Dragonslayer’s Class Regression 14

Chapter 14

Leon was startled by Zeke’s sudden appearance.

He already knew that Slash Derban, a member of Jiemens, had been beaten by Zeke.

Orders had come down from his direct superiors’ faction to observe the situation for now.

Leon gritted his teeth at Zeke.

“Zeke Draker. You’re quite arrogant now that you’ve achieved pure awakening.”

Zeke spoke while looking at Leon’s gang.

“Bow your heads while I’m still asking nicely.”

Leon’s face turned bright red at Zeke’s words.

Blinded by rage, Leon forgot all about his superiors’ orders and shouted to his gang.

“What are you waiting for?! Get that bastard!”

Leon’s gang was also mostly composed of senior cadets.

Normally, even a special class freshman couldn’t handle senior cadets who had aura training.

But Zeke was no ordinary freshman.

As he stretched, he said.

“Three seconds have passed.”

The senior cadets rushed at Zeke.

“You arrogant brat! We’ll teach you proper academy etiquette!”

Zeke watched the senior cadet charging at him, took a boxing stance, and threw a jab.

WHACK!

The senior cadet couldn’t dodge Zeke’s straight jab and took it directly.

Zeke planned to block movement with the jab and attack the thigh with a low kick.

However, the senior cadet who took the jab lost consciousness and collapsed immediately.

Zeke’s movements, with his combat sense skill constantly active, were on a different level from ordinary cadets.

Leon and his gang flinched when they saw a senior cadet fall from just a light jab.

Zeke looked at them and said:

“I’ll give you one more chance. Bow your heads.”

Leon broke into a cold sweat from Zeke’s terrifying presence.

‘’D-damn it.’’

Leon shouted at the senior cadets.

“What are you doing?! Hurry up and catch that bastard!”

At Leon’s command, about five senior cadets cautiously surrounded Zeke while closing the distance.

Looking at the approaching senior cadets’ faces, Zeke muttered internally:

‘’I was really pathetic in the past. To think I cried every day after getting beaten by guys like these.’’

Back then, the senior cadets seemed like an insurmountable wall he could never resist.

Zeke slowly raised his fist.

“Clench your teeth tight.”

In that moment, Zeke’s fist began its charge.

WHOOSH!

His right hand extended in a straight line.

The punch flew precisely toward the philtrum like a spear shooting out.

BANG!

It created the illusion that the senior cadet’s head had exploded.

The senior cadet whose face caved in from one punch lost consciousness and collapsed.

Zeke didn’t stop there.

From where he stood, he turned clockwise while throwing punches at the faces of the senior cadets surrounding him.

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!

The senior cadets collapsed immediately from Zeke’s punches before they could properly guard.

They had no chance to properly use aura or do anything else.

Zeke stood tall among the fallen senior cadets.

Leon trembled at the sight.

‘H-how is this possible..?’

The Zeke who used to tremble in fear at just his raised hand was gone, replaced by a completely different person.

Zeke slowly approached Leon.

Leon quickly drew the sword at his waist.

Zeke’s eyes turned fierce at the sight.

“You know what it means to draw your sword outside the training grounds, Leon Conrad.”

While Draker allowed anything within the training grounds, drawing real swords was forbidden outside.

Drawing a real sword was considered a duel to the death, with no responsibility taken for any deaths.

Zeke spoke to Liam Stone behind him:

“Liam Stone. You are a witness. Leon Conrad first showed killing intent by drawing his real sword, and I will respond with killing intent accordingly.”

Simultaneously, Zeke drew the claymore on his back.

Killing intent emanated from the blue-gleaming blade of the claymore.

Though Leon stood holding his sword, he was already overwhelmed by Zeke’s presence.

Then, Zeke took a step forward with his sword raised.

Huk…

Leon unconsciously stepped backward.

Retreating like that, he soon found himself blocked by a wall with nowhere else to go.

Leon’s sword-holding hand trembled.

Zeke swung his sword at Leon.

CLANG!

Leon’s sword flew away from the heavy sword strike.

Leon’s face turned pale after losing his sword.

Zeke’s blade touched Leon’s neck.

He spoke in a cold voice:

“Leon Conrad. Do you have any last words? I’ll grant you mercy by delivering your last wishes.”

As the sharp blade touched his skin, Leon finally felt the reality of his situation.

“GULP!”

Leon’s lower body became wet.

He spoke with tears welling up in his eyes.

“P-please spare my life. Please…”

Begging for one’s life from the Draker family was a greater disgrace than death itself.

To Zeke, the image of Leon who used to torment and insult him overlapped with the Leon now begging for his life.

His hand gripping the sword tightened.

The claymore was swung and returned to its scabbard in one motion.

Leon, who had squeezed his eyes shut, was shocked to find his head still attached.

But something felt wrong.

“Huh?”

Sticky blood flowed from his right ear.

He saw his ear lying on the ground.

Zeke spoke to Leon.

“I’ll take your ear in exchange for your worthless life. If you go to a healer to reattach it, I will surely return to take your head next time. Understood?”

Leon nodded without daring to pick up his fallen ear.

Zeke said.

“Get out of here now.”

Leon fled in a hurry.

Zeke looked at the scattered senior students, then turned his head toward Liam who was standing quietly behind.

“Liam Stone. Were you abandoned by Jacken?”

Liam gave no response.

Zeke looked at the silent Liam and turned around.

‘This is no longer my business.’

Just as Zeke was about to leave the secluded alley.

“Why did you help me?”

Liam’s voice came from behind.

Zeke answered without looking back.

