The Most Terrible.
The name itself was intimidating, but the effect was equally terrifying.
Legendary+ grade.
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If attacked by a holy or weakness attribute, it reduces damage by 33% and returns the reduced amount as damage to the attacker.
Just this effect alone was absurd.
But the Destruction of Salvation effect, usable once a day, was even more monstrous.
It could easily explain the Legendary+ rank, even without considering the title.
‘Reversing all beneficial effects on the enemy?’
If the enemy heals, the effect would be reversed as damage, and if they use buffs, they would get debuffs instead.
This skill had the potential to be an absolute game-changer.
Although it could only be used once a day, that didn’t feel like a disadvantage at all.
In fact, without it, things might have gone horribly wrong.
Seong briefly wondered if the Hourglass of Reversal would apply here, but upon testing, it didn’t seem to.
‘Such a shame.’
Though it lacked some ethical merit, it was unavoidable.
It was a skill acquired from a special effect, so it had different cooldown mechanics.
If he had fought Hindel again with this effect in hand?
He would likely win much more easily this time.
‘Of course, I’m not sure what would happen if Hindel doesn’t get caught up in it.’
The last battle had been quite risky had Hindel not been overwhelmed by the fear from the Death God.
But thanks to that, Seong was able to win with less effort than expected.
Seong’s skill was that terrifying, but still, a win was a win.
With the Most Terrible title and its effects, Seong could fight from a much more advantageous position if they sparred again.
He suddenly thought,
‘Right now it’s Hindel, but when I return to the real world and face the real hero... that’s going to be interesting.’
He didn’t really want to fight, but if someone started a fight with him, he wouldn’t shy away.
He was curious about what the hero in the real world would be like.
With those thoughts in mind, Seong pulled out his last piece of loot.
The random skill book.
The one he got before was a Rare grade.
But this time, it was a Unique.
『Random Skill Book』
→ Unique
→ A skill book that grants a random skill related to your class or a general skill.
→ This book can grant skills from Unique to Legendary grade.
‘Hmm.’
Last time, he had gotten a Rare grade with an Epic-tier skill.
He didn’t expect the same kind of luck this time.
At least the minimum grade would be Unique, so even getting a Unique skill would be a win!
Seong eagerly opened the book.
[Do you wish to use the Unique-grade item, 『Random Skill Book』?] Upon use, the skill book will disappear, and you will randomly acquire a Unique to Legendary grade Dark Magic-exclusive skill or a general skill. Do you really want to use it? [Yes / No]
After a long time, Seong saw a familiar warning message.
But nothing could stop him now.
Seong immediately pressed 'Yes,' and countless pages fluttered, turning faster than ever.
But unlike before, the pages were now golden and glowing with an even more beautiful and warm orange light, dazzling as they turned.
Shhhk-!
As the pages turned with a shimmering sound, a single page stopped in mid-air before Seong’s eyes.
The brilliant orange page floated, illuminating the shabby inn room like the dawn.
As the bright page absorbed the surrounding light, a clock appeared that was darker than midnight.
The hands of the clock spun rapidly until the exact time struck.
Ding——!
Ding——!
Ding——!
The sound of a bell rang from somewhere.
With the dull tolling sound, Seong looked at the scene with confusion.
“...???”
Could it be?
Seong held his breath in anticipation, and then the awaited message appeared.
[You have obtained the Legendary-grade skill, 『Clock of the End』 from the Random Skill Book!]
‘...Is this for real?’
No matter how lucky he was, was it really another Legendary-grade?
Seong opened his skill menu, unable to believe it.
It was true.
『Clock of the End』
→ Legendary
→ [Lv Max] [Completed] [Instant Effect] [Active] [Cooldown: 30 minutes]
→ Exclusive skill for Dark Magic class.
→ Spend as much mana as you desire to set a specified time.
→ The longer the specified time and the more mana used, the greater the damage to the target when the time expires.
→ After the damage is dealt, the cooldown decreases.
“Wow.”
It was quite a fascinating skill.
It was the first time he had obtained such a skill.
It was a skill that had to be used strategically, but it seemed useful against fleeing enemies.
A skill that increases damage over time.
What if Seong used less mana and simply increased the time?
It would deal more effective damage.
The possibilities for how it could be used were endless.
‘This is an amazing skill.’
Though Seong wanted to test it immediately, dinner time was approaching, and it would be awkward if Hindel and the others caught him sneaking out.
The dark mage? He was already suspicious, and if he went out in the middle of the night, they might think he was a spy.
Since Seong wasn’t aware that he was being treated like a hero right now, he couldn’t help but think this way.
‘Let’s log out for today.’
Seong made up his mind and logged out.
5.
Saturday evening.
If it were a typical company, they wouldn’t even be working overtime, let alone coming in on the weekend.
But E-World, the company behind Eternal World, was not a typical company.
If something important came up, they wouldn’t hesitate to work over the weekend!
With overtime and special duty pay, complaints were few.
The problem was that even the bosses had to show up, which left the junior employees feeling uneasy.
But given the circumstances, Team Leader Ji Hye-jeong and other department heads were present.
Skill Management Team Leader Yoon Tae-seong, Error Compensation Team Leader Lim Ji-won, and NPC Management Deputy Manager Lee Jae-kyung were also there.
It wasn’t entirely clear why Lee Jae-kyung was included, but anyway, there were senior staff from other teams involved.
Junior assistant manager Lee Won-sang couldn’t help but feel the pressure.
But how could they not call him in?
‘This situation has become too complicated...’
A meeting had been called to discuss the rewards for the Thousand Blood Swords skill Seong had obtained.
It was just too overpowered to leave as it was.
