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When the female professor teaching ancient history waved her hand in the air, words began to appear on the large board in the lecture hall.

“It’s hard to imagine in this day and age, where there are even racial supremacists who only recognize pure humans as people, but in ancient times, Elves were regarded as gods by humans.”

“In this modern era, Elves have mostly disappeared due to environmental changes and human interbreeding, but in ancient times, Elves were seen as transcendent beings by humans who couldn’t even properly handle mana.”

“Beautiful appearance, a lifespan of a thousand years, and an innate mana sensitivity comparable to pure demons.”

“And the Elves of that time had a great historical influence on humans in terms of various cultures and technologies.”

“The metric system, as it is now known, was originally a system of measurement used by the Elves. Until a thousand years ago, humans used their own system of measurement called yards and pounds in conjunction with the Elte system used by the Elves. Generally, nobles and professionals used the relatively accurate Elte system, while the less accurate but relatively intuitive yards and pounds were widely used by the common people.”

“In terms of culture, the advanced culture of the Elves at that time was enjoyed by the aristocratic class.”

“This first encounter between humans and Elves is surprisingly recorded in the first human epic, ‘Pohelrnias’. I said human because the Elves’ epics are a bit earlier if we limit it to humanity.”

“And most importantly, what is still called the greatest discovery for all of humanity.”

The female professor looked at the students spread out in a fan shape in the lecture hall and said.

“It’s such a famous story, you all know it, right?”

“”King Prigos and the encounter with the Martial God!””

The men, in particular, responded enthusiastically.

Most of the current human population has read a manga version of Pohelrnias at least once as part of their elementary school reading list.

The female professor smiled and continued the story, writing on the board with magic again.

“At that time, King Prigos was just beginning to merge the surrounding forces and create the first nation in world history.”

“It’s unimaginable now, but at the time, humans were at the bottom of the food chain in this vast nature.”

“When King Prigos began to call himself king in Pohelrn, the capital of the first nation, Pohelrn, a fateful encounter came from the west.”

“The seventh Einherjar of the World Tree, and the hero who gave humanity the greatest invention.”

“High Elf Araya, who is the root of all mana operating systems of modern humanity and is revered as the Martial God in all martial lineages.”

Then a woman stood up and raised her hand.

She was a student in the Department of Knightly Arts, as a sword was worn on her right hip.

“Professor Delloris said that the Martial God was actually human.”

“Well, history shouldn’t be viewed with prejudice, but the theory that the Martial God was human is considered heretical in academia. The Martial God’s records extend from the first records to the First Human-Demon War, and there is a difference of about 600 years between these periods. A human wouldn’t be able to live that long, would they?”

The female professor then paused, as if whispering into the air, and said in a hushed tone.

“And Professor Delloris is an extreme human supremacist, even in our university.”

At that, all the students quietly laughed.

If you looked closely, the female professor’s ears were a little longer than human ears.

After the female student who asked the question sat down, she nodded once and began to continue the story.

“King Prigos’ feelings when he first met Araya, as recorded in Pohelrnias, are described in detail. It talks about the despair of seeing an irrational being and the hope of seeing new possibilities for humanity…”

◈ ◈ ◈

‘Irrational.’

Prigos thought as he watched his comrades, who had been with him for a long time, fall like harvested barley sheaves.

It was the work of an uninvited guest who had broken through Pohelrn’s barrier, which had taken so much sacrifice and effort to build.

He asked the soldiers to demonstrate the divine power called martial arts that the uninvited guest used, wondering if it was something that could be imitated.

Despite the blatant ulterior motive, she readily agreed and even boldly declared that she would take on all the soldiers.

He was worried that his precious soldiers would be hurt, but this was the ability of someone who had broken through the barrier created by Aliya with the body of the Land Spirit and subdued a giant.

If he could obtain even a fraction of that, it would be a worthwhile deal.

Even if the price was the lives of his comrades, the soldiers who had been with him for so long.

Still, according to what he had heard from Aliya, not only her younger sister, Ramiya, but also the back-alley thugs who had clashed with that Elf had all suffered injuries, but no one had been killed.

And currently, there were over 150 soldiers in this audience chamber.

He thought he would be able to see enough while all the soldiers fell.

