Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

My name is Ainz Ooal Gown, formerly Momonga, formerly Satoru Suzuki. My story is the typical type you’d see from a certain genre of manga and anime, but rather than a truck, I just… never left the world I escaped to.

Yggdrasil, a Dive Virtual World MMORPG, not the first of its kind nor the most advanced nowadays, but when it launched it was ahead of its time. In this virtual world I found friends, a family, and formed a guild… but time eats away at everything and soon only I remained, and then, something off happened.

The night the game was to shut down it’s servers, I was online, taking it all in one last time, and then… Nothing happened.

Well, not nothing. I was never removed, or logged out. Rather… The guild, our NPC’s, all of it became alive and we found ourselves in a new world, one with similar rules but different applications and power scaling. It was fascinating. And concerning. 

I went from being a boring human office worker to an undead lich king. That was quite the… Well, I’m not sure if it’s an upgrade or downgrade honestly. I do miss being able to eat and taste food…

“And I especially hate the emotion suppresents…” I thought, as one of the few things that came with my body was the Undead Ability that kept my emotions in check. “Just had to pick the Skeletal Mage I thought, it would be really cool to RP as the Overlord of the Undead I thought…”

It’s inconsistent too. Anything a human would find joyful, painful or panic inducing, it activates… but take joy in a kill, that remains… It’s trying to change me, my psychology… 

I wonder how I’ll be as the months continue… will I even be the same person I was upon arrival if years pass? It’s helpful at times, but other times… not so much.

“Lord Ainz.” I looked up from my seat on the throne, seeing Demiurge walk up to me before stopping and dropping to a knee. “I have reports I think you’ll find interesting.”

“Report, Demiurge.” I said, my tone stoic and to the point.

“Some of our lesser reconnaissance demons have failed to return from the mountain range to the south. I went to investigate and discovered a barrier I was unable to penetrate.”

“That’s impossible, nothing in this world so far has shown to have any magic level that high…” I thought quickly. “Tell me, what kind of barrier was it?” I asked carefully.

“It was a barrier with a mixture of Greater Repel Evil, Greater Repel Chaos, and Greater Repel Demons all of Ninth Class minimum, but something else bothered me sire.”

“Speak Demiurge, if there is something amiss then I must know.”

“Well, based on the mana present in both the environment and the barrier, it seems the land might be host to some kind of Disciple or Priestess, possibly two.”

That was a subclass back in Yggdrasil; some female players could take them if they met certain requirements. Could this be another player then?

I immediately grabbed the Staff of Ainz Ooal Gown and stood up. “Then we shall meet this person immediately.” I stated. “Please… please let this be another player…” I mentally begged, as having some other person from Yggdrasil would be an absolute blessing.

Heh, me, an undead skeleton asking for a Blessing. Oh the irony.

I had Demiurge take me to the area, where I did see the barrier. It was massive. Hmm… something about this feels… familiar… I can’t quite put my finger on it though…

I placed a hand on the barrier, feeling it repel even me. It even caused me some damage. It has to be a player then, and one of my level… Aside from the guild the number of people that were my level was a rather exclusive pool. Less than a hundred in Japan alone and less than five thousand globally.

“Even after twelve years of the game a lot of people really couldn't get to level 100…” I thought carefully. “Hello?” I called out loudly. “I'd like to speak to the Player who put up this Barrier.”

“W-wait, a Player is here!?” Demiurge asked in shock.

“It’s the only explanation Demiurge, another being such as I but not that you know of.” I said, as the NPC’s all knew about players in the Guild, the ‘Supreme Beings’ and other more generic game terms but still. “I was thinking I was the only one left…”

I tapped the barrier a few more times with my hand. Damage from barriers is chip damage, where I not max level though this damage would be far more concerning.

I could hear something on the other side of the barrier. Footsteps?

“Hmm… better be on guard though, this barrier is the kind that wants people out…” I thought, already preparing some spells just in case. “Hello?” I called out again, hoping this will be a positive meeting and not a fight.

I could see a silhouette appearing on the other end. I kept my guard up as I saw the silhouette begin to clear and-

They were an elf. Long hair a mix of blonde, red and pink with some feathers along the few braids. Their clothes were simple in appearance, and they carried a shovel slung on their shoulders. Their purple eyes saw me and their expression changed. “... Momonga?” They asked.

“... Spite…” I muttered. “How… the actual hell are you here!?” I shouted, all my emotions suddenly exploding from me before it was sadly calmed down with the jingle of my Emotional Suppressant.

“... Momonga…” They said, their surprise suddenly turning to a flat glare… then morphed into a wide menacing smile. Spite then raised his shovel. “Oh Momonga~ I still owe you a beating when you stole my Sacred Soap Stones!” He yelled as he charged.

Oh crap!

“L-l-listen, Spite it was totally justified! Plus I didn’t steal them I swear! Peroronchino made me do it!” I said quickly, flaying my hands as if to ward off this evil.

“You liar! I know you just didn’t want to grind the Lost God Temple for them!” He said, jumping as he flew out the barrier and-

His shovel slammed flat side first into my face. My HP fell by a chunk and pain shot through me. True, genuine pain as their special shovel, despite looking normal, was one of the strongest items in Yggdrasil solely because the game gave players the option to upgrade any weapon to max stats and with special work stations add enchantments to them.

He called it the ‘Bitch Maker Shovel’.

“Asshole!” I shouted at the Divine Level item smacking me in the face.

“Maximize Magic! Hell’s Meteor!” Demiurge chanted as he immediately threw a massive hellfire infused meteor at Spite.

“W-wait!” I snapped, stopping the eight level spell from hitting Spite and crushing it with a Black Hole spell. “Demiurge, this is my friend… and also the Lost God Temple sucked ass and you know it.”

“It only sucked ass for you because you were an undead and the enemies there did critical damage to undead players.” Spite said. 

I groaned before the Emotional Suppressant activated again. “Anyways, I am glad to see you are here Spite.”

“I’m honestly amazed to see you too. I checked and last I saw Yggdrasil only had about a hundred or two players the last day, and that was global.” Spite said. “I logged back in to check on things, making sure you nor anyone else from your oh so special tomb kingdom stole anything else.”

“The last person I met was HeroHero…” I sighed. “And I was surprised Angelo didn’t show up for some final fight against the Tomb, even though I saw he was online.”

“Huh. Weird.” Spite said, scratching the back of his head. “... So that’s Demiurge huh?” They asked, looking at the suit wearing demon.

“Yes, Ulbert created him when we officially took control of the Tomb.” I answered, seeing Demiurge still in his Demonic Form still ready to fight even if I told him to stand down. “But… when did you get here? How long have you been in this New World?”

“I’d say… five years?” Spite said.

“Five years… have you seen anyone else?” I asked quickly.

“From Yggdrasil? No. I’ve more so just been working on the village.”

Village?

“What village?”

“I guess I can show you, but keep that guy out of here, otherwise Crysaly will try and eat his tail… again.”

I still can’t believe he managed to get a Demon Eater as a pet… The Pet system was rather underutilized by most players but Spite learned it could be used to tame monsters rather than the basic pets one can find in the wilds or sold in shops.

That was one of the few times Demiurge took critical damage… Demon Tails are… a weak spot.

“Yes… and then you all got to Victim and proceeded to have an absolute problem.” I admitted, as Spite was a part of the 1500 man Raid on the Tomb, only thankfully defeated due to Victim.

“Victim’s still bullshit, who the fuck puts every on death affect onto one monster?”

“It’s a massive deterrent that we all needed to make.” I answered simply. “If not for the debuff and the monsters that work for him, we might have lost.”

“Yeah yeah. Oh one sec…” Spite said, reaching into their inventory, same to how I do it, and pulled out a ring he tossed to me. “Here, put that on and you can pass through the barrier.”

I took the ring. It was simple, silver, and rather unassuming. That’s always been more Spite’s style. Fancy, gaudy weapons, armor and items were never his thing. He preferred things that looked simple and practical but worked extremely efficiently.

I carefully put on the simple silver ring, an ‘Admittance Ring’ for when certain players had area’s sectioned off or you needed these for specific quest lines. “Thank you, Demiurge, stay here and keep watch, and warn me if you see anyone approaching.”

“My lord, are you sure it’s safe to follow this… person?” Demiurge asked.

“It is fine Demiurge.” I said with a raised hand. “Like I said before, they are a friend.”

With that, I turned, feeling first with a finger to the barrier as my skeleton hand passed through without issue. With that I walked in fully and followed Spite along the simple pathway here.

“So, what were you doing when the servers were shutting down?”

“I was the only one of my guild to stay… I took one last sit down on the Throne, just… waiting for it to end.”

“I tended the fields, then the last hour just spent it in the house with Emily and Sasha.”

Right. Spite never told me much about his life outside the game, but he did mention using the NPC creation system to make himself a wife and daughter. It wasn’t uncommon for players in this game to roleplay with a family, though most made themselves harems and such, Spite made his wife and child, then his inlaws, siblings of his sister, aunts and uncles to his daughter. He built a large genuine family on that farm land of his.

The Farming system of Yggdrasil was also heavily underutilized but the players who did make use of it learned it could be extremely overpowered. Divine dishes, max rank potion ingredients, and added with his use of the pet system, he basically made an in game company farming and raising the ingredients players otherwise had to farm in dungeons for hours at a time. The guild bought a lot of things from him and even did a few quests for him as a favor for the items that could be made from the rewards.

“I still can’t believe you found Gaea’s Cradle on pure accident…” I said, the World ‘Item’ being a specific amount of farmland that helped the one that took the Druid class as far as it could in several ways, almost like Mare if they were more ‘Gardener’ and less ‘violent’.

“And you guys always doubted my dumb luck.” Spite chuckled.

“Especially given that there was no Luck stat…”

“Imagine if there was? I’d have broken that game way more than I did.” Spite said with a cackle.

“Let’s be glad you didn’t.” I managed, cause seriously this asshole was the luckiest man on the planet!

“So what’s it like outside the barrier anyway? I haven’t explored the world much.”

“It’s… Clean…” I said, that simple word even surprising Spite here with how much weight it held.

“Better than the swap you lot called home?”

“The world is.” I stated. “It’s like Yggdrasil, a fantasy world of monsters and knights, magic and other things but… weirdly they have Tiered Magic, which I haven’t fully figured out why or how.”

“Eh, lazy writing?” Spite offered as we reached… The Farm. I remember it well… but when the hell did he get those floating land masses and all the new houses?!

“I… don’t think Gaea’s Cradle could do this normally…” I said carefully.

“I got way too into Fuga Melodies of Steel and that whole world.” Spite said with a chuckle. “But yeah, welcome to the new farm. It’s like the old farm but better.”

“I see.” I managed, looking at the majesty of it. “... If only I could feel these things.”

“Hmm… Wait feel? Right you’re an undead… Hmm…” Spite hummed.

“There sadly isn’t anyway to fix this, and I doubt there’s a way for me to change races without losing all my levels, abilities and skills.”

“Actually there is an item that, at least back in Yggdrasil’s lore, could help with that.”

“And what item was that?” I asked, as there was genuinely thirty percent of the world actually documented as it was impossible for people to datamine or truly learn about things with it’s aggressive players and TPKers, to guilds hoarding information and loot that it got… sadly ridiculous.

“Well in the Lore one of the Lost Gods was said to be this God of Forgiveness, not sure why the devs made them look like some weird hybrid dog thing, but the imagery of them is adorable. Anyway, there’s a rare item that can spawn in their dungeon called the Reclaimed Heart. Now in game it’s mainly a cosmetic item that does debuff the player by ten percent across all stats, but the lore and item description says that when used on an Undead, it gives them back the emotions they lost upon death.”

