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[Translator - Peptobismal]
[Proofreader - Max]
Chapter 1
My name is Zeke Draker.
I am a direct descendant of the Draker clan.
This renowned Dragon Slayer family is the most prestigious knightly family on the continent, a family that even the Emperor couldn't touch.
In other words, anyone who can't become a knight in this family is treated like trash.
That was me.
The first failure to awaken in the Draker clan's direct bloodline.
I was the only one who failed to awaken my aura, a rite of passage for the Draker bloodline.
And I was a healer class, something completely unrelated to dragon slayers.
A healer class in a dragon slayer family's direct bloodline.
It sounds like a bad joke, but it's an undeniable fact.
Despite being a direct descendant, I was treated like trash in the family for failing to awaken my aura.
As a result, I was expelled from the clans academy, which all Draker descendants had to graduate from, at the age of fifteen.
To survive and become stronger, I wandered the continent and did everything I could.
A certain sage once said: If you only pursue strength, you will have nothing left in the end.
That's a load of bullshit.
It's a million times better to have strength than not.
It's the truth of the world that those without strength are eventually trampled on and have their precious things taken away by those with strength.
That's why I struggled to overcome my limits and become stronger.
If it weren't for those damn Imperial hounds, I could have become the strongest on the continent.
Because I was the first to obtain the ancient artifact that the Emperor was desperately searching for.
I didn't know exactly what it was, but it must have been something extraordinary since that Emperor, obsessed with conquering the continent, was looking for it.
I went through hell in the Ice Mountains, which were so cold they could freeze you to the bone, to find the artifact.
But as soon as I came out of the dungeon, those Imperial hounds spread a dragnet and chased after me.
After running for over a week, I was finally caught right in front of the Ice Wall.
They cut off both my arms and snickered as they watched me writhing.
Then they took out a coin to decide who would kill me.
I gritted my teeth, crawled on the ground, grabbed my severed right arm, and used Healing.
While the knight who cut off my arm was distracted by the coin tossed in the air, I snuck up behind him and cut his throat.
He must have never expected me to reattach my severed arm and get up in that situation.
I defeated all the hounds, but I wasn't unscathed either.
My stomach and back were riddled with swords.
This wasn't something even the master of Healing could heal.
I picked up the dark dragon statue that had fallen in the snow with difficulty.
Unable to even unravel the secrets hidden within the ancient artifact, I leaned against the cold Ice Wall and waited for my painful death.
Despite pursuing strength all my life, I couldn't obtain the power I truly desired.
'Damn it...'
Just as I was about to breathe my last, strange letters appeared before my eyes.
[A strong will awakens the ancient power.]
[The soul of the Elder Dragon is imprinted on the soul of the one with the will.]
At first, I thought it was a load of nonsense.
[The system detects danger to the Awakened.]
[Emergency measures are activated.]
[Do you agree?]
I'm dying here, who cares about emergency measures.
[Do you agree?]
Yes, damn it! I agree.
Woooong!
[Awakened agreement confirmed.]
[The irreversible promised power is activated.]
[Countdown initiated.]
[5, 4, 3, 2, 1]
* * *
"And when I opened my eyes, I was like this."
Zeke looked at his reflection in the mirror.
The face covered in scars and burns was gone, replaced by a handsome young man with black hair, black eyes, pale skin, and delicate features.
Zeke, who had been in his thirties, had returned to the age of ten, at most.
He looked around.
'I thought it looked familiar...'
It was the room he used as a 'cradle' when he was young.
"Did I really go back in time?"
Zeke looked down at his body.
He still couldn't forget the feeling of the swords deeply embedded in his stomach.
He looked at his hands and feet.
'Were my hands always this small?'
Above all, there were almost no wounds on his hands.
He had been wandering all over the continent, and there wasn't a single part of his body without scars.
Zeke racked his brains.
"What in the world happened?"
Suddenly, Zeke remembered the voice he heard in his fading consciousness just before he died.
'What did it say... emergency measure? Promised power?'
It was difficult to grasp its meaning.
"And to think I'm back in this crazy family..."
Zeke had run away from the Draker clan after being expelled from the academy when he turned fifteen.
The dragon slayer family was founded by the descendants of Terakan Draker, who saved the continent by beheading the evil dragon Bahamut a thousand years ago.
It was one of the three transcendent clans on the continent, where all members were blessed with aura and became aura users.
Zeke was born as a direct descendant of that Draker clan.
'They call it a Dragon Slayer family, but this is just a crazy place.'
Zeke shuddered, remembering what he had experienced here in the past.
He couldn't understand why he was back in his terrible past.
"Sigh... I don't understand what's going on."
It was then.
[Administration System reactivating.]
[Confirming the Awakened's soul level.]
[Confirmed 100% soul match.]
[The soul of the Elder Dragon is completely fused with the soul of the chosen Awakened.]
[Acquiring partial authority of the system.]
[Status window access activated.]
'What's this?'
Letters appeared before my eyes.
[Opening status window.]
Suddenly, translucent letters appeared before Zeke's eyes.
[Low-rank Administrator Status Window]
Name: Zeke Draker
Class: Healer (Rare)
Title: Blessed by the Ancient Dragon
Class Skills: Healing / Composed Mind / Health Regeneration / Heightened Senses
Active Skills: Precise Stab [E-rank (Beginner)] / Mutilate[E-rank (Beginner)] / Critical Strike [D-rank (Beginner)]
Draconian Skills: (Unavailable - 10 Karma Points required to unlock)
Current Karma Points Held: 0
Zeke examined the letters that appeared before his eyes.
