Rumble!
With a menacing aura, Nigel slowly approached.
Zeke steadied his breathing and tried to remain calm as he spoke to her.
"Hermit of the Forest, Nigel. I came here at the request of the Leader of the Highlander." At Zeke's words, Nigel paused for a moment.
She narrowed her eyes and glared at Zeke.
"Has that old fool lost his mind? Why send a human here?" Zeke swallowed dryly and said to Nigel.
"My name is Zeke Draker. I am a black knight and guardian knight of the Draker Family. The Leader proposed that we form a joint front to stop the horde of Narak invading the continent, and I accepted."
Nigel's expression soured upon hearing Zeke's name.
"You're the one who stole the Nine-Headed Dragon."
Nigel had been harboring resentment toward Zeke for taking down the Hydra in the Barbarian Territory instead of her.
However, her grudge regarding the Nine-Headed Dragon was a separate issue for now.
She eyed Zeke suspiciously.
"Hah! A guy who claims he's going to stop Narak is openly traveling with two Arch
Liches? And you expect me to believe you?"
Of all the bad luck, Nigel had spotted him right when he had his lich summons with him.
"How do I explain this to convince this stubborn and cantankerous master?" Convincing the deeply suspicious Nigel would be no easy task.
She raised her sword and slowly advanced toward Zeke.
"Why aren't you talking? You're looking more suspicious by the second. Fine, then. I'll start by cutting off an arm or a leg and figure it out slowly..."
"W-Wait a minute, Master!"
In his surprise, Zeke blurted out the word "Master" without thinking.
Nigel looked at him with utter disbelief.
"Have you lost your mind? Who the hell is your master?"
With the situation worsening, Zeke had no choice but to tell Nigel the full truth.
"Master, it might be hard to understand, but I actually went back in time through regression..." Slash!
Nigel swung her sword without waiting to hear more.
"Urk!"
Zeke barely dodged the strike and retreated, drawing Bahamut.
He shouted at Nigel.
"It's true, Master! Please hear me out!"
"Living this long, I guess even crazy bastards like you sneak into the forest. I was already in a bad mood—perfect timing. I'll beat you until you spill everything."
Zeke knew his master would absolutely do just that, so he hurriedly drew upon the power of the Full Power Technique.
Rumble!
The power of the Body of Strength settled into Zeke's form.
Seeing this, Nigel's expression shifted subtly.
"Huh? The more I look, the less sense it makes. Where the hell did you learn that?"
"From you, Master. In the timeline before my regression."
Zeke invoked the aura of the Full Power Technique and activated Double Spell.
Whirr!
He immediately swung his sword infused with the Will of Shattering toward Nigel.
Boom boom boom boom!
Even as the strike empowered by the Full Power Technique hurtled toward her, Nigel showed no particular reaction.
She merely swung her sword lightly.
Crack!
In an instant, the Will of Shattering infused in Zeke's sword vanished, turning it into an ordinary blow.
"What?"
In his confusion, the sword reached right in front of Nigel's nose, and she caught it barehanded.
She then lifted the sword and spoke to Zeke.
"Swinging around something like this and calling it Full Power Technique? You idiot." As soon as she finished speaking, Nigel's sword flashed.
Zeke blacked out amid the sword light that enveloped him.
*
"Hah!"
Zeke came to and sat up.
Looking around, he saw a familiar sight.
The wooden house in the Forest of the Forgotten where he and his master had stayed together.
Seeing the house after so long sent chills down Zeke's spine.
"No, wait—this can't all have been a dream, right? I got knocked out by Master and escaped into a long dream as a coping mechanism..."
Zeke jolted up in alarm, then confirmed that his life so far wasn't a dream upon seeing his Draker uniform and the status window appearing before his eyes.
As he let out a sigh of relief, the door opened and Nigel entered.
Zeke flinched involuntarily at the sight of her, his eyes filled with fear.
Nigel dragged over a chair, crossed her legs, and looked down at him.
In her shorts and boots, she appeared like an adorable girl on the surface, but in reality, she was more terrifying than anyone.
Nigel spoke to Zeke.
"Tell me that story again."
"Pardon? What story?"
At his question, Nigel scowled.
"The one about time and regression, you idiot!"
Zeke's body trembled instinctively at his master's sharp yell.
"I've been beaten so much in my past life that my body reacted first."
This was exactly why he hadn't wanted to come to the Forest of the Forgotten, but he was already here, so there was no helping it.
Zeke slowly opened his mouth.
"Just as I said—I regressed by turning back time. With the power of the Elder Dragon." Nigel's eyes widened at the mention of the Elder Dragon.
"Crazy... You mean something like that is actually possible?"
"You're believing me?"
Nigel scowled and glared at Zeke.
"Hah, it's completely ridiculous, but otherwise, there's no explaining how a human could open the Middle Dantian and even know about the Full Power Technique."
"In my previous life, you saved me, Master, and helped me open the Middle Dantian." Nigel shook her head.
"There's no way I'd teach Full Power Technique to a human unless I'd gone mad. What the hell..."
Nigel got down from the chair and slowly approached Zeke.
Zeke looked up at her, his face paling.
"What's wrong?"
"Take it off quickly."
"Pardon?"
Nigel scowled sharply and pointed at Zeke's uniform top.
To avoid provoking her temper, Zeke hurriedly removed his uniform jacket.
His well-developed muscular body was revealed.
Nigel closely examined the area around Zeke's Middle Dantian.
"Hmm..."
Uncertain from just looking, she placed her hand on his solar plexus and infused mana.
