[Translator - Peptobismal]
[Proofreader - Max]
Chapter 103
'Sword King Vernas.'
Zeke was surprised to see Vernas suddenly appear.
Even in his past life, he had heard of Sword King Vernas's fame.
He couldn't help but be surprised that one of the continent's strongest figures had appeared here in person.
As Vernas was about to take Karus away, Abel, sweating profusely, asked,
"S-Sir Vernas. Where are you taking the prince?"
Vernas looked intently at Abel and said,
"None of your business."
With that single remark, Abel couldn't ask any further.
That was the authority of a Draker Black Knight.
Even if all the knights here attacked together, they couldn't defeat Vernas alone.
Karus looked at Zeke, his eyes questioning what was happening.
But Zeke didn't know how the situation was unfolding either.
Just then, Cali Draker sheathed her sword and stepped back.
"The Silver Knights will follow Sir Vernas' orders."
Seeing Cali retreat first, it seemed Vernas wasn't an enemy.
Zeke nodded to Karus.
Only then did Karus relax and say to Vernas,
"Sir Vernas. I am Karus Nerba Constantinus, the 4th Prince of the Rom Empire. I ask for your safe escort."
Vernas glanced at Karus and gestured to him.
"Follow me."
Karus lightly bowed towards Zeke and then trotted after Vernas.
No one moved from their spot until the Sword King leisurely exited the terminal.
Abel clenched his teeth.
Then he turned towards Zeke.
"Red Lion Knights, seize him immediately."
It seemed he was thinking of capturing Zeke alive and uncovering who was behind this.
Cali also shouted,
"Arrest the suspect according to the clan's orders!"
The knights from both sides clashed with Zeke in the middle.
Clang!
Abel and Cali clashed swords in the middle.
"Sir Cali! Don't stop my rightful revenge!"
"Are you going to disobey the clan's orders!"
Amidst the chaos, Zeke created an opening.
He used Flashbang and Discord again.
Wheeeeeing!
A blinding flash enveloped the entire terminal.
Perhaps because it was their second time experiencing it, the Red Lion Knights, including Abel, regained their senses first and chased after Zeke.
But Zeke was nowhere to be seen.
Zeke, having already escaped the terminal using the Stealth skill, immediately summoned Bucephalus and soared into the air.
"I'll leave you a present before I go."
Zeke attacked the terminal with Bucephalus' lightning strike.
Bzzzt!
Dozens of lightning bolts rained down on the terminal.
The knights and soldiers guarding the perimeter collapsed, foaming at the mouth, after being struck by lightning.
Zeke smiled with satisfaction and steered Bucephalus towards the Duke of Graham's castle.
***
"Zeke!"
Cali, who had returned after resolving the incident at the terminal, entered the Graham Dukedom and looked for Zeke.
Zeke was hiding in the secret room in the tower where Angelina had been imprisoned.
"Sister Cali."
As Zeke tried to get up, Cali stopped him.
"It's alright. Just stay lying down."
Thanks to Healing Factor, he wasn't in any pain, but he was exhausted from the long journey, so Zeke decided to stay lying down as Cali said.
Zeke asked Cali,
"To think that Sir Vernas would suddenly appear. Is Karus alright?"
Cali grinned.
"Ask him yourself."
Suddenly, someone rushed in from behind.
"Zeke!"
Surprisingly, Karus entered the room.
"Karus?"
Zeke was surprised and looked at Cali.
"Sir Vernas is actually my teacher."
"What?"
The fact that Sword King Vernas was Cali Draker's teacher was something unknown even in Zeke's past life.
Cali said with a smile,
"My teacher is a bit shy, so he doesn't like to reveal himself."
The words 'Sword King' and 'shy' didn't really go together, but that wasn't important.
Zeke nodded, seeing Karus safe and sound.
"Anyway, it seems like a weight has been lifted off our shoulders."
"Yes. It's all thanks to you."
"Did you contact Sir Paynun? I didn't expect him to come so quickly."
"Zayed contacted me beforehand when they were taking Sir Paynun to Iason. So I personally took a warship and went to greet him."
