Chapter 17: Request Not Fulfilled(1)

Feeling the headmaster and the men’s presence fading away, I sank into the one-person sofa. The soft sensation of the cushion enveloped me once more.

“Hoo…”

As the tension left my body, drowsiness washed over me. I reflected on the self that had unknowingly cast magic just a moment ago.

I tried my best to appear calm and nonchalant, but it would be a lie to say I wasn’t nervous with a real gun pointed at my face.

What if the mana shield doesn’t work properly? What if the gun is more powerful than I thought? Negative and worried thoughts and emotions like those swirled within me.

However, from a certain point, specifically when I started to get a little angry at their shameless proposal, all those negative emotions vanished.

Everything disappeared, leaving only a sense of superiority as a ‘Great Being’ and disgust for the humans before me.

To think of myself as a great and superior being, it’s just like a simple case of late-stage chuunibyou…

‘This sense of incongruity, it’s different. There’s something off…’

In the game ‘Fantasia Online,’ the title ‘Great Being’ referred to only one entity.

-Dragon.

The progenitor of magic, possessing a body larger and stronger than any other race, and a transcendent existence with an age rivaling the

thousands of years of the empire’s history.

So great that they were worshiped like gods in certain countries and tribes, people often referred to them as ‘Great Beings.’

Also, there was a setting that the Dragonkin, half-human and half-dragon, who had half of their blood from dragons, called themselves Great

Beings. It was also a setting that perfectly matched my situation.

And these Dragonkin mostly antagonized humans. The reason was simple. Most of the races that despised and killed dragons, who were like

ancestors or parents to them, were humans. Coincidentally, I also felt an inexplicable hostility whenever I saw humans.

‘Actually, all the Dragon Slayers in Fantasia Online’s story were human.’

However, dragons did not exist in this world. Even if dragons did exist, it was obvious that users who had turned into Dragonkin would not

think of dragons as parents, as they retained memories of their human lives. So, whether humans killed dragons or not, Dragonkin users,

who retained memories of their human lives and were close to humans, had no reason to feel animosity towards them.

‘But, the negative emotions I feel whenever I see ordinary humans… is it because of my Dragonkin body?’

I didn’t feel anything in particular when I saw Ye-jin or Ye-rim, or even when I saw the centaur user a few days ago. Rather, I looked at them

with a friendly gaze as fellow users.

The problem was the inexplicable sense of superiority and revulsion I felt when I saw ordinary humans. It felt like looking at giant, living

bugs.

It was as if my mind was gradually following the setting that ‘Dragonkin don’t like humans’ in the game.

Ye-jin, who was clearly proud, had also come to enjoy being petted by others. Considering how much she hated anyone touching her head

when we first met, it was quite a significant change.

If I hypothesize that this is also related to her turning into a ‘cat demi-human,’ everything falls into place.

‘Our minds follow the bodies that have turned into specific races?’

Perhaps, if this hypothesis is true – the rebellions and riots in the provinces may not be simply due to resentment.

The demon, vampire, and werewolf races were all beings that consumed humans as food. Perhaps, they were committing such crimes simply

to obtain basic necessities.

‘Of course, it’s none of my business.’

It was a matter of self-inflicted consequences, no different from karma.

“This place is delicious.”

I knew it was near my house, but I had never been inside this hot pot restaurant. Apparently, it was a very famous restaurant among the

locals.

You only know a place is a Restaurant if you know people around. To me, who has cut off most of my human relationships since my body changed,

even the fact that this place is a Restaurant is something I’m hearing for the first time.

“Right? We carefully selected it online.”

Ye-rim, who proudly thumped her chest and boasted, looked at the empty seat next to her and said.

“However… it doesn’t seem to suit Sister’s taste very well. After all, she has a cat tongue and can’t eat hot food. She especially hates hot soup.”

“Ah, so that’s why, because of her cat tongue…”

A few minutes ago, Ye-jin had declared that she was a soup person and gulped down the steaming soup. After holding the soup in her mouth,

she made a face as if she had made a mistake and ran to the bathroom.

Probably, the soup in her mouth was hotter than she thought, and she was flustered. She couldn’t just spit the hot soup on the floor, so she

even used her skills to run to the bathroom.

“I should have just cast a fire resistance buff.”

Of course, as a mage, I could cast various elemental resistance buffs. I hadn’t invested many skill points, so the efficiency would be low, but at

least it would prevent her from getting burned inside her mouth like that.

“That’s a good idea. Sister used to like soup dishes like gukbap, but she hasn’t been able to enjoy them at all since she changed like that. She’d

probably love it if you did that for her.”

While waiting for Ye-jin, who had disappeared with a strange noise, Ye-rim and I chatted amicably and devoured the bulgogi hot pot. Just as

we were about to finish almost a bowl of rice, we sensed a strange atmosphere.

Ye-jin wasn’t coming back.

The bathroom was on the same floor inside this building. If she was just going to the bathroom, she should have come back and sat down by

now. So, something must have happened outside…

“Let’s go out first. We can probably figure out what’s going on if we go out.”

I put down the utensils and got up from my seat, and Ye-rim followed behind me.

I’ll just finish paying and follow you.”

“Ah, okay. Hurry up and come out.”

I left the payment to Ye-rim and pushed open the glass door. The moment I pushed open the glass door, I sensed a thin barrier of mana

spread out beyond the windows in the hallway.

“…A barrier?”

A barrier magic, a magic that mages often use to block others’ senses or when they need their own space, was spread out beyond the

windows.

It was a high-dimensional perception-hindering magic that even I couldn’t recognize until it came into my field of vision. For an ordinary

mage character to create a barrier that could hide their presence to this extent, they would have to be at least level 150.

‘As far as I remember, all the level 150 characters were in the top 100 of the pvp rankings…’

To be over level 150 meant that they were in the top 0.0001 percent of pvp, a celestial realm of stagnant water users.

I was a special case, with my level exceeding 170 through endless hunting toil, but most of the ranked players stopped at around 150-160.

In fact, Ye-jin and Ye-rim’s levels were in the 150s.

In other words, the barrier was created by a threatening top-tier ranked user above level 150, and it didn’t seem unrelated to the fact that Ye-

jin disappeared while eating.

“Then I’ll have to break it.”

-[Dragon Language Magic: Astrapi (Αστραπή)]

The Dragonkin-exclusive skill ‘Dragon Language Magic,’ which possessed destructive power beyond that of upper-level magic and consumed

so much mana that an ordinary mage character would be drained after using it once, was cast.

The threads of mana shattered the existing form of the magic circle, creating a chaotic yet more efficient passage than any other magic circle.

Ancient characters that were incomprehensible to the brains of ordinary humans took their place on the jin along the threads. And those

ancient characters began to absorb mana from the caster’s body, increasing their size and influence.

The threads of mana, which had condensed transcendent mana, lost their original blue color and began to burn red. When the durability of

the threads controlling the magic circle reached its limit, the characters that had absorbed all the necessary mana were arranged in front of

the caster’s palm.

The ancient magic circle, which only Dragonkin who had reached the realm of the wise could use, was completed.

The red magic circle discharged condensed mana in the form of lightning.