– Luke! Luke!
The feeling of fluttering in his ears and the voice of the spirit calling him made Luke reluctantly decide to open his eyes.
“Yawn… Ah, yes. Py, did you sleep well?”
– Luke!…… Luke!
The spirit spun around him joyfully, almost like a pure child, which brought a smile to Luke’s face as he spoke.
“Py, what’s going on?”
– Yerna!
It seemed that Py was anxious because Yerna was not around when he woke up.
“Oh, Yerna went out first. She’s the Forest Keeper, so she goes on patrol before I wake up. In the morning, magic is at its fullest, so she tidies up the monsters beforehand.”
– …!
“Yes, yes. Yerna is indeed a diligent child.”
Originally, this was a task for those on duty, but Yerna, who had been living in the lodging due to Luke’s need to stay, had been helping with that work for the past few weeks.
Even though it wasn’t something she needed to do since she wasn’t on duty.
A bit early, but Luke also had things to do in the morning.
The dew caught on the morning flowers.
It is especially easy to gather magic when harvested at this time, so all essences for potions are collected in the early morning.
The sunrise, which signifies the beginning of the day and everything, also holds great magical significance.
The crowing of the rooster that first calls in the morning contains power to subdue nightmares and banish evil monsters.
Moreover, the stillness of dawn helps focus the minds of mages.
Thus, the magic of the morning is special.
That is why all mages meditate in the morning.
The time when meditation’s efficiency is maximized; Luke couldn’t afford to miss it, so he began meditating to accumulate mana, just like any other day.
No, he was about to.
– Luke! ……! Luke!
“Ugh.”
As he absorbed mana, the spirit continued to annoy him.
It would tap him on the head, pull his cheeks, and repeatedly call his name.
“Hmm…”
Ignoring it was frustrating, especially with the irritating noise emanating in his ears.
Luke frowned and shouted.
“Py, what is going on?”
– Luke! ………!
“Ah.”
The body of Py, which Luke looked at upon waking, was slightly more translucent than before.
Spirits are mental beings composed of mana.
Given that their body’s arrangement of mana is akin to nature itself since they are originally one with nature, Luke could essentially exert control over the surrounding ‘natural’ mana, theoretically even inscribing the spirit’s physical form into his heart like a circle.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t notice.”
Now he understood why the spirit wasn’t coming near the mage.
The circle represents ‘control over mana.’
It was like a chain connecting mana with his will.
Thanks to this, a mage who could exert control over the mana around him would be akin to a natural predator to spirits.
Of course, if the spirit were stronger, that situation would reverse, but Luke had reached the pinnacle among all mages.
Having mastered all principles and laws of the 10 Circles, he became the higher being of this small spirit with merely the authority of the 1st Circle.
“Then, Py, it would be best for you to stay a little further away. Meditation is important for me.”
– Luke,……? ……!
“I don’t understand what you’re saying; I don’t know the language of spirits.”
– ……!
“Once again, I really don’t understand what you mean.”
– ……?……!
The spirit seemed to keep trying to converse, but Luke, who didn’t understand the language, could not grasp it at all.
If he had more time, he might have pretended to understand, but he did not have that luxury.
“I can’t understand, so stop it! At this rate, the morning magic will disappear!”
In a world where mana is valued, the loss of 1st Circle natural mana was stressful for Luke, and meditation was more than crucial as a means to reach the 2nd Circle.
No matter how much of a spirit Py was, disrupting him was not something he could afford.
Luke opened the window and pointed outside.
“Py, I’ll say this one last time. Stay away from me. If you continue to disturb me and get swept away, I won’t care.”
– Luke……?
“Go on. I will count to ten.”
At Luke’s decisive declaration, Py seemed to droop.
“10.”
– ……
“9……”
As Luke continued counting down, he could finally concentrate on meditation after the spirit completely vanished from sight.
“Hmm.”
The meditation ended as usual with a local mana depletion.
Today would probably be the end.
Feeling the single circle swirling in his heart and the thread of mana surrounding it, Luke sighed.
“Slow. Really, too slow.”
At this rate, even if he repeated meditation every day in the forest, it seemed he would only reach the 2nd Circle by the end of spring.
‘I don’t mind, but…’
Yerna was the problem.
It had been quite some time since she hadn’t entered her home, likely due to worrying about him being alone in the lodging.
‘If I could go back, then she could have a peaceful sleep.’
The bed in the lodging was small.
Thus, Yerna couldn’t lie in bed with Luke as usual, and she gave up her bed for him.
Luke had insisted that he could sleep on the floor, but with Yerna looking at him with a sorrowful expression, urging him to “Just let me sleep there!”, it had been too burdensome, leading him to ultimately lie down in bed.
Yerna, who gave up her bed, lay on the sofa with a blanket, sleeping.
‘It’s absurd for the owner of the lodging to let someone else fall asleep uncomfortably…’
Yet, Luke could not refuse the bed.
As long as Yerna sat there watching him, he could only escape from that gaze by pretending to be asleep or actually sleeping.
“Sigh.”
Finally awake and tidying his pajamas, Luke sighed as he picked up a book.
Reading after meditation was a sort of routine for Luke.
Soon, it would be breakfast time, and Yerna would return.
However, it seemed that the shock from telling the spirit to disappear had affected Py, as she hadn’t shown any signs of coming back even after some time.
Had she returned to nature?
