After returning to the village of Lag, Jose is immediately scolded by her brother Orha. He had heard how she nearly got herself killed by jumping into battle, and he angrily reminds her that this is exactly why he doesn’t approve of her fighting alongside soldiers.
However, Moloch steps in to calm him down, saying that the most important thing is that Jose is safe. For now, he suggests they shift their focus to increasing patrols in the surrounding area, especially since the Inspector will be visiting soon. Orha agrees and leaves to inform the soldiers about the new patrol schedule.
Once he’s gone, Jose apologizes to her father, Moloch, for causing trouble. But to her surprise, he isn’t angry. He already knows the full story—including how Kai single-handedly defeated two apes—and he’s eager to see what Kai is capable of in the future.
Meanwhile, Kai is busy running errands when a few of his friends grab him and start teasing. Everyone in the village is calling Kai a hero now for saving Jose during the expedition to Ada Village, and rumors are spreading that the two of them got really close while they were away.
Some of the village girls see this and assume the boys are just messing around again—but Elsa can’t take her eyes off Kai. The other girls quickly catch on: Elsa definitely has feelings for him. They tease her, warning that if she doesn’t talk to Kai soon, someone else will.
And it looks like they were right—because moments later, Jose walks up to Kai and asks to speak with him in private.
Although Kai has no idea what this is about, he agrees. The two of them walk into a quiet back alley, where Jose formally thanks Kai for saving her life in Ada. She then admits that, during the battle, she thought she saw a Divine Crest appear on Kai’s face. But now that she’s looking at him up close, she assumes she was just hallucinating. After all, what are the chances that Kai, of all people, became a Guardian Bearer?
Still, her failure in battle made her realize just how weak she is. Determined to grow stronger, she tells Kai that from now on, they’ll be training together every morning—and she expects him to show up. Kai doesn’t exactly want to get roped into Jose’s intense routine, but he can’t say no, so he agrees.
What they don’t realize is that Kai’s friends have been spying from behind a tree—one that’s far too small to hide them. They have no idea what the two are talking about, but they’re incredibly jealous that Kai gets to spend time with Jose.
Later that day, Kai is chopping wood when Elsa approaches with a bowl of water. She shyly asks if he’d like a drink, since he must be thirsty from all the work. Kai gratefully accepts, thanking her for being so considerate. Just then, one of Elsa’s friends calls out to her, reminding her they still have chores to finish.
Kai assumes Elsa was just being nice—but Manso knows better. He tells Kai he’s a lucky man, clearly hinting at Elsa’s feelings.
Suddenly, Kai hears a strange bird call in the distance—and he recognizes it as the same one he heard back in the valley. He’s puzzled. Why would it be here?
That night, Kai lies in bed, unable to sleep. He keeps hearing that same bird call echoing in the dark. Eventually, curiosity gets the better of him. He gets up, leaps over the village wall with ease thanks to his enhanced strength, and sprints back to the valley where everything began.
Once he reaches the tree near the ancient God Stone, he sees the same stone tablet again. Now that he knows it’s a God’s gravestone, he tries to read the inscriptions. But oddly, he can’t understand them this time. Even so, he bows and thanks the Land God for saving his life, then spends the night cleaning the gravestone as a sign of gratitude. He even leaves a small offering at its base before making his way back to Lag Village.
On the way, he gets hungry, so he drinks from the river and picks a few fruits from a nearby tree. He’s amazed by the sheer amount of food available in the wild and thinks to himself—maybe I could live out here. And just like that, a brilliant idea strikes him: he could build a house in the forest and live freely!
But to build a house, he’ll need wood. Kai climbs a nearby cliff and spots a tall, sturdy tree that looks perfect for cutting. But once he’s up close, he realizes a problem—his dagger won’t be enough to chop down something this big.
So he decides to try something new. Using his fire magic, he boosts the output to form a fiery blade around his hand. It works well on metal—but on wood? Not so much. The moment he swings, he accidentally starts a forest fire.
Thankfully, he manages to extinguish it before a Land God notices. Still, it’s clear he needs a better strategy.
After calming down, Kai tells himself: If I can create fire from nothing, I can figure out how to cut a tree. That’s when a memory from high school chemistry suddenly resurfaces. In an instant, Kai recalls everything about molecular structures from his past life in Japan.
Apparently, Kai had paid more attention in science class than he realized.
Kai knows that to cut down the massive tree, he needs to find a way to break the molecular bonds within it. Placing his hand on the bark, he begins focusing his spiritual energy, attempting to manifest it in a way that could slice through the tree at a structural level.
