The five were mere insignificant creatures.
Monsters born in the grand Milleas Forest.
Particularly due to their pitifully low rank, they were losers who were cast aside in the survival competition as soon as they were born.
Prey that should have been devoured immediately.
That was the identity of the five.
“Kiik, kkiik…”
“Kireurrr…”
Inevitably, the five gathered in one place within the grand forest.
One had its leg torn off by a superior species.
Another was almost eaten by the very mother who birthed it.
One was struck by magic during its first flight, while another was brutally defeated in a territorial fight with its kin, its fragile body destroyed in the process.
As inferior creatures, death was the natural conclusion waiting for them.
On the brink of death, they desperately sought refuge in a place devoid of other monsters.
“Kireurrr…”
“Kkiiik…”
Sadly, their desperate struggle amounted to nothing.
True, no other monsters approached the place where they had gathered.
But why were there no monsters there in the first place?
Unbeknownst to the five, that place was saturated with mana.
An area within the grand forest where the concentration of mana was unusually dense—
So dense that it was harmful even to most monsters.
And so, when these insignificant creatures entered such a place, it was only natural that they couldn’t last long and would meet their end.
That was the fate destined for the five.
“Kkiiik…”
“—Great Restoration.”
“……!!!!?”
However, that fate was rewritten.
By one born with the most noble of ranks.
A being who, by its mere existence, altered the destinies of those around it, like a tempest.
The final dragon.
In the hands of Teonar.
“Now, go and rip it apart.”
“Kkyaaaargh!!!”
And it wasn’t just their fate that changed.
A mighty predator, impossible for them to face before.
The Chaos Ogre Bellum, who reigned over the southern Milleas Forest and was nearly impossible to subdue even with a knight order.
That overwhelming predator fell, reduced to prey.
By the hands of the five, the weakest.
The thrill they felt in that moment—
They still remembered it even now.
“Kkyaaaargh!!!”
‘Now, even I…!!!’
The ogre’s essence seeped into the souls of the five.
Though most of it, save what naturally returned to nature, went to Teonar,
Even the drops he spilled were like rain to a parched desert for them.
—Crackle, crackle.
“Kkii… ek…”
“Guwaaaargh!!!”
Thanks to this, the once lowly creatures began to change.
Their essence became radiant.
They began to be reborn as species befitting their elevated rank.
It was a phenomenon unique to monsters, something unseen in beings like humans or dragons who sit at the final rung of the evolutionary ladder.
A phenomenon called “evolution.”
‘…The goblin became an orc. The spider’s color changed. The bird grew feathers, and the other two got bigger.’
“Hm. Well, I guess that’s about it.”
Of course, to Teonar, it was all the same.
To him, it was like seeing a water flea turn into a mayfly.
But for the five, their sense of the change was overwhelming.
‘I evolved! I’ve become stronger!!’
‘I’m alive! This is amazing!!’
To them, it was nothing short of a miracle.
“Now then, wouldn’t it be boring to stop at just one kill? Today, we’ll hunt about a thousand.”
“Kieek?”
“Physical strength, magic power… How annoying. Fine, let’s just boost everything. I’ll also grant lifeform detection.”
—Fwoosh!!!
“Catch anything you see. Bring them to me in a near-death state—I’ll land the final blow.”
“Kyaaaaaaah!!!”
Thus, the five joyfully obeyed Teonar’s commands.
Why wouldn’t they? It was an easy way to inflate their rank and grow stronger.
Before the day was over, the five insignificant creatures had evolved to the point of developing intelligence.
“Kirruk (Oh great one, we present this offering to you).”
“Good. Now, die.”
“Kirururuk (You are incredible)!!”
And as soon as they gained intelligence, the five pledged eternal loyalty to Teonar—
…Or at least, they would have, if not for their fear.
‘We don’t know when this one’s whims will turn against us.’
‘This being could crush us like bugs. We need to escape as soon as possible.’
‘I don’t want to die.’
There was no pledging loyalty.
To the five, this was merely the plaything of a transcendent being,
A form of entertainment at the expense of insignificant creatures like them.
‘If it wanted us as subordinates, it would have revealed itself by now.’
‘I don’t know how it stays hidden, but still…’
Teonar’s invisible nature only heightened their misunderstanding.
It was natural for monsters to be wary of an unseen entity.
Rather than offering loyalty, they focused on questioning its true intentions.
“Hm. By now, their loyalty should be at 100, right?”
‘It’s annoying not having an info window pop up like in games. Even I can’t read the minds of monsters…’
If only Teonar knew the truth, he would have felt quite wronged.
His invisibility was an intrinsic trait he couldn’t control.
And, to make himself easier to recognize, he had even cast a glowing magic above his head.
He was essentially signaling, ‘Your master is right here.’
Yet, despite his efforts, their mistrust only grew.
It would have been disappointing if things had ended there…
Fortunately, something soon happened that would change their minds.
“…Krek?!”
‘There’s something wrong with the meat!’
After the long hunt, it was finally time for the five to eat.
As the five ate the meat Teonar had roasted over the fire, something felt strange.
The orc, who had once been a goblin, bit into the meat, then spat it out with a ptooey, only to put it back into its mouth and chew again.
That’s when it happened—a peculiar sensation.
A foreign stimulus spread across its tongue.
Startled, the orc’s body shuddered.
It was a feeling it had never experienced in its life.
‘What… is this?’
“This is what you’d call ‘delicious,’” Teonar said, revealing the sensation’s name.
The orc blinked in confusion, its mind grappling with the unfamiliar word.
Satisfied with the creature’s bewildered reaction, Teonar’s pupils narrowed into vertical slits.
‘So you’ve just gained taste and you’re curious about it, huh? Fine, I’ll teach you. It’s fun to teach those eager to learn.’
