Episode 187
Zeke thought about the Dragon Warriors he often summoned.
They were like phantoms, yet not phantoms; neither undead, demons, nor golems. Though their forms differed, the beings most similar to the mansion’s phantoms were none other than the Dragon Warriors.
Zeke slowly approached these entities.
Ssssh—
He passed through their ethereal forms.
“Are they shifting between corporeal and incorporeal states?”
Zeke moved past them and ventured deeper into the cavern.
“What is this place…?”
To his surprise, the inner chamber was a wizard’s laboratory.
“Richmond always coveted this mansion for a lab, and it turns out it really was one.”
The research space was filled with strange experimental tools, magical tomes, and failed artifacts piled up.
As Zeke surveyed the research facilities, he shook his head.
“Hmm, I can’t make heads or tails of this. Maybe Richmond would know.”
When Zeke attempted to summon Richmond, a message window appeared instead of a response.
[Summoning is restricted in this area due to the security system.]
It seemed summoning creatures was impossible here. Zeke gave up on calling Richmond and continued exploring the lab.
As he carefully examined the room, he noticed something placed in the center.
“What is this?”
It was a device similar to one he had seen in the Hero King’s sanctuary. Inside a transparent cylinder, a green gemstone floated. Zeke approached it cautiously.
Suddenly, the system window reacted.
[Connecting to Archmage Hoshgar’s Spirit Regenerator.]
[Spirit Regenerator is activating.]
Wooooong!
The cylinder containing the gemstone vibrated and emitted a flash of light. Simultaneously, a luminous form began to take shape.
Zeke stepped back, wary of the glowing figure, and scanned his surroundings.
Moments later, someone emerged from the light.
“Phew. I wasn’t sure this would actually work, but it did.”
A figure clad in a robe adorned with intricate patterns appeared. Zeke felt a strange familiarity with this unexpected presence.
“Master Kaishir?”
The figure felt similar to Kaishir, who had appeared as a spirit to teach him the Elemental Sword.
The person, identified as Hoshgar, removed the hood covering her face, revealing a young woman, contrary to the title of Archmage.
But what shocked Zeke was something else.
“Dragon eyes?”
The woman’s eyes glowed with a golden hue, just like Zeke’s.
Hoshgar tilted her head, looking at Zeke.
“Huh? I thought you were a dragonkin, but you’re human.”
Zeke addressed Hoshgar.
“Are you the Archmage Hoshgar?”
She chuckled softly.
“You saw it on the system window, didn’t you? Why ask?”
Zeke felt a chill run down his spine.
“She knows about the system window?”
She was the first person he had met who knew about the system window besides himself.
Zeke swallowed hard and asked Hoshgar.
“Do you know about the system window, the administrator system?”
“This?”
With a wave of her hand, a system window appeared before her. Zeke was even more taken aback by the sight.
“Can others see this too?”
“What? Didn’t your contract dragon teach you anything?”
Zeke’s expression shifted subtly.
“I haven’t made a contract with a dragon.”
Hoshgar frowned.
“How is that possible? How can you be an administrator without a dragon contract?”
“Is being an administrator only possible through a dragon contract?”
Hoshgar sighed, shaking her head.
“Where do I even start? The original ‘me’ didn’t leave this spirit form to explain things.”
With another wave of her hand, the space around them shifted, revealing a completely different setting.
Zeke broke into a cold sweat, witnessing Hoshgar’s otherworldly magic.
“An Archmage indeed… I can’t even begin to fathom her level.”
The new space was a quaint, old-fashioned sitting room.
Hoshgar asked Zeke.
“What would you like to drink? I’ve got drip coffee, espresso, latte, or tea.”
Zeke didn’t fully understand her words but replied without showing it.
“Tea, please.”
“Alright. Have a seat.”
Zeke obediently sat on the sofa. Hoshgar moved to a shelf in the corner, skillfully brewing tea and preparing her own coffee.
She returned with the drinks and sat across from Zeke.
“Try it. I used preservation magic, so it should be fine.”
Zeke savored the aroma of the tea she served. Despite expecting something extraordinary from an Archmage, it was surprisingly ordinary.
Hoshgar sipped the dark liquid from a small cup.
“What is that?”
“Espresso. Are you seriously asking because you don’t know?”
“I’ve never seen it before.”
“My goodness. You do know what coffee is, right?”
“I know coffee. But this espresso thing is different.”
“Hmm. I guess things have changed a lot over time. Anyway, according to the system, it’s the year 1041 of the Liberation Calendar.”
Zeke recalled Kaishir, who used to count years by the Chronos Calendar.
“You know the Liberation Calendar?”
“Of course. How else would you count the years?”
“Never mind.”
Hoshgar studied Zeke for a moment, then continued sipping her espresso.
“It’s been a thousand years since I left the material world.”
“What do you mean by leaving the material world?”
“Do you know the term ‘ascension’?”
“I’ve never heard of it.”
“Hmm, has that term disappeared too? A lot has changed in a thousand years. To put it simply, it means transcending the physical body bound to the material world and moving to a higher dimension.”
“Does that mean you became a spirit and went to the fairy realm?”
“Huh? What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Nothing.”
Though she felt similar to Kaishir and knew about the Liberation Calendar, there was something different about her.
Hoshgar set down her espresso cup and spoke.
“Anyway, the ‘me’ you’re seeing now isn’t the real ‘me.’ My true essence has already moved to a higher dimension, and this is just a spirit form of my state before ascension.”
