Episode 3
Jaken’s eyes sharpened at Zeke’s words.
“Are you insulting me right now?”
Zeke nodded casually. “Yeah, that’s exactly what I’m doing.”
Jaken trembled with rage, clenching his fists tightly.
Zeke continued, “So, what are you going to do about it? If you’re going to do something, do it. Otherwise, I’m leaving.”
Jaken, struggling to contain his anger, glanced at their instructor, Pan. “Is this okay, sir?”
Pan hesitated for a moment before nodding. “If Zeke’s fine with it, I don’t see why not.”
With Pan’s approval, Jaken and Liam stepped onto the training ground together.
Zeke stood opposite them, looking relaxed. He glanced at Liam, who stood beside Jaken.
‘Seeing him here again brings back memories.’
Liam Stone. In the future, he would become one of the central continent’s most renowned figures.
‘The Mercenary King, Liam.’
Unlike the direct bloodlines of the Draker family, like the Conrads or the Valdeks, Liam was a distant relative from a branch family. Yet, he was here because he had been chosen to serve as Jaken Valdek’s attendant.
In Zeke’s memory, Liam received the blessing of aura here and entered the academy, but he never made it to the higher institution, Valhalla. His less-than-ideal background led to him being abandoned midway.
As a wandering free knight, Liam eventually joined the knight order of the small western nation of Baranaon. He might have lived a quiet life as an ordinary knight, but when Baranaon fell to the empire, his order was disbanded.
With nowhere else to go, Liam became a mercenary, roaming the continent. By chance, he gained enlightenment and became a Red Knight. Strong individuals naturally attract followers, and in those chaotic times, mercenaries were abundant.
Thus, the Stone Mercenary Corps formed around the Red Knight Liam, and a few years later, after uniting the continent’s three major mercenary groups, he earned the title of Mercenary King in the central continent.
Zeke found it strange to see the quiet boy beside Jaken as the future Mercenary King.
‘We were enemies in my past life, but maybe things can be different this time.’
Just then, Pan blew the whistle.
“Begin the match!”
Jaken assumed a stance and approached Zeke. But Liam, standing behind, remained still.
Zeke frowned and addressed Jaken. “I thought you both were coming at me together.”
Jaken scoffed. “I only played along with your childish game earlier.”
With that, Jaken lunged forward, delivering a powerful high kick toward Zeke.
Thwack!
The sound was shockingly loud for a twelve-year-old’s kick. Everyone expected Zeke to go down from that single blow.
“Ugh…”
But contrary to expectations, it was Jaken who groaned and staggered back. His ankle, which had delivered the kick, was swollen.
Zeke lowered his left elbow and remarked, “Why’d you go and hit my elbow like that?”
Jaken struggled to maintain his balance, but his ankle seemed broken, making it hard to stand.
‘Damn it, if it comes to this, I’ll have to take him down with a mount…’
Just as Jaken was about to charge again, Zeke moved first.
Whoosh!
Zeke aimed a low kick at Jaken’s injured leg.
Crack!
“Argh!”
Jaken’s face twisted in pain as his balance faltered.
Then, in a swift motion, Zeke spun to the side, using the momentum to drive his fist into Jaken’s ribs.
Boom!
[A skill, “One-Hit Kill,” has been activated.]
The force of the perfectly executed One-Hit Kill shattered Jaken’s ribs.
“Ugh…”
Jaken gasped for air, collapsing to his knees.
Zeke, catching his breath, called out to Liam, who stood behind. “Are you just going to stand there?”
Liam glanced at the gasping Jaken. Jaken, his face pale, shouted, “Liam! Kill that bastard!”
At Jaken’s command, Liam stepped forward.
As Liam advanced, Zeke assumed a proper guard stance for the first time.
‘But… is he really twelve?’
Liam’s limbs were unusually long for his age, and his stoic demeanor made him seem at least five years older.
Zeke was wary of Liam’s long reach. ‘In my past life, that reach gave me a lot of trouble.’
If Liam took the initiative, the momentum could easily shift.
Swoosh!
Zeke quickly closed the distance, throwing a jab.
Thud!
He circled around Liam, peppering him with jabs.
Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud!
The sharp jabs pierced through Liam’s guard like a drill.
Zeke’s rapid footwork, moving back and forth while jabbing, was unlike any typical pankration technique.
“What is that?”
The other trainees murmured, seeing the unfamiliar technique for the first time.
Even Pan, the instructor, was taken aback by Zeke’s skills. ‘That’s the boxing style of the Northern Rangers, isn’t it?’
In the central continent, where swordsmanship was predominant, seeing Northern continent’s martial arts was rare.
Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud!
Even as the onlookers murmured, Liam remained hunched, silently blocking Zeke’s jabs.
Then, Zeke’s footwork faltered slightly, causing a jab to miss.
Liam’s eyes gleamed.
Swish!
In an instant, Liam extended his long arm, wrapping it around Zeke’s missed jab.
“Gotcha!”
Liam swiftly twisted Zeke’s arm, attempting to lift and slam him.
Given the size difference between Zeke and Liam, it was a feasible move.
As Zeke was about to be thrown, he twisted his body mid-air, using his smaller frame to wrap his legs around Liam’s arm, locking his joint.
Snap!
Before Liam could react, his shoulder dislocated, and his elbow twisted.
“Aaagh!”
With his joint locked, Liam collapsed onto the training ground.
Zeke didn’t stop at breaking Liam’s arm. He released his leg hold and wrapped his legs around Liam’s neck.
“Ugh!”
Zeke’s legs constricted Liam’s carotid artery.
