A Dragonslayer’s Peerless Regression

Chapter 3

At Zeke’s words, Jakenn’s gaze grew sharper.

“Are you insulting me right now?”

To his question, Zeke nodded with clear bright eyes.

“Yeah, that’s right. I’m insulting you, dumbass.”

Jakenn trembled with rage, clenching his fists tightly.

Zeke spoke calmly.

“So, what are you going to do about it? Fight me or not. If not… anyone ballsy here?”

Jakenn suppressed his fury with great difficulty and turned to the head instructor, Pan.

“Is this acceptable, Instructor?”

Pan hesitated for a moment before nodding.

“If Zeke himself is fine with it, then I have no objections.”

With the instructor’s permission, Jakenn and Liam stepped onto the sparring arena together.

Zeke stood opposite them with a relaxed expression. His eyes moved to Liam, who was standing beside Jakenn.

‘Seeing that guy here again feels strange.’

Liam Stone.

In the future, he would become one of the central continent’s most famous figures.

‘The Mercenary King, Liam.’

Unlike the bloodline families of the Draker Household, such as the Conrads or the Vardecs, Liam was from a distant branch of the family. He was practically a forgotten relative.

Even so, the reason he was in The Cradle was to serve as Jakenn Vardec’s attendant.

The Liam that Zeke remembered would receive the Blessing of Aura here and later enter the academy. However, he wouldn’t make it to Valhalla, the higher-tier institution.

Because of his lowly origins, Liam would ultimately be abandoned.

As a free knight wandering aimlessly, Liam would eventually join the knighthood of a small western nation called Baranon. He could have ended his days peacefully as an ordinary knight, but when Baranon was destroyed by the Empire, the knighthood he belonged to was obliterated as well.

With nowhere else to go, Liam became a mercenary, roaming the continent. By sheer chance, he gained enlightenment and became a Red Knight.

The strong always attract followers.

Given the chaotic times, mercenaries were everywhere. Centering on Liam, the Crimson Knight, a massive mercenary group known as the Stone Mercenary Corps was formed. A few years later, after unifying the continent’s three largest mercenary groups, Liam earned the title of Mercenary King in the central continent.

Looking at the quiet boy standing next to Jakenn, Zeke found it odd to think that this would-be Mercenary King stood before him.

‘In my previous life, we were enemies, but this life could be different.’

At that moment, Pan blew his whistle.

“The match begins!”

Jakenn assumed a fighting stance and approached Zeke. But Liam, standing behind, didn’t move at all.

Zeke furrowed his brow and called out to Jakenn.

“I distinctly said both of you should come at me together.”

Jakenn smirked mockingly in response.

“I only humored your childish antics earlier. Don’t expect me to play along now.”

Jakenn charged forward at high speed and delivered a powerful high kick toward Zeke.

Thwack!

The impact was shockingly loud—unbelievably so for a kick from a twelve-year-old. Everyone thought Zeke would crumble from Jakenn’s strike.

“Urgh…”

Contrary to their expectations, it was Jakenn who let out a groan and stumbled back.

His ankle, swollen and bruised, was proof of the cost of his attack.

Zeke lowered his left elbow and remarked casually, “Why’d you slam your leg into my elbow?”

Jakenn struggled to maintain his balance, but his ankle seemed to be completely fractured, making it difficult to stand.

‘Damn it. If that’s the case, I’ll just drag him down with a mount…’

Just as Jakenn prepared to launch another attack, Zeke moved first.

Whoosh!

Zeke executed a low kick aimed directly at Jakenn’s injured leg.

Crunch!

“Gah!”

Jakenn’s face twisted in pain as the strike landed cleanly on his wounded ankle, throwing him off balance.

It was then that Zeke pivoted his body, spinning to generate momentum, and thrust his fist into Jakenn’s side.

Boom!

[Skill Critical Strike activated.]

The full force of Zeke’s spinning Critical Strike shattered Jakenn’s ribs completely.

“Urgh…”

Jakenn fell to his knees, gasping for air, before collapsing entirely.

Breathing heavily, Zeke turned to Liam, who was still standing behind.

“Are you just going to keep standing there?”

Liam glanced at Jakenn, who was struggling to breathe, his face pale.

“Ugh… Liam! Kill that bastard!” Jakenn managed to shout.

At his command, Liam stepped forward.

As Liam advanced, Zeke adopted a proper guard stance for the first time in the match.

‘Still… is that guy really twelve years old?’

