Happy Pride Month! ＼(≧▽≦)／

Oh my gods! This is the best idea in the world! ヾ(@^▽^@)ノ

Canonically Ohn recreated the world tree's blizzard so the idea that she can create frost is perfect (￣ε￣＠) , better yet, she could learn to imitate fog on the path of no return ヽ(・∀・)ﾉ

Fog capable of disorienting you and distorting magic? Yes please! 人(_ _*)

Furthermore, capsain (what makes chilies and others spicy) is a poison, imagine Hong simply creating spicy fire capable of reaching meters away, it will be quite a shit show ╰(▔∀▔)╯

(Also Hong, Cale, Choi Han, Sui Khan and CJS enjoying extra spicy Korean food while everyone else looks at them like crazy is an image that now lives rent-free in my head ＼（Ｔ∇Ｔ）／)

Fire & Frost.

[TCF Masterlist]

This is for the Nightingale!AU that is currently in the works. Ohn and Hong getting new powers. Hong having flammable poison is already canon (see Battle in Ubarr Territory) but I went a different route.

CHETTER TERRITORY - Ohn

"Ohn, what are you reading?"

"Something, from there."

The silver cat used her tail to point at the lower tier of one of the shelves. Every so often, she would make a small noise of interest. Cale and Ohn were currently sitting in the library in Chetter Estate. In a few days time, they would need to go the Eric-hyung's mansion.

"Ohn, some of your fog is coming out."

"I know... Cale-nya! How do they feel?"

Cale tilted his head in questioning.

"Like are they really cold? Or really hot? Or what?"

Perplexed by the question, Cale plunges one of his hand into a dense fog. He says that it feels like fog, colder than room and slightly wet but it's just fog... He watched as the silver cat frowned in concentration before feeling the changes to his hand. The fog seemed to get a degree colder, and slightly denser.

"Why don't we try this out again once we leave Gilbert's estate.

While they were on the road, Cale had Ohn try the fog again. This time, it was much colder than when she first tried. After a few more days of practice, there was a thin layer of frost on his hand when it was lifted from the fog. Ohn's new fog was also very heavy, according to when she tried it on a small rabbit during a hunt. The small creature was visibly struggling against the dense weight and eventually fell unconscious from the cold.

Huh... Neat...

WHEELSMAN TERRITORY - Hong

"ERIC HYUNG WHAT DID YOU FEED HIM?!"

"I DON'T KNOW?!"

"OHN! COVER YOUR BROTHER IN YOUR FROST FOG"

"Mreeeow!"

"Oh wow, you got yourself some powerful creatures."

Cale glared at his hyung, who looked back apologetically. Once Hong emerged from the chilly fog, with damp fur no less, he was bundled up in a towel by the red-haired son of the count and brought into a room in the Wheelsman Estate.

"So... Hong can breathe fire now... And also set himself on fire. As if the poison was not enough.. Haaaaaa."

Dinner time was a-

"With all due respect Eric-hyung, I do not trust you to feed Hong and Ohn, especially after what happened this afternoon."

The lord and lady of the house looked intrigued, then horrified after hearing the kitten has apparently unlocked the ability of fire after Eric fed it something, and has burned a portion of the garden.

Ok, who wants to make an OC named Bob? because I want to (・∀・)ﾉ

THE BOBS

The number of times "Bob" is said:

Informant Bob: 44

Hunter Bobe: 43

Fisherman Bob: 26

Adventurer Bob: 24

Merchant Bob: 14

Alberu wins!! As expected of the one and only sun

But Cale loses...

---------------------------------------

Fisherman Bob (Toonka) - A fisherman from a small seaside village who went out to fish and somehow ended up shipwrecked; rescued by Lady Amiru (ch 53)

“Mr. Bob, this is young master Cale Henituse.” - Amiru

‘Bob?’ - Cale

“Nice to meet you. My name is Bob.” - Toonka

“Bob is from the Whipper Kingdom” - Amiru

“And Bob.” - Amiru

“Bob, a warrior like you should understand what I mean, right?” - Cale

“Bob.” - Cale

“Bob.” - Cale

“His name was Bob?” - Choi Han

“How do you know about Bob?” - Cale

“Ah, that Bob guy from before is Toonka.” - Cale

“Bob is an alias.” - Cale

“Bob.” - Cale

– Ah, Bob! - Raon

– Toonka! Bob! He’s like that idiot! - Raon

+11 in the narration

Adventurer Bob - A beginner adventurer who starts his journey from Hope and Adventure Loving Inn (ch 272)

