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[Translator - Peptobismal]
[Proofreader - Max]
Chapter 17
[Do you wish to absorb the Heart of the Cursed Light Dragon Bahamut?]
'Absorb Bahamut's heart?'
It was not just any dragon's heart, but Bahamut's heart.
Normally, a dragon's heart was used by alchemists or mages to create magic tools, so it was questionable whether a person could even absorb it.
Perhaps Nirvana, a family of mages, could melt it into their bodies in some bizarre way, but to Zeke's knowledge, the very concept of absorbing a dragon's heart was unfamiliar.
'Wouldn't there be some side effects from absorbing it?'
Perhaps because he had been through so much in his past life, Zeke was always suspicious first.
Just then, a message appeared on the system again.
[Do you wish to absorb the Heart of the Cursed Light Dragon Bahamut?]
Zeke pondered as he looked at the message that reappeared.
It was a legacy and arrangement left by his ancestor, Terakan Draker.
Since he had blocked the curse that tried to contaminate his mind with his mental defenses and inherited the legacy with his spirit, there shouldn't be any particular risk.
Zeke looked at the system message and nodded.
"Absorb."
Woooong!
As Zeke made his decision, the glass tube containing Bahamut's heart vibrated.
At the same time, an even brighter light poured out from the radiant heart.
"Wh-what?"
The light emanating from Bahamut's heart gathered into one and pierced Zeke's solar plexus.
"Ugh!"
Zeke felt the highly concentrated mana flowing into his body.
He almost lost consciousness for a moment due to the unexpected surge of power.
'N-no.'
He unconsciously used the Soul-Body Technique he learned from his master to spread the inflowing highly concentrated mana throughout his body.
Starting from his ether hall, the mana circulated throughout his body and returned to his ether hall.
"Ugh..."
Zeke gritted his teeth and focused on controlling the highly concentrated mana.n/ô/vel/b//jn dot c//om
Before he knew it, his body was floating in the air.
Streams of light continued to flow from Bahamut's heart.
Woooong!
Now, the entire glass tube was shaking, and soon cracks began to appear on its surface.
Crackle!
As the amount of mana flowing into Zeke's body increased, the glass tube was on the verge of shattering.
Even as this happened, the highly concentrated mana circulated through Zeke's body several times, accumulating layer by layer within his ether hall.
And by accepting the mana, which was pure energy itself, throughout his body, the impure energy and waste products within Zeke were cleansed.
Every time Zeke exhaled, black smoke containing negative energy poured out from his nose and mouth.
At the same time, Zeke's body began to change.
Crack!
His muscles and bones spontaneously transformed, finding their optimal balance.
His muscle fibers became tougher, and his bones became denser and harder.
Crack! Crack!
"Ugh!"
Zeke gritted his teeth so hard his jaw felt like it would break from the pain, as if every bone in his body was being shattered.
But he didn't scream, focusing solely on controlling the mana with the Soul-Body Technique.
He remembered his master's warning from his past life: never make a sound when creating an Ether hall.
Woooong!
The light reached its peak.
Zeke, floating in the air with his arms spread wide, absorbed all the mana pouring out from Bahamut's heart with a vengeance.
Rumble!
The glass tube vibrated tremendously.
At the same time that the light was completely absorbed into Zeke, the glass tube shattered as if exploding.
Shatter!
The recoil sent Zeke's body flying from the air, crashing to the floor.
"Ugh!"
After rolling several times on the floor, Zeke finally regained his balance and gasped for breath.
"Damn it... I thought I was going to die from the pain."
Even Zeke, who had experienced all sorts of battles in his past life, found it hard to endure the pain.
He looked down at the area around his solar plexus where he had absorbed the light.
The clothes near the area where the light had pierced through were burned and gone.
However, a strange pattern was engraved on Zeke's solar plexus.
It was a pattern he had never seen before, like a picture or a rune.
"Is it like a tattoo? Why did this appear?"
At that moment, messages appeared before Zeke's eyes.
[You have absorbed the Heart of the Cursed Light Dragon Bahamut.]
