[RoTL] Chapter 1. The Thousandth Life

While I’m quite tired of seeing all those “going back in time and becoming a stronger hero” setting in novels, this one was genuinely interesting. It’s like groundhog day with liquid nitrogen mixed in or something. Iunno. Ah, I almost forgot to mention, this is a teaser.

Author: Flatter
The Author of this story, Flatter, has full rights over this story, and I am translating this work with his permission.

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Chapter 1. The Record of a Thousand Lives.

“Looking at you always makes my heart beat wildly. Every time. As if it was the first time we met.”

A man said this with an emotionless tone while standing at the last cliff of the world.
The Demon Emperor’s seven long, thin eyes came down upon the man.
As this happened, the Demon Emperor’s lips that resembled saws parted open.

[Human.]
“What is it.”
[Why do you not run from me.]
“Because I know it is useless.”
[Come back stronger. So that you may destroy me next time.]

The man’s heart ripped apart along with the world itself.

.
.
.

In a blacksmith’s workshop.
In a place so dirty and old that no one even dared to access.
A single man was sitting on an oak container.

Thump…. Thump….

What made him realize that he came back to the past was, as always, the sound of his heart beating.
Kang Yoonsoo slowly opened his eyes.
On his right hand was a shiny, well-made sword.
He took a look at the terminal he had on his wrist.
It displayed the date, as well as the information of the weapon on his hand.

TODAY:468-P-3(REORKAN)
[Longsword of Light]
Rank-Normal
Slicing Strength: 8
There is a small chance of having the sword spew out light when attacking.

The 468th year of the Reorkan empire, at the 3rd day of the month of the pheonix.
The day the people of earth were transferred into an unknown land.
He had traveled 20 years back into the past.
Again.

Kang Yoonsoo looked at the blade of the sword on his hand. He swung the sword lightly. A sound of something slicing through the air could be heard.

Vuun–

He could remember his first life.

In his 1st life, he was a blacksmith.
He always managed to survive one way or the other. As a person with a production class, he was always looked down on by others. He always regretted his decision to become a blacksmith. When the war with Pandemonium began, he worked as a repairman in the army. Then, he came in contact with the Demon Emperor.
The tyrannical being who was trying to destroy the world.
He was targeted by the Demon Emperor, and died.

He could remember his 2nd life as well.
When he opened his eyes, he was in the old workshop. He realized that he went back in time. After that point, his life changed dramatically compared to his first one. He acquired many rare equipments, gathered comrades, and created a mercenary’s guild. The mercenary class required the person to be in battle frequently, but it was much better than living as a blacksmith. After 20 years, the war with Pandemonium began, and his mercenary corp fought valiantly in the front lines.
He then got targeted by the Demon Emperor, and died.

He could now remember his 3rd life.
After going back in time, Kang Yoon Soo pondered upon his mistakes carefully. He destroyed anything that could potentially hinder him as soon as he could, and by using the memories he had from his previous lives, he levelled up tremendously fast. After carefully thinking over what class he would become, he chose to become the Enhancer. He enhanced his weapons and armor to their fullest, and he had no enemies who could face him.
Except for the Demon Emperor.

4th life. He only looked towards the sword.
When he got killed three times by the Demon Emperor, he became full of murderous intent. He took a single sword, and put himself through hellish training. He explored various dangerous hunting areas and ruins by himself.
After much time, his skill with the sword reached its peak, and he had already killed up to thirty giant-class monsters by himself. In the end, he chose to take the class “legendary swordsman”. The emperor designated him to be the leader of the First Knight Platoon. As a leader of a knight platoon, he successfully led the army against Pandemonium.
But the Demon Emperor exceeded his skill in both strategy and militaristic force. He got killed by the Demon Emperor.

His 5th life was harsh.
He was used to going back in time at this point. He decided to think differently this time. He decided to not care about whether this world got destroyed or not. He lived as quietly as he could. In order to not be noticed by others, he decided to earn just enough to live a normal life. He chose to be a Runner. It was a common class. When the war against Pandemonium began, he ran away to an uninhabited island.
But the Demon Emperor found him. And killed him.

At his 6th life, he began to feel fear.
Right after returning, he began to gather mana. He memorized spells, and felt the flow of mana. After much effort, he became a sorcerer. He then invested the rest of his time in stealth.
When the war began, he used everything he could in order to hide himself at the edge of the world. But the Demon Emperor managed to find him. Like this, he got killed by the Demon Emperor.

7th life. Fighting wasn’t everything.
He trained himself in the art of talking as much as he could. He trained himself to talk more philosophically, and smoothly. After ten years of training under a famous poet, he became a diplomat.
He convinced the emperor to surrender to Pandemonium. The citizens were slaughtered, and the continent was drenched in blood. The palace, however, was safe.
But the Demon Emperor did not accept his surrender. In the end, the Demon Emperor killed him.

After this, he couldn’t remember much. This was because his 8th and his 9th life were filled with too much dread.

