[Chapter 1]
My name is Zeke Draker.
I am a direct descendant of the Draker family.
This prestigious dragon slayer family is the continent's finest knightly house, untouchable even by the Emperor.
In other words, those who cannot become knights in this family are treated like vermin.
That was me.
The first awakening failure among direct Draker bloodline.
I alone failed the Aura awakening, a rite of passage natural to the Draker bloodline.
Because I was a Healer class, completely unrelated to dragon slaying.
A direct descendant of a dragon slayer family being a Healer class.
Sounds like a bad joke, but it's an undeniable fact.
Despite being a direct descendant, I was treated like garbage for failing the Aura awakening.
As a result, I was expelled at age fifteen from the family academy that all Draker descendants must complete.
Afterwards, I did whatever it took to survive and grow stronger while wandering the continent.
Some sage said,
"Pursuing only power leaves you with nothing in the end."
That's complete nonsense.
Having power is a million times better than having none.
It's the truth of this world that the powerless get trampled by the powerful and lose what's precious to them.
So I struggled desperately to surpass my limits and become stronger.
If it weren't for those damn Imperial hounds, I could have become the strongest on the continent.
After all, I got my hands on the ancient relic the Emperor was desperately searching for.
Though I wasn't sure exactly what it was, it must have been extraordinary for the Emperor, obsessed with conquering the continent, to seek it.
I barely found the relic after nearly dying in the brutally cold Ice Mountains.
But as soon as I left the dungeon, the Imperial hounds cast their net and hunted me down.
After fleeing for over a week, I was finally caught right in front of the Ice Wall.
They cut off both my arms and snickered as I writhed.
Then they took out a coin to decide who would kill me.
I gritted my teeth, crawled on the ground to grab my severed right arm, and used healing.
While the knight who cut off my arms was distracted watching the coin in the air, I struck from behind and took his head.
They never expected I could reattach my arm and get up in that situation.
I killed all the hounds, but I wasn't unscathed.
My stomach and back were full of sword wounds.
This was beyond healing – even the god of healing couldn't recover from this.
I painfully picked up the dark-colored dragon statue that had fallen in the snow.
Unable to even uncover the secrets hidden in the ancient relic, I leaned against the cold Ice Wall and waited for death in agony.
Despite chasing strength my whole life, I never gained the power I truly wanted.
'Damn it…'
Just as I was about to breathe my last, strange text appeared before my eyes.
[A powerful will awakens the ancient power.]
[The Elder Dragon's soul is engraved into the spirit of one with will.]
At first, I thought this was nonsense.
[System detects danger to the awakened one.]
[Emergency measures activated.]
[Do you agree?]
Emergency measures or whatever, I'm dying here.
[Do you agree?]
Fine, damn it! I agree.
Woong woong woong woong woong!
[Confirmed agreement of the awakened one.]
[Irreversible promised power activates.]
[Countdown begins.]
[5, 4, 3, 2, 1]
* * *
"And when I opened my eyes, this is how I ended up."
Zeke looked at his reflection in the mirror.
The face that had been full of scars and burn marks was gone, replaced by a young noble with black hair, black eyes, fair skin, and delicate features.
Zeke, who had been in his thirties, had returned to about ten years old.
He looked around.
'I thought this looked familiar…'
It was the room he used in the 'Cradle' when he was young.
"Did I really return to the past?"
Zeke looked down at his body.
He still couldn't forget the sensation of swords deeply embedded in his stomach.
He examined his hands and legs.
'Were my hands this small?'
More importantly, there were almost no scars on his hands.
From wandering the entire continent, there hadn't been a spot without scars on his hands or his whole body.
Zeke clutched his head in contemplation.
"What exactly happened?"
Suddenly, Zeke recalled the voice he heard as his consciousness faded before death.
'What did it say… Emergency measures? Promised power?'
It was difficult to properly grasp the meaning.
"To think I'd return to this insane family…"
After being expelled from the academy at fifteen, Zeke had fled the Draker family.
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.
One of the continent's three transcendent families where all bloodline members receive the Aura's blessing and become Aura users.
Zeke was born as a direct descendant of such House Draker.
'Dragon slayer family sounds nice, but this place is just insane.'
Zeke shuddered recalling what his past self experienced here.
He couldn't understand why he had returned to this terrible past.
"Sigh… I don't know what's what anymore."
That's when it happened.
[Management System rebooting.]
[Checking the Awakener's soul level.]
[Confirmed 100% soul match.]
[Elder Dragon's spirit fully merges with the chosen Awakener's soul.]
[Acquired partial system privileges.]
[Status window access activated.]
'What is this?'
Letters started appearing before his eyes.
[Opening status window.]
Suddenly, translucent text appeared before Zeke's eyes.
[Junior Administrator Status Window]
Name: Zeke Draker
Class: Healer (Rare Grade)
Title: One Blessed by the Great Dragon
Class Skills: Healing factor / Peaceful Mind / Physical recovery / Sense Focus
Active Skills: Vital Strike[E Grade (Beginner)] / Slash[E Grade (Beginner)] / Fatal Strike[D Grade (Beginner)]
Dragon Race Skills: (Viewing Restricted—Requires 10 Karma Points to unlock)
Current Karma Points: 0
Zeke examined the text floating before him. When he tried to touch it, his hand passed through, suggesting it was magical rather than physical.
