Dragon Heart

+++

Leona’s team successfully completed their expedition and returned.

After resting, Leona compiled her report, and its shocking contents bypassed all administrative delays, immediately delivered to Millaine.

“Disciple Leona. Millaine is looking for you… uh… she says to come right away…”

Naturally, Millaine promptly summoned Leona.

Before Leona, Millaine trembled as she reread the report.

“Wha, what is all this… even…”

The report’s contents were all utterly astounding.

Supreme-tier Guardians, the legacy of Enoch Războlnic – a Hero and among the continent’s wealthiest – and the wounded Dragon Lord safeguarding that place.

And as the grand finale…

“4, 4, 40 thousand…”

Millaine’s hands grasping the report shook like in an earthquake.

The report stated 40,000 gold coins had been acquired from Războlnic’s legacy, providing Doyun the pretext to hand over the 40,000 gold coins he had previously brought to the World Tree.

Millaine lifted her gaze to meet Leona’s eyes.

“Is, is this… for real…?”

“Ye, yes…”

Yet even Leona herself seemed to struggle believing it.

But she had undoubtedly witnessed the evidence Doyun had shown and the mountain of gold, while the dragon had mentioned visiting the guild house soon. There was no room for doubt left.

Doyun had truly discovered and exploited Enoch Războlnic’s legacy.

Meanwhile, the protagonist of said expedition, Doyun, was conversing with Eloah.

“So, the Dragon Lord will really be coming to our guild… to even live here…?”

“Yes. Will that be problematic?”

“No, no! Not problematic! That’s not what I meant, I’m just… uh… this isn’t a dream, is it…?”

The dragons – the legendary sacred beasts whose very existence remained a subject of unending academic debate.

Apocryphal tales recounted Enoch Războlnic sharing deep bonds with dragons, even exchanging gifts, but these never made it into official historical records as they seemed far too fanciful.

Yet the Hero before her now claimed to be bringing that very Dragon Lord to their guild.

Eloah could scarcely keep her wits about her in astonishment.

“It’s just… too surreal a tale for me to fully grasp yet…”

“Don’t worry. You’ll meet her in a few days’ time.”

“Ahh…”

Doyun smiled wryly at Eloah’s reaction as he sipped his tea.

“…Then should we keep the contributor of these achievements secret too?”

“No.”

“Pardon?”

Doyun set down his teacup and spoke,

“From now on, I’ll be operating openly.”

“You will!?”

“No need to hide my exploits any further.”

Eloah could only stare wide-eyed, bewildered by Doyun’s sudden declaration.

Doyun had recalled Tiamat’s words from when he had exited the vault.

[Războlnic. Did you not say you had lost track of the Celestials?]

‘Indeed. I’ve still been grappling with that very issue.’

[But when I ventured to the Demon Lord’s Domain, I faced the combined onslaught of all surviving Vanguard Commanders from your war – yet the Celestials were nowhere to be found.]

‘…What?’

Upon returning, Doyun had immediately checked the records after hearing Tiamat’s accounts.

But there were no mentions of the Celestials perishing, nor any records of their reappearance after the new Demon Lord’s advent.

Realizing this, Doyun reminisced about his past life.

‘In the 17th iteration, the Celestials disappeared for some reason – the same thing must have happened again.’

The 15th iteration. Enoch had been slain by the Celestials.

The 16th iteration. After honing his Seventh Sense, he had subdued the Celestials.

In the 18th iteration too, he had defeated the Celestials before finally toppling the Demon Lord. And the current timeline was this 18th iteration’s continuance.

However, in the preceding 17th iteration, the Celestials had never come for Enoch.

The sole difference between those iterations had been that in the 17th, unlike other times, Doyun had spent decades solely focused on cultivation to grow stronger after being slain by the Demon Lord in the 16th iteration.

‘Come to think of it, the Celestials never appeared after I turned 30 in any iteration.’

Enoch had only started making a name for himself after age 30 in the 17th iteration. At that point, he was already formidable enough to force the Demon Lord onto the defensive, yet the Celestials hadn’t come to assassinate the Hero Enoch.

From around the time he turned 30 onward, something had happened rendering the Celestials incapable of operating further. A state that persisted to this day.

‘Why?’

Injury? Death?

Doyun shook his head.

He could assert with certainty that after Enoch’s demise, no one capable of harming the Alliance remained.

Among Enoch’s adversaries, the Celestials had been second only to the Demon Lord in sheer might. The strongest of the Vanguard Commanders, Enoch had ultimately failed to slay them across all iterations. Such Celestials couldn’t have perished or been incapacitated.

‘In any case… I’ve evaded the Celestials’ threat.’

Other assassins wouldn’t easily make attempts against Doyun under the World Tree’s protection.

And by the time his growing renown prompted the Demon Lord’s forces to send assassins after him, Doyun would have regained sufficient strength to handle them.

But the matter wasn’t entirely resolved yet.

‘I need to uncover the Celestials’ whereabouts and discern the specifics of their situation.’

And one method existed to achieve that, requiring Doyun to accumulate maximum renown.

Upon hearing these circumstances, Eloah nodded.

“Ah… then you truly no longer need to remain in hiding.”

