[Translator - Peptobismal]
[Proofreader - Max]
Chapter 158
Next to Arthur Draker stood Baron Draker, the head of the Black Ops, with a stern face and no hair or eyebrows.
Arthur, looking beyond the snowfield, said,
"It's noisy. Did those Imperial bastards find something?"
Baron, adjusting his gloves, replied,
"If they found something, wouldn't they be working more quietly?"
Arthur nodded at Baron's words.
It had already been five years since they began searching the Ice Mountains for the Elder Dragon's relic, keeping an eye on the Empire.
Neither Draker nor the Empire had made any significant progress yet.
Baron, expressing his frustration about it, said to Arthur,
"The mages have deciphered the third inscription, so there will be results soon."
"I hope so. That way, it'll be worth enduring the sharp nagging of the Standing Committee and securing the budget."
"I'll do my best."
Arthur nodded at Baron's words, then put his finger to his mouth and whistled.
Beep!
As the sound spread, something descended from the sky.
Screech!
A saddled wyvern landed in front of the camp and bowed its head quietly.
Arthur jumped onto the saddle on the wyvern's back.
He looked at Baron and said,
"Report to me as soon as there are any results."
"Understood."
As Arthur pulled the reins, the wyvern flapped its wings and soared into the sky.
Baron watched Arthur Draker flying away, then went back into the camp.
Zeke held his breath, maintaining the Will of Concealment until Arthur Draker on the wyvern completely disappeared from sight.
'To think the head of the clan would be here.'
He remembered overhearing Duke mention that Arthur was leaving Four Seasons Castle to search for the relic. But that was a long time ago.
He didn't know Arthur was still concerned about this.
'Draker and the Empire were fighting a hidden battle.'
Judging from Arthur Draker's previous statement that the Elder Dragon's relic must never fall into the Emperor's hands, it seemed that he knew something about the relic's true nature.
Zeke deactivated the Will of Concealment and, maintaining his Stealth skill, headed towards the back of the camp.
A Black Ops member was guarding the entrance to the snowy mountain.
Zeke summoned a Dragon Tooth Soldier to distract the Black Ops member.
Rustle!
The Black Ops members were so perceptive that even the slightest presence of a Dragon Tooth Soldier from afar was enough to draw their attention.
Whoosh!
One of the Black Ops members ran towards where he sensed the presence.
Zeke, seizing the moment when the Black Ops members were distracted by the Dragon Tooth Soldier, used the Will of Concealment once again to enter the entrance without being noticed.
The Black Ops member only felt a gust of wind and didn't notice Zeke entering the entrance.
Zeke, entering the entrance in the snowy mountain, carefully descended into the cave.
'Is it this way?'
The cave branched out in many directions, making it difficult to tell which was the real entrance to the ruin.
Just then, a message appeared before Zeke's eyes.
[The Elder Dragon's Sanctuary detects the title 'Terakan Draker's Inheritor'.]
[Detecting another title.]
[The Elder Dragon's Sanctuary detects the title 'Blessed by the Ancient Dragon'.]
[Recognizing the code.]
[Code recognition error.]
[The system user already possesses the Kabbalah system user authentication code.]
[Recognizing an impossible result in the current world.]
[Calculating new results for an outcome beyond the prediction range.]
[Back-calculating relevant Karma data from the Sephirot dimensional server.]
[Deriving the result value of the emergency measure route for the 'Irreversible Promised Power'.]
[Recognizing the system user as a Regressor.]
Zeke focused on the unfamiliar words in the message that appeared.
'Kabbalah? Sephirot? Dimensional server? Karma data... What are all these?'
[Karma data rearranged according to the Regressor's scenario based on the new result value.]
[Guiding to the Kabbalah system terminal.]
[Transmitting the route to the administrator system.]
Woooong!
A map automatically appeared before Zeke's eyes.
The location of the Elder Dragon's relic was marked on the intricate map of the ruin.
Zeke was confused by the sudden system window but quickly pulled himself together.
'First, I'll secure the Elder Dragon's relic.'
Zeke followed the route shown on the map and entered the cave.
Although there were no restrictions on Zeke entering the cave, there was actually an invisible transparent barrier blocking the way.