Well, the spirit had merely thought of him as a friend, and Luke had only just harbored curiosity about the relationship.
There was not much lingering regret, but…
‘What I said to her, I slightly regret.’
He had been a bit rough back then.
He hadn’t thought to control his emotions, so he was sure there had been irritation in his voice.
He could have spoken a little more kindly.
But he didn’t.
‘If I see her again, I should apologize.’
——–
“Yawn, ugh.”
Yerna let out a big yawn and stretched.
Sorbi, who was watching her from the back seat, asked with concern.
“Yerna unnie, are you helping again today? Aren’t you tired?”
“I’m fine. It’s not like anyone told me to do this; I want to do it.”
Yerna waved her hand dismissively and smiled slightly.
‘Well, I’m a bit tired, but all of this is for Luke.’
If the forest became safe, then Luke would be safe as well. That was only natural.
Still, it appeared the monster response was the same as usual. There shouldn’t be any difficulties…
– Squeak, squeak, squeak.
A foreboding noise started to emit from the Forest Keeper GPS device.
“Uh? What is it?”
Sorbi hurriedly pulled out the device with a confused voice.
“Uh?!”
Sorbi screamed as if startled.
“What the heck? Why…?”
Daphne, who checked the vehicle’s navigation, was also speechless.
Yerna, who confirmed the navigation, had her expression quickly solidify.
The red color indicated the presence of monsters, signaling unnatural mana flows and showing their rough locations…
…but the entire screen was simply red.
“This is…”
When Yerna couldn’t finish her sentence, Sorbi shouted.
“This is crazy! Is some dragon awakened?”
“A dragon…”
A dragon that lives for a thousand years.
With overwhelming power and intelligence, they were symbols of fear and authority, but now they were simply monsters from fairy tales.
All dragons had gone extinct.
It was unknown why they vanished from this world.
No records related to it remained.
Just the fact that they no longer existed was left behind.
Daphne thought for a moment and said, “Could someone have created a dragon through necromancy?”
“That’s a possibility.”
Unauthorized necromancy is illegal in any case.
Moreover, summoning a high-level undead was considered a serious crime akin to terrorism.
Sorbi trembled as he spoke.
“Re-reanimating a dragon, is that… real…?”
Sorbi detested undead.
The sight of floating bones was grotesque to him.
“Well, that’s just a possibility. For now, let’s summon the Forest Keepers. This is an emergency.”
——
At that moment, Luke also suddenly lifted his head at the flow of massive mana.
‘This flow of mana…’
Recognizing the arrangement of mana he had sensed before, Luke closed his book and stood up.
“Py, is that you?”
– Luke!
Py bounced excitedly and tapped on the window.
Seeing him motioning as if to ask for the window to be opened, Luke rose and approached the window to open it.
Then,
– Whoosh!
“Ugh…!”
A sudden storm made of the natural mana rushed in.
He was briefly taken aback by the overwhelming mana, forcing Luke to open his eyes wide.
“Py, is this the mana you’ve gathered?”
– Luke,……!……?
Then the spirit jumped up and down, seemingly pleased with itself.
“Whoa…”
At this level of mana, it seemed that it must have traveled all around the forest to gather it.
Luke looked down at the tiny spirit and thought.
‘I had dismissed spirits until now… but they were really on par with mages.’
Spirits, being born from the natural mana, naturally have power over it.
Moreover, without a physical body, they can exist anywhere and are not bound by the laws of physics.
Such synergy likely allowed them to gather this level of mana in such a short time.
– Luke!……!
Seeing Py twist its body shyly, Luke couldn’t help but chuckle.
“Is this your gift of apology?”
The spirit nodded enthusiastically, making a pleasant sound.
Luke patted the spirit and said, “I’m sorry too. I was a bit hasty back then. Would you accept my apology?”
– ……!
With a sound that seemed to say, of course!, Luke nodded and released Py.
Now it was time to receive a gift.
‘If it’s this much, I might reach the 2nd Circle today…’
Luke settled his excited heart and began meditating again.
——–
The Forest Keepers of Luke Forest gathered, whether on duty or not, forming ranks.
In this situation, the one with command was indeed Yerna, who had been a Forest Keeper the longest.
“Team 1, guard that side; Team 2, guard the other side. The rest stay here to defend and join us when the time is right! We must not let any influence reach the city!”
“Yes!”
The members moved in perfect harmony to Yerna’s command.
“Reanimating a dragon? What kind of daring fool would do such a thing in Luke Forest!”
“I’ll slay them all!”
“Ugh, really, since morning. Do they have no need for sleep?”
Watching them ease the tension with such complaints, Yerna took her position and began to keep watch.
‘Is Luke okay?’
“Daphne, go to Luke and ask him to evacuate.”
“Understood, Yerna unnie.”
Daphne nodded and got into the vehicle.
If only they had a cell phone right now, they could check in, but the anxiety was considerable.
“Alright. The preparations are complete. Now…”
Beep…!
“Huh…?”
Suddenly, the red indicator on the Forest Keeper device vanished, and the noise stopped.
“What is it?”
With the sudden silence of the device, everyone panicked and fumbled.
“Can the mana response just disappear like this?”
“What gives? Is it invisibility? Where have the monsters gone?”
In that moment of confusion, Yerna calmly shouted.
“Stay alert; we don’t know what might happen!”
But nothing happened.
Not for half a day.
