Chapter 43: The Late Awakening of the Dragon’s Heir

A guardian staying stuck at the base is a huge misunderstanding.

A guardian who only lingers at the base is often called a “troll” and is synonymous with failure.

The guardian’s role is to regulate the game.

If the urban core player directs the game, the guardian ensures smooth operation—maintaining, repairing, and keeping busy.

This is how the game flows properly.

Of course, not every guardian character is suited for such active play.

“They always pick this kind of character…”

But calling Ormarl “that kind of pick” is a clear misunderstanding.

Guardians face relatively low farming risks since they can gather resources within the base’s defense system.

However, this also means their farming returns are low.

If low risk meant high rewards, it would disrupt the game’s balance.

Because of this, most guardians have low growth potential and are designed to be efficient with minimal resources.

But if all guardians were like this, wouldn’t that harm variety?

That’s why some guardians have outrageously high growth potential.

No point in hiding it—our dear Cheon Hyeeun is one of those characters.

“You must not doubt me.”

I chose Cheon Hyeeun partly for her gothic lolita skin, her age, and her speech patterns.

But this time, my choice wasn’t purely aesthetic.

The team’s composition leaned heavily toward early-game dominance, so I picked Cheon Hyeeun for balance.

If the team had been late-game-oriented, I would have gone with the bear guardian and role-played as Han Yurim, summoning the glorious first beta tester from Repeaters Need Love Too as my familiar.

Given that I’m replaying to recover from the mental trauma of the bad ending and aiming for Han Yurim‘s true ending, the bear guardian concept would have been a hit.

“Thank you, streaming GOAT. I’ll send a big donation next time.”

I placed the base in a location far from the urban core and close to the outskirts.

This inconvenient positioning for both the core and the main carry was the classic Cheon Hyeeun strategy.

The idea was to place the base as far from the enemy formation as possible.

Boom. The game started, and everyone spawned at the base.

While the team dispersed, I ascended to the top floor of a building and began inscribing a magic circle.

Shortly after, the interior of the building transformed into something resembling a dragon’s nest.

This was Cheon Hyeeun‘s passive skill, [Heir of the Dragon].

Every guardian has a passive ability that transforms their base into something reflecting their essence.

One skill slot is always reserved for such a non-combat skill, which is why guardians generally have weaker combat abilities than other characters.

Weak in combat, lacking excitement, incredibly busy, and often criticized as a “clicker”—no wonder this position is unpopular.

“But it is true you’re a clicker, so why act innocent?”

Click.

Energy gathered within the magic circle.

A minute later, I swallowed the concentrated Heavenly Qi.

Cheon Hyeeun‘s unique resource, Heavenly Qi, could be used in three ways: base enhancement, character enhancement, or farming enhancement.

I chose the third option.

A new farming magic circle appeared.

After a short interval, a hum sounded, and two more Heavenly Qi orbs floated up.

I consumed them both and inscribed another magic circle.

I repeated this process.

I inscribed the maximum of five magic circles.

By then, three minutes had passed since the game started.

Even after creating all five circles, I still had three Heavenly Qi remaining. With that, I…

…enhanced the magic circles.

Using two Heavenly Qi, I upgraded the lowest-tier magic circle into a low-tier one.

The low-tier circle produced two Heavenly Qi—twice the efficiency.

Meanwhile, my teammates were frantically pinging and screaming in chat, but I ignored them and kept upgrading the circles.

By the seven-minute mark, all five circles had been upgraded to mid-tier.

I had five Heavenly Qi left, and in one more minute, I would gain 15 more, totaling 20 Heavenly Qi at the third-tier objective timing.

With these 20 Heavenly Qi, I could raise a level 1 character to level 5.

Level 5. A very awkward level.

At the eight-minute mark, other positions would typically hit level 6, unlock their ultimates, and have decent items.

For a guardian, items only became available by strengthening the base.

Since I had poured all my resources into farming magic circles, I had no items and no ultimate.

This is why most Cheon Hyeeun users avoid joining objectives and focus on further upgrading their magic circles.

“Leave it to the team—if they do well, great; if not, it’s a loss.”

However, in my opinion, this approach increased the chances of defeat.

While Cheon Hyeeun is an overpowered character in the late game, she is underwhelming until that point.

Even if I held back and farmed quietly, it would take too long for her to reach her growth potential.

As a result, her team inevitably had to endure until late game.

But as we all know, enduring takes strength too.

Given that Cheon Hyeeun had already caused minor losses by staying holed up at the base, letting the enemy claim the third-tier objective for free was unacceptable.

If we handed them the objective, they would pound us into submission while we lay defenseless, and the game would end right there.

If I wanted to avoid that fate, we had to challenge them at least once.

So, I used all my Heavenly Qi to hit level 5 and joined the third-tier objective fight at the [Rift Creation Zone].

It became a 5v5 standoff, excluding our lone outskirt player. Our urban core made the first move, initiating at just the right moment.

An intense skirmish broke out.

