Everyone left TBOAH!Bud and TCF!Bud to their meltdowns and those who had been present back at the Directory did not possess the ability to read minds so they could not warn TBOAH!Cage and TCF!Cage not to expect such a miracle from Cale.
This area looked large enough to fit multiple houses. This whole place was filled with books. Preservation magic was cast on them so that they were maintained in the best condition. These books all recorded just one thing.
“This is the record of strong individuals the Mercenaries Guild has collected for hundreds of years.”
“All of them?!” TBOAH!Tasha gasped in surprise and TBOAH!Bud, none the wiser, grinned proudly and fiddled with his glasses, his green eyes sparkling with gleeful delight.
“That's right—” He started to speak, but then Naur continued the record – rudely shutting him up by forcing everyone's attention back to the Palantír.
Strong individuals. The first Mercenary King and the first Mercenaries Guild started to record information about strong individuals in order to survive. Bud Illis approached Cale and continued to speak.
“I did call it the records of strong individuals, however.”
The Directory. The reason these records were important was not just because of the information on strong individuals.
“You can actually call it the history of the Eastern continent for the past 1,000 years.”
Information, history of the Eastern continent… 1000 years – how could anyone who lived on the Eastern Continent not be awed by the Directory. Even Jopis was surprised by significance and the symbolism that the Directory had. However, she glanced toward Cale and frowned slightly as she tried to understand why there was rumour on the Eastern Continent that the Molan Household were responsible for blowing up the Directory. She kept quiet, hoping to have some of her curiosity sated today.
This area was filled with tens of thousands of books. Humidity, temperature, preservation and security. All of these spells were cast on the books in this records library. The Mercenary King smiled and asked Cale a question.
“What do you think? Do you think you can find the information you are looking for here?”
Tens of thousands of books.
The group looked at Cale and the Mercenary King. Their expressions did not look good. Even the ancient Dragon seemed a bit upset. Tens of thousands of books. They needed to find information about that reincarnator, the White Star, in these books.
An icy chill went through everyone from the TBOAH!World and TBOAH!Choi Han shuddered and buried his face into his hands. Cale blinked and looked around at them all and then heard Rok Soo beside him sigh heavily. Turning his head toward Rok Soo, Cale questioned him with a raised eyebrow and a stubborn tilt of his head when it looked like Rok Soo wouldn't tell him.
“No one talked about the White Radish being a reincarnator during that timeline… in fact it wasn’t right until the final battle… Actually, if I think about it…” Rok Soo looked toward TBOAH!Alberu and then TBOAH!Choi Han and then returned his gaze to Cale.
“Cale… if I hadn’t heard him talking about Choi Han's time being warped, even I wouldn’t have realized he had Mother's power.”
“That's right. No one, save for those closest to him, knew about his reincarnation ability.” TCF!Fredo spoke up, consoling the looks of disastrous despair and grief upon the faces of everyone belonging to the TBOAH!World.
“Tsk…” Cale clicked his tongue and frowned with annoyed disgust.
“Cale-nim… it's possible that anyone who discovered this didn't live long enough to tell about it.” TCF!Choi Han offered commentary to try appeasing the stern frown on Cale's expression.
“And by that time, we were no longer around to warn anyone…” TBOAH!Eruhaben winced at TBOAH!Mila's faint whisper. TCF!Eruhaben and TCF!Mila both felt their heart's shake as they understood what TCF!Mila was implying.
“Damnit!” TCF!Rasheel snarled, his fist colliding with the nearest table, crashing into it and smashing it out of existence.
“Even you?!” He demanded, turning toward his counterpart and falling silent when his counterpart turned his head away and pressed his lips into a thin line, trying to avoid recalling his own painful last moments.
