Chapter 187
Zeke recalled the dragon warrior he would often summon and command.
It seemed like a specter but was not a specter, and neither an undead, demon, nor golem.
Although their forms were different, the existence most similar to the mansion’s specters was none other than the dragon warrior.
Zeke slowly approached those entities.
SWOOSH!
Zeke passed through their etherealized bodies.
‘Are they going back and forth between etherealization and materialization?’
Zeke first entered the inner chamber after passing by them.
‘What is this place…?’
Surprisingly, the inner chamber was a wizard’s laboratory.
‘Richmond coveted this mansion for a research lab, and it really was a research lab.’
The research space was filled with unfamiliar, strange experimental tools, magical books, and failed artifacts stacked up.
After looking around the research facilities, Zeke soon shook his head.
“Hmm, I can’t tell what anything is. Would showing this to Richmond help me understand?”
As Zeke tried to summon Richmond, instead of Richmond’s response, a message window appeared.
[Summoning is restricted by the security system in this area.]
It seemed summoning was impossible here.
Zeke gave up calling Richmond and continued exploring the laboratory.
Slowly examining the place, he discovered something placed in the middle of the laboratory.
“What is this?”
It was a device similar to what he had seen in the Hero King’s sanctuary.
A green gemstone floated inside a transparent cylinder. Zeke slowly approached the side with the gemstone.
Suddenly, a system window responded.
[Connecting to Archmage Hoshgar’s spiritual regeneration device.]
[Spiritual regeneration device is activated.]
WHOOOOOM!
The cylinder containing the gemstone vibrated and flashed brightly.
Simultaneously, a group of light began to form a shape.
Zeke stepped back, warily watching the light cluster and scanning the surroundings.
And after a moment, someone walked out from within the light cluster.
“WHEW. I wondered if this would really work, but it did.”
A shadowy figure wearing a robe decorated with elaborate patterns.
Zeke felt a sense of familiarity from the suddenly appearing shadowy figure.
‘Master Kaisir?’
It felt similar to Kaisir, who had appeared in spirit form and passed down the Elemental Sword to him.
The person called Hoshgar removed the hood covering their face.
Contrary to the title of Archmage, a young woman’s face was revealed.
But Zeke was startled by something else when he saw her.
“Dragon eyes?”
The woman’s two irises were shining golden like a dragon’s eyes, just like Zeke’s.
Hoshgar tilted her head, looking at Zeke.
“Oh? What’s this. I was sure it was a dragon being, but it’s a human.”
Zeke spoke to Hoshgar.
“Are you Archmage Hoshgar?”
She chuckled and replied, “Having seen everything through the system window, why are you asking?”
Zeke felt goosebumps at Hoshgar’s words.
‘She knows about the system window?’
Aside from himself, this was the first time he’d encountered someone who knew about the system window.
Zeke swallowed hard and asked Hoshgar, “Do you know about the system window, the administrator system?”
“This?”
When Hoshgar waved her hand, a system window surprisingly appeared in front of her. Zeke was even more shocked seeing the system window she created.
“Can this be seen by others?”
“What. Looks like you weren’t properly educated. Didn’t your contract dragon teach you this?”
Zeke’s expression subtly changed.
“I have not contracted with a dragon.”
Hoshgar furrowed her brow at those words.
“How is that possible? How can you be an administrator without contracting a dragon?”
“Is becoming an administrator something that can only be done by contracting with a dragon?”
Hoshgar shook her head and sighed.
“Ah, where do I even begin explaining? The original ‘me’ didn’t leave this spirit to explain such things.”
Hoshgar waved her hand again.
Suddenly, the space shifted sideways, and a completely different space appeared instead of the laboratory.
Zeke broke out in a cold sweat seeing Hoshgar’s dimension-shifting magic.
‘She’s called an Archmage… I can’t even gauge what level she’s at.’
The changed space was an antique-style reception room.
Hoshgar asked Zeke, “What would you like to drink? I have drip coffee, espresso, latte, and tea.”
Zeke didn’t fully understand what Hoshgar was saying but responded without showing it.
“I’ll have tea.”
“Okay. Sit there.”
Zeke obediently sat on the sofa. Hoshgar went to the shelves on one side of the reception room and skillfully brewed tea and poured coffee for herself.
She sat across from Zeke with the tea and coffee.
“Try it. I cast a preservation spell, so the tea should be fine.”
Zeke tasted the tea, savoring its aroma.
Although it was tea made by an Archmage, it was more ordinary than he had expected.
Hoshgar slowly sipped the black liquid in a small cup.
“What is that?”
“Espresso. Are you really asking because you don’t know?”
“I’ve never seen it before.”
“Good grief. You at least know what coffee is?”
“I know coffee. It seems different from this espresso thing.”
“Hmm. I guess a lot has changed over time. Anyway, looking at the system, the year is Liberation Era 1041.”
Suddenly, Kaisir, who used to count years by the Chronos calendar, came to mind.
“You know the Liberation Era?”
“What else would I count the years by?”
“No, nothing.”
Hoshgar stared at Zeke for a moment, then took another sip of espresso.
“I’ve been away from the current realm for a thousand years.”
“What do you mean by leaving the current realm?”
“Do you know the term ‘transcendence’?”
“I’ve never heard it before.”
“Hmm, has this term also disappeared? So much has changed in a thousand years. To explain simply, it means going beyond the physical body bound to the current realm and advancing to a higher dimension.”
“Do you mean becoming a spirit and going to the fairy realm?”
“Huh? What are you talking about?”
“Nothing.”
Though the feeling was similar to Kaisir, knowing the Liberation Era and other things seemed different.
