Record of a Thousand Lives-Chapter 142

It took quite a while fortheseizures to subside,leavingKang Yoon-Soostaring up at the endless white ceiling whilelying down in the white space.He thought in annoyance,‘Why did I suddenly have spasms and seizures?’

He could not really pinpoint the reason why. His bodyhad suddenly gonethrough severe shock the moment he realized he hadencountered someonejust like him. It was as if he had found out about somethinghe should not have known.

‘What a joke,’he thought.

At one point, he hadcut down a doppelganger that looked exactly like him, and hehad beenfine then.Why had he suffered fromseizures this time?

‘A person exactly like me…’he muttered inwardly.

He had suddenly had a seizure the moment he thought of that. He was fine now, but his spasms thenhad been sosevere that he could not control his own body.

Kang Yoon-Soo got up and sat down on the floor, thinking,‘There must be a reason why. A reason I can’t figure out right now.’

Therehad been times when he hadsensed something that he could not really put his finger on. It was the same feelinghe had gottenwhen he was told that he would soon be meeting ‘the onewhoshould not exist on the continent’. He was certain thathis violent reactionto seeing someone just like him was no mere coincidence.

‘A person just like me…’he thoughtagain, siftingthrough his memories.

If there really werea person just like him,who would it be?It would notbe easy to find a personwho wasidentical to him,someone who hadlived for more than 20,000 years.

‘The King of All Things, Sirian…?’he pondered.

Kang Yoon-Soo shook his head. Sirian was an immortal and he knew about Kang Yoon-Soo regressing, but it would bedifficult to say that they were identical. He was somewhat similar in some ways, but they were too different to beconsideredidentical.

‘If not, then…’he thought, suddenly rememberinga certain individual.

The reasonhe hadregressed, the onewhose identity was unknown, and the onewho also had20,000 years of memories...

‘There’s no way that’s possible…’Kang Yoon-Soo thought, grittinghis teeth.

Was heidentical to the Demon Lord?He felt sick just thinking about it.

‘I should think about this problemanother time,’he thought.

Hewould notget any answers even if he ponderedtheissue for a long time, and his energy would be better served focusing on theupcoming trial.Instead,Kang Yoon-Soo checked the items in his possession.

‘PurpleStone…’he thought as he checked the reward hehad gained from the previoustrial.The loot he had gained from killing the monsterswasnowhere to be found.

‘You normally can’t bring any items from the trials back into reality,’he thought.

However, Kang Yoon-Soo had obtained the additional reward, and he nowhadthe right to choose and bring back one item from the trial back into reality. Additionally, he was still able to use the itemshe had in realityduringthe trials.

‘But the items I usein atrial will disappear after I clearit,’he thought.

That meanthis Vampire Lord’s Magic Sword would have disappearedforeverfrom his possession if he used it during the first trial; thatwas why hehad not dared to use any of hisreal itemsinthe trials.

‘The next trial is the problem…’hemused,deep in thought.

Hehad beenan escaped convict in the first trial, and hehad beenthe continent’s strongest Archmage in the second one. The second trial was especially easybecausehehad hadthe overwhelmingly powerful magic of an Archmage, which had made every combat encounter extremely easy.

However, the third trial was so difficult that it could only be called cruel.

‘I can only do my best,’he thought.

The white space around him slowly dissipated, andthe third trial finally started.

***

It was midnight, andmoonlight shone down through the window.

Shaneth was deeply engrossed in the book she was reading.It containeda detailed record of the times whendragonshad appearedon the continent.

‘So Ignus-nim was really an amazing being,’she thought in awe.

The ruler of the Desert of Death, theIgnus Dragon, hadalready been active eveninthe time when the ancient dragons used to roam the continent. The power of that same great beingnow laywithin her.

‘I have to grow stronger and make this my own. Then I’ll be able to contribute even more to our journey,’Shaneth thought, steelingher resolve.She was well aware that the powerIgnus hadbestowed upon her was noordinarystrength, and thatmade her ever sograteful to the dragon for it.

She flipped through the pages, and one particular word caught her eye.