“Specifically, it’s called taste… Ah, explaining the whole concept would be too complex. Let’s start with something simple.”
—Whoosh.
Using magic, he summoned a variety of items from within a one-kilometer radius.
A cascade of objects spilled in front of the orc.
“Lick this.”
“Blegh… Krrrk, ptooey!”
“That’s rock salt. It’s salty. This is what ‘salty’ tastes like.”
“Krrrk? Kreeeeek?”
“And this is honey. Eat it with the honeycomb.”
“…Kreeek!!”
“Seems like you like this one. That’s ‘sweet.’ Sweetness.”
What followed was a repetitive process.
The orc would put something into its mouth.
Teonar would tell it what flavor it was experiencing.
He spoke to the newly intelligent creature as though he were addressing an infant, explaining each sensation with patience.
It wasn’t until the five underwent several more evolutions that they began to grasp the true significance of what had happened that day.
“This is what you’d call delicious”
‘At the time, I just accepted it without thinking too much…’
The creatures trembled as they reflected on the experience.
And for good reason. The concept of “delicious”—of taste itself—was a sensory mechanism rooted in survival instincts.
A natural response for avoiding poisons and ensuring energy intake.
Something as basic as taste was a luxury to creatures as lowly as they once were, but even a lowly goblin typically had some semblance of it.
But then… what?
“This is what you’d call delicious”?
‘How can someone teach something like that?’
‘For him, it must be as natural as breathing.’
‘Meanwhile, the mere thought of trying to explain that to other creatures makes my head spin…’
Teaching such a fundamental concept was no easy feat.
It was something so inherent, so obvious, that it wasn’t even comprehensible to those who lacked it.
Even the five, who had received the explanation, wouldn’t dare attempt to replicate it for anyone else. That said it all.
“Whew, that was productive.”
‘Much better than those professors who’d stubbornly ask dumb questions with no end in sight.’
To Teonar, it was a rather familiar task.
It reminded him of his days as a human, repeatedly enduring those experiences while silently chanting patience, patience countless times.
But, well, at least this time, it was amusing.
That action didn’t end with simply teaching them about taste.
Each day was spent explaining, in a way that matched their level, the different curiosities the five had.
It was more than enough to completely change their hearts.
“Though born with a nobility greater than anyone else, you still watch over insignificant beings like us.”
“Our strong and compassionate master.”
“The greatest lord in the world.”
“Though you are a great being we cannot even dare to see with our lowly eyes…”
“We humbly ask to serve you for the rest of our lives.”
One day, the creatures swore their loyalty.
To the great, transparent presence that undeniably existed.
They vowed to dedicate everything to him.
And that…
– Caused a surge in rank that was incomparable to anything before.
– Fwoooosh!!!
“……Huh?”
“What’s going on? Why did they suddenly level up like crazy?”
Even Teonar was taken aback by the unprecedented rapid evolution.
But in truth, it was only natural.
The five were no longer mere creatures bound to servitude but now the subordinates of the final dragon, Teonar.
The first five followers of the Transparent Dragon.
Just by holding the position of being his first subordinates, the five had gained a level of rank beyond comparison.
“I can faintly sense it. This isn’t just evolving into a higher species.”
“I can become the being we long to be.”
“If that’s the case…”
Evolution occurred in alignment with their newly elevated status.
So rapid and brilliant that the radiant light pierced through the Great Forest.
And the five…
“We want to be of help to our lord.”
“To be beings who would not dare bring shame to our master.”
“Please let us become someone our lord needs!”
They all wished for the same thing.
Teonar, who had taken them in despite their insignificance.
They pledged to evolve solely for his sake.
To become beings dedicated entirely to him.
“… If possible, in a form that would earn his favor!”
“Please, let us fully embody our lord’s preferences, dear gods!!”
Their wishes were perhaps a bit selfish—no, very selfish.
And that was why the forms they evolved into appeared, outwardly, as human females.
“……Oh. Humanoid?”
“Definitely looks better than their monster forms.”
Unfortunately, Teonar wasn’t particularly impressed by it. Regardless, the matter was settled.
After that, the five spent happy days as Teonar’s hands and feet.
Learning from him and using what they learned to follow his orders.
That lasted a total of twenty years.
Today was the day when that long time bore fruit.
* * *
“Hm-hmm~.”
“Teonar’s faithful servant, Lucia, is on her way~.”
A girl with brown hair hummed as she swayed her head.
She was once a baby grouse, struck by lightning magic and left on the brink of death.
One of Teonar’s five vassals, to whom he had given the name “Lucia.”
After repeated evolutions, she had become a member of the supreme race, the Arhong species.
“He’ll surely be delighted, won’t he? To hear that his teachings have finally taken root across the union?”
Today was a special day for her.
It was the day she successfully completed one of the tasks Teonar had entrusted to her.
The joy of it made the past twenty years flash before her eyes like a dream.
“Master Teonar…”
“I still remember how you guided us, even when we were mere lowly creatures.”
It was still vivid to her.
The day she first discovered taste, the concept he had so kindly taught her.
The awe she felt back then remained untainted, no matter how many times she recalled it.
“This is what I learned back then, isn’t it?”
And so, she began to write in the air, to reflect on her respect and gratitude for him.
The three characters Teonar had first taught her.
The most precious word of all…
– Swish, swish.
“Ma… sit… da….”
(Delicious…)
…One of his great inventions.
In just twenty years, it had united a nation of various mixed races.
The characters were so sublime and practical, they gave her chills.
“Mieum, A, Siot… Ieung, I, Ssang Siot…”
“No matter how often I think about it, it’s truly beautiful and practical, Master Teonar. ♡”
And so, she wrote in Hangeul.