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    At the far eastern edge of Persville Plains.

    The quiet forest was bathed in a gentle breeze, and the scent of the woods carried along with the wind, creating a peaceful and serene atmosphere that stretched endlessly.

    All around, the songs of chirping birds echoed, and the sounds of grasshoppers buzzing clearly marked this place as a forest.

    In the distance, at the end of the woods, a towering cliff glistened in the sunlight, shining brilliantly.

    It was truly a breathtaking sight.

    A peaceful, tranquil forest at the eastern edge of Persville Plains.

    However, in an instant, black smoke billowed into the sky, and a massive inferno engulfed the area.

    The gentle wind only fueled the flames further, and the once fragrant air of the forest was soon replaced by the acrid smell of burning.

    The raging fire swallowed the chirping insects and bird songs, devouring everything in its path.

    Crack, crack, crack.

    Whoosh!

    The goblin, with its green fur, skin, and squat body, had its crimson eyes fixed on the raging inferno.

    And then.

    Keruk! Kek! (Kill them all!)

    Keheuk, kah-reuk! (Burn everything to the ground!)

    Ke-hook, kah-ruk! (Purify for the master!)

    Undead creatures, shrouded in black darkness and exuding a turquoise aura, swiftly beheaded the goblin, lost in despair.

    Among the undead, who had completely consumed the goblin village, someone emerged through the flames.

    The undead, cloaked in darkness, bowed their heads in reverence as they gazed upon the one who had emerged.

    As though worshiping a god.

    Kikireuk! Keruh-ho! (Ah! Our great master!)

    Keruk, far-ho! (Our mighty lord!)

    Ke-hak, ker-huk! (We bow before you!)

    The master of the undead, who had watched everything from beginning to end, scratched his cheek awkwardly.

    Was this right?

    “Are they really serving me...?”

    Objectively speaking, it was as though they were sweeping through the goblin village as if worshipping some malevolent deity.

    What’s more, he had no idea why they set the fire.

    He understood it was likely for efficient hunting, but there were other ways to wipe everything out without starting a fire.

    He didn’t think too much about it.

    The more he thought, the more his head hurt.

    Still, he had accomplished his purpose.

    He was somewhat satisfied.

    First, his level.

    [You have gained experience!] [Level Up!] [You have reached Level 20.]

    “Finally.”

    He had reached the level to move on to the next village.

    But that wasn’t the only thing he was waiting for.

    In Eternal World, new skills are unlocked every 10 levels.

    At level 10, players usually undergo a class change, so skills aren’t granted then.

    But right after class changing, new skills are acquired.

    The first time to unlock a new skill is at level 20.

    He waited eagerly to see what kind of skill would appear.

    His heart raced as he awaited.

    The much-anticipated message appeared.

    [You have reached Level 20, unlocking a new skill for 『Overlord』.] [You have acquired the Almighty-grade skill, 『Realm of the Dead (冥界)』.]

    “Oh?!”

    He was rarely this surprised.

    He had expected a Legendary skill, but...

    The first reason for his surprise was the Almighty grade.

    The second reason was the name.

    “Realm of the Dead!”

    Just by the name, it sounded like the undead storage skill "Morgue" that Beziron had bragged about, which was obtained at level 30.

    What would the effect be like?

    Excited, he immediately opened the skill window for Realm of the Dead.

    『Realm of the Dead (冥界)』 → Almighty → [Lv 1][Growth-type] [Continuous Effect][Compound] Praising the death lord who governs death, the deceased, and spirits, those who worship their lord shall be blessed in this place forever. → Overlord exclusive skill. → Sends the created legion of the dead to the Realm of the Dead, restoring all health and allowing the stockpiling of the legion. → No mana is consumed when sending or recalling the legion of the dead. → Undead who are affected by the aura of death can also be sent to the Realm of the Dead. → The legion of the dead stored in the Realm of the Dead grows very slowly.

    ...?

    The effects were beyond remarkable.

    Incredible.

    The fact that no mana is consumed when sending or recalling undead didn’t make sense.

    But the last part was especially absurd.

    The legion of the dead grew in the Realm of the Dead?

    Undead storage skills like Morgue only stored undead.

    To control undead without bodies, that’s it.

    But for them to grow just by being stored?

    It was an effect that was begging to be misused.

    “Huh.”

    He couldn’t even speak for a moment, stunned.

    He then saw the death soldiers of the goblins, who were still devouring mana.

    When you get a skill, you should experiment right away.

