Reincarnator

Chapter 418: Experiment (1)

‘Who am I?’

“What the… We don’t have time to joke around. Come on, man. We’re in a hurry!”

John Stone was at a loss for words. Though the gap had increased, they had once fought against each other in the Flameless lands. Humans tended to forget good things quickly, but hatred lasted a long time So, how could Hansoo not remember fighting with him?

‘Damn! Samuel is probably a blood bag right now. We don’t have time for this…’

Every second was important for Mihee and Samuel, or even the Capital. They needed to drag this guy to one of those places as fast as possible and deal with it. Only then, would their fight end.

‘At least, he got incredibly strong.’

John Stone looked at Hansoo. An aura that made one feel chills ran through his back. There was black mana moving behind him. Something felt strange, but if one thought of it as a side-effect to gaining such a large amount of strength in such a short amount of time, it wasn’t that weird.

Though, it really did feel ominous.

‘Thank god he’s not an enemy.’

John Stone extended his arm toward Hansoo and shouted, “Come on! Stop spouting nonsen-…”

“Wait.”

As John Stone was about to shout in anger, Kiriel stopped him. Unlike John, she knew why this had happened.

Kiriel asked with a frozen expression, “Do you remember me?”

Hansoo frowned as he spoke.

“You… Mmm… You are…”

Hansoo started to mumble and grab his head. Little bits of memory fragments flashed within it.

<Oh! This is still here!>

<Hahaha! It’s like winning the lottery.>

Hansoo ignored the voices of the demons inside his head and said to Kiriel, “You… I remember you. You’re Kiriel.”

“… Phew!” She asked him, “Have you lost a lot?”

“If only I knew.”

He couldn’t know how much he had lost. He couldn’t even begin to calculate the exact amount he had lost. It was as if the lost memory had been replaced with something else.

‘Damn…’

Kiriel bit her lips and then place her hand on Hansoo’s shoulder, staring into his eyes. She was asking if she could read his memories, and Hansoo nodded as he answered, “Go ahead. I’m curious too.”

“…”

Kiriel fell into despair as she looked through Hansoo’s memories.

‘… They’re all blocked.’

Nothing could be read, not just the memories themselves, but even the physical memories within Hansoo’s body. It was as if someone was blocking her abilities.

‘Damn!’

John Stone couldn’t hold back anymore, and he shouted from next to them, “What the hell are you guys talking about?! Dammit! We don’t have time for all this!”

Various voices continued to ring through John Stone’s visor, including Metionel’s and the various Technorats of Reunion.

<Damn! They’ve found traces of Samuel and Mihee, and the Neoreim System is countering our hacks!>

<We’re being driven out from their systems at a rapid rate! Damn! There is too much disparity between our machines!>

<Mihee and Samuel are being pushed back! They’ll lose at this rate! You need to hurry!>

Nothing was in their favor.

Thankfully, one of the family heads wasn’t participating, which was an issue of its own. Since they were being driven out of the systems, they didn’t know where the heads were and what they were doing. Every second was precious.

However, instead of doing something, they were wasting time there.

Hansoo looked at John Stone’s eyes and said, “Quiet”

John Stone flinched and took a step back.

As he took a step back, he realized something strange. Hansoo’s eyes were different. He couldn’t be sure, but his instincts told him so. They told him that one mistake would be the end of him.

‘Wha-what is this?’

He felt the vicious aura ravaging through his body, and he realized that the reason why he was afraid of Hansoo wasn’t simply because Hansoo had gotten stronger.

Kiriel clenched her teeth.

‘As I thought…’

She couldn’t read his memories, but she could at least read the emotions hidden within the body. Hansoo had had a form of belief inside him before.

Though it had been brutish, his goal had always been to bring the most positive results to everyone. However, the only things remaining inside his body now were the emotions of a tyrant: laziness and boredom.

His eyes were of a tyrant who had lost interest in the world, but she didn’t step back. Since they could still communicate, she might be able to persuade him.

