1 Overlord of Death

While the whole world was reeling in the celebration of MMO GrimWorld Online's 1st anniversary, a certain twenty-one old young man lay in the pool of his own blood in his apartment.

His stomach was stabbed multiple times, and his throat was also slashed.

He was not breathing, a clear sign of death.

But then, a creepy atmosphere suddenly descended around the young man briefly before vanishing.

'The spell worked?'

The young man opened his eyes, feeling wobbly and in pain as he unstably stood up.

'These wounds….'

'Phew. It seems that my soul still has some power.'

The young man finally looked around after stabilizing his condition by exerting a bit of soul force.

'These structures…it seems different.'

He went to a nearby window and was surprised.

'What is this place?!'

*Groan!*

A sudden pain assaulted his mind as his soul finally completed the last of its integration with this body and started receiving memories.

'So this body's owner was called Arlan; this doesn't seem to be a coincidence.'

Arlan was surprised because his name was also Arlan. He then found information as he digested memories.

'So, this kid lived alone in this small apartment while studying in the last year of engineering at Sargil University. His parents and a sister are living in the countryside.'

'And all of this....' Arlan narrowed his eyes, amazement and shock slowly filling them as he accessed the rest of the memories.

'This world... is different!'

…

In the magical world of Arcane Realm, a gigantic dark palace stood on top of a massive floating island that was seven hundred meters tall and four hundred meters wide.

Seven people wearing powerful magical outfits and armor stood in the palace's main hall, but all were severely injured.

They consisted of a mighty dragon warrior, a holy priest, a prime wizard, a powerful enchantress, a muscular giant with dark bronze full-body armor, a deadly elf huntress, and a human paladin wearing holy knight armor with his golden sword stabbed into a 6 feet tall humanoid skeleton wearing a black robe.

"Did we kill the Overlord, Kaios?" the dragonkin said as he looked at the human paladin. "This time, is it for sure?"

Kaios frowned and looked at his hand. "I felt my attack hitting his soul, but that strange magic he used... What was it?"

"I've never seen such a spell before," the prime mage said with narrowed eyes.

"It's fine. He had lived for thousands of years, so it's not strange that he has magic spells that you can't recognize."

Kaios took a deep breath and added somberly, "What I am certain about is that the Overlord of Death is no more in this world."

"So, no more armies of undead, no more of his created horrors and evil creatures."

"This world will finally embrace peace!"

…

On the other hand, Arlan was in a small pinch as he sat on a chair with a frown.

"Who tried to kill Arlan, and why?"

Arlan looked at his 6ft tall body with a lean constitution and thought. 'This body is healthy and fit, but there are no signs of struggles.'

'The killer was a skilled fighter, but this kid wasn't.'

Arlan checked his memories and found that the owner of his body worked part-time on construction sites and was conscious of his health, which was attributed to his fit body.

Arlan suddenly heard footsteps, causing him to raise his eyebrows.

'A nasty soul.'

He looked at the door and saw a middle-aged man unhurriedly coming through the door.

The middle-aged man was lighting up a cigarette but soon paused. 'Where is that brat's body?'

In the next second, as if he sensed something, he turned to the left and saw Arlan sitting on a chair near the window.

Stunned, the middle-aged man uttered, "What the fuck?"

"So you are the killer." Arlan calmly stated as he narrowed his eyes. 'An average body, a darker soul, and… sixty-seven lives.'

"Why the fuck are you alive?"

*Sheen!*

The man took out a knife and walked towards Arlan with cautious steps and a somber expression. 'I'm sure I checked his pulse and confirmed his death. Am I dreaming or what?'

"Why did you kill me? Who are you?" Arlan calmly asked as he sat in the same leaning posture.

"Huhhh?! Why is a dead man asking questions?!"

The middle-aged man dashed when he neared, with his dagger aimed at Arlan's throat. He was a killer, and in this weird-ass situation, all he wanted to do was to kill his target again. It felt creepy that he was alive despite confirming dead, but he could just check again after killing him.

'Kill first.'

*Swoosh!*

But the dagger stopped right before piercing Arlan's throat.

The middle-aged man was alarmed. 'Why I can't move my fucking hand?'

'Am I floating?'

He saw that his dash jump posture was still stuck in the air.

Arlan calmly put the killer's hand away from his head and stood up.

"W-What the fuck is this?!"

The killer finally saw what was binding his body, and it was increasing, along with horror in his eyes.

His limbs and body were bound by a dark gooey aura with gloomy blue wisps that seemed to come out of his own body!

"Dead man? Ha-ha, I am indeed a dead man."

Arlan lightly laughed before putting his palm over the man's head.

"Now tell me, why did you kill me?"

"I-It was a guy called Harkin. He paid me to kill you."

"Harkin?"

Arlan checked his memories and soon remembered a person named Harkin.

'A friend turning foe?' Arlan internally scoffed.

"P-Please let me go. I will not tell anyone about this."

Arlan glanced at him indifferently. 'I can't hold on any longer anyway. My soul was drained significantly with that spell and that bastard's last attack.'

"You are free."

Arlan said, bringing a pleasant surprise to the middle-aged man's face until Arlan added. "Death is calling you."

"W-What?"

The middle-aged man suddenly felt something and started convulsing. He felt as if his soul was suffocating!

Arlan felt a bit of loss because if he refined that soul to extract pure soul power, he could recover some soul force, but his current soul force was not powerful enough to initiate the soul-refining art. It was not worth it for one soul.

'Resting is the only way for now unless this world has something to speed up my soul recovery.'

He stood at the window and took a deep breath before closing his eyes.

'Magic power is scarce here.'

Shaking his head, Arlan looked around while recalling everything from last month.

Since he got all memories of the previous owner, he had all the necessary knowledge.

He entered his bedroom and turned on the TV before looking at a three-meter-long white crystallized capsule with golden runic patterns and two big letters on it, [ GW ] on it.

'GrimWorld Online. A miraculous VRMMO that shocked this world…this modern world.'

He turned his head to the TV and saw that the news was also about this game.

[ The company just announced the current online players! The number stands at a whopping 900 million players on this anniversary! ]

[Griminions are still populating this world, but we have our first batches of people who acquired supernatural powers from GrimWorld Online! They are ready to kill the beasts and bring peace!]

[Astral Community is recruiting civilians into their Dojos! Sign up and test your aptitude now!]

Arlan turned to the capsule and narrowed his eyes.

'Interesting… there's a magic power deep within this capsule, and it's connected somewhere. Is some magical phenomenon enveloping this world via this game? By who or what?'

Arlan focused and tried to track the magic traces he sensed but was met with a shock.

'Such eccentric magic pattern. I haven't seen something like this.'

He had lived for thousands of years, went through cycles of sanity and insanity, and studied all kinds of magic in the Arcane realm.

But these magic patterns were foreign to him.

'It looks like I arrived in an interesting world.'