Episode 1
My name is Zeke Draker.
I am a direct descendant of the Draker family.
This illustrious family of dragon slayers is renowned as the greatest knightly house on the continent, a lineage even the emperor of the empire dared not challenge.
In other words, anyone in this family who fails to become a knight is treated like dirt.
That was me.
The first in the direct line of the Draker family to fail the awakening.
I alone failed the aura awakening, a rite of passage deemed inevitable for any Draker.
Why? Because I was a healer class, utterly unrelated to dragon slaying.
A healer in the direct line of a dragon slayer family. It sounds like a bad joke, but it was an undeniable fact.
Having failed the aura awakening despite being a direct descendant, I was treated like garbage by the family.
As a result, I was expelled from the family academy at the age of fifteen, a place all Draker descendants were required to complete.
After that, I wandered the continent, doing whatever it took to survive and grow stronger.
A wise man once said that if you pursue only power, you’ll end up with nothing.
That’s utter nonsense.
Having power is a million times better than having none.
In this world, those without power are trampled by those who have it, losing everything they hold dear.
So I struggled to surpass my limits and grow stronger.
If it weren’t for those damned imperial hounds, I might have become the strongest on the continent.
I got my hands on an ancient artifact the emperor was desperately searching for.
I didn’t know exactly what it was, but since the emperor, obsessed with conquering the continent, was after it, it couldn’t have been ordinary.
I found the artifact after enduring hellish conditions in the bone-chilling cold of the Ice Mountains.
But as soon as I emerged from the dungeon, the imperial hounds were on me, spreading their net wide.
After a week of running, they finally caught me right in front of the Ice Wall.
They laughed as they cut off my arms and watched me writhe.
Then they pulled out a coin to decide who would kill me.
I gritted my teeth, crawled to my severed arm, and used healing.
While the knight who cut off my arm was distracted by the coin flipping in the air, I struck him from behind.
They never expected me to reattach my arm and stand up in that situation.
I managed to take down all the hounds, but I was far from unscathed.
My stomach and back were riddled with swords.
Not even the greatest healer could fix that.
I picked up the dark dragon statue that had fallen into the snow with great difficulty.
I leaned against the cold Ice Wall, waiting for death, unable to unlock the secrets of the ancient artifact.
Despite chasing strength my whole life, I never obtained the power I truly desired.
“Damn it…”
Just as I was about to draw my last breath, strange words appeared before my eyes.
[A powerful will awakens the ancient power.]
[The spirit of the Elder Dragon imprints on the soul of the willing.]
At first, I thought it was nonsense.
[The system detects the awakener’s peril.]
[Emergency measures are activated.]
[Do you consent?]
Emergency measures or not, I was in agony.
[Do you consent?]
Fine, damn it! I consent.
Vroom, vroom, vroom!
[Consent from the awakener confirmed.]
[Irreversible promised power is activated.]
[Countdown begins.]
[5, 4, 3, 2, 1]
“And then I woke up like this.”
Zeke looked at his reflection in the mirror.
The scars and burn marks that once covered his face were gone, replaced by a noble visage with black hair, black eyes, and fair skin.
Once in his thirties, Zeke now appeared no older than ten.
He glanced around.
“This place seems familiar…”
It was the room he had used as a child in the “Cradle.”
“Have I really gone back in time?”
Zeke looked down at his body.
He couldn’t forget the sensation of the sword embedded deep in his gut.
He examined his hands and legs.
“Was my hand always this small?”
Most notably, there were hardly any scars on his hands.
Having roamed the continent, there wasn’t a part of his body that wasn’t scarred.
Zeke ruffled his hair, deep in thought.
“What on earth happened?”
Suddenly, he recalled the voice he heard as his consciousness faded before death.
“What was it… Emergency measures? Promised power?”
He couldn’t quite grasp the meaning.
“And to think I’ve returned to this insane family…”
At fifteen, Zeke had been expelled from the academy and fled the Draker family.
The dragon slayer family, founded by the descendants of Terracan Draker, who had saved the continent by beheading the evil dragon Bahamut a thousand years ago.
One of the three great transcendent families on the continent, where every descendant received the blessing of aura and became an aura user.
Zeke was born a direct descendant of such a family.
“Dragon slayer family, my foot. This place is just insane.”
Zeke shuddered, recalling the horrors he endured here in his past.
He couldn’t understand why he had returned to such a dreadful past.
“Sigh… I have no idea what’s going on.”
At that moment.
[The management system reboots.]
[Checking the soul of the awakener.]
[Soul match confirmed at 100%.]
[The spirit of the Elder Dragon fully merges with the chosen awakener’s soul.]
[Partial system authority acquired.]
[Status window access activated.]
“What is this?”
Words began to appear before his eyes.
[Opening status window.]
Suddenly, translucent text appeared in front of Zeke.
[Junior Administrator Status Window]
Name: Zeke Draker
Class: Healer (Rare Grade)
Title: Blessed by the Ancient Dragon
Class Skills: Healing / Calm Mind / Stamina Recovery / Focused Senses
Active Skills: Vital Strike [E-grade (Novice)] / Slash [E-grade (Novice)] / Fatal Blow [D-grade (Novice)]
Dragon Skills: (Access Denied―Requires 10 Karma Points to Unlock)
Karma Points: 0
Zeke examined the text floating before him.
