Early morning a few days later, Cale was climbing the third peak of the Ten Finger Mountains with only Raon by his side.

"Human! Taking a stroll is fun!"

Cale wiped the sweat off of his face as he used the Sound of the Wind to quickly climb the mountain.

These peaks were called the Ten Finger Mountains because they resembled fingers. This meant that the third and eighth peaks were the tallest.

These two peaks were so tall that the peak was covered by the clouds and snow did not melt until the middle of summer.

'But that peak is melting.'

The official name of Cheapskate's Ancient Power was 'Fire of Destruction'.

Other people would not know about it yet. This ancient power would melt about half of this third peak in another two weeks.

"Human! It is hot! What is this?"

"Aigoo." Cale groaned as he reached the top.

"Isn't this lava? I read about it in a book! It is hotter than the fire in the Jungle! It is an interesting power!"

Lava appeared in front of Cale and Raon. It was not huge, but still a decently large lava pit. Of course, this peak was not a volcano.

However, this lava was melting the mountain. They could feel intense heat radiating from the fire.

But Cale was feeling less of it thanks to the necklace with the Fire Suppressing Water, as well as the Vitality of the Heart. He looked at the center of the lava pit.

"Ha!" He couldn't believe it. A golden pig sculpture was spinning in circles in the middle of the lava pit. 'He truly is a cheapskate that obsess with money.'

"Raon." Cale called out to Raon, who was staring at the interesting sight in front of him.

Raon could see Cale holding his magic bag open in front of him. "What is it, human?"

"Give me the silver coins from the Super Rock villa, as well as half the money we got from Odeus."

Raon blinked a few times before obediencely putting the silver coins in Cale's bag and handed another bag to Cale.

Cale slowly started to smile. It had been a while since he did something this refreshing without harming anyone.

Showing off your wealth was best for stress relief.

"Hahahaha!" Cale started to laugh out loud.

"...Human, why are you laughing?" Raon moved backward.

It was not because Cale was laughing. It was just odd to see Cale laughing like this, but it was still nice to see. However, what Cale started to do was odd.

Clang, clang. Cale grasped a fistful of silver coins from the Super Rock villa and threw it into the lava.

"Human! Do you know how many chicken skewers! How much candy?! Human, why are you doing this?! Tell me if you have any issues with me! Human!"

"Hahahaha!" Cale was not listening to Raon.

At that moment, something weird started to happen.

Ooooooooong. They could hear a noise as the silver coins did not melt and started to rise up from the lava to create a path.

This was what was written in the novel.

This Cheapskate required money to get.

The information from the other Ancient Power confirmed that idea. This guy is obsessed with money.

'But I have to say it really felt nice to spend money like it was water. Especially because this is Cheapskate's money. Since he didn't spend any after gathering so much, I'll use it for you.' Cale laughed out loud as he thought that and continued to throw silver coins in front of him and into the lava. A silver path made of money was slowly starting to form.

• I didn't expect for someone like you to appear!

Cale could hear the voice of the owner of the, 'Fire of Destruction.' The voice sounded like it was looking at a crazy person.

Claaaaaaang- The silver coins continued to fly like snow.

'Ah, this is bliss. You like money, I'll give you. Hehe it's your money anyway.' It was the best feeling since it was someone else's money. He would never get a chance like this again.

"Yes, let's throw it all!" Silver coins continued to fly as Cale grabbed handfuls and threw them toward the golden pig sculpture.

"T-This can't be! I don't know how to feel! I shouldn't feel this way! But this is so refreshing to watch!" The 5-year-old Raon fell into a state of chaos.

Cale couldn't care as he was busy watching the silver coins float up to create a path for him.

The 'Fire of Destruction' really couldn't be called lava or fire. It was more of a, 'liquid flame,' since the fire was in a liquid-like state.

People did not earn this power the proper way in the novel. However, Cale knew the proper way to earn the power after reading about it in the novel and listening to his friends.