He read through the status window contents.
"Healer class?"
He recalled ancient knowledge from his master long ago. His master said ancient people divided themselves into classes based on their potential and developed corresponding techniques.
'Given these terms like class and skills, this must be related to those ancient relics.'
Looking at the 'Healing'text among class skills, Zeke called out hopefully,
"Healing."
Suddenly his hand glowed white. Zeke was startled.
"I've already awakened the ability?"
In his previous life, he didn't awaken healing abilities until after turning twenty.
Realizing he could still use Healing, Zeke understood some abilities from before the regression remained.
"If I awakened Healing, then maybe…?"
Zeke closed his eyes and concentrated. He felt mana move near his solar plexus.
Zeke's eyes flew open.
"The middle diantan is open."
The Draker family's secret Dragon Slaying technique requires opening the lower diantan after awakening aura.
Unable to awaken aura, Zeke couldn't open his lower diantan or learn true Dragon Slaying techniques.
Though talented as a Healer but unable to handle aura, Zeke learned to open his middle diantan from his master to control mana.
'I thought I was going to die learning this.'
Zeke tried moving while channeling mana.
Whoosh!
His balance wavered and he stumbled.
His young body couldn't move as smoothly as before.
'It'll improve with training.'
At least the situation was much better than before regression.
He turned his attention back to the status window.
"Skills. What's this?"
Zeke pressed 'Peaceful Mind' with his finger.
The page turned and new text appeared.
―Skill Description―
Peaceful Mind: Maintains user's mental state calm and undisturbed in any situation.
Zeke tilted his head.
"So there were skills besides Healing."
Since concepts like class and skills weren't used in the current era, he hadn't known what skills he possessed.
'Maybe the Peaceful Mind skill is why I'm so calm despite experiencing such an absurd situation.'
Even Zeke thought he was surprisingly composed for someone who died horribly and regressed.
He checked other skills.
―Class Skills―
Healing: Creates healing light that recovers wounds.
Peaceful Mind: Maintains user's mental state calm and undisturbed in any situation.
Physical recovery: Replenishes depleted stamina and reduces fatigue.
Sense focus: Temporarily heightens senses to increase consciousness speed.
After reading through his skills, Zeke tried using Sense Focus.
His senses sharpened as if time slowed down.
He nodded.
"This feeling is familiar. I might have used it unconsciously during combat."
After checking class skills, Zeke pressed active skills.
―Active Skills―
Vital Strike (E Grade): Increases lethality by striking vital points more accurately.
Slash (E Grade): Performs quick slashing attacks while disrupting enemy vision.
Fatal Strike (D Grade): Can deliver lethal attacks. However, failed attacks risk counterattacks.
Zeke pondered the active skills.
"Finishing moves? Secret techniques? Something like that."
After checking active skills, Zeke tried pressing Dragon Race Skills at the bottom.
But instead of skill descriptions, a message appeared.
[Dragon Race Skills viewing restricted. Requires 10 Karma Points to view these skills.]
"Karma Points?"
It was an unfamiliar term. Even his master, who was knowledgeable about ancient wisdom, never mentioned it.
As he was about to check about Karma Points…
Knock knock.
Someone knocked.
The status window disappeared when Zeke instinctively thought about closing it.
"Come in."
At Zeke's permission, someone entered.
White slicked-back hair, well-groomed beard, wearing a monocle – a well-built elderly man.
Zeke was startled.
'Decker?'
Decker was a butler dispatched from the Draker main family.
He looked at Zeke with sharp eyes and said,
"Still not ready… What are you thinking, young master?"
Zeke instinctively shrunk at Decker's sharp voice.
The past Zeke felt unconscious fear toward Decker.
But now was different.
He wasn't an ordinary child anymore.
Something appeared before Zeke's eyes.
[Peaceful Mind skill activated.]
Skills seemed to activate automatically according to his thoughts.
Having regained composure, Zeke met Decker's eyes and said:
"Ready? Ready for what?"
Decker adjusted his monocle and replied,
"Don't tell me you forgot about today's evaluation test."
Zeke was startled by Decker's words.
'Evaluation test…?'
Decker looked at Zeke and said,
"You must prepare quickly. Being late for the evaluation test means deducted points…"
That's when Zeke raised his head and asked Decker,
"Decker, what's today's date, no, what year and date is it?"
Decker stared at Zeke for a moment, adjusted his monocle again, and said in a dry voice,
"It's October 14th, 1035 Liberation Era."
Zeke calculated the date.
'If it's 1035, and I died in 1055, that's exactly 20 years ago. Twelve years old. And October 14th…'
After organizing his thoughts, Zeke looked at Decker and said:
"Right. The Cradle always had year-end evaluations around this time."
Decker looked down at Zeke and said,
"As I mentioned before, you won't survive in the Draker family if you keep avoiding reality like this, young master."
Though his voice tried to exclude emotion, it contained sincerity.
Then Zeke looked up at Decker and said,
"Avoid? Me?"
He clenched his fist with a cracking sound.
"Why would I avoid reality when I've finally returned?"
Zeke's eyes flashed.
"When there are so many people I need to repay."