Episode 14

Leon was taken aback by the sudden appearance of Zeke.

He already knew that Durban, the slasher from Siemens, had been beaten by Zeke. The direct line he served had ordered him to observe the situation for now.

Leon gritted his teeth at Zeke. “Zeke Draker. Just because you’ve awakened your pure blood, you think you’re invincible, huh?”

Zeke looked at Leon’s gang and said, “I’ll give you one chance. Bow your heads now.”

Leon’s face flushed with anger at Zeke’s words. Overcome with rage, he forgot all about his orders and shouted to his gang, “What are you waiting for? Get him!”

Most of Leon’s gang were upperclassmen. Normally, a freshman, even from a special class, wouldn’t stand a chance against them. But Zeke was no ordinary freshman.

He flexed his hands and said, “Three seconds are up.”

The upperclassmen charged at Zeke. “Arrogant fool! We’ll teach you the academy’s manners!”

Zeke watched them approach, then assumed a boxing stance and threw a jab.

Thud!

The upperclassman couldn’t dodge Zeke’s straight jab and took it head-on. Zeke intended to follow up with a low kick to the thigh, but the jab alone knocked the upperclassman out cold.

Zeke’s combat instincts were on a different level from ordinary students. With just a light jab, he had taken down an upperclassman, causing Leon and his gang to flinch.

Zeke looked at them and said, “I’ll give you one more chance. Bow your heads.”

Leon broke into a cold sweat, feeling the terrifying aura emanating from Zeke. ‘Damn it.’

He shouted to his upperclassmen, “What are you doing? Get him, now!”

About five upperclassmen cautiously surrounded Zeke, closing in on him. Zeke looked at their faces and thought to himself, ‘I was really pathetic in the past, getting beaten by guys like these and crying every day.’

Back then, the upperclassmen seemed like an insurmountable wall. Zeke slowly raised his fist. “Brace yourselves.”

In an instant, Zeke’s fist shot forward.

Swoosh!

His right hand extended in a straight line, the punch flying towards the target like a spear.

Boom!

The upperclassman who got hit felt as if his head had exploded. The punch caved in his face, and he collapsed unconscious.

Zeke didn’t stop there. He spun clockwise, delivering punches to the faces of the surrounding upperclassmen.

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!

The upperclassmen fell one by one, unable to guard against Zeke’s swift punches. They had no chance to use their aura or anything else.

Zeke stood tall among the fallen upperclassmen. Leon trembled at the sight. ‘How… how is this possible?’

The Zeke who used to cower at his slightest gesture was nowhere to be seen. Instead, a completely different person stood before him.

Zeke slowly approached Leon. Leon quickly drew the sword from his waist. Zeke’s eyes turned cold.

“You know what it means to draw a sword outside the training grounds, don’t you, Leon Conrad?”

In the training grounds, anything was allowed, but outside, drawing a real sword was not. Doing so meant a fight to the death, with no accountability for the outcome.

Zeke glanced at Liam Stone behind him. “Liam Stone, you’re my witness. Leon Conrad drew his sword first with intent to kill, and I will respond in kind.”

Simultaneously, Zeke drew the claymore strapped to his back. The blade gleamed with a deadly aura.

Leon stood with his sword, but he was already overwhelmed by Zeke’s presence. When Zeke took a step forward with his sword, Leon involuntarily stepped back, only to find himself against a wall with nowhere to retreat.

Leon’s hand trembled as he gripped his sword. Zeke swung his sword at Leon.

Clang!

The heavy blow sent Leon’s sword flying. His face turned pale as he realized the sword was no longer in his hand.

Zeke’s blade touched Leon’s neck. He spoke in a chilling voice, “Leon Conrad, any last words? I’ll grant you the mercy of delivering your final message.”

Feeling the sharp blade against his skin, Leon finally grasped the reality of his situation. His lower body grew wet as he stammered, “P-please, spare me. I beg you…”

Begging for his life was a fate worse than death for someone from the Draker family. Zeke saw the Leon who had tormented him in the past overlap with the one now pleading for his life.

He tightened his grip on the sword.

Swish!

The claymore swung and returned to its sheath in one fluid motion. Leon, who had closed his eyes tightly, was surprised to find his head still attached.

But something was off. “Huh?”

Blood trickled from his right ear. On the ground lay his severed ear.

Zeke spoke to Leon, “I’ll take your worthless life with that ear. If you go to a healer to reattach it, I’ll come back and take your head for real. Understand?”

Leon nodded, unable to even pick up his fallen ear. Zeke said, “Get out of my sight.”

Leon fled in a panic. Zeke looked at the fallen upperclassmen, then turned to Liam, who stood silently.

“Liam Stone, have you been abandoned by Jaken?”

Liam remained silent. Zeke, seeing Liam’s lack of response, turned away.

‘This is no longer my concern.’

As Zeke was about to leave the alley, Liam’s voice called out from behind. “Why did you help me?”

Without turning back, Zeke replied, “I didn’t help you.”

He paused for a moment, then turned his head to look at Liam Stone. “Liam Stone, in the end, the only one who can help you is yourself.”

Zeke turned and walked out of the alley, regretting the words that had slipped out. ‘I hate sounding like an old man giving advice.’