What the Draker mages were researching was a way to disable this transparent barrier.
This was the reason why the Emperor couldn't obtain the Elder Dragon's relic in Zeke's previous life.
A giant door appeared before Zeke, who easily passed through the cave.
Zeke felt that the shape and size of the door were similar to the ruin gate he saw when he found the relic before.
The difference was that there was an unfamiliar symbol engraved on the door.
'What's this? A bird?'
A giant bird with spread wings was engraved in the center of the door.
The bird, its whole body seemingly on fire, looked as if it contained the sun within.
And below it, he saw a familiar symbol.
'The sun emblem.'
Agamemnon's Mask, the ark, and the necklace Claudia Lubern was wearing in his past memory.
They all had the ancient sun emblem.
'Is everything connected?'
Zeke, with questions in mind, placed his hand on the door and channeled mana into it.
Woooong!
Since the code authentication was already complete, the door slowly opened without any special message.
Rumble!
Zeke entered through the fully opened door.
As he entered, magic lamps on the ceiling and floor automatically turned on.
"Wow."
A temple of astonishing scale unfolded before Zeke's eyes.
Dozens of giant dragonian statues in armor lined up from the entrance.
Zeke was surprised to see the statues.
'Could these all be Guardians?'
Zeke reached out his hand towards the statues with a mixture of anticipation and doubt, but there was no reaction.
They could be ordinary statues, unlike those in other temples, but Zeke couldn't let go of his lingering hope and knocked on the statues, examining them closely with Dragon Eye before moving on.
"Are they really just statues? If these were all functioning Guardians, they would be a tremendous force."
Zeke left his regret behind and entered the temple.
A huge hall appeared, incomparable to other Sanctuaries or protective bases.
In his previous life, he had entered directly into the space at the very end of the temple, so he didn't know this place existed.
Zeke's jaw dropped as he saw the hall, large enough to accommodate dozens of giant dragons with space to spare.
"Wow, just who and how was this built?"
He couldn't believe that such a huge structure was built in the hard-to-reach Ice Mountains.
The hall was so vast that it was difficult to even run across it.
Zeke summoned Bucephalus.
Hieeeing!
Bucephalus neighed happily as if he was glad to see Zeke after a long time.
Zeke stroked Bucephalus and mounted him, then flew across the wide hall.
Bucephalus jumped over the hundreds of stairs piled up at the front of the hall in one go.
On top of the stairs, there was another door in the wall with a dragon relief mural.
Zeke slowly approached the door.
This time, the door opened by itself without him channeling any energy into it.
Zeke, entering the space inside the door, felt a sense of déjà vu.
'This is the place.'
It was the room where he found the Elder Dragon's relic in his previous life.
Unlike the giant hall, the room where the relic was wasn't that big.
Zeke in his previous life entered this room directly through the gap in the collapsed cliff, found the relic, and took it outside.
In the middle of the room, there were stairs piled up like an altar.
Zeke stroked Bucephalus' mane, told him to wait, and climbed the altar stairs.
Just like in his previous life, Zeke climbed the stairs and found a box placed on top.
'I thought it might be gone, but it's the same as back then.'
A black box with no patterns.
It wasn't even locked.
Zeke reached out and opened the black box. The contents were still there.
A dark dragon statue.
It was the Elder Dragon's relic that led Zeke to his death and then brought him back to the past.
Zeke slowly reached out and picked up the dragon statue.
Zeke expected some kind of message to appear, but nothing happened.
"What?"
He removed the box where the statue had been and examined the altar, but there was still no reaction.
Zeke tilted his head in confusion.
Unlike other ruins, there was no reaction at all, which felt strange.
"Is it because I'm already registered as an administrator?"
Although the relic itself was still there, he wondered if its effect was already gone.
Zeke opened his inventory to store the dragon statue.
It was then.
[Restarting the system.]
[Temporary administrator mode terminated.]
[Kabbalah system administrator mode activated.]
[Applying already unlocked functions to the Kabbalah system.]
[Administrator system manual activated.]
A new window suddenly appeared before Zeke's eyes.
"What's this?"
Unlike the temporary administrator window, which only had text, the new system window was displayed with images.
