What, exactly, was the price of crossing the Genius threshold?
For Momonga, it was an ever-deepening awareness of his own insignificance and powerlessness.
This was not self-deprecation born of negativity. On the contrary, it was a sense of humility and reverence.
A true master always retains the heart of a student.
Only when someone begins to recognize their own shortcomings can they truly appreciate every bit of growth and progress.
Precisely because they know there is still so much room for improvement, they work even harder to learn and explore.
And as that process continues, people often discover, to their astonishment, just how much they still do not know.
It was much like standing at the foot of a majestic mountain and gazing up at a peak that pierced the clouds.
At first, the summit seemed almost within reach.
Yet after enduring countless hardships to finally arrive at what he had believed was the peak, he would suddenly discover an even higher mountain rising before him.
As the saying went, [The more you know, the less you know.]
That phrase perfectly summed up what Momonga had come to realize during this time.
He was like an insignificant speck of dust in the vastness of the universe.
Amid that boundless sea of stars, everything seemed small and insignificant.
But as his close friend Naohara had once told him, there was no need to worry. He only had to keep moving forward along the path he had chosen.
After all... every step that brought him closer to the stars was itself a reward of exploration.
[Life, death, and non-existence. The three cycle endlessly.]
[And killing is an extension of death. No, that isn't right. Killing should be an extension of both life and death.]
He possessed the "Ruler of Death" class, the vast knowledge inherited from the Elder Coffin Dragon Lord, and the support of his Genius subclass.
Those three became fuel, burning fiercely and casting light upon the dark, unknown road ahead.
Momonga slowly lowered his head. His flawless white fingers, pale as scallion roots, began to tremble slightly.
His pallid body quivered.
His consciousness gradually became clearer.
Concepts that had once been hazy grew increasingly vivid and distinct in his mind.
The so-called Undead were special entities formed from vast quantities of highly concentrated Negative Energy.
They contained negative life force within them, causing the Undead to instinctively feel a deep hatred toward all living creatures and an intense desire to kill.
Whether low-tier Undead or High-Tier Undead, all shared this trait without exception.
Just as he himself had when he first arrived in the New World.
When he witnessed the horrific massacre at Carne Village, when one living person after another perished before his eyes, his first reaction had not been sickening revulsion.
Instead, a faint sense of joy had risen within him.
If there was any difference, it was probably that High-Tier Undead could use their intellect to forcibly suppress their innate hatred of the living.
Just like that fellow among the Eight Fingers who called himself the Undead King, Davernoch.
Momonga had once studied him and gained several interesting insights in the process.
(P.S.: Mentioned in Chapter 240.)
Looking back, that had probably been the first time he had tried to explore the true nature of the Undead.
Then what, exactly, was killing?
Every living creature in the world killed in order to survive, and the purpose of killing was to ensure its own continued survival.
In ancient times, humans and beasts preyed upon one another. Even now, living creatures slaughtered one another, all so they could survive.
Where there was life, there was killing. Where there was killing, there was death. Where there was death, there would be life.
Each depended upon the others.
The hatred that the Undead bore toward the living might simply be the tangible manifestation and reflection of the side of killing that belonged to death.
Within his body, the obsidian-like Dragon Crystal floated silently.
Death began to reverse.
The power that had once represented evil and negativity slowly began flowing in the opposite direction.
At the moment when life and death intertwined, there was no violent erosion or relentless clash between them.
Instead, everything happened with remarkable ease, as though it were the most natural thing in the world.
The Dragon Crystal that had once symbolized death remained as tranquil as ever, like a newborn child sleeping peacefully in a warm cradle.
A faint emerald glow gradually appeared across its surface, enveloping the entire crystal until it finally transformed into something resembling a beautiful piece of dark-green amber.
Its crystal-clear texture and distinctive coloring made it strikingly beautiful.
Non-existence, life, slaughter, and death formed a perfect cycle.
Within that wondrous cycle, an entirely new and completely different presence quietly began to emerge.
"Is this the realm of the living?"
"It really has been... a long time."
The crimson eyes of the Undead, once filled with endless bloodlust, gradually became clear.
A faint trace of healthy color spread across his paper-white skin.
His heart, silent for so long, began beating powerfully once more.
With every beat, warm blood surged through his body like a rushing river.
The body that had once radiated bone-chilling cold finally felt the gentle comfort of warmth, gradually regaining the temperature that belonged to life.