• Hmm, Just give him money, the only thing he loves was money. Just like how I love to eat.

Said Glutton

• I haven't felt this feeling in a long time! Ah, the smell of money!

Yes, this person was crazy about money, that's why his room in Super Rock villa was filled with money. Super Rock knew his friend very well. It was perfect to use his money for him as well.

• Keep on throwing the money! I haven't seen anybody other than my crazy friend waste silver coins like this! Muhahahaha!

"Hahaha!" Both Cale and the owner of the ancient power were laughing. Silver coins continued to fly into the lava as they laughed.

Raon took his piggy bank out of his alternate dimension and held it close. He looked back and forth between Cale and his piggy bank with a serious expression.

"What are you looking at?" Cale looked odd as he suddenly stopped laughing and stoically stood there. A path of silver coins was shining on top of the boiling lava.

That silver light meshed well with the red-haired Cale.

"Human."

"What is it? Why are taking out your piggybank?"

"Let me know if you don't have enough! I am willing to give you my piggy bank!"

Cale smiled widely. "It's okay. This is enough. If not... hehe..."

• Money! Let me smell more of the scent of money!

He still had two hundred thousand of these silver coins, courtesy of the crown prince. However, if it was still not enough, he was sure that after sensing his friends, he will be satisfied.

"Here." Cale looked like a very benevolent person right now.

'The poor elf didn't have insider information like me.' Cale hummed, while throwing more money, until the coins from Super Rock villa were all gone.

• I wanted to be able to throw money away like trash like this too! But those damn bastards stole it all! My money, as well as my friends' money! Those sons of bitches! You cruel bastards that treated us like slaves!

'Ah. This is your money though. Never let him know that.'

The golden pig started to swear profusely. Cale did not pay any attention to it as he started to walk toward the golden pig, he heard a lot of swearing talking with Thief.

"Haa, so annoying. The coins are heavy."

Cale was now taking out the bag with coins from Odeus and just pouring it in front of him as he walked.

• Y-You wonderful human being!

The voice of the former owner was shaking.

Ooooooong- ooooooooong-

Cale started to smile. The golden pig sculpture was shining even brighter now.

Siiiiiizle- A red vapor started to rise from the lava.

Raon flew up higher in order to avoid the vapor. It was vapor that had fire inside of it.

Paaaaat. The Indestructible Shield and barrier covered Cale's body.

'This is no better than manual labor.'

Cale was getting tired of this repetitive procedure. Even throwing money around got boring after a while.

Cale clicked his tongue and started to pour the money even faster. He was able to soon arrive in front of the golden pig sculpture in the middle of the lava pit, as the pit was not very wide.

"Mm." The voice started to speak again once Cale was in front of the sculpture.

• I approve of you! You have the right attitude to gain this power! If it is you, if it is someone like you who is willing to throw money away like this, you will be able to overcome every obstacle in your way!

Cheapskate had approved of him just as expected and was telling Cale to grab the pig sculpture. However, he could only speak in disbelief after seeing Cale's next actions.

• Hmm?

Claaaaaang. Claaaaaang. Cale poured out even more silver coins.

"So many." He was still far away from using half of the two hundred thousand silver coins since he had used Cheapskate's money for nearly half the way.

• M-My goodness! I've never seen such a crazy person before! You must be an angel!

Cheapskate could not hide his admiration. The pig sculpture started to vibrate even stronger the more the owner shouted with joy.

Ooooooooong. The entire peak started to shake.

Siiiiiiizle. Siiiiiiiiiizle. More of the red vapor started to rise into the air and headed toward the pig sculpture.

Cale did not care about any of this, as he continued to pour out everything in the bag with indifference.

• ......

Cheapskate was now at a loss for words. He was speechless.

Cale straightened his back after finally pouring out all of the silver coins. He was sweating.