Hoshgar put down her espresso cup and said, “Anyway, what you see now isn’t the real ‘me’. My actual essence has already moved to a higher dimension, and what you see now is my spiritual state fixed before transcendence.”
“So you exist, but not in this realm?”
“Oh, you’re quite smart. Are you a mage?”
“I’m a knight.”
Hoshgar looked slightly disappointed at the word “knight”.
“It would have been better if you were a mage. Disappointing, but what can you do.”
Zeke looked at Hoshgar, who was expressing her regret.
An Archmage from a thousand years ago.
But he had never heard the name Hoshgar before.
‘If it was a thousand years ago, she would have participated in the Liberation War. Yet I’ve never heard her name…’
Zeke carefully spoke.
“Hoshgar, do you know Terakan Dreiker?”
At his words, Hoshgar stopped mid-motion of bringing the espresso cup to her lips.
Her expression became considerably cold compared to before.
“Terakan. Yes, I know him.”
From Hoshgar’s reaction, Zeke could immediately tell that she was not on good terms with Terakan Dreiker.
While wondering what to say, Hoshgar spoke first.
“How could I forget that idiot who made such a fuss about reviving the contract dragon he killed?”
Zeke was taken aback by Hoshgar’s blunt statement.
‘Terakan tried to revive Bahamut?’
He recalled a similar mention from the video Terakan Dreiker left on the ark in his middle age.
‘Passing through the Dark Sea, he might be able to find Bahamut somewhere.’
Zeke asked Hoshgar, “Is that possible?”
Hoshgar’s face twisted.
“Possible? It’s impossible to resurrect even a dead human. How could he possibly revive a dragon, especially one called the strongest dragon, Bahamut? It’s nonsense.”
Zeke nodded at Hoshgar’s words.
Resurrection was as absurd as the imperial emperor dreaming of immortality.
Hoshgar looked at Zeke and said, “Let’s not talk about Terakan. It irritates me.”
From what he heard, Hoshgar and Terakan were not on good terms, but they seemed to know each other well.
‘Perhaps one of the heroes erased from legend?’
Hoshgar looked at Zeke and asked, “So, what exactly are you? You have the power of a dragon person but aren’t a dragon person. You have administrator system access without contracting a dragon. This doesn’t make sense by my knowledge.”
Zeke hesitated, then decided to share one of his secrets.
Having met someone who knew about the system, he wanted to understand exactly what it was.
Zeke opened his inventory and took out a black dragon statue.
An ancient artifact from the Elder Dragon’s sanctuary.
Zeke held out the statue to Hoshgar and asked, “Do you know what this is?”
Hoshgar looked at the statue and slowly reached out her hand. She received the statue and examined it from various angles.
After a moment, she slowly put it down and let out a sigh.
“Ha…”
Hoshgar looked at Zeke and said, “I don’t know what it is.”
Zeke’s expression instantly twisted.
“I thought you knew something.”
“I know something. That there exists something I don’t know.”
Hoshgar wiggled her finger while looking at the dragon statue.
“What’s your name?”
“Zeke.”
He deliberately didn’t mention his family name, but Hoshgar didn’t seem to care.
“Well, Zeke. To put it this way, it’s rare that I don’t know something. I usually know everything.”
It was an incredible display of confidence.
Hoshgar examined the black dragon statue from side to side and clicked her tongue.
“Wow, I can’t even tell what this is made of. What is its identity?”
Zeke told Hoshgar, “It’s an artifact from the Elder Dragon.”
“What?”
Hoshgar looked perplexed by Zeke’s words.
She slightly trembled her fingertips and re-examined the dragon statue.
Then she slowly looked at Zeke.
“Where did you get this?”
“I brought it from the Elder Dragon’s sanctuary.”
Hoshgar made a complicated expression, scanning the dragon statue and then looking at Zeke.
She soon nodded as if she understood something.
“Now I know why my spirit was regenerated after a thousand years. That’s why.”
Hoshgar continued looking at Zeke.
“I can roughly understand your situation. You couldn’t learn about the system.”
“If I understand correctly, the administrator system seems to be an ability given only to dragon contractors. Is that right?”
“Yes. Exactly. It was created so dragons could more efficiently lend their power to their contractors.”
“Does that mean dragon contractors can use the dragon’s power?”
“Since their souls are connected, they can use some of it. Karma is quite funny. The contracted dragon can’t use its own power, but the contractor can use the dragon’s power through the system.”
Zeke now understood why the system window appeared in Terakan’s view.
He asked Hoshgar again, “What are dragon people? Are you a dragon person too?”
“You’re curious. Well, that’s understandable. Dragon people are… a kind of workaround.”
“A workaround?”
“Yes. A method dragons created to spend more time with their contractors.”
“So dragon people aren’t a separate race? In legends, I understood there was a dragon people race.”
“It’s not quite a race, but they’re certainly beyond human. They’ve cheated the law of karma by sharing the heart of their contracted dragon, becoming an existence that’s neither human nor dragon.”
Zeke was shocked by those words.
‘Sharing a dragon’s heart?’
In Zeke’s mid-chest, Bahamut’s heart slumbers. But he hasn’t contracted with a dragon.
He had only received the Elder Dragon’s spirit and gained administrator system permissions.
‘So I have dragon people’s power, but I’m not a dragon being, have no contract dragon, but possess administrator abilities.’
Hoshgar looked at Zeke and said, “You must be curious about many things, but frankly, I don’t have much time. I’ll explain why I’ve appeared before you as a spirit.”
Her eyes gleamed.
“My name is Hoshgar Nirvana. I’m the Archmage who has crossed a thousand years to deliver the prophecy of destruction.”
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