It was a strange sensation, one almost impossible to put into words.
And the change was not limited to his physical body.
His mind felt different as well.
A completely new sensation welled up within him.
It was like someone who had lived for years in a dark cave suddenly stepping out beneath a sunlit sky, or a bird long trapped in a cage finally regaining its freedom and soaring through the heavens.
Momonga silently activated [Despair Aura].
Yet to his surprise, what poured from his palm was no longer the billowing black mist that had once represented instant death.
In its place appeared a cloud of pure white mist that radiated a gentle light and possessed powerful healing abilities.
Although his class and race remained unchanged, both the magic he wielded and his unique skills had undergone tremendous changes.
As Momonga stared at the miraculous sight before him, a powerful premonition rose within his heart.
If he were to use "The Goal of All Life Is Death" in his current state, the effect it produced would most likely be the complete opposite of what it had been before!
"Congratulations! After all that hardship, Momonga... you can finally use a warm stick to violently impale Albedo~"
The teasing voice instantly jolted Momonga out of his thoughts.
A dark, sticky mass, soft and shapeless like sludge, emerged from the corner before gradually taking the form of a bizarre humanoid creature.
"Yo. Did I scare you?"
Herohero greeted him politely.
"..."
"I'm glad you came to see me, but could you at least give me some privacy? Knock on the door first or something."
Momonga rubbed his forehead helplessly.
Impaling Albedo, seriously...
Tsk. He really would say anything.
"I just wanted to be the first one to celebrate with you."
"Tsk, tsk. I never thought that with the boost from the Genius subclass, you'd manage to complete the transformation of life and death entirely on your own, without relying on Wild Magic."
Momonga's original plan had been to use Wild Magic to reverse life and death.
By doing so, he would convert the Negative Energy within himself into Positive Energy and step into the realm of the living.
But thanks to [Doctor of Truth], he had managed to bypass that process entirely.
Even so, Momonga had not given up on developing that Wild Magic.
After all, [Reversal Sorcerer] still had considerable potential.
He might not need it himself, but Naohara, Herohero, and the other members of Nazarick would probably find it useful.
"Well, that's what being a Genius gets you. Plans can't always keep up with change."
"And forget about me. You're the same. That special force field surrounding your body affected my mind just from looking at it."
Momonga carefully examined the friend before him as he spoke.
He was hardly the only one who had made progress.
"It's just corruption on the level of consciousness. That little achievement can't compare to your transformation of life and death."
"Well, if nothing else, at least I can safely leave the healer's job to you from now on."
Herohero shrugged casually.
His path was broadly similar to Momonga's. The only difference was that one used what he learned to branch into related concepts, while the other pursued a single path to its absolute limit.
Recently, Herohero had been studying the Wild Magic [Erosion], hoping to integrate it into himself and further strengthen the concept of corruption.
"You're just assigning me the job like it's already decided?"
He had called Momonga an exploitative boss before, but looking at things now, the two of them were really no better than each other.
"Hehe. The capable take on more work."
Naohara's Catastrophe, his own corruption of consciousness, and Momonga's transformation of life and death.
Without even realizing it, they seemed to have grown stronger yet again.
The erosion of the World-Class Items was also progressing steadily.
Herohero estimated that he was already close to halfway finished. Momonga was probably around the same point. As for Naohara, considering his adaptability, he might already be approaching two-thirds.
At the latest, it should only take another two or three years.
Compared to the Deep Darkness Dragon Lord's snail-like progress over several hundred years, theirs could already be considered extremely fast.
"By the way, you got Naohara's message, right? What do you think?"
Recalling the message he had received an hour earlier, Herohero suddenly brought it up.
It had certainly been unexpected.
"If nothing goes wrong, I suppose it's a good thing."
Kuyō's creation that had slaughtered the Eight Greed Kings.
As long as Kuyō didn't personally appear, Momonga wasn't particularly concerned.
Things could hardly get much worse anyway.
What did interest him, however, was the Floating Castle NPCs' plan to escape this world.
Just as Naohara had thought, if it truly succeeded, it could provide Nazarick with another possible escape route.
Momonga and Herohero discussed the matter for a while and ultimately decided there was no need to interfere. For now, they would remain on the sidelines and observe how things developed.
[Message]
At that moment, both of them suddenly sensed a wave of magical energy originating from their Souls.
It was a message from Naohara.
They accepted it, and the very first sentence made both of their expressions change.
[I've found an old friend.]
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