When the situation was reported, the reactions of the department heads were understandably serious.
“Maybe if it was another user, it wouldn’t matter, but... looking at this report, we’ll have to nerf it, right?”
“It’s not a nerf, we need to fix the error. It doesn’t matter if it’s a skilled user or not.”
Team Leader Yoon Tae-seong from the Skill Management Team muttered, seemingly troubled, and Team Leader Lim Ji-won from the Error Compensation Team frowned, disagreeing.
From the company’s standpoint, it was correct to try to minimize any compensation, but the Error Compensation Team, known for caring about user welfare, was more concerned about that.
And in the middle of it all, Lee Jae-kyung from NPC Management was just quietly enjoying the spectacle, laughing.
In a tense atmosphere, Lee Won-sang took a deep breath, relaxed, and spoke up.
“Looking at the current situation, it’s almost certain that Seong, the user, will encounter the Hero and Helena from the past. So, we need to minimize the rewards as much as possible.”
“Right, we know the Hero and Overpalace are involved, but why is it a problem if Seong meets Helena from the past?”
Team Leader Lim Ji-won asked, seemingly confused, and Lee Won-sang nodded, understanding her confusion, and continued to explain.
“Across all of Eternal World, only nine NPCs can briefly avoid the all-seeing gaze of the super-AI Immortal. These nine are called the ‘Heroes.’ However, even if you combine all nine, they are still considered inferior to Helena, according to Immortal.”
“...So if Seong, who has gone back in time, meets Helena, it’s likely to cause problems?”
“Hmm, Overlord... I’m not exactly sure, but I know Helena was an NPC who ruled as the world’s strongest. Even if they meet in the past, they’re still NPCs, right?”
“Well...”
Lee Won-sang, appearing troubled, bit his lip before nodding.
Then he showed a screen.
On it, they saw Helena doing something with Fiora in the Dark Castle.
Except for Team Leader Ji Hye-jeong, who already knew, and Lee Jae-kyung, who was amused, the others seemed to realize that Seong was already the “successor.”
The NPC’s behavior was too revealing, and this needed to be adjusted by Immortal.
But...
“Ha ha! We can’t fix that.”
Lee Jae-kyung cheerfully said.
Lim Ji-won immediately asked, “What do you mean, Deputy Manager?”
“Can’t fix it?”
“Even if we try to adjust it with Immortal’s controls, there’s too much pressure, and the entire past scenario might collapse. If that happens, we’ll interfere with Seong’s main quest, and we’ll be stuck. We’ve set up restrictions so Helena can’t give Seong any skills or items, though...”
“Isn’t that enough?”
In an overly casual tone, Lee Jae-kyung responded, “Well, Seong is the one who survived in Immortal’s harshest conditions, right? According to Immortal, she’s an NPC with powers similar to the AI. So we’ve set restrictions, but we don’t know how to reward Seong. And if Seong ends up getting a reward...”
“Chairman Park’s setup can’t suppress him, right? Technically, he earned that reward.”
“Exactly,” Lee Won-sang said.
It was a tough situation, and that’s why the meeting was held.
A situation where they couldn’t go one way or the other.
Then Team Leader Ji Hye-jeong spoke up.
“According to the current reward system, we usually give the same-grade skill as compensation. Is there a way to reduce this?”
“...We could reduce it, but if Seong complains, there’s no way around it.”
Team Leader Lim Ji-won responded reluctantly.
If they reduced the reward, Seong might complain, leading to higher costs.
The goal was to offer a reward that wouldn’t cause dissatisfaction.
Giving a Legendary-grade skill was inevitable.
But then Lee Won-sang came up with a clever proposal.
“How about allowing him to upgrade his existing skills to Legendary-grade?”
“Hm? What do you mean?”
“Since Seong already has several high-level skills, we’re concerned about that. So, instead of giving a new skill, we could give him an item that allows him to upgrade his existing skills. We could create an item that can be used to upgrade skills up to six times, and if you use three of them on a single skill, it’ll upgrade to Legendary-grade. It’s like upgrading two Unique skills to Legendary—though it’s not the same as a new Legendary skill, it’s a reasonable balance.”
All the department heads nodded in agreement.
It seemed like a good idea to avoid breaking the balance too much by upgrading existing skills instead of just handing out a new Legendary skill.
“Ah, so the reward is an upgrade, but it still feels like giving two Legendary skills...” one of them mused.
“Hmm, Seong’s current Unique skills are ‘Dark Self,’ ‘Skill Theft,’ and ‘The Growing Dead,’ right?”
“If we upgrade those, there won’t be any major problems. While they’re utility skills rather than combat skills, their improvement won’t significantly increase his overall power.”
It was a moment where Lee Won-sang’s true competence shone.
Everyone seemed satisfied with the suggestion.
“Then we’ll change the Thousand Blood Swords skill to cause damage and explosions when hitting enemies, not just utility.”
“We’ll work with the Item Creation Team to make sure we can upgrade his existing skills. If there’s a skill without an upgrade path, we’ll create one for it.”
“Good work, everyone.”
As the meeting was wrapping up, Lee Jae-kyung nodded and asked,
“By the way, why is Helena using swordsmanship?”
As everyone turned to look at the screen, they saw Helena swinging a sword as if practicing swordsmanship.
“...I’m not sure...”
It was a bit comical that Lee Won-sang, who was part of the User Management Team, was being asked about NPC management by Lee Jae-kyung from the NPC Management Team, but no one really cared.
It seemed Helena had taken up swordsmanship as a hobby.
As the meeting ended and everyone left, Helena, alone, stared directly at the camera on the screen and smiled wickedly.
It was as if she knew she was being watched.