But before he can make progress, he hears something moving nearby—from the direction of the valley. Curious and cautious, he decides to check it out.
As we look back, it’s revealed that Kai actually succeeded—the tree’s molecules have been cleanly split.
When Kai reaches the valley, he finds a group of children equipped with climbing gear, preparing to descend into the valley. Ready to defend the sacred place, Kai leaps down, mentally prepared to throw hands with some disrespectful kids.
But as he gets closer, he realizes these aren’t children—they’re just short.
Their leader steps forward and introduces himself as Poric, the chief of the Kora people. Kai has never heard of the Koras before, and finds it odd that Poric can speak the human language so fluently. Poric explains that they’ve had previous interactions with human merchants, and their goods are considered top-quality by humans.
That aside, Poric apologizes for coming without permission. He explains that they’ve arrived to fulfill an ancient pact made with the Great Valley God who resides here. From their legends, they believe the Valley God resembles a human—and as such, they think Kai is the Valley God.
Poric continues, explaining that the Koras have lived quietly in the forest for generations, worshiping the Land Gods. But a few days ago, they were attacked by orcs who wanted to steal their Land God. Being a peaceful people, the Koras stood no chance and were forced to flee their home.
Addressing Kai as an Arbitration God, Poric pleads for help in reclaiming their land.
Kai, still reeling from all this, asks what exactly an Arbitration God is.
Poric explains that in ancient lore, an Arbitration God is a divine being who has inherited the Power of Creation, tasked with protecting the creatures of the forest. Kai, understandably, finds it hard to believe that the legend refers to him.
Just then, another Kora speaks up, doubting Kai’s identity. He claims an Arbitration God is supposed to be a fierce warrior who punishes those who disrupt the land—and Kai doesn’t exactly look threatening.
But Poric is confident. He insists that he can see it—not literally, but spiritually. Years ago, he trespassed into the valley and was punished by the Valley God, who took both of his eyes. But in exchange, he gained the ability to see spiritual energy. When he looks at Kai, he sees the unmistakable energy of the Valley God flowing through him. So to Poric, there is no doubt: Kai has the god’s protection and must be the Arbitration God.
To strengthen his case, Poric mentions they’ve already made a sacrifice to the Valley God, which shocks Kai. He urgently asks what they sacrificed.
Poric calmly explains that earlier that day, he sacrificed his granddaughter Aru to the valley.
Kai panics and demands to see where she is. The Koras lead him to the rope Aru had used to descend into the valley—but it snapped long ago, and she likely fell.
Kai dives into the valley, where he finds Aru at the bottom—still alive but badly injured and bleeding. She doesn’t have long.
Desperate, Kai recalls how his own wounds healed when he first encountered this place. He focuses his energy and envisions Aru’s injuries mending. Somehow, he is able to visualize the structure of her tissue—despite never studying biology before.
But now he remembers something oddly specific from high school: “the mitochondria is the powerhouse of the cell.”
With this absurd but valuable knowledge, Kai manages to heal Aru’s wounds.
He’s stunned that it actually worked, but knows she still needs time to rest.
Suddenly, he hears a commotion at the top of the valley—the orcs have attacked.
The Koras, being virtually defenseless, stand little chance. Several have already been killed.
Just in time, Kai arrives and stabs one of the orcs through the chest, saving them. But the orc responsible for most of the deaths—their leader—steps forward. He flaunts his Divine Crest, trying to intimidate Kai. His cleaver still drips with the blood of the Koras he slaughtered.
But Kai isn’t backing down. He’s not alone in his fury—he begins hearing a voice in his head, filled with rage, demanding that he kill the orc and strike fear into its heart.
Kai realizes the voice belongs to the Valley God. As the god’s Guardian Bearer, Kai vows to carry out its will.
Before the battle begins, Poric steps forward and offers to help. He may not be as strong, but he too is a Guardian Bearer and will do what he can.
Kai is grateful for the support—it’ll make things easier. To show the orcs what they’re dealing with, Kai activates his own Divine Crest.
The orcs’ confidence crumbles as they realize they’re facing not one but two Guardian Bearers. Still, their leader forces them to attack.
The first two are instantly slain by Kai.
One orc tries to ambush Kai while he’s distracted, but Poric leaps in and cuts it down, protecting him.
Kai thanks him, though Poric admits he can only handle the weaker orcs. He tells Kai that the orc Guardian Bearer—their leader—is his fight.