Liam refused to tap out. In the Draker family, tapping out was a disgrace worse than death or injury.
Eventually, Liam passed out.
“Phew…”
Zeke released Liam’s neck and stood up.
All eyes were on Zeke, who had effortlessly taken down both Jaken and Liam.
Receiving their stares, Zeke pointed to one side of the trainees.
“Owen Siemens.”
A mature-looking boy with brown hair met Zeke’s gaze calmly.
Zeke then turned to point at another side.
“Reina Turn.”
A girl with a sharp gaze and closely cropped hair glared at Zeke.
Finally, Zeke gestured toward the fallen Jaken.
“Jaken Valdek, Leon Conrad… well, he’s not here, so never mind.”
Zeke addressed the trainees. “Make sure your families know. Zeke Draker isn’t the same as before.”
With those words, Zeke stepped down from the training ground.
Owen and Reina watched him silently as he walked away, and Zeke clicked his tongue at their expressions.
‘Do those look like the eyes of twelve-year-olds?’
As Zeke left the training ground, he felt the weight of the other trainees’ gazes on him.
Pan, who had been watching Zeke’s retreating figure in a daze, finally snapped back to reality and announced the result.
“Zeke! Victory!”
Jaken and Liam were taken to the recovery room, and the year-end evaluations continued.
“Phew…”
Back in his room, Zeke tossed his clothes aside and collapsed onto his bed.
His body ached from the exertion.
“Those bastards. They’ll have a headache trying to figure this out.”
In his previous life, Zeke had never awakened his aura, leading to him being treated like trash at the academy and eventually abandoned by his family.
Remembering the humiliation of those days, Zeke clenched his teeth.
‘By now, my cousins must be scrambling to report this.’
Among the cousins who joined as his peers, there were four in total.
Some, like Leon, directly pressured Zeke, but most just watched from a distance.
However, with Zeke’s newfound prowess on display today, even those who had been merely observing would find it hard to stay idle.
Their families would undoubtedly issue orders.
‘I can’t just sit back and take it. I need to strike first and divert their attention.’
It’s easier to hide in slightly murky waters than in crystal-clear ones.
That’s why Zeke had chosen to reveal his strength during the year-end evaluation.
The martial arts he displayed were just a fraction of his abilities, so revealing this much wasn’t a problem.
Zeke rose from his bed and stood up.
“While they’re busy scheming, I’ll quietly build my strength.”
He had no intention of being a passive victim like in his past life.
This time, he planned to devour the Draker family whole.
Zeke quietly spoke.
“Open status window.”
[Lower Administrator Status Window]
Name: Zeke Draker
Class: Healer (Rare Grade)
Title: Blessed by the Ancient Dragon
Skills: Healing / Calm Mind / Stamina Recovery / Focused Senses
Active Skills: Vital Strike [E-rank (Novice)] / Slash [E-rank (Adept)] / One-Hit Kill [D-rank (Novice)]
Dragon Skills: (Locked—requires 10 Karma Points to unlock)
Current Karma Points: 0
“So, the Slash skill has upgraded from Novice to Adept.”
Zeke mused over the skill changes. It seemed that the more he used a skill, the more it evolved.
As he examined his status window, he paused at the mention of Karma.
“Hmm… What exactly are these Karma Points?”
To unlock the mysterious Dragon Skills, he needed Karma Points. But the concept of Karma was entirely new to him.
Curious, Zeke tapped on the Karma Points section.
―Karma Points―
Earn Karma Points by defeating magical beasts.
“So, I have to kill magical beasts to earn points?”
When Zeke was first cast out from his family, he had worked as a dungeon porter. He had followed low-level adventurers into dungeons teeming with dangerous creatures.
He read the explanation again.
“Magical beasts, huh.”
In dungeons, these creatures often moved in packs, and it required at least a Purple Knight’s skill to take them on alone.
Zeke closed the status window, deep in thought.
“To earn Karma Points, I need to be at least at the level of a Purple Knight.”
Currently, Zeke was at the Yellow Knight level, having only unlocked his mid-tier energy center. To become a Purple Knight, he needed to awaken his aura and channel it into his sword.
At that stage, he would earn the title of Knight rather than Swordsman. Mastering the aura to form an Aura Blade would elevate him to a Blue Knight, a true knight recognized with an honorary title.
Those who broke through the Blue Knight level to the next stage became Red Knights. In large kingdoms or empires, Red Knights often led the knight orders.
Thus, a nation’s military strength was often measured by the number of Red and Blue Knights it possessed.
Yet, there were beings who defied this conventional hierarchy—superhumans who transcended human limits, known as Black Knights, or “One-Man Armies.”
Across the entire continent, Black Knights were so rare they could be counted on one hand.
Remarkably, the Draker family boasted five such Black Knights. With even one Black Knight capable of toppling a small kingdom, no one dared to challenge the Draker family—not even the Emperor.
“There’s a reason they’re called one of the Three Transcendent Families.”
The Dragon Slayer family, Draker. The Arcane family, Ishtar. The Mage family, Nirvana.
These families belonged to no nation, recognized for their independence, and bound by no laws.
However, in the future Zeke had seen, this balance of power would shift dramatically.
“About ten years from now, if I recall correctly.”
He needed to grow stronger and prepare before that change came.
“I don’t know why I’ve returned to the past or what this system is, but…”
Zeke’s eyes gleamed with determination.
“If it means I can become stronger, I’ll use whatever I can.”
Just then, there was a knock at the door.
“Come in,” Zeke called out.
The door opened, and in walked Decker, a servant who looked more like a knight than most knights did.