Record of a Thousand Lives

Boss monsters hadhigher stats compared to normal monsters, and their destructivenesswasnot somethingmost people couldtake head-on. The group,apart fromKang Yoon-Soo, lost their composureuponthe appearance of theGiant Hobgoblin. They were so surprised that their legs wouldno longer listen to them.

Atthat moment, theGiant Hobgoblinswung its machete down.

Swoosh!

Hong Ga-Ram was at the forefront,and theGiant Hobgoblineasily cut him in half with one swing of its machete.

“Wh-what?!”

“Kyaaaaaa!”

“We… We have to run away!”

The threesurvivorsstarted to scramble toward the exit, but theGiant Hobgoblinmoved much faster than them. It blocked the exit with its large body and let out a terrifying howl at the humans who had massacred its clan.“Grrr... Raaaaaaaghhhhh!”

“Damn it. Wehave nochoice but to fight! Hey, come over here and help us out, Kang Yoon-Soo!” Choi Chang-Seok hurriedly shouted.

However, KangYoon-Sooslowly stood up and started to walk deeper intothe cave.

“That useless son of a…!” Kim Min-Soo cursed while he drew his sword. He charged toward theGiant Hobgoblinand swung his swordat a low angle.Heplanned to reach the exit by goingbetweenthe ankles of theGiant Hobgoblin. However, his body was skewered as soon as theGiant Hobgoblinswung its machete.

“Kyaaaaaah!”LeeYu-Riscreamed at the gruesome sight.At that moment,shefelt someone hit her from behind.Choi Chang-Seok had kickedherwithout hesitation.She fellforward and hit the ankle of theGiant Hobgoblin; itsmacked her with the hilt of its machete and crushed her to a pulp.

Choi Chang-Seok seized the moment as theGiant Hobgoblinwas distractedbyLeeYu-Ri,and ran with all his remaining strength. He passedbetween the Giant Hobgoblin’s anklesandalmost reached the exitof the cave, but suddenly, itswung its machete down athim.Heturned around and swung his sword with all his might,clashingwith the machete.

Clang!

Sparks flew all over as the sword and machete clashedintensely.The difference in strength broke Choi Chang-Seok’s wrist, and he dislocated his ankle while trying to withstand the force of theGiant Hobgoblin’s swing.Hewas flung out of the cave and landed face down on the ground. His sword was broken, and he felt a burning pain fromthe bloodied hand gripping the hilt.

“Haa…Haa…”Choi Chang-Seok pushed off the ground with all his remaining strength, as if heweretrying to push down the earth underneath him. Thankfully, theGiant Hobgoblinseemed to have no intention of chasinghim outside the cave.Hewas left standing alone in the wilderness. All of his teammates were dead, and he now had to survive on his ownonthis continent.

“Kang Yoon-Soo…. That son of a bitch… You just wait and see,” Choi Chang-Seok cursed with eyes full of hatred,ashe thought of the man whohad runaway alone when they were in danger. He then limped away while cursing Kang Yoon-Soo, his mind filled with thoughts of revenge.

***

Kang Yoon-Soo reached the end of the cave,wherethere was an altar made of bones up on the wall; a rusty chest satatopthe altar. The ‘immense treasure’ that LeeYu-Rihad detected with her search skill was actually the item inside this chest.

Kang Yoon-Sooran his fingers alongthe surface of the chest.Itwas tightly sealed;it looked almost impossible to open, lacking even a keyhole. However, the moment his hands touched the chest,itstarted to tremble. A dark smoke started to rise out ofitbefore long.

Psshhh!

The cave started to trembleviolently, and the stalactites on the ceiling started to smash down onto the floor. The dark smoke started to come together and slowly formed into the silhouette of a human. The human-shapedcloudwas so tall, its head almost reachedthe cave ceiling.

It spoke in a loud, evil-filled voice that reverberatedthroughthe cave.

[You… arrogant… weakling…!]

The corrupted soulspoke in a terrifying voice.

[I am the soul of Nakron, theUltimateNecromancer. How dare such an insignificant beingattemptto obtain my powers without paying any price?!]

TheAncient Heroes of oldwere beings who had reached the pinnacle of their class. They were theones who hadblocked the invasion of Pandemonium under the leadership of Surian, the King of All Beings. The most malicious and evil one among theAncientHeroes was Nakron, theUltimateNecromancer;despite that, he had stood along with the other heroes and defended the world until the very end.

Kang Yoon-Soo had awakened the corrupted soul of that very same Nakron.

[You need to pass my test and prove yourself worthy if you want to open that chest. Bring me the ground-up body ofa fire dragonhatchling from the desert where the sun never sets, and bring me the heart of the Ice King who lives deep in the blizzard…]

“The one who killed you was Surian, the King of All Beings.”

[What…?]

TheAncientHero Nakronseemed surprised.

However, Kang Yoon-Soo, on the other hand, looked surprisingly confident. Hespilledsecretsthat even anAncientHero wouldbe unawareofwithout hesitation.“The day the doors of Pandemoniumwereabout to fully open, you died while fighting against the demons. However, therewas moreto your death. Surian, the King of All Beings, discreetly fed youminusculeamounts of poison, and that poison compounded to take away your strength.Hebetrayed you because you were ultimately planning on becoming an undying lich, and you would have provento be a difficult foe in the future.

[What a joke! There’s no way that’s true! Surian was my friend and my comrade;the King of All Beings was the only one who believed in and trusted me!]