“I didn’t particularly help you.”

After standing still for a moment, he turned his head to look at Liam Stone.

“Liam Stone. In the end, the only one who can help you is yourself.”

Zeke turned and left the alley.

Zeke regretted unconsciously saying such clichéd words.

‘’I hate sounding like an old fogey.’’

He shook his head and headed toward Feinan’s laboratory.

As he’d heard before, he found Feinan’s named laboratory at the far end of the second floor of the research building.

Zeke knocked and called for Feinan.

“Professor. New student, Zeke Draker here.”

There was a crashing sound of something falling over inside the room.

The door burst open hastily.

“Zeke?”

He was shocked to see Zeke actually visiting his laboratory.

Feinan spoke with sparkling eyes.

“Do you have questions? What kind of… No, come in first.”

It was unthinkable for a student from the Dragon Slayer family, knights among knights, to be interested in magical theory.

Feinan welcomed Zeke’s visit like a desert traveler finding an oasis.

Inside the laboratory was an absolute mess.

The walls were covered with papers full of strange symbols, and the desk was piled high with thick books and documents.

‘Well, that’s how all mages are.’

Feinan cleared one side of the desk to make room for Zeke.

“Haha. It’s a bit messy, isn’t it? Just sit here for a moment.”

Shortly after, he brought tea in an old cup.

Feinan sat across from Zeke and asked with sparkling eyes.

“So, what brings you here?”

Zeke put down his teacup and took out a parchment from inside his clothes.

“Professor. Could you look at this for a moment?”

Feinan scanned the furnace blueprint that Zeke handed over.

At first, Feinan looked at the blueprint casually, but his expression gradually became serious.

While staring intently at the blueprint, he asked Zeke.

“Where did you… get this?”

Seeing Feinan’s reaction, Zeke realized he had come to the right person.

‘While combat mages are common, mages who can design magical drives are surprisingly rare. Fortunate.’

Zeke asked Feinan.

“Professor, I’ll ask you directly. Would it be possible for you to design the magical drive used in this furnace?”

Feinan looked at the blueprint and fell into thought for a moment with his chin resting on his hand.

He put down the blueprint and said to Zeke.

“I don’t know where you got this from, but… in my opinion, if you request this from the Magic Tower, they’ll either reject it or charge over 10,000 gold for the commission.”

Zeke was surprised by Feinan’s words.

“How did you know that?”

Feinan gave a bitter smile at Zeke’s reaction.

“When the Magic Tower receives a commission that isn’t profitable, they indirectly say it’s difficult to accept by quoting such prices. After all, no one would spend 10,000 gold to make a furnace.”

Zeke recalled that the future Gelion actually made that furnace.

Whether he really paid 10,000 gold to the Magic Tower or hired another mage was unknown.

Feinan stroked his chin and said.

“To answer your question first, I would say it’s possible.”

Zeke’s expression brightened at those words.

“Really? If so, I’d like to commission you for the design.”

Then Feinan raised his hand.

“You should hear my explanation first.”

Feinan spread out the blueprint and pointed to the core part of the furnace.

“This part is the core. Every device that uses magical power has this core. But… as you can see, this furnace’s core is not typical.”

“What do you mean?”

“It’s the size of a small core but outputs power beyond a large core. This is why the Magic Tower refused the request.”

Feinan continued his explanation.

“Moreover, this core needs to freely adjust its output with almost no time delay. It’s an extremely intricate and difficult operating formula.”

Zeke looked at Feinan and asked,

“Does that mean it’s still possible to design?”

Feinan replied with a serious expression.

“There are two ways. First, I can design the operating formula considering these two conditions. The problem is just calculating it would take about… ten years.”

Zeke’s jaw dropped.

Feinan continued,

“Second, with a high-compression mana stone, we could make that furnace with just a simple operating formula.”

Zeke’s eyes widened.

“Isn’t a high-compression mana stone an ancient relic that can’t be made with modern technology?”

Feinan nodded.

“That’s right. They’re rare, found only in ancient ruins, and extremely expensive. A mana stone powerful enough for this furnace would cost about three thousand gold.”

Zeke fell into thought again.

Even for a pureblood Draker, it was impossible for a new academy student to procure such a large sum as three thousand gold.

If he became an official knight of his family, he could get not just fifty thousand gold but also high-compression mana stones, but that was impossible right now.

‘Hmm… I need Gelion’s sword to draw out all the power of the Middle Diantan. This is troublesome.’

Since mana power was close to pure, unprocessed natural force and wasn’t originally meant for humans to handle, developing application techniques was difficult.

However, if mana could be converted to aura, it was possible to perform human swordsmanship with Middle Diantan power.

That’s why Zeke absolutely needed the sun sword Gram.

‘Damn, but where can I get a high-compression mana stone right now?’

While Zeke was pondering, Feinan examined the blueprint carefully and exclaimed in admiration.

“By the way, this blueprint is really well made. Except for the core, the other parts are structured incredibly efficiently. This kind of thing is hard to find even in Golden Age ruins…”

At Feinan’s words, Zeke snapped to attention.

“W-wait. What did you just say?”

“Hm? Golden Age ruins…”

Suddenly something flashed through Zeke’s mind.

‘If it’s Golden Age ruins…’

One piece of future information came to mind.

Zeke stood up and said to Feinan:

“Professor, please work on the operating formula design until I return.”

“Are you really requesting the design? It could take ten, no, more than fifteen years…”

“I’ll bring it.”

“Bring what?”

“A high-compression mana stone.”

Zeke said with a serious expression.

“I have a way to obtain one.”