“Eloah. Can you utilize that device?”

“I would receive the necessary permits. But due to its exorbitant costs compared to utility value… I’ve heard it hasn’t been activated since locating the ostensibly deceased Heroes.”

“You mentioned the ‘feats’ the gods evaluate could now be substituted with ‘points.’ Does activating that device also require points?”

“Yes. Hmm… shall I inquire about who currently has enough points to operate it? Haineken likely amassed quite a few from his recent coup.”

“No. I’ll handle this myself.”

Points were an extremely crucial element for a Disciple’s growth. And operating that device demanded a staggeringly inefficient point expenditure.

Doyun didn’t wish to burden others with those costs.

“By accumulating renown through my exploits, I should be able to use that device before long.”

“You’ll need to grow stronger quickly then. How has your progression been?”

Doyun smiled faintly at Eloah’s words.

“Quite fruitful results from this latest expedition.”

Doyun placed his hand over his heart.

For now, it remained a frail human heart of flesh and blood, its pulse palpable in his palm. But soon, it would undergo a drastic metamorphosis into an entirely different form.

The legendary Dragon Heart treasure that even Enoch in his past life had only tasted once – filled with anticipation at becoming its new owner, Doyun’s heartbeat raced.

“Hm?”

But then, Doyun sensed something rapidly approaching from outside.

“…Millaine?”

“Ah, she must have read the report.”

Having received the same report, Eloah too detected the incoming Millaine, chuckling mischievously.

“Perhaps she’s coming to shower you with kisses?”

Eloah quipped teasingly before sipping her tea.

And immediately thereafter, the door burst open.

Bam!

“Lucky Staaaaaarrr!!”

“Guhck!”

Crash-!

Millaine flung herself at Doyun, literally showering him with a barrage of kisses.

Caught completely off-guard and unprepared for her direct charge, Doyun tumbled to the floor with Millaine.

“Pfftoot-!”

Witnessing the scene, Eloah spat out her tea.

+++

Supplementary rewards from expeditions were distributed through the system’s ‘Contribution Analysis’ function, allocated by priority in item form. However, 50% was returned to the guild.

The measured results showed Doyun’s contribution at 98% – not only the Ogre battle, but breaching the magic trap, discovering the hidden vault after 100 years, and even subjugating the Dragon Lord Tiamat were all credited to Doyun. For reference, Leona’s guiding role garnered the remaining 1%.

Doyun also entrusted the 20,000 gold coins from his allocated share to the World Tree for safekeeping, prompting another shriek from Millaine.

The World Tree now possessed over 50,000 gold coins in liquid assets within its vault, having transformed into an immensely wealthy guild – all thanks to Doyun.

This news swiftly spread throughout the guild.

“Extra, extra! No joke, this is a mind-blowing extra edition!”

The staff member responsible for distributing the guild newspaper, a welfare service, bellowed in the lobby.

While he normally announced ‘Extra, extra~’ in a cheerful tone when handing out papers, this time his demeanor was completely different.

Soon, the lobby became packed with people, and the guild members who received the newspaper could scarcely believe their eyes.

“40,000? Did I misread that?”

“It must be a misprint, 4,000 instead of 40,000. No way it’s actually 40,000.”

“But even earning 4,000 gold on a single expedition as a newcomer would be insane, you know? 4,000 is an astronomical jackpot even among elites.”

“Wow… 98% contribution? Leona’s team isn’t exactly slacking, but a newcomer solo-carried them?”

“Must have been sheer luck.”

“I’ll say. The newcomer’s share is 2,000 gold. Damn… if it were me, I’d retire on the spot.”

However, follow-up coverage soon confirmed it wasn’t a misprint, utterly rocking the guild.

“This is freaking crazy!”

“4, 40 thousand…! 40 thousand! Is it really, actually 40 thousand!?”

“Then… this Han Doyun guy has a personal fortune of 20,000 gold coins…?”

“Han Doyun? That name rings a bell… Hey you, newcomer over there. Come here for a sec? Is he from your intake batch…”

In fact, this report wasn’t supposed to have been published in the newspaper yet. For it to be officially acknowledged as an achievement, the Alliance needed to dispatch a follow-up team to verify the findings first.

But the financial department staff, alongside Millaine, had already confirmed the mountain of gold in the vault – leading to its spread through word-of-mouth and subsequent newspaper coverage.

“But seriously, what kind of dungeon yielded 40,000 gold coins?”

“Who knows…? It’s unimaginable really. The secret vault of a fallen empire’s emperor?”

Hence, the revelations that the excavated site was Enoch Războlnic’s legacy, the confirmation of the Dragon Lord’s existence, and her impending visit to this guild house remained undisclosed for now.

A monstrous newcomer who had single-handedly amassed 40,000 gold coins from a single expedition. Or a freak stroke of sheer dumb luck. And the owner of the immense personal fortune of 20,000 gold coins.

That was none other than the recently joined F-Rank newcomer, the human Han Doyun.

Meanwhile, at the center of these rumors, Doyun himself was preoccupied cultivating in the mana training room.

Specifically, the dragons’ mana cultivation method he had received from the Dragon Lord.