[Translator - Peptobismal]
[Proofreader - Max]
Chapter 28
"Zeke Draker is beyond my capacity to evaluate."
Duke said with a surprised expression,
"Huh, is he really that good?"
Aoul said with a serious expression,
"My personal opinion is that 'he should be sent to Valhalla tomorrow.'"
A man even more stoic than a statue.
Hearing the evaluation from Aoul Drake, Duke had a bewildered expression.
The instructor in charge, standing behind them, was equally perplexed.
"D-do you really want me to relay that?"
* * *
After gathering the opinions of the headmaster and various department heads, it was decided that Zeke would skip to the 5th grade.
He had skipped four grades at once.
Zeke simply nodded quietly when Duke told him the result.
"You don't seem happy even though you skipped grades."
"I'm happy."
In truth, Zeke's mind was filled with mixed emotions.
It felt strange to go from being the trash of the academy to being talked about as a historic genius.
At this rate, it was possible to graduate from the academy at the age of fifteen.
'In my previous life, I was expelled from the academy at the age of fifteen. The world is truly unpredictable.'
Since things had turned out this way, he decided to graduate from the academy as soon as possible.
Reina skipped two grades, and Liam, who showed excellent results in the semester evaluation, was promoted from the regular class to the special class.
Zeke, who had moved up to the 5th grade, lived a relatively quiet life at the academy.
And during that time, he was able to learn the secret techniques containing the secrets of the Gale Force.
With nothing more to teach Zeke, Duke spent his time casually looking after Andrei's sword.
He maintained a continuous relationship with Professor Paynun, who had made the magic forge for him, but they became physically distant when Paynun moved to the Delfoa Royal Magic Research Institute and left the academy.
He left Zeke a direct line, telling him to visit Delfoa sometime.
Surprisingly, Aoul Draker visited once a quarter to spar with Zeke and then left.
Under Duke Draker's supervision, Zeke had to face Aoul.
After facing Zeke for two years, Aoul seemed to have realized something and applied for a leave of absence from the Four Seasons Castle, confining himself in a closed training ground.
After spending two years like this with various events, Zeke finally took the academy graduation exam.
"Z-Zeke Drake. P-pass."
Zeke set the record for the fastest passing time among all graduation exam takers in history.
Zeke gave a wry smile as he looked at the academy graduation badge he received directly from the headmaster.
'I wanted this so badly before.'
He was finally able to erase the academy, which had long been a source of trauma, from his mind.
With this feeling of relief, Zeke received another benefit along with his graduation.
The headmaster personally wrote him a letter of recommendation for admission to Valhalla.
It was a tremendous benefit, as there had never been a case of someone entering Valhalla at the age of fifteen.
Zeke handed the letter of recommendation from Howard to Decker.
"I'm so proud of you, Young Master."
Unlike his usual stiff expression, Decker's face was flushed as he received the letter of recommendation.
"It's nothing to be proud of."
Zeke said with an indifferent expression.
"When does the Valhalla semester start?"
"It starts in March."
"So there are about three months left."
The graduation exam usually took about a month, but because Zeke finished it so quickly, he had some time left.
After a moment of thought, he said to Decker,
"Decker, go to Atlas in advance and settle in. I have somewhere to go before the semester starts."
"Where are you going, Young Master?"
"I'm thinking of going to a resort to rest for a bit."
"Then I'll make the preparations."
"Yes. It would be good to find a quiet place in Argos."
"Understood, Young Master."
Just then, Liam came to the floor.
"Master, you called for me?"
Zeke handed Liam what he had prepared in advance.
They were things Liam would need before graduating from the academy.
Among them were cheat sheets for each semester's evaluations.
Zeke had personally prepared them for Liam, who didn't receive family support.
"If you keep this up, you'll definitely be able to enter Valhalla. I have high hopes for you, Liam."
"I won't disappoint you, Master."
"Good. And when you become a 4th year, you'll need a proper sword to use. I've spoken to Gelion, so go to him and ask him to make a sword that suits you."
Liam looked at Zeke with a touched expression at his words.
"Don't look at me like that, it's burdensome. You can go now."
"Understood, Master."
* * *
Even as he prepared for graduation and dealt with academy matters, Zeke didn't neglect his personal training.
Wooong!
A strong sword cry arose from Zeke's sword.
