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“Is there something wrong with my body?”

Hwa Seong-myeong shook his head vigorously. “How can that be! Your body, due to your unimaginable internal power, is always in a naturally powerful state—you could even be called a divine being! In the history of China, there’s probably been no one healthier or stronger than you. It’s incredible that you possess such a physical form and health without undergoing rebirth! How on earth does a human have such internal power? Unless you’ve eaten countless top-tier spiritual pills…”

While expressing admiration, Hwa Seong-myeong’s expression suddenly hardened. “However, as you mentioned, there seems to be a slight issue in your brain. Didn’t I ask you hundreds of irrelevant questions yesterday?”

I nodded. It was even more bothersome than being pricked by a needle.

“Exactly.”

“You seemed to answer all those questions clearly, yet you hesitated on some redundant ones where there was no need to be confused. That hesitation, I believed, arose from partial memory disorder rather than a lack of intelligence or quick thinking. So, while you ate the Demon Waste Potion and fell asleep, I took the liberty to do a little skull surgery to peek inside your brain.”

“…What?”

I had just taken the medicine and rested well, but were they really talking about exposing my skull?! When I asked in bewilderment, Hwa Seong-myeong nonchalantly replied, “Why are you so surprised? You have issues with your brain, so of course, I had to look at it. Our Hwa clan has been specializing in surgery since Hua Tuo’s time.”

“……”

“Now, look at this anatomical diagram. You see this rounded part inside the brain? Our family figured out through thousands of years of medical knowledge and countless surgeries that this part is responsible for human memory. Surprisingly, your brain has significantly expanded in this area and is also quite worn out.”

“Worn out?”

Hwa Seong-myeong nodded. “You appear to be a teenage boy, but your actual age must be much more… How old are you?”

After hesitating a bit, I candidly replied, “I think I’m just over a hundred years old.”

Considering the adventures and training I’d gone through, that seemed about right. Except I never accurately measured my age during each reincarnation. After I answered, Hwa Seong-myeong said, “As expected. Your memory area… Hmm, I’ll call it the hippocampus since it resembles one. Yours is tremendously developed compared to an ordinary human’s. It’s way beyond the brains of those educated folks. What should I say? It’s not just enlarged; it seems to have evolved over several generations for efficiency… In any case, it’s become a distinctly separate organ that can’t be compared to ordinary humans.”

“…What does that mean?”

“But with such development, it also shows signs of wear. Of course, it’s not a severe injury, so other parts of your brain can compensate without any issues.”

“Worn out?”

Hwa Seong-myeong poked my forehead playfully. “Your brain is incredibly developed. It’s hard to believe, but… this can only be explained as a hypothesis. Though you say you’re around a hundred years old, the amount of information and processing your brain has handled over that time is far beyond that. You’re likely exceeding the typical knowledge intake of a person by at least tenfold.”

“Hmm…”

“Ordinary humans, no matter how much they study, won’t have their hippocampus expand like this… this is just strange. What kind of memory capacity do you have? It’s not like you’ve just been reading books for a millennium.”

He said this with a bewildered expression. “In any case, it’s remarkable… Even though your body is obviously human and not a monster, it has so many peculiarities. Perhaps because you’re a martial artist, your brain ages very slowly? Your brain seems younger and more resilient than it should be for your stated age. However, only the hippocampus appears to be exceptionally worn down.”

“……”

So the hippocampus was developed yet worn out? I was desperately trying to figure out what that meant.

‘It’s because of the Memory Transfer Technique!’

Until now, I frequently used obsidian to copy or transfer memories. While using that technique, I felt my memory capacity enlarge and expand, but it turns out that was because it assisted the growth and expansion of my hippocampus.

The problem was that the amount of memory I had amassed through my adventures wasn’t trivial, and memories are immensely bulky and inefficient, so my brain was likely overwhelmed with excessive information. Given physical limits, the brain tends to delete inefficient memories, which was why my memory was declining and I was forgetting small details.