“Huh… I suppose that is fair, and now that you mention it, Bukubukuchagama did say how adorable this ‘God of Forgiveness’ was, but I thought it was some weird fan art about one of the missing portions of the ‘Lost God Temple’...” I admitted.

“There are a lot of Lost Gods in Yggdrasil’s lore… but anyway I have it in my house so come on.”

HUH?!

“Excuse you!?” I snapped, once again the Emotional Suppressant hitting me… “How did you get this Relic?” I asked calmly as I followed along.

“The part of the Lost Gods Dungeon, the God of Forgiveness stuff is located has a lot of spawns for food items and preserved seeds and even still edible food items. Hell the buffs the food that spawns there are way better than anything I’ve been able to make, I wanted to stock up since they never seem to spoil unlike other foods and I found it in one of the reward chests.”

“Hmm…” I hummed. “If only we knew… how there was no Scouting Guilds or Lore Hunters is still beyond me… would have made a killing from it now that I think about it.”

“Tell me about it. Though the lore in some places was pretty weird.”

“Yeah, some of the lore can be… weird…”

I followed Spite down the path… I don’t recognize some of these NPC’s. Others… Wait, these are literally one to one copies from other older games… I’m sorry is that The Knight from Hollow Knight?!

“Did you literally just make half of these characters from the NPC creator?” I asked, given that Gaea’s Cradle was a World Item ‘Area’, it was classified as a Castle Class Guild Hall, allowing them to make NPC’s for the ‘village’ if they so chose but… really?

“Some yes but I found a thing here when I was expanding that was… basically like the NPC creator but with less requirements needed when creating an NPC. I’ll show you later.” Spite said as soon we walked up to the large communal farm house. Some extensions and add ons were here now that I don’t remember being here from my last visit. Spite opened the door and quickly side stepped as a frying pan flew out and hit me in the chest.

Owe… The damage was way less than what Spite can cause but the fact it hurt still threw me.

“Well if it isn’t ol’ Skeletor himself.” An elderly woman’s voice spoke. I picked up the frying pan and looked up, seeing an old elf woman with hair grey from age, skin wrinkling and wearing a simple set of clothes covered with an apron that simply had the image of that God of Forgiveness on it.

I recognize them. This is Matilda, the NPC Spite made to be Emily’s mother and Sasha’s grandmother. Spite got really into NPC roles and character stories. She usually only throws her pan at people she sees as malnourished, and given I’m a skeleton, her pan was always thrown at me.

As for the Skeletor thing, well she’s also called me W.D Gastor and Papyrus, so I know Spite loaded her with old references.

“Hello Matilda… glad to know you remember me.” I said carefully, another Emotional Suppression activating and… the jingles and glows hurt what part of my humanity remained…

“Ah look at you. Always so thin.” Matilda said as she walked up to me and took her pan back. “Honestly why do all your skeletons think not needing to eat means you never should?”

If I remember right, Matilda is around level sixty. All NPC’s start off anywhere between level 1 and level 10 depending on the player making them’s level. From there you can upgrade them by having them fight enemies for or with you in dungeons or completing certain tasks that earn EXP. The level cap for NPC’s is one hundred, and with certain items and buffs you can make those stats rival a max level player. Course the only way to give an NPC an ability is for a Player to give it to them from themselves. 

Yggdrasil really made you grind for everything. 

“And this is just from rare ways that aren’t just dumping the levels into them…” I thought carefully, as the Great Tomb gave us 2750 on our first try success, we didn’t think about leveling up the other auto generated mobs during game play and Victim was designed to be a sacrificial lamb to stop would be raiders.

Making them a lower level seemed more reasonable and it meant a more tired or paranoid group would see an easy target after all the hell they experiences prior. Works every time. 

“You listening to me, bone boy?” I snapped back to reality where Matilda was still looking up at me with a small frown.

“Sorry Matilda, just deep in thought.” I answered. “I thought I would never see or hear you again ever since getting to this new world.”

“Same honestly. How are your servants and guardians doing? Hope they’re eating right, especially that little thing Shalltear and the twins Aura and Mare.”

“There is not any amount of food in the world to fix that cauldron of Pero’s fetishes…” I shuddered. “And Aura and Mare are still young, especially for elves so they have plenty of room to grow.”

“Well trust an elf to make food for elves. Haven’t met many who can put mana into food like me or Spite there so maybe bring them over, I’m sure Sasha would love to play with them again.”

Huh, that is true… they are still children. Well, children by Elven years. Roughly they’re the same age as Sasha if I remember right.

“Hmm… I think I will have to bring Aura and Mare around here sometime.” I hummed.

“Good.” Matilda said, then forced what appeared to be a hotdog in my hand before walking off.

“Heh, with an actual voice her personality shows way better.” Spite chuckled.

“Yes, it is quite a change of pace to finally give a voice to them.” I said, putting the hotdog into my inventory space.

I followed Spite into a fair sized room with many spare tools and random items as he opened a chest and began looking through it. “Alright now where was it…”

“Detect Relic Item.” I said, activating the spell to detect the Relic Class Item he was looking for.

Okay that’s… okay that’s more relics than I expected- Why are there so many relic class items just laying around this land?!

“How in the world do you have so many Relic Class items!?” I asked in surprise, knowing Relic Class is a step below Divine Class but still!

“Yeah so… remember how my main thing is farming?” Spite asked as the moved over to another chest. 

“There is no way in hell Yggdrasil let you farm Relic class materials… wait… no, it fucking would…” I groaned, remembering one time with other minerals from mines we were warring over produced new minerals…

“Well not all of them, the vast majority I found by doing something I wondered if it was possible so out of curiosity in the Lost Gods Dungeons and some others, I started digging… and found shit.”

…

…

…

I swear to god if I ever meet one of the devs I might just strangle them…

“... This is worse than when the guild figured out hoarding two separate minerals from mines we were warring over fused into new materials…”

“Yeah. The devs really put a lot of work into Yggdrasil… shame they had to close the servers…” Spite sighed as they pulled out a green and red crystal heart. “Ah, here it is.”

He handed it to me. Hmm… To feel genuine emotions again… a ten percent debuff to all my stats is a steep price to pay, but that still leaves me as one of the strongest on this planet, and items and other buffs can correct that.

To feel… human again…

“... Is there a way to regain my Stats back? I do have the Shooting Star ring if possible or is this permanent?”

“It’s considered a cosmetic item, at least back in game and could be removed and the stats return to normal when it is… Though as far as I can tell the debuff comes from the fact it’s part of a set.”

“It’s part of a Set? The hell?” I asked in confusion. “What kind of set?”

“Not sure, but the item description says it’s part of a set of four.”

Hmm… interesting… I wonder if it’s possible to find these items here, or make them? If the other parts of the set do the same then perhaps the full set counters the debuffs? 

“Well, that is certainly something I will need to look into.” I hummed.

“So, gonna use it?”

“... So far, the only thing that’s holding me back are the emotional supressents… and me not truly not caring about death.” I managed as I carefully placed the crystal heart into my chest cavity.

It still feels a bit odd and abnormal when I do this… Surprisingly once I placed it where a heart should be it floated in place all on its own before I could hear… the faint beating.

I heard and felt what was like a chain, collapsing and hitting the ground as my mind felt less clear but I felt… I felt…

… I can… feel. I felt a rush. An overwhelming rush of emotions long since suppressed but mainly I felt… joy as I didn’t even realize I pulled Spite into a hug.

“I… I can feel!” I said happily. “My emotions aren’t suppressed anymore I… I can think for myself.”

Wait… Oh god the guilt hit me! Ah fuck all the people I’ve killed!

“Do you like, need a moment?” Spite asked with a raised brow.

“... I have personally murdered… over a hundred thousand people… I got a new record for the Iä Shub-Niggurath and made four Goat Spawn… Oh no…” I groaned in pure pain. “The Guilt… this thing negates Karma too I think…”

“I’m sorry you killed how many people?” Spite asked lowly.

“It was for a genuine War, I’m the king of the Sorcerer Kingdom, back to the matter at hand, I feel guilty! Why didn’t Gazef take my offer damn it!”

“Oh this is gonna be a whole thing isn’t it…” Spite muttered as I proceeded to have a total mental breakdown.

“N-no, no… I’m good… this isn’t the first time I’ve had to deal with this…” I said weakly. “I didn’t work corporate to fall under… just a silly little mental breakdown, those are normal right?”

“Not when they’re caused by the guilt of your mass murders…”

“It… it was during a War, between the Re-Estize Kingdom and the Baharuth Empire… I was an Ally of the Baharuth Empire because of my new Sorcerer Kingdom.”

“Stop.” Spite said, putting a hand to my skeletal head. “Even soldiers and generals get PTSD in war. You’re… heh. You’re only human.”

It felt both good and painful to be called that again…

“... You… genuinely have… no idea how good it is to… have someone here to help me…” I managed. “Everyone in Nazarick… I’m scared they’ll hate me or rebel against me if I showed them what and who I really am…”

“Really? I made it info as part of my family’s lore.”

“Well, it’s not lore reasons it’s just… they’re Karma levels tend to be very negative, the only ones that aren’t Evil are Sebas, Aura, Mare, Cocytus and Pandora’s Actor among others.” I said carefully. “But they all… they all see me as a God, or their father and… I don’t want to upset them… they’re the only part of my friends I have left…”

“Hmm… So there’s a few you can probably tell, but the others might be a risk then…” Spite hummed as he sat me in a chair nearby as he thought.

“I can tell all of them but… it’s still a problem with what they’ll think of me if I do.” I sighed. “Especially Albedo… oh god Albedo… I’m such a dork…” I groaned and double facepalmed.

“What’s with the bitch?” 

“I… I opened up the Dev Console for her Lore before the servers shut down and… turned her lore from ‘is a massive bitch’ to… ‘is madly in love with Momonga’...” I whined. “I’m terrible! That’s practically my best friends daughter! And the less we talk about Shalltear the better!”

“Yeah… When it comes to Shalltear, well not the first NPC made to be the embodiment of someone’s fetish list, but in terms of Albedo… Two things. First.” Spite pointed a finger at me. “Simp.” He then poked my eyesockets- Ah why did that hurt!? I got stabbed in these and it didn’t do anything! “Pervert…”

“It was a harmless thing I thought wouldn’t matter when the servers shut down!” I whined. “I’m not a Simp, you asshole.”

“Albedo is now forever living proof you are…”

“Shut up!” I groaned. “Ugh… seriously, ever since getting to this world it’s been… trying to say the least… paranoid as hell for a lot of pretty good reasons…” I sighed. “This world has World Items…”

“Huh, now that’s interesting. What have you come across so far?”

“Well, I don’t know what World Item was used, but it Mind Controlled Shalltear, a True Vampire, she is immune to Mind Control… and I had to personally kill her just two weeks after I arrived here in this new world with the entirety of Nazarick.” I sighed bitterly. “I was able to revive her thankfully but… where there’s one, there is most likely more.”

“Hmm… Wait, are you sure it was mind control?”

“Yes, but due to circumstances I don’t fully know, she was set from the ‘normalcy’ in this world for NPC’s, to being an actual NPC until attacked.” I explained.

“Huh… Well that’s concerning. Was it someone from Yggdrasil or someone from this world?”

