Dragonslayer’s Class Regression 12

Chapter 12

When Duke noticed Zeke’s changing demeanor towards him, he grinned.

‘Little kid. So you’ve finally found the motivation to try.’

The more he looked, the more unusual this guy was.

Many talented individuals had come seeking him, but he had never paid attention to any of them.

For the first time in ten years, someone interesting appeared.

‘Let’s see your skills…’

However, Zeke’s body suddenly darted towards the exit in the back.

Duke’s eyes, which had expected Zeke to charge at him, filled with bewilderment.

‘Huh? Look at this guy.’

After hesitating briefly, he immediately moved his feet.

In an instant, Duke was blocking Zeke’s path.

Zeke clenched his molars and changed direction again.

He amusingly blocked Zeke’s path again by getting ahead of where he was trying to go.

After stepping back, Zeke opened his mouth towards Duke .

“Why are you doing this to me, Sir?”

 Duke looked at Zeke with disbelief.

“I’ve seen people begging me to teach them something, but this is the first time I’ve encountered something like this.”

Zeke shook his head and said.

“I have no such intentions, so please let me go.”

“Huh… Really? You have absolutely no desire to learn anything from me?”

Zeke nodded.

“I don’t even have enough time to master what I already know.”

CRACK!

Suddenly, a vein popped up on Duke’s forehead.

Soon his body rippled and disappeared.

When Duke reappeared, he threw a sword towards Zeke.

Catching the claymore, Zeke said.

“Can I go now?”

Then Duke crossed his arms and looked down at him, saying.

“No, you can’t just leave.”

 Duke had now become stubborn.

His body rippled again.

And at that moment, a long line was drawn across the greenhouse between Duke and Zeke.

He looked at Zeke and said.

“I don’t care what method you use. If you can cross this line, I’ll grant whatever you wish.”

“How can you make such an irresponsible promise without knowing what I want?”

“I said I’ll grant anything! You cheeky little brat!”

Zeke took up his stance with the claymore as if he had no choice.

“You’ve clearly promised.”

 Duke grinned.

“Yes. Just try it.”

Holding the claymore, Zeke activated Flash Step and charged rapidly towards Duke.

Duke just stood still beyond the line.

WHOOSH!

Though he clearly rushed forward, suddenly the floor and ceiling switched places.

‘Huh?’

The ground flew towards his face.

THUD!

An enormous impact hit his face.

Zeke found himself sprawled on the dirt floor.

‘This is…’

Face planted in the ground, Zeke recalled being similarly caught by his master before the regression.

‘Damn, getting caught like this after so long feels terrible.’

Zeke jumped up from the ground.

Duke was yawning while cleaning his ear.

Zeke charged towards  again.

BANG!

The result was the same.

He was suddenly lying on the floor again, with the greenhouse ceiling in view.

“Sigh…”

Seeing Zeke emanating a different aura than before,  grinned.

“How about it? Are you finally getting a bit interested?”

Zeke gripped the claymore tightly.

Then he sprang forward again.

The result was the same as before.

Duke inwardly relished watching Zeke get up while breathing heavily.

‘You cheeky brat. After getting up and down about ten times, you’ll be grabbing my legs and begging.’

As Duke predicted, Zeke kept charging and was repeatedly thrown to the ground.

However, as time passed, Duke’s expression gradually darkened.

‘Wait, how many times has it been now?’

With the full-force charges being redirected and slammed down, his back should have been broken from the pain.

But this little brat kept getting up again and again, whether it was ten or twenty times, without getting tired.

Around the two hundredth time, Duke felt something was going wrong.

He spoke to Zeke in a low voice.

“Kid. Why don’t you give up?.”

Zeke was staggering as if about to collapse while breathing heavily.

Nevertheless, he gripped the claymore tightly and charged at  again.

The result was the same.

BANG!

This time, something must have hit wrong as there was a louder sound than before when he fell.

