"Everyone's here, right?" Chu Ke looked around. There were five people present.
Just as the last person appeared, vines quietly rose from the ground inside the tree hollow and formed five chairs along the edge of the cavern.
Chu Ke naturally walked over and sat in the vine chair directly opposite the entrance, with Diallo following close behind.
The remaining three looked at each other, then each found a seat and sat down.
It was worth mentioning that after taking Chu Ke's slap, the man in the black robe had clearly become much more lucid. At the very least, he had regained the ability to communicate and think normally.
"Tell me, what's going on with you?" Chu Ke looked toward the black-robed man.
His earlier entrance had clearly earned the respect of everyone present, so no one questioned Chu Ke's interrogative tone now.
The black-robed man nodded and removed his hood, revealing a young face. He should have been in the prime of youth, but his eyes were filled with profound despair and helplessness.
"I'm the Inside Hero, Bastos. My class is Vow Priest." His voice was somewhat hoarse, likely a lingering effect of overusing it. "My ability lets me obtain the strength of the dead. The side effect is that I must bear the wishes and emotions they had before they died."
"I see, so you're in a chaotic state because you've been confused by the side effects?" Diallo stroked his chin. "Perhaps my ability can help you."
Bastos shook his head. "It's useless. This is a Constant State. Unless the wishes of the dead are fulfilled, it can't be dispelled."
He raised his head and swept his lifeless gaze across the crowd. "It's laughable, isn't it? You must be thinking, 'Any normal person who learned about a skill's side effects would use it cautiously. No matter what, they wouldn't end up like this.'"
"Since you can say that yourself," Diallo said with a smile, "then you must have your own reasons. There's no need for us to mock you."
Bastos's eyes lit up. "Actually, I—"
"Stop right there." Chu Ke cut off Bastos's collection of bedtime stories and pointed at the Holy Sword embedded in the center. "I'd rather hear what happened to you later. Right now, this is the priority."
"Ah." Bastos smacked his lips and looked at Chu Ke resentfully before agreeing, "Fine."
"Then we'll go one at a time. I'll bring up the rear." Chu Ke patted Diallo's somewhat tense shoulder. "Go on. You're first."
Among each generation of Heroes, only one was destined to become the True Hero who drew the Holy Sword. That True Hero had been chosen by the Holy Sword from the very beginning; drawing it was merely a formality, so the order did not matter.
"Mm!" Diallo pursed his lips, took a deep breath, and stood up. He walked to the hilt, gently placed both hands on it, then gripped it tightly and pulled upward.
The Holy Sword did not budge.
"...Looks like I'm not the chosen one." Diallo smiled in relief and turned back to sit down. He had expected this all along, but when it truly happened as expected, he still felt a little unwilling to accept it.
Next came the Inside Hero Bastos and the Law Hero, the bespectacled Anlok. The two stepped forward in turn, but neither managed to draw the Holy Sword.
Bastos's expression twisted slightly, and he seemed at risk of going dark again. He appeared to be missing Chu Ke's slap already. What a greedy little glutton.
Anlok, on the other hand, was brimming with excitement. He had not wanted to draw the Holy Sword in the first place. Compared to fighting the Demon King, he was more eager to learn more magic.
For example, he had heard that unprecedented ancient magic had appeared in the arena of East Flower Capital. It had thrilled Anlok so much that he could hardly wait to set off and study it.
Chu Ke looked toward the only remaining strangely dressed Hero. That person was most likely the Time Hero the Priestess had mentioned earlier.
If he could not draw the Holy Sword either, then Chu Ke would personally step in and forcibly pull it out.
The moment Chu Ke first saw the so-called Holy Sword, he had already understood its essence—"an ordinary metal sword infused with strange energy."
Aside from its ornate appearance, the Holy Sword itself had no special qualities. All of its supernatural power came from the mysterious energy attached to it. That energy was of an extremely high level, far beyond the mana Chu Ke could command himself. Only by mobilizing the mana of nature could he exert even the slightest influence over it.
This was most likely the divine power of the legendary Holy God Goddess Sophie. Honestly, Chu Ke could not keep a straight face whenever he said that ridiculous Goddess's name. The Holy Sword's ability to store power and recognize its master all came from that divine power.
With Chu Ke's current strength, facing a Goddess would certainly be like an ant trying to topple a tree. But dealing with a portion of divine power that lacked its own consciousness was still within his capabilities.
Come to think of it, things had been rather boring lately. There had been nothing to do on the road besides watering ant nests and beating up slimes.
If the Multiverse Chat Group had not been back with his main body, Chu Ke would have bought a game console from one of the group members long ago.
Hopefully, once the Holy Sword was drawn, the story ahead would become more interesting. Chu Ke looked at the Time Hero, who was spacing out. "Your turn. Get up there!"
The Time Hero suddenly came back to his senses, nodded, and walked forward. He grasped the Holy Sword's azure hilt, took a deep breath, and pulled with all his strength.
Just as expected, it did not move.
"Eh..." The Time Hero let out a soft sigh. Just as he was about to let go, something strange happened.
At that moment, the Time Hero felt his Time Manipulator ability suddenly begin operating on its own. An enormous flood of memories appeared out of nowhere and poured into his mind.
Then his vision went black, and he fainted.
My name was ******. I was from Earth, poorly educated, unemployed, and absolutely terrible at socializing.
After my parents died, I lived a life of idling away my days on their inheritance.
From then on, my friends' mockery and disappointment, the gossip of others, and the oppression of those above me had nothing to do with me.
The electronic world was so interesting. Whenever I saw protagonists in comics and novels who, like me, were labeled as shut-ins and disliked by others, I would shed tears and sigh, "This is literally me!"
But whenever a game cutscene ended or an episode of an anime faded to black, I could see my reflection on the screen.
"That isn't me at all!"
"This damned world only cares about appearances! No one cares about what's inside you!" I roared like that, protesting to the black screen against this unfair world and mourning the fact that no one had discovered my beautiful inner self.
At that moment, the screen suddenly lit up. What appeared before my eyes was not the familiar comic interface, but lines of cold text.
You claim to possess a beautiful inner self, but have you ever tried to understand the inner selves of those people you call "beautiful only on the outside"?
Your so-called "beautiful inner self that no one has discovered" is nothing more than an excuse to hide the fact that "beneath your ugly appearance lies an equally ugly heart."
Are you still running away? Running from the reality that your life had already failed long ago?
It's all right. Accept reality through your tears.
Because after that, you will become a true Hero of life.
Do you want to become a Hero?
Yes or no
I didn't know what I had been thinking at the time. I only knew that tears from having my defenses shattered blurred my vision.
When I woke up again, before me stood a girl more beautiful than anyone I had ever seen. She wore priestly robes, held my hand, and asked, "Are you our Hero?"
"Gasp—" The Time Hero suddenly sucked in a sharp breath and came back to his senses. At some point, he had returned to the vine chair, while the Law Hero Anlok slowly stepped down from the platform.
"Your turn. Get up there!" the absurdly powerful Hero of the East said to him.
The next part of the story will be told from the Time Hero's perspective. If you don't like it, you can wait for this section to pass.
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