Soon, his body disappeared, leaving only afterimages.
Whirl!
Zeke's body appeared everywhere in the training ground at incredibly high speed.
The Gale Force, Duke's signature technique, was fully revealed through Zeke.
A blue energy surged from Zeke's sword as he moved like the wind.
Wooong!
A vivid aura blade formed on Zeke's sword.
Zeke swung his sword.
Dragon Slayer Technique Application
Gale Force
Wind Slash
The sword of the gale split the air.
Crackle, crackle, crackle!
Simultaneously, a message window appeared before Zeke's eyes.
[Proficiency in the special skill Gale Force increases.]
"Whew..."
Zeke lowered his sword and opened his status window.
[Junior Administrator Status Window]
Name: Zeke Draker
Class: Immortal (Unique)
Title: Blessed by the Ancient Dragon, Heir of Terakan Draker
Authority: Dragon Domination
Constitution: Divine Body
System Functions: Inventory (100 slots) / Minimap / Beginner Quest Book
Passive Skills: Healing Factor / Unyielding Mental Defense / Infinite Stamina / Combat Sense
Special Skill: Gale Force [A-grade (Expert)]
Active Skills: Precise Stab [E-rank (Expert)] / Continuous Slash [D-rank (Beginner)] / Critical Strike [D-rank (Proficient)] / High-Speed Movement [C-rank (Beginner)] / Mana Reflection [A-rank (Beginner)] / Area of Effect Buff (Beginner)]
Draconian Skills (Level 2 unlocked): Dragon Eyes (Expert) / Dragon's Majesty (Expert) / Gluttony (Beginner) / Dragon Speech (Locked) / Dragon Scale Armor (Expert) / Dragon Claws (Expert)
Current Karma Points: 365
The Gale Force, which had remained at the beginner level, finally became expert level.
Zeke held his sword and skillfully created an aura blade.
"Have I finally broken through the barrier of a Blue Knight?"
Unlike in his previous life, he was paving a new path through systematic methods instead of the side-effect-heavy Soul Perception, so he hadn't yet found the way to become a Red Knight.
However, Zeke decided not to rush and to steadily take one step at a time.
Excessively rapid growth could actually raise the wall to becoming a Black Knight.
Indeed, in his previous life, Zeke had tried everything to overcome the wall of the Black Knight, but his methods as a vagabond had clear limits.
'There's no need to rush.'
During the past two years, he had brought most of his skills to the expert level, widening the range of techniques he could use compared to before his regression.
Furthermore, the secret swordsmanship of Kaisir in the Giant Mountains and Terakan Draker's security vault in Valhalla were sure to open the way for him to advance beyond the Red Knight and become a Black Knight.
He picked up Bahamut again and swung his sword.
His desire to become stronger filled the training ground.
* * *
Argos was a kingdom located at the northern end of the Central Continent, closest to the Northern Continent.
The reason Argos, which didn't have any particular strategic resources, was included among the four major kingdoms of the Central Continent, like Thebes, Delfoa, and Alencia, was due to its thriving dungeon-related industry.
From convenient facilities for adventurers gathering for dungeon exploration to various equipment and manpower required for party formation, everything needed for dungeon exploration could be found here.
In particular, the Argos Adventurer's Guild had a long tradition, boasting a thousand-year history.
Although the Adventurer's Guild had branches all over the continent, its headquarters was located in Argos.
And since all adventurers were required to register at the Argos Guild headquarters, aspiring adventurers from all over the continent flocked to this place.
"Next, number 547."
The staff member in charge of registration at the Argos Adventurer's Guild called the next registrant in a business-like tone.
The registrant who brought the documents looked quite young.
At most, he appeared to be barely twenty years old.
The young man with brown hair and green eyes handed the documents to the staff member.
"Zeke Murray. Is that correct?"
Zeke, who had dyed his hair and changed his eye color with lenses, nodded.
He had submitted his registration to the Adventurer's Guild using the pseudonym he used in his previous life.
The staff member, after reviewing the documents and confirming there were no issues, stamped them.
"Take this and they'll give you your registration card. Next, number 548."
Zeke took the stamped documents and received his guild membership registration card.
There wouldn't be any problems since he had entrusted the forgery of his identity to a reliable source he frequently used in his previous life.