“Shalltear didn’t remember everything due to her blood rage, but she did remember fighting a group of people after dealing with a bandit camp and… after that she doesn’t remember anything.”

“Locals likely then… A few have come near the barrier but thankfully Emily uses some magic to make them forget about it and they wander off away from the village. So aside me you haven’t run into any other players?”

“No, and to be honest I’ve started the Sorcerer Kingdom as a way to call to other Players if their here, cause the Great Tomb of Nazarick is the thing from Yggdrasil everyone knew about.”

“Made yourselves an unofficial boss dungeon.” Spite chuckled. “Largely I’ve just been keeping to myself and working on the village here. Without a map or anything I didn’t want to wander too far and even with new Warriors I made after arriving here-”

“You made NPC’s after arriving?!”

“Oh yeah, I was gonna tell you about that.” Spite hummed.

“How? Why? I know this is World Item counts as a Castle Class or hire but… how!?”

“Come on then.” He said, moving for the door.

I got up and followed them back outside and near the farm’s edge where I saw what appeared to be a stairway down into the underground.

“So you know how you can terraform the land on claimed land, building up and down right? Well I wondered if I could dig down and turn the farm into a layered thing and that’s when I learned there’s secrets hidden in the dirt here.”

“... The Dev’s can eat my boney ass…”

“You mean your pelvic bone? Not any meat there for Albedo to bite into.” 

I whacked them on the head, earning a laugh from them.

Heh… that was the most normal interaction I’ve had in months…

“But anyway, I began making the second underground area for storage and maybe more farms when I found this.” He led me to a door where upon opening it, I saw still partly buried in the dirt was a large clay statue. The figure looked like the silhouette of a pregnant woman, but the belly was formed into almost a cauldron shape.

“Well… this place is called Gaea’s Cradle, so maybe this is Gaea?” I suggested.

“Not sure, can’t move the statue from here, at least not in game so I just made the room for it. You put clay, maybe some other materials in the womb-cauldren there and either a description or drawing and once the light show ends, a new NPC is made.”

“... What bullshit is going on here…” I muttered.

“I dunno, but it still works. It’s how I got most of those people out there. The more detailed you are, especially with abilities and powers the stronger they come out. Back in game it just opened the NPC Creation tool.”

“That is… an invaluable Divine Item…”

“I’m still finding stuff as I dig but I’m out of clay to make more people, and it’s needed for a lot of the buildings.”

Hmm… Spite is strong enough to damage me and pretty much everyone in Nazarick, not to mention his tools being Divine types that deal extra damage to us. But he’s a good friend and an ally. Sure he joined a few enemy raids, but to be fair we welcomed it back then and he did take his fair share of spoils. Should I see about adding them to the kingdom as a merging entity or as an ally? The village here can’t even really be called that. There’s likely less than a hundred people here in total, I think that technically makes them a hamlet?

“Hmm, how would you feel about either joining the Sorcerer Kingdom, or be a vassal entity?” I inquired.

“A vassal what now?”

“Means that, while you would still function as your own separate entity you will be apart of the Sorcerer’s Kingdom, with the benefits and responsibilities that come with it.”

“If you try and tax me I will turn your skeleton head into a Day of the Dead decorative skull.”

“I’m not going to.” I said, even though I know full well I can beat them in a fight. “But it’s to at least help you get acquainted with the rest of the world as I’m… trying to get somethings sorted.”

“Do I need to go anywhere for this?”

“Well, at least to Nazarick to meet the Floor Guardian’s proper, then meet Jircniv, the emperor of Baharuth.” I answered.

“Fine…” He sighed, then gave a whistle as I heard someone run here.

I looked down the hall and… The Knight? The little being walked up to us. 

“Come on kid we’re heading out.” Spite said, patting their helmeted head.

“Are you sure?” I said carefully, looking down at The Knight as it waved it’s arms up in the air… i would be cute if I didn’t know better…

“Yeah, Emily always said if I end up leaving I should take a guard and Knight here is strong enough. Not sure how strong exactly but I’ve seen them do enough to feel confident in their abilities.”

Hmm… Check Entity.

A basic spell, basically the Appraisal skill but for entities. I don’t use it much but- WHAT THE FUCK!?

That little guy is not only level 100 but also his stats put them on even ground with Cocytus and their speed stat is faster?!

And what are these abilities and magics? Half of them I don’t even think were in Yggdrasil!

“You good? Did your jaw dislocate?” Spite asked me.

“I… used a spell, Check Entity and uh… he’s as strong as Cocytus with abilities and magics I’ve never heard of…” I explained carefully. “He’s even faster than him…”

“Huh. Hear that little guy, you’re cute and deadly.” Spite said, patting The Knight’s head affectionately as they seemed to enjoy it.

“What the hell did I get myself into…” I thought worriedly.

“Let’s just go find Emily before we leave. I’d rather not just up and vanish on her or Sasha.”

“That’s alright.” I nodded. “I’ll head out and set up a Gate for Nazarick.” I said as I cast Message and put a hand to the side of my head. “Demiurge, can you hear me?”

“Sire?” They replied quickly.

“I need you to head back to Nazarick, inform the Floor Guardian’s there of some important guests that will be arriving soon.” I told him through the magical connection and also super thankful that this form of communication wasn’t blocked by the barrier.

“Understood. I take it one is that Elf, Spite?”

“Yes, but he is also a bodyguard… but be careful and don’t make any threatening actions, the guard is as strong as Cocytus with abilities even I don’t know about so please, warn everyone to not start something.”

“Understood.” Demiurge said.

I followed Spite to the fields. These herbs… we use them to make the red potions… Ahead was another elf woman. Darker skin with bright fiery red hair dressed in more modern shorts and a shirt. I could sense a strong magic from her, and saw it came from the ring on their finger. Emily.

“Hey hun, I’ll be heading out.” Spite said.

Emily turned, pale red eyes seeing me and looking surprised. “Momonga! I haven’t seen you since you stole my husbands soap stones…” She glared at me with the ferocity of a protective wife/mama bear… and she is in fact both…

“I’m going by Ainz Ooal Gown now, and again, I didn’t steal shit.” I huffed.

“I’m not calling you that.” She huffed. “Your Momo until I say otherwise.”

Spite snorted.

I sighed, but felt the crystal heart beat against the Undead Emotional Suppressants as I knew it was in good fun. “I understand.”

“I’m gonna head out with him. Apparently we’ve missed out on a lot.” Spite said. 

“I see you’re taking Knight with you. Good.” Emily nodded. “How long will you be gone?”

Spite turned to look at me, asking without speaking.

“It will depend on how long the talks with the others will go.” I said. “I am a King, and certain things will need to be talked about with your humble hamlet possibly joining the Sorcerer Kingdom.”

“Tax us and I swear…”

“Will you stop?”

“Taxes are evil, taxes are the devils…” She scowled.

“How about rather than taxes just a trade. We still have all the herbs and such your guild used to buy in bulk back in the day. How about reviving that old deal?” Spite offered.

“That works for me.” I nodded. 

“Alright then.” Emily nodded. “I’ll hopefully see you soon.”

She then quickly gave Spite a kiss on the cheek.

“I’ll be fine. I have Knight and my inventory.” Spite said, kissing her cheek back.

Damn… I just realized how much I miss having lips…

I sighed. “Well, let’s get going then.”

—

“So you mean to tell me that you just… never realized Albedo was rubbing her scent all over your bed?!” Spite yelled as I’ve now come to realize something…

“... Oh no…”

“My guy I know you don’t have a nose but you can clearly smell!”

“I mean… yes I can but uh… I didn’t think it would be… this bad…”

“My guy she is literally trying to get you to associate the rest and calm of your room and bed with her… I’m pretty sure that’s a form of brainwashing… Or Skullwashing in your case.”

“... I was told someone made a body pillow of me…” I said weakly.

“And that is just wrong and I’m not sure how the fuck that’s even possible…”

“I don’t know…” I said weakly. “It’s concerning, especially the one time she assaulted me because I treated Mare like my own son…”

“Oh so she’s possessive and obsessed… That’s a bad combo…”

“It sucks how massive Tabula likes to write background lore… I just made sure to get rid of the ‘Albedo is a turbo bitch’ because he wanted to do something silly to ‘juxtapose’ the perfect housewife…” I sighed. “But we all forgot… she’s a Greater Demon and a Succubus…”

“Well, you forgot.”

“Yes I did.” I sighed.

“And I’m guessing you’ve avoided touching her right?”

“It was a harmless joke I made… and I feel uncomfortable with it…”

“Um… Lord Ainz?” I turned, seeing… Aura and Mare there…

…

“How long… have you two been standing there?” I asked worriedly.

“Th-the whole time my lord…” Mare, the male crossdressing druid, said nervously.

“Well we are in their arena.” Spite said.

“... Aura, Mare, this is an old friend and business partner, Spite.” I said, motioning to the Elf. “He is an Elder Druid just like you Mare, but while you specialise in AOE combat, Spite here is more focused on buffing and farming.”

“Yo.” Spite waved.

“Cool! But… why isn’t he wearing a dress?” Aura, the female crossdressing Master Ranger, asked curiously.

“Not everyone dresses like you and Mare, it’s the special part of you two that Bukubukuchagama gave to you two.” I said rather quickly as I did not want to have this conversation right now.

“Does it give advantages to spellcasting?” Mare asked.

“No, it's purely a fashion choice.” Spite said.

“Oh. So girl clothes look good on me then?”

“Well yeah, our maker made you with that in mind right? So of course you’d look good.” Aura said.

I nodded in agreement and gently patted both of their heads. “I know Buku would be as proud of you two as I am.” I said, genuine warmth from this boney form felt so much better now that it won’t be suppressed or stunted.

“So who’s the tiny creature with you?” Aura asked.

Knight sat next to Spite as they seemed to be swinging their feet and nodding their head along to some unheard tune.

“That’s Knight, they’re my bodyguard.” Spite said.

“But they’re so small and… rather cute looking. Can they even fight?” Aura questioned.

“Yes, though I guess he hasn’t really had a chance to battle anyone or anything seriously?” 

“Oh, can I duel them Lord Ainz?!” Aura asked eagerly.

“If you two can make it as non-lethal as possible.” I said carefully to Aura and the Knight. “And be weary Aura… he is as tough as Cocytus.”

“Wait, seriously?! But they’re so small?” Aura said as she looked down at Knight who looked to not be paying attention.

“You know as well as I do that size isn’t everything.” I answered to the Beast Master themselves. “Remember ‘Mr. Snuggles’?”

“Hey! Mr. Snuggles is not dangerous.” Aura huffed.

“U-uh… the Primordial Ether Cat broke through the wall last week and kn-knocked you three miles away…” Mare said nervously.

“Oh he was playing.” Aura pouted.

“Point being,” I stated. “He is very powerful, and is capable of things I don’t know about, so please, during this sparring match, make it as non-lethal as possible.”

“Knight.” Spite said, and The Knight turned to look at them. “Go easy on the kid alright?”

Knight nodded, jumping to their feet.

“Alright,” I said, raising my staff as me, Mare and Spite were on the stands. “Begin!”

Aura was on the attack immediately, using her Divine Beast Master Whip and swinging powerfully towards the Knight, who easily dodged and ran towards Aura, but while the Knight was fast, Aura was equally as fast as she always needed to keep up with Level 90+ Beasts. Aura tried to keep her distance, using the whip to its maximum potential but the Knight was swift, dodging or parrying the attacks with his Nail weapon before firing off a blast of pure Soul energy.

“L-Lord Ainz, what was that?” Mare asked in surprise and shock.

