I Feel Like If This Game Existed All The Players Would Go Crazy Trying To Figure Out Why Cale Changed

This fanart is one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen in my life ♡(。-ω-) ♡

🥹 🫶☀️🌙 x

Does anyone know if there is any difference between the Cat Tribe and the Fog Cat Tribe? I can't find anywhere if there is any difference and I'm sure the novel never makes it clear.

Cale and Choi Han's friendship truly moves you to the core, their camaraderie and unconditional loyalty are enviable ♡(｡- ω -)

I was thinking a bit about character development.

Like, Cale, Choi Han, and Alberu have a beautiful friendship - and it grew over the course of the entire story.

I'm probably going to talk about later parts of the story, so Imma put the rest behind a divider so you can avoid spoilers

In the beginning, Choi Han was loyal to Cale but .. it was kind of shallow.

Choi Han didn't understand why they had to wear those shitty Arm robes, was shocked when Cale created his alibi by drinking, and so on and so forth.

He followed Cale, but he didn't really know Cale that well yet and that was clear.

Oh, and it was much more of a hierarchical relationship. Cale as his legs, Choi Han as Cale's knight.

This slowly began to change, though I think there were a couple of key turning points.

Cale almost dying after the Battle of the Gorge was one of them.

I think that's when Choi Han truly realized he couldn't trust Cale when it came to his health. Not that he hadn't seen signs before, but Cale always brushed things off and I think this was when Choi Han realized that no, it's really not okay, no matter what Cale says.

After that, we see Choi Han start asking more questions...

And Cale (with a clear flashback to his time as a team leader, where his people desperately wanted to help more) actually answered them.

The relationship started to shift, and become less liege and knight, and more colleagues. (This, btw, came from both of them. Choi Han asking more, and Cale telling more. Somewhat. A little bit.)

They definitely grow closer in other ways - Choi Han telling them about his long life after they found the Dragon Village, for example. (Though Cale already knew it, so you also see just how much Cale is still keeping his secrets).

And then...

We get Choi Han receiving Choi Jung Soo's memories.

That causes the biggest shift yet.

Now they aren't just liege and knight.

Now we have Cale thinking of Choi Han as his best friend's elder (even if Choi Han doesn't feel a need for that).

Also, Choi Han now knows. Not just that Cale is a transmigrator, not just about his life as Kim Rok Soo, not just about the cataclysm (and what happened to the Choi family).

He also knows about the tragedy that has pretty much defined Cale. He may not know about the aftermath, or Cale's time as team leader, but he knows that Cale was devastated after losing everyone.

We also see Choi Han (who got Syrem's ancient powers and now knows what it's like to use them) insist that Cale shouldn't absorb the Blood-drenched Rock power, a potential standoff that ended when Cale found another way and used Embrace instead.

They are no longer liege and obedient knight.

And then came the sealed god's test, where Choi Han gave up quite a lot of his potential lifespan, just to join Cale in one of the worst times of Cale's life.

And he was happy for it.

We see Cale truly overcome with emotion. The trust and friendship between the two of them is just beautiful.

And I truly meant to talk about Alberu as well (him joining them also adding to this) but I only realized when writing this just how much I had to say about Cale and Choi Han, so maybe I'll do that another time.

Anyways.

That still wasn't everything. Because we also had the indignity test...

And while I think the author didn't fully finish everything Choi Han saw because it'll probably come up in part 2 (it hasn't yet, but I think I see the author building up to something. Because so far they've all been too busy to really address a few things, plus apparently there's dragons dealing with time? Anyways, I suspect we'll get more on Cale's childhood, and what Choi Han knows, and some other things, but we'll see. It took almost 300 chapters in part 1 before we got all the amazing scenes with Cale and Choi Han and the sealed god's test and instant so I'm willing to let the author build things up again.)

Oh, sorry. What was I saying? Right.

Even though we don't have the full story, we know that Choi Han knows.

And in one of the side stories, he says this:

He didn’t know at first, but that person’s days of rest that Choi Han saw was more of a period of recovery than days of rest. Of course, the person himself thought that he was playing around, but it did not seem like that to Choi Han at all. That was why his people, who at some point realized the meaning of this rest day, tried their best not to bother his recovery.

And again, in the same side story but referring to a moment later in part 1

Cale was mumbling. “Haaaa. It’d be great to be a slacker.” Choi Han knew the meaning of those words. ‘I want to rest. I need to heal.’ That should be the meaning. However, he now knew what Cale would say after that.

And skipping the specific details, what Choi Han probably meant when he said he knew what Cale would say after that

Cale looked toward the east and calmly commented. “There are too many things to do, so I can’t rest.”

Choi Han understands Cale 1000x more than he did when they started.

And Cale understands Choi Han better, too.

