Chapter 253
Side Story - Earth in Those Days (1)
People of Earth often said that the history of humanity was divided into before and after the extraterrestrial invasion.
Not since the days when scientific thinking had yet to develop, when natural disasters and all manner of bizarre phenomena were left to the realm of mystery, had the existence of supernatural abilities and extraterrestrials been revealed for the first time.
After two Wizards, Turan and Meisa, performed miracles in the United States, people hungered for information about them.
Thanks to that, the Korean man Kim Soo-ho, who became known as the first person to make contact with them, became nothing short of a worldwide superstar.
"Today's guest is, Kim Soo-ho ssi!"
"Woooow!"
"Oh, hello."
"Welcome! Everyone, give him a round of applause!"
Dragged onto every TV show imaginable, he naturally stumbled over his words the entire time, yet the audience cheered even that.
After all, this was the story of a man who had been in close contact with the Wizards and heard firsthand exactly what they wanted.
"Kim Soo-ho ssi. There are stories that they were fond of Korean games......"
"More than fond, I'd say they were curious. They couldn't really use the internet at first, but once I showed them a little, they picked it up incredibly fast. They're not like the cavemen people imagine, more like someone who's just been living out in the countryside..."
Of course, this kind of craze naturally surges once and then cools off, but thanks to it, Kim Soo-ho earned a staggering sum of money he could never have made working as a programmer his entire life.
The Guardian Magic Artifact he had originally received as compensation was still on his wrist, because when the government tried to take it, the opinion that forcing him to hand over what had been given as a gift might offend the Wizards had won out.
Thanks to that, he would survive a traffic accident a few years later, but that is a story for another time.
After that first visit from the Wizards, it was not long before a third Wizard, Solif, appeared.
He was an entirely different type of Wizard from the two who had come before.
"Greetings, people of Earth! My name is Solif Varaha! The most handsome Wizard in our world!"
Unlike the two before him, who had possessed relatively dignified and beautiful appearances, Solif's presence came across as approachable to the people of Earth in many ways.
Not ugly, exactly, but his comparatively ordinary looks and flippant attitude were closer to that of an entertainer.
He officially announced that the purpose of his visit was to heal the sick across the entire world.
"So will you only be providing treatment in the United States again this time?"
"No? Of course not. Anywhere is fine. The more people there are to heal, the better. As long as you cooperate, I'll go anywhere on Earth!"
Once Solif's interview spread through various broadcasts, the entire world wanted him.
Earth was overflowing with people suffering from all kinds of afflictions, starting with cancer, one of the most notorious incurable diseases.
When word reached the heads of state in advance through the United States that he would bestow the gift of health upon them, everyone was eager to cooperate.
The next issue was where this healing pilgrimage would go.
Following the consensus that it would be better to prioritize other countries over the United States, which Turan and Meisa had already visited once, Solif began his world tour starting with Europe, and France in particular.
The first location was the Place de la Concorde, the largest square in Paris, at the end of the Champs-Élysées.
"Everyone's gathered here?"
"Yes. That's right, everyone......"
"Everyone! I'm here!"
"Waaaaaaah!"
"Solif! Solif!"
Before the vast square, Solif answered the fervent cheers directed at him with a smile and immediately began casting Healing Magic.
Though he could not yet wield Essence, he was able to use the power of a Lavitas noble thanks to the Mimic Sacred Relic he had borrowed from Turan.
The healing magic scattered toward the people filling the wide square to capacity took effect in an instant.
Using the power of a Family Head-class Wizard to mend the bodies of Commoners without a single drop of Magic Power, it could only be efficient.
Severed limbs restored to their original state, patients with every manner of incurable disease made whole again; screams of joy and tears burst forth in every direction at the miracle.
This time, an even more astonishing miracle occurred than what had been demonstrated before.
"I'm really cured......"
"M-Mommy, I, I."
"Martin? Did you just speak? Oh, God."
Unlike the previous miracle of Sacramento, which had mainly treated trauma patients, a significant number of the patients gathered this time had congenital disabilities such as cerebral palsy or autism.
Solif's treatment reorganized excessively connected neural networks and even restored damaged brains.
