The Healing Solaris Cleric-Chapter 421: Dragon Lair (4)

It was Kai’s second time using Memory Dive. He had entered Roen’s memory the first time he had used it. By slightly altering his memories, he had gifted him a new life.

But this time... it’s a little different.

Kai calmly read the message window in front of him.

Ding!

[You have entered the Dragon Lord’s Memory World.]

[Warning: The target possesses an excessive amount of memories. Modifying or deleting even a small memory may cause a chain reaction that could drastically alter the target's personality.]

[If the Dragon Lord becomes feral, the safety of the continent will be in serious danger.]

[You are of a different species from the target. Synchronizing with the target may result in severe side effects.]

[It is recommended to use Observation mode when loading a memory.]

Hmm. So unlike with Roen, edits and deletions aren’t allowed.

That was understandable since the subject was the Dragon Lord. Depending on how the memory was altered, one could command the entire dragon race.

That would be a serious break in balance, of course.

Kai, who believed the game’s balance was perfect, nodded.

“Alright then...”

Taking his eyes off the message, Kai looked around.

“Wow!”

The void space one entered when using Memory Dive contained the subject’s memories floating around like thumbnails.

It’s just like with Roen, but...

Roen was a teenager, not even twenty. The Dragon Lord, on the other hand, had lived a different scale of time. 10,000 years. Memories layered over each other through those endless years.

“So this is the result of that, huh.”

In every direction, even to the invisible ends of the sky, the entire space was filled with the memories of the Dragon Lord. The more he looked the more dizzying everything became.

Roen’s memories had broken gaps in between...

But the Dragon Lord’s memories had no such gaps at all. Kai immediately understood why.

Punishment. That makes sense.

Dragons were criminals banished from the Celestial Realm. They were beings who hadn’t received the gift of forgetfulness that the gods had granted to humans.

That’s why some dragons like the Death Dragon eventually go mad.

Not being able to forget even a moment of one’s entire life, that wasn’t a blessing but a curse.

So all of these memories are constantly drifting inside the Dragon Lord’s mind.

Kai looked around with a faintly sympathetic expression then waved his hand.

“Leave only the memories related to the keyword ‘past’ and clear out everything else.”

As soon as the command was given, the memories drifting like a panorama around Kai disappeared one by one.

“There's still quite a lot left.”

Even though he had specified the keyword “past,” there were still hundreds of remaining memories.

He pointed to one memory that seemed fairly important among those floating around him. Then the thumbnail instantly flew toward him.

“Load memory.”

Ding!

[Warning: You are of a different species. Synchronizing may cause severe side effects.]

[Would you still like to synchronize?]

“No, Observation mode.”

The system had already warned him multiple times, so there was no need to take unnecessary risks. Besides, he was also scared.

Even if only for a moment, I would become a dragon.

He would have to walk on four legs instead of two, with wings on his back. All objects would appear small, and not a single memory could be forgotten.

I’d rather avoid that kind of experience.

[Memory will play in Observation mode.]

[Your avatar will be generated within the memory.]

The view around him flickered like dot graphics, and then instantly the background changed.

Crackle, crackle.

Inside a dark room lit only by a small torch, four young men sat around a table.

“Lord, so what exactly are you trying to say?”

“It’s about our past.”

That person is the Lord?

Leaning against the wall, Kai wore a surprised expression. His features did clearly resemble those of the old man from earlier. However, the eyes that glowed intensely and the firm build were definitely different. The younger Lord radiated a completely different aura from the gentle old man. In comparison, he had an aura like King Beoruk.

Let’s just keep watching for now.

Kai leaned on the wall and quietly observed them.

“No matter how I think about it, this is strange. Forty-two. That’s the total number of our kind who opened their eyes one after another after me.”

“Sigh, that again?”

“Let it go already. It’s been a thousand years.”

“So what if we don’t remember the past? In this land we’re like gods, and no creature can stand against us.”

“Why are you so obsessed with the past?”

The young men gathered together grumbled.

Only then was Kai able to guess their identities.

For them to treat the first Dragon Lord like that, they must be the elder dragons.

Watching someone else’s memories was more interesting than he thought. Kai relaxed like a person watching a drama and focused on their conversation.

“The present is said to be the result of the past and the cause of the future. Aren’t you curious why we possess this kind of power? Why are we unable to forget even a single moment of our memories?”

“Not curious at all.”

“Why would that be something to wonder about? We were just born this way. Our species is superior so we can use magic from birth and have brilliant minds that never forget anything.”

The elder dragons looked frustrated.

“Lord, no dragon is curious about the past.”

“Let’s think more about the present instead.”

“The present?”

At Lord’s question, the elder dragons took it as their chance to speak.

“Don’t you know? The Celestial Realm keeps picking fights with us lately.”

“They act like they’re our masters telling us we can’t do this or that... It’s so annoying.”

“Especially the Solarian God. She’s the worst. No killing humans, no killing elves, just don’t kill anything apparently.”

“On the other hand, that Muldine guy is a bit more reasonable.”

As he listened to the elder dragons’ complaints, Lord muttered blankly, “The Celestial Realm...”

Ignoring him, the elder dragons continued to insult the gods of the Celestial Realm and then stood up from their seats a little later.