Which is probably a topic for a whole other post, considering Cale initially almost seemed to put Choi Han on a pedestal as the hero and protagonist of the story.

Okay, both theories are very interesting, but I always thought of something completely different.

We’ve been told that Cale is unusual because he doesn’t absorb the soul fragments in ancient powers to make them his own. But what if this is what makes them powerful?

In most fiction, souls hold immense power, enough to rival ten suns, as a TV show I can’t remember the name of once said.

And if this is true, a single fragment has enough energy to power millions of cities. Therefore…

…the souls of users are what fuel the ancient powers.

I know it doesn’t make much sense, but think about it: the reason one can’t use the full power of an ancient power is that they don’t absorb the remnants of the souls of the ancient bearers. If they did, the surviving will of these fragments would help the current bearer (Cale) unlock the full potential of these powers.

For example, purifying dead mana, controlling trees, tracking divine artifacts, alerting to danger (“Are you trying to sacrifice yourself?”), etc.

And the reason nobody knows this is that the surviving wills of the ancient bearers, if they decide they don’t like you, will do everything possible to prevent you from absorbing them while also refusing to give you any advice or help.

The only way to avoid this would be to have a very strong will and/or soul or to know this information beforehand.

That’s my theory.

Why were ancient powers in TBOAH not considered strong? Let’s talk about it.

What was that thing in the beginning of the novel that talked about ancient powers not being powerful? And despite people having them, they weren’t used very much in The Birth of a Hero because of that?

Cale had said it before when he talked about the fiery thunderbolt in tboah when Pendrick had gotten it, saying that it was of equal power to like a lighter or something, nowhere as powerful as what they needed it for.

But when Cale got it, it’s suddenly just gods damnation?!?!?? And it had the power to purify dead mana and black magic like this whole time?? That needs to be a topic for a whole other post (I mean seriously, that’s overpowered af, and no one would’ve ever known because only Cale can hear the voices of ancient powers, so Pendrick would forever have absolutely no idea it could do that)

I mean, it could be the way he spent all that money just to give it more power in a way Pendrick would never be able to do because they’re so non-materialistic.

But still, it’s just such a big difference????

The Sound of the Wind, Toonka in TBOAH never used it, again, maybe just because it might’ve been a bit too similar to magic, but he also called it weak and just never used it!

The Unbreakable Shield was just never used period, despite its usefulness and utility.

I have no idea about the Sky-Eating Water because I think it also never got used.

But why does something about Cale make these powers stronger?

They’re not even fully combined with his soul! They’re not at full power!! What the hell???!??

I have a theory about this, but you have to hear me out-

So TBOAH was the story about the creation of a hero through suffering and overcoming adversity, right?

Maybe his ancient powers are so strong because of a, “high risk, high return” type thing?

For example, referencing one of my past posts, every time he coughs up blood from an ancient powers recoil, he should be dying. His plate is weak, it’s made of glass, and every time he uses one last their limit, that glass will get closer snd closer to breaking, that is, without the Crybaby ancient power.

The Crybaby ancient power serves as a cushion, a shock-absorber, for every time one of the other ancient powers tries to recoil against Cale’s glass plate.

Just think of it as, every time Cale has ever coughed up blood, he should’ve been dead.

And of course, Cale, with barely any self preservation instincts, or those mental blocks in his brain that would usually be like “oh using that much would be too harmful, let’s not,” Mr, I can used Instant for 5 seconds and come out looking like I jumped into a blender, who is willing to sacrifice himself at anytime for the ones he loves, will always use the ancient powers past the safe limit.

For taking such a large backlash, one that would, should, be strong enough to kill you, you must be rewarded with something pretty powerful, right? Balance and all that shit?

Does any of this make sense? It’s like 1 am right now

This needs no explanation ε===(っ≧ω≦)っ

Father of three....

old animation from several years ago!

“I am stupid. I do not know any fancy words and my head doesn’t work very well. However, I do know one thing… Why did you all choose to follow me? Why did you hold up your farming equipment, clench onto rocks, and follow behind me? Why did we fight?! I will only charge forward this time as well! Your opinions are not important. Follow behind me. Chase after me. Do not worry about your back." Toonka (Chapter 280)

Erjon of the Wind Island

Ok, I'm writing this at midnight and it's probably coming from my sleep-deprived mind, but here's an idea what I need to write down before I forget it ヽ(￣～￣　)ノ:

Well we all know that the Wind Island test was just an illusion unlike the SGT on Earth 2 and this is because the Sound of the Wind would not have enough power to create an entire alternate dimension based on anyone's worst fears of the challenger who is going to do it σ(￣、￣〃).

We also know that due to the curse Cale never tried to form bonds with Min Ah, So Hoon or the rest of Team 1 but they still cared about him and were just as loyal as any member of Cale's family ( ‾́ ◡ ‾́ ).

