Chapter 3
Chapter 3
Zeke's words made Jacken's eyes sharper.
"Are you insulting me right now?"
Zeke nodded at his words.
"Yeah, that's right. I'm insulting you."
Jacken trembled and clenched his fists.
Zeke said,
"What are you going to do? Do it if you want. Otherwise, I'm leaving."
Jacken struggled to contain his anger and looked at Instructor Fan.
"Would this be alright, Instructor?"
After contemplating, Fan nodded.
"If Zeke is fine with it, I don't see why not."
With permission granted, Jacken and Liam stepped onto the training ground.
Zeke stood across from Jacken and Liam with a relaxed expression.
He looked at Liam standing next to Jacken.
'How interesting to see that guy here again.'
‘’Liam Stone.
In the future, he was one of the famous figures of the Central Continent.
'Mercenary King Liam.'
Unlike Conrad and Valdek who were blood-related to the Draker family, Liam was a very distant relative from a branch family.
The reason he was at the Cradle was because he was chosen to be Jacken Valdek's attendant.
The Liam that Zeke remembered would receive Aura's blessing here and enter the Academy, but wouldn't make it into Valhalla, the higher educational institution.
He was abandoned midway due to his poor background.
Wandering as a free knight, Liam was able to join the knights of Baranaon , a small country in the western region.
He could have ended his life peacefully as an ordinary knight, but when Baranaon was destroyed by the Empire, Liam's knight order disappeared.
With nowhere to go, he became a mercenary wandering the continent, and through a chance opportunity, gained enlightenment and became a Red Knight.
People gather around the strong.
Moreover, there were overflowing numbers of mercenaries during such chaotic times.
Thus, the massive Stone Mercenary Group was formed around Liam the Red Knight, and after integrating the continent's three major mercenary groups years later, he earned the title of Mercenary King in the Central Continent.
Zeke found it somewhat ‘strange’ that this quiet boy standing beside Jacken would become the future Mercenary King.
‘'Though we were enemies in my past life, this life could be different.'’
At that moment, Fan blew the whistle.
"Match start!"
Jacken took his stance and approached Zeke.
However, Liam remained still behind him.
Zeke frowned and said to Jacken,
"I'm pretty sure I said both of you should attack together."
Jacken sneered.
"Earlier, I was just playing along with your childish game."
Jacken advanced quickly and launched a powerful high kick at Zeke.
Thwack!
The impact sound was so powerful it was hard to believe it came from a twelve-year-old's kick.
Everyone thought Zeke would fall from Jacken's single kick.
"Ugh..."
But contrary to expectations, it was Jacken who groaned and stepped back.
His ankle was severely swollen when he kicked.
Zeke lowered his left elbow and said,
"Why did you go and hit my elbow?"
Jacken tried to maintain his balance, but his ankle seemed completely broken, making it difficult to stand.
‘'Damn, at this rate, I should go for mounting...'’
Just as Jacken was about to charge, Zeke moved forward first.
WHOOSH!
Zeke delivered a low kick toward Jacken's injured foot.
CRACK!
“Kuk!”
Jacken's face contorted in pain as he lost his balance after being hit on his injured foot.
That's when it happened.
WHOOSH!
Zeke spun sideways, rotating his entire body, and drove his fist into Jacken's side.
BANG!
[Skill Fatal Strike has been activated.]
The Fatal Strike, enhanced with rotational force, shattered all of Jacken's ribs.
Kheuk...
Jacken fell to his knees, gasping for breath.
Zeke, breathing heavily, shouted at Liam who was still standing behind.
"Are you just going to stand there?"
Liam briefly glanced at the panting Jacken.
Jacken, his face turned pale blue, shouted.
“Kuhek... Liam! Kill that bastard!"
At Jacken's shout, Liam stepped forward.
When Liam stepped up, Zeke properly took a guard stance for the first time.
‘'But... is this guy really twelve years old?'’