“That… is a Soul Blast.” I answered, seeing several more parries and another Soul Blast that Aura dodged deftly. “It’s one of the Knight’s abilities, he gains energy from parries or hitting something and, with a quick ‘chant’ he is capable of firing it off rather swiftly.”

But the fight continued on, Aura even whistling and bringing out a level 92 Pteradrone, a powerful bird of prey that swooped down and tried to attack the Knight, who simply jumped, and with his etheric wings, double jumped, pogo’d off the bird without causing too much damage shockingly, and dashed swiftly towards Aura, getting a little too clo-

SNAP!

“OW!!” Aura screamed, holding her broken left arm that she used to block his swing.

“H-hold!” I snapped, Mare already rushing towards her sister.

“Knight! Withdraw.” Spite said, The Knight put their nail back to their back and walked back to the seats where once they sat down they pulled out a book and began writing.

“Sister!” Mare said quickly, bringing out their staff, the ‘Shard of Yggdrasil’ divine weapon, and started to cast a greater healing spell on them.

“I-I’m alright… man, is he strong…” Aura admitted.

“Don’t put yourself down though Aura.” I stated, wanting to hopefully nip a bit of self-doubt brewing in her heart. “Remember, you were not created to be a Warrior like Cocytus or Albedo, you are a Beast Master who fights alongside your brother, be proud that you held your ground against the Knight.”

“Why are they just called The Knight?” Aura asked.

“Because he was created without a name, and all he has known is ‘The Knight’.” I answered. “It’s… also due to the world he was in…”

“Is he from Yggdrasil?” Aura asked, starting to move their freshly healed arm.

“... No.” I answered carefully. “He is not from the New World either which is… concerning and I will leave it at that.”

The two seemed to accept that. I did peek and… damn they have good art skills. Their drawing of me, Aura and Mare are very well detailed.

“Sorry about that. Didn’t think they’d break her arm.” Spite said.

“I didn’t think his attack stat would get past her defenses and stats…” I said carefully. “Also, the Knight is really good at art.”

“Maybe it’s their nail?” Spite hummed.

“If it’s the Dream Nail then… maybe?” I hummed, scratching my chin in thought.

“Maybe… They were made from the statue then appeared with the nail already.”

“This is just getting more and more concerning…” I admitted carefully.

“Add it to the list.”

“Yes… to the very big list of things that I need to do…” I sighed, raising my head as I saw a Gate open up and out walked Albedo, Shalltear, Demiurge, Cocytus and even Victim. “Oh, Cocytus, Victim, I didn’t expect you two to be here.”

“My lord has summoned all Floor Guardian’s to meet someone that, while has attacked the Great Tomb, has been of great support to our Home.” Cocytus, the four armed Insect Sword Saint, said with a fist chested solute.

“.ezigolopa ot emoc ev'I” The Archangel fetus, Victim, said, though through the telepathy we understood that they’ve come to apologize.

“... Why did you make them look like what a Republican imagines an aborted fetus looks like?” Spite asked me while looking at Victim.

“Let’s… not bring up our world please…” I grumbled, as a Japanese person I barely know what their talking about…

“You’re the one with the angel fetus that causes mass death upon its own death…”

“No, it’s a massive Debuff on everyone in the area, it’s Victim’s followers that do the clean up.” I corrected. “But as some of you might not know, this is Spite, an old friend and business partner of Nazarick.” I motioned to said American.

“Hey.” Spite waved. “Also this is Knight.” He motioned to The Knight who was adding to their little journal.

“Stop!” Albedo said quickly to the other Floor Guardians that just arrived, her hands clutching Ginnungagap, a small scepter with a darker than pitch black orb floating on top of it as one of the tankiest beings in this place took a shaky breath. “The… The Knight is strong… I know his power…”

“He’s a bean.” Spite said, patting Knight’s head.

“His power is that of Ginnugagap…” Albedo said shakily, clutching the world item tightly.

“What do you mean?” Shalltear, the loli true vampire with that stupidly padded chest, asked carefully.

“In Nordic Mythology, what Yggdrasil is mostly based on, Ginnugagap is the Inbetween of Worlds, the Primordial Void between the Lands of the Fire and Ice Giants.” I explained carefully, staring at the World Item that seemed to radiate a dark energy as I looked to the Knight, who was still writing or drawing in his notebook even as he stared intently on the World Item. “And given how long Albedo has had ownership of the item, against the Guilds better wishes cause Tabula can be a bit of a bitch, she… understands the feeling and knows what The Knight truly is.”

“Still a bean.” Spite said.

“He’s a monster of the deepest Void…” Albedo said carefully.

“He’s a Hero that chose damning himself to save people and his sister.” I stated.

“And a bean.” Spite added.

Albedo sighed as Cocytus stepped forward and kneeled down, the two insect being’s making some strange beetle like noises… before the Knight gave a thumbs up and Cocytus laughed.

“O-oh my…” Mare said, his cheeks flushed in embarrassment as I was now super confused.

“Should I even ask?” I asked carefully.

“Well he is a bug so, eh.” Spite shrugged. “Oh yeah, Albedo, Momo now knows you’ve been perfuming his bed with your scent.”

“W-well not… perfuming technically.” Albedo said, scratching her chin as her entire face turned beat red.,

“She has actively rubbed her naked body on our lords bed.” Demiurge said with a quick fix of his glasses as Albedo gasped.

“How dare you!”

“You bitch! You’re cheating staking your flabby body all over Lord Ainz’s private chambers!”

“I’m the bitch!? How dare you!” Albedo snapped as the two started to get into a cat fight.

“... As you can see… half the time I’m reminded of my friends here with their bickering.” I chuckled.

“Yeah, like parent like child I guess.” Spite chuckled. “Also like herding cats. Say Momo, have any of the guild rules changed since I was last here?”

“Nope.” I shook my head. “But I’m trying to get the NPC’s to start thinking like normal people.” I whispered to Spite, as if I just told them openly it would defeat the purpose.

“Good, now I’m gonna ruin their day.” Spite said with a smirk as he reached into his Inventory and pulled out two familiar books. One was the general rules for Guild Members, the other was a rule book one of my friends made that was for the servants. “Ladies!” Spite spoke up, getting Albedo and Shalltear’s attention. “As servants of this guild and kingdom I hope you two are familiar with the rules and regulations of your roles, yes?”

That made the two pause.

“W-we do know the rules and regulations.” Shalltear stated.

“I am the leader of the Floor Guardian’s, I know the rules and regulations and enforce them as need be.” Albedo stated as well.

“Do you now?” Spite asked, his smirk widening as he first opened the Guild Member book for Players. “According to this, as a founding member Momonga, also as the only current active member not only has the right of total authority over your stations but also said rules and regulations which he himself has confirmed to be unchanged since my last visit. And while I’ve been largely isolated and focusing on my farm and family since arriving to this land five years ago, I’ve gotten to read these rules over repeatedly. And as your Lord has informed none of these rules have changed at all… so tell me, where in the rules does it dictate the servants, The Floor Guardian Leader and a Floor Guardian of multiple important floors, to attempts to take on the roles and obligations of a Guild Member’s bride, concubine or similar partnership?” 

Albedo and Shalltear both took a step back.

“There isn’t any. In fact there are no rules regarding this at all anywhere, meaning the two of you for the last several months have been actively harassing your own lord and master sexually and inappropriately with your actions… some more than others…” Spite gave a look at Albedo. “And trying to take on the role of a position that your lord has not yet or even considered creating for what you two bicker over, leading to discourse and dysfunction within the servants.”

The other guardians were whispering now to one another while I saw Demiurge grow their own smirk as he fixed his glasses. “How shameless.” He muttered.

“W-well, I mean…” Shalltear tried to argue.

“L-Lord Ainz changed a part of me, to love him dearly! Th-that’s true right my lord?” The demonette asked, looking at me with pleading eyes.

“... Maybe tone it down a tad?” I said nervously. “Um…”

“While our lord would need a proper heir in due time,” Cocytus let out frozen air out of his mandibles and stood up. “You two have been acting like spoiled children over your favorite snack!”

“Yeah, it’s been getting really bad between you two, I mean come on!” Aura groaned.

“... P-please calm down…” Mare said sheepishly, shrinking in on himself with how nervous they were.

“Now then!” Spite said, clapping their hands. “According to these rules you two claim to know well, breaking them in any conduct that is not a matter of life or death in terms of a fellow servant of a Guild Member’s safety or for the safety of the guild as a whole, punishment means typically either being expelled from the guild, or death.” He said, making Shalltear and Albeado panic. “But your Lord is merciful, and I have a punishment in mind I think would be better for you two. I’ll tell it to your lord now and see what he thinks.”

Spite then leaned in and whispered to me… I laughed. Oh, Oh that might work!

“Oh that sounds fantastic.” I laughed, even though seeing all the Floor Guardian’s shocked at my genuine laughter was… a little hard but it was worth it.

“Very well. Starting today the floor guardians Albedo and Shalltear are removed from duty and will be reassigned to work as simple serving staff, taking on cooking, cleaning and laundry duties around the castle for three months.” Spite said, making Albedo and Shalltear balk. “Additionally the two will have uniform requirements. Albedo must wear only covering and concealing attire that shows no skin from the neck below, and Shalltear must wear age appropriate clothing relating to her biological age which appears to be between ten and thirteen, also no padding anything under them. Any transgressions against these conditions will add on another month to your sentences.” I think the smirk Spite had on was giving them Vietnam Flashbacks…

“HA! Finally.” Aura laughed.

“It seems reasonable.” I stated honestly.

“I bought you time but you are gonna have to figure out how to handle this nonsense.” Spite whispered to me.

“I know…” I sighed, but then, out of nowhere, another gate showed up and…

“Mein Gott hat mich gerufen!” Pandora’s Actor said in German with a proper army soldier salute.

“What did I say about speaking German!?” I whined and double facepalmed.

“... As an American I feel like I have an obligation to shoot this guy…” Spite said.

“He’s not a Nazi!” I whined. “He’s just German…” I sighed. “Hello, Pandora’s Actor.”

“I-I’m so sorry my lord.” He said with a quick bow. “I didn’t mean to upset you in front of your guests, I deeply apologize.”

If I could cringe into a black hole I would… “It’s alright Pandora… this is Spite, and their guardian The Knight.” I motioned to the two.

“I’m still on the fence about shooting him.” Spite said.

Knight looked up at them. Pandora looked down at them. Their hollow dark eyes met for an uncomfortably long time.

“Um… you two good?” I asked nervously.

“I can’t tell who’s breaking who…” Spite hummed.

“... The Dreams are Beautiful.” Pandora’s actor said with no context at all, and the Knight nodded.

“... Um… I don’t like that…”

“Well all in all I think this went very well either way.” Spite said.

The whole place suddenly shook as the sound of breaking glass seemed to come from above, outside the building.

“Not my fault!” Spite added fast.

“Set the Tomb to high alert! Now!” I ordered.

“SIR!” The Guardian’s said as Gates were created and rushed in as I created my own and went outside, the Staff of Ainz Ooal Gown clutched tight in my hand.

“Damn it, what’s happening now?” I thought quickly.

I looked around, then up and…

Oh… That is… A giant crack in the sky…

“Well that doesn’t look good…” I turned, seeing Spite walk out the gate I made.

“What… the actual hell is going on?” I asked in horror.

“No idea.”

To be continued...

Chapter Text

As I rushed to the second familiar face I haven't seen in years who was currently in the middle of fighting three Arch Angel Guardians, or what felt like, I began to recall my first encounter with them. A Dragon themed player. Drago.