10th life.
At this point, he was getting crazy. As soon as he went back, he began to kill. He let out his stress with murder. It wasn’t hard to become a slaughterer, especially with all his skills.
Sooner or later, he became the most infamous slaughterer in the entire continent. After killing his three thousandth victim, he got a chance to acquire a hidden class known as life eater. There was no one who could defeat him in the entire continent.
The war began, and the Demon Emperor appeared. He curled up on the ground, and began trembling. He asked over and over again to not destroy the world, and to not let him keep going back in time. The Demon Emperor refused.
Like always, he got killed by the Demon Emperor.

After that point, he kept asking the same question whenever he met the Demon Emperor. Why did you have to keep putting me back in time? The Demon Emperor responded to his question at the ninety-eighth life.

[Keep reviving. Become a worthy enemy for me.]

The Demon Emperor was looking for an enemy. But he, who was simply far too powerful, was unable to find an opponent even in hell. So he chose a single person, and made that person repeat his life over and over again.
That person was Kang Yoonsoo.

[Repeating one’s life makes a person stronger, after all.]

Kang Yoonsoo realized. He was only a toy. The only way to break out of this cycle was to kill the Demon Emperor. But doing that would be harder than destroying the entire world itself.
After finishing explaining, the Demon Emperor killed him.

214th life.
After much time, he became a grandmaster puppeteer. He performed the greatest forbidden technique as a puppeteer. He turned his own body into the strongest doll there was. In his cold heart was an undying soul, and even the softest parts of his body contained weapons in it. It was possible to heal himself even from a life-threatening wound.
But he was soon turned to dust by the Demon Emperor.

273rd life.
In order to reach the halls of the hidden rogue masters, he passed through various traps, and became a grandmaster thief. He mastered all sorts of techniques, starting from picking locks all the way to poisoning a man. He stole the goblet of infinity, the demon sword of blood, and the stamp of destruction from the nest of the dragon of the apocalypse. The only thing he couldn’t steal was the sky, the sun, and the moon.
But he was unable to steal the soul of the Demon Emperor.

347th life.
He created a relation with the monsters. Their languages were all different, and they all possessed violent personalities. But he, who managed to master all sorts of languages, tactics, and fighting techniques, became a successful leader of the monsters. He became the lord of all monsters, and conquered the continent.
Then he got conquered by the Demon King.

454th life.
He started off as the Last Necromancer, and then became the Undead Lich. His flesh had rotted off, and only bones remained. He was a being that was able to tempt all living things, and was something that could not die even if he wanted to. He was able to handle high-class undead like the Neverdead Dragon and the Death General. He created an undying army, and fought against Pandemonium.
The Demon Emperor appeared, and he began to drain the Emperor’s life immediately. But even as a lich, the Demon Emperor’s life energy simply was too much. His body, unable to contain all the energy, exploded.

522h life.
He memorized how to create all kinds of potions. He became the leader of the Alchemist Association, and became the Great Alchemist. He used various potions to strengthen his body to the fullest, and by using a lava golem, as well as custom bombs, he changed the course of the entire war.
But that all soon changed when the Demon Emperor appeared. He took a stone of invulnerability, in order to stay alive, but the Demon Emperor shattered his body to pieces.

592nd life.
He admitted that he couldn’t win against the Demon Emperor. There was no way to defeat Pandemonium, no matter what he did. He decided to research ways in order to go back to his real world. When he became a scholar, the amount of information he could store multiplied.
The war began, and the Demon Emperor killed him.

689th life.
After a thousand years of work, he finally found a way to get back to the real world. Thanks to this achievement, his class advanced to become “The Sage Who Forgot The World”. He traveled through dimensions, and returned to Seoul. The Demon Emperor found him, however, and killed him.

719th life.
As the general of the imperial navy, he created a giant ship, and sailed out of the Igiris Strait. After a long time of sailing, he reached the eastern continent. It was filled with people who ate rice, and focused on martial arts. His class as an explorer advanced to become the “Explorer of the Unknown”. He wanted to stay on the continent, but there was only four days left till the war began.
A friendly martial artist hid him, but the Demon Emperor flew all the way to the Eastern Continent and killed him.

742nd life.
He realized that he couldn’t provoke the Demon Emperor just by raising his middle finger. The Demon Emperor ripped him apart along with the world with an emotionless face.

834th life.
The king of corrupt things, Sirian. He shared a drink with the one known as this. Strangely enough, they seemed to have many similarities. He was even able to get the answer to the question he was thinking of. At the same time, he became despondent. His last drink was filled with the king’s blood.
The Demon Emperor killed him.

872nd life.
His emotions dried up. He stopped talking, and his personality became cold and dry. Looking at a smiling child didn’t make him feel happy, and he no longer felt anything when killing something. He didn’t really feel much when the Demon Emperor killed him as well.

915th life.
He lived for 18,000 years. He was tired of getting hidden classes or acquiring new skills. Everything was just getting repetitive. Even getting killed by the Demon Emperor was repetitive at this point.

Crack—!

The window smashed when the sword tip he swung came in contact with it.
Kang Yoonsoo stood up with a pair of dry eyes.
He softly put the blade of his sword against the walls of the cold furnace.

Scrape…. Scrape…. Scrape….

A small 正 symbol was drawn 199 times. The last 正 ended at its fourth stroke.
Today marked the day Kang Yoonsoo died 999 times.
His 1000th life began.