"I want to ask you first. Do you know anything about your power?"
"What power?" Kai tilted his head in confusion. He wanted to think it was his ears, but the lion seemed to mention a different thing.
"The power that you use to fight back, including killing my descendants."
"Do you mean Magic?" Kai furrowed his eyebrows and looked down for a minute.
"What?! You still haven't deciphered it?" The lion looked down on the humans once again. "You humans suck."
"Then, you know about it?" Kai narrowed his eyes.
"Of course. Do you think why can you even use something like that?" He smiled. "No, using your terms, I should ask it this way. What form do you think magic is?"
"Form?" Kai was baffled when the lion gave him this question. Now that he thought about it, he actually never understood anything about magic. The public described it as something beyond science. Even though they had been deciphering them with the science, they still hadn't had a major breakthrough to its identity.
They only managed to create a certain wavelength to use magic. It was a kind of evolution that couldn't be explained in wavelength. Still, if he needed to choose whether magic was solid, liquid, or gas, the answer was certain. "It's gas."
"Nope." The lion shook his head before smiling. "It's solid."
"Solid?" Kai widened his eyes. It was easy to see how shocked he was. "Solid? But I am sure the scientists have gone through a series of research about this, no? If it's a solid form, they should have seen it inside a microscope!"
His knowledge in this area was a bit lacking, so he had no way to understand it. And the lion seemed to want to continue, so he fell silent, waiting for an explanation.
"This is why you, the key, should learn one or two of our languages. You can ask them what the form of magic is, and they will answer with solid. Unlike you, we have seen it with our own eyes." The lion smiled. "Unless you have a special occurrence, it's almost impossible to see it in a solid form. However, the magic you can feel is absolutely solid. I guarantee it with my name."
"Solid…Solid…" Kai pinched the bridge of his nose. "Teacher should understand this better than I do, but she can't enter here."
"Anyway, I have almost side-tracked to this. Now that you know the form of magic, it will be easier to explain the catastrophe. Well, unlike you humans, the most primitive beings on this planet, who can only think about their greed…We actually desire to live in peace, staying inside our territory without any troubles.
"However, you human claims that you want to rule the whole world and use us as nothing but livestock or enjoyment. Knowing that the humans have gone out of control, someone decided to sacrifice his/her life to bring the calamity. If you happened to be there, you would see the concentrated form of magic at the size of your head. And that would explode into pieces…I don't know how much, but it can fuel the world with "magic" for hundreds of years."
"What?! The size of my head and can disperse to the whole world and supply the world with magic for hundreds of years?" Kai's body shook as a thought came into his mind. "If that is the case, magic must be very small particles, far smaller than atoms or molecules. Wait…Now that you mention it… Don't tell me."
"Hmm? You seem to have realized something. Why don't we hear it? I am curious as to how your brain works. Entertain me well, human, I might give you more information as your reward."
Kai thought for a moment and shook his head. "Overpraised. I only thought about the "evolution" theory. Normally, we will evolve because we have been influenced by something physical. If we never walk for hundreds of years if not thousands, we will "lose" our legs. That's why giraffes have long necks and we, humans, derived from monkeys?
"Anyway, this magic particle should be influencing us and finally make us evolve with this concept. Due to how forced it was back then, the evolution only came on the newborn baby. The particles stuck in their body and allowed them to use magic.
"But truthfully, this magic is something that comes and goes in our body. The reason we have different amounts of magic power is due to how strong our bodies can attract the particles. That's also why I have this hearing…
"Not only that, if I use this information to look at the world from a different perspective, I can see that this "magic" is something that is temporary. In other words, it's like oil and gas, they can be exhausted!" Kai gasped at what he had found.
It even piqued the interest of the lion, and he praised him. "You are more interesting than I expected. Since I have promised to give you something, I will add this information. The protectors you know, might not be a protector."
"Huh?" Kai was baffled by the statement. He had seen many protectors, especially those coming from the sea, so he couldn't comprehend what he said. 'The protectors might not be a protector?'
"Do you think anyone can become a protector?" The lion narrowed its eyes. "What do you think is the requirement to become a protector?"
Kai thought for a moment. "Magic power?"
"That's one. What else?"
"Language?"
"That's two. Next."
"My ears?"
"Nope." He shook his head. "It's the ability to converse with another race. Only one can become a protector for a whole race. And one of them is standing in front of me."
"Me?" Kai pointed at himself with a dumbfounded look. Of course, how could he not be shocked? He hated the protector to the bone, so he never expected him to be the one. "But…I am just a key, no?"
"Yes and no. I used the term "key" just to make sure you know how important you are to your race. If it's identity…You are a protector of the human race. There are a few requirements that one can be said to be a protector.
"First, they need magic power far higher than anyone else. That will open your identity as the key since you can start learning the language of other races with those ears. After all, you can normally hear what you usually can't.
"Second, it's language. You need to learn at least ten languages before becoming a bonafide protector. This can be useful for negotiation and any other things. Just like how you humans use words to be the basic conversations.
"Third is to stand at the top of the race. No one is born strong. Even I, who was once a protector, was born as a weak child. I climbed my way to the top and became the protector that could decide the fate of the entire race. Speak can convince the masses, but power can force them. It might not work for everyone, but the majority will follow you.
"That's the three requirements. Of course, there is an in-depth explanation, but I will give you the basic information about it. The first requirement is a must. If you don't have that magic power and ears, no matter how strong you are, you won't become a protector.
"As for the language, you should know that when you enter someone's territory, you act like you are a native person there. It's the highest respect you can show to other races. In fact, we, not human beings, have been able to understand your race's language. Even though it's only for a protector like me, it still shows how you are still a primitive race.
"Last but not least, power. This is the most important thing. However, you are such a waste in this area…No, you humans really suck. Instead of exploring the true power, you focus on exploring how to exploit this power. If I don't call you idiots, what should I call you?" The lion snorted.
Kai simply lost his words. With just these three simple requirements, he suddenly had a deep insight into the whole thing. "Since you said there is only one person that will become a protector, it means there will only be one person that has this pair of ears…But since you said that the civilizations in the past actually had one, you must mean in terms of generations. Every generation should have one protector.
"Language is the same. When we are aware of other languages, we can actually decipher them. Like how a baby learns their language from their parents, we should understand what they are doing. In that case, the magical beasts who have been staying together in the wilds must have learned each other's languages easily. Although we can't completely speak in their language, it's enough to understand what they say.
"As for the last one…You said we are busy searching about how to exploit magic instead of learning the true power. Are you talking about how the magical beasts can become stronger? That is why I can see the so-called "protectors" that I have met this whole time are stronger than me. It's not that they are naturally stronger, but they actually practice to get stronger."
"This is why I prefer to talk with a protector instead of normal ones. They are too dumb to understand my words unlike you." He shrugged. "To answer your question, I will use this example. If you are a kid, your strength is low. As you grow older, you will get more power. However, if you train your body, you will become stronger than the one who is not."
Kai facepalmed, finally understanding the real problem. "How can I get stronger?"
"Don't ask me. Ask your ancestor since we have a different method." The lion snorted.