“Hahahaha! Thank you for the exaggerated compliment. Well, my name is Bob! I will definitely be famous in the future!” - Bob

“Mr. Bob, I hope this is the start of an amazing adventure for you.” - Cale

“It’s okay, Mr. Bob. Only luck will follow you on your journey. You don’t have to worry.” - Cale

“You can do it, Mr. Bob.” - Cale

+20 in the narration

Merchant Bob (Cale)- The rich merchant who took down the infamous red snake of Nake Mountain (ch 461)

“Mr. Bob, a feeble person like you going there will instantly be bewitched and die.” - Bobe

“Mr. Bob, I don’t know what it’s for, but don’t go to that cursed mountain! Hmm?” - Bobe

“Aigoo. I, Bobe, want to help you, Mr. Bob, especially since we have such similar names.” - Bobe

“Aigoo, who cares if we are Bobe and Bob!” - Bobe

“Mr. Bob, thank you very much.” - Bobe

+9 in the narration

Hunter Bobe - An experienced hunter who knew the fog-covered Nake Mountain well (ch 461)

“Aigoo. I, Bobe, want to help you, Mr. Bob, especially since we have such similar names.” - Bobe

“Yes sir, senior Bobe.” - Cale

“Aigoo, who cares if we are Bobe and Bob!” - Bobe

“Mr. Bobe.” - Cale

“Can you deploy some mercenaries around Mr. Bobe and Nake Mountain?” - Cale

+38 in the narration

Informant Bob (Alberu) (also acts as the loyal servant of Young Master Naru) - A quarter Dark Elf who is a sworn brother of Cale Henituse and Alberu Crossman; the crown prince’s proxy and also the person in charge of the crown prince’s information network (ch 541)

“My name is Bob and I am his highness, the crown prince’s proxy and also the person in charge of the crown prince’s information network.” - Alberu

‘…What’s with his name?! Why is it Bob?!’ - Cale

“This is Bob hyung, one of my close hyungs.” - Cale

“You can consider Bob hyung to represent the will of his highness, the crown prince.” - Cale

“Bob hyung is pretty antsy too.” - Cale

“Our Bob hyung has been like his highness the crown prince’s twin brother since they were young.” - Cale

Had the two of them and this Bob person who lived in the shadows created this sworn brotherhood between the three of them? - Fredo

‘But it is shocking that this Bob is quarter Dark Elf.’ - Fredo

“Raon-nim, I’m Bob.” - Alberu

“Ah, right! Nice to meet you, Bob!” - Raon

“Bob hyung, are you not going to eat?” - Cale

“My name is Bob and I am young master Naru-nim’s servant and informant.” - Alberu

“Bob.” - Fredo

+31 in the narration

I came across some photos of Nyakim Gatwech and remembering the images of Tasha in the manhwa that I saw, I was very disappointed, why doesn't she look anything like this angel of darkness? She is the definition of black pearl beauty! She is the most beautiful woman I have ever seen in my life! So why doesn't Tasha look anything alike?＼＼٩(๑`^´๑)۶／／

Alberu: Are you sure they will be okay? Cale: The children are going to be fine, the one you have to worry about is the lunatic. Alberu:??? Cale: Hopefully he'll be alive when we get back.

Clopeh: Children, people will criticize your dreams. 'You can’t just secretly film every single battle of Cale-nim and broadcast it to the world'. 'Being a devoted Cale-nim follower is not a real job'. 'Stop trying to register Caleism as an actual religion'.

Clopeh: Ignore them. Be real. Be yourself. Start a Cale-nim cult.

On, Hong, Raon, Lock and all the wolf children:...........

On: Who though it was a good idea to let him babysit us today?