    The number of goblin death soldiers was 15.

    Imagine sending them all to the Realm of the Dead.

    Keruk! (See you next time, master!)

    Kehek-kuk! (I will surely follow you, my lord!)

    “Yeah, let’s upload it.”

    There wasn’t much to edit.

    The original video was just that impressive.

    Sure, he’d adjust the camera angle a little, but it wouldn’t take much.

    Once the video was ready, Rapide closed his eyes and uploaded it.

    He had a rough idea of what kind of impact this would have.

    “I’m going to be really busy soon.”

    But then again, hasn’t Rapide always handled things well?

    This was not a guild that would crumble easily, even if a rookie video went up.

    “The commotion will probably start tomorrow.”

    No matter how great the video was, reactions typically came a day after the upload.

    As Rapide went about his other tasks, about an hour after the video went live, a guild member rushed in urgently.

    “Guildmaster!! The guild channel’s traffic has exploded!!”

    “Eh?”

    Already?

    Rapide’s expectations were proven completely wrong.

    2.

    The fastest guild, Rapide Guild.

    The guild’s channel, ranked third overall, was also massive.

    2 million subscribers on MyTube.

    Although it was only ranked 45th among all guild channels in Eternal World in terms of subscribers, it was understandable.

    The guild’s channel focused more on live streams than videos, so it was hard for the subscriber count to rise dramatically.

    However, the relatively small subscriber count was made up for by Rapide Guild’s ticket power.

    Live tickets.

    The term for streams where users must pay a fee to join.

    A higher number of live tickets meant the guild’s status was high as well.

    Although they lagged in subscriber numbers, Rapide Guild had the second-highest ticket power among all guilds.

    They were faster than anyone else at succeeding in raids, and their characters were stronger than anyone else’s.

    That’s why they had earned the nickname "The Fastest."

    And now, a new video had been uploaded to Rapide Guild’s channel.

    It was a solo rookie video.

    A video introducing and promoting the rookie.

    Hong Jung-min, a huge fan of Rapide Guild, couldn’t help but feel a little disappointed when he saw the video.

    “Ah, what a shame.”

    It would’ve been better if it was a video of another member of Rapide Guild.

    But at the same time, he was curious.

    “Rapide Guild is famous for not taking in rookies easily, so this rookie must be quite strong, right?”

    Rapide Guild had a reputation for rejecting rookies.

    It was rumored that they had even turned away a unique-grade rookie in the past.

    They didn’t take in rookies if they weren’t up to snuff, no matter how high their grade.

    It was a strict rule that drove their fans mad.

    Every member of the guild was an elite player at the highest level.

    “I guess this rookie is no exception?”

    Initially disappointed, Hong Jung-min now had high hopes as he pressed play on the video.

    But then, even Hong Jung-min, who was a fan of Rapide Guild but not particularly skilled in the game, recognized the area on the screen.

    “Wait, isn’t that Persville?”

    It was the first village, Persville, where he had played.

    Did they bring in a player from there?

    No matter how skilled they were, they were still a beginner, right?

    Hong Jung-min had this thought dominating his mind.

    “Oh no, this is going to be disappointing.”

    He decided to watch a bit more, just to see how the rookie performed.

    With a somewhat skeptical mindset, he began to watch, preparing to judge the rookie''s skills.

    But what he saw next was unlike anything he had ever imagined.

    The undead, cloaked in black darkness and radiating a turquoise aura.

    Wait, should he even call them undead?

    These creatures were nothing like the undead Hong Jung-min knew.

    They invaded the goblin village, looking completely different from any undead he had seen before.

    No, this wasn’t an invasion.

    “What... what is this??”

    The undead thoroughly ravaged the goblin village, burning it all down and leaving nothing but destruction.

    Their goal was clearly the goblins’ death, and they did so with malicious intent.

    And then, calmly walking among them, was a man.

    His face was blurred, but his sharp turquoise eyes stood out.

    Just from those eyes, Hong Jung-min realized.

    This man was the master of the undead.

    As the massive fire consumed the goblin village and all the goblins fell, the man emerged from the flames, and the undead bowed before him.

    “Crazy. This is insane.”

    Hong Jung-min couldn’t help but praise.

    This was something he couldn’t ignore.

    He immediately went to comment.

    But when the warning message popped up about too many viewers, he nodded to himself.

    “This is really insane.”

    He couldn’t hold back the praise and started writing a post in another community.

    Of course, it was a post praising the new rookie of Rapide Guild.