It seemed like a magical projection, not something tangible.
He read through the status window.
“A healer class?”
He recalled ancient knowledge imparted by his master long ago.
His master had said that the ancients categorized themselves into classes based on their potential and developed skills accordingly.
“Judging by the class and skills, it seems related to that ancient artifact.”
Zeke focused on the word “Healing” among the class skills, and with a sense of disbelief, he spoke.
“Healing.”
Instantly, his hand glowed with a white light.
Zeke was taken aback.
“I’ve already awakened my abilities?”
Before returning, he hadn’t awakened his healing ability until he was over twenty.
Seeing that healing was still possible, Zeke realized he retained his pre-return abilities.
“If I’ve awakened healing, then maybe…?”
Zeke closed his eyes and concentrated, feeling the mana move near his solar plexus.
His eyes snapped open.
“My middle dantian is open.”
The Draker family’s secret dragon slaying technique required opening the lower dantian after aura awakening.
Zeke, unable to awaken aura, couldn’t open his lower dantian and thus couldn’t learn the true dragon slaying technique.
Though he had the talent of a healer, Zeke couldn’t handle aura, so he learned from his master how to open the middle dantian to manipulate mana.
“I thought I’d die learning that.”
Zeke moved his body, channeling mana.
Whoosh!
His balance wavered, and he stumbled.
His young body couldn’t move as naturally as it did in the past.
“Training will improve it over time.”
At least he was in a much more advantageous position than before his return.
He turned his attention back to the status window.
“Skills, huh. What are these?”
Zeke tapped “Calm Mind” with his finger.
A new page appeared with more text.
―Skill Description―
Calm Mind: Keeps the user’s mind steady and calm in any situation.
Zeke tilted his head in curiosity.
“I didn’t know I had skills other than healing.”
Since the concept of classes and skills wasn’t used in the current era, he hadn’t known what skills he possessed.
“Thanks to the Calm Mind skill, I guess my mind isn’t as affected by this absurd situation.”
Even Zeke found it remarkable how composed he was after dying so horrifically and then returning.
He checked the other skills.
―Class Skills―
Healing: Creates a light of recovery to heal wounds.
Calm Mind: Keeps the user’s mind steady and calm in any situation.
Stamina Recovery: Restores lost stamina and reduces fatigue.
Focused Senses: Temporarily heightens senses to increase awareness speed.
Reading through his skills, Zeke decided to try the Focused Senses skill.
It felt as if time slowed, and his senses sharpened.
He nodded in understanding.
“This sensation is familiar. I might have used it unconsciously during battles.”
Having reviewed his class skills, Zeke moved on to the active skills.
―Active Skills―
Vital Strike (E-grade): Increases lethality by striking the enemy’s vital points more accurately.
Slash (E-grade): Confuses the enemy’s vision and allows for quick slashing attacks.
Fatal Blow (D-grade): Delivers a critical attack to the enemy. However, failure may result in a counterattack.
Zeke pondered over the active skills.
“A finishing move? A secret technique? Something like that.”
Zeke examined his active skills and decided to tap on the dragon skill listed at the bottom.
However, instead of a skill description, a message appeared:
[Dragon skills are not accessible. You need 10 karma points to view this skill.]
“Karma points?” he muttered.
It was a term he’d never encountered before, not even from his mentor, who was well-versed in ancient knowledge.
Just as he was about to investigate further, there was a knock at the door.
The moment Zeke thought about closing the status window, the text vanished from his sight.
“Come in,” he called out.
The door opened, and an imposing elderly man entered. He had slicked-back white hair, a neatly trimmed beard, and wore a monocle.
Zeke was taken aback. “Decker?”
Decker was a steward dispatched from the Draker family estate.
With a sharp gaze, Decker addressed Zeke, “Still not ready, young master? What are you thinking?”
Decker’s stern voice made Zeke instinctively tense up. In the past, Zeke had felt an unconscious fear of him.
But now, things were different. He was no ordinary child.
Suddenly, something flashed before Zeke’s eyes.
[Calm Mind skill activated.]
It seemed the skill had triggered automatically, just as Zeke had hoped.
Regaining his composure, Zeke met Decker’s eyes and asked, “Ready? Ready for what?”
Decker adjusted his monocle and replied, “Surely you haven’t forgotten about today’s evaluation exam?”
Zeke was startled. “Evaluation exam…?”
Decker continued, “You must prepare quickly. Being late will result in a penalty…”
Zeke interrupted, looking up at Decker. “Decker, what day is it today? No, what year, month, and day is it?”
Decker paused, scrutinizing Zeke before adjusting his monocle again. In a dry tone, he answered, “It’s October 14th, Year 1035 of the Liberation Calendar.”
Zeke did the math. “Year 1035… I died in 1055, so this is exactly 20 years ago. I’m twelve. And October 14th means…”
With his thoughts in order, Zeke looked at Decker and said, “Right. We always had the year-end evaluations around this time.”
Decker looked down at Zeke and said, “As I’ve mentioned before, avoiding reality like this won’t help you survive in the Draker family, young master.”
His voice was as emotionless as possible, but it carried genuine concern.
Zeke looked up at Decker and said, “Avoiding? Me?”
He clenched his fist, the sound of his knuckles cracking.
“I’ve come back, and there’s no way I’m running away.”
His eyes gleamed with determination.
“There are plenty of debts I need to settle.”