The name was longer for something I think but I can't fully recall at the moment.

But I remember our first meeting.

Like all my friends it was in Yggdrasil, almost a year after the game’s launch, and it first Halloween Events.

Events plural, pluralities. It wasn't just one event, it was many.

“Those were the better days…” I thought carefully.

Nine Years ago

The Tomb was still being developed, only two floors and none of the NPC’s were made yet, but all the members were already gathered.

“Happy Halloween everyone.” I said, as even though the majority of us were Japanese, Halloween was still at least a time for fun.

“So why are we celebrating Halloween? I mean, events and items aside?” Peroronchino, the Birdman Archer, inquired.

“Well, I thought it would have been a little fun to celebrate the holiday.” I answered. “Plus, some of our American Guildmates suggested it to me and I thought ‘why not’.” I admitted, cause while even though the entire world has gone to absolute shit with it being a Dystopian hellscape, some places still managed to celebrate holidays and at least have some Hope at the end of the day…

“Well at least it's better than cranking out more work hours. Seriously, the overtime pay at work is nice but a fifteen hour work day three days in a row, that was just the worst.” Groaned HeroHero, the Elder Black Ooze player said 

“Yeesh, no wonder you picked a gooey species to play as. Look how you feel much?” Bukubukuchagama laughed, the slime looking player’s avatar twitching a little with the movement.

“What's your excuse then?”

“I can make this look sexy.” She replied. “And it’s funnier when people recognize my voice.”

I internally chuckled at that, then paused as… Did someone just knock at the door?

“Do we seriously have trick or treaters?” HeroHero asked.

I walked towards the door. Clearing this place out when it was just a normal raid dungeon and making it our basement we can edit and change the layout. The first two floors are filled with generic but strong enough monsters we collected to act as guard dogs while we work on expanding and remodeling the other floors.

Can't wait to start making NPC’s. Maybe I can make some Army General looking one with a military suit and everything? That would be cool, and they'd strike epic poses too!

Still, the few people so far who have come here usually don't knock, they barge right into the place and meet the monsters ready to attack…

I opened the door a crack and saw a male Dragonoid, a very rare race choice due to how tough they are to run, with blue and grey scales in a pattern of Grey’s being on their joints and chest, strong looking horns on their draconian head looking and a long muscle bound tail, they worse some rather fancy looking Divine Armor that looked based on the Black Luster Soldier just without the helmet. “And… who are you?”

“Can I join your guild?” The dragonoid said with a rather deep bow. “I’m Drago, a Level 100 Dragonoid Lord and Master of Arms for key class levels, I work as a Manager for Cross Corp and have a stable life.” He said.

“A… what and a what class?” I asked in surprise, never having heard of either of those classes before.

“Oh, both are classes gained through special Class Quests, both giving World Items.”

“They both gave what!?” Touch Me, the World Champion armor wearing insect man, asked incredulously.

“The Heart of the Dragon Lord, and the Masters Armaments, both took me half a year to finish but it was awesome.” Drago said eagerly, sounding so much like a fanboy that discovered something incredible… which I mean, is incredible as I have legit never heard of such things.

“Well… why do you want to join?” I inquired.

“Ainz Ooal Gown is one of the few, if only, Guilds that let Heteromorphs join, are a close knit community from what I’ve heard…” Drago said, as he then pulled out a book. “And it’s full of untold Lore that I need to document.” He said, like… thirty emotes of pure joy and excitement appearing all around his head…

Oh man this guy is a total lore nut. We already got some background lore nuts who are already writing lore for the future NPCs…

“A-alright, we just… need to see what you are capable of first, learn more about your spending habits and the like, then we’ll vote on if you’ll join or not.” I answered carefully. “What do you all say?” I asked my guild.

“I mean, we already have forty one members, any more and we might be stretching our current capabilities thin.” HeroHero said.

“He also wasn't here when we got the place, feels like he's weaseling in after the hard part’s been done.” Bukubukuchagama added.

“I don’t know,” Ulbert admitted, the goat demon scratching their bearded chin. “He did say he’s a Manager at Cross Corp, and he has two World Items, maybe he can help spread the word of how great the guild is.”

“He’s a Lore Junky, he’s got my vote.” Blue Planet said readily, the Elder Dryad looking giddy to meet another lore junky.

“Two world items are impressive, but Spite has two that we know of as well, what with Gaea’s Cradle and that special hoe of his, but he's not asking to join. In fact I half suspected if we offered they'd outright reject it.” Yamaiko tossed in, the giant sitting cross legged in the hallway nearby. “Besides, we know nothing about how these special classes of his actually work, let alone how he works in battle. Being level 100 is impressive I'll admit, but max level doesn't always mean skill.”

“Well, the Halloween event does have some tough bosses.” I brought up, scratching my chin.

“Plus, if he can face those bosses, we’ll get to see what he’s capable of, and those Armaments he talked about.” Amanomahitotsu said, the crab man blacksmith, said honestly, but I could tell the guy who’s our Guilds Craftsman was super eager to see what those weapons are.

“Most of the bosses won't be that much of a challenge.” Touch Me said, gaining everyone’s attention. “Even the higher level ones… rather than fight them, he fights me.”

“And here I thought you were a paragon of virtue.” Ulbert said sarcastically.

“You sure?” I asked carefully.

“I’m strong enough, and what better way to test someone than in battle? I doubt any of you want to put forth the effort of giving them an actual challenge rather than doing glorified fetch quests with the Halloween Events.” Touch Me asked.

“I mean… that's fair I guess…” I said carefully.

“The Headless Horsemen's horse is mine and I will fight for that drop.” I actually jumped at hearing Drago rather bluntly state that, having been quiet this whole time I was more surprised by the outburst than anything.

“Oh goodie, we got a mount collector too.” Peroronchino groaned.

“Hey, could be worse.” Bellriver, the red amorphous being with multiple faces and arms, brought up with a shrug.

“So, what do you say Drago?” Touch Me asked.

“I’m… not a fan of PVP, but I accept your challenge.” He answered readily.

“You don’t like PVP?” Shizyuutensuzaku, the oldest member of the guild that was a Nue, which he based around several chines animals, questioned.

“I’m a Lore Hunter and love playing this game, I’d rather not get ganked by John Dipshit and the Jackoff clan for the sixth time that week.” Drago rolled his eyes, earning a decent amount of chuckles from everyone. “But I do know how to throw hands when necessary.”

“Well then, let’s see for ourselves shall we?” Touch Me declared.

Needless to say, Drago lost that battle… badly…

Still, he lasted longer than most of us expected, and Touch Me made a deal. He said if Drago could be at their dungeon when it was rebuilt and ready, he could join.

From then on either in a party or solo Drago would attempt to defeat the Tomb of Nazarick, getting better each time, until Shalltear… She was and still is the name of his runs.

—

“BALDUR DIDN’T WANT YOUR BULLSHIT HERE, ARCHANGELS!” I heard Drago scream as he cleaved through the three ArchAngel Guardian’s with one of his Armaments

“... Right, forgot he understands Nordic Mythology a lot better than I do…” I thought. “Drago!”

“50 Years! Fifty fucking years of nothing, and then I get assaulted by Angels? The fuck is this shit!?”

“... Do I know that dragon?” Spite asked as we landed a bit away.

“That’s Drago, lore buff and also the only man who was able to get to the third floor by himself, but was constantly beaten by Shalltear at the last moments.” I answered.

“Oh yeah,” Spite said, snapping his fingers. “Scaley_Titty_Lover45.”

WHAT?!

“Says the asshole named ‘Elf_Foot_Pounder6000’!” Drago shouted back.

“What is happening!?” I whined in confusion at what was happening as Drago landed near us.

“Playful fun, also, Momon! It’s wonderful to see you!” Drago said happily. “And Spite! You certainly add a wonderful elvish hubris to every macabre hallucination.” He said with a giant smile.

“Ah. I see. One sec.” Spite said before smacking his Shovel at Drago, where it whacked them in the back of the head hard enough to make them yelp in pain.

“Asshole! What did I do?” He groaned, rubbing the back of his head.

“We ain't hallucinations if it hurts right?” Spite asked, making Drago blink.

“It’s great to see you again Drago.” I answered, seeing the dragon formed being start to tear up.

“Are… are you serious?” He asked breathlessly, his whole body shaking like he never thought this day would happen.

“Yes, we are very serious.” I nodded.

“Rejoice, for your best friends and greatest rivals are alive and kicking still, much to your mental health’s detriment.” Spite joked.

“I've only been here for 50 years, it's not that bad.” Drago admitted. “I do have a human form and meet people, just thought I finally snapped from homesickness after the sky literally cracked open.”

“Fifty years huh? I've been here for five chilling in my farm village-”

“Hamlet.” I corrected.

“Whatever, and Momo here has been here a few months but already committed genocide and started and/or took over a kingdom.” 

“I haven't committed a genocide!” I snapped. “And I created a Kingdom, I haven't taken over anything.”

“Yet.” Drago stated. “Please take over the Re-Estize kingdom, the people really need peace from the corrupt nobles.”

“Dibs on looting their vaults.” Spite smirked.

“The fuck people!”

“I've wandered the known New World for a long time, that kingdom is plugged by corruption while the few good people are trying their best… and also their princess is a complete psychopath it's not even funny.” Drago said.

“How do you know these things!?” I asked.

“I'm considered a ‘Sword Saint', long lived and respected throughout the land.” Drago admitted, which I suppose is fair given how long he's been here.

“Not surprising you'd make your own lore upon arriving.” Spite huffed.

“Kinda had to, and fast cause at least three different Dragon Lords came to ‘visit me’ given I am a Dragon Lord myself.” Drago said, patting his chest to prove the World Item was still there.

“Cool, I don't care.” Spite said. “I'm more concerned why there's a crack in the sky and there appears to be random shit falling out of it.”

“Beats the fuck out of me, though I did hear an explosion before the sky cracked.” Drago admitted 

“What kind of explosion?” I asked.

“... The bad kind…” Drago said vaguely, but the… glazed over look made me concerned.

“W-well… it can't be that bad…” 

“Are we talking an A-10 Warthog having to use its missile bad or the ‘I accidentally hit the big red button’ bad?” Spite asked.

“... I slammed my fist into the bigger, redder button…” Drago said.

“Oh that’s… that’s bad…” I winced.

“Well what now?”

“We need to head back to the Tomb and start contacting people, get things sorted quick before this world turns into a war zone.” I stated quickly.

I sensed a sudden magical presence. I looked around only to see nothing… aside…

“Dibs!” Spite said, jumping up and grabbing a rather large and flashy multi-colored feather that seemed to be radiating both magic and small embers of sorts. “Cool feather.”

“... Appraise Greater Item…” I said carefully, casting the spell on that weird feather.

[“Error! Item can not be identified.”]

“Well… that's concerning.” I said. “Mama Esce-” I was cut off from seeing the Mana content of the feather…

…

If I… if I could throw up I could… “What… the fuck…”

“What? You feather-intollerant?” Spite asked.

“Use Mana Essence…” I somehow… genuinely threw up, even though I shouldn't have been able to. “You have that spell you druidic bitch…”

“Do I look like I use spells when I play this game? Er, back in Yggdrasil.” Spite huffed.