With limbs significantly longer than his peers and a reserved demeanor, he looked five years older.
Zeke was concerned about Liam's long arms.
‘'Even when fighting in my past life, those long arms and reach were troublesome.'’
If he let Liam take the initiative, the flow of the fight could completely shift.
Shik!
Zeke quickly moved forward and threw a jab.
Pak!
He circled around Liam's body, striking his guard with jabs.
Pak! Pak! Pak! Pak!
Sharp, needle-like jabs penetrated Liam's guard.
Zeke's movement, stepping back and forth quickly while throwing jabs, wasn't typical of Pankration techniques.
"What is that?"
Other trainees murmured at the unfamiliar technique.
Even Instructor Fan was surprised by Zeke's technique.
‘'That's boxing used by the Northern Rangers?'’
It was rare to see Northern Continent fighting techniques in the Central Continent, where swordsmanship was central.
Puk! Puk! Puk! Puk!
While spectators murmured, Liam remained crouched, silently blocking Zeke's jabs.
Then Zeke's step faltered slightly, causing his jab to miss.
Liam's eyes flashed.
Whirlick!
In that instant, Liam extended his long arm and caught Zeke's jab like fishing.
"Heeyah!"
In an instant, Liam wrapped his arms around Zeke's arm and tried to lift him up for a throw.
This was possible due to the large weight difference between Zeke and Liam.
As Zeke was about to be flipped backwards with Liam's arms wrapped around him, he quickly twisted his body in mid-air.
Then, using his small frame, he instead wrapped both legs around Liam's arm and broke the joint.
Crack!
Before Liam could do anything, his shoulder dislocated and his elbow twisted.
"Arghhhh!"
With his joint broken, Liam collapsed onto the training ground floor.
Zeke didn't stop at breaking Liam's arm.
He unwrapped his legs from the arm and choked Liam's neck.
"Urghhhh!"
Zeke's legs squeezed Liam's carotid artery.
Liam refused to tap out until the end.
In the Draker family, tapping out was a greater dishonor than death or injury.
In the end, Liam passed out.
"Phew..."
Zeke released his hold on the unconscious Liam's neck and stood up.
All eyes were on Zeke, who had toyed with and defeated both Jacken and Liam.
And while receiving those gazes, Zeke pointed to one side among the over hundred trainees.
"Owen Jiemens."
A brown-haired boy who looked mature gazed calmly at Zeke.
Zeke turned his gaze and pointed to another direction.
"Reina Tourn."
A girl with closely cropped hair and sharp eyes was glaring at Zeke.
Zeke turned his gaze and pointed at the fallen Jacken.
"Jacken Valdek, Leon Conrad... well, he's not here so skip him."
Zeke spoke to the trainees.
"Tell your families well. That Zeke Draker is a bit different from before."
Leaving those words, Zeke stepped down from the training ground.
Owen and Reina silently watched Zeke walk away, and seeing them, Zeke clicked his tongue.
'Are those the eyes of twelve-year-olds.'
After leaving the training ground, Zeke leisurely departed while receiving the gazes of other trainees.
The judge who had been blankly staring at Zeke's back finally came to his senses and made his ruling.
"Zeke! Victory!"
The fallen Jacken and Liam were moved to the recovery room, and the year-end evaluation continued.
* * *
"Whew..."
Returning to his room, Zeke threw off his clothes and flopped onto the bed.
His whole body ached from forcing himself to move.
"Those kids. Their heads will hurt from all the thinking they'll do."
In his previous life, he couldn't awaken his aura and was treated like trash at the cradle and academy before being abandoned by his family.
Zeke, who clearly remembered the misery of that time, clenched his molars.
'By now, my cousin must be busy reporting.'
There were four cousins who entered as peers with Zeke.
Among them, some like Leon directly pressured Zeke, but most just watched him from afar.
However, with Zeke's changed appearance today, even the observing cousins would find it difficult to remain still.
It was obvious that orders would come down from their respective families.
