He hadn’t known Seong for long, so even Leonic had silently worried.
However, after Seong demonstrated his capabilities so clearly, Leonic felt relieved and couldn’t help but acknowledge Seong anew.
If even Leonic reacted this way, it was no surprise that the other ghosts were thrown into a frenzy.
—“Ohhh! Please take my memories too! My swordsmanship is exceptional!”
—“Unlike that valiant swordsmanship, mine is dazzling and elegant!”
—“My swordsmanship is designed to mesmerize and confuse enemies!”
—“My... my swordsmanship is endlessly adaptable!”
Suddenly, they all began speaking in polite tones, begging Seong to absorb their memories. Their desperation was evident.
It was easy to understand why. They all longed for their long-lost swordsmanship to be brought back into the world. For them, it was a lingering regret, a sort of unfulfilled wish.
If possible, Seong wanted to absorb all their memories at once.
But...
“It’s not that simple,” he thought.
He could feel his limits, as he had before. Absorbing memories wasn’t without its constraints. If too many memories flooded in at once, it became overwhelming.
He had experienced this when he absorbed the memories of an entire mercenary group.
Now, having already absorbed Leonic’s memories and those of the burly elven ghost, he could tell he only had one attempt left for the day.
“Roughly one more,” he estimated.
Tomorrow, he might be able to absorb up to five memories again, but for today, this would have to be the last.
Since he would be spending considerable time in this place and intended to absorb all the memories eventually, the order didn’t particularly matter.
Still, there were certain types of swordsmanship he was more interested in acquiring first.
“So far, I’ve gained valiant swordsmanship, domineering swordsmanship, and elegant swordsmanship.”
The swordsmanship styles he had learned through the memories so far fell into these three categories.
Now, he wanted to explore something different.
Ordinarily, even learning one type of swordsmanship required immense time and talent. But Seong was different.
His ability to acquire the entire life of another person was nothing short of divine.
With his boundless capacity, he was ready to add more swordsmanship to his repertoire.
“This time, I’ll choose you.”
Seong pointed at an elven ghost with unusually long arms, distinct from the others.
The chosen ghost practically leaped forward with excitement.
It was the same elven ghost who had earlier boasted about his endlessly adaptable swordsmanship.
—“Ohhh! My lord! You won’t regret this!!!”
—“Tsk! Only the weird-looking ones are being picked. If only I had been born unusual...”
—“Indeed, if only...”
Several other ghosts grumbled enviously, but Seong paid them no mind.
After all, he intended to learn all their swordsmanship eventually.
As Seong began absorbing the memories and experiences of the long-armed elven ghost, the familiar notifications appeared:
[Through your ‘Unknown Power,’ you have achieved something impossible at your current level.]
[Strength +2, Agility +3, and Stamina +5 have permanently increased.]
This swordsmanship was indeed as adaptable as promised. It twisted and turned unpredictably, shifting trajectories to catch enemies off guard.
As Seong tried to recall and process the new memories, a sudden headache struck him.
“Ugh.”
Gripping his head in pain, he winced.
Was it because he was trying to recall too many memories at once?
As Seong clutched his head in discomfort, his subordinates erupted in panic.
—“My lord! Are you all right?!”
—“M-my lord! Are you okay?!”
—“Are you okay, my lord?!”
Even the elven ghosts, who had only recently met him, were alarmed. Seong’s usual calm and composed demeanor made this reaction all the more shocking.
—“A-are you okay?!”
—“W-why did this happen to you, my lord?!”
—“You! Talimion! What have you done?!”
—“I didn’t do anything!!!”
—“He’s suffering after reading your disgraceful memories, and you say you did nothing?!”
—“Wait! Is it because I’m... a pervert?! Is that why?!”
—“I knew it was you!!!”
The other ghosts scolded the long-armed elven ghost, swinging fists and swords at him in frustration, though, of course, their attacks passed harmlessly through him.
Raising his hand to calm them all, Seong spoke.
“Relax, I’m fine. Please calm down.”
—“Oh, thank goodness, my lord.”
—“Whew... I’m so relieved. If you disappeared again, I would’ve been devastated.”
—“I’m glad you’re all right, my lord.”
As his subordinates quickly settled down, the ghosts also began to ease their tension.
—“Ahem. Since you’re fine, I’ll forgive you, Talimion.”
—“I-I’m sorry, my lord!”
—“Good. Keep apologizing.”
Watching the comical scene unfold, Seong chuckled lightly and released his hold on his now-relieved head.
The pain hadn’t been severe, but it was clear he needed to rest.
“It wasn’t because of the memories, so don’t blame yourself. It seems I overexerted my power to read memories.”
—“Ah, please go inside and rest, my lord.”
—“Leonic is right. Though there is much to do, please take care of yourself and rest for a while, my lord.”
—“Y-yeah! Resting is part of training too!”
Moved by their warm concern, Seong nodded.
He opened the Gate of the Underworld for them and reassured the ghosts that he would return before logging out.
Though he wanted to stay longer to fulfill the trial conditions, he couldn’t ignore his actual fatigue.
[Eternal World awaits your return.]
As Seong logged out and saw the logout message fade away, he stepped back into reality.
The headache he’d felt earlier vanished like it had never existed.
Perhaps it was because he wasn’t actively recalling the memories anymore.
He’d needed to log out soon anyway since it was already late, but still...
“I really wanted to test out that long-armed elf’s swordsmanship.”