Liam’s limbs were unusually long for someone his age, and his calm demeanor made him look at least five years older.

Zeke’s attention was drawn to Liam’s extended reach.

‘Even in my past life, that long reach was a pain to deal with.’

If Liam gained the initiative, it could shift the entire flow of the fight.

Whoosh!

Zeke darted forward with speed and unleashed a jab.

Pop!

Circling around Liam, Zeke peppered him with jabs, targeting his guard.

Pop! Pop! Pop! Pop!

Zeke’s sharp, precise jabs penetrated Liam’s defenses like a needle. Moving in quick, calculated steps, Zeke danced forward and backward while attacking.

His technique was anything but conventional.

“What’s that?”

The other trainees murmured in confusion at the unfamiliar style.

Even Pan, the instructor, was taken aback by Zeke’s moves.

‘That’s… boxing. But the kind taught to the Northern Rangers?’

It was rare to witness martial arts from the Northern Continent in the Central Continent, where swordsmanship was the dominant discipline.

Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud!

Even as the onlookers murmured in excitement, Liam hunched his body and silently defended against Zeke’s rapid jabs.

Then, Zeke’s footwork faltered slightly, and one of his jabs missed its mark.

Liam’s eyes gleamed.

Whoosh!

In that instant, Liam extended his long arms, coiling around Zeke’s jab as if snatching it.

“Urra-cha!”

In one swift motion, Liam wrapped around Zeke’s arm, attempting to lift him and slam him to the ground.

The significant difference in their weight classes made this possible.

However, just as Zeke was about to be thrown backward with Liam’s arm coiled around him, he twisted his body mid-air with remarkable speed.

Using his smaller frame to his advantage, Zeke countered by wrapping his legs around Liam’s arm, twisting his joints with precision.

Crack!

Before Liam could react, his shoulder dislocated, and his elbow twisted unnaturally.

“Arghhh!”

Liam, whose joint had been bent backward, collapsed onto the sparring ground.

But Zeke didn’t stop at merely disabling Liam’s arm.

Releasing his legs from Liam’s arm, he instead coiled them around Liam’s neck.

“Grrk…!”

Zeke’s legs tightened around Liam’s carotid artery.

Liam refused to tap out until the very end.

Tapping out was a disgrace worse than death or injury in the Draker Household.

Ultimately, Liam passed out without yielding.

“Phew…”

Zeke loosened his grip around Liam’s neck and stood up.

All eyes were fixed on Zeke, who had effortlessly defeated both Jakenn and Liam as if toying with them.

Receiving the intense gazes of the audience, Zeke pointed to someone among the hundred or so trainees.

“Reina Turunn.”

A boy with brown hair and a mature demeanor gazed calmly at Zeke.

Zeke turned his eyes to another direction and pointed.

“Reina Turunn.”

A sharp-eyed girl with a buzzed haircut glared at Zeke with hostility.

Then, Zeke gestured towards the fallen Jakenn.

“Jakenn Vardec, Leon Conrad… aren’t here, so we’ll skip them.”

Addressing the trainees, Zeke said, “Make sure to tell your households this: Zeke Draker isn’t the same as he used to be.”

With those words, Zeke stepped down from the sparring arena.

Owen and Reina silently watched Zeke as he walked out. Noticing their gaze, Zeke clicked his tongue.

“Those don’t look like the eyes of twelve-year-olds.”

As Zeke left the sparring ground, he remained the center of attention, receiving the gazes of the other trainees as he walked away unhurriedly.

Pan, who had been watching Zeke’s back in a daze, finally snapped out of it and made the announcement.

“Zeke! Victory!”

The fallen Jakenn and Liam were moved to the recovery room, and the year-end evaluations continued.

* * *

“Phew…”

Returning to his room, Zeke tossed off his clothes and collapsed onto the bed.

His whole body ached from pushing himself too hard.

“Those brats. Their heads must be spinning trying to figure this out.”

In his previous life, Zeke failed to awaken his Aura, which led to him being treated like trash in The Cradle and the academy, only to be abandoned by his family.

The bitter memory of those days burned vividly in his mind, and he clenched his teeth tightly.

‘By now, my cousins are probably in chaos, scrambling to file their reports.’

Among the cousins who had entered as peers alongside Zeke, there were four in total.

Some, like Leon, had pressured him openly, while most kept their distance, merely observing.

But after witnessing Zeke’s transformation today, even those passive cousins wouldn’t stay idle. Orders from their respective branches of the family were inevitable.