[95% of the mana's power, which is beyond the user's capacity, has been compressed and sealed.]
―Authority Information―
Dragon Control: Grants dominance over dragon kind. Allows summoning and commanding subjugated dragon kind.
―Constitution Information―
Divine Body: Enables the manifestation of peak physical abilities and accelerates the learning of martial arts. Increases the body's mana conductivity.
"Dominance over dragon kind... I wonder if it would work on wyverns or basilisk-type dragon kind monsters."
After checking the information on Dragon Control, Zeke read the description of Divine Body below it.
"Divine Body is something I've never heard of. Well, judging by the description, it's a good thing."
The pain he endured while absorbing Bahamut's heart was worth it.
The newly acquired Draconian Skills, Incantation, had an entry, but it was still locked, making it impossible to check the information.
It seemed he would need to raise his Draconian Skills level to use it.
Zeke checked the next piece of information.
He clicked on the description of the secure archive, which he could access as the heir of Terakan Draker.
[The system requires an information update to access Terakan Draker's secure archive.]
[Please move to a location where information can be updated.]
At the same time, a map of the continent appeared before his eyes.
The continental map gradually zoomed in and began to point to a specific location.
The place designated by the system was a place Zeke knew well.
"Valhalla?"
It was a completely unexpected place.
Actually, Zeke hadn't planned on going to Valhalla after graduating from the academy.
Knowing the events that would unfold in the future, he intended to build his own forces outside the clan after regaining some of his strength.
Therefore, Zeke fell into deep thought as he looked at the map marking Valhalla.
'Come to think of it, just as there was a legacy left by Terakan Draker in the academy, there might be something similar in Valhalla.'
If there was a legacy like Bahamut's heart in Valhalla, it would be enough to change his plans.
After memorizing the location marked on the map, Zeke checked the next message.
It was about the newly activated Beginner Quest Book.
"What is this tutorial?"
As Zeke spoke, the tutorial started.
[Starting the tutorial for low-rank administrators.]
At the same time, Zeke's vision went black, and the surrounding space suddenly began to change.
"Wh-what?"
Then something appeared in front of Zeke.
Kaaak!
Surprisingly, three orcs were running towards Zeke.
Zeke was taken aback by the sudden appearance of the monsters, but he quickly regained his composure and gripped his claymore.
A message appeared before his eyes.
―Tutorial Mission―
[Eliminate the appearing monsters within the time limit using two or more active skills. (Time limit: 60 minutes)]
"What?"
Zeke was bewildered by the message that appeared.
Kaaak!
Even amidst the chaos, the three orcs charged madly, roaring their battle cries.
Wielding sharp glaives and spiked clubs, they were indeed a threat.
But Zeke, having regained his composure, effortlessly deflected the orc's attack with his claymore.
Clang!
The orc's attack felt much lighter than expected.
'Are they weaker than normal orcs?'
Zeke, sword in hand, moved into the orc's blind spot.
His body felt lighter and his vision wider than usual.
It was as if the orcs were swinging their weapons in slow motion.
Zeke parried the sluggishly approaching glaive and swiftly decapitated the orc with his sword.
Then, using the High-Speed Movement skill, he slid towards the other orcs.
With his increased speed, Zeke used the Continuous Slash skill to slice through the orcs' necks along with their clubs.
Thud!
In an instant, all three orcs fell.
Zeke looked at his sword.
It was so clean and swift that there wasn't a single drop of blood on the blade.
"At this rate, I'm almost at the level of a purple knight. Did I grow this rapidly from absorbing Bahamut's heart?"
The dark background that had enveloped the surroundings suddenly disappeared, revealing the original training ground scenery.
The corpses of the orcs Zeke had defeated were also gone.
'Was that an illusion just now? It felt completely real.'
As Zeke marveled, messages appeared before his eyes.
[Tutorial Mission completed.]
[Critical points have been added to the reward.]
[Time reduction points have been added to the reward.]
[Reward: 50 Karma points awarded.]
[The 'Shop' category has been unlocked for completing the first tutorial.]
[Translator - Peptobismal]
[Proofreader - Max]