Record of a Thousand Lives

In thewilderness, under the scorching sun, aman and womanwalked amid thedry land. Usually, the burden of walking in these lands was great, butthat was notthe case for thepair.

Shaneth had resistance to heat. Thatwas why she was noteven thirsty, even thoughitwas her firsttrip. On the other hand, Kang Yoon-Soo was used tosuch travel, andshowed no signs of fatigue even though they walked day and night.

The two,who walkedatthe same pace day and night, could pass off as siblings. However, it was still difficult for Shaneth to get used to Kang Yoon-Soo, and the only thing she learned about him was that he strangely had a lot of knowledge about different things—thatwas it.

“We have to conserve our water and resupply whenever we get the chance to. Look, there seems to be a spring nearbywherewe canrefill our water,” Shaneth pointed out.

“That spring has been contaminated,” Kang Yoon-Soo answered.

Shaneth was skeptical of Kang Yoon-Soo’s answer.‘How would he know without even visiting it…?’she thought to herself, and she adamantly insisted on going to the spring. However, only muddy watergreeted them when theyarrived.

“I… I’m sorry. We should’ve looked for food instead. If Iknew it was going to be like this…” Shaneth said apologetically.

Suddenly, Kang Yoon-Soo stretched out his right arm and…

Wham!

He caught a snake thathad beenhidinginthe muddy waters, and they solved their food issue by eating the snake for dinner…

Thatwashow things had been until now. Whenever Shaneth mentionedsomething, Kang Yoon-Soo was already several steps ahead of her.Itwas not normal.

That wasnot the only thing.Kang Yoon-Soo was addicted to alcohol—no, it would be more fitting to say that he was obsessed with alcohol. The whiskey Hermia had provided him before they left had been finished in half a day. In fact, Kang Yoon-Soo’s lips were glued to alcoholallday.

“You don’t seem to get drunk even after drinking that much…There’s actually no difference before and after you drink,” Shanethremarked.

“Yeah.”Kang Yoon-Soo’s reply was short,as always.

“Then why do you drink so much? Is it because it tastes good?”Shaneth asked curiously.

“Because my head hurts.”Kang Yoon-Soo’s reply was slightly longerthis time.

“Eh?” Shaneth was confused.

“I like it when my head hurtsafterI drink,”Kang Yoon-Sooexplained.

‘I knew it… He’s a weirdo…’Shaneththought to herself.

It wasthe fifth day since they had left Kerlin. Kang Yoon-Soo suddenly stopped, and Shaneth looked at him with a puzzledexpression. Suddenly, a weak vibrationrippled acrossthe dry, barren ground of the wilderness.

“Kyaaaaarrrk!”A large worm suddenly shot up from the dry ground. It was a ‘Landworm’, acreature that resembledan ordinary worm, butwithrazor-sharpteeth.

The landworm let out a shriek.“Kweeeeeraaaaak!”

Itwas not alone,however; more than ten other landwormssuddenly shot up from the dry ground, respondingto its cry.

“Kweeerrrraaaak!”

“Kweereek!Kweeeruuuk!”

Landwormshunted in groups on dry, barren ground, emerging from the ground to searchfor prey. The twotravelerswere recognized by thelandwormsas their prey.

KangYoon-Soohatedlandworms. They were annoying to deal withinhis current regressed state where everything hadbeen reset.‘It’s tiring to think the same thing every time,’he told himself as heunsheathedhis greatsword. The enhanced greatswordglowed blue.

Hewas currently Level 34, and thelandwormswere around Level 50. He was outnumbered andoutleveled, buthedid not seem to be worried one bit.‘I guess it’s a good warm-up,’he thought to himself as he started running towardthem.

A landworm shotout ofthe ground with its mouth wide open. Kang Yoon-Soo slightly moved back and swung his greatsword. With each swing, it sustainedheavy damage.

“Life Drain,” Kang Yoon-Soosaid with an outstretched hand. Agreen lightflew from his hand and startedto absorb thelandworm’s HP.

[The skill level of Life Drain has increased.]

[The amount of HP drained has increased.]

He closed thegapbetween himself and thelandwormswith only his combat experience. However,the landworms targeted Shaneth when they found that Kang Yoon-Soo was not an easy opponent.Onelandworm dove into the ground,planning to ambushthe girl from behind andrip her to shreds.

“Kweeeeruruk!”

Shaneth took her weapon, a scythe,out when she noticed the landworm. She turned and swung it down.

Pukeok!

The landworm’s head was split intwo.

A scythe was a large sickle with a long handle, and ithad been Shaneth’sfavorite weapon when she was a soldier for the feudal lordship. Shestarted to swing her scythe, and therewasno hesitation in her movements.

The reason Shaneth had been a soldier wasnot because of her relationship with Hermia. She was innately more muscular thanmost others, and shehad beenable to endure harsher training than the other soldiers. Additionally,she had ample experience dealing withlandwormsas a feudal lord’s soldier. However, perhaps because of the power fragment, her body felt lighter than it normally was. Shefelt noburden even after swinging the scythe numerous times.

More and morelandwormsstarted to gather toward them, and there seemed to be no end to their numbers.

Kang Yoon-Soo stretched out his right hand and said, “Summon 78 skeletons. SummonZombieGiant Hobgoblin.”Additionally, hecontinuously used Corpse Explosion, and the numerous landworms started to dwindle one by one. However, all of the skeletons were destroyed in thebattle.

“Wouldn’t it be easier to just leave the battles to the undead?” Shaneth asked as she removedthe landworms’ sticky fluidfrom her hair.