Shaking his head, he headed towards Fainan’s lab. As he had heard before, the lab was at the end of the second floor of the research building, with Fainan’s name on the door.

Zeke knocked and called out, “Professor, it’s Zeke Draker, a new student.”

There was a clatter from inside, followed by the door swinging open.

“Zeke?”

Fainan was genuinely surprised to see Zeke at his door. His eyes sparkled with interest. “Do you have questions? What are you curious about… No, come in first.”

In the academy of the dragon-slaying Draker family, it was rare for a student to show interest in magical theory. Fainan welcomed Zeke’s visit like a traveler finding an oasis in the desert.

Inside, the lab was a chaotic mess. The walls were covered with papers filled with strange symbols, and the desk was piled high with thick books and documents.

‘Well, that’s typical of wizards.’

Fainan cleared a space on the desk and offered Zeke a seat. “Haha, it’s a bit messy, isn’t it? Just sit here for a moment.”

After a while, he brought over a cup of tea in a worn-out mug. Sitting across from Zeke, Fainan’s eyes gleamed with curiosity. “So, what brings you here?”

Zeke set down the teacup and pulled a parchment from his coat. “Professor, could you take a look at this?”

Fainan examined the furnace blueprint Zeke handed him. Initially, he glanced at it casually, but his expression grew serious as he studied it.

He scrutinized the blueprint and asked Zeke, “Where did you get this?”

Zeke, seeing Fainan’s reaction, realized he had come to the right person. ‘There are many combat mages, but few who can design magical engines. I’m lucky.’

Zeke asked Fainan directly, “Professor, I’ll get straight to the point. Can you design the magical engine for this furnace?”

Fainan pondered the blueprint, resting his chin on his hand. He set it down and looked at Zeke. “I don’t know where you got this, but if you were to commission this from the Magic Tower, they’d either refuse or charge you over ten thousand gold.”

Zeke was taken aback by Fainan’s insight. “How did you know that?”

Fainan chuckled wryly at Zeke’s surprise. “The Magic Tower has a way of politely declining unprofitable commissions. No one would actually spend ten thousand gold to build a furnace.”

Zeke recalled that in the future, Gelion had indeed built that furnace. Whether he paid the Magic Tower or hired another mage, Zeke couldn’t be sure.

Fainan stroked his chin thoughtfully. “To answer your question, yes, it’s possible.”

Hearing those words, Zeke’s face lit up.

“Really? If that’s the case, I’d like to commission you for the design, Professor.”

At that moment, Fainan raised a hand.

“Before that, you might want to hear my explanation first.”

Fainan spread out the blueprint and pointed to the core part of the furnace.

“This here is what we call the core. Every device that uses magic has one. But… as you can see, this furnace’s core is anything but ordinary.”

“What do you mean?”

“It’s a small core, yet it outputs more power than a large one. That’s probably why the Magic Tower refused the commission.”

Fainan continued his explanation.

“Moreover, this core needs to adjust its output almost instantaneously. It’s an incredibly complex and difficult mechanism to create.”

Zeke looked at Fainan and asked, “And yet, you say it’s possible to design it?”

Fainan replied with a serious expression, “There are two ways to go about this. The first is for me to design a mechanism that meets these two conditions. The problem is, just the calculations alone would take… about ten years.”

Zeke’s jaw dropped.

Fainan went on, “The second option is to use a high-compression mana stone. With that, even a simple mechanism could power the furnace.”

Zeke’s eyes widened. “A high-compression mana stone? Isn’t that an ancient relic beyond modern technology?”

Fainan nodded. “Exactly. They’re rare finds from ancient ruins and cost a fortune. A mana stone powerful enough for this furnace would be around three thousand gold.”

Zeke fell into deep thought.

Even as a pure-blooded Draker, a new academy student like him couldn’t possibly come up with such a large sum of money.

If he became an official knight of his family, he could obtain not just fifty thousand gold but also a high-compression mana stone. But for now, it was impossible.

‘Hmm… I need Gellion’s sword to fully harness the power of the dantian. This is troublesome.’

The power of mana was akin to raw, untamed natural energy, and it was inherently beyond human control, making its application extremely challenging.

However, if mana could be converted into aura, it would be possible to wield human swordsmanship with the power of the dantian.

That’s why the Sun Sword Gram was essential for Zeke.

‘Damn it, but where am I supposed to find a high-compression mana stone right now?’

While Zeke was lost in thought, Fainan was examining the blueprint closely and couldn’t help but admire it.

“By the way, this blueprint is really well-made. Aside from the core, the rest of the structure is incredibly efficient. It’s the kind of thing you’d be hard-pressed to find even in Golden Age ruins…”

Fainan’s words snapped Zeke back to reality.

“Wait a minute. What did you just say?”

“Hmm? Golden Age ruins…”

In that instant, something flashed through Zeke’s mind.

‘If it’s a Golden Age ruin…’

A piece of future knowledge surfaced in his mind.

Zeke stood up and spoke to Fainan.

“Professor, please work on the mechanism design until I return.”

“Are you really commissioning the design? It could take ten, maybe even fifteen years…”

“I’ll bring it.”

“Bring what?”

“The high-compression mana stone.”

Zeke said with a determined look.

“I have a way to get it.”