John Stone’s words were right, so Kiriel took a step forward and said, “Hansoo, I understand this feels a bit sudden because you just woke up, but that man’s words are right. We need to hurry…”

“No.”

“…?”

Hansoo shook his head.

“I’m saying that it’s been quite a while since I’ve woken up.”

He hadn’t just woken up. It had been almost a day. He had lain inside the beast for an entire day. He just hadn’t found a reason to move. Things had been comfortable inside, and it had been the best environment to raise his strength.

Because the beast trying to suck his energy got stronger with him, although he could’ve reached the Fifth Star with some more time if he stayed in, he decided to come outside.

The voice inside him kept telling him to, but it wasn’t coming from someone else. They were the words he had repeated to himself continuously before losing his memories: ‘Do not forget this.’

“So, my goal is to save everyone and throw a huge middle finger at god, right?”

“… Yes.”

Hansoo was at a loss for words.

“Ugh! Why did I choose to do something so tiring?”

Kiriel’s expression turned grim at those words.

‘He becomes this different just because he lost his memories?’

Of course, Kiriel was aware of the reason. As people gained experiences and created memories, they changed slowly. However, those things that propped people up had suddenly disappeared.

Currently, Hansoo was who he had been before all of those experiences and accomplishments he had gone through. His speech actually sounded younger and rougher as well.

‘It’s over.’

There was no way he would act now.

As Kiriel’s expression fell into despair, Hansoo shrugged and said, “Well, let’s go and check it out.”

“…?”

Kiriel was shocked, and Hansoo chuckled.

“I’m just curious, that’s all.”

Hansoo was indeed very curious. Saving humanity? Even if they gave him ten thousand tons of gold, or even the whole world, he wouldn’t do such a thing. He could easily live an easy and comfortable life by himself, so why would he go out of his way to suffer and work? To win against the Abyss in the war?

Of course, if they had greater forces and were also individually strong, that would help with winning. But, surviving after a victory and being happy were two different things.

Due to the characteristics of the Abyss, where there was infinite potential to become stronger, a large population of powerful people was better for winning, but it was much easier to be happy by running around alone and causing chaos.

Getting found out was harder when one was alone, and one could monopolize whatever they found, which meant that his previous goal hadn’t been for him, but for others. That made him curious. Why did he try to do such a tiring job while risking everything he had, including his life?

After thinking for about a day, he had found the answer.

“The people around me succeeded in convincing me.”

Those around him had succeeded in changing who he was. Whether they had done it with action or words, it didn’t matter. The important thing was that he had changed, changed to the point where he would act on his own and strive for that goal.

So, Hansoo decided to give in to his desperate self from before he lost his memories.

If he had changed before… ‘Then, I’ll be able to change again.’

He was curious to know if the people past and those at present would be able to change him again, which is why he came out. He did it to give them a chance.

“I don’t know… You guys try to convince me as to why I have to do this.”

“… And if we fail?”

Hansoo chuckled.

“Then, I’ll do whatever I want. As for now, I’ll also do whatever I want.”

“…?”

“What? Got a problem? You haven’t said anything or shown me anything yet, right?”

So, he was going to do what he wanted.

‘I’m gonna take everything and go up.’

He wanted to go up, but he couldn’t just leave like that. If the power of one Relic was that strong, how strong would three be?

Also, it looked like the Relics only worked properly once all three were gathered anyway. So, how could he leave such precious things behind?

‘Let’s safekeep this one here for now.’

Boom! Boom!

Hansoo looked at the Haetara below struggling desperately to suck the energy from the Relic. Though taking the Relic would help, it would be annoying if the thing followed him, which would be a loss in the end.

He could just retrieve the other two and then come back for that one. Finding the other two was his top priority.

“Let’s go.”

‘I’m curious as to what will happen!’

Worst case scenario, he would just take what he could and go up.

Hansoo chuckled.