“The experience points obtained willdecreaseif you don’t join the battle yourself,” Kang Yoon-Soo explained as he sent theZombieGiant Hobgoblinback into the summon dimension.

A question started to form in Shaneth’s head after shesawKang Yoon-Soo fight.‘No way… It can’t be…’She asked Kang Yoon-Soo just in case, “Excuse me, can I borrow your hand for a second?”

Kang Yoon-Soo gave her his hand without saying anything, and Shaneth grippedit tightlyand squeezed it.“It hurts,” hemuttered.

“No way… Did you put some strength in your hand just now…?” Shaneth asked in surprise.

“Yeah,”Kang Yoon-Sooanswered.

Shaneth exclaimed inside her head,‘He’s soweak!’

Shehadn’t noticed during the fightwith the Spartoi, since ithad beenso mesmerizing, but… She had noticed after fighting with him just now. Kang Yoon-Soo was much weaker than her,that wascertain. Of course, his ability toperformcritical strikes and avoid enemy attacks was much better than hers, but his physical strength was a mess.

“What level are you?” she asked.

“Level 35,”Kang Yoon-Sooresponded.

“…”Shanethwas speechless.Shewas Level 72. Although it would differ based on how stat points were distributed,shewas twice as strongashim.

“Then…What about your class…?” she askedexpectantly.

“I don’t have one,”Kang Yoon-Sooanswered.

“…”Shanethwas stuck speechless for a second time.

It was more advantageousthe earlier one chosea class, even if it was a production class. Having a combat skill and at least one more class unique skill made a huge difference.

Shaneth had the class “Soldier”, since shehad been a feudal lord’s soldier. TheSoldier class specialized in combat, and their abilities increased when they served a king or a lord. However, no such benefits could be received when onehad no class.

“Excuse me, but…How long has it been since you arrived in this world…?”she asked carefully.

“Sevendays,”Kang Yoon-Sooanswered.

“That’simpossible!” Shaneth finallyblurted out.

She couldnotbelieve that he had reached Level 35 after just a week in this world. Travelers were usually busytryingto make heads or tails of their situation after being summoned, and they didnot have the luxury to raise their levels. The combat prowess he had shownwas not somethingone could developin just a week.

On the other hand, Kang Yoon-Soo was calmly thinking about something else.‘I have to perfectly prepare every step to kill the Demon Lord.’

Hehad beenconfidentin facingthelandwormsalone without summoning the undead, but it would waste a lot of time. Also, Shaneth could either get hurt or killed if the fight dragged on.Therewerestilltwentyyears before the Demon Lord appeared. The safety of his future comrades camebefore hisimmediate leveling.

‘Also, it isn’t enough if only I become stronger.’Kang Yoon-Soo approached Shaneth, and his face was so close that she could feel his breath on her face. Shaneth was flustered, but he justtouchedher forehead.

[Shaneth Elogran]

-There are 798 hours remaining before the awakening of the 1st power fragment.The time willloweras the user grows stronger.

“Still a long way to go,”Kang Yoon-Soosaid after checkingher status.

“What will happen to me if the power fragment awakens?”Shaneth askedworriedly.

“You’ll get stronger,”Kang Yoon-Sooanswered.

“…” Shaneth said nothing.

Kang Yoon-Soo walked towardthe corpses of the landworms. He cut off their feelers with his greatsword,stuffing themin the rucksack.In time, he manually harvested the feelers from tens oflandworms.

“Why are you collecting the feelers?” Shaneth asked.

“It’s an ingredient for potions,”Kang Yoon-Sooanswered.

“You know about potions too…?”Shanethasked back in surprise.

“Yeah,”Kang Yoon-Soo said, returning to his usual curtness.

Shanethwas flabbergasted, her eyes wide. Potion-making was the sole realm of alchemists;they created potions by combining ingredients ranging from monster parts, herbs, and roots. It was impossible to even attempt to make potions otherwise, as the process was very tricky and complex if one was not an expert in it.

Shecouldnothelp but be suspicious of his identity once again. He looked like a swordsman or a mercenary when heswunghis sword, but he also looked like anecromancerwhenever he raised the dead—but now he claimed he couldeven make potions…? She couldnotbelieve that he was classless and that it had only beensevendays since he came to this world.

“Mass Raise Dead,” Kang Yoon-Soo muttered after he was done collecting the feelers. Thelandwormsstarted to rise from the dead one by one, with dark, rotten skin.He sent theDark Landwormsto the summon dimension.

[54Dark Landwormshavebeen stored in the summon dimension.]

[Summons currently stored in the dimension:54Dark Landworms, 1ZombieGiant Hobgoblin.]

[Remaining space for additional summons:445.]

“Let’s drop by the Yultika Ruin before we head to Hiledan,” Kang Yoon-Soo said.

“A ruin?” Shaneth responded witha look of surprise.

Ruins were usually inhabited by hundreds of monsters, but there were precious treasures inthem. Most clans were aware of the dangers ofa ruinand would only enter one with at least 200members, but why was this man sayingthat as if he weregoing to take a strollin one?

Kang Yoon-Soo had already started walking, and Shaneth hurriedly chased after him. She asked awkwardly, “If it’s a ruin,there must be a lot of strong monsters, right…?”

“Yeah,”Kang Yoon-Soo responded in the usualmanner.

“Do… Do you think we can raid it with just the two of us…? It’s common sense to prepare a proper raid party, and have runners enter and map it first, before entering! This is no differentfromcommitting suicide, I tell you!”Shaneth objected strongly.

“It’s alright,”Kang Yoon-Soo replied.His short answer only madeShanethmore skeptical about his plan, but then he suddenly added…

“We’ll only go to take the treasure.”