Well, what if that were the case for the butler boy we see in the Wind Island test (ᓀ ᓀ)?

Let's say that he became very worried about his master after seeing him act in such a strange way and he decided to follow him because of that same concern ~(>_<~).

This only grew after seeing the way he spoke (or rather questioned) everyone he crossed, it got even worse after seeing him pick up a book that he already hated too much to even approach (｡•́︿•̀｡).

Well, he follows him from afar, not close enough to hear him but close enough to see him.

He watches everything that happens in Super Rock Villa and after he enters the top floor he gets very worried because he can't see it without giving himself away.

He hears the sound of a book hitting the floor and, alarmed, runs in only to see him "commit suicide" (ﾒ﹏ﾒ)

He panics and while trying to stop him he accidentally falls out of the window with him, causing him to somehow reach the real world (っ˘̩╭╮˘̩)っ.

Can you imagine his panic when he discovered that the world where he lived his entire life was nothing more than an illusion? That the monster that appeared in every horror story was real and was at its maximum power?

And that's not even counting the shock of trying to stop the suicide of a loved one and knowing that you're about to die only to wake up in a cave full of dead mana with a younger version of your lord ( : ౦ ‸ ౦ : ).

What's more, let's say that he cannot remember anything from before the moment the test began, there is not a single memory, only information full of holes that he knows is true until he no longer is, worse yet? He didn't even have a name! ლ(¯ロ¯"ლ)

Finding out all of that would give him an incredibly big identity crisis, the chaos of the destruction of Wind Island would definitely be worse with a preteen suffering from an identity crisis.

It's more thanks to him that everyone discovers that for an entire week Cale was trapped in an illusion of his worst fear and had to commit suicide to get out of it to get the flask and the whip (╥_╥)(they don't know that the flask could be obtained easily and Bud never tried to get him off the island so everyone thinks the test was to get the jar out and improve the Sound of the Wind ╮(￣_￣)╭)

Eruhaben will feel incredibly guilty and will probably drink the entire flask, not wanting Cale's sacrifice to be in vain.

Bud will be worse than in canon thinking it was all his fault.

The children of "x" years of age on average will be very overprotective.

Ron and Beacrox will be more lenient than usual with Cale and at the bottom will be our butler boy.

Still in crisis, he decides to follow our young master, not knowing any life apart from him, despite questioning whether his affection for him was just another part of the illusion (ಡ‸ಡ).

Cale upon finding out this tells him to do what he wants and that if he is going to accompany them he will need a name or alias ( ̅́ ◡ ̅́ )

And he (Cale) ends up choosing Erjon as his name, which is of Albanian origin and means "our wind" (of course, the latter only after at least two hours of discussion about whether Cale will give him his name or Erjon should choose it, It turns out that even in a more than traumatized state of mind they are both incredibly stubborn)

Happy Pride Month! ＼(≧▽≦)／

Hc icons happy pride monthhhh

What memories…

When I first found this deck online I spent hours searching for it to download.

I have it ready to print if one day I get the paper they use to make the cards for the decks (*¯︶¯*)

Found the Cards

Secondary characters need more love! o(>< )o (Part 3: Olienne)

Olienne is a character we all know but only because he was important to one of the protagonists.

Although their relationship is not delved into, the mere fact that Eruhaben was detained and had a time of mourning after discovering his death says it all (ಡ‸ಡ)

For a dragon that has lived 1000 years he should be used to death, but Olienne was different.

I like the idea that the two of them were close friends, not enough for it to be a Queerplatonic relationship but enough for them to leave traces on each other (*^^*)♡

(In fact, that's because I saw an interpretation like that in a fanfic and I loved it! Him being an otaku is an idea I had never seen before and I loved it.)

We don't know much about him in canon, but what we do know is that he was cheeky, he liked sculptures (he probably made them himself) and long baths, it took him fifteen years to be born and his attribute is wood, and it can be assumed that He was good at creating barriers.

I feel like he could have been used in a better way, his character is incredible and needs more depth but he could have complemented the family very well °˖✧◝(⁰▿⁰)◜✧˖°

Perhaps over time he and Eruhaben could have improved their relationship, becoming a romantic or queerplatonic couple who would adopt Cale and Rosalyn as his children (o´∀`o)

Why Rosalyn? Because I feel that if Olienne is as shameless as Eruhaben says, seeing that he took Rosa as her apprentice, he could contribute and over time they would develop a fairly healthy father-daughter relationship ♡＼(￣▽￣)／♡

Besides, during the battle of the jungle vs the empire he could have helped Cale make the trees collect the dead mana or even shoot down the airship.

And without mentioning Apitoyu, I haven't read beyond chapter 1042 at the time of writing this post but Olienne's participation in the war against the purple blood dragons and the church of the holy empire already has me salivating with anticipation ☆ｏ(＞＜；)○