“It’s true. Yourbloodline ended, buton the other hand,theReorkanEmpire flourished. Youbecame knownas the vilest one among the ancient heroes, but Surian isrevered as the founderof the empire. Go and look for the soul of Surian in the underworld if you don’t believe me;he should still bearoundover there,” Kang Yoon-Soo said nonchalantly.

[What?! It can't be!]

Nakronlet out an exclamation of shockwhile clutching his fist. His soul started tocondense into a ball before expanding rapidly.

[Surian…! Youbastard!]

Nakron disappeared after letting out an ear-splitting scream.The chest suddenly shook open,revealinga leather book and a black ring inside.

[Records of the Necromancer Class]

A book written by theUltimateNecromancer himself.The secretskillsof the Necromancer class are written in it.You may learn theskillsof theNecromancer with any class. If used without a class,youmay changeclassesinto theUltimate Necromancer.

[Ring of Life Suppression]

Rating: Unique

Mana Increase: 725

Mana Recovery Speed: +55

Attached Skills: Spirit Creation, Soul Extraction

Nakron created this black ring to defeat the Spirit King. It is filled with the hatred of thespirits thatonce filledthe world with beauty and wonder.You may create spiritsusing rare and powerful materials.

Additionally, the souls of the living can be extracted andstoredin the ring. The souls trapped in the ring will suffer endless pain and despair. However, the soul ofNakron, thecreator of thering, cannotbe stored inside.

[Spirit Creation]

Skill Level:1 (00.00%)

Available Creations:Salamander (requires a dragon’s breath), Icicle (requires the essence ofthousand-yearfrost), Bright (requires a lightning golem’s core), Sharpness (requires a spirit sword).

Uses rare materials to create spirits.

[Soul Extraction]

Skill Level:1 (00.00%)

LimitedUses: 4 times

You may extract the soul ofa recently deceased being,orstorea wandering soul. The extracted soul may be used to boost the abilities of the wearer or used as material to produce weapons.In rare circumstances, the soul may be used as reinforcement orinsertedintoa puppet.

Item ranks weredivided into normal, rare, unique, and legendary.Normal itemswere the most common type, rare itemswere sold at high prices, unique itemswerevery rare and difficult to find, and legendary itemshadthe power to swing the balance of the continent.

The Ring of Life Suppression was a very powerful item. Asingle small ringcould increasemana by 725, and also immensely speed up mana recovery;it had two innate skills on top of that, making it an item thatevenan archmage wouldcovet.

Of course, it wasnotan item that could be receivedsoeasily. To open the seal on the chest, one had to pass Nakron’s perilous tests. Killing thehatchling of Flame Dragon Ignusinthe Desert of Death, taking the heart of the Ice Kinginthe Ician Mountains, and the like were not easy tasks.

However, Kang Yoon-Soocould be considered atranscendent beingafterhe regressed for the thousandth time. He had the knowledge needed to obtain the book and the ring without going through the difficult tests prepared by Nakron.

Heequipped the Ring of Life Suppression on his finger. ThePowerGauntlet he had equipped only slightly coveredhis fingers; thus, he was able towearthe ring on top ofit. Then,heopened the leather book. The moment he did so,alight started to pour outof it.

[Do you wanttochange intothe hiddenclass, UltimateNecromancer?]

TheUltimate Necromancerwas an excellent class. Experience points could be obtained just by raisingthedead, andone would reviveas an undeadbeing in the event ofdeath.Onewould also be able to ‘tame’high-levelundeadupon reaching higher levels.One’s magic powerwouldalso beamplified severaltimes.

However, thereweresome downsides to theUltimate Necromancer class.One’s body woulddeteriorateupon every use of the Necromancer’s power,and over time one would fully transform into an undead being.Additionally, if one gave up on being human and transformed into a lich in order to use all manner of powerful and evil skills, one would enter a hostile relationship with humanity.

Kang Yoon-Soo had experienced turning into a lich and raising all of the dead soldiersonabattlefield as undead in one of his previous lives. However, hecalmly answered,“I refuse.”

Once, he had been alich,and he hadcommandedanundyingarmy. However, he had still lost to the Demon Lord.

The wrist device acknowledged the answer.

[You have refused the class change.]

[Do you wish to inherit the Ultimate Necromancer's skills without changing your class?]

“I accept,” Kang Yoon-Soo said. The moment he finished speaking, the book slowly dissipated and was absorbed into his body.

[You have inherited theNecromancer’s skills.]

[The new stat, 'Regeneration', has been created.]

[Mass Raise Dead]

Skill Level: 1 (00.00%)

Mana Consumption: 100%

Raises all of thecorpsesnear the caster aslow-levelundead. The undeadwill be stored ina pocketdimension once combat ends, andmay besummoned again later.

[Corpse Explosion]

Skill Level: 1 (00.00%)

Mana Consumption: 40

Detonates the chosen corpse to create a powerful explosion.

[Life Drain]

Skill Level: 1 (00.00%)

Mana Consumption: 3 per second

Forcefully drains the enemy’shealth and life force.

Kang Yoon-Soo walked out of the room. TheGiant Hobgoblinthathad been sittingat the exit slowly stood up.

“Grrrr…!”The boss monster stared down at Kang Yoon-Soo.

Kang Yoon-Soo looked around at the hobgoblin corpses scattered all over the cave. He slowly raised his right arm and muttered,“Mass Raise Dead.”

.

One by one, the bloody corpses started torise up slowly.