He tried to touch them with his hand, but they couldn't be touched. It seemed like a magically created image rather than something real.
He read the contents of the status window.
"Healer class?"
He recalled the ancient knowledge he had learned from his master long ago.
His master had said that the ancients divided classes according to their potential and developed techniques accordingly.
'Judging by the class and skills, it seems to be related to that ancient artifact.'
Zeke looked at the words "Healing" in the class skills section and shouted in disbelief,
"Healing."
His hand was instantly enveloped in a white light.
Zeke was startled.
"I've already awakened my ability?"
In his previous life, he hadn't awakened his healing ability until he was over twenty.
Seeing that he could still use Healing, Zeke realized that his abilities from his previous life remained.
"If I've awakened Healing, then maybe...?"
Zeke closed his eyes and concentrated, and mana stirred near his solar plexus.
Zeke's eyes shot open.
"My ether hall is open."
The Secret Dragon Slayer Technique of the Draker family could only be learned after awakening one's aura and opening the lower dantian.
Zeke, who couldn't awaken his aura, couldn't open his lower dantian and learn the true Dragon Slayer Technique.
Despite having the talent of a healer but unable to handle aura, Zeke learned how to open his ether hall from his master and handle mana.
'I almost died learning this.'
Zeke moved his body, manipulating mana.
Whoosh!
He swayed, losing his balance.
His young body wasn't used to moving like he did in the past.
'It'll get better with practice.'
At least the situation was much more advantageous than in his previous life.
He turned his attention back to the status window.
"Skills. What are these?"
Zeke pressed his finger on "Composed Mind."
The page turned, and new letters appeared.
—Skill Description—
Composed Mind: Keeps the user's mind calm and unshaken in any situation.
Zeke tilted his head.
"So I have this skill besides Healing."
Since the concept of classes and skills wasn't used in the present era, he didn't know what skills he had.
'Is it thanks to the Composed Mind skill that my mind isn't that affected despite going through this absurd situation?'
Even Zeke himself thought he was quite calm considering he had died horribly and then regressed.
He pressed the other skills as well.
—Class Skills—
Healing: Creates a healing light that restores wounds.
Composed Mind: Keeps the user's mind calm and unshaken in any situation.
Health Regeneration: Replenishes lost health and reduces fatigue.
Heightened Senses: Momentarily focuses the senses and increases cognitive speed.
After reading through the skills he possessed, Zeke tried using Heightened Senses.
He felt his senses sharpen as if time had slowed down.
He nodded.
"This sensation is familiar. Maybe I used it unconsciously during battle."
After checking his class skills, Zeke pressed Active Skills.
—Active Skills—
Precise Stab (E-rank): Allows for more accurate strikes at the enemy's vital points, increasing lethality.
Mutilate (E-rank): Allows for rapid slashing attacks while disrupting the enemy's vision.
Critical Strike (D-rank): Allows for a critical attack on the enemy. However, failure can result in a counterattack.
Zeke pondered as he looked at the active skills.
"Finishing moves? Secret techniques? Something like that?"
After checking the active skills, Zeke pressed Draconian Skills at the bottom.
But instead of the skill description, a message popped up.
[Draconian Skills are unavailable. 10 Karma points are required to view these skills.]
"Karma points?"
It was a term he had never heard before.
He had never even heard it from his master, who was quite knowledgeable about ancient knowledge.
Just as he was about to press for more information about Karma points,
Knock, knock.
Someone knocked.
As Zeke unconsciously thought about turning off the status window, the letters before his eyes disappeared.
"Come in."
At Zeke's permission, the door opened, and someone entered.
A well-built old man with white, slicked-back hair, a neatly trimmed beard, and a monocle.
Zeke was startled.
'Decker?'
Decker was a servant sent from the main Draker household.
He spoke to Zeke with a sharp glint in his eyes.
"You're still not ready... What are you thinking, young master?"
Zeke's body instinctively recoiled at Decker's sharp voice.
In the past, Zeke had felt an unconscious fear of Decker.
But it was different now.
He wasn't an ordinary child anymore.
Something appeared before Zeke's eyes.
[Composed Mind skill used.]
As Zeke thought, it seemed like the skills were being used automatically depending on the situation.
Zeke, having regained his composure, looked at Decker and said,
"Ready? What are you talking about?"
Decker adjusted his monocle and said,
"Don't tell me you've forgotten about the evaluation test today."
Zeke was startled by Decker's words.
'Evaluation test...?'
Decker looked at Zeke and said,
"You need to hurry and get ready. You'll lose points if you're late for the evaluation test..."
Then Zeke looked up and asked Decker,
"Decker, what's the date today? No, what year, month, and day is it?"
Decker stared intently at Zeke for a moment, then adjusted his monocle again and said in a dry voice,
"It's 14th October, 1035."
Zeke calculated the date.
'1035... I died in 1055, so it's exactly 20 years ago. I'm twelve years old. And if it's October 14th...'
Zeke, having organized his thoughts, looked at Decker and said,
"Right. They always held the year-end evaluation in the cradle around this time."
Decker looked down at Zeke and said,
"As I said before, it will be difficult to survive in the Draker clan if you continue to avoid reality like this, young master."
Although his voice was devoid of emotion, it contained sincerity.
Then Zeke looked up at Decker and said,
"Avoid? Me?"
He clenched his fist, making a cracking sound.
"Why would I avoid it when I've finally returned?"
Zeke's eyes flashed.
"There are a lot of people I need to repay."
[Translator - Peptobismal]
[Proofreader - Max]