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

I'm just seeing the results and these were:

Out of 64 votes…

Including me, 2 were for "Yes, I did it! ヽ(・∀・)ﾉ"

23 for "No, what were you thinking? (´-ω-｀)"

18 for "No but now I see it too (; ω; )"

and 21 for "No but now I see it too (; ω; )"

I am not crazy! I'm not the only one who saw it! (๑˃ᴗ˂)ﻭ

I'm the only one who saw the official KRS art and said "someone give this man some African braids" (O⌣O)???

I don't understand how no one noticed it before! ヽ(°〇°)ﾉ

You have all my respects, you must be very observant to notice this! (⌒▽⌒)☆

woah pause ✋

‘I am very old now too.’ The old man accepted that he was getting older. Just like how tree rings don’t grow all at once, the effects of time did not avoid him as well. He then started to speak.

- Ron Molan

Chapter 34: Being Still

THE TREE RINGS?

I know it's just a metaphor but WHAT?!

I was just reading his conversation with Cale and was surprised by the sudden jumpscare those words gave me. The sentence doesn't help either. 😭

The author is so good at hiding things so early in the story. I didn't even notice it before when I was rereading this novel several times. Either that or I'm just so dumb.

｡ﾟ( ﾟ^∀^ﾟ)ﾟ｡

Rosalyn: You're an exception, you're different 😍

We must not forget about eremophobia.

It was clearly demonstrated during the Wind Island test, and although it is not exactly traditional eremophobia (which is more than anything the fear of being physically alone), unlike this, Cale fears more than anything being the last survivor among his dear ones.

I think the reason Cale is always at the vanguard is that he is afraid of seeing his loved ones die. So, if they end up in a situation where their enemy is stronger than them and they can’t flee, at least he will die before the others.

Trauma will always push him to avoid seeing his people die, lest he be the last survivor. The guilt of having those ideas, of imposing that fate on someone else, can make his already low self-esteem even more non-existent than before.

I just realized I'm rambling, so I'll leave it here. Anyway, even if this analysis is wrong, I think it can be quite accurate in many cases.

Kim Rok Soo!Cale – aka. Poster Child of Trauma

Let's list down all the traumatic experiences of our MC, shall we? :)

Body stolen by the White Star's reincarnation

Being affected by the Curse of the God of Death ("All those you cherish shall die") before being born

Rebirth in Korea, shortly followed by the death of his parents

Taken in by his abusive uncle, Kim Seung Jong, who falls into alcoholism and gambling

Either the uncle dies due to his addictions or it gets so bad Kim Rok Soo runs away – that part was a bit unclear

Gets into the orphanage, where all friends or caretakers he comes to care about leave him, one way or another

Choi Jung Gun shows up when Kim Rok Soo is about to get murdered by the Hunters Park So Jin & Jung Yi-Rang, posing as his counselor & classmate

CJG or the Hunters wipe his memory of the event, which one did it is slightly unclear

Just as KRS's life gets stable enough that he gets a job while studying at a university, the Monster Apocalypse strikes and he loses everything all over again

KRS starves under the wreck of a building for a week before getting rescued by Lee Soo Hyuk

LSH takes him to a shelter where Park Jin Tae is in charge, just for him to turn into an abusive leader who bosses KRS around and beats him up

Then the monster wave shows up, killing everyone KRS got to know and care about at the shelter. Hello, Survivor's Guilt!

Somehow, he survives the rest of the monster wave, but that surely wasn't a pleasant experience, considering all shelters lost power for 24 hours and KRS probably experiences the minor ones failing in-person (who knows just how many different shelters he tried to run off to??)

After a time skip KRS gets into the company and we assume life is pretty good for a while for him, under LSH's guidance and the friendship with Choi Jung Soo, as well as their other Team members... except then the Unranked Monster shows up and wipes KRS's entire Team in one go, leaving him the last and only man standing. Hello, Survivor's Guilt Part Two!

KRS attends the funeral of LSJ & CJS, only to be talked about behind his back how he's not even mourning them correctly because he's not crying (those bastards-!)