“So what’s the verdict?” Drago asked, patting my back as they looked at the vomit which… disturbingly constrained some black goo and… insects? Ugh… really don’t want to know where or how that even happened…

“Your entire class levels involve spell casting…” I coughed. “But… that feather… I… it forced me to look beyond my own sight… its mana content is of the observable… universe…”

“Huh…” Spite said, looking at it for a bit before adding it to the ones in his hair bands. “And now it’s a decoration.”

“You are not… using an item that powerful… for decoration!” Drago yelled.

“It's… Spite, sadly they tend to do things like this.” I coughed again.

“Are you gonna let them?”

“Gonna be tough to make him take things seriously unless it actually affects him.” I admitted.

“Right- Wait the hell is the The Knight from Hollow Knight?!” Drago said as the small fighter finally caught up with us.

“Hello there bean. What took ya?” Spite asked as they pat The Knight’s head.

“I fear that there are powers beyond this world, or even Yggdrasil at this point.” I admitted. “For the Knight here was created with a Relic that nobody knew about…”

“... I'm extra concerned here…”

The Knight looked at the new feather on Spite’s hair, swatting it a few times before jumping and… Did they bite it?!

“Bean no! You might get an upset stomach.” Spite said as they picked The Knight up.

“I mean… it's probably because it's different than the Void.” Drago admitted.

“It might be… a piece of Creation itself at this point.”

The Knights eyesockets then burst into flames, then fizzled out as now it looked like there were stars in them.

“Oh, pretty.” Spite smiled.

“Do we even question it at this point?” Drago asked me.

“No, no we will not.” I said, shaking off my nausea and trying to open up a Gate back to Nazarick. “We need to call the World Leaders… if there's Arch Angel Guardians, level 90+ enemies already spawning, we have a lot of problems…” 

“... Remind me again where they spawned in Yggdrasil?” Spite asked, still holding The Knight.

“Any ‘Consecrated Zone’, then there's the Holy and Divine areas, even the Temple of the Lost Gods had them.”

“That place still owes me drops! I grinded that place for it's lore and loot for three months straight!” Drago whined.

“Hmm…” Spite hummed as he looked up at the crack. “I’m gonna do something stupid.”

“Gotta be a bit more specific there Spite.” I managed to joke even as the entire world is going straight to hell.

Spite then looked to The Knight, who seemed to nod before their Wing ability activated and he flew them both up and into the crack!

“Well… Spite’s dead.” Drago deadpanned.

“I doubt it… So, what was with that weird Username thing you two did?” I asked.

“Oh Spite and I call one another varying degrees of degenerate usernames whenever we see each other. It’s become a thing we do when we aren’t fully sure the player we were looking at was us.” Drago said.

“Considering how many Shape shifters and Mimics there are… not surprising.” I admitted. “But let's get back…”

“Hey guys!” We both looked up, seeing Spite half hanging out the crack upside down. “You’ll never believe what’s over here!”

“Surprised you came back alive, but what did you find?” Drago inquired.

“Oh trust me, you’ll need to see it to believe it!” He called up. Er, down.

“Right…” I sighed. “Fly.” I said, starting to float up and fly off towards the crack.

I flew up into the sky, Drago close behind with the same spell lifting us to the Crack.

Spite went back inside as I flew up to it. I felt it first. It felt like… some kind of thick liquid. We flew into it and quickly emerged out the other end as I saw a sight all too familiar.

Before us built into a mountain was a large, ruined temple that was multi floored, but cracked and split down the middle, revealing many broken stained glass rooms and at the bottom floor was a stairway leading down.

The… Lost Gods Temple?

How… I looked around, seeing the sky and…

…

Is this… Yggdrasil?

“... How?” I asked. “No, no seriously, how!?”

“... I mean, we're already technically dealing with a Multiverse here… which is even bigger now…” Drago said carefully.

“Yeah but look at this bit.” Spite added, swiping a hand through the air. “Still no system pop ups. Also see that tree over there.”

“The one with the big hole in it?” Drago asked.

“I made that in game when I learned you can fuse tools together and added an ax function to my shovel, meaning this is both our Yggdrasil, but also some real life variation of it. The game world became a real place then we got fucking Isekaied out of it into the next universe over?!”

“... This… this doesn't make any sense!” I snapped, struggling to figure out how and why any of this is happening!

“Hey, it's the boss that still owes me that drop!” Drago said, rushing over to a statue of a weird shape shifting slime. “Gimme my Phoenix mount you non-binary whore!” He said angrily as the two clashed in battle.

“... How does a shapeshifting slime drop a phoenix mount?” Spite asked, scratching their head.

“Lore states, this slime is a Phoenix’s mate!” Drago answered, dodging a swing and slamming a Warhammer into them.

“So… like if Ditto fucked Ho-Oh?”

“I suppose so?” I questioned, as I am just… super confused right now.

If this really is our Yggdrasil… or some… real world variation of it, then does that mean…

Are there copies of the Tomb of Nazerik here or are they gone? If they are then… What does that imply…?

“I… I need to see something.” I said, opening up a Gate straight to where Nazarick used to be, as I… I have ingrained the coordinates to memory at this point.

I walked out, the great swamps meeting my eyes. I’d cry if I was physically able, but the shock came first. The Tomb was gone. Just some imprints in the ground where it used to stand, proof it used to be here, but not a single stone or piece of the tomb itself remained. I did, oddly, see a small chest sitting right where the entrance would have been.

I walked up to it, surprised to see… ‘For Momonga’ engraved into the lid.

“Hmm?” I hummed, walking over carefully to the chest. “Detect Traps.” I said, waving a hand over it to see if it was trapped or secretly a mimic.

Nothing. Good. I touched the chest, then backed up, surprise filling me as I saw a sight I haven’t seen in so long. A system pop up. It displayed my avatar, my username already filled in and a keyboard display as well.

… My log in password. It must be some kind of insurance that the one it’s meant for opens it…

I sighed as I immediately put my log in password. “Haven’t had to do this in a long time…” I thought, feeling like dust was coming off the old muscle memory… except I don’t have muscles.

Once it was entered the screen flashed green before I heard a small click from the chest as the menu display vanished.

I opened the chest, seeing two things. Firstly was a thin slip of paper with some kind of marking on it, a circle with various lines forming a rather multi-pointed angular star of sorts, and the other was instructions.

Place on the wrist of the non-dominant arm. Face the image down to skin or similar. Press down. Let install.

Let install?

I frowned, not entirely liking this as I tried to use Greater Appraise Item on this weird thing.

[Error! Unable to Appraise!]

Shit… well… no rest for the wicked I guess, as I put it on my left arm since that was my non-dominant hand.

I placed it on my wrist, where the radius and ulna bones meet the collection of smaller bones that lead to fingers. To my surprise the paper seemed to absorb into my bones where the image itself seemed to somehow imprint itself onto my bones, appearing as a perfect mark on them.

I then backed up as I saw something appear in my vision. Wha-

[Assistant V883424533.5433223KL343 Installing…

Registering…

Welcome User Momonga!]

My vision became filled with a familiar sight. It was… like the HUD from the game!

HOLY SHIT!!!

“... Like wearing an old favorite jacket…” I muttered, wishing I could smile here at having this… Assistant here gave me my HUD back.

What is this thing anyway? It gives me back my HUD, but somethings are different… Hmm… I moved a hand, surprised to see the Options Menu pop up. Hmm, no Log out or any of those settings. I can view my inventory, my stats- wait, this isn’t right… the stats menu here is different… Physical Stats and Combat stats? Skill Points? Abilities. The EXP bar, it’s requesting over 500,000 EXP to obtain a new Skill Point. Does this Assistant thing not use normal levels?

“Hmm, did my Levels affect this system in anyway?” I mentally questioned, delving a bit deeper into this before I saw a Pop Up again about… a lot of skills and… Titles?

[Titles: Titles are bonus effects that when bestowed onto a person allow extra effects or abilities on the person and their surroundings.

Titles come in two variations. Standard and Dark. Abilities follow a similar rank. Standard Skill can be obtained through the skill trees and standard Titles can only be obtained by meeting certain prerequisites or requirements.

Dark Skills and Titles can only be obtained through pure actions.

Current Titles:

• Guild Master: You are the master and leader of the Guild Ainz Ooal Gown. This title recognizes you as such and will allow you to observe all active guild members and employees.
• Warlock Supreme!: Your Mana and magic capabilities have surpassed many of your race, earning you superior magic capabilities and magic capacities! All spells cost 75% less mana to cast and Mana regenerates over 60% faster!
• Supreme One: You are recognized as a God amongst your followers despite not achieving true divinity, and as such are a Supreme One in the eyes of those who do not know better. 
• Strongest Magic Caster: You achieved much in Yggdrasil, including the knowledge of all spells the land had to offer, that you discovered. This title recognizes you as the Strongest Magic Caster… In Yggdrasil. When in Yggdrasil, your MP will not deplete below fifty percent and spells do not consume mana to cast. Outside Yggdrasil, MP costs are reduced by half and MP regenerates by 40%
• Dark Hero: Your acts as Momon have earned you a hero title despite your primary persona’s actions. While dressed as Momon, you are more easily able to talk with untrusting people, who would otherwise distrust you on site for your actions.
• Sorcerer King: You have named yourself a Sorcerer King. All magic in lands you claim in the name of your kingdom is 50% more potent, residents are also able to cast magic with a 20% boost to their Mana and the spells for them cost 20% less mana. Furthermore, Mana skills and talents increase 50% faster when studied and operated within your kingdom’s borders. Mages also will instinctively recognize your prowess, even of enemy nations and show you respect for it.
• Heir to Darkness: You could be a King of Darkness, but Darkness does not fully believe you worthy of the crown. Besides, they have their eyes on another with a kinder heart. Your Heir to Darkness title does allow you however to traverse Darkness riddled lands free from attack of the natural Flora and Fauna of the environment. You will also be able to make use of Dark Magic free of physical consequences to one's self.
• True Overlord: Through Respect or Fear, you have complete reign over beings as strong if not stronger than you. You have an easier time talking and convincing beings equal to or stronger than you depending on the topic.
• Eclipsed Death: Through the Eclipse Class, and your actions of giving True Death to the Undead, you are now capable of using Death spells on things with Minor Death Immunity as if they didn’t have it, Average Death Immunity is a 50/50 chance, and Greater Death Immunity and Undeath will take greater Damage from your Death Spells.]

“... What the hell?” I asked in absolute confusion and awe. “These…  These Titles are nuts!”

These are very useful. Yggdrasil had nothing like this. These are… very useful. This Assistant thing might be more useful than I was expecting… still, the fact this was left here for me… does that mean Spite and Drago have ones waiting for them somewhere… no, not just somewhere… likely where they were when the game servers were meant to shut down…

“Hmm, if Titles are this good, then what about the Skill Tree?” I questioned, deciding to open up the Skill Tree next and… oh… oh no that’s huge! “How the hell is the Skill Tree this vast! Even my Eclipse skills doesn’t even make a dent in the Death Tree!”

Whatever this thing is, I need to see if Spite and Drago have them too! I need to grab those two now!

I opened another Gate quickly and went straight back to the Lost Gods Temple to see how they were doing and to get them this awesome piece of gear.

“WOO! I got my mount! Suck it bitches!” I immediately heard and saw Drago cheer as he was riding around on a Phoenix made of flames I've… never seen before. It wasn't rainbow or anything like that but… this blue etheric light, Stars billowing from the flames and what I think we're galaxies on its wings.

“I've never seen a Phoenix like that…” I said carefully.

“Looks like someone had fun designing that thing.” Spite hummed.

“Yeah.” I hummed, deciding to Appraise the thing.