But even this time, without fail, Zeke staggered back up.

Bloodshot eyes filled with killing intent met ‘s gaze.

Even Duke flinched at that look.

‘What kind of child has eyes like that…?’

It was like looking at a mercenary who had spent decades on the battlefield.

That’s when it happened.

Suddenly Zeke corrected his stance and charged forward.

At Zeke’s sudden charge, Duke tried to suppress his bewilderment and prepare to counter the attack.

However, something completely different from the previous two hundred times occurred.

[Skill Dragon’s Dignity has been activated.]

SWOOSH!

Killing intent and pressure erupted that sent chills down Duke ‘s spine.

Though brief, his movement faltered.

Zeke didn’t miss that opening.

[Skill Dragon’s Eye is activating.]

Charging forward at high speed with his sword, Zeke used Dragon’s Eye to catch Duke’s movements that he couldn’t see before.

The moment  tried to grab and flip the charging sword, Zeke let go of it and immediately activated his skill.

[Skill Flash Step has been activated.]

After abandoning the sword, he shot forward in a low stance, almost rolling.

The line was right in front of him.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

That was when it happened.

WHOOSH!

In an instant, Duke’s body split into multiple copies.

These duplicates of Duke lined up to block Zeke.

‘This is…?’

Zeke’s body floated up into the air again.

The ground and ceiling flipped.

CRASH!

It felt like his entire spine was being crushed.

He heard the system’s voice in his ears.

[Fatigue has exceeded dangerous levels due to excessive skill usage.]

[Consciousness will be forcibly suspended for user safety.]

Other messages appeared afterwards, but Zeke could no longer hear them.

‘Ah… no.’

Zeke’s vision blurred just as he was about to reach the line.

Soon his vision went dark and he lost consciousness.

* * *

Zeke woke up in the Platinum Floor bedroom.

“Are you conscious, young master?”

When he opened his eyes, Decker approached Zeke.

He asked while getting up.

“What happened?”

“You’re asking the question I was going to ask, young master.”

Decker adjusted his monocle and continued.

“You were lying unconscious on the lobby sofa.”

Zeke could roughly guess what had happened.

‘Duke must have brought me here after I fainted.’

Decker stood up and said.

“If you’re feeling unwell anywhere, I’ll call a healer.”

Zeke waved his hand at his words.

“No. It’s fine. I was too focused on training earlier and must have fallen asleep on the sofa while taking a break.”

Despite it being hard to believe, Decker simply nodded without further comment.

“Understood. Please call if you need anything, young master.”

After Decker left, Zeke got up from the bed and recalled what happened in the greenhouse.

“Damn… I almost succeeded.”

Zeke knew well the strengths of his abilities.

Infinite stamina and Healing factor.

He fell and got up over two hundred times to bait Duke into letting his guard down.

The moment he detected an opening, he used Dragon’s Dignity and Dragon’s Eye to strike.

Though it was an irregular tactic, Zeke had used all his capabilities while hiding his Mid-Level power to target Duke’s opening.

‘As expected of a former Black Knight. This level isn’t enough, huh.’

The reason Zeke knew Duke’s identity was thanks to Andrei Draker.

In his past life, he had learned about Andrei and Duke’s relationship by chance while carrying out a mission.

In the future, Andrei Draker would become known as the Red-Eyed Knight.

The reason he could become a Red Knight at a young age despite not being a pureblood was because he was Duke Draker’s disciple who inherited his secret technique.

‘After inheriting Duke Draker’s secret technique, Andrei was able to grow quickly even without pureblood abilities.’

Zeke gritted his teeth.

‘If I could inherit Duke’s secret technique, I could have gotten stronger faster than now.’

Then a message appeared before Zeke’s eyes.

[There are unconfirmed messages. Would you like to check them?]

‘Unconfirmed messages?’

When Zeke selected confirm, a message window appeared.

