Before he knew it, his study of plant magic had gotten on the right track. Zenith found it quite miraculous; it was as if his brain had suddenly been enlightened. The calculations for many runes and magic circles had almost become instinctual.
Actually, it couldn't really be called enlightenment. It was more like practice making perfect—the two hundred pounds of practice workbooks piled up in the corner had a lot to say about that.
Konoha was gradually showing some improvement. The surrounding residents would occasionally come here to post simple commissions. Naturally, the ones taking on these commissions were the youngsters of the village.
Sein and Gorilla Warrior were a bit older, and Stark often chased after them to play. In contrast, Fern was much less of a worry. Although she was young, she had already become a reliable big sister.
Well... in every sense of the word.
After nearly a year, the village had expanded significantly from its original foundation. The newly built commission hall, in particular, gave off the strong vibe of a traditional fantasy mercenary guild.
"Yo, if it isn't the Hokage. Keeping busy?"
The village chief of Konoha naturally had to be called the Hokage. Although no one else understood why, the title was finalized under Zenith's repeated insistence.
Clutching a commission slip in his hand, Zenith walked into the village's church hall. The moment he looked up, he saw Heiter buried under a mountain of paperwork.
"Keeping busy? I'm practically working myself to death!" Heiter rolled his eyes in annoyance. "If I had known Konoha was such a massive trap, I never would have accepted the job back then."
It was fine at first. There wasn't much to do, and his days consisted of taking a bunch of brats around to gain some experience. That was until Zenith proposed the Konoha Adventurer Registration Project.
Surrounding adventurers could apply to register as official Konoha adventurers. Registration came with benefits, including an iron sword enchanted with Sharpness I and a set of leather armor with Protection II.
Based on their strength, adventurers were divided into Kage, Jonin, Chunin, and Genin ranks. Of course, they also had to shoulder the corresponding responsibilities and obligations.
Seeing the commission slip dangling from Zenith's hand, Heiter immediately grew alert. "What kind of nonsense are you plotting now? Let me tell you, our workload is completely saturated. We can't handle any more of your tossing about!"
"What are you so nervous for?" Zenith scratched his head. "Himmel is getting restless, and my studies are just about finished, so I had someone issue a commission."
Heiter took it and took a look. The commission was to verify the existence of the resting place of souls, and the destination was Ende, where the Demon King's castle used to be.
This wasn't really a problem. It was just a trip out. With Zenith gone, he would actually have a lot more peace of mind.
However, as his gaze moved down and he saw the accompanying personnel, he lost his composure. "Frieren, Stark, Fern, Sein, Gorilla Warrior, Melsin... You're just going to pack up every usable person and take them with you, aren't you?! Do you have any idea how short-staffed the village is right now?"
"Relax, I've already prepared the corporate slaves for you."
The omnipotent SPW. After a period of training, the SPW had produced a large number of qualified warriors and mages, some of whom even moonlighted as Stand users. Clerks, martial artists, waiters—they had everything.
Heiter could now be a hands-off boss and a mere stamp-wielding tool. He was so happy he could fly. Depart, you must depart! Right now, immediately!
Frieren, who was still lying in bed and indulging in dreamland, was yanked up by Fern. The party assembled in the plaza and was subsequently shoved all the way out of the village by Heiter.
"So heartless." Frieren looked like she had nothing left to live for. What kind of decent person woke up before twelve o'clock? She hadn't even eaten breakfast before being pushed out to do a mission.
"Get moving! This is retracing the path the Hero took to defeat the Demon King back in the day. Think about whether there are any leftover incidents, any unfulfilled regrets, or any promises made to others that haven't been kept."
Regrets, huh? Frieren subconsciously glanced at Himmel. Come to think of it, they really were similar. He carried his shadow in every way, but ultimately, he wasn't as outstanding as him.
The living could never defeat the dead. The Himmel living in Frieren's mind completely triumphed over the disguised Melsin. Of course, this was absolutely not because the face Zenith had sculpted for him was too plain.
Leftover incidents naturally existed. The first stop was to deal with the sealed Qual.
This was the first troublesome opponent they had encountered after Zenith left. If you said he was strong, his raw power and difficulty level couldn't compare to the Seven Sages of Destruction. But the problem was that Qual possessed a magic specifically tailored to attack humans.
The name was very concise and its meaning clear: Zoltraak, or rather, the magic that kills humans.
Humanity's defensive magic system was as fragile as paper in the face of this move. At the time, the only thing capable of effectively defending against it was Orcini's Seven-Curse Shield.
But this kind of single-target shield could only protect oneself, and Zoltraak could be fired in multiple shots like a shotgun.
In the end, the Hero party of that time chose to seal Qual away, leaving him to be dealt with later.
"Actually, there were other considerations for choosing to seal him back then."
The group arrived at the village where Qual was sealed. Looking at the stone statue that was nearly three meters tall, they could almost still feel the aura of the bitter battle from back then.
Frieren explained, "We actually could have chosen to force a kill on him back then, but keeping him alive was more beneficial for us to analyze his magic."
The group of youngsters nodded in half-understanding. They only felt that Qual was incredibly strong to actually be able to single-handedly fight the entire Hero party without dying—something not even the Demon King had managed to do.
Himmel was itching to try. Back then, Qual was strong due to a generational gap in technique. Now, he could take out this kind of trash with a single sword strike. The time to wipe away his past humiliation had come.
As the seal was undone, the petrified layer on Qual's body gradually dissipated into white smoke. It only took a few seconds for his massive body to go from stiff to moving freely.
*I, Qual, the genius of the demon race, the hunter of humans, have resurrected! Frieren, was it? I will make you pay the price for sealing me!*
*Zenith, was it? I will... Zenith??*
Without a word, he turned and ran. How did Schlacht die? How did Macht die? Back when Zenith and Serie were still in the party, subjugating the Demon King could only be considered a picnic. The journey only truly became an adventure after those two left.
"What are you running for? Leaving the moment you see someone without even saying hello, how rude."
Zenith reached out and pointed forward. A touch of vitality quickly took root and sprouted beneath Qual's feet, then burst out of the soil.
A brown clover swayed in the wind. Any hostile creatures within a 13-meter radius centered on it were instantly inflicted with a level 100 Slowness effect.
Plant magic, Petrification Weed!
It had to be said, this move had way more style than throwing potion bottles like before, and the effect was much better too. A level 100 Slowness effect was actually infinitely close to an immobilization spell, and it was an Area of Effect to boot.
So, next up was exam time. What exactly did Qual experience to go from a powerhouse to a clown? Frieren posed the question to Fern, who disliked studying the history of magic. Even top students had subjects they weren't good at, and she didn't know the answer to this question.
Back then, Qual had nearly slaughtered his way through humanity's defensive lines all by himself. And precisely because his magic was too powerful, human mages worked together to research and crack it, eventually incorporating it into humanity's magic system.
The once-powerful Zoltraak was now just ordinary offensive magic that everyone knew. What Qual lost to was humanity's unity and creativity.
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