[Boss Phoenix: This Phoenix came from a Boss Drop, and while it may look like a God Phoenix, it’s strength is only that of a Planet Phoenix at best]

I blinked. “There’s… different kinds of Phoenix’s?”

“Fuck if I know. Bestiary stuff wasn’t my thing. So, sup with you? You ran out that Gate like a bat out of hell?”

“Because I’ve gained something incredible.” I answered, brining up my left arm. “It’s called an Assistant, and it’s honestly just mind blowing.”

“... A tattoo for your bones?”

“It’s difficult to explain, we need to find you and Drago these pieces of gear, just need to remember where the original spot Gaea’s Cradle was…”

“Oh, it was in the Oasis Mountains.” Spite said. “Initially I picked that spot because it was near a water source and the mountain was a long dormant volcano that hadn’t seen activity in any of the game’s lore, but volcanic soil is rich in nutrients so given how detailed the devs were I figured that might play a hand in my farming. Little did I know I struck virtual gold… How about you Drago? Where were you when the servers shut down?”

“Murdering the Celestial Lord of the Sixth Heaven.” Drago said, which made my jaw drop.

“But that’s a World Enemy! How did you even manage to beat it?” I asked incredulously.

“I had to beat the Eight Dragons just to get my Dragonlord Heart and the True Dragonoid Lord Class, World Enemies aren’t that bad… I mean, Touch Me could beat them.”

“You had no life before did you?” Spite asked.

“Oh and you did mister ten thousand in game hours!” Drago shot back.

WHAT?! Ten thousand hours! Not even the guild members combined had that many hours logged into the game! 

“What the hell did you do to have all that time and not need to work your ass off!?” I asked, genuinely worried here.

Spite looked away. “I’d rather not talk about it…”

I paused. I still know next to nothing about his life outside the game, at least back before when this was just a game.

“... Ya know… I never actually asked you about your personal life.”

“You never did ask, and I don’t care to tell.”

“I suppose that’s fair.” I sighed. “You don’t need to tell right now.”

“Well we don’t know what you did before. Or Drago for that matter.”

“True, though you probably shared your personal lives with your guild right?” Drago admitted.

“We… did in some cases…” I said carefully.

“Does it really matter anymore?” Spite asked.

“I… suppose not entirely.” I admitted carefully.

Drago looked between us, rubbing the back of their neck awkwardly.

I sighed. “Well, we need to find the chests that held the Assistant in them for you two.”

“I know where to look. You two can go find wherever Drago was.” Spite said, already walking off towards the Oasis Mountains.

“... What happened?” I asked Drago carefully.

“It’s better if Spite tells you.” Drago sighed. “But come on,” He said, pulling out one of the Master Armaments, the Space Divider, a double bladed War Ax that looked like pieces of Outer Space itself went into crafting the blades as he swung down and created a Gate like effect. “I know where I beat the bitch… let’s hope the bastard didn’t respawn…”

I nodded, letting Drago lead me the way.

I know I knew a fair amount of my guild mates IRL lives. But I never really knew finer details… was one of my biggest regrets…

“... What did you do, back before?” I asked.

“I brought it up before, I was a Manager for Cross Corp, it gave decent pay, reasonable hours in as many air quotes as possible even for management…” Drago sighed, looking down at his hands. “... You think Japan is bad… Even if the air is toxic, the place is a mess and walking over the corpses of abandoned orphans…” Drago trailed off, his breath getting shaky as he started to shake. “... The screams…”

I looked down as we walked. “I was a salary man… one of many in a no name middle man company that mostly just handled other larger companies various shipping invoices, advertisements and supply chains. Even if the AI’s ran all the special data, bank accounts and such for them, they had humans there just to run the numbers they said ‘were too unimportant’ to run, since none of the companies trusted humans with the banking information.” I sighed. “My work days were long, usually ten to twelve house, travel time not included, but I at least had a decent apartment. Rent was manageable… and sometimes when it was… needed… well, looting bodies in games and real life… is necessary to progress.”

Drago took a shaky breath and nodded. “I… I understand… our world was fucked no matter how you looked at it…”

“... Wonder how Spite was… to have that many hours… there’s no way he could have been unemployed… and the social safety nets in the US went to hell well before the rest of the world.” I muttered.

“You’d… rather not know.” Drago admitted sadly. “I still… really don’t want to talk about my places issues…”

“... If we find more of these cracks… and they lead to other worlds… What should we do if we find… home?” I asked, and Drago stopped walking.

“You will be able to see the amount of dead bodies I make from space.” Drago answered, how immediate he said those words and his tone… it honestly made me flinch.

“That was… rather fast. Can’t say I don’t understand… still, the wealthy who caused this… not even all of them could make a mountain that high… Maybe a decent hill?”

Drago laughed… he laughed, a strange laugh that made my bones genuinely feel cold. “There are worse than a bunch of rich assfucks out there Momonga…”

“Forgive my ignorance… I’m not sure what you mean? News from outside Japan was… sketchy, at best.”

“Canada is…” Drago sighed. “There are safe places but… most of Canada’s forests are literally a War torn hellscape… where I live, the battles stopped and it’s been ‘calm’ for the most part but… The Screams…”

“How are there still ‘screams’ if it’s peaceful?” I inquired worriedly, not entirely liking the sound of that Yokai esc bullshit.

“It’s… a thing from my Town, back when my grandparents were alive, there was a battle, something much worse than everything else. And ever since that fateful battle, forty years ago, The Screams appear, the sounds of each of the soldiers and guns for hire screaming as they died from their violence, the area having long since regrown as Nature doesn’t care but… every once in a while… The Screams come back, mixed with the sounds of hunter animals, as if they are claiming the spirits in some eternal hunt for their violent souls…” Drago explained. “It’s… it’s why I hate PVP… even if I can fight I… taking another players ‘life’ just… makes me think I’m adding to The Screams… it’s why I’m a Lore Hunter, why I always fight Mobs and NPC enemies…”

“Hmm… I don’t know about Ghosts and all that, at least back on earth… but here, and in the other world… I suppose in the end everything can and will be possible for us.” I hummed as we continued our walk.

“Yeah…” The dragonoid sighed. “Just… have to hope for the best.”

—

“Told you it was cool.” I said, wishing I could smile as Drago was having a full on geek out over what his Assistant can do.

“This is so sick!” Drago said in pure excitement. “Made by Freak Inc, your one stop shop for anything and everything you need? Huh, that’s interesting… hmm, Skill Tree made by Grandmaster Lord…  huh, one guy created this? The hell!?” The lore nerd questioned.

“Well, I doubt they’re just ‘some guy’. Given what these things can do and such, I suspect there is something or someone stronger than any of us that’s responsible. Whether this is the same force behind sending us from Yggdrasil to the other world or what, I’m not sure.”

“Neither do I, but good lord is the Skill Tree just full of stuff like holy crap.”

“Yes I know… Do you think Spite already found his?”

“Hopefully, hmm, there is a Call function to this but I doubt we can use it right now without knowing people’s numbers?” Drago suggested.

“Phone numbers, somehow I feel both old and nostalgic about that.” I chuckled. “Still, it’s clear someone must have left this for all the Yggdrasil players to find, at least the ones who were online when the servers were supposed to shut down… they even knew our log in info… Who or whatever is behind this must have been watching us at some point… and that is concerning…”

“I mean, the best I can think is it might involve the Lost God Temple?” Drago admitted. “I mean, it does have the Gods from Yggdrasil but all the other Gods, especially the statue boss I fought… none of them seemed like something the devs would toss in, even if we only knew a third of the game…”

“Maybe, but that dungeon was never mentioned in any kind of patch notes or updates… aside one… Back when the game updated for the first time… it said that they added the Special Event Key to reach the Final Boss of that dungeon…”

“Did they ever mention how to get that Key? Cause it better not have been a ‘one time thing’ cause if I’m missing lore that’s a big problem.” Drago huffed.

“Just that it was random chance to be found while exploring the dungeon.” I said as Drago and I shared a look.

… SPITE!!!

“That luck based prick! I knew he had that key!” Drago groaned, but then he looked down sadly as if he said something bad.

“He’s the only one in all of Yggdrasil who could! And knowing him he probably just used it as a decoration piece!” I shouted, feeling good that my emotions went unsuppressed.

“I mean… fair.” Drago admitted. “So let’s go find Spite and hope he didn’t accidentally trip over some other brand new dogshit that will flip this world on its head.”

Thankfully I remember where the Oasis Mountains is and made a Gate for Drago and I to reach it.

Here I found Spite, the chest open and that Assistant already on his wrist as he and The Knight were skipping stones along the nearby river.

“Hey Spite.” I said with a wave. “How are you doing?”

“Skipping stones and seeing the world through a HUD display… again.” He replied.

“Don’t sound too enthused by that.” I said. “Something wrong?”

“I’ve been seeing things through a HUD covered display for twenty years… Guess the appeal is… it leaves a bad taste in my mouth.”

“Twenty years? I mean, there are other games sure but…” I trailed off, not sure what to truly say here as I didn’t want to force the issue if possible.

Spite skipped a few more rocks, Knight skipping one and knocking down a tree when it impacted it.

“... I used to be a quadriplegic.” He said. “Since I was seven.”

“What? How? Why?” I asked in shock and horror.

“My parents worked with one of the Dive helmet companies, mainly they worked on the chips that translated the body's signals into in-game movements and the in-game sensations into signals the brain understood. We were rich, and well… people hated us for it… that’s how it happened. Just playing with a soccer ball in my yard when a guy, this delivery driver who was overworked, underpaid and hated that these nice houses belonged to people the companies actually valued… All I remember is the roar of a car, then I was suddenly in the living room surrounded by glass and paramedics.”

“... What the actual fuck…” I muttered.

“Was a complete internal decapitation, but the glass and some other fibers that got in there damaged the nerves, so I was alive, but unable to move. My parents got me a personal nurse and every Dive game that came out because they knew it was the only way I’d ever be able to move. So, from that day on, my vision became filtered through a HUD display. If not from in game stats it was from my medical equipment or whatever else they thought would be necessary for me. You’d be amazed how hard it actually is to cheat in a fully virtual, digital school.” Spite said, managing a small chuckle. “Mainly I just hated how at the end of it all, they all got to Log Out… but all I ever logged out to was a virtual recreation of my room and house… My parents meant well, but it’s not really living either way, especially with my body hooked up to life support while my mind wanders virtual space.”

I looked to Drago. “And… you knew this whole time?”

“... I was their first friend, most of the time I was always shocked he was online damn near twenty four seven, sending me pics of his newest achievements of loot brag posts.” Drago sighed.

I had heard that the Dive Tech let some people live completely virtually… but I never knew anyone personally aside a few that became big name 24/7 streamers and gameplay commenters. To think this whole time Spite was one and…

“Is that why you did farming? Rather than all the combat and magic this world had to offer?” I asked.

“Yeah… I played lots of games that were combat focused and honestly, the simple farming based ones were always more enjoyable… it felt more like living to me.”

“I… I understand… and I'm sorry.”

“I take it waking up here in a working body felt good then?” Drago asked.

“Heh… There are no words for how I felt… I thought at first I either snapped and couldn't tell virtual from what the real world actually felt like… but once I learned it was true and real… I worked until I passed out every day for a solid month… To feel genuinely tired, sore and even hunger and thirst… I’d forgotten what that all really felt like. It’s why in the end we just made the barrier around the farm rather than explore. I wasn't sure what was out there, and part of me didn’t really care either.”

“I understand…” I nodded.