Without hesitation, Kai picks up a cleaver and begins walking toward the final enemy.
The orc leader quickly realizes he’s in deep trouble, so it tries using talk no jutsu—the ancient art of talking your way out of getting wrecked.
This orc, unlike most, can speak the human language. He tells Kai there’s no need to fight and claims he only meant to attack the Koras, not offend Kai personally.
Normally, Kai wouldn’t be this furious—but the orcs didn’t just kill innocent Koras, they did it in his valley. And now, blue spiritual energy radiates from Kai‘s body like a divine warning.
The orc begins begging for mercy, but Kai has none to give.
In a desperate last move, the orc charges. But Kai calmly slices off its arm with an energy blade, then drives it straight through the orc’s chest—ripping out its God Stone.
Poric, watching the scene unfold, is now more convinced than ever that Kai is the very god who took his eyes long ago—an ancient being that has watched over the world since before even the Age of Gods… the Arbitrator.
This is Kai’s first time killing a Guardian Bearer. Poric explains that if one drinks the God Stone of a fallen Guardian Bearer, they inherit the fallen’s power. These are far more potent than ordinary God Stones, granting tremendous strength.
Kai splits the stone in two. But before drinking, he offers half to Poric in gratitude for fighting beside him. Poric is surprised and asks if he’s truly sure, to which Kai simply replies: “You earned it.”
Both men drink.
Poric immediately drops to his knees—the surge of power from a Guardian Bearer’s stone is overwhelming. Kai seems fine at first… but then collapses in agony.
The Koras rush to him, worried, but Kai assures them he just needs to rest. He returns to the valley and warns them not to disturb him or enter the valley without his permission.
While resting, Kai has a nightmare—a memory from childhood. His original village was burned down by apes, forcing him to flee and eventually find refuge in Lag.
The next morning, Kai wakes up and is shocked to find a blanket covering him. Even more shocking—Aru is sleeping next to him.
Startled, Kai demands to know what she’s doing.
Aru explains that she didn’t want him to catch a cold and was trying to keep him warm. Though Kai had saved her life, she reminds him that she was offered to the valley, and has vowed to serve him for the rest of her life.
Kai says he doesn’t need a servant and tells her to go home. But Aru insists she can’t. Poric warned her that if she fails her duty as an offering, great misfortune would fall upon the Koras. She refuses to leave.
As Kai tries convincing her otherwise, he realizes the sun is rising—and he needs to get back to Lag before anyone realizes he’s been gone.
He leaps up the valley cliffs with ease—but is stunned to find the Koras still waiting there. He thought they would have left.
Poric explains they have nowhere else to go. Their old village is gone, and they wish to stay near the valley, pledging themselves to the Valley God.
Kai sympathizes with them and agrees—but with one strict rule: no one is to enter the valley without his permission.
As he prepares to leave, Poric tells him there’s something important he must know…
A little while later, Kai returns to Lag, only to be scolded by Jose—he’s late for their morning training. She demands to know where he was, but Kai can’t exactly say “I was busy being a literal god,” so he just claims he overslept.
Later, Chief Moloch approaches some of Kai’s friends, asking where he is. Manso tells him that Kai is on storage house duty near the castle.
Eventually, Bezen (Jose’s father and Lag’s chief warrior) finds Kai and challenges him to a duel. After hearing about how Kai protected Jose, he wants to see Kai’s strength for himself.
Thankfully, it’s just a friendly match. Bezen assures Kai he won’t be killed.
Kai is relieved… but he remembers what Poric told him: don’t reveal your powers yet. As a new Guardian Bearer, Kai would be an easy target if word got out.
So, during the duel, he must hide his Divine Crest at all costs.
As the match starts, Bezen makes the first move. Kai dodges his attacks, but he’s getting heated—and his Divine Crest begins to glow.
Panicking, Kai calms himself and suppresses it. He still has to fight, so he charges in and strikes with a spear—but Bezen is so tanky that the spear shatters on impact!
Now weaponless, Kai is forced to fight barehanded. To his credit, he doesn’t give up—but, like the first guy in the gorilla fight, Kai gets launched.
He’s winded, but conscious. The duel is over.
Bezen, satisfied with the match, offers his hand to help Kai up and says that from tomorrow onward, he will personally train him.
Kai doesn’t want to—but turning down the chief isn’t an option.
Meanwhile, Jose is amazed that Kai managed to hold his own so well against her father.
Olva, however, remains unimpressed. As far as he’s concerned, Kai is still just a regular commoner.