Whirr!
Soon, text appeared above Zeke's solar plexus.
One of them was the inscription that had formed after absorbing Bahamut's heart.
Nigel stared at the inscription in disbelief.
"What is this? A dragon's heart is embedded in your Middle Dantian?"
It wasn't just possessing a dragon heart—it had fused with the Middle Dantian.
She rolled her eyes and quickly deciphered the inscription.
Her eyes widened even further in shock as she looked at Zeke's face.
"Ruler of Sunset, Bahamut... You absorbed Bahamut's heart?"
Zeke nodded.
"Yes. At first, it was cursed with the Light Dragon's curse, but with the help of Hyperion, the Lord of the Silver Clan, I lifted the curse." Nigel's expression turned confused again.
"Not quite human, not quite dragon. What the hell are you?"
Muttering to herself, Nigel channeled more mana, causing the inscriptions to merge into a spherical form.
She rotated the sphere, scrutinizing every etched trace.
Then, at one part, her eyes trembled violently.
"This is insane... There's really a trace of the oath I inscribed?"
The Highlander oath Zeke and Nigel had formed in his previous life.
Zeke had broken it by going to Himonas to stay by Alicia's side, so he couldn't help but tense up.
As Zeke swallowed nervously, Nigel stared intently at the trace of the oath before her expression turned to utter disbelief.
"What? This... How is this possible?"
She glared down at Zeke with a fierce look and said. "What the hell did you do to make me... release the oath?" Zeke's eyes widened in surprise as he shook his head.
"Pardon? You released my oath, Master? That never happened."
At his words, Nigel flew into a rage.
"I'm already pissed that I made an oath with a human, but why the hell would I release it afterward! This is infuriating! Is this really something I did?"
From Nigel's reaction, Zeke realized a fact he hadn't known.
"In my previous life, did Master release the oath on me without me knowing?" She was arrogant, eccentric, and had a foul temper.
According to the oath, Zeke should have succeeded her as the caretaker of the Forest of the Forgotten and fulfilled the Highlander's duties.
But Zeke had abandoned the oath to help Alicia and left the forest.
He had never returned to the Forest of the Forgotten.
He had feared facing his master again, but more than that, the betrayal of the one who had saved his life and shown him kindness had always weighed on his conscience.
The trace of the Highlander oath etched into his soul had remained a burden in his heart.
But hearing that it had already been released left Zeke stunned.
"Maybe the oath released automatically when I regressed through time?" Nigel looked at him pitifully and said.
"You idiot. Do you think I couldn't read that much? This was released before that. And it must have taken a huge backlash too. Sigh, I have no idea why I did something so stupid." Zeke had never imagined that his master from his previous life would have set him free.
"Why would Master do that?"
He couldn't go back to his previous life to ask, so Zeke had no way of knowing the full story.
He quickly dressed again and looked at Nigel.
"Anyway, does this mean you'll believe me now?"
Nigel's expression grew complicated at Zeke's words.
She sat back in the chair, pondered for a long while, then turned her head toward Zeke.
"Come over here."
Zeke promptly sat in the spot she indicated.
She furrowed her brow deeply and bit her nails.
Zeke chuckled inwardly at the sight.
"That habit hasn't changed." Then Nigel spoke to Zeke.
"Tell me how far I taught you the Full Power Technique."
At her sudden question about the Full Power Technique, Zeke thought for a moment, organized his thoughts, and replied.
"I only learned the early parts. I had just opened the Middle Dantian not long before, and you said my human body couldn't handle learning more."
"Hmm. Then how did you draw out Double Spell?"
"I just imitated what I saw you do, Master. Triple Spell was beyond me, though." Nigel looked utterly baffled at Zeke's words.
"Huh? You just watched Double Spell and imitated it? That's insane." Muttering to herself, Nigel stood up.
"Come out."
Though annoyed by her arbitrary attitude, Zeke followed her out of the house without complaint.
The clearing around the wooden house.
This was where Zeke had endured daily beatings from Nigel, training until he was on the brink of death.
According to her philosophy that you'd learn through beatings, he really got beaten every day—and luckily survived long enough to open his Middle Dantian.
Standing in the clearing again after so long stirred complex emotions.
"I really got thrashed here."
Then Nigel drew her sword and said to Zeke.
"Draw your sword and use Solo Spell."
"Which will should I invoke?"
"Anything."
Grumbling inwardly at her curt reply, Zeke drew Bahamut.
He channeled his spiritual power and invoked the Will of Strength.
Seeing this, Nigel sighed.
"Seriously, where do I even start fixing this?"
"I did it just as I was taught. What's wrong?" Nigel shook her head.
"What do you mean 'as taught'? It's completely messed up."
"Pardon? In my previous life, you taught me this way..."
"If I say no, then no. Why are you so talkative? Want me to beat the realization into you?" "No."
Even after becoming a black knight, being ignored and scolded felt just like his previous life.
Nigel held her sword and looked at Zeke.
"Watch closely. You're completely misunderstanding the Full Power Technique." As soon as she finished speaking, the Will of Strength surged from Nigel's body.
Sss...
In that instant, Zeke felt as if Nigel had turned to steel.
"What is this?"
Even though it was the same Will of Strength, the sensation was utterly different from his own.
Nigel said to Zeke.
"It's not about forcing the will to manifest. You must become the embodiment of that will and unite with it. That's the core of the Full Power Technique. You stubborn fool." As she called him stubborn, fragments of the past flashed in Zeke's mind.