Zeke was impressed by Cali's quick judgment.
Paynun went to Cali's warship, explained the whole situation, and quickly moved to her territory.
Cali tried to send knights to the Dortas Republic to find Zeke, but he had already left for the South.
She was anxiously waiting, unable to contact Zeke, when she heard that Abel was heading to Phantasia, so she immediately followed him.
In the meantime, she even asked her teacher, Vernas, for help, showing her thoroughness.
Cali said with a regretful expression,
"Unfortunately, the recording Paynun brought was damaged, so we couldn't use it as evidence."
"I see. The storage device itself is quite fragile..."
They missed a golden opportunity to immediately remove Abel from the Draker clan, but since Karus was alive, the mission was a success.
"But how did Abel's side know that I was coming to Phantasia? We used Ishtar's portal."
Cali said with a serious expression,
"There are two possibilities. One is that Abel has a spy in Ishtar. The other is that there's a spy on your side, Zeke."
Zeke pondered Cali's words.
'Is there a spy among Simon and Boris?'
However, given the circumstances, it was almost impossible for either of them to have informed Abel of their destination separately.
Zeke frowned.
'There might be another way. I'll have to look into it.'
With Siemens of Strategies attached to him, it was possible that they had found out about Zeke's destination through some extraordinary method.
Just then, Karus, who was next to him, said to Zeke,
"Zeke, I'm planning to stay in Sir Cali's territory for a while. I will never forget your kindness in protecting me."
Zeke patted Karus on the shoulder.
"Karus. The assassins won't be able to reach you in my sister's territory. Never die, and live on."
They had become quite close after going through so much trouble together.
Karus, with tears in his eyes, left the room and prepared to go to Cali's territory immediately.
Zeke asked Cali,
"Are you leaving right away?"
"Yes. If Abel or the Empire finds out that Karus is here, they will try to assassinate him by any means necessary. It's best to get him to safety as soon as possible."
If the Silver Knight personally escorted him, at least there would be no need to worry about attacks.
She stepped closer to Zeke and said,
"You did a great job, Zeke. I'll make sure you're properly rewarded for the mission."
"I'll look forward to it, sister."
With Cali gone, Zeke, now alone, could finally relax comfortably.
***
"Ugh. That was a long journey."
During the time he was escorting Karus, the year had changed, and Zeke was now eighteen years old.
He lay in bed and checked his Karma points while organizing his inventory.
[Karma points you have: 2710 points]
Looking at his Karma points, Zeke fell into thought.
"Hmm, I think it's about time I unlock the 3rd stage of the Draconian skills."
The reason Zeke was focused on the Draconian skills was because of the still locked 'Language of the Dragons.'
The Soul-Transference skill he had learned in his past life was incomplete for Zeke, who was human.
However, based on what Kaisir had told him, he might be able to perform a complete Soul-Transference if he could use the Draconian skill, Language of the Dragons.
Unlocking the 3rd stage of the Draconian skills required 1,000 Karma points.
"A thousand points. It's a significant burden, but if I can unlock Language of the Dragons..."
It would be like acquiring another trump card in addition to Elemental Sword.
Zeke spent a thousand points to unlock the 3rd stage of the Draconian skills.
[Unlocking the 3rd stage of the Draconian skills.]
[Having reached the 3rd stage of the Draconian skills, you have acquired the qualification of 'Draconian'.]
[The mark of the Draconian appears in your eye.]
[As a Draconian, the seal on Bahamut's heart is partially released. The current compression seal level is 75%.]
[The Dragon Eye and Dragon's Majesty skills have grown.]
[The Dragon Eye and Dragon's Majesty skills have reached the expert level.]
[The locked Language of the Dragons skill has been unlocked.]
Zeke shouted with joy after seeing the messages that appeared.
"Language of the Dragons! It's finally unlocked!"
Zeke immediately checked the Draconian skill status window.
