Awakening To Reality (2)
[A Divine Tale of A Hero] was a common stereotypical fantasy novel with a heroic protagonist against all threats toward the mortal realm. However, what made it so popular was the novel's worldbuilding.
In [A Divine Tale of A Hero], the world settings are the countless realms connected to one another through portals. One portal is for two realms, and in one realm, there are almost a hundred portals hidden and locked to ensure the realm's safety.
However, realms such as the Heavenly realm and the Demonic realm cannot be accessed through a common portal due to the high difference in magic affinity, and any mortal who dares pass the portal without protection magic will wither the moment they step into the portal.
Ryland was an exception to that. He, as the novel protagonist, received a blessing from the Heavenly deities which made him able to pass through any portals without protection and also brought his companions along.
Not just that, Ryland also cultivated many powers in his long adventure to protect realms that needed help and bring long peace to the world. He even became the main contributor who stopped the Great Apocalypse; a fated war between the Heavenly realm and the Demonic realm.
However, since K-Nim went on hiatus for a long time, the plot stopped in the Great Apocalypse arc, making the majority of [ADTOAH] readers disappointed and dropped the webnovel. Many of them believed that [ADTOAH] had ended in the Great Apocalypse arc, and the long adventure of Ryland closed with him being the legendary hero who saved the realms.
As Hyunwoo thought about Ryland more, he realized how much cheat code K-Nim gave to him.
'Huh—that's the perk of being the main character.'
On the other side, this brat, or Valac Auremont, did not realize where he was standing and challenged the young Ryland who only just got his holy power.
He even shouted some embarrassing phrase like, "Nice glow you got there. Did you swallow a firefly or something, Blondie?"
After that, Val was smacked with a metal scabbard and thrown into a mud puddle. Embarrassed, Val went on a rampage and attacked Ryland using his demonic aura. Ryland could dodge all of Val's aura balls and swing his sword covered with holy aura. Val never received proper education in martial arts or cultivating his aura to protect him and ended up struck with the holy aura.
Keugggggh—!
That was his last word before dissipating into dark particles and erased from this world forever.
Hyunwoo shivered from remembering his soon-to-be fate if he did not change it.
The real problem here was Hyunwoo did not know when it was going to happen.
He hoped that he still had many times left before the first chapter appeared so he could learn some martial arts and dodge Ryland's attack if he could not avoid his original fate in this novel.
He needed to survive.
Hyunwoo hated pain, and he hated losing to someone too.
He had lost to many things in his first life, and not this once. Hyunwoo would do anything to survive in this world, even if it meant going against the original novel plotline.
No, from now on, his name was Valac Auremont.
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"I gave you permission to use the portal, Val."
Clunk!
The fork in Val's hand fell to the floor, startling everyone in the dining room. Val looked at the person who sat on the farthest seat with a horrified expression, which made that person feel uncomfortable. Not just him, but all the people there sighed in distress because Val was going to throw another tantrum or a glass bottle as usual.
"What is it again now? You've been asking for it for months, and I hate hearing any more of your useless tantrums. Just go inside it tomorrow."
That person was the current head of Auremont and Val's biological father, Freud Auremont. As an Upper-Intermediate demon rank like him, Freud was quite infamous among demonic aristocrats. He even had four wives—what a covetous man. From all those wives, Freud had nine children, and Val was the sixth born from Freud's third wife, Elia.
However, Elia could not bear another child because of her poor health, and it made her position as a wife become weak compared to the other three wives. Her weak position affected Val's life as he never got a proper education like his other siblings or received the same gifts from his father. These treatments created Val's scoundrel side rose to hide his envious side from the mistreatment by his own siblings.
"Valac, don't create another ruckus. We're in the middle of dinner."
Lucien, the oldest son and the next future head of Auremont, spoke while giving a piercing look toward Val. Lucien was a supporting character in [ADTOAH], who confronted Ryland in the Great Apocalypse along with the demon race and died by the hero's sword, the same fate as Valac's.
The atmosphere in the room began to tense, as all the people there looked at Val with intimidating gazes, except Elia, who looked at her son with a worried expression.
Val let out a staggered breath. He wanted to laugh at that moment.
'Really, I just dropped my fork and didn't make an earthquake? Why are they behaving like I'm a death threat that needs to be erased?'
'Haha, so this is what Val has been through until now?'
Valac responded to Lucien's words in his calmest tone with a faint smile appearing on his pale skin. "Yes, oldest brother. It's just that I was so surprised because Father gave me permission to use our family's portal after a long time."
Every noble house in the Demonic realm was facilitated with one portal to make it easier for them to move through realms and attack enemies. Using the house portal without approval from the head of the household could lead to punishment.
"However, I don't want it anymore, father. Thanks for the opportunity."
"What? Why?" Freud could not hide his twitched eyebrows and blurted out a question. He could not believe that this wicked thing refused to use the portal. It must be that Val had something up his sleeve.
Why?
Of course, the real answer was that Val did not want to be beaten to death by Ryland, and his first step to avoid that fate happening was refusing to use the portal.
However, Val found the right answer to that question.
"It just… the portal does not interest me anymore. I have found other new fun things to do now."