Never Mind the Heir, I’ll Focus on Healing — Chapter 69
Never Mind the Heir, I’ll Focus on Healing — Chapter 69
The moment Lion passed through the labyrinth gate, the soft grass and gentle breeze welcomed him as always.
‘With Spirit Arts now part of me, I can clearly tell what the energy of nature actually feels like.’
It was enough to make him understand, at least to some degree, what the elves meant when they said they felt suffocated.
Just as Lion was savoring the boundless freshness of nature spread out inside the labyrinth—
[Absorbing the energy of nature. Physical fatigue is continuously recovering.]
‘Looks like this is an effect of Spirit Arts too.’
An unexpected effect had activated.
Lion’s complexion, which had been even paler than usual from experimenting day and night, began to gradually revive, and vitality returned to his once-hollow eyes.
“Now that I think about it, this is the first time I’ve taken a walk alone with you, Grandfather.”
“That’s… true.”
They had entered the labyrinth together before, but they had never strolled around so leisurely.
“Next time, should I make a walking path? It seems like a nice place for the family to take a walk together to clear their heads.”
“Go ahead. The labyrinth will soon be yours, so do as you like.”
Lion smiled inwardly at his grandfather’s consent.
In the past, he would have started by telling him not to do anything dangerous.
Of course, he wasn’t planning anything big.
Just clearing a path, paying a little attention to the surrounding landscape.
Decorating the ground with some pebbles would make it a walking path, wouldn’t it?
And while he was at it, he could plant the moonflowers Rickshel gave him and help them sprout.
As he walked, organizing his personal Labyrinth Walking Path Project in his head, he soon arrived at the center of the labyrinth.
This was the deep forest where he had first discovered the hut.
Where the hut once stood, grass was now growing in sparse patches.
“This is the place. It is certainly an optimal location for summoning a spirit.”
Petrick also found it quite a good spot.
Abundant mana and the energy of nature blended harmoniously, giving off a feeling that was both serene and auspicious.
“I’ll draw the summoning circle now.”
“Yes. Take your time, and begin with a calm mind.”
With those words, Petrick stepped back a pace and watched Lion standing in the center of the forest.
“Hooo.”
Lion took a deep breath and exhaled, repeating the process.
He had heard every detail about drawing a summoning circle—the precise method and the precautions—from Embrog and Tialli.
He knew them even without that.
Because he had done this once in the game, even if it wasn’t real.
‘First, steady your breathing.’
He filled his lungs with the refreshing scent of nature, then released it with every exhale.
This was precisely the difference between magic and Spirit Arts.
Magic was a method of taking mana into the body, confining it, and greedily drawing it into the Mana Heart to store it.
To define it in a word, it was ‘seizing.’
But Spirit Arts was different.
This was ‘borrowing.’
Therefore, no energy remained in the body. If a spirit could not be called, one’s combat power remained at the level of an ordinary person.
In exchange, it placed no strain on the body.
Since all change began from the spirit.
So, the very first thing to do was—
‘A mindset that any spirit is fine.’
Not to be greedy.
Naturally, Lion did not care which spirit appeared.
He wasn’t going to fight, nor did he desire to reach the pinnacle of Spirit Arts.
Since he wasn’t the Hero.
Swish.
Lion scattered the fairy dust onto the ground and constructed the summoning circle.
A round circle with geometric patterns was drawn.
Spaces for the four great elements were created in each direction.
Normally, spirit stones would be placed where the elements go, but…
Lion had something better.
Spirit Water.
Trickle!
Lion sprinkled a little Spirit Water onto each of the elemental positions.
The colors looked as though shooting stars were falling.
Whoosh!
The fairy dust glowed as if responding to the Spirit Water.
[Set Effect with Fairy Dust activated]
- The spirit summoning circle will not break under any circumstances.
- Protects the summoner’s mental strength.
- Increases the likelihood of summoning a spirit suited to the summoner.
‘Was this kind of effect necessary?’
In any case, since it seemed to be a summoning support effect, it didn’t seem bad.
Lion tossed the empty potion bottles far away and stood in the center. The fairy dust began to glow slowly, as if in response.
One by one, the softly glowing fine particles rose gently into the air, constructing a three-dimensional summoning circle on their own, and the sounds of nature hummed, whispering into Lion’s ear.
[Would you like to summon your spirit?]
“Yes. Please do.”
Unafraid, Lion answered quietly in affirmation.
Now the fairy dust would bore a passage into the dimensional realm and materialize the spirit here.
He knew that the higher its grade, the stronger the natural effects that would be triggered…
“…”
It was silent.
‘Nothing’s happening? No, wait…’
Something was strange.
That is to say…
…He couldn’t hear a thing.
Not the sound of the gently blowing wind, nor the sound of water flowing, nor the rustle of leaves.
Not even the sound of Lion’s own movements.
He couldn’t hear anything.
As if someone was covering his ears.
‘Ah.’
Could it already be here?
‘Is it a wind type?’
He wasn’t sure, but it seemed like a mischievous little thing.
He thought it might be Sylph, an intermediate spirit.
Lion slowly blinked his open eyes.
In that moment—
[Set Effect activated: Protecting the summoner’s mental strength.]
[Set Effect activated: Offsetting the summoning circle’s impact.]