Of course, that did not mean their cognitive abilities returned to a fully intact state right away.
Even if the brain was restored to normal, the information they had been unable to properly learn all this time would still need to be filled in.
But the mere fact that they could, through their own effort, become like those without disabilities was nothing short of a miracle for the parents who had been caring for them.
There were more than a few people who would have given their entire fortune and then some for such a blessing.
To them, Solif was truly a being akin to a god.
"Thank you so much, angel, truly......"
"Oh, don't mention it. This much is nothing."
It was difficult to sense anything sacred or reverent in his smirking demeanor, yet to the parents of the patients gathered here, even that look seemed unbearably beautiful.
Afterward, Solif toured several cities as a state guest of France, receiving every manner of lavish hospitality, then moved on to England, Belgium, the Netherlands, and other countries, healing people as he went.
Even amid all this, he did not forget to continue communicating with people through what they called "broadcasting".
"So this is the Premier League? I had no idea football was this entertaining."
"Of all the people of Earth I've seen so far, the French have the most elegant fashion."
"Oh, German beer...... If there were a drink of the heavens, wouldn't this be it?"
Solif deftly stroked the pride that each European nation held.
Given that exploring new worlds was his hobby, he had amassed a fair amount of relevant knowledge, starting with what he had learned from Kim Woong, the Possessor from Earth, supplemented by what Turan had told him and what he had studied on his own after arriving.
Naturally, the people of Earth, or more precisely the people of Europe, were enthralled by this side of Solif.
After all, people from relatively less prosperous nations have always been disproportionately delighted by praise from those in developed countries.
Just as Koreans of old had been desperate to get Westerners to try kimchi, the reactions the Wizard from Cradle showed were that intoxicatingly sweet to the people of Earth today.
Of course, whenever a rival nation received praise, there was some growling.
And so, several weeks passed.
Having swept through all of Europe like a bombing run, Solif waved goodbye as he boarded a plane.
"I'm off, everyone, goodbye!"
"We'll miss you, my white angel!"
"As I've said before, I'm a married man, so no declarations of love!"
*
The place he visited next was Africa.
No matter how hard they tried to accommodate him, the environment was relatively underdeveloped compared to Europe.
But Solif did not mind much.
After all, even the most prosperous cities in Cradle had worse infrastructure than an ordinary mid-sized city on Earth.
"We apologize. We arranged the best hotel we could, but......"
"This is more than fine. Hardly any bugs, even. It seems like this place needs a somewhat different kind of help."
"A different kind, you say?"
"Healing the sick is all well and good, but shouldn't they at least have clean water first?"
In the conflict zones of Africa, Solif directed his power in a different way.
Draining swamps with a wave of his hand, purifying dirty water, and causing wells to spring up from underground.
Considering that his actual purpose for coming here was to heal as many people as possible in order to obtain the Healer Archetype, none of this was strictly necessary.
It was simply because Turan had told him to be meticulous about image management here.
Of course, any air of mystique for the sake of image management had already been blown to pieces by the weeks of clowning around in Europe.
How long had he been performing miracles in various regions and healing the sick?
While resting after an intense bout of using his power, Solif was approached by local warlords.
"You want me to go heal your boss?"
"That's right. He can't come here, so you need to come."
"Sorry, but my schedule's packed. Can't do it."
Contrary to what people accustomed to the Mercator projection often assumed, Africa was several times the size of Europe.
Granted, much of it was uninhabitable jungle, desert, or national parks.
Regardless, that meant the number of places Solif needed to visit was vast, and he could not spare time for a single individual.
When he refused, the warlord's officer leveled an assault rifle at him.
"You've been on Earth long enough to know what this is, alien."
"You think that'll work on me?"
"If it doesn't, we'll blow this whole spot to hell with a missile. We brought APCs and tanks too, so you'd better cooperate."
"Then you'd die."
"If I was afraid of that, I wouldn't be here. Choose. Die, or do as you're told."
The entourage that had accompanied Solif was visibly on edge, at a loss for what to do.