“Anyway Lord, let go of the past. You’ll get sick if you keep dwelling on it.”

“Enjoy the present. There are so many dragons out there who want to court you.”

“If word gets out that the head of our kin has been chasing the past for a thousand years, we’ll be too embarrassed to even show our faces.”

After the elder dragons disappeared using teleportation, Lord let out a deep sigh. Each time the torch flickered, his face full of concern came into clear view.

Watching that scene, Kai stopped the memory.

There are three things I can gather from this memory.

He had said it had been a thousand years since he began searching for the past. That meant this memory was from roughly 9,000 years ago, the dragons had already disliked the gods since that time, and the dragons’ opinion of Muldine was better than expected.

Shimizu was right.

Muldine had encouraged the dragons to run wild so they got along well.

“End memory.”

The surroundings shifted back to the Memory World and Kai cleared the memory he had just viewed from the list.

“Hmm. Memories like that are fun but not what I need right now.”

Kai examined the thumbnails of memories floating around him one by one. After a short while, a smile appeared on his face.

This is it.

He instantly identified the memory he was looking for.

He said it was a day when heavy rain poured.

The Dragon Lord had said that it was the day he had his first memory.

The thumbnail Kai picked was filled with a gray sky and raindrops.

“Load memory.”

The cool sound of rain hit the back of Kai’s ears.

“Mm.”

He found himself standing in a forest. Huge palm trees and broad leaves filled the space like a tropical jungle.

I’m not getting wet.

The falling raindrops passed right through him.

“Lord is... ah, there he is.”

Kai approached the dragon lying in the forest. The dragon’s body was about eight meters long.

It seems too big to even call a hatchling.

He thought that this might be the size of a dragon when it was just born.

As the cool raindrops tapped the dragon’s body for a while, Lord’s eyelids slightly twitched and opened. Lord blinked and looked up at the sky. His large eyes reflected the gray sky, the rain and occasional lightning strikes. As he stared up, tears began to fall from his eyes. Lord whimpered and cried endlessly. Even then his eyes stayed fixed on the gray clouds. His gaze looked as if he were staring not at the clouds but at something beyond them.

“Stop memory...”

At Kai’s murmur, the rain and lightning stopped.

Kai lightly stretched his neck and muttered, “Time to begin.”

Lord didn’t lie to me.

This was certainly the first day he remembered.

But this isn’t what I wanted to know.

Kai said, “Go back.”

Time began to flow backward. An impossible phenomenon played out in front of Kai. Rain that had fallen to the ground soared upward, and lightning strikes returned into the clouds. And at a certain point, time stopped

Ding!

[The earlier part of this memory is locked by a powerful force.]

[If you wish to view the earlier part of the memory, please unlock it.]

The thumbnail of the memory floating before Kai was tightly wrapped in chains.

A powerful force... This must be some kind of lock placed by the gods of the Celestial Realm.

In other words, he would be able to view the memory if he could unlock it—the memory of the Dragon Lord from more than 10,000 years ago that even the Lord himself could not recall.

Kai raised his hand without hesitation.

“Formless Sword.”

In the world of memory, Kai couldn’t exert any physical force. However, the Formless Sword was a sword art that had no shape to begin with. It was a blade forged by the conviction in freedom, more unrestrained than anything in this world.

I will cut it.

Kai’s strong will imbued the Formless Sword and struck the chains. At the same time, his head throbbed with intense pressure.

“Argh...!”

The Formless Sword was a blade created by his free will. It fundamentally had no cost, meaning it consumed neither mana nor holy power upon use. However, simply wielding it gnawed away at his mental power.

It was fine when cutting trivial objects or simple magic...

But this was a memory sealed directly by the gods themselves.

Kai’s consciousness went hazy for a moment. His head began to spin like a terrible fever had overtaken him.

Beep, beep beep.

[Player’s brainwave levels are unstable.]

[If this condition continues, the system will forcefully terminate the connection for the player’s safety.]

[Time remaining until forced disconnection: 29 seconds.]

[28 seconds.]

[27 seconds.]

.

.

.

Kai couldn’t even properly read the messages floating before him. His vision continuously shook, so he tightly shut his eyes and focused harder as he sharpened the blade of the Formless Sword. Perhaps that effort paid off, as the chains that had been screaming with strange friction suddenly got sliced.

Ding!

[The memory has been unlocked.]

[You have unlocked the Dragon Lord’s secret memory: Prologue.]

[Level increased.]

[Level increased.]

[Level increased.]

[Acquired 15 stat points.]

[Player’s brainwave levels have stabilized.]

[Forced disconnection has been canceled.]

“Huff, huff...”

Kai slumped to the ground and sensed the surrounding space shift. The forest with pouring rain changed into a place with blazing sunlight.

Wait a second, this place is...?

Kai’s expression hardened as he looked around. It was only natural as this was a place he visited as often as his own bedroom.

It was the Celestial Garden. As hundreds of gods bowed their heads, Helik stood atop a golden platform and spoke sternly.

“In accordance with the severity of their crimes, I hereby exile Eos and the forty-two lesser gods to the middle realm.”

“Helik...?”

Her emotionless face and cold gaze were something Kai had never seen before.