Thus, Zeke told Decker that he was going on vacation to Argos, and then secretly slipped away to create a separate adventurer ID.
It was all for the purpose of finding king Kaisir's ruins.
With the ID in hand, Zeke immediately sought out a regular carriage heading to the base camp in the Giant Mountains.
The Giant Mountains were a place where countless dungeons were hidden.
Among the ancient artifacts discovered there, some were rare items valuable enough to allow one to live comfortably for the rest of their life.
As a result, thousands of adventurers came seeking such a jackpot.
Zeke, now one of them, had to go to the barbarian territory located deep within the Giant Mountains.
Even for Zeke, who had the minimap, going into the rugged Giant Mountains without any preparation was practically suicide.
The Giant Mountains were divided into hundreds of sections, and there were carriages that regularly traveled through them.
Therefore, it was much more efficient to move to the base camp closest to the barbarian territory and search for Kaisir's ruins from there.
For this reason, Zeke looked for a separate carriage, but it wasn't easy to find one as it was peak season for dungeon exploration.
In the end, Zeke managed to secure a seat on a carriage shared with others, stayed overnight at an inn, and boarded the regular carriage departing at dawn.
Looking at the people on the carriage with him, there were some who looked like adventurers, but most seemed to be merchants.
They were people who wanted to purchase monster materials from the base camp or sell consumables needed by adventurers.
As Zeke was observing the passengers, he spotted a young porter among the adventurers and merchants and fixed his gaze on him.
He was lost in thought for a moment.
After being expelled from the academy and wandering with nowhere to go, Zeke had seen an advertisement for a porter at an Argos dungeon and impulsively boarded a carriage heading there.
He went there believing the promise of food and lodging in exchange for working as a porter.
But when he got there, the treatment was abysmal, contrary to what was promised.
He had to sleep curled up in a warehouse-like dorm, and he barely got one meal a day.
Half of the money he earned working as a porter was taken by the boss as a commission, and after deducting food and lodging expenses from the remaining half, there was very little left.
The boss even forcibly took that remaining money, claiming to save it for him.
Zeke gritted his teeth as he thought about that time.
Even in his previous life, the first thing he did after gaining strength was to find that boss, torture him Southern-style, and then kill him, so his resentment towards the man spoke for itself.
It was around the time the carriage was almost reaching the base camp.
One of the adventurers sitting across from him, a man with a sword, casually spoke to Zeke.
"Are you an adventurer too?"
Zeke didn't answer and remained silent.
The man leaned forward and said,
"You should answer when someone speaks to you. You look like you're going to a dungeon for the first time."
Then the man slid closer to Zeke.
"Speaking of which, how about joining our party for your first dungeon? I'm telling you this for your own good. Dungeons these days are dangerous, so if you just go in unprepared, you'll easily become monster food."
Zeke was annoyed by the loudmouth chattering beside him despite being ignored.
This guy was most likely the type to deceive naive novice adventurers and exploit them.
They would use them as bait for monsters or sell them to human traffickers.
Since many people who entered dungeons didn't return, they would make excuses about them being dead and sell them off, committing such crimes without batting an eye.
As Zeke was inwardly annoyed, the loudmouth acted friendly and slung an arm around his shoulder.
Then the man subtly showed him the badge attached to his collar.
"See this? I'm a graduate of the famous Draker Academy. You know, the Draker clan? Have you heard the saying that the party you enter your first dungeon with determines half your adventurer life?"
When Zeke still didn't react, the man's tone became rough, as if he was losing his temper.
"Ha, does this kid have his mouth glued shut? Why aren't you reacting? I'm a senior adventurer offering you a favor, you arrogant brat."
Then Zeke opened his mouth.
"Shut up for a second."
The man's eyes wavered.
"What? You little punk, how dare you..."
The man glared at Zeke with a fierce expression.
Just then, Zeke abruptly stood up. He stared in one direction.
Then he said to the coachman driving the carriage,
"There's a monster appearing 500 meters behind us on the left. Looks like a group of Orcs.
Is this a monster zone?"
The adventurer behind him scoffed and said,
"Kid, monsters can't enter this zone. Don't get cocky just because you're excited about being an adventurer, and sit still."
That's when it happened.
Roar!
The Orcs' war cry echoed from afar.
[Translator - Peptobismal]
[Proofreader - Max]