Episode 158

Standing next to Arthur Draker was Baron Draker, the stern-looking captain of the Black Guard, known for his hairless head and eyebrows.

Arthur gazed out over the snowy expanse and spoke, “It’s getting noisy. Do you think the Empire’s figured something out?”

Baron adjusted his gloves and replied, “If they had, they’d probably be working more quietly.”

Arthur nodded in agreement. It had been five years since the Drakers and the Empire had been cautiously exploring the icy mountains, each trying to outmaneuver the other in the search for the Elder Dragon’s relics. So far, neither side had made any significant progress.

Feeling the weight of their lack of success, Baron said, “The mages have deciphered the third inscription. We should see results soon.”

“I hope so. It would justify enduring the council’s endless nagging and securing the budget,” Arthur replied.

“I’ll do my best,” Baron assured him.

Arthur nodded, then placed two fingers in his mouth and let out a sharp whistle.

A piercing sound echoed, and moments later, something descended from the sky.

A wyvern, saddled and ready, landed quietly in front of the camp, bowing its head.

Arthur leaped onto the saddle with ease and looked back at Baron. “Report to me as soon as you have results.”

“Understood.”

With a tug on the reins, the wyvern spread its wings and soared into the sky. Baron watched Arthur disappear into the clouds before turning back into the camp.

Hidden nearby, Zeke held his breath, maintaining his invisibility until Arthur was completely out of sight.

‘Who would’ve thought the head of the family would be here,’ Zeke mused, recalling overheard whispers about the Duke leaving the fortress to search for relics. It had been a long time since then, yet the Drakers were still involved.

‘So, the Drakers and the Empire are waging a hidden war,’ he thought, remembering Arthur’s insistence that the Elder Dragon’s relics must never fall into the Emperor’s hands. It seemed Arthur knew more about the relics than he let on.

Zeke released his invisibility and, still cloaked in stealth, moved towards the back of the camp. Black Guard soldiers stood watch at the entrance to the snowy mountain.

Summoning a dragonling, Zeke used it to distract the guards.

The Black Guard, known for their keen senses, were easily drawn to the faint presence of the dragonling.

As one guard rushed towards the disturbance, Zeke seized the moment, slipping past them and into the entrance undetected.

Inside the mountain, Zeke carefully descended into the cave.

‘This way,’ he thought, navigating the labyrinthine tunnels, unsure which path led to the true relic site.

Suddenly, a message appeared before him.

[The Sanctuary of the Elder Dragon detects the title ‘Heir of Terracan Draker.’]

[Another title detected.]

[The Sanctuary of the Elder Dragon detects the title ‘Blessed by the Ancient Dragon.’]

[Code recognized.]

[Code recognition error.]

[The system user already possesses a Kabbalah system user authentication code.]

[Anomaly detected in the physical realm.]

[Recalculating due to unexpected results.]

[Retrieving related karma data from the Sephiroth dimension server.]

[Deriving emergency protocol results for ‘Irreversible Promised Power.’]

[System recognizes the user as a regressor.]

Zeke focused on the unfamiliar terms in the message.

‘Kabbalah? Sephiroth? Dimension server? Karma data… what does it all mean?’

[Rearranging karma data to fit the regressor’s scenario.]

[Guiding to the Kabbalah system terminal.]

[Route transmitted to the administrator system.]

A map automatically appeared before Zeke, highlighting the location of the Elder Dragon’s relic within the complex ruins.

Though bewildered by the sudden system interface, Zeke quickly regained his composure.

‘First, secure the Elder Dragon’s relic.’

Following the map, Zeke ventured deeper into the cave. Though no visible barriers blocked his path, an invisible force field had previously thwarted others. The Draker mages had been researching how to dispel this barrier, which had prevented the Emperor from obtaining the relic in Zeke’s past life.

Zeke soon stood before a massive door, reminiscent of those he’d seen in other ancient sites, though this one bore unfamiliar engravings.

‘What is this? A bird?’

A large bird with outstretched wings, seemingly ablaze, was etched into the door, as if it held the sun within its form. Below it was a familiar emblem.

‘The Sun’s Crest.’

The same emblem had appeared on Agamemnon’s mask, the Ark, and the necklace worn by Claudia Rubern in past memories.

‘Everything is connected,’ Zeke pondered, placing his hand on the door and channeling mana into it.

With the code already verified, the door opened without further prompts.

Zeke stepped inside, and the chamber lit up with magical lights from the ceiling and floor.

“Wow,” he breathed, awestruck by the vast temple that unfolded before him.

Lining the entrance were dozens of massive statues of armored dragonkin.

Zeke was taken aback by the sight.

‘Could these be guardians?’

He reached out to one of the statues, but it remained inert. Though they might just be ordinary statues, Zeke couldn’t shake the feeling that they held more significance. After thoroughly inspecting them with his dragon’s eye, he moved on.

“If these were operational guardians, they’d be an incredible force,” he mused, leaving the statues behind as he ventured further into the temple.

The hall was enormous, dwarfing any other sanctuary or fortress he’d seen. In his past life, Zeke had bypassed this area entirely, heading straight to the chamber at the end.

The hall was so vast that even dozens of dragons could fit comfortably. Zeke’s jaw dropped at the sight.

“Who could have built something like this in the middle of the icy mountains?”

The hall was too expansive to traverse on foot, so Zeke summoned Bucephalus.

The horse neighed happily, as if greeting an old friend.

Zeke patted Bucephalus and mounted him, flying across the vast hall.

Bucephalus leaped up the hundreds of steps leading to a wall adorned with dragon reliefs, where another door awaited.

