Record of a Thousand Lives

Jiang Ren-Wei was not a fool; he was a rathercautious type. Although he was filled with intense longing for his missing right arm, he did not plan to risk clan members’ safety only to seethem get annihilatedunder a foolish man. Thatmade him observe Kang Yoon-Soo all the more closely.

Heeven plannedto forcefully take back Kang Yoon-Soo’s commanding rights if he felt even for a second that Kang Yoon-Soo was not qualified, even though he was currently doing a legendary quest.However, all of his worries were for naught.

Kang Yoon-Soo stood atop a hilland commanded the group,“Southeast,approximately 320 meters. Left of the thick bush. Seventeen Ahinkuls. 1st group, go subjugate them.”

The 1st groupwascomposed ofMercenaries andSwordsmen. Theycharged toward thesoutheast, and just as Kang Yoon-Soohadsaid, therewasa group ofAhinkulshiding behind the bush. The Ahinkuls swiped their claws as they tried to resist, but they could not stand against thehumans’ sudden ambush.

Kang Yoon-Soo continued to give out commands.“Northwest,approximately 340 meters. Across the waterfall. There are thirty-two sleepingAhinkuls. They have their leader with them, so the 3rd group and the 6th group will coordinate a joint attack.”

Kang Yoon-Soo’s tactics were quite unique. The basicstrategy formonster huntingwasto create one huge group and go around searching for monsters, buthewent against thatand divided the Martial Blood Clan into groups instead;interestingly, the groups were a mishmash of Mercenaries andSwordsmen, with both high levels and low levels.

He continued to command the army from atop the hill. An army of merely 200 being divided up tosuch anextent would usually become exhausted looking for monsters before ending up as prey andbeing annihilated. However,his tacticswerevery effective and efficient, as ifto makeJiang Ren-Wei’s worrieslook ridiculous. Whenever Kang Yoon-Soogaveout a command and pointed to one location, the Martial Blood Clan would find monsters there.

The hill was quitetall;it was quite abit too far for anyoneto actually see anythinghappening onthe ground. Even if one had excellent vision, it was impossible for anyone to see all of the monsters from that high up—unless theyhad memorized the monsters’ locations.

Additionally,Kang Yoon-Soo’s commands did not end at just giving out orders to kill the monsters.He instructed them,“Stab the nostrils of the sleeping Ahinkul Leader behind the waterfall. It’s much easier than attacking its thick hide.Thrustyourspear deep intoits nostrilsandpenetrateits brain.”

Jiang Ren-Wei was astounded and amazed. Hethought, ‘He reallyisamazing.’He hadinitially accepted the man’s offer because of the temptationof receivinga right arm. However, he now started to fully trust Kang Yoon-Soo, thinking theman’s commanding ability was beyond amazing.

Jiang Ren-Wei gulped and thought, ‘He must be extremely high-level. Alow-level personlike me can never measure up to him.’Hewas Level 227, and he was considered to bein the upper-mid tier among Travelers when it came to their levels. However,hewas certain that he was nothing compared to that man.

Kang Yoon-Soo’sappearancewas so shabby and simple that anyone would doubt he was a high-level Traveler, but Jiang Ren-Wei was certain his outer appearance did not do justicetohis level. In fact, there were some high-level peoplewhochose to dress simply rather than going around in heavy plate armor. That was how confident those high levels were when it came to their combat ability, as they preferred to move lightly and avoid every attack rather thanbeingweighed down by the heavy armor.

Kang Yoon-Soo, on the other hand, thought,‘This is irritating.’

He hadinitially planned to immediately start the Winterkill raid with the help of the White Lion Clan thatwasheadquarteredinDeferon. The White Lion Clanwasthe top-ranked clan among Travelers.

A placelike the WinterkillRuin would have beenan insignificant raid if he received the assistance of a clan like the White Lion Clan,whichwasfilled with high-level people. In fact, he was confident that they would be able to reach the heart of the ruin without any difficulty if he just brought Han Se-Hyun, who was the leader of the White Lion Clan, along.

However, it would bedifficult to grow exponentially if he depended on high-level people. Thatwas why he decided to bear the risk and cooperate with the Martial Blood Clan, and why he had chosen to stay behind and command instead of fighting himself.

Kang Yoon-Soo had to hide his level from Jiang Ren-Wei, at least until they entered the ruin, because there was no way anyone would listen to someone lower-level than them no matter how superb their commanding skills were. Jiang Ren-Wei would instantly notice the fact thathewas lower-level than the Martial Blood Clan if he were to join the battlesimmediately. However, hissmokescreen plan was highly effective. Jiang Ren-Wei, who was the highly cautious type,could never have imagined thathewas a measly Level 131, and that he was lower-level than any ofthe Martial Blood Clan’smembers.

The corpses of the Ahinkuls piled up like a mountain under the hill. It would have normally taken them around four days to huntso many, but it only took them half a daythistime.

