Chapter Nine: Left Behind

Completely drained and exhausted, Kai's knees finally gave up giving him the support that he needed, and immediately fell to the ground enveloped by a thick layer of cold snow. His fingers are freezing but he could feel his whole body heating up. 'I actually did it…?' Honestly, he didn't fully expect himself to succeed with his reckless plan. After all, it was his actual first time using magic continuously and in different kinds of elements too.

At this point, couldn't he just consider himself a talented genius? After all, the original Kai Zein was also a genius from the people's perspective… Is this perhaps his golden finger as a male lead though?

Thinking about it, he humphed with frustration.

Who was the one who just did that? The one who consequently cast magic one after another and survived the spartan master's demands?

Was it the male lead of the novel, Kai Zein?

No way, he risked his life despite his fear of pain. There's no way he's giving the credit to the nonexistent person now. It would be a complete disrespect to himself!

Breathing heavily and busy with his thoughts, he didn't notice his 'spartan master' has descended from the tree and scoffed. "Why are you already out of breath? You only finished five of them, I told you to eliminate at least ten of them, didn't I?" Kai blankly looked at the man standing above him, looking down at his exhausted self with an ethereal aura. 'Why does he look good in every angle?' Kai didn't know why but he got this urge to do something… So he did.

Kai grabbed Helix's ankle and used up his remaining strength to pull this man down with him. Having not anticipated this, Helix was naturally startled and fell as Kai had wished. Now, all messy with snow all over his clothes, Helix sat on the cold surface with a blank look on his face. The face he has right now made Kai unable to stop himself from breaking into a weak laugh.

Would you look at this, doesn't he actually look cute right now?

Helix regained his mind and immediately turned to look at the culprit of his current situation. His brows creased and his lips pursed as he glared at the laughing man. In anger, he grabbed a handful of snow and threw it at him. Quite a lot amount of snow entered Kai's mouth so he had to sit up and cough it up, but he was still laughing languidly.

Helix was really about to give another snowball but seeing this person's bright smile, the corner of his lips twitched slightly.

Kai's eyes were closed and curved slightly from his wide smile. There was a pair of dimples on both sides of his cheek that look really charming. Helix's fingers quivered and suppressed the urge to touch this young man's face. Kai looks adorable, he can admit that but he was still annoyed and a bit angry. So in protest, Helix lifted a leg to strike Kai's face. But who knows where the other got the strength left but he swiftly grabbed the incoming ankle yet again with his quick reflex and held it over his shoulder.

He was finally able to sober up and look at the other person, with surprise. "Wait, sorry, sorry." However, Helix took advantage of the fact that he was distracted for a second to take another chance on striking Kai's head. This time, he succeeded, successfully hitting Kai's side of the head.

Kai let go of Helix's ankle and grabbed his aching head instead, "Why did you have to hit this hard…? Ngh…" he felt like he just got a concussion.

So, not only was Helix Vernon talented in magic, dark magic, formations, and arrays, but he was also strong physically.

Kai was begging the god of this world to share some of this person's talent with him… The world is truly unfair.

Kai was never one to take hits without crying. From his old body to this one, he was still the same. So when Helix saw the tears brimming from the corner of Kai's tightly closed eyes, he narrowed his eyes and felt the same foot he used to hit this person go numb. He frowned indifferently, he decided to erase his anger for the moment and touched Kai's shoulder carefully.

"Ridiculous. Why are you crying from just a simple hit?"

"You kick so hard, how can it not hurt?"

The crying person's eyes opened, his eyes glistening with the tears as he looked at Helix. Helix could clearly see his own reflection in Kai's bright jade-colored eyes. With his hand on Kai's shoulder, he cast simple magic. Kai noticed Helix's effort as soon as the aching in his head disappeared.

The indifferent man took his hand from Kai and scoffed. "It's only mere physical pain and you're already crying?" Knowing that he is being belittled, "You don't know how much your kick hurts… What was that even for? I already apologized…"

He was a grown, twenty-four years old man but he was pouting shamelessly.

Helix looked at Kai coldly.

"Then next time don't do that again. Otherwise, I'd do something worse. Don't you dare test my patience."

"..."

"Answer."

"... Yes."

Helix sighed softly, "If you're tired then I will allow you to rest. However, you still have to hunt the remaining five magic beasts later." He stood up and left the blankly sitting Kai on the ground alone. He solemnly looked at the other person and said, "You can handle them by yourself, can't you?"

The eyes that looked on Kai were always indifferent and seemed to soften a little as he asked that. So Kai couldn't help but ask absentmindedly. "I can. But I thought that you'll be with me. Are you going somewhere?" Helix remained silent, not answering the last question. He simply stared at Kai for a while before waving his hand, the black sleeves fluttering as the wind blew. Suddenly, Kai felt warm and comfortable despite sitting in the snow in the middle of a cold forest in the middle of winter.

Because of this, he immediately knew that Helix cast yet another magic.

While he was distracted by this warmth and comfortable feeling, Helix disappeared without a trace. What was left was a piece of paper that swayed as it fell. Though the wind blew and seemed to fly it to another place, it still ended up in Kai's hands.

Kai stared at this paper for a moment and thought about it. The paper looked old and brownish in color. But the writings, specifically written in ancient language, look fresh. It was as if it was just written a few minutes previously. Then Kai looked at the book in his arms that suddenly just… appeared.

Recalling a few things from the novel and based on the writings from this paper, it seems like a teleportation array sealed in a paper? The Helix Vernon of the novel definitely loves teleportation.

When in danger? He uses teleportation. When he's too lazy to move even an inch? He uses teleportation. Who knows, probably when he was a child and talented when playing with other kids he would use teleportation when he was about to be found while playing hide and seek.

It's such a convenient skill, but only a few people could learn it. Yet this person likes to use it in every little casual thing.

Kai held the paper in his hand and frowned. "He always disappears without saying anything. Why is he like this?" Kai reminded himself to tell that guy next time not to do that again. Not only do his actions cause him to worry and get anxious, but Kai also loses the dinner he always looks forward to every evening whenever Helix leaves. For a while, Kai calmly contemplated what to do next.

After a while, Kai took a deep breath and decided. For now, he'll just finish Helix's task. After that, he'll go back to the castle and decide. Who knows how long until that person comes back again…

Kai swears to surprise him once he comes back. Now that he got the gist of magic and knows how to read ancient magic, it will be easier to advance now. It will not be that easy but… as long as he understands how it works, he'll know. He'll read, he'll practice, he'll do. Kai smiled pleasantly as he thought of the things he'll learn in the near future. However, deep within his heart, he wished for a little thing.

For that person to come back and teach him again.