Zeke checked the categories of the newly changed administrator mode.
"Status window, shop, Secure Archive, quest list, inventory, equipment list, summon list..."
It was much easier to see since the system functions he could use were organized at a glance.
Zeke pressed the status window.
[Intermediate Administrator Status Window]
Name: Zeke Draker
Class: Immortal (Unique)
Titles: Blessed by the Ancient Dragon, Heir of Terakan Draker, Successor of the Sword Saint, Dragon Knight, Light Knight
Authority: Dragon control, Decay, Fluke
Constitution: Divine Body, Poison immunity
System Functions: Inventory (500 slots) / Minimap (Portal Movement) / Shop / Intermediate Quest Book / Skill Shortcut Slots / Potion Shortcut Slots
Passive Skills: Healing Factor / Steadfast Mental Defense / Infinite Stamina / Combat Sense
Special Skills: Gale Force [A-rank (Expert)] / Elemental Sword [S-rank (Expert)] / True Dragon Sword Art [S-rank (Expert)] / Soul Sealing Technique [A-rank (Beginner)] / Spirit Fusion [S-rank (Beginner)] / Golden Sun Swordsmanship [A-rank (Beginner)]
Active Skills: Precise Stab [A-rank (Beginner)], Sun Bomb [B-rank (Beginner)], Discord [C-rank (Expert)], Mana Reflection [A-rank (Beginner)] / Area of Effect Buff [A-rank (Beginner)] / Curse Reflection [A-rank (Expert)] / Shield of Light [B-rank (Expert)] / Mace of Light [B-rank (Expert)] / Purification Blade [A-rank (Beginner)] / Hydra's Poison [B-rank (Beginner)] / Holy Flame [S-rank (Beginner)]
Draconian Skills (3rd Stage Unlocked): Dragon Eye (Expert) / Dragon's Majesty (Expert) / Dragon's Gluttony (Expert) / Word Soul (Expert) / Dragon Scale Armor (Expert) / Dragon's Claw (Expert) / Dragon's Sense (Expert) / Dragon's Breath (Beginner) / Dragon Tooth Soldiers (Expert)
Karma Points: 3835
The contents of the status window had increased considerably since he last checked.
Zeke pressed each of the system functions and checked the changes.
Then, he found a new category.
"Settings mode?"
It was a category he hadn't seen before.
Zeke pressed Settings Mode.
Then, the system window changed, and new lists began to appear.
—Administrator System Settings—
—Defense Mode Settings (Locked)—
—Karma Data List (Access Denied)—
"Defense Mode? Karma Data?"
Since they were unfamiliar terms, it was difficult to grasp what they meant.
Even when he tried to check the details, they were locked or access denied, so he couldn't.
"Hmm, I can't open the bottom two, so I'll have to check the Administrator System Settings first."
When he pressed Administrator System Settings, new lists appeared below.
"Let's see. Summon Management Settings, Karma Point Management Settings, Administrator System Voice Recognition Settings, Search Function Settings... Wow, there are so many."
Among the many setting lists, something caught Zeke's eye.
"Karma Point Management Settings?"
Zeke had previously tried to find a way to strengthen Bahamut and other summons using Karma points.
But no matter how much he searched the system windows, he couldn't find such a function.
He had almost given up, but after switching to the new administrator mode, a related list appeared.
Zeke, delighted, pressed Karma Point Management Settings.
Then, the screen changed, and complex figures made of numbers, dots, and lines appeared.
They were things that only mages would see.
"So this is the stat, and this is the growth rate."
At first, it seemed complicated, but after examining it closely, it wasn't difficult to understand.
As he was checking each item, a message window popped up.
[Karma points are currently set to automatic distribution. You can adjust point distribution according to the administrator's growth direction.]
"I can adjust point distribution?"
[Would you like to run a simulation of point distribution according to the manual?]
Zeke didn't know what a simulation was, but he said he would try it.
Then, the window changed again, and various examples of point distribution appeared.
And after looking at the distribution simulation for over an hour, Zeke gritted his teeth and shouted,
"Damn it! I've been completely wasting points on distribution!"
[Translator - Peptobismal]
[Proofreader - Max]