Chapter Text
"... heal… Tree…"
"May… immort…"
"... powers… strong…"
The first thing Cale heard after waking up was the sound of hushed, frantic whispering.
Apprehensive, Cale cracked his eyes open and scanned his surroundings. Greeting him were the walls of his room in the Super Rock villa with rays of sunlight from the rising sun, as well as the scent of flowers that On, Hong, and Raon had brought him the previous night.
'Well, it doesn't seem like I've been transmigrated again… but if that's the case, it's way too early for whatever the hell this shit is.'
With a slight urge to reprimand whoever disturbed his precious rest time, Cale sat up and looked around to locate where and who the offending voices were coming from. However, there wasn't anyone in the room. The only sound he could locate was the clang of metal on metal from the soldiers' (and Choi Han's, no doubt) early morning training session.
Belatedly, Cale realized that the voices aren't coming from anyone nearby, but instead are from the panicked Ancient Powers inside his head.
… Said Ancient Powers who have now gone quiet, having realized that Cale is now paying attention to their voices.
A few moments passed before Cale broke the (internal) silence.
'Hey. What is so important that you all are chattering away at… ugh, way too early in the morning when I could be sleeping?'
'...' The Ancient Powers stayed silent for a few moments before Super Rock answered.
'Cale… we're sorry.'
'Something strange is happening to your body,' Glutton continued.
'We think it might be because of the World Tree's branch you stabbed your heart with,' Thief concluded.
'We're getting XXXX stronger, too!' Crazy Kid interjected.
Cale blinked languidly, his now awake mind processing what the Ancient Powers were saying.
'Huh. Didn't the World Tree say this might happen though? Something about 'traces of immortality' that would strengthen Vitality of the Heart?'
'Yes, but certainly not to the extent we're witnessing,' Super Rock replied.
'Not only are the traces of immortality doing weird shit in your body, but like Crazy Kid said, not only Vitality but all of us Powers are growing at an insane pace,' Cheapskate said. 'This isn't normal!'
Cale frowned, already anticipating the headache of a problem this could cause. Laying his head back down on his pillow, he asked, 'But, it's not like I can do anything about it, right? It's not like it's harming me either, so can't we just wait and see what happens?'
'No!' 'No way!' 'Don't even think about it!'
A chorus of voices rang in Cale's head all at once, causing Cale's hand to fly up and grasp his head in pain.
'Ngh! Don't… do that again, please,' Cale asked, gritting his teeth and squinting in pain.
'Sorry Cale,' Super Rock replied for the group, 'but we all agree that this is something that definitely shouldn't be occurring.'
'Yeah, okay, fine.' Cale groaned, pinching the bridge of his nose, before lowering his hand with a resigned look on his face. 'Let's go visit the World Tree; see what we can figure out about whatever is going on with me.'
Relieved cheers and words of gratitude bounce around through Cale's head, causing a sigh to fall from Cale’s mouth.
"HUUUUMAAAANNN!!!"
A loud cry accompanied by the sound of flapping wings rattled down the hall outside of Cale’s room before the door slammed open.
"Hey, human, wake up, wake up– wait, you're already awake?"
With a sigh, Cale sat back up to respond to the excited dragon flying in circles above his bed.
"Yes, Raon, I am awake."
"Oh!"
With one final lap around the bed, the dragon landed on his human's lap, while Cale’s hand naturally settled on Raon's head to scratch his cheek.
"Human! I have learned an improvement to my shield magic from Goldie Gramps! So don't worry about using your power anymore, as the great and mighty Raon will protect you!"
"... Thank you, Raon. You know I don't like to work, so that makes me happy to hear."
"Ehehe!"
Raon giggled, his tail wagging in happiness.
"But, human. Why are you up so early?" The dragon questioned. "N-not that it's a bad thing, it's very, very good! But why are you awake?"
Cale pursed his lips in thought.
'I was going to find Raon anyway; might as well ask now.'
Cale nodded to himself with a satisfied expression, before turning towards the dragon whose eyes were twinkling in expectation.
"Raon. Can you do a task for me? I will give you two gold coins as payment."
Raon's wings fluttered while responding with, "Of course, human! What do I need to do?"
"I need you to teleport me to the World Tree," Cale smirked. "I need to speak to it about something."
Cale paused, before continuing, "However, the important part is that you need to keep this trip a secret; just between the two of us. You can't tell anyone; even your noona, okay?"
"Okay, human, but you aren't putting yourself in danger again, right? If you hurt yourself again because of that tree, I will destroy the world!"
"Don't worry Raon, I have no intention of doing anything dangerous. I hate pain."
"Promise?"
"I promise."
'In fact, it might even be the opposite,' Cale thought to himself with amusement.
"Good." Raon huffed in satisfaction, then got up and flew towards the door. "I will wait outside until you are dressed, then we will go on our super secret trip!"
As the door slammed shut behind Raon, Cale chuckled and thought, 'Aigoo, this kid. Well, I want to sleep through the morning in the future, so I hope this trip will bring a satisfying answer.'
Of course, things will never be that easy for Cale Henituse.