply relieved beyond words, Oppa. You returned to us breathing and whole. That alone is enough. When Grandpa informed me that you appeared to have vanished without a trace, I was paralyzed with fright…]
Rokan, by contrast, remained completely mute. Keeping his eyelids shut tight, he appeared entirely lost within his own thoughts.
[Even so, learning that Oppa was swept directly into Pangaea feels unbelievable.]
“Does it not? When the realization first struck me that I had arrived in Pangaea, I could hardly process it myself. What were the chances of such a convergence?”
Though Sia had been weeping only moments prior, the conversation gradually restored her spirited nature. Yet Rokan maintained his heavy silence, his countenance remaining grim as he turned the matter over in his mind.
[Grandpa, is there… an issue of some sort?]
Noticing his unusual behavior, Sia directed a cautious inquiry toward Rokan. The elder dragon merely flicked a dismissive hand.
“It is of no consequence. I merely require a moment to reflect upon a few details.”
Despite his dismissal, the stern cast of his features never softened. His assertion that all was well clashed starkly with his grim silence, which only served to heighten the unease shared between Sia and me.
As Rokan stayed absorbed in contemplation, Sia and I quietly traded looks. Though no words were spoken, her gaze reflected the exact apprehension stirring within me.
If nothing was amiss, sitting here beneath this heavy quiet only amplified the dread for both of us.
At long last, Rokan shattered the lingering hush, his tone carrying a gravity heavier than anything I had previously witnessed from him.
“Minjun. You claim you crossed paths with an entity presumed to be Bellium, and following that encounter, the seal binding an EX-rank skill came undone, is that accurate?”
“That is correct.”
Observing his demeanor, it was obvious Rokan possessed knowledge concerning Bellium.
“Do you recall the era or year recognized within that land? Did anyone mention an Imperial Calendar year or perhaps a Continental Calendar reckoning?”
“That… I cannot say.”
Looking back, I realized I ought to have investigated such historical markers to prepare for what lay ahead. My mind had been so overwhelmingly preoccupied with securing a path back to Earth that the thought never crossed my brain, leaving me without any concrete blueprint for my return.
“The only thing conveyed to me was that tens of thousands of years had apparently passed since Bellium’s demise.”
Regrettably, that was the limit of the facts at my disposal. Looking at Rokan, a multitude of complex thoughts appeared to be warring behind his eyes.
“…Very well. I comprehend the situation for now.”
While I had witnessed Rokan drifting into deep thought before, he had never seemed quite this troubled. Could there have been an additional hidden reality woven into my trials across Elysium that I remained oblivious to?
Though interrupting his solemn meditation felt somewhat inappropriate, breaking the tense, suffocating quiet seemed far preferable.
“Sir Rokan, do you happen to possess knowledge regarding the kind of individual Bellium was?”
I offered the question as delicately as possible.
“My knowledge does not exceed what you already gathered there. He gathered outcasts banished from their respective lands to forge a settlement, and his relations with the dragon community were fraught with discord. Nothing more remains to be said.”
Rokan shook his head with finality, yet accepting his words at face value proved difficult.
“Even the smallest piece of trivia would prove useful. Any modest detail regarding Bellium—”
“There is nothing to share.”
Rokan cut through my sentence before I could conclude it.
“Our nature as dragons does not grant us absolute omniscience over every trivial happening across the realm, nor do we commit every detail to memory.”
He drew an uncompromising line, signaling his refusal to elaborate further on Bellium, yet wholehearted belief eluded me. Were his knowledge truly so barren, what could possibly account for that brooding expression and prolonged silence just moments ago?
“Sir Rokan, then could you perhaps know anything regarding the child of Bellium?”
Even if details surrounding Bellium himself were sparse, perhaps some awareness existed regarding Bellium’s offspring, whose footprint had vanished entirely from the chronicles of Elysium. Adil had confirmed that not a soul within Elysium possessed records of the child, yet given Rokan’s draconic lineage, I hoped his perspective might reveal a different truth.
Unfortunately, the response remained just as barren.
“I possess none. Had Bellium been a monumental figure who etched an indelible mark onto the historical tapestry, meticulous accounts regarding both his deeds and his lineage might have endured. Yet he was no such entity. In truth, I have caught wind that his standing among our brethren was rather disgraceful.”
While the matter might have carried profound weight for the populace of Elysium, Rokan asserted that the dragons found no merit in chronicling Bellium’s legacy to bequeath to upcoming generations.
“Human society functions in much the same way, does it not? Unless a man is an infamous traitor behind catastrophic crimes, your people do not labor to chronicle the petty life of an unremarkable street scoundrel who merely proved grating to be around. View the matter through a comparable lens.”
I had entertained the thought that the vast longevity of dragons might lead to more comprehensive records, but that assumption apparently fell flat.
Rokan’s reasoning sounded logical on the surface, yet the knot of suspicion in my chest refused to loosen.
“It remains possible that certain tomes I have not examined hold chronicles of their past. Shasha, did you ever catch rumors concerning Bellium or the existence of his child?”
Rokan turned the question over to Sia, yet her countenance fell as she offered a negative gesture.
[No. To be perfectly candid… my awareness only extends to the fact that an ancient realm named Elysium existed and was founded by an individual named Bellium. Beyond that bare fact, I know nothing either. I’m sorry, Oppa.]
Rokan inclined his head, seemingly confirming what he had already anticipated.
“While I would gladly quench your lingering doubts, I am afraid it lies beyond my capacity. I shall withdraw for a brief spell, leaving the two of you space to converse in my absence.”
Bearing a conflicted visage, Rokan turned and departed the chamber.
Stepping within the confines of his private study, Rokan settled heavily into a rocking chair, his brow furrowing as he let his head tilt backward. After a lingering pause, he expelled a deep, weary breath, murmuring softly under his breath.
“Bellium. Even after surrendering your life to the grave, must you persist in dragging misfortune upon your own kin?”
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