* * *Yeomyeong stopped moving his fist. He had long forgotten the number of blows he had thrown, but his fist could no longer move.Panting for breath, he felt neither a sense of guilt nor lowly thrill for beating up a fragile woman.Of course not. The one in front of him was nothing more than a shell of Miridith possessed by his Killing Aura.Yeomyeong tossed the Killing Aura in his grasp onto the ground.And then, he, too, collapsed onto the ground, staring at the sky.The sky was speckled and dirty, like the one over Incheon, where he grew up.For some reason, he felt a bitter taste in his mouth. He longed for some alcohol, but all he could swallow was dry saliva.As his throat burned with thirst, the Killing Aura spoke in a dying voice.“You… will… regret… this….”Even as its form melted away, it stared straight at Yeomyeong.“Revenge….”“I’ll take care of it myself.”“…”“I’ll get my revenge and live without shame before the Foreman and hyung-nims. That’s all there is to it.”“Heh… h-how laughable…”“Success or failure, that’s all my responsibility. I’ll bear it all. And most importantly…”Yeomyeong looked the Killing Aura straight in the eyes. The twisted pair of eyes bubbled and fumed with rage.“I have yet to forgive anyone, and I won’t in the future. So now… leave.”“Heh… h-heh… t-this isn’t… the… end, I… I am…”The Killing Aura disappeared before it could complete its sentence, vanishing from his dream like dust washed away by the rain or like impurities melting into molten iron.Yeomyeong’s eyes remained rooted at the spot for a while before turning his gaze to the branch stuck in the ground.The small branch that stood like a tree trembled under Yeomyeong’s gaze and then fell over.For reasons he couldn’t explain, Yeomyeong erected it again and buried it a little deeper this time.After a moment, he spoke to the sole remaining uninvited guest.“Mara, you knew that was my Killing Aura from the start, didn’t you?”Mara, the elephant floating in his misty form, looked at him nervously.Seeing an expression of injustice spread across the elephant’s face, which oddly felt human to Yeomyeong, he snickered as he responded.“Cut the crap.”Mara sounded outright indignant, ready to shout his protest.However, Yeomyeong raised his hand to stop him before he could proceed.“…Enough. Now get out of my dream.”Mara shook with excitement, but Yeomyeong’s next words crushed his short-lived joy.“But… before you go, leave that flying martial art behind.”“Why? You don’t want to?”As expected, it was a martial art that required certain conditions to be fulfilled. No wonder he wasn’t able to steal it no matter how hard he tried.Yeomyeong couldn’t help but give a weary smile at the elephant’s passionate reaction. Who was calling whose dream a hell?Wiping the sweat from his forehead, he pushed his hair back as he spoke.“Then, give me something else.”“Well, I can’t help it if you don’t want to. Let’s talk when I come back here again.”As Yeomyeong stood up and turned to leave, Mara quickly interjected.“…What? Is it a martial art?”- Saying that, Mara used his trunk to pick up a small stone and began drawing on the ground.Yeomyeong observed him closely, curious about what he was drawing, but soon saw a crude blueprint and a series of numbers take shape.“What is this…?”Seeing Yeomyeong look up with a puzzled expression, Mara pointed to the drawing with his trunk.“…”Ah, information for a heist? As expected of a criminal, the information he offered as payment was just pathetic.Yeomyeong’s brow furrowed just as Mara continued to elaborate.“So, it’s the property of a gangster? This just keeps getting more interesting.”“…Something I would want?”As if revealing a significant secret, Mara leaned in close and whispered.It was unexpected information—so unexpected that it seemed impossible to trust.Not only did Mara know about the extra components for the Handle of Uragan, but he also knew its location?Yeomyeong looked at him suspiciously, but Mara flapped his ears like he had just delivered a great piece of intel.“…How am I supposed to trust this crude map and password?”Mara, who had been filled with excitement at the thought of being released, was caught off guard by Yeomyeong’s skeptical response.- “How am I supposed to take this information at face value and let you go just like that?”Seeing Mara’s attitude as if asking why he questioned something so obvious, Yeomyeong flinched and turned stiff.