The Duke's face hardened at the mention of elder dragon.
Arthur opened his mouth slowly.
"No matter what happens, that relic must never fall into the hands of the Emperor."
The Duke nodded.
Arthur rose from his seat.
"While I am away, Duke, keep an eye on the Emperor with your eyes and ears."
"You only pick the annoying tasks to assign me."
"It's not something you have to do yourself. Stop joking around and pay attention to yourself."
The Duke clicked his tongue and shook his head.
Just being strong might have made one the leader of the Draker clan, but it wouldn't last long.
The man before your eyes has been the head of the Draker family for the longest period of time.
It is true that he was overly calculating, but that was also the reason he was able to deal with so many enemies.
The Duke finished his whiskey and stood up.
"I won't send you off separately. Take care of yourself."
Immediately after, Duke's new model disappeared.
Arthur Draker, left alone, took a sip of his whiskey glass and glanced around.
'I felt something. Was it an illusion?'
Arthur never thought that there could be a being that could deceive his senses.
* * *
'An Elder Dragon relic?'
After meeting with Arthur Draker, Zeke left the president's office and stayed nearby, not leaving the main building.
He came out and overheard Arthur Draker and the Duke's conversation with the will of his psychic ability, 'listening'.
Eeeeeing-
Zig, who had withdrawn his will to the blue, felt a strong sense of dizziness.
After absorbing Bahamut's Heart, he was able to use his full power, but the side effects did not completely disappear.
After closing his eyes for a moment and waiting for the dizziness to go away, Zeke was barely able to control his body.
Since Honshinki is a technique that uses the power of the soul rather than the aura, it was possible to eavesdrop on the conversation between the two black knights.
Zeke returned to the Platinum Floor and replayed the conversation between Arthur and Duke.
Zeke, who knew what was going to happen in the future, knew better than anyone how cold and calculating Arthur Draker was.
He was not a thirteen-year-old kid.
Having experienced all sorts of battles in the air, Zeke was not so naive as to be fooled by a momentary kindness.
He had been eavesdropping on the Duke's conversation, suspecting that the Duke had some hidden agenda.
Zeke pondered Arthur's words, 'the relic of the Elder Dragon' and 'the Ice Mountains'.
No matter how I looked at it, it seemed to refer to the black dragon statue he had brought before he died.
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The problem is that it was 19 years later that Zeke discovered the relic in the Ice Mountains.
Little did I know that the Emperor of the Roman Empire had been searching for the relic since then.
Zeke thought back to when he had found the relic before his return.
'Even if you are the head of the Draker family, it will be impossible to find where the relic is hidden.'
Zeke himself was also able to find the relic by a series of coincidences.
Considering the circumstances at that time, it was somewhat understandable why the emperor had not been able to find the relic for over 19 years.
Zig, who had been thinking for a moment, turned on the status window and read his title written on it.
[Blessed by the Dragon]
It was certain that the artifact he had discovered was connected to a being called the Elder Dragon.
However, he could not figure out what connection this system he saw had with the immortality that Emperor Rom desired.
It seemed as though the Emperor of the Roman Empire had turned on the lights.
'I guess I've found a clue to finding out the identity of that relic.'
As Zeke left the main building, he mulled over what Arthur Draker had said.
The man who came to see him called him a piece of trash who couldn't even wake up.
Zeke clenched his fist.
There was no longer any fear or tension about Arthur Draker.
He once again resolved to become the strongest man who could control the entire continent using the Draker family as a stepping stone.
He wanted to become the absolute ruler of not only the Central Continent, but also the Northern Continent, Southern Continent, and Eastern Continent.
'All the Drakes, the Emperors, and all the men of the land will kneel before me.'
* * *
Since the visit of its owner, Arthur Draker, the Academy has been busy with other matters.
This was because the semester evaluation period was approaching.
As an educational institution created by Drake with a strict competitive system as its foundation, the Academy was filled with evaluations, both big and small.
Among them, semester evaluations accounted for the most important proportion in advancement.
This was because without excellent performance here, it was impossible to advance to Valhalla.