‘I can’t just sit still and let them come for me. I’ll act first and steal the initiative.’

It’s easier to hide in slightly murky waters than in pristine ones.

That was precisely why he had decided to display his strength during the year-end evaluations today.

After all, martial arts were just a fraction of the power he possessed. Revealing this much wasn’t a problem.

Zeke pushed himself off the bed and stood up.

“So, while they’re busy scheming in another direction, I’ll quietly build up my strength.”

He had no intention of enduring passively like in his last life.

This time, his goal was the complete domination of the Draker Household—every last piece of it.

With a cold glint in his eye, Zeke spoke quietly.

“Status window, open.”

[Lesser Administrator’s Status Window]

Name: Zeke Draker
Class: Healer (Rare Grade)
Title: Blessed by the Ancient Dragon
Skills:
– Healing
– Composed Mind
– Vigor Recovery
– Heightened Senses

Active Skills:
– Precise Stab [E Rank (Beginner)]
– Slash [E Rank (Proficient)]
– Critical Strike [D Rank (Beginner)]

Draconian Skills: (Locked―Requires 10 Karma Points for Unlock)
Karma Points Held: 0

‘So the Slash skill advanced from Beginner to Adept, huh?’

Although he didn’t fully understand the mechanism, it seemed that the more he used a skill, the higher its grade would become.

As Zeke reviewed the status window, his gaze lingered on the Karma Points section, and he tilted his head in thought.

‘Hmm… What exactly are Karma Points?’

Unlocking the hidden Draconian Skills required Karma Points, but it was the first time he had encountered such a concept.

With a spark of curiosity, Zeke tapped on the Karma Points entry.

―Karma Points―
You can gain Karma Points by killing mana-infused monsters.

“Hah…”

A wry smile spread across Zeke’s lips.

So that’s what it would take to unlock the secrets of the Draconian Skills.

“Points can only be gained by killing mana-infused monsters?”

The first thing Zeke had done after being cast out of the Draker Household was work as a porter in dungeons.
He had followed low-ranking adventurers, wandering through dungeons where dangerous monsters lurked.

Zeke read the explanation once more.

‘Mana-infused monsters, huh.’

Dungeon monsters lived in organized groups, and attempting to hunt them alone required the capabilities of a Purple Knight-level Aura wielder.

Closing the status window, Zeke fell into thought.

‘To earn Karma Points, I’d need the skills of at least a Purple Knight.’

Currently, Zeke’s state was at the level of a Yellow Knight, as his Middle Dantian had only just been unlocked.

To ascend to a Purple Knight, one needed to awaken their Aura and unlock their Lower Dantian, enabling them to infuse their sword with Aura.

From this stage onward, one was no longer called a “swordsman” but a “knight.”

Advancing further by honing Aura into an Aura Blade would elevate one to the Blue Knight rank. This was the point at which knights were officially acknowledged as true warriors and granted honorary titles.

Blue Knights who broke through the limits of their stage to the next level became Red Knights.

In large kingdoms or empires, Red Knights typically served as the leaders of knight orders, directing their forces.

As a result, the military strength of nations was often measured by the number of Red and Blue Knights they commanded.

However, there existed entities that shattered this conventional hierarchy: beings who transcended human limitations, the so-called superhumans of the continent.

These were the Black Knights, known as “One-Man Legions.”

Throughout the entire continent, the number of Black Knights was so small they could be counted individually.

Astonishingly, the Draker Household possessed five such Black Knights.

Owning even one Black Knight was enough to wipe out an entire small kingdom. With five at their disposal, no one dared to defy the Draker Household—not even the Emperor of the Empire.

‘There’s a reason they’re called one of the three transcendent households.’

The Draker Household, known as the Dragonslayers.
The Ishtar Household, masters of arcane secrets.
The Nirvana Household, preeminent among sorcerers.

These households were independent entities recognized for their sovereignty, untouchable by any law.

Yet Zeke knew that in the future he had seen, this triad of dominance would undergo a significant upheaval.

‘About ten years from now, if I remember correctly.’

He needed to prepare himself and grow stronger before that time came.

‘I don’t know why I regressed to the past or what this system is, but…’

Zeke’s eyes gleamed with determination.

‘If I can become stronger, I’ll use anything at my disposal.’

At that moment, a knock sounded.

Knock, knock.

Zeke called out toward the door.

“Come in.”

The door opened, and in walked Decker, Zeke’s attendant, who seemed more like a knight than any knight.