The disappointment was palpable.
And then, a thought crossed his mind.
“Could I use it in reality?”
The memories were still fresh in his mind, after all.
He recalled the time when he had dodged his sister Mina’s relentless attacks by drawing on the memories of Apik.
“Seems doable.”
Motivated by the idea, Seong grabbed a long ruler lying in his room.
He naturally summoned the memories of the long-armed elf.
While he felt a slight twinge in his head, the earlier sharp headache didn’t return.
He focused on the long-armed elf’s swordsmanship and began to swing the ruler.
Initially, the ruler swung horizontally, but it quickly transitioned into a fluid downward strike. The movements were graceful yet firm.
Swish! Whoosh! Swish-swish!
It wasn’t as powerful as the strikes in the game, but the form was unmistakable.
The ruler moved unpredictably, like a living snake slithering in the air, twisting and turning as if it had a mind of its own.
Watching the ruler’s movements, Seong’s eyes widened in amazement.
“This... this actually works?”
His physical body in reality wasn’t as trained as his in-game avatar, so his arms began to feel sore. But it was far more entertaining than he expected.
The use of muscles he normally didn’t engage made his arms ache more and more, but he continued without stopping, incorporating footwork as well.
With the addition of footwork, the ruler moved in even more erratic, impossible trajectories, dominating the space around him as though it left no blind spots.
The unpredictable and versatile swordsmanship was mesmerizing.
Just as Seong got carried away and prepared to swing the ruler again...
“Well, well! Seong, aren’t you a bit old to be playing with a ruler?”
Standing in the doorway, his mother, Lee Na-gyeong, was watching him with a mixture of concern and amusement.
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Even for someone as composed as Seong, this situation was hard to recover from.
“A-ah?! W-what?! I—uh...”
His face turned crimson with embarrassment.
Na-gyeong, still looking slightly worried, glanced around the room before speaking.
“I don’t think anyone else saw you. Just be careful next time, okay? Oh, and dinner’s ready. Come eat.”
“...Yes, okay.”
After his mother left, Seong stood there for a long moment, his face still red.
When his sister Mina saw him in this state, she raised an eyebrow.
“What’s with you?”
“It’s... it’s nothing.”
“???”
She hadn’t even had the chance to tease him about his first-place ranking in the recent event, yet he already looked defeated. Mina tilted her head in confusion.
***
Meanwhile, at E-World’s headquarters, the building was still brightly lit, even late into the night.
The number of illuminated offices was proof of how many employees were still working overtime.
Among them were those specifically working late because of Seong.
Assistant Manager Lee Won-sang and junior employee Oh Jin-hyuk were, of course, among them. But even the Skill Management Team staff were stuck working late.
The anomaly discovered by Assistant Manager Lee—an issue related to the transcendent "Death Aura"—was causing quite a stir.
The bug involved Add More, a skill that triggered the Death Aura effect without the need for the Death Legion Commander skill to be active. This was never supposed to happen.
Of course, this wasn’t technically Seong’s or Assistant Manager Lee’s fault.
The real culprit was Park Won, the company’s founder and the genius developer who had created the Overlord class. The unique nature of the Overlord class had made it prone to such rare bugs.
But who among the Skill Management Team staff would dare to say that aloud?
The immediate victim, however, was clear.
Assistant Manager Jo Eun-jo was the one tasked with fixing the bug.
“Haaah...”
She sighed deeply, as if her frustration could crack the floor beneath her, while analyzing the skill’s structure.
The bug had occurred in an unexpected place. Normally, Add More would only trigger for Legendary-grade skills or lower.
Death Aura, on the other hand, was Almighty-grade. It shouldn’t have activated under any circumstances.
But the Overlord class, known for its unpredictability among all Almighty-grade classes, had once again caused a headache for the team.
This should have been addressed earlier while fixing bugs in other Almighty-grade classes. However, Park Won’s unique design for the Overlord class had left it exempt from those fixes.
The issue had already been reported to Park Won, and the directive to fix it had been issued.
However...
“Because it’s an Almighty-grade bug, we have to give appropriate compensation?”
This meant that Seong would inevitably grow even stronger.
Not that this was Eun-jo’s concern.
After all, it wasn’t her department that had to deal with Seong directly—those poor souls were in the User Management Team.
Eun-jo focused on fixing the skill while reviewing the compensation plan.
Park Won had already outlined the compensation, so all she needed to do was verify it.
It turned out to be three random skill books.
“Three?!”
She was momentarily stunned.
Giving out three skill books felt excessive. However, considering it was still better than giving out Almighty-grade skill books, she couldn’t argue too much.
Since they were random skill books, there was always the chance that Seong might receive something useless, like sword-related skills as a mage.
Rumor had it that Seong already had the Tome of Despair. If he converted one of these random skills into something from the dark magic category, he’d only become even more powerful.
But, as she reminded herself earlier...
“Not my problem.”
What mattered was ensuring that Seong received the skill books without further issues.
After writing up the report, she sent it to Assistant Manager Lee Won-sang, who was still at his desk.
With her part done, Eun-jo was ready to leave.
“I’m done here. Time to go home.”
As she exited, she thought she heard screams coming from the User Management Team’s office.
“Must’ve been my imagination,” she muttered, brushing it off.
Meanwhile, in the E-World headquarters, an anguished cry echoed through the night.
“Three skill books?! That’s way too much!!!”