It was widely known that the Wizards possessed tremendous martial power, owing to Badal, who could be called the first Wizard in the truest sense, and Turan, who had taken the form of a Golden Eagle, along with Meisa, who had leveled San Francisco alongside him. However, there was no guarantee that Solif was capable of the same.
On top of that, because he had been seen running low on Magic Power several times, needing to rest or return to Cradle and come back, rumors had spread widely that Solif was a weaker Wizard compared to the other two.
No doubt the warlords who had come to abduct him had heard this and mustered their courage.
"Ha, honestly. They must really think I'm a joke......"
The moment Solif let out a hollow laugh and snapped his fingers, explosions erupted in every direction.
The armored vehicles and tanks positioned at a distance had detonated from the inside, consumed by flames igniting within them.
"M-Monster."
"Not gonna shoot?"
Rat-tat-tat, amid the sharp crack of gunfire, crumpled bullets clattered to the ground from Solif's body as he stood perfectly still.
The warlord officer's eyes went wide upon realizing that several of those rounds had struck Solif's eyeballs.
It would have been less shocking if he had conjured some kind of magical barrier to block them.
"What the, he's not even Superman..."
"I'm not quite as strong as that guy, but my defense is pretty solid. Farewell."
As he gathered his Magic Power once more, the officer's body ignited like ash and vanished.
Incinerating the body of a human without Magic Power did not even require the Causality needed to conjure and hurl fire directly.
Before long, artillery that had been positioned at a distance, spared from the initial disaster, caught on to the situation and opened fire, but Solif, perceiving this, deployed Light of Judgement.
Several explosions erupted atop the stark white barrier of light that blanketed the entire village.
"W-Whoa......"
"Hey, English guy."
"Yes?"
"Any chance you can find out where these bastards are based? I need to make an example of them."
At Solif's seemingly delighted expression, the British-born official, though terrified, arranged to identify the enemy's location as quickly as possible.
The colonial empire era may have ended, but intelligence capabilities were still very much alive, and the information came through before long.
"So it's over there."
"Yes. Do you need additional supp..."
"No need."
Advancing alone toward the city where the warlords were garrisoned, Solif devastated the enemy unilaterally.
Unable to wield Essence yet, he could not unleash the overwhelming power to flatten an entire city the way Turan and Meisa could.
But the power held by a Family Head of a Great Noble House, while not quite that extreme, was still close enough to a natural disaster.
After all, even the Players of old believed that if a few Family Heads from the Great Noble Houses pooled their strength, they could conquer Earth with ease.
With a single wave of his hand, dozens of buildings filled with flames, and from that heat, ammunition detonated, rendering tanks and armored vehicles useless despite their sturdy plating.
"Come at me, you worthless insects!"
As one could tell from how he had once slaughtered the pirates who tried to deceive him, Solif was not exactly a generous soul toward villains.
With sadistic urges that had been pent up for quite some time finally bursting free, hundreds of warlord fighters screamed as they burned to death.
Naturally, Solif sustained not a single wound in the process.
With the sturdy body of a Guardian Archetype and a layer of Light of Judgement wrapped over it, how could anyone hope to breach that?
A nuclear missile might have done some real damage, of course, but a mere warlord would never possess such a thing.
Remarkably, even amid this violence, Solif did not forget to minimize civilian casualties.
He absorbed the light from all around to expand his field of vision, then used the Mimic Sacred Relic's senses to target and kill only those bearing weapons with precision.
A few unarmed warlord members did survive in the process, but that much was an acceptable margin.
He could hardly face Turan if innocent people had died simply for living in a city controlled by warlords.
Before long, once the rumor spread far and wide that the Wizard who had come to Africa had wiped out a local warlord, no one else dared to touch him.
Even the handful of nations that had been considering whether they might be able to sweet-talk or threaten him abandoned their plans.
Having smoothly completed his pilgrimage in Africa, Solif moved through the Middle East, Asia, Australia, and South America, healing multitudes and savoring the cultural heritage and advanced civilizations they had left behind.
Compared to Turan and Meisa, who had merely strolled around as though on a light patrol, his trip amounted to a far more thorough tour of Earth than both of theirs combined.