[Dragon of Destruction]

She suddenly remembered Kang Yoon-Soo’s statementthat theywouldbe visiting the Dragon of Destruction’s lairat some point,so she decided toread the following section closely

[The Dragon of Destruction is a dragon that has been activesince ancienttimes, and it is considered to be the oldest among the dragons currently alive. It not only almost wipedout the ancient civilizationSharshyanon from the face of the continent, but also hasa history ofbringingthe entire continenttothe verge of extinction numerous times.

The Dragon of Destruction is considered to be the most violent and ill-tempered among the dragons, and thatis a fact noscholars deny.The theorythat it is the most powerfulof all the dragonshas gained credibilityamong scholarsdue to the fact that the Dragon of Destruction has also lived the longest.

This violent and ill-tempered, yet immensely powerful beingcurrently residesin its lair somewhere on the continent, but thecontinentstill exists and has not met its demise yet. How is that so?

That is because the Dragon of Destruction hibernates for a long period of time.

The average length of adragon’s hibernation periodis around six months, but the Dragon of Destruction is an exception, and the reason why the continent has managed to thrive despite the presence of such a threat isprecisely due to thelength of its hibernation period.

Not much is known regarding theprecise lengthof the Dragon of Destruction’s hibernation period. Therehave beencasesin which it hibernatedfor a few decades, and others in which ithibernatedforseveralmillennia.Scholars consider the currenterato be within the Dragon of Destruction’s hibernation period.

However, no one knows when the Dragon of Destruction will awaken from its slumber and place the entire continent on the path of extinction once again.]

Shaneth closed the book, her face ghastly pale. She had only read the brief synopsis regarding the dragon, but she already felt chills down her back.Were they reallygoing to the lair of such a powerful and violent dragon?

‘I don’t think he really plans to pick a fight against the Dragon of Destruction… right?’Shaneth thoughtnervously.

She suddenly remembered the Undead Legion while thinking of the Dragon of Destruction. The Undead Legionwas made up ofthe Death General Kalriven and the seven thousand undead that had been trapped in the Castle of the Dead, butwerefreed by Kang Yoon-Soo. She wondered what the Undead Legion, who had mentioned that their main goal was to resurrect the corpse of the strongest dragon on the continentasan undead being, were currently doing.

‘This is tiring…’she thought, stretching her arms.

However, she could notbring herselfto sleep like Henrick, who was sleeping on numerous chairs put together, no matter how sleepy she was. She walked over to Iris, who was on the other side of the hall.Iris was fast asleep, hunched overatable;Shaneth was about to cover her with a blanket when she suddenly saw the book Iris was reading.

‘I wonder what she’s been reading,’she thought as she looked at the title of the book.

[200 Days of Sweet Love]

Shaneth could not help but smile at Iris’ innocence and curiositytowardlove. She was about to put the book down when asecond book with a red coverfell out from within thefirst one.

[Our Maid’s Cherry Scent]

“…”Shaneth wordlessly went over to Henrick and pulled out the chair in the middle.

Henrick started to groan in his sleep when the chair supporting his back was pulled out.“Euuuuh…”

Shaneth sighed and thought, ‘Unni just ended up learning strange things from this ahjussi.’

The mental state of the two men they were traveling with could not be trusted;that was why Shaneth felt thatshe, theonly sane one in theparty, had aduty to guide Irisdownthe right path.

Right asshe was about tosteelherresolve, however…

Kigriii…Euuuk…

Shanethheard a strange sound from somewhere.Shelooked around in search of the source of the sound, which resembled a scream and gave her an eerie feeling, but there was nobody around them.

‘That’s strange… There’s no way.I must be hearing things,’she thought.

That was the end of that. Shaneth was someone whohadstabbed awaterghost in the head with her scythe. She would have been scared if she were stillher old self, from when sheworkedas a soldierinKerlin, but the current Shanethwould not bescared at all no matter what came.

She was about to turn around after covering Iris with ablanket, when…

‘Hmm?’Shaneth thought.A small notebookwas peekingout from Iris’ shirt, near her collarbone. Shaneth pulled the notebook out and opened it.Her browsrosein surprise as she thought, ‘A diary?’