'I'm happy I spent all those outdated silver coins and have about a billion gallons in return.' Cale looked toward the shining pig sculpture as he said. "This is hard work."

The red vapors were surrounding the golden pig sculpture.

• I approve of you. I debated it for a while, since I felt my friend's power on you.

"Yes yes, I've heard a lot about you. Nice to meet you."

• There really are no normal people who own Ancient Powers. Here you go! Take it! It is the power to destroy everything! Of course, the money is mine.

"Oh. Why thank you." Cale chuckled. 'He doesn't know how true that statement is.'

The Ancient Power started to float toward Cale. The golden pig sculpture that was surrounded by red vapor was now in front of Cale's nose.

'He's cheaper than I expected. I guess it was because he was born poor. I'll let him see how it is to be rich.'

He didn't know that this would happen with only 1 billion gallons. Cale slowly reached his hand out toward the golden pig sculpture.

He would have powers for defending, regenerating, escaping, scamming and attacking once he got this power. He wasn't sure about Super Rock, since he didn't talk much. He didn't want to find out about the 'sacrifice' part yet.

At that moment, Cheapskate started to speak again.

• To be honest with you, money isn't the only thing that I couldn't destroy. There is a boulder that I could not destroy as well. I will share this information with you since you helped me resolve my resentment.

It was a hint about Super Rock.

• The king of rocks, the Giant Cobblestone that is known as the 'Super Rock'. But since you already had him with you, I guess you don't need me to tell you more.

"Ah, so the name for his Ancient Power was Giant Cobblestone. That's a new information. Thank you." Cale said as he touched the golden pig sculpture.

Siiizzle. Cale's hand touched the vapor, but he did not get hurt.

Ooooooooo- The tips of his fingers touched the pig sculpture. A mix of gold and red light rushed toward Cale.

• Use it to melt anything in your way. You will survive through the pain.

The voice of Cheapskate slowly disappeared. Cale lifted up his shirt to see that there was now a rose gold thunderbolt on the silver shield on his chest. Cale was relieved.

'It's not a pig.' The pig sculpture earlier was cute, but he didn't want such a tattoo. Cale reached his hand out.

"Ooh!" Raon was amazed at what was happening.

Siiiiiiizle- A loud sizzle noise appeared as the silver coins disappeared into silver vapor.

At the same time, the red lava sizzled and formed into an orb in front of Cale's hand. Cale clenched his hand into a fist, as if he was trying to grab the orb.

Paaat. The lava orb disappeared with a quiet noise. Only a wide pit was left on top of the third peak.

"Human, is that power from earlier yours now?"

"Yes, it is. Did I look like a lunatic throwing the money around?"

"Well, even the great Raon Miru was shocked! But later it's so refreshing to watch. When will we do that again?"

"Ah? Umm, let's think about that later. We can't use our own money, it's too wasteful." Cale petted Raon.

"By the way, you are as strong as half of my pinky toe now! You are now a very extremely tiny amount stronger."

"It's good that I'm stronger, even if I'm only as strong as your pinky toe." Cale smiled after receiving Raon's approval.

A cool breeze swept past him. Now that the heat from the lava was gone, the top of this peak was returning to being cold.

At that moment, Raon approached him with his piggy bank still in his paws.

"But Human."

"What?"

"I waited to tell you this because you seemed to be having fun." Raon was smiling widely.

Cale suddenly felt an ominous feeling. Why was Raon being like this? Why did he only learn bad habit from me?

Raon casually added on. "The magic spearman is nearby."

'Hmm? Who?' Cale temporarily forgot who it was.

"He just arrived recently. I can sense his location."

"Ah." Cale remembered the magic spearman of the secret organization.

They had met at Hais Island 12. The magic spearman had been marked by Raon's mana arrow before he ran away with the blonde sword master.

'Why would he be here?' Cale frowned.

Raon was stronger after becoming a year older, but he still had short stubby legs. One of those short legs pointed toward the spot between the seventh and eighth peaks. "I can feel him over there!"