Every sound that had stopped for an instant struck Lion’s ears all at once.
WHOOOOOSH—!!
“Ngh…!”
The wind that had stilled now blew like a fierce storm, making his hair and cape flap wildly.
A whirlpool rose in the once-tranquil lake. The ground trembled, and flames ignited around the summoning circle, flickering as if dancing.
Yet none of it touched Lion’s body.
“What in the world…”
Petrick, who had been watching from afar, moved to wield his magic power but stopped immediately.
Because he sensed a familiar presence.
That is to say, a sensation he had felt from someone long, long ago.
Just as Petrick was about to bring that name to his lips—
Crack!
A sound like something breaking came from the summoning circle where Lion stood.
It was a very quiet sound, yet everyone present heard it.
A crack formed in the empty air.
Like a mirror. Like the shell of an egg hatching new life.
The space before Lion’s eyes fissured, and from within, something burst out.
It was unmistakably a massive presence.
It was a level that the current Lion could not dare to handle, and it stole his breath away.
He had never felt a sensation like this, not even from his grandfather.
[Set Effect activated: Protecting the summoner’s mental strength.]
Once more, the set effect protected his mental strength.
‘I can endure this.’
In truth, chaos was erupting all around him, but nothing was happening to Lion himself.
The wind was biting, but it did not claw at his cheeks. The flames flickered as large as his torso and sparks flew, but they did not scorch so much as a single hem of his clothes.
Rather, it felt as if they were joyfully, fiercely welcoming him.
Still, an ordinary person would have been terrified, but Lion…
‘What’s going to come out?’
Was calm.
Because this was exactly what he had seen in the game.
If any other elves had witnessed this, they would have passed out.
Wasn’t Petrick, watching from way over there, aghast?
Lion, who had no inkling of that, was simply waiting for this commotion to pass—or more precisely, for the summoned creature to calm down.
Only after the storm passed, the water grew still, the flames died down, and even the earth fell quiet…
[An ancient presence is delighted to see you.]
A presence burst out of the fissure and dropped into Lion’s hand with a soft thud.
“Hm? You are…”
By chance, Lion recognized this one.
Because this one was none other than…
“Nature?”
The partner of one of Lion’s alternate characters, the ‘Druid.’
Once you raised it to max level and completed an incredibly grueling skill grind, you could acquire this creature, and its efficiency was tremendous.
Normally, when a Druid character used spirits, they had to perform a separate summon for every attribute.
To use the power of water, you summoned a water spirit, and so on.
Worse, until you reached a certain level, you could only use one or two attributes.
So the early-stage training was extremely punishing.
But—
Its true value emerged at high specs and high levels.
Because of this one right here.
Without the hassle of summoning repeatedly, you only had to summon Nature to use the power of all attributes at once.
Moreover, since the attributes stacked fourfold, explosive levels of damage were possible.
Frankly, as long as you had Nature and infinite affinity and mana, you could cause a volcanic eruption on bare ground!
[You have awakened a slumbering ancient spirit.]
That was it.
It was called an ancient spirit.
A presence with abilities and convenience that were nothing short of all-purpose.
‘That’s why people used to call it the Spirit King.’
What’s more, its appearance was so magnificent that Lion, back when he was raising his Druid, had been deeply fond of Nature.
A human figure with phoenix wings.
When it fought, it transformed into a complete phoenix shape…
‘Its majesty and aura were so extraordinary that you couldn’t imagine any ordinary spirit.’
He’d thought he would never see it again, so meeting it once more filled him with deep emotion.
This little one was probably also the one who had covered his ears from that terrifying sound earlier.
But…
‘It’s small right now.’
It had definitely been a bit bigger, no, a lot bigger back then.
Now, though, it was a tiny, adorable size that fit in the palm of his hand.
One might wonder if this was perhaps a descendant of that ancient spirit, but
Lion knew instinctively.
This was indeed the ancient spirit the Druid used.
‘And it responded to the name I gave it.’
Ancient spirits have no names.
So Lion had personally given it a name.
Nature.
It might have been a little cheesy, but he had thought no other name suited it better.
Fortunately…
“Do you recognize me?”
The little one also seemed to recognize Lion and gave him a broad smile.
Though it was only cute, no matter how you looked at it.
[Please decide on a name for the ancient spirit.]
“I’ll go with Nature.”
Since I’d be the only one calling it that anyway, this was good enough.
Besides, it was someone he already knew, and he didn’t want to give it a new name.
[Nature has returned to its master’s embrace.]
[You can now summon the ancient spirit ‘Nature’ anywhere.]
[Due to the spirit grade effect, you will not lose it even if you dismiss the summon in any situation.]
[The spirit mage’s power is still too weak to reveal its true form. Let’s recover its strength together!]
In any case, he didn’t have to worry about losing it, and he thought this was good enough.
On top of that…
[You have achieved ‘The Long-Awaited Spirit’!]
[You have obtained 20,000 Shillings.]
[This is an achievement impossible to reach at your current level!]
[You obtain an additional 20,000 Shillings!]
[Spirit Arts Proficiency has reached Apprentice Lv.4.]
He had skyrocketed in level.
The sweet Shillings were a bonus.
Just as he was about to savor that joy—
Drip.
Blood dripped from Lion’s nose and fell to the ground.