Had Iris beenkeeping a journal allthistime?Shaneth hesitated for a moment before sittingdown with Iris’ diary in hand. She could not resist the temptation to read itdue toher curiosity. She thought,‘I’ll just read a few lines.’

The diary started with Iris’ usual warm and innocent way of speaking, and Shaneth found it quite interesting to read.At some points,she had to bite her lips just to prevent herself from laughing out loud.

‘It’s quite well written,’she thought.Unexpectedly, Iris had quite accurately recorded their journey, andShanethhad begunflipping rapidlythrough the pagesofthe diary. ‘This is really fun. I should read just a little bit more…’

“Shaneth…?”

Shanethquicklylooked up and saw Iris,who had just woken up, staring at her with eyes wide open in surprise. Iris asked, “Oh my, why in the world are you holding my diary?”

“Ah…This is… I-I’m sorry,” Shanethstuttered.

Iris hurriedly snatched her diary away from Shanethwhile blushingbright red. She then looked at Shaneth and asked, “Did you read it?”

“Yes, just the first few parts…” Shaneth replied.

“Ahhhhhh…” Iris groaned, coveringher face with both of her hands. She then started cryingand wailed, “This is so, so,so embarrassing… I want to hide in a hole somewhere…!”

“I-I didn’t read it on purpose…” Shanethtrailed off, unable tojustify what shehad done. She then eventually decided to apologize.“I’m sorry! I’ll do anythingto make up for it!”

Iris looked at her with tears welling upinher eyesandsaid, “Then bake me a meat pie and an apple pie.”

Was there anyone in theworldwhowould be able to refuse Iris’ request while she was crying?Shaneth did not have the righttorefuse, andshe was forced to quickly nod in agreement.

Iris then looked at her andadded in a small voice, “Write me a promissorynote,then.”

“…”Speechless, Shaneth was eventually forced to sign the promissorynoteIriswroteup.

[Shaneth promises to bake Iris delicious apple pies and meat pies.

Signed by: Shaneth Elogran]

“Hum~ Hum Hum~Life is good~”Iris hummed a tune while folding the promissorynote.

However, it was now time for Shaneth to go on the offensive. Shesaid, raising a brow,“By the way, unni. Why were you reading the red book?”

Iris blushed bright redin response to the sudden question.Now, she was the one whodid not know how to respond.

Just asShaneth crossed her arms and was about to go on a lecture, however,Iris timidly handed her the red book andoffered, “Do you want to read it as well? Itis quite fun…”

“I’ll just read the first few pages…” Shaneth replied.

She then read the first few pages of the book, and was quicklythrown into a whole new world that she had never experienced before.

***

Kang Yoon-Soo felt his body disappear, his limbs and head slowly fading. Hebecamea small ember floating in midair.

‘But I can still easily move around,’he thoughtas he levitated aroundlike a wisp.

He did nothaveany physical eyes, but he could see that it was night and that the street he was inwas quite peaceful. However,people walkedpasthim as if they could not see him at all. He floated ashort distance away, andfound a fewembers similar to him floating around.

‘I’m currently a ghost,’he thought.

The third trial had made him a vengeful spirit that hadrecently died and could not evenmanifesta proper form of its own.Instead, he was stuck in the form of a tiny wisp.

It was then…

“Grrrr…”

A large black figure ran up the walls of the nearbybuildings on all fours.Itsbody waspitch-black, and ithadpearly white fangs that resembledrazorblades.

Kang Yoon-Soo hurriedly hidin an alley, thinking,‘It’s an evil spirit.’

The large evil spiritapproached quicklyand devoured one of the embers that were floating in midair.Evil spiritswere predatorsthat feasted on new vengeful spirits that stilllacked their own forms, and Kang Yoon-Soo would benothing more than prey forit.

‘I have no way to fight against that right now,’he thought.

Kang Yoon-Soohad becomea spirit that did not even have any form of its own. In fact, he could not even speak. In his currentstate, he was even worse offthan a Level 1 creature.He was at thebottom of the food chain in the spiritual world, and he was weaker than anything else present.

However, he had to stop his train of thoughtrightthen and there.

“Grrrrr…”

The large evil spiritstuck its head intothe alley and looked at him face to face.