All she borrowed was a single sword that one of the company commanders used.

The Elf walked to the center of the soldiers and lifted the sword, which was as big as her body, with her small frame.

Then, as if possessed by a ghost, the sword began to tremble and make strange noises, and something exploded from the Elf’s center in an instant.

The moment he intuitively sensed that something like a wave was approaching, Aliya instantly blocked it, obscuring his vision.

Fortunately or unfortunately, not only Aliya and Prigos, but also Aliya’s sisters, who were lined up behind Prigos, were unaffected by the Elf’s strange behavior.

The problem was everything else.

In the vision that Aliya had not been able to completely block, the soldiers surrounding the Elf were showing the whites of their eyes and falling like harvested barley sheaves in various places.

The shockwave emanating from the Elf stopped exquisitely in front of the platform where Prigos’ throne was located.

The shockwave that spread from the center carved out the stone floor of the audience chamber, showing how far it had spread to a certain area.

Aliya retreated, judging that it was not an act that threatened Prigos’ person.

Prigos looked at the soldiers lying dead like corpses and then looked at Aliya, unable to muster the courage to ask in words.

Aliya nodded as if to say not to worry, having checked the condition of all the soldiers in the meantime.

‘This is truly absurd.’

Even Aliya’s sisters were shocked by this level of miracle, and they were all pale, which was a rare sight.

The person who had caused all this commotion walked forward as if she had finished a simple demonstration.

“I’m worried that I may have troubled my master by showing off my clumsy skills.”

Listening to the insincere words, Prigos struggled to force a smile.

“Indeed, you were definitely different from the fools I’ve seen so far. This divine power called martial arts is truly amazing.”

Watching the Elf respond with a bow, Prigos thought.

The first was despair.

Human villages disappearing according to the whims of nature and transcendent beings, the Land Spirits.

The powerlessness of having to watch his father offer his longtime friend as a sacrifice to the Land Spirit.

Then, with Aliya’s help and the power he had slowly cultivated, he was able to kill Anaktus, the giant snake that had ruled Pohelrn for a long time.

After that, he subjugated the surrounding villages to unite the humans, and he subjugated the Land Spirits of those villages.

That was what he had built up to create Pohelrn.

The first bulwark built by humans for humans.

But everything was denied by the being who had suddenly appeared.

The soldiers who had bravely faced any Land Spirit were falling without being able to do anything.

What was even more despairing was that the being in front of him was not an independent individual but someone who had come to represent an entire race.

A race made up of such beings?

Can humans stand against them?

This damn world that he couldn’t even chew up enough was always like this.

It gave hope in the midst of despair with a burning thirst, and then it turned around and showed even greater despair.

He gritted his teeth and shook off the despair that was seeping in like rainwater soaking into the ground.

He had already come too far to despair at the irrationality that had befallen him.

Too many things had been sacrificed to prosper Pohelrn.

How many lives had been destroyed under the guise of a greater cause?

Outside the walls of Pohelrn, humans who had been made slaves were building the walls.

There were humans who had been deprived of their homes by him, not by nature or Land Spirits, and pushed to the west, where it was harsh for humans to live.

He slowly took an imperceptible deep breath.

The monster in front of him might feel it.

Prigos asked shamelessly with an indifferent expression.

“That’s truly an amazing ability. You said you took a giant as a disciple, but can humans also learn this divine power called martial arts?”

The Elf thought for a moment and then nodded.

“It won’t be the same as an Elf, but humans can also learn it.”

That was enough.

Prigos thought.

In an era before records existed.

Since humans first came to this land, they had never held a superior position in the ecosystem.

A being that prospered and disappeared according to the whims of nature and transcendent beings.

But at the end of it, in his generation, he had laid a cornerstone on the corpse of that transcendent being.

It didn’t have to be now.

It could be in his next generation, in a hundred years, or in a thousand years, or even in thousands of years.

So that the weak humans could be the last ones standing on this land.

He couldn’t miss the opportunity.

Prigos slowly rose from the throne, walked down the stairs, and stood in front of the Elf.

“I want to learn that martial arts. Can you teach martial arts to humans?”

For the prosperity of mankind.

Prigos, who would be recorded as the first king in human history, knelt before the uninvited guest from the west.