However, Jose is already busy thinking about her next training session with Kai. After Bezen leaves, Manso and the rest of Kai’s friends come over to check on him. Once they know he’s alright, they burst out laughing—because now Kai is stuck training with both Jose and Bezen.
With the chief and the princess constantly demanding his time, Kai hasn’t been able to leave the village in a while. But finally, he gets the chance to sneak out again.
Excited, Kai returns to the valley, but his mood quickly sours when he spots a fire coming from a house nearby. Furious, he assumes the Koras disobeyed his orders and moved into the valley. But when he goes to investigate, he realizes it’s just Aru.
Technically, Kai forbade the Koras from entering the valley—but Aru never left, so she isn’t breaking any rules. In fact, she’s been preparing for Kai’s return and even brings him a home-cooked meal.
Kai was just about to tell her to leave—but the moment he sees the food, he completely forgets his anger. When Aru asks if he likes it, Kai tells her it’s delicious. Beyond the taste, it’s also the largest meal he’s ever had. Back in Lag, he usually only gets tiny portions, so for a moment, he wishes he could stay in the valley forever.
Surprisingly, the next day at the village cafeteria, Kai receives a decently sized meal. The lunch lady says it’s because he’s been working hard lately. Kai thanks her, but his friends get jealous and ask why he’s getting special treatment. She simply reminds them that they’ve been slacking off—if they want more food, they need to work harder.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the cafeteria, Elsa is distracted watching Kai, and she accidentally dumps a huge portion of food on a random villager’s plate. Now she has to convince him to give it back.
Over the next few days, Kai falls into a comfortable routine—sneaking out of Lag at night to check on the valley. He even helps Aru build a house. Of course, there’s no way he can finish it in one day, so the first step is to cut down a tree using his energy blade.
Each morning, Kai returns to Lag and trains with Jose, then sneaks back to the valley at night to keep building. He’s getting used to living this double life, and honestly—he enjoys it.
One day, Kai and his friends are assigned to move a massive boulder to clear space for farming. Even with all of them working together, they can’t budge it.
So, Bezen steps in. With everyone watching, he lifts the boulder with sheer strength. Even for someone as powerful as Bezen, it’s an incredible feat—but after a few seconds, he lifts it over his head. Now, the land can be tilled, and Lag Village will prosper even more.
Seeing this motivates Kai—he wants to become a great Guardian Bearer like Bezen. So that night, while in the valley, Kai practices his powers. He tries to make a flower bloom, but no matter how much energy he pours into it, the flower refuses to respond. Even though he’s grown stronger physically, he realizes he still has a long way to go to master his spiritual powers.
The next morning, Kai heads out early—and unexpectedly runs into Elsa in the flower fields.
He asks why she’s up so early, and she says she just wants to admire the flowers while they’re blooming.
Kai admits he’s never really noticed how beautiful they are before. Elsa says the flowers remind her of the ones from the village she and Kai grew up in.
Kai is confused—until Elsa reminds him that they both came from the same village, the one destroyed years ago.
She’s upset he doesn’t remember, since they escaped together when their home burned down. But to be fair, Kai was very young, and most of those memories are fuzzy.
Even if Kai wasn’t paying attention to Elsa back then, she had always been watching him. She tells him she’s amazed that he managed to earn Bezen’s respect.
But Kai humbly responds that he still has a long way to go—he’s nowhere near Bezen’s level yet. He needs to keep training if he wants to survive.
That sparks another memory in Elsa’s mind. She tells Kai that on the day their village was attacked, while everyone was evacuating, an ape suddenly ambushed them.
None of the villagers knew how to fight, so they were doomed—until Kai, just a kid, fearlessly ran at the ape and grabbed its leg.
Of course, he was far too weak to do any damage, but his bravery bought enough time for Bezen to arrive and save them.
Kai remembers being relieved… but also frustrated that he couldn’t do more. That’s the day he swore to become stronger—though he had forgotten that oath until now.
Elsa assures him that it meant a lot. Even if he doesn’t remember it clearly, Kai saved everyone that day. In her eyes, he’ll always be a hero.
Meanwhile, deep in the forest, a brutal battle is underway between the apes and the orcs.
The orc general is absolutely dominating. Even the ape Guardian Bearers stand no chance and are instantly beheaded.
With the apes defeated, the orcs claim this territory as theirs.
And now… their next target is Kai’s valley.
Right now, Kai is blissfully unaware that danger is rapidly approaching.
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