[D-rank skill ‘Flash Step’ evolves into C-rank skill ‘High-Speed Movement’.]

Zeke nodded at the text that appeared.

“A C-rank skill. At least I gained something.”

Then another message appeared.

[User’s strong will has manifested and the soul has grown.]

[System functions have been activated along with soul growth. Would you like to check the functions?]

‘System functions?’

Though he wasn’t sure exactly what it meant, he decided to check it out.

[The following functions can be activated with Karma Points: Activate Mini-map (20) / Activate Inventory (20) / Activate Beginner Quest Book (45)]

“What is this?”

Zeke pressed for an explanation.

-Mini-map: Can understand the structure of terrain and features in map form.

-Inventory: Can store items within the acceptable capacity range.

-Beginner Quest Book: Tutorials and missions are presented for efficient growth of lower-level administrators.

‘Hmm… I don’t understand even after seeing the explanation.’

He could only somewhat understand the inventory activation function.

‘Mini-map and inventory activation each need 20 karma points.’

Since he had 40 karma points left, he could activate both inventory and mini-map right away.

‘I’m not sure what it means to store items. Will I get something like a bag?’

After contemplating, Zeke used points to activate the inventory.

[Inventory function will be activated.]

DING!

Along with a signal sound, a grid of 5×5 squares, totaling 25 boxes, appeared before his eyes.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

[When you designate an item you want to store, it will be stored in the inventory.]

Zeke tilted his head after reading the explanation and picked up the claymore that was standing next to the bed.

‘Do I just think about storing it?’

At that moment, the claymore he was holding disappeared from Zeke’s hand.

“Huh?”

The vanished claymore was inside a square box floating before his eyes.

“What is this?”

Zeke’s claymore occupied two slots out of the 25 slots.

[Items take up different amounts of inventory space depending on their size and weight.]

[If you want more storage space, expand your inventory with karma points.]

[To retrieve stored items, just think of the item’s name or form.]

‘Name or form?’

Zeke concentrated on thinking about the claymore.

SWOOSH!

Suddenly the claymore appeared in Zeke’s hand.

It was unbelievable even seeing it.

“This is way better than a spatial storage box.”

It wasn’t that artifacts capable of warping space to reduce cargo volume didn’t exist.

The problem was that they were extremely expensive.

Even in his past life, Zeke had a small spatial storage box due to his occupation, but it wasn’t as cost-effective as the inventory.

“Plus, you can even expand this storage space. What a jackpot.”

Although he failed Duke’s test, he gained a new power instead.

Zeke marveled at the usefulness of the administrator system.

‘If this is just the junior administrator functions, what about higher grades?’

There could be incredibly useful functions beyond imagination.

The issue was the karma points needed to activate functions.

“To get more points, I need to hunt magical beasts…”

Originally, he planned to leisurely hunt dungeons after becoming a purple knight.

But if karma points were this valuable, he needed to start dungeon hunting earlier.

“This… I’ll need to revise my plans.”

Knock knock!

Just then, someone knocked.

Zeke sensed Decker’s presence beyond the door.

“Come in.”

Decker entered the room and said to Zeke.

“Young master, a message has been delivered to you.”

“A message?”

Zeke received the note Decker handed over.

When he opened the note, there was one line written in messy handwriting.

-Kid. Come find me if you want to try again.

Zeke grinned seeing the message.

‘Since he blocked me with a secret technique at the last moment, he’s giving me another chance to challenge him.’

It wasn’t a complete failure.

The opportunity to inherit Duke’s vision still remained.

Then Decker spoke to Zeke.

“Young master. I have something to tell you.”

“What is it?”

“I found the blacksmith you mentioned before.”

Zeke nodded at Decker’s words.

“When did you schedule the appointment?”

At his question, Decker’s expression darkened.

“Well… there’s a problem.”

Adjusting his monocle, Decker said,

“The blacksmith you mentioned refused the appointment, saying he no longer makes weapons.”​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​