Just graduating from the academy would have been enough to get you well-received in most kingdoms, but it was nothing compared to someone from Valhalla.
Because just entering Valhalla could be seen as guaranteeing success.
Students in special classes that had an advantage in advancing to Valhalla were also busy preparing for semester evaluations.
In the case of those who received support from a family, they would sometimes invite the family's knights to provide private tutoring.
This was also the reason why Reina offered Zeke the support of her family.
It was easy to pass the cutoff line for admission to Valhalla because it was easy to manage grades by receiving tutoring from experienced students and preparing according to the evaluation criteria for each semester.
But that wasn't much of a problem for Zeke.
"Damn assessment tests. I already know everything, but it's annoying to have to take them again."
Zeke, who was unable to awaken his aura, was persistently bullied by his instructors.
The instructors deliberately pressured Zeke, who had failed the test, into taking more difficult supplementary tests to mentally stress him out.
Since he was a direct descendant of Draker, he couldn't be expelled right away, so he used that pressure to send a signal to drop out on his own.
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But even though he was bullied by students and teachers, Zeke persevered and persevered until the end and did not drop out.
However, in the end, President Howard himself stepped in and kicked him out of the academy.
Zeke gritted his teeth as he thought about that time.
"This time it will never happen again."
In his personal training room, Zeke practiced his swordsmanship tirelessly, holding a practice claymore.
The swordsmanship he practiced was the basic Yongsal method, consisting of eight basic techniques.
The basic swordsmanship that he had been practicing since his previous life was the swordsmanship that Zig had been practicing for the longest time.
He used the Dragon Slaughter method to generate mana and add his spirit energy.
Whoosh!
Mana containing the will to 'cut' was applied to the sword.
Ziggy then unleashed the Sky Slash from Chapter 1 of the Dragon's Slashing Technique.
Whoosh!
The moment I unleashed the Dragon Slaughter Technique, the mana that had been applied to the sword was scattered.
Zeke looked down at his sword.
"It's not working after all."
I tried to test whether it was possible to use the dragon killing technique that requires the use of aura with mana, but it was impossible.
Even before the dragon killing technique could be properly performed, the mana energy contained in the sword was dispersed.
Zeke picked up his sword and once again added his will to the sword.
Whoosh!
Since I was using a normal horizontal slash instead of the dragon killing technique, the mana didn't disperse.
Zeke lowered his sword and sighed.
Although he received training in the art of the soul from the master he met in the Forest of the Forgotten, which was a forbidden area, Zeke broke his oath and left the restricted area, so he was unable to properly learn all the techniques.
Because of this, he only knew half of the spirit, and was limited in performing high-level swordsmanship without the solar sword Gram, which could convert mana into aura.
The problem was the semester evaluations.
Zeke, who can't use Aura, needs the Sword of Gelion to be evaluated, but several months have passed and there has been no news about him.
If I were to evaluate it in the current situation, it was obvious that I would get a failing grade, just like before the regression.
However, in order to open Terrakan Draker's security vault, you had to go to Valhalla.
Since it was a place that was off-limits to outsiders, the only way to enter was to enroll.
"There are mountains beyond mountains."
Zig gave up on using his full-body swordsmanship and returned to practicing swordsmanship.
Having mastered the basics of the Whirlwind, Zigg already possessed skills on par with the Purple Knight.
Since Zeke had already reached the level of a Red Knight in his previous life, he tried to regain his previous level as soon as possible, and this resulted in success.
Decker approached Zeke as he returned to the floor after finishing his training.
"Your Majesty. A fellow student has come to see you."
Since Zigg didn't have any friends at the academy, he didn't really have anyone he could call a classmate.
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When he went to the reception room, feeling puzzled, he saw an unexpected person waiting for Zeke.
"Liam Stone."
Liam Stone, the future mercenary king, stood up stiffly from his seat.
Then he immediately came up to Zig and knelt down in front of him.
Zeke said as he looked at Liam like that.
"What is this?"
Liam looked up and spoke to Zeke.
"Please accept me."
Zeke was taken aback by the unexpected words.
"Accept it. What do you mean?"