'I can't just stay still and take it. I'll make the first move and steal their attention.'
Rather than perfectly clear water, slightly muddy water is easier to hide in.
That was why he deliberately showed his strength in today's year-end evaluation.
Since combat skills were just a small part of his abilities, revealing this much wasn't a problem.
Zeke got up from the bed and stood.
"While those guys are racking their brains in other directions, I just need to steadily build up my strength."
He had no intention of quietly taking it like in his previous life.
This time, he planned to devour the entire Draker family to the bone.
Zeke quietly opened his mouth.
"Status window open."
[Junior Administrator Status Window]
Name: Zeke Draker
Class: Healer (Rare Grade)
Title: One Blessed by the ancient Dragon
Possessed Skills: Healing / Peaceful Mind / Physical Recovery / Sense Focus
Active Skills: Vital Strike[E Grade (Beginner)] / Slash[E Grade (Proficient)] / Fatal Strike[D Grade (Beginner)]
Dragon Race Skills: (Viewing Restricted―Requires 10 Karma Points to unlock)
Current Karma Points: 0
'The Slash skill has changed from beginner to proficient.'
Though he didn't understand the exact principle, it seemed skills would change grade the more they were used.
Looking at his status window, Zeke tilted his head at the karma.
‘'Hmm... what exactly are these karma points?’'
Karma points were needed to unlock the restricted Dragon Race skills. But karma was something he'd never heard of before.
Zeke tried clicking on karma points just in case.
―Karma Points―
Karma points can be obtained by killing magical beasts that possess mana.
"So I need to kill ‘magical beasts’ to get points?"
When Zeke was expelled from his family, his first job was as a dungeon porter.
He wandered through dungeons where dangerous magical beasts would spring out, following low-ranked adventurers.
Zeke read the explanation again.
'Magical beasts with mana.'
Since magical beasts in dungeons live in groups, one would need to be at least Purple Knight rank who could handle aura to hunt them alone.
Zeke closed his status window and fell into thought.
‘'To get karma points, I'd need at least Purple Knight rank skills.'’
Currently, Zeke's condition was just at middle Diantan opened state, so he could be classified as Yellow Swordsman rank, above White Swordsman.
Once you awaken your aura and open the lower Diantan enough to infuse aura into your sword, you can be promoted to Purple Knight.
From this stage, one uses the title of Knight instead of Swordsman.
When you train your aura to create an aura blade from your sword, you finally rise to Blue rank and are recognized as a true knight, earning an epithet.
Among these Blue Knights, those who break through the wall and advance to the next stage are Red Knights.
In large kingdoms and empires, knight orders are led by Red Knight rank commanders.
Because of this, national combat power is often measured by the number of Red and Blue Knights.
However, there are beings that overturn this common sense.
Superhumans who have transcended human limits, of which there are only a few even on the continent.
‘’They are the ‘Black Knights’, called one-man armies’’.
Even across the entire continent, the number of Black Knights was so few you could count them one by one.
Yet amazingly, the Draker family possessed five such ‘Black Knights’.
With just one Black Knight capable of sweeping away an entire small kingdom, no one could go against the Draker family since they had five.
Even the ‘Empire's emperor’ couldn't.
'It's not for nothing they're called one of the 3 transcendent families.'
The Dragon Slayer family, Draker.
The Secret Arts family, Ishtar.
The Magic User family, Nirvana.
Not belonging to any nation, their families' independence is recognized and no law can bind them.
However, in the future Zeke saw, this trinity structure undergoes a major change.
‘'It was about 10 years from now, probably.'’
He needed to build up his strength and prepare before the time of change.
‘'I don't know why I regressed to the past, or what this system is...'’
Zeke's eyes flashed.
'But if I can become stronger, I'll use anything.'
Just then.
Knock knock.
Zeke called out toward the door.
"Come in."
The door opened and Decker, ‘a servant more knight-like than knights’, entered.