He takes upon himself to avenge LSH and the rest of the Team, because they were supposed to have back-up from a Guild which all ran away and left them to die. I suppose KRS going after them went down similarly to how he later toppled Arm and the Mogoru Empire, so let's call it his "practice run on Dismantling Corrupt Organisations"

He takes over as the Team Leader as well, overworking himself to the extreme (not even taking a single day off in the first year) to have a 0% casualty rate

He distances himself from the team in order not to suffer another heartbreak if something happens to them (also, my theory is that KRS subconsciously recognized the pattern of his Curse and made himself believe that he's a bad, selfish person who doesn't care about others... just so the Curse don't kill off his Team members this time)

Once again, he gets his body stolen without his permission – and sure, that turned out well in the end, but still: not just once, but TWICE! NOT cool, God of Death!!

He's dumped with the knowledge and responsibility of the conflicts to come in this new world, which was supposed to be originally CJS's job to fix. Come on, it's not KRS's fault he lived instead!! Not he's gotta clean up THIS mess...

Once again, Cale overworks himself white trying to achieve World Peace, because HOW is he supposed to rest if the world comes to an end around him – AGAIN!?

Cale's body wastes away from continuously sacrificing himself (while claiming that he isn't sacrificing himself) and keeps falling into a coma from Ancient Powers overuse

He breaks his plate in the battle at the Gorge of Death and suffers terribly to get it fixed

He gets a premonition that he's probably going to die around November 8th – THANKS A LOT, GOD OF DEATH!!

He also goes through a traumatic test of seeing his worst fear at the Wind Island

He attracts the attention of several nasty characters: like Adin, the White Star, or the Sealed God... which is definitely NOT a good thing

The Sealed God casually tosses him into an alternate universe to relive his greatest trauma

Cale, once again, has to solve problems in another world because he literally cannot do anything else

Also the White Star is trying to murder him in the meantime, so he suffers great physical AND mental pain at the same time - hurray!

Oh and let's not forget, now he gotta defeat the Final Boss by stabbing himself. It won't hurt, the World Tree says...? WHY DON'T I BELIEVE YOU (Also the Sealed God made sure everyone saw everything, nice going there you son of a-!)

And just when the whole thing with the White Star and the Sealed God gets resolved, the HUNTERS SHOW UP, BECAUSE WHY THE HELL NOT

And now Cale gotta go around MORE UNIVERSES to solve ALL OF THEIR PROBLEMS. ..... H o w n i c e

To shortly sum all of Cale's traumatic experiences:

Bodysnatched: x2

Cursed with loneliness and misfortune

Orphaned

Abused

Lived in poverty

Target of attempted assassination (also used as bait for assassins)

Had his head tampered with

Lived through an apocalypse

Trapped under a building (hello potential claustrophobia!)

Starved

Chased down by monsters

Bullied

Survivor's guilt: x2

Betrayed by allies

Forced into leadership

*Body dysphoria due to scars (forgot to mention that earlier)

Impostor syndrome: x2 (for both becoming the Team Leader and becoming Cale Henituse)

Judged for coping mechanisms

Regularly gets hurt and falls into coma

Near death experiences: x[INFINITE]

Forced to experience his worst nightmare

Forced into self-harm

Forced to save the world: x? (at least 3 times and the counter is still rising!?)

Basically, this man's life maybe have gotten better in the past 2 years... but his life is still hell 😅

(I blame you, God of Death – WHY would you consider reincarnation a good punishment?? And a CONTAGIOUS CURSE which affects the victims of your target!? This is all your fault.

...But mostly the Hunters' fault, obviously.)

It's true Σ(O_O)

How had we not realized this (＠_＠) ?! They are literally almost throwing it in our faces (＠´ー`)ﾉﾞ!

That being said, do you think any other fanfiction tropes will become canon? (・_・;)

I am firm in my belief that TCF is writing its own crossovers and fanfictions into the story.

A story where what if everyone died except for Cale after the final battle against the White Star? Just check the Wind Island Test.

A time travel fix-it/everybody lives fic? The Sealed God's Test on Earth 2 technically counts.

An AU where the White Star wins and Cale loses, or maybe a world where Cale does not exist? Reading about Kim Rok Soo's past before the apocalypse or when he was a kid? What if Choi Han managed to save Harris Village? You can find all of that in the Sealed God's Temple!

What if TCF had a crossover? No problem! Do you want a necromancer world? A murim world? Or do you want a "Duke of the North Cale Henituse" world? Do you want a Demon King with that, or a side dish of the Divine Realm?