…How did this bastard know about the Saintess’ Foresight?Seeing Mara speak like someone who had a lot of knowledge about Foresight, Yeomyeong understood that it meant that someone in this creature’s organization could use Foresight, or at the very least, a colleague who knew of it and could take precautions.Recalling how Kahal Maghdu was caught off guard by the Saintess’ sudden appearance back in Manchuria, it seemed that their seer wasn’t as powerful as the Saintess.Still, Foresight itself was dangerous, and Yeomyeong pondered whether he should squeeze more information out of Mara.However, it didn’t take him long to arrive at a decision.He deemed that it was more dangerous to keep an unknown being in a dream than to rely on information from a terrorist organization that couldn’t be cross-verified.“Alright, deal. So, how do I release you?”What sounded like something that would have terrified ordinary superhumans, was truly a simple matter for the two of them.Having understood the true intentions of Mārīcī Divine (?) Arts and Black Wing Flow, Yeomyeong, along with Mara, awoke from his state of perfect selflessness half a day later.It had been a day and a half since he first entered the state of perfect selflessness.* * *Miridith opened her eyes.

    The first thing that appeared before her eyes was a familiar yet strange ceiling.Was this… the Academy infirmary?“…Comrade Miri?”By the time she managed to regain her senses, Rime had approached her with a wet towel, confirming the presence of someone nearby.Leaning her forehead against the wet towel in a daze, Miridith began to speak hesitantly.“Rime, how long… how long have I been dreaming?”“You have been dreaming all day.”“…All day?”“You fell asleep yesterday around noon, and you have just woken up, so you have been in the dream for over twenty hours.”That long? Miridith shuddered and let out a shaky breath.Seemingly misunderstanding her reaction, Rime gently stroked her forehead and asked cautiously.“Whose dream did you enter? Was there another elf somewhere close?”Miridith did not respond. No, she couldn’t answer.She could still feel sensations from the dream vividly.The excitement of connecting with a human for the first time.The fear consumed by unknown emotions.And… the ruthless violence.Everything was new, strange—a feeling she couldn’t explain with any words she knew.However, one thing was certain: for the first time in her life, she had experienced a human’s emotions to the fullest.Joy and sorrow, anger and pleasure, despair and determination… all of it.If there was anything that disappointed her, it was that she wasn’t able to see all of the memories. His memories had gaps, as if concealed by shadows.If only she could’ve seen them all, she might’ve understood everything about him.Miridith regretted not seeing those missing pieces.“Rime…”After savoring the dream for a while, Miridith called out to her escort cautiously.“Yes, comrade.”The silver-haired elf, who had been watching her with concern, grasped her hand tightly. Feeling her warmth, Miridith voiced the thought that had just come to her.“The special teacher application… It starts today, right?”“You do not need to worry about that. The Principal has already made arrangements for you to attend Mage Michele’s lessons.”“…Please cancel that.”“Pardon? But you were looking forward to the Mage’s lessons…”“Dung Beetle… I mean, Cheon Yeomyeong. You know him, right?”For a brief moment, Rime’s expression twisted, but she recovered quickly.Seeing an uncharacteristically honest reaction from Rime, Miridith said with a grin.“Please help me apply to the same special teacher as him.”“He applied to just one person… uh, a Beastfolk named Corvus. Are you sure about this?”“Yes, that’s fine.”Rime pursed her lips, as if searching for words to object, but eventually bowed her head.“…Understood. I will do as you ask.”“Thank you for going along with my whim. Oh, and… could you please bring me some tissues?”“Tissues? What do you need them for…?”Miridith tilted her head slightly. And as she did, blood began trickling from her nose.Rime hurried off to fetch the tissues, and while she was gone, Miridith held her bloodied nose and laughed.After all, this nosebleed was proof of the dream she had just experienced. Sёar?h the N??eFire.ηet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.