Helios wakes from a dream where the ancient Forest of Razar—the oldest and most sacred place in the kingdom—crowned him as its protector and showed him a future of legendary power.

Then he opens his eyes to nothing. No system. No powers. Just a weak, ordinary boy in a world that doesn't need saving.

But the dream felt more real than life itself. So Helios decides to chase it anyway.

For five years, he tries to become the guardian he saw in his vision. He trains his frail body, throws himself into protecting people,  attempts to defend the helpless. And he fails. Catastrophically. The merchants he guards get robbed. Villages burn. Forest creatures flee or attack him. He becomes the kingdom's joke—the delusional boy who thinks he's chosen when fate clearly disagrees.

But Helios won't stop, not because he has proof—it is because he has faith.

Then comes his worst failure yet. In a moment of selfless sacrifice that nearly kills him, he finally hears it—a whisper. A single leaf glows. Words flicker before vanishing: *"Prove yourself worthy. Dreams are not given—they are built."*

The system exists. It was always watching. But it demands something no other power requires: that its chosen earn their strength through character forged in failure.

Now Helios faces impossible quests designed for someone far stronger. Protect without combat skills. Heal without magic. Earn trust from those who want nothing to do with him. He fails most of them. But unknown to him, every attempt plants seeds for something greater.

Meanwhile, the kingdom faces real threats: ancient evils stirring in the deep forest, political schemes that threaten the sacred pact between civilization and nature, and other system users who have gained their power instantly—and look down on him with contempt.

They don't understand what he's becoming. They received power as a gift. However, he is different. He’s forging his way through blood and unshakeable faith.

When the Forest Protector System finally awakens fully, it reveals the truth: the dream never showed his future. It showed what he could become if he earned it.

Every failure was a lesson. Every humiliation is a test. Every moment he chose belief over evidence was building something greater than any instant power could achieve.

The Forest didn't choose Helios because he was strong.

It chose him because he refused to break.

Now, as the kingdom's greatest threats emerge, Helios must claim the destiny he spent years earning. Not as a boy with a dream, but as the Protector he was always meant to become—forged in darkness and suffering, believing in light.

The question was never whether the dream was real.

The question was whether he could make it real.

We ran over and saw him spring unhurt from the ground. He, rushing up


the steps, crossed the flagged yard, and pushed open the stable door.


"You think to baffle me, you--with your pale faces all in a row, like


sheep in a butcher's. You shall be sorry yet, each one of you! You think


you have left me without a place to rest; but I have more. My revenge is


just begun! I spread it over centuries, and time is on my side. Your


girls that you all love are mine already; and through them you and


others shall yet be mine--my creatures, to do my bidding and to be my


jackals when I want to feed. Bah!" With a contemptuous sneer, he passed


quickly through the door, and we heard the rusty bolt creak as he


fastened it behind him. A door beyond opened and shut. The first of us


to speak was the Professor, as, realising the difficulty of following


him through the stable, we moved toward the hall.


Chapter 71 - Flags