As he opened his eyes, Yuran could see he was in a hospital. It only took seconds for him to realize he survived the serpent. An almost silent snoring drew His attention. He turned around and saw the idolized White Fairy sleeping as she sat in a chair next to his bed.

“Fey…” He called out, and it worked like magic to wake her up as she immediately opened her eyes. Her eyes were blacker than the night sky, a contrast of her white eyelashes. She blinked before a smile crept to her face as she sweetly called out.

“You’re awake, older brother.”

Yuran’s lips turned to a thin line as memories rushed back, bringing waves of nostalgia. He wanted to ask her to stop calling him that as he was unworthy but hesitated to do so after seeing her genuine smile. Instead, he chose to change the topic.

“What happened to the serpent?”

Fey began to retell the battle that took place a day prior. She didn’t leave any details out, and Yuran’s hands started to shiver as he clenched his fists. In the end, where they managed to wound the serpent, and it entered a berserk state, the story ended with their retreat. 

However, Yuran didn’t feel like that was necessary. Their loss was greater as he listened to how the young porter saved him from imminent death, sacrificing his life.

“One more time… It’s still happening.” His words were quick as he was stifling them before they choke him. Strength left his body as he laid back in bed. His nose felt ticklish as if tears threatened to get out, not that they did.

“I… I wanted to protect my older brother from the beginning. But, my ability, you know…” Fey grew frustrated as she felt like she was giving excuses after excuses. Yuran sighed and patted her on her wrist.

“No… It was my weakness, once again.”

***

Arthur opened his eyes once more. His skin cooled at the touch of a slight breeze. The scent of wildflowers assaulted his nose. As the tree waved and danced, their shadows skimmed over his eyes, and the sun rays made him squint.

As he got up reflexively, he found himself in the middle of a forest, sleeping atop a patch of grass. There was a lake nearby that he could see in the distance behind the trees. Only now did he realize that Jizo has sent him to this place after he said he couldn’t transport him back to the dungeon.

“I died…”

Or not. Arthur didn’t know. The man said he pulled Arthur from the state of existence and non-existence. If the man didn’t bring him to that place, then he would have died, obliterated by the laws of the universe. 

The thing is, Arthur felt alive right now. He breathed, exhaled, and his heart was beating. He was here.

“Right, he said he would still help me if I helped him in his goal….” Arthur then remembered the last thing the man said before they parted ways. The man said he would give him the one thing he needed right now, a way to get stronger. He said he would give him his Legacy.

Different from abilities, who were one directional in their evolution process, legacies were much more complex. They contained the will of a person living in the past. That way, these wills provided abilities and skills to the person as they see fit.

That’s why they held the name  ‘Evolving Abilities’ as they grew with the person himself. As Arthur willed it to, the Legacy was activated. A row of sentences appeared in front of him. Just like the legends, they were like he was playing a game and had a status window.

[Scholar Guardian’s Legacy]

[Level: 1 (63%)]

[Strength: 14]

[Agility: 12]

[Stamina: 14]

[Perception: 10]

[Mana: 1/1]

[Abilities: Beginner Runes Wordsmith (0%), Useable Runes: 3]

[Skills: None]

Arthur dazedly looked at the words in front of him. The reality was beginning to merge with his dream-like mentality. This was real. He waved his hands, and the words parted ways as he passed through them.

It felt surreal. Arthur wasn’t disbelieving what happened; he didn’t believe it happened to him. He heard of Legacies before and how they worked. There were many types of legacies in the legends told on the internet. 

However, most of them were historical figures of the past. Furthermore, they only gave skills and abilities without having anything to do with his body’s different ‘stats.’

As he looked at his ability, he was thrilled to see that he has awakened. 

He has never heard of a ‘Runes Wordsmith,’ but it wasn’t like he knew every ability in existence. As he willed the Legacy to explain the ability, several more rows appeared in front of him.

[Beginner Runes Wordsmith: A Runes Wordsmith can wield the ancient runes of the world, recreating it. However, restrained by being only a beginner level, the user can only imprint basic runes into things, people, or oneself. 

Using magic can imprint the runes, and these would last for a minimum of 10 minutes and a maximum of 30 minutes before they disappear. 

Another way to imprint runes is by using a suitable medium where one could imprint a permanent rune, where its complexity would depend on the materials used.]

As he read through the explanations, Arthur had a feeling like Jizo was there to guide him. As if these words originated from that man sitting alone in the darkness. This feeling kept intensifying until Arthur willed the Legacy to disappear and decided to wash his body in the lake nearby first. 

He made his way by looking around for any wild monsters. Although the city was safe, the same couldn’t be said about the areas nearby.

As the lake reflected his face, Arthur was spooked by what he saw. His eyes have now turned golden. He then remembered Jizo’s eyes, and he had started hyperventilating as a panic attack threatened to overtake him. However, he soon calmed down, and his upset stomach turned back to normal. 

He was still Arthur. He was sure of it. It was only that Jizo’s Legacy altered his appearance slightly. He can tell others that this change was brought by his ability, as this wasn’t uncommon.

After he calmed down, he took a shower to clean himself and looked again at the lake. His face was still average-looking, with dark half-circles under his eyes. He looked a bit older than an average eighteen years old person. 

His new appearance didn’t differ by a lot, except his eyes now contained a certain gravitating charm as if they held wisdom within. He decided to accept this and start investigating his surroundings.

As he looked around, Arthur could see a vast mountain range bordering the lake from the other side. There were many canyons in between the mountains that acted as passageways of the mountain range. On his side of the lake was a forest that covered his vision. As he was looking around, he saw a patch of grassland that bordered the forest. He decided to head there and see if he can spot something to know where he is.

After he got there, Arthur’s view cleared of the forest, and he could see the grassland in front of him. It was mostly empty except for the wild boars idling around. The only bad news is that these wild boars were a monster called man-eating boars, the Beras.

“Squeak!”

Arthur heard a squeak from his side and turned around to see a wild boar flaring its nose in his direction. He was momentarily stunned, but the Beras charged at him with its horns forward.

“Shit!”

Arthur threw himself toward the forest, and the Beras passed by. It then slammed into a tree trunk, causing it to break, but the tree was still intact. Arthur took the chance to escape toward the lakeside, where he woke up using the terrain to flee. Thankfully, it appeared the forest had too many obstacles for the Beras to move freely in. After a while of running, Arthur sat down as he sensed that he was alone.

“How… How would I survive if you send me here, Jizo?!” He kept panting and blaming his luck. He knew Jizo said that the teleportation would send a distance away, but he didn’t think he would end up in a monster zone.

These zones were areas the Union didn’t reach and treated them as hunting grounds.

It would be a difficult task for him to escape this area uninjured without being rescued. He sat down and rested as he thought about how to escape this place.

After some thought, he remembered the runes the Legacy said were available at his level. He started sending his will and communicating with the Legacy to show him the runes he could use. Words appeared in front of him.