“That's enough,” Cale's calm and level voice filled the Palantír Hall even though he was not shouting. Both the TCF!Dragons as well as the TBOAH!Dragons calmed down. The TBOAH!Dragons who were being overwhelmed by the haunted memories of their pasts immediately forgot the fear that had seized control of them moments ago. Cale stood up and approached them, moving calmly – almost unconsciously – with Raon and the TBOAH!Black Dragon trailing behind him. The three of them came over to sit with the other Dragons from both timelines. Grigori smiled sweetly and then accepted that Cale's gaze returning to the Palantír was Naur's cue to continue the record.
It was at that moment.
“It’s been a while.”
The Mercenary King could see a bitter smile appearing on Cale’s face. Cale started to laugh as he continued to speak.
“It really has been a while.”
His cold gaze was slowly looking through the numerous amounts of books in front of him.
“What’s been a while?”
Cale responded to the Mercenary King’s question. “I expected this. 1,000 years’ worth of records should at least be this much.”
The area with the Directory. Cale thought it was obvious that a significant amount of information would be present. Cale brushed his hand past his eyes.
“I’ll need to record for the first time in a long while.”
Kim Rok Soo had noticed something odd when he had first woken up as Cale Henituse. He remembered.
Everyone sat to attention, most of them were curious, but the majority of them were by now starving for more information about Cale and his past and even more so about what kind of life the original Cale was now living as Kim Rok Soo.
Even though Kim Rok Soo had transmigrated into Cale Henituse’s body. For some reason… Kim Rok Soo remembered all of the contents of < The Birth of a Hero > until volume 5, as well as the rest of the information he had recorded. Those records had not erased even as time went by. Even the conversations he had with everybody since living as Cale had not disappeared from his mind.
“Oh?!” Kim Rok Soo flinched, his face turning slightly pale as a look of anxiety appeared upon his countenance.
“What? What is it?” TCF!Alberu questioned Rok Soo. He was fast to pick up cues like this, especially when it came to something about Cale nowadays.
“His ability…” Rok Soo lowered his voice trying to keep his words from going beyond them space, however he could not hide his words from the kittens sitting nearby, or even the Dragons with their enhanced hearing, or even TCF!Choi Han who noticed the similar expression of discomfort on Rok Soo's face as the one he'd seen from the memories he'd shared with Choi Jung Soo back when he was learning the Black Yong skill.
“It's… been recording everything… on it's own… passively… without him needing or controlling it. Constantly activated…” Rok Soo shuddered, when he'd first become Cale learning to control this ability had been the most challenging – because on one hand it was a great ability to have, but it was a double-edged blade.
At the same time TCF!Choi Han realized something, hearing that every conversation Cale had since transmigrating was recorded might sound sweet, but Cale was someone who could not forget so even bad conversations and terrible things said to him in anger would also be remembered by him in this world. TCF!Choi Han clenched his fists, he wanted to shout about the unfairness, Cale didn't deserve to suffer anymore.
TCF!Rosalyn suddenly reached out and set her hand upon his. Although she didn’t understand what was going on, she was smart enough to know that it was something serious that Cale had never told them about. TCF!Choi Han exhaled slowly and clasped her hand in both of his to accept her reassurance.
These memories that a normal person would have long forgotten about… He remembered everything he wanted to remember. No, to be more specific, they had been recorded. Kim Rok Soo had realized it when he realized that fact.
‘My brain has come here too. No, a portion of my ability has come here.’
Cale brushed his eyes once again. Cale Henituse’s eyes were reddish-brown. Kim Rok Soo’s eyes were reddish-brown as well.
The TBOAH!Henituse family and TCF!Henituse family jumped slightly, and their heads snapped toward Kim Rok Soo and then to Cale, who appeared to be somewhat hidden by all the Dragons surrounding him. They hadn’t bothered to think too deeply about the similarities before, but now it felt there was some importance to it.
“Son, didn't you say back when we first arrived here that the White Radish’s current body was yours…” TCF!Fredo spoke up, carefully pensive. Cale sighed and nodded.
“That's right. It is.”
“And that's also why your body and his stolen one are identical, right?” TBOAH!Fredo added in a curious tone.
“Except for our hair… mine is black and his is red.” Rok Soo spoke up.