"If you take me in, I will be completely loyal to you."
"Huh, so you want to become my subordinate?"
"I will serve you as my lord."
It was absurd for a thirteen-year-old boy to talk about loyalty and lord.
Zeke said as he looked at Liam like that.
"Do you even know what the oath of allegiance means?"
"I know what you are concerned about. I am also a Draker by blood, though distant. I fully understand the weight of the oath of allegiance."
Zeke blamed his past self for advising Liam Stone like a nerd.
Because he never expected Liam to come and pledge his loyalty to him.
"Is it because of Leon's group? If there have been continued acts of unjust violence since then… … ."
"It's not because of a idiot like Leon Conrad. If you hit me, I'll hit you, and if you insult me, I'll endure it."
"Then there would be no need for you to do this to me."
"I want to go to Valhalla."
In his past life, Liam never went to Valhalla.
It was because Jacken Waldeck, who was with him, did not look after him.
Based on skill alone, there was no reason why Liam couldn't go to Valhalla.
Because he was skilled enough to break through the Red Knight's wall on his own without any help from anyone else.
"You probably know my evaluation at the Academy. It would be absurd to swear allegiance to me and go to Valhalla. Do you have something in mind?"
"It's my feeling."
"You call that a feeling? Are you going to pledge allegiance to me based on such an uncertain feeling?"
"I had a good feeling from the beginning. I wasn't satisfied when I was next to Jacken Waldeck, but I felt like I could gain something if I stayed with him."
"But that feeling was wrong. Is that a good feeling?"
"If it weren't for the confrontation with Master Zeke, Jaken wouldn't have abandoned me."
Although Jaken pretended to be generous, he was the most narrow-minded of the cousins.
You could tell just by looking at the fact that he immediately kicked out Liam after he lost to Zeke in the Pankration.
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He looked at Liam kneeling before him and pondered over his decision.
'Can I accept this guy?'
Zeke had several secrets that he couldn't reveal to anyone else.
If his secret were to leak out before he could properly develop his skills, he could die without anyone knowing.
It was understandable for Zeke to have such thoughts, having experienced the hardships of life.
Then Liam looked at Zeke and said.
"If you tell me to be dumb, I will be dumb. If you tell me to be blind, I will be blind. If you tell me to be deaf, I will be deaf. Please take me away."
Zeke sensed something desperate from Liam.
It was unlikely that the proud mercenary king would cling to him like this just out of curiosity.
He opened his mouth to Liam.
"Get up."
Liam looked at Zeke, flinching.
Zeke spoke again.
"I told you to get up."
Liam jumped to his feet.
"Follow me."
Zeke took Liam to the training room.
Then he gave him a sword.
"If you can withstand my attacks, I will take you in."
Liam was startled by those words.
"Are you saying that all I have to do is hold on?"
It was Liam who awakened Aura with his outstanding talent and created the lower abdomen.
I had heard that Zeke received individual training from a high-ranking knight, but I didn't think there would be that much of a difference since they were the same age.
Zeke said no more and picked up the claymore.
And I used the dragon tribe skill 'Dragon's Majesty'.
Saaaaaaaah!
Liam almost dropped his sword for a moment as the pressure gripped his entire body and the murderous intent stabbed his lungs.
He barely held his sword and clenched his teeth to fight against the oppressive force.
Then Zeke stepped forward, holding his sword.
Whee!
A high-speed movement skill mixed with the essence of the whirlwind was revealed.
At the same time, a sword filled with heavy energy fell towards Liam's crown.
Liam forced his stiff muscles to move, raised his sword, and tried to block Zeke's sword.
Bang!
But the moment he collided with Zeke's sword, Liam was unable to withstand the pressure and ended up dropping the sword.
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At the same time, the pressure that had been weighing on him disappeared.
"Gasp, gasp… … ."
Liam's palms were torn off in the sudden collision, and he was breathing heavily with cold sweat running down his entire body.
Liam trembled in fear as he looked at Zeke standing before him.
Even though he hadn't used an aura, a huge, insurmountable wall stood between him and himself.
Then Zeke said to Liam.