It’s impossible to hold out with a human’s body just by enhancing memory capacity!

Right now wasn’t the time to seek another memory technique other than the Thunder Spirit Classic.

Cold sweat broke out.

While I was feeling this sense of crisis, Hwa Seong-myeong was fiddling with his beard and said, “To diagnose, there’s a risk of dementia in the future. However, it’s hard to conclude it’s dementia because your body is too special…”

“Dementia? So, you’re saying my memory will soon decline and I won’t be able to live normally?”

“So, don’t jump to conclusions. It can’t be definitively stated. It’s true your hippocampus is slightly damaged, but amusingly enough, it’s that much developed. It’s like saying that a royal carriage has a hole in its wheel; it’s just worn down, affecting the ride quality. That doesn’t mean the wheel needs to be replaced.”

“Hmm.”

Hwa Seong-myeong seemed to consider the diagnosis finished as he started organizing his surgical tools and bedding. “It doesn’t seem to be a dangerous state yet. If you reduce brain fatigue and enjoy your three meals a day while living happily, your condition might improve.”

“……”

It was a very textbook diagnosis and sound advice, but I couldn’t afford that luxury right now. Not to mention, as I grow stronger, I’d need an even larger memory capacity—what was I supposed to do about that?

I returned to Zhuge Sa and shared the results of the examination from Hwa Seong-myeong. In response, Zhuge Sa, while fiddling with the black phoenix, said, “I knew it would be like this.”

“What do you mean?”

He replied in a cynical tone. “Humans were created by the ancient race as tasty meat for consumption, and they were almost discarded, but the Three Sovereigns recycled this trash race. Physically and mentally, they’re pitifully weaker than otherworldly races. It’s been predicted that due to the ‘human’ racial limitations you possess, unlimited reincarnation would be impossible.”

Was Zhuge Sa’s previous remark about having to ‘finish quickly’ somehow related to my current situation? I gritted my teeth and replied, “But we can’t just give up like this.”

“Hmmm.”

He thought for a moment and then said, “It’s almost done.”

What does he mean by “almost done?”

After a moment, Zhuge Sa withdrew his hand from the black phoenix and said, “I think I know how to handle it now. I will teach you the tricks from now on, so let’s make a temporary fix.”

“What? What do you mean?”

He gently stroked the black phoenix’s head and explained, “While receiving obsidian from you, I figured out how to use the black phoenix from your previous life. I’ve been researching how to handle this artifact properly for the last three days.”

“Ah!”

“Looking at Hwa Seong-myeong’s diagnosis, it seems your memory capacity has not reached its limit yet, but it’s approaching fast. It’s likely expedited because you split your mind with the Soul Exchange Technique, benefiting from that faster. To delay this limit, you need to organize your memories.”

“Organize my memories?”

Zhuge Sa elaborated, “The memory transfer technique of obsidian transmits information through your brain. So there’s a side effect of accumulating unnecessary residual information in your brain. Moreover, memories have a fourth-dimensional element, often stored much larger than what humans typically perceive. So, it’s likely that a lot of your memories are chaotically scattered in your brain inefficiently.”

“……!!”

“The solution is to completely transfer those pointless memories to the black phoenix to forget them. Then, if you efficiently manage your memories afterward, you could at least postpone dementia by a hundred years. This way, you can compress and organize unnecessary information.”

“Is that possible?!”

Zhuge Sa appeared to find it pathetic. “How do you think this capability was initially integrated into the black phoenix? Would the great race have failed to include such a manual? If these features didn’t exist, how could the kings of Balhae have used the black phoenix for memory transmission properly? You’ve just been interested solely in memory transfer and reading, neglecting the advanced instructions and practical knowledge.”

“……”

“I’ve mastered it over the last three days, so I’ll teach you from now on.”