I used Cheon Hyeeun’s first basic skill, [Dragon’s Fang Soldiers], to contribute as much as I could to the team fight.

There’s a lot of talk about Thierry being a poorly designed champion, but in my opinion, the real underperformer is this one.

How can such a core skill have such terrible performance?

Cheon Hyeeun’s core skill, [Dragon’s Fang Soldiers], is a summoning ability that conjures soldiers crafted from dragon bones.

However, these skeletal soldiers had no unique skills and mediocre stats.

With such underwhelming performance, summoning multiple units would have balanced things out, but [Dragon’s Fang Soldiers] only summoned one.

Cheon Hyeeun’s second and third skills were designed to synergize with this summon.

If I could control her directly, I might at least manipulate positioning, but since I had to rely on a summoned unit, there were limits to my control.

It was unbelievably frustrating.

Still, patience pays off in the end.

“Just you wait.”

I coordinated with our team’s urban core and managed to eliminate the enemy’s main carry—a victory achieved with painstakingly slow and clumsy ranged attacks.

The teamfight ended in our favor.

The kill exchange stood at 5:3.

The only regret was losing the third-tier objective.

Some teammates criticized our scout, but stealing objectives is always a 50/50 gamble.

If the team couldn’t push the enemies back, then no one had room to complain.

I returned to the base.

This much contribution was enough to fulfill my role.

““Everyone, endure just a little longer for this noble one!”

Upon reaching the base, I used the Heavenly Qi earned from kills to reach level 6.

Then, I touched one of the magic circles.

Cheon Hyeeun’s ultimate ability, [Dragon’s Legacy], activated.

Its effect? Base enhancement.

The game’s strongest skill was… enhancing the base? It felt like a blatant declaration: this is a late-game character.

So I used my ultimate at every cooldown, pouring all generated Heavenly Qi into upgrading the magic circles.

By the 12th minute of the game, every magic circle had been upgraded to the highest tier.

Now, I could generate 25 Heavenly Qi every minute.

From this moment, Cheon Hyeeun’s power graph began its ascent.

– Well, not an explosive rise just yet.

The power growth came from obtaining items through base enhancements, so the immediate curve was still quite gradual.

Cheon Hyeeun is the kind of character whose power graph skyrockets to Mars in a single moment. For now, patience was key.

I spent every bit of Heavenly Qi on further enhancing the base.

“Guys, just hold out for 10 more minutes.”

The team’s precarious situation had reached a boiling point.

“If you’re desperate, I can step in just once—but call wisely,” Cheon Hyeeun warned.

The man silently cursed under his breath.

Outside of the third-tier objective fight and a major skirmish near the urban core, Cheon Hyeeun was practically invisible.

…Though, to her credit, every fight she participated in ended in victory thanks to her impeccable control.

Unfortunately, every fight without her ended in defeat.

Whether that was Cheon Hyeeun’s fault was debatable.

The man had lost during a fair 2v2 between carry duos.

Still, the added stress from the enemy guardian roaming and harassing them played a role.

And he wasn’t the only one losing ground.

The urban core, the solo laner in the outskirts, and even the scout had all been outclassed.

With the team’s main carry—himself—being overwhelmed, it was safe to say there wasn’t a single winning position left.

Sure, their guardian, Cheon Hyeeun, remained untouched and steadily grew stronger, but she was the kind of character who’d still beg for more time while the game was nearly over.

Her growth path wasn’t even close to completion by the time the next objective would appear.

Adding to the frustration, this Cheon Hyeeun had chosen a build centered on her own growth.

While her contributions in team fights were notable, focusing on personal development meant her peak power would come much later.

Around 35 minutes, to be exact—by which time the man would already be in the next match’s urban core skirmish.

Sighing deeply, he trudged toward the second-tier objective, [Floating Skyscraper], with a sense of impending doom.

The 6v5 standoff felt grim without their guardian present. He spammed pings, urging Cheon Hyeeun to hurry.

Her response? A calm request to buy her just a bit more time.

What on earth could she accomplish at the 20-minute mark? Frustrated but resigned, the man tried to disrupt the enemy team, who was on the verge of claiming the objective.

Outnumbered and underpowered, their formation collapsed in seconds.

One by one, his teammates fell.

Five left. Four. Three. Two.

Then, as if timed for maximum drama, a clear, melodic voice rang out behind him.

““This noble one has arrived far too late.”

He spun around, about to shout, “Get back to the base!” but froze mid-sentence.

Cheon Hyeeun’s figure had changed—her height, and particularly her chest, had grown noticeably.

“Holy—Cheon Hyeeun noona version is here!” he blurted out.

Cheon Hyeeun unleashed her skill.

First skill: [Dragon’s Fang Soldiers].

No.

[True Dragon].

With a rumbling noise, an enormous dragon constructed entirely of bones rose from the ground.

Climbing atop the skeletal beast, Cheon Hyeeun declared with a regal air:

“Now, behold why this noble one is called the Descendant of Dragons!”