*
"You're looking quite pleased with yourself."
"Well, I can't deny it's been pretty fun."
The Imperial Palace in Kalamaf, where he had returned to maintain his Soul Barrier.
In response to the weary-looking Turan, Solif answered with a face that mingled guilt and pride.
He did feel a bit sorry for essentially playing around while things were so busy, but this was, after all, part of the Ascetic Trial to become an Ascendant.
Playing was playing, true, but he had never once skipped healing the sick who came to him every day.
Just then, Turan, who had been silently watching Solif, frowned.
"The rate at which you're accumulating Presence has slowed down compared to before."
"Really?"
"Yeah. It seems like you've been on Earth so long that your existence doesn't make much of an impression anymore."
"Guess I clowned around too much over there."
He had been told that leaving a deep impression on others was important, so he had even turned on broadcasts and put on every kind of spectacle imaginable.
As Solif scratched his head with a sheepish look, Turan let out a small sigh.
"Can't be helped. Is the Ascetic Trial almost done?"
"Not much left."
He had not gone around to sparsely populated rural areas, but simply by touring and healing those gathered in major cities, the number of people he had personally restored easily numbered in the hundreds of thousands, if not millions.
Based on periodic visits to the Ascension Altar to check, it seemed that a few more stops would fulfill all the required conditions.
"By then, the pilgrimage should be wrapping up right on time. Hey, would it be alright if I came back to Earth later and did something like this again?"
"No."
If this kind of healing pilgrimage happened once or twice as a rare event, that would be one thing, but if it became a regular occasion, the people of Earth would stop trying to advance their own medical technology.
Why bother researching cures, prosthetics, or stem cells when a wave of the hand could heal cancer and disabilities alike?
And it was not as though Cradle's Wizards could be stationed across all of Earth to heal every sick person, making it, quite literally, an act of charity one could not take responsibility for.
Having had a blind spot pointed out to him, Solif let out a low, contemplative hum.
"What we're doing now is strictly an emergency measure because we need even one more Ascendant."
"Got it."
Solif nodded in agreement.
*
After the brief meeting with Turan, Solif healed people with a slightly more reverent heart than before.
If he could never offer this kind of generosity again, then he might as well do it properly while he still could.
And so, after sweeping through South America, just as he was administering his final round of treatment in Mexico City, the capital of Mexico.
At last, Solif's Ascetic Trial came to an end.
"Oh......"
When a white radiance erupted from his body as he was dispensing healing light in the middle of the square, the onlookers' eyes went wide.
His healing pilgrimage had already been covered numerous times through every kind of media, YouTube included, and nothing like this had ever occurred.
"Finally done, then."
Solif realized that he had at last fulfilled every condition, and felt a bittersweet mix of relief and regret.
From now on, he would not be able to freely go on healing pilgrimages the way he used to.
Even if he did return, he would have to disguise his identity and quietly sightsee, or only attend official events.
It had been quite grueling, but there had been a certain fulfillment in watching people gain new hope and rejoice.
"Solif-nim? Are you alright?"
"I'm fine, English guy. Thanks for looking after me all this time."
While the British official's eyes went wide at the tone of farewell, Solif turned his awareness inward.
He could feel a new Symbol forming beside the three Symbols sheltered within his Spirit Barrier.
A sun, a shield, and a staff entwined by a serpent.
The four Symbols harmonized and bestowed upon him the mantle of the Silver Sun, and as his Spirit Barrier, swollen to a greater magnitude, cracked and shattered outward.
"Goodbye."
With that final farewell, a brilliant white light burst from Solif's body.
For a moment, the radiance was blinding enough to force everyone to shut their eyes, and when they opened them again, the white angel who had healed them was gone.
"He vanished?"
"Where did he go?"
"The angel has returned to heaven."
"That's blasphemous......"
"You're the blasphemous ones!"
It was hardly surprising, then, that Solif's final image, vanishing in a flash of light, came to be regarded as a kind of religious symbol, and that many chose to tattoo his face onto their bodies.
They believed the Angel of Healing would protect their bodies from illness and injury.
Whatever the truth may have been.
*****
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