I began learning the advanced usage of the black phoenix from Zhuge Sa. Contrary to his claim of ease, it felt increasingly difficult to master memory manipulation techniques, eventually seeming several times harder than the alchemy I had learned. I felt like my brain was on fire, as I spent sleepless nights and applied the Soul Exchange Technique for doubled training, just to barely grasp it.

Vroom!

I poured most of my knowledge and experiences into the black phoenix. Unlike when I used obsidian to copy, this felt like lifting everything inside my head and transferring it entirely. Of course, given the characteristics of the black phoenix, the temporary memory blanks could be filled by its magical power.

After all my memories were transferred to the black phoenix, I started retrieving them. While chanting commands, I began to compile information efficiently in my mind. This wasn’t me sifting through my memories manually; it was an automated function installed in the black phoenix, and once the series of tasks was completed, I felt a significant clarity in my mind.

“Oh!”

Until now, my head had felt cluttered with excessive information, leading to a sense of confusion, but now even the memories of my first life, like those starry nights spent beside sweet potatoes during the time of the escort, were vivid and clear! It felt like I had organized an overstuffed vehicle to less than half its capacity, and as I got excited, Zhuge Sa said, “With this, you can last about a hundred years. The urgent fire has been extinguished, but whether in this life or the next, go seek a prophet to ask for a fundamental solution to this issue.”

“Got it.”

I felt thankful that Zhuge Sa was my companion. Even if Zhuge Sa wasn’t a typical companion, accumulating experience would have strengthened me, but in crises that I couldn’t overcome alone, I needed support.

One person can’t do everything.

I engraved that truth in my mind and went to the Sword Demon.

Whoosh!

The Sword Demon began telling me the results of the investigations into Seo Mun-hye’s maternal family. “Indeed, I couldn’t find any issues with the Seo clan (徐家). I rummaged through all documents and information in the city, but the lineage of the Seo family was that of an ordinary bureaucrat. They even had no known ties to the martial world.”

“Hmm…”

“Although, there is something a bit strange.”

“What is it?”

The Sword Demon replied heavily. “I’ll need more time to investigate further, but I discovered a document mentioning that one of her very distant ancestors was a famous figure.”

“Huh? Then it’s not entirely free of problems.”

“That distant ancestor is far above the founding ancestor of the Seo clan and is just a few lines written down based on rumors.”

“Hmm.”

“It’s been at least five hundred years, or perhaps older, so it’s hard to ascertain easily. To find out, we would have to dig through documents of other surnames and families.”

“I’d like to see that record.”

“Understood.”

After some time, the Sword Demon showed me that ‘suspicious’ document. It looked so old that it felt like it could fall apart if mishandled, so I cautiously turned the pages with a pair of tweezers. I calmly examined the document and soon came across the mention of the issue he had brought up.

[My great-grandfather Seo Pil (徐畢) returned from a trip to Liaodong saying, “My distant ancestor was famous throughout the world, why am I in this situation?” His family members were surprised and questioned him, to which he replied, “The grave of the god discovered by my ancestor is famous in Liaodong; let’s all move to Liaodong.” The villagers found it so ridiculous that they all laughed at Seo Pil.]

What could this mention mean? As I cocked my head to examine the document, the Sword Demon said, “Seo Pil is the founding ancestor of the Seo clan, but there are no records beyond that in books. Seo Pil himself didn’t talk about his parents or grandparents, so it couldn’t be any other way. In any case, if we must find something suspicious in the Seo clan, it’s just this document.”

“What does the grave of the god in Liaodong mean?”

The Sword Demon crossed his arms. “I found this document just yesterday, so I’m also not sure. From now on, I plan to use the power of the Shadowless Gate to investigate that [grave of the god].”

The grave of the god was famous in Liaodong. And Seo Pil stated that his ancestor had discovered that grave. What does this fact have to do with Seo Mun-hye right now? What connection exists between Seo Mun-hye’s mysterious strength, the [grave of the god], and the founding ancestor of the Seo clan?

The clues were still too few to know for sure. I pondered for a moment and said to the Sword Demon, “Then, please look into it.”

 

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