“A being that exists but doesn’t exist here.”
“Oh, you’re quite smart. Are you a mage?”
“I’m a knight.”
Hoshgar looked slightly disappointed at the mention of being a knight.
“It would have been better if you were a mage. But oh well.”
Zeke regarded Hoshgar with renewed curiosity.
An Archmage from a thousand years ago. Yet, he had never heard the name Hoshgar before.
“If it was a thousand years ago, she would have participated in the Liberation War. How could I have never heard of her?”
Zeke cautiously asked.
“Do you know Terracan Draker?”
At his question, Hoshgar paused, her expression turning cold.
“Terracan. Yes, I know him.”
Zeke immediately sensed that Hoshgar and Terracan Draker didn’t have a good relationship.
As he pondered what to say next, Hoshgar spoke first.
“How could I forget that fool who went to such lengths to resurrect his dead contract dragon?”
Hoshgar’s blunt words left Zeke momentarily speechless.
“Terracan tried to bring Bahamut back?”
He recalled a similar mention in a recording left by the middle-aged Terracan Draker on the Ark.
“He said that if he crossed the Dark Sea, he might find Bahamut again.”
Zeke asked Hoshgar.
“Is that possible?”
Hoshgar’s face twisted.
“Do you think it is? Reviving a dead human is impossible, let alone a dragon, especially one as powerful as Bahamut. It’s nonsense.”
Zeke nodded at Hoshgar’s words.
Resurrection was as far-fetched as the Emperor’s dream of immortality.
Hoshgar looked at Zeke and said.
“Let’s not talk about Terracan. It irritates me.”
From her words, it seemed Hoshgar and Terracan knew each other well but weren’t on good terms.
“Is she one of the heroes erased from legend?”
Hoshgar asked Zeke.
“So, who are you? You have the power of a dragonkin but aren’t one. You haven’t made a dragon contract, yet you have access to the administrator system. It doesn’t make sense with what I know.”
Zeke hesitated but decided to share one of his secrets with Hoshgar.
He wanted to understand what the system truly was, now that he had met someone knowledgeable about it.
Zeke opened his inventory and took out a black dragon statue.
It was an ancient artifact he had taken from the Elder Dragon’s sanctuary.
Zeke handed the statue to Hoshgar.
“Do you know what this is?”
Hoshgar examined the statue, slowly reaching out to take it. She scrutinized it carefully before setting it down with a sigh.
“Hah…”
Hoshgar looked at Zeke and said.
“I have no idea.”
Zeke’s expression faltered.
“I thought you might know something.”
“I do know something. That there’s something I don’t know.”
Hoshgar gestured at the dragon statue with a flick of her finger.
“What’s your name?”
“Zeke.”
Though he deliberately left out his last name, Hoshgar didn’t seem to mind.
“Well, Zeke, let me put it this way: it’s pretty rare for me not to know something. I usually know just about everything.”
His confidence was overwhelming.
Hoshgar clicked his tongue as he examined the black dragon statue from various angles.
“Wow, I can’t even tell what this is made of. What exactly is this thing?”
Zeke replied to Hoshgar, “It’s an artifact from an Elder Dragon.”
“What?”
Hoshgar’s face registered surprise at Zeke’s words.
She trembled slightly as she inspected the dragon statue again, then slowly turned her gaze back to Zeke.
“Where did you get this?”
“I retrieved it from the Elder Dragon’s sanctuary.”
Hoshgar’s expression grew more complex as she studied the statue, then looked back at Zeke. She nodded as if something had clicked.
“So that’s why my spirit was revived after a thousand years. That explains it.”
Hoshgar continued, looking at Zeke.
“I have a rough idea of your situation. You probably couldn’t learn about the system, could you?”
“From what you’re saying, it sounds like the administrator system is a power granted only to the dragon’s contractors. Is that correct?”
“Yes, that’s right. It was created so dragons could lend their power more efficiently to their contractors.”
“Does that mean a dragon’s contractor can use the dragon’s power?”
“Since their souls are connected, they can use some of it. It’s funny how karma works. The dragon itself can’t use its power, but the contractor can access it through the system.”
Zeke finally understood why the system interface had appeared in Terrakan’s vision.
He asked Hoshgar again, “What is a Dragonkin? Are you one as well?”
“You have a lot of questions, don’t you? Well, I suppose that’s natural. A Dragonkin is… a kind of loophole.”
“A loophole?”
“Yes. It’s a workaround created by dragons who wanted to spend more time with their contractors.”
“So, Dragonkin isn’t a separate race? I always thought they were a distinct race from the legends.”
“It’s not quite a race, but it’s true they’re no longer human. By tricking the laws of karma, they share the heart of the contracted dragon, becoming something that’s neither dragon nor human.”
Zeke was taken aback by this revelation.
“Share a dragon’s heart?”
In Zeke’s core, the heart of Bahamut lay dormant. Yet, he hadn’t formed a contract with a dragon. He had merely accepted the spirit of an Elder Dragon and gained the administrator system’s authority.
“So, I have the power of a Dragonkin, but I’m not one. I don’t have a contracted dragon, but I possess the abilities of an administrator.”
Hoshgar looked at Zeke and said, “You must have many questions, but we don’t have much time. Let me explain why I’ve appeared before you in spirit form.”
Her eyes gleamed with intensity.
“My name is Hoshgar Nirvana. I’ve crossed a thousand years to deliver a prophecy of destruction to you, as a grand sorceress.”