Durman, who had been busily swinging his sword,licked his lips andsaid, “The fact that he said he was currently doing a legendary quest was already amazing, but this is beyond amazing. Not only did the monsters pop up whenever he gave us the location,he even told us themonsters’ weaknesses! I’ve neverhuntedsoeasilyin mylife before.”

“You’re right! This is the first timeI’ve ever felt regret about not being able tohunt more.”

“My experience points rose faster than usual!”

The clan members of the Martial Blood Clan did not spare any praiseforKang Yoon-Soo.

Jiang Ren-Weiwentdown from the hill and scratched his cheek, saying jokingly,“Phew, it seemsas if I’ll be replaced as the clan leader.”

“Hahaha! Boss! There’s no way we’dleave you and jump ship, y’know! You’re still our boss, after all!” Durmanexclaimed, cacklingand wrappinghis arm around Jiang Ren-Wei’s neck.

Kang Yoon-Soowentdown from the hill as well. Aball of fire fluttered and landed beside him, thenSally appeared beside him with her cheeks puffed up. The beautiful young girl seemed to be upset about something.

“Papa, Sally is angry,” Sally said.

“Why?” Kang Yoon-Soo repliedtonelessly.

Sally had takenon the role of messenger in the hunt justthen. Shehad goneback and forth between Kang Yoon-Soo and the groups of clan members relaying his instructions, because spirits had the ability to freely fly around as longas they did not go too far.

Sally did not hold back andexclaimed, “Hmph! Don’t act dumb! You told me you wouldgive me a sibling way back, waaaay back, but I don’t see anysibling! Papa is a liar!”Sheseemed upset by the fact that Kang Yoon-Soohad not kepthis promise to make a sibling for her.

“I’ll make you one after we conquer the ruin,” Kang Yoon-Soo said.

However, Sally was allteary-eyed, pullingon the hems of Kang Yoon-Soo’s pants and throwinga tantrum.“Liar! Liar! Papa is always like this! You don’t play with Sally! You think I’m just a bother! I hate you,papa! Waaaah!”

“Oh my, what troubles you have to go through, all because you have such a dense, emotionless father,” Henrick said as he retracted his mana threads, laughing awkwardly as hewalked toward them.

Shaneth alsoapproachedthem with her Death Scythe covered in blood. The last to join them was Iris; itseemedshe hadfeasted on monster hearts, as her mouth was covered in blood. They had also joined in the hunt forAhinkuls, just like theclanmembers of the Martial Blood Clan.

Iris smiled with her bloody lips, saying with eyes wide, “Your crying must mean you are upset. Do you think you wouldfeel better if youatesome hearts?”

“Waaaah! Mama!” Sally cried loudlyas she ran toward Shaneth.

Shaneth smiled as she hugged Sallyto calm her down, saying,“There, there. It’s alright.”

“Waaaah!” Sallywailed.

Kang Yoon-Soo shifted his gaze away after looking at Sally and Shaneth. The clan members had gathered all of the Ahinkulcorpsesin one place;a huge amount of Ahinkulshad beenhunted by the200-strong party.

‘The first step is to do a large-scale hunt,”Kang Yoon-Soo thought as he stretched out his right hand toward the pile ofcorpsesand said, “Mass Raise Dead.”

[You are trying to raise too many corpses at once.]

[The types of undead summoned will be uneven.]

A group ofbestial-lookingAhinkulsslowly rose up, havingturned into undead.Some of themturned into skeletons, and some of them turned into zombies with dark blue eyes. The vicious and aggressive Ahinkul Leaders rose up and turned a dark black,havinggained the attribute to spread diseases around them. Although they were undead that could not make quick decisions, they were still a much stronger force than the mercenaries they would have hired otherwise.

[612 UndeadAhinkulshavebeen sent to the summon dimension.]

[Summons currently stored in the dimension: 612 UndeadAhinkuls, 52 Zombie Black Bears, White.]

[Remaining space for additional summons: 34]

Jiang Ren-Wei approached Kang Yoon-Soo after he sent the undead to the summon dimension.He asked,“Now that we’ve supplemented our lacking manpower with the undead, I guess it’s time to procure the items we’ll need. I’m guessingwehave to procure a significant amount of potions. Are you sure you can prepare that many potions alone?”

“Yeah,” Kang Yoon-Soo repliedcurtly.

Jiang Ren-Wei acknowledged Kang Yoon-Soo’s capabilities, and he was thus willing to overlookthatmuch. Hecontinued,“Alright, we’ll head to Deferonfirstand complete the quest we were doing just now. When should we set our meeting date?”

“Tomorrow noon, here,” Kang Yoon-Soo replied curtly once again.

“Alright. I’ll see you here, then,” Jiang Ren-Wei replied. Afterward,the Martial Blood Clan went on their way toward the capital.

Kang Yoon-Soo looked around and found Shaneth hugging Sally. He stared at the two, seeminglydeep in thought, beforegoing toSally andtakingher hand.