As Zeke approached, the door opened on its own, without any need for him to channel energy.

Inside, Zeke felt a sense of déjà vu.

‘This is it.’

The room where he had found the Elder Dragon’s relic in his past life.

Unlike the grand hall, the relic chamber was modest in size. In his previous life, Zeke had entered through a crack in the cliff, directly accessing the relic.

In the center of the room stood a staircase, resembling an altar.

Zeke dismounted, instructing Bucephalus to wait, and ascended the steps.

In his past life, he had climbed these very steps to find a box atop the altar.

‘It’s still here, just like before.’

A plain black box, unadorned and unlocked.

Zeke reached out and opened it, finding the contents unchanged.

A dark dragon statuette.

The relic that had led to his death and brought him back to the past.

Zeke carefully picked up the dragon statuette, expecting some kind of message, but nothing happened.

“What’s going on?”

He moved the box aside and examined the altar, but found no reaction.

Zeke tilted his head in confusion.

Unlike other relic sites, there was no response at all, which felt oddly unsettling.

“Maybe I’m already registered as an administrator.”

Though the relic remained, its power seemed spent.

Zeke opened his inventory to store the dragon statuette.

At that moment, a new message appeared.

[System rebooting.]

[Temporary administrator mode ending.]

[Kabbalah system administrator mode activating.]

[Applying previously unlocked features to the Kabbalah system.]

[Administrator system manual activating.]

A new interface appeared before Zeke.

“What is this?”

Unlike the text-only temporary administrator interface, the new system displayed images.

Zeke explored the newly organized administrator mode categories.

“Status window, shop, secure library, quest log, inventory, equipment list, summon list…”

With everything neatly arranged, it was much easier to navigate.

Zeke selected the status window.

[Intermediate Administrator Status Window]

Name: Zeke Draker

Class: Immortal (Unique Grade)

Title: Blessed by the Dragon, Heir of Terracan Draker, Successor of the Sword Saint, Dragon Knight, Knight of Light

Abilities: Dragon Control, Decay, Fortune

Physique: Celestial Body, Immune to All Poisons

System Features: Inventory (500 slots) / Mini-map (Portal Travel) / Shop / Intermediate Quest Book / Skill Shortcut Slots / Potion Shortcut Slots

Passive Skills: Healing Factor / Unyielding Mental Defense / Infinite Stamina / Beast’s Instinct

Special Skills: Gale Force [Grade A (Proficient)] / Elemental Sword [Grade S (Proficient)] / Dragon Slash [Grade S (Proficient)] / Soul Sealing [Grade A (Beginner)] / Spirit Strike [Grade S (Beginner)] / Golden Swordsmanship of the Sun [Grade A (Beginner)]

Active Skills: Thunderbolt [Grade A (Beginner)], Solar Flare [Grade B (Beginner)], Dissonance [Grade C (Proficient)] / Magic Reflection [Grade A (Beginner)] / Area Buff [Grade A (Beginner)] / Curse Reflection [Grade A (Proficient)] / Shield of Light [Grade B (Proficient)] / Mace of Light [Grade B (Proficient)] / Blade of Purification [Grade A (Beginner)] / Hydra’s Venom [Grade B (Beginner)] / Sacred Flame [Grade S (Beginner)]

Dragon Skills (Unlocked at Level 3): Dragon’s Gaze (Expert) / Dragon’s Majesty (Expert) / Dragon’s Gluttony (Expert) / Dragon Speech (Proficient) / Dragon Scale Armor (Proficient) / Dragon’s Claw (Proficient) / Dragon’s Sense (Proficient) / Dragon’s Breath (Beginner) / Dragon’s Disease (Proficient)

Karma Points: 3,835

After a long time, Zeke opened his status window and noticed it had expanded significantly.

He began exploring the system features one by one, examining the changes.

That’s when he stumbled upon a new category.

“Settings Mode?”

It was something he hadn’t seen before.

Curious, Zeke tapped on the Settings Mode.

The system window transformed, revealing a list of new options.

―Administrator System Settings

―Defense Mode Settings (Locked)

―Karma Data List (Unavailable)

“Defense Mode? Karma Data?”

These were unfamiliar terms, and he couldn’t quite grasp their meaning.

He tried to access them, but they were locked and unavailable for viewing.

“Hmm, looks like I can’t open the bottom two. Better start with the Administrator System Settings.”

Upon selecting it, more options appeared beneath.

“Let’s see… Summon Management Settings, Karma Points Management Settings, System Voice Recognition Settings, Search Function Settings… Wow, there’s a lot.”

As Zeke sifted through the numerous settings, one caught his eye.

“Karma Points Management Settings?”

Previously, Zeke had been searching for a way to enhance his summons, like Bahamut, using Karma Points.

Despite scouring the system window, he couldn’t find such a feature.

He had almost given up, but with the new Administrator Mode, a related option appeared.

Excited, Zeke selected the Karma Points Management Settings.

The screen changed, displaying complex figures and diagrams made of dots and lines—something only a wizard might understand.

“So, this is the ability score, and this is the growth rate.”

Initially, it seemed complicated, but upon closer inspection, he had no trouble understanding it.

As he examined each part, a message window popped up.

[Current Karma Points are set to auto-distribute. You can adjust the distribution according to the administrator’s growth direction.]

“I can adjust the point distribution?”

[Would you like to run a simulation of the point distribution according to the manual?]

Zeke wasn’t sure what a simulation entailed, but he decided to give it a try.

The window changed again, presenting various examples of point distribution.

After over an hour of scrutinizing the simulation, Zeke clenched his teeth and shouted in frustration.

“Damn it! I’ve been wasting my points all this time!”