Draconian Skills (3rd Level unlocked): Dragon Eye (Expert) / Dragon's Majesty (Expert) / Gluttony (Expert) / Language of the Dragons (Beginner) / Dragon Scale Armor (Expert) / Dragon Claws (Expert)
He could see that the 1st stage skills had all changed to expert level, and Language of the Dragons had also been unlocked.
"But what are the Draconian qualification and the mark of the Draconian?"
Just then, Zeke felt a strange sensation in his left eye.
"Ugh!"
Zeke clutched his eye and stumbled to his feet.
It felt as if another eye was growing inside his eye.
"Uaaagh!"
Even Healing Factor couldn't stop this pain.
Fortunately, the pain in his eye soon stopped.
Zeke, drenched in cold sweat, went to the mirror to check his eye.
"W-What is this?"
His left eye was shining gold.
Moreover, the golden eye had transformed to resemble a reptile's eye.
Zeke realized what the mark of the Draconian was.
'Oh my god. Has my eye turned into a dragon's eye?'
With his left eye transformed into a Dragon Eye, he could clearly see things that he couldn't normally see.
He could distinguish temperature with his eyes, and he could even see through objects.
It felt like the Dragon Eye skill was constantly activated.
'There's so much information that my head hurts. I'll need some practice.'
As he thought that, his eye returned to normal.
It seemed he could change his eye into a Dragon Eye at will.
He could naturally use the abilities of the Dragon Eye without having to use the Dragon Eye skill separately.
'Good. This will be very useful once I get used to it.'
Zeke decided to give himself some time to adapt to the mark of the Draconian and tried using Language of the Dragons next.
"Sever."
He activated Soul-Transference and Language of the Dragons together to generate energy.
A sharp energy emerged from Zeke's hand.
Swish!
He swung his hand towards the table, and it was cleanly cut in two, even more so than if he had cut it with a sword.
Zeke gave a hollow laugh as he looked at the perfectly severed table.
"To think I'd succeed so easily..."
The perfect Soul-Transference that his master had shown him in his past life.
He hadn't been able to fully replicate it until now, but he could fill in the incomplete pieces with Language of the Dragons.
There were no aftereffects even when he used other characters consecutively.
Zeke, with a dumbfounded expression, soon smiled with satisfaction.
"There's no problem using single spells. If I can even use double spells on top of this..."
Zeke raised his hand, took a deep breath, and slowly activated Soul-Transference.
"Cut and Shave."
Wheeeeeing!
A piercing sound rang in Zeke's ears.
"Ugh!"
Unable to bear the pain, Zeke collapsed.
Soul-Transference, which drew on the power of the soul, directly damaged the soul if overused.
Even Healing Factor couldn't heal damage to the soul, so Zeke, gasping for breath, barely managed to crawl onto the bed.
"D-Damn... I'm still a long way from doubles."
His master in his past life could even use triple spells.
His master, using triple spell Soul-Transference, was truly invincible.
No magical beast could withstand his master for more than 10 seconds.
"I wonder if that monstrous master is still in the forest."
He was one of the people Zeke hoped to avoid meeting in this life.
Zeke lay in bed and opened the 3rd stage Draconian skill status window.
―Draconian Skills 3rd Stage―
Dragon Senses (Locked) / Dragon Breath (Locked)
3,000 Karma points required to unlock the 4th stage skills
The Karma points required for the 4th stage jumped up several times to 3,000 points.
'It'll be a while before I can unlock the 4th stage.'
Zeke read the descriptions of the unlocked Draconian skills.
―Introduction to 3rd Stage Draconian Skills―
Dragon Senses: The keen senses of a dragon allow you to see beyond space and time, into the realm outside existence. (500 points required to unlock)
Dragon Breath: Condenses natural energy to unleash a powerful breath that sweeps away enemies in an instant. (800 points required to unlock)
Zeke pondered as he read the descriptions.
He currently had 1,710 points.
If he unlocked both Dragon Senses and Dragon Breath, he would only have 410 points left.
"Hmm. Both seem like good skills. What should I do?"
There wasn't a single useless skill among the Draconian skills.
Zeke, lost in thought, sat up.
"Alright. I've decided."
[Translator - Peptobismal]
[Proofreader - Max]