The spiritwho hadjust bawled her eyes out sniffled and asked, “Sniff!What do you want?”

“I’ll play with you,” Kang Yoon-Soo replied.

“Wow! Really?” Sallyasked, excitedonce again.

Henrick lookedup atthe sky and saidwhile staring upward, “That’s strange…The sun didn’t rise from the west today.”

***

There was no special reason why Kang Yoon-Soo had told Sally hewouldplay with her. It was a given that he should, since this life was going to be the last time he could.

The streets of Deferon werebustling with activity. The streets werelittered with numerousvendors selling all sorts of odd and mysterious things;it was as if there were as many vendors as stars in the night sky. Kang Yoon-Soo bought a lollipop made out of sweetened barley from a street vendor and gave it to Sally.

“Wow! It’s so sweet!” Sally exclaimedexcitedlyas she sucked on the candy.Herbright flames would have made it obvious that she was a spirit,but they werecoveredup by a robe.

Henrick could not hide his surprise as he looked at Kang Yoon-Soo andasked, “Hey… did you eat something wrong? Why are you acting strange all of a sudden? Did you perhaps open your eyes to fatherly love or something?”

“Why do you care?” Kang Yoon-Soo repliedcoldly.

Shaneth could not hide her surprise as well, saying,“I think you’ve changed quite a lot in these past few days.”

Thosewords were quite strange to Kang Yoon-Soo. He tried to think of a reply, but hefailed, and chose to stay silent instead.

However, Shaneth smiled and said, “It makes me happy.”

Kang Yoon-Soo had the sudden urge to look elsewhere the moment he sawShaneth’swarm, sparkling eyes. The one he decided to look at was Iris.He had wanted to conquer the WinterkillRuin notonly because of the legendary quest, but also because he wanted to meet the alchemist who had made Iris.Hefelt the need to find out more about the White Shadow that resided in Iris.

PerhapsIris caught him looking at her, asshe looked back at himintentlyand licked her lips before saying, “I want to eat that too.”

“…”

Kang Yoon-Soo ended up buying four sweetened barleylollipopsand sharedthemwith everyoneinhis party.

They soon reached a large wooden building not long after. The building’s signboard read ‘Sunset Glass’ andhadadrawing of a glass bottle with purple liquid insideit.It was a merchant company that manufactured and dealt with all sorts of potions, as well asflammable liquids and highly explosive liquids. They were one of the merchant companieswitha long history in the capital, although there were some bad rumors about them being involved with theback-alleythugs.

.

Kang Yoon-Soo stopped, turned around, and said, “Listen tome, allof you.”Hethenexplained his plans to the others.

Henrick bit his lips and asked, “Damn it, how do you plan to survive after doing something like that?”He looked troubled for a moment before taking out abottle ofcolored dye from his pocket andgivingit to Kang Yoon-Soo,asking, “You are confident, right?”Kang Yoon-Soo nodded and took the dye.

Shaneth looked quite worried and said, “That’s too dangerous;it won’t end with just you getting jailed if things don’t go well.”

“We’ll never be caught if you just follow my instructions,” Kang Yoon-Soo saidconfidently.

Sally asked with innocent, sparkling eyes, “Can I play as much as I want?”

“As much as you want,” Kang Yoon-Soo replied.

“Yaaay!” Sally exclaimed.

Shaneth, Henrick, Sally, and Iris went in through the back door.Meanwhile,Kang Yoon-Sooapproachedone remote corner of the alley and took out the Body Crafting Kit.‘Black Tiger Clan… I was planning on destroying you early on, butmyplans have changed.’

He used Henrick’s colored dye to draw a tattoo on the back of his hand. His light strokes quickly formed intoa tattoo of a black tiger.‘I’ll suck your bones dry down to the marrowin this life.’

Kang Yoon-Soo looked toward a merchant company’sbuilding as the sunbegan setting. He would need at least a month to create enough potions tobe used by more than 1,000 people, including the undead, even with hispotion-makingskills.

Hedid not plan to waste his time like that; neitherdid he have the funds to procure such a massive amount of potions. However, if this was the last time, he needed to take the dangerous road even if it meant risking it all to climb to the top.

Hewent into the merchant company’sbuilding. The interior wascrowded with alchemists, merchants, and adventurers,all trading potions.Hewent up to the receptionist and told himself,‘Be brazen, just like how you tricked Jiang Ren-Weiaboutyour level. Just as you hid your physical weakness with mental fortitude, it’s time to deceive another to reap the rewards.’

“How may I help you?”theskinnyfemale receptionistasked.

Kang Yoon-Soo motioned for the woman to come closer. Right asher face drew close enough, however,he suddenly pulled her hair down.

“Kyaaah!”The woman screamed in surprise.

Kang Yoon-Soo whispered in her earwith an icyvoice, “A bombhas beenset up in this building.”

It was now time to pulloff thescam.