“Right… right… but… Cale… your hair is a similar shade of red to his…” TCF!Fredo gestured respectfully at Cale.
Cale frowned deeply and shrugged, “So?”
“Well, what's the relationship between your original vessel, which the White Star stole, and Cale Henituse? Your hair and eye colour was supposed to be the same… so there must be a connections…”
“That's…” Cale stopped and lowered his gaze to the tiled floor and began to frown. Truthfully, neither he nor Rok Soo actually knew about it. All eyes turned to the goddess. However, she stared blankly back at them. The silence thickened, and then she gestured toward the Palantír.
“But—”
Naur continued the record, cutting off Rok Soo when he tried to demand an explanation.
Kim Rok Soo, Grade 1 Ability User.
First brain-related special ability, ‘record.’
Medium to use ability, ‘eyes.
TCF!Bud gulped and took off his glasses for a moment to rub his eyes. He felt strangely more exhausted than usual watching this again. He still didn't bother correcting his counterpart’s misguided pride and confidence.
His eyes slowly took in the large number of records. He started to walk toward the tens of thousands of books as well. Cale faced a familiar sight for the first time in a long while as he unbuttoned the first button of his shirt. His mind always heated up when he recorded things. He had unbuttoned the top button in order to help with the stuffiness. That was Kim Rok Soo’s habit whenever he worked.
“Cale.” TCF!Alberu huffed, recalling the call he'd had with Cale a week after this day.
“Habit… sorry!” Cale replied timidly. He seemed to be lazily leaning against TCF!Eruhaben with Raon in his arms. TCF!Eruhaben glanced toward Cale and then smiled slightly and idly began to pet Cale's hair. Cale relaxed even more against the Ancient Golden Dragon, a quiet sigh of contentment escaping his lips.
< Chapter 359: No, Then Whatever (1)>
“…You’re going to go through all of these?” The Mercenary King urgently chased behind Cale, who was heading toward the center of the area that was full of thousands of books. He seemed to be nervous.
“Cale, I remember what you told me when you made me the offer.” Bud Illis recalled the things Cale told him the first time they met. “You asked me to show you the Directory.”
TBOAH!Bud sat up to attention. This scene entailed information he didn’t know, so he quietened down in order to understand what kind of information Cale Henituse was trying to find.
The Directory was not a file that even the Mercenary King could easily show others. However, he still brought Cale here, even acting stealthily in the process. There was a simple reason for it.
“You said you needed to know the White Star’s history.”
Cale turned his head and looked toward the Mercenary King. The Mercenary King flinched. It was because Cale’s eyes did not look human for a moment.
TCF!Bud was not the only one who flinched. Even people in the Palantír Hall flinched as the Palantír showed the look TCF!Bud was seeing. Cale blinked his eyes open again and corked his head adorably, densely trying to figure out what it was about his impassive expression that was so unsettling to TCF!Bud and the others – however he couldn’t figure it out.
They were cold and emotionless. It was as if he was looking at an object.
“Oh, I see now… so this is when Cale is actively using his ability.” TCF!Alberu mumbled with a frown of concentration.
However, those thoughts quickly disappeared once Cale started to speak. Cale had not told the Mercenary King much information about the White Star. However, it was time to share some details.
“The White Star is a reincarnator who has gone through many lives for approximately 1,000 years.”
That was enough.
Indeed that was enough to make TBOAH!Choi Han uncomfortable and the silence once again fell over everyone, but only for a brief moment because Grigori's mana soon filled the hall and clarity eased and settled the last fears everyone was feeling again. Once they all calmed down, Naur continued the record.
Cale confirmed the Mercenary King’s expression changing before turning back around and heading toward the records. Bud just blankly stared at Cale’s back. He only returned to his senses and started to speak after the ancient Dragon patted his shoulders before walking past him. The ancient Dragon was approaching Cale.
“…Eruhaben-nim, are you saying the White Star is someone who repeatedly died and was born again?”
“Yes. He reincarnated over and over.”