Chapter 52: Formatting
My eighth life has begun.
Frankly, the previous life ended so abruptly that I didn’t feel much different. The only thing was the pain of self-induced death, akin to muscle soreness, that made me groan in bed for a while.
Last time, I was too overwhelmed by mental shock, surprise, and self-loathing to notice, but the method of breaking one’s heart meridian as a form of suicide was far from comfortable. In terms of pain, it was only slightly less agonizing than beheading. It was not a choice a normal person could easily make.
“Ugh… Damn it.”
Still grumbling, I got up. The one good thing about the self-induced death method was that it lessened the subsequent mental trauma since it was my choice. This made me think I should research a quicker, more painless way to die.
‘Anyway, let’s summarize. At the bottom of the pond where the black and white lotuses bloom, there likely lies a relic of the Seven Luminaries. The spiritual energy emanating from that shining sword was tremendous. However, to acquire it, I must defeat the guardian giant spider.’
Quickly reviewing the situation in my mind, the question now was ‘how’ to do it.
How exactly should I obtain that treasure?
I figured that avoiding combat with the guardian was impossible. It was worth considering quickly crossing the narrow bridge to grab the sword before the spider emerged, but the risk was too high. Given the spider’s reaction speed, there was a high likelihood of being overpowered and dying in vain. My current speed would need to be more than double to rely solely on it to win.