Cale covered his face with both hands.

There was a village hidden by illusion magic between the seventh and eighth peaks.

Naturally, it was the Elf Village. It was said to be similar to a fairytale land, with a small lake and trees that were hundreds of years old.

'Now what? Should I go?' As expected, this incident was not described in the first five volumes of [The Birth of a Hero].

Cale felt like he knew the people that put the Elf Village in enough danger for five Elves to come to a human village.

Would the magic spearman have come for no reason? The Elves must be fighting against Arm right now.

Raon then added on. "Oh, and the dude from last time is coming!"

'Last time?' Cale lowered the hands covering his face. He had seen so many people that he didn't know who Raon was talking about.

– He is coming very fast! He's already close to the peak! I am hiding!

Cale wished Raon would tell him things like this faster. Raon was staying quiet in order to not interrupt Cale while he was getting an Ancient Power, but this was more important to Cale.

He had a bad feeling he knew who it was now. It always happened like this.

Rustle. Cale could hear the sound of someone approaching.

"Haaaaaaa." He couldn't help but sigh as he slowly turned around. Cale was standing in the middle of the pit as he looked up at the individual that arrived.

"I remember there was-!" The visitor looked around in shock.

He had seen lava here a few days ago. This extra issue was annoying while they were dealing with a major headache, but he had seen some hopes within that power.

The man who was looking around made eye contact with Cale. Cale's red hair made it seem like the lava had disappeared and turned into a person.

"...Y-You are—" The visitor, Pendrick the Healer, remembered the red-haired man in front of him.

He was the person the Guardian Knight had stopped in the restaurant.

"Who is that man? Why did you stop him?"

"...I am not certain either. It is better for us to not know that senior."

It was the first time that the Guardian Knight had said something like that about a human. Pendrick stopped talking after seeing the indifference in the man's face.

In contrast, the man who was standing tall in the middle of the pit started to speak. It was a cold voice.

"Who are you? Do you know me?" Cale was feigning ignorance since he couldn't just act like he knew.

But there was another individual responding to Cale other than Pendrick.

– Human, I know who he is! Do you want to know? He was the Elf that stood behind the Elf that talked to you in the inn! I remember everything because I am a great and mighty Dragon!

'No, Raon. I already know who he is. You don't have to be so excited.' Cale started to frown a little after his mind became rowdy with Raon's explanation.

'And why is he like that?' Cale was curious about Pendrick's reaction.

Pendrick slightly lifted the hood of his robe. Although his ears were still covered, Cale could see the Z shaped scar around Pendrick's eyes.

"Sir, we met at the inn. I remember that we made eye contact."

This was true. Cale had flinched after seeing the scar by Pendrick's eyes. "I see."

Cale turned away from Pendrick and started to walk in the opposite direction. He was heading toward the top of the pit.

Crumble. Crumble. The black rocks broke as he stepped on them. Cale's red hair fluttered in the wind. 'Did that other elf told him anything? Will he ask for help?'

"Sir, did you earn an Ancient Power?"

Cale did not stop walking, even after Pendrick started to speak.

"Yes."

Pendrick flinched at the cold and indifferent voice. He looked at the back of the man who was walking away.

'I'm leaving if you don't ask for my help.' Cale walked leisurely. 'Even though I don't really want to, but since it's related to Arm, I'll destroyed every plan they have.'

Why would Pendrick have come here even though the village was in trouble? It was because of the scary feeling he got from the lava.

Pendrick was aware of his status as an Elf who could not handle an Elemental.

The only things that he had going for him were his healing and fighting abilities.

For someone like him, that scary lava was a tempting power. He wanted the power to help his village. He thought that the fire might be able to burn that thing that was a poison to the Elves.

However, Ancient Powers were things that required a lot of luck to acquire. They were said to have predestined owners.

"Excuse me!" Pendrick started to run toward Cale.