“It's hard to want to explore when you’ve been isolated for so long…” Drago admitted. “Sorry for… bringing this up, Spite.”

“Heh, it’s alright. Honestly, at least this thing lets me tune down the transparency. Still, kind of creepy that this box was just here waiting for us.” Spite said as he watched Knight skip another stone, only this one got impaled into a tree rather than knocking it over.

“Yeah… It's very weird.” I admitted carefully.

“Think it's some care package due to the universal boundaries breaking?” Drago suggested. “These things were made by a company I've never heard of so… maybe?”

“Yeah… who the fuck names a company Freak Inc.?” Spite asked.

“If we didn't know better, a weird degenerate?” I suggested.

“Heh, well that is an option. So, what now?”

“Well, I need to head back and start a world leader summit to explain things to everyone.” I said. “I am the ruler of a Kingdom after all, and I need to get this shit worked on before it causes mass hysteria and the world collapses.”

“Alright, do you want me to show Drago here around your guild then?” Spite asked.

“Go ahead, I'll tell the others Drago’s allowed…” I sighed. “This is one headache after another…”

—

With Drago around now he’s happy to have a proper tour of the Tomb of Nazarick, and for now I’ll keep the fact that the crack in the sky leads to Yggdrasil to myself and the others. I doubt the royals and such of this world would react well to the place the foundation of most of their magic and such came from is literally visible from the ground through some giant hole in space.

It was bad enough I’ve had to deal with most of this, but shortly after finding Spite and Drago all this nonsense starts up… it almost feels staged but, somehow I doubt that.

My main worries at the moment are that feather that fell from the crack… enough mana to fuel the whole of creation… and Spite in typical fashion is just using it as a decoration for his hair, and I’ll look into how Knight might have changed after taking a bite out of it… the look of stars in their eyes has not changed since then.

Either way, I’m at least glad these Assistants were left for us. It seems they’ll be of great aid to us, but much of what they can do is still a mystery… Between all this and being able to feel real emotions again I suppose at least I can take solace that there’s some good amongst all this chaos-

[Notice! You have received the System Title: Karma Guide!]

Huh?

“Can I have one thing make sense today?” I mentally grumbled as I looked into what that Title did. “Though System Title… like Admin privileges or something?”

[“Not entirely, but something similar gifted me to you.”] I blinked at the pop up message that appeared. It replied to my inner thoughts?! [“Yes I did, does that freak you out?”]

“Just a bit, yes!” I said quickly and in a mild panic. “Wh-what are you? How are you talking to me? What's going on?”

[“As the notification said, I am a System Title. A special variation of Titles that have somewhat of a mind of our own to handle more… complex tasks for whoever we’re bestowed upon. I am Karma Guide, and the God of Forgiveness has bestowed me onto you.”]

“Oh, that canine looking person from the Lost God Temple?”

[“Yes. Their work as the God of Forgiveness has them often looking for the good in the worlds to help people find redemption and forgiveness, both from others and for themselves. While technically I was partly created by the God of Karma, but I fall under the God of Forgiveness's jurisdiction. The God of Forgiveness sees and knows your wish to aid your servants in accepting you and the other Players as equals, and given the state of both your world and other situations, I will assist in this goal.”]

“Well… I suppose that’s good… but there’s no strings attached to this right?” I mentally asked, very careful because I’ve gotten too used to people having ulterior motives.

[“None whatsoever. Just be glad I’m not Estate. That title is a sassy sarcastic asshole.”] The title replied.

“I… suppose that’s good.” I admitted, though I’m still not a hundred percent sure about there not being any strings attached. “So… how are we going to start fixing some of this nonsense?”

[“Checking personal and relationship Karma Levels… Check Complete. Wow you have been a very bad man. -500. Yikes.”]

“I mean, technically it’s more of a flavor thing, as it’s not literally Karma the uh… scales I guess? Besides, the flavor is the reason why I gained the Overlord and Eclipse super classes.” I explained, as I needed that ‘evil’ number to get these two maxed out Racial and Class levels.

[“And now it’s come to bite you in the boney butt. Having such a high negative karma value will affect not just you but also your allies. To start to correct this we’ll need to work on them first as most of them also have Karma Values in the negatives.”]

“Most of them are demons or ‘evil’ races…”

[“Not every demon is evil by nature. Even those that are can and have in many cases chosen to do better. Good and Evil are both choices, most of the time. Having them do good will not harm them, in fact it will help them understand more about themselves they likely never knew prior to starting on being good.”]

“Then clearly you don’t know much about the world…” I thought bitterly.

[“Maybe not, but I know enough to know you want to do good. Hence why I’m here to help. Now, in order to correct yours and your servant’s Karma Levels into a more… positive area, there are several things you can do.”]

“And what kind of things?”

[“Charity, for starters.”]

Charity? That can come in a lot of forms… The best way I can see would be… Food for starters…

“Well, I was going to be getting E-Rantel as my more ‘Public Capital’... I can start there.” I thought carefully, as I technically ‘won’ that due to the Katze Plains… incident… “Gazeff… why didn’t you just accept my offer…”

I rubbed my eye sockets, remembering that whole mess… It’s been a while but the people there are still struggling… much was destroyed after all…

Perhaps some good charity work is in fact needed… if not for me, for them.

“Alright… time to actually be a King.” I thought, as I did get Re-Estize and it is under my rule so… might as well start setting up at least some basic infrastructure that I had in mind. “Though I really wish I could read this world's language…” I thought bitterly, knowing the only ‘translation lens’ was given to Sebas for his undercover work as I started to head off to my office to start getting things sorted. “Gotta make some mindless undead for Farm Work, more Death Knights for Guards, NightMares to cart things between kingdoms for trade… ugh! So many things to think about!”

… Wait a minute… I might not have to plan all that out myself… I do have a friend who’s the best farmer in Yggdrasil…

If Spite can head the farming efforts, that means I can focus more on the infrastructure and repairs.

“Right, time to talk to Spite about this, and then get Demiurge, Albedo and Pandora’s Actor to start brainstorming things… hopefully in a good direction.”

I returned to the Tomb where I saw Spite standing next to Drago, who was clinging to a doorway that led into one of the empty rooms.

“Hey.” Spite greeted as I looked at the odd sight.

“Um… what’s happening here?” I said carefully.

“Drago is being a simp.” Spite said.

“I want that membership damn it!” The dragon wined.

“... That’s not what being a Simp is and… here.” I tossed him another crafted Ring of Ainz Ooal Gown to Drago who caught it. “Welcome to the guild.”

Drago grabbed the ring. “Really? I don’t need to beat the whole Tomb?”

“You and me both know you could have beaten the Tomb rather handily if you bothered to use your skills and World Items properly.” I answered, cause even if he lost to Touch Me, he still faired a lot better than most in the guild that fought him, even I couldn’t have lasted that long and I’m one of the better PVPers in the guild.

“L-listen, it’s… uh… complicated…” He said vaguely.

“Just remember that the Loli and the Succubus are currently indisposed due to trying to molest Momo.” Spite said.

Drago looked at me with pure shock and concern.

“So uh… Shalltear has Peroronchino’s fetishes,” I started.

“Why the fuck am I not surprised…” Drago groaned.

“And Albedo… I uh… I did a dumb dorky thing thinking it wouldn’t hurt because the servers were shutting down…” I managed nervously.

“... Weeb.” Drago said.

“I called him a simp and a perv since that’s basically his best friend’s daughter.” Spite added.

“Cradle snatcher!”

“First of all! This was supposed to be something dumb that wouldn’t matter with the game shutting down!” I countered. “Two, it’s not ‘Cradle Snatcher’ when she’s a legal adult, and also might be a succubus."

“Not chronologically.” Spite said. “Physically, sure, that’s a pass but she’s like what? Chronologically ten? Seven?”

“Yeah with that context it’s even worse…” Drago winced.

“And I’m not having this conversation based on semantics just to fuck with me.” I stated.

“Wanna be treated with equality, then equal shit talks.” Spite smirked. “But that aside, were you looking for us?”

“You, specifically.” I huffed. “I’ve obtained some sort of Title from the Assistant.”

“What? How? Also title?”

“Did you even bother looking into what the Assistant can also do?”

“Nope, cause fuck you.” Spite stated with a shrug.

“Charming.” I huffed. “But firstly, Titles are special as they give you bonus’s to abilities, stats, even giving other people bonuses depending on certain criteria, and currently I’ve been given a System Title, from the God of Karma and God of Forgiveness, two of which are from the Lost God Temple.”

“Oh fuck they’re real? Does that mean this one thing works?” Spite hummed as he pulled out… It looked like a plate that also was held up by a statue of the God of Forgiveness. He placed it to the floor then got to his knees and… is he… praying?

Suddenly the plate glowed bright before now there was an… Orange Pop Up ice pop on it?

“It works!” Spite cheered as he took the ice cream.

… WHAT?!

“I’m gonna need you to cease your wizardry here, my guy.” Drago said nervously.

“The fuck?”

“Try it.” He said, getting up.

Drago looked down at the plate thing before shrugging, giving a prayer as well and in a similar flash, there was a bag of doritos. “Aw sick! I haven’t had these in forever!” He cheered, opening up the back and immediately devouring it like those memes of people at two am with bags of shredded cheese. “Uh… hmm…” Drago said slowly. “Hey… uh, Spite, try that ice pop, I need to… have a second opinion on the thing.”

“Way ahead of you.” He said, already eating it. “Ah… tastes like my childhood… but oddly better than I remember?” He hummed.

“Yeah, it’s uh… really strange how good this is.” Drago admitted carefully.

“God do I wish I could eat…” I grumbled, as I’m still stuck as a Skeleton without tastebuds or just… a fucking body.

“Why not see if this thing can do it for ya? The God of Forgiveness is also written as being the God of the Culinary.” Spite offered.

Hmm… Not even back on earth did I pray for anything… but the proof has been shown before me twice now so I best see if this works.

Food an undead can eat. That would be the works of the divines.

“Well… I guess it couldn’t hurt…” I said, trying to pray for something simple, like a simple onigiri.

One an Undead Skeleton like myself can eat and taste…

To my surprise the plate did glow, and there was a single onigiri on it. The rice was, surprisingly, not white but a deep purple.

Huh…

I picked it up. It smells fine…

I bit into it…

“I did not know a skeleton could cry.” Spite said. “That would actually make an awesome album cover.”

This taste… I can taste it! And it’s like something I’ve only tasted in my wildest dreams!

“I… I can taste!” I said. “It… it didn’t just fall out of me… I can eat again!” I cheered.

“Yeah nothing fell passed your teeth… How does that work?” Spite asked.

Hmm… Appraise… 

[Onigiri for Monsters!

Rank: SSS+

Class: Divine

This brand of Onigiri is made entirely of ingredients edible for monsters and beings composed mostly or entirely of magic.]

“That is… very interesting.” I said. “This was made for monsters, creatures of magic…”

“Well you are an undead skeleton so, I guess that means you.” Spite hummed.

“For some reason I’m remembering this really old game from like over a century ago back home… I can’t remember everything though…” Drago hummed. “Something about a mountain and… snails?”

“What kind of game?” I asked.

“Can’t remember… It has been fifty years since I’ve been on the internet. “Think it was an RPG though…”

“Well, either way.” I said, finishing up the Onigiri as I was just… so happy to eat this. “I am super happy about all of this.”

“So what is that thing?” Drago asked.

“It’s called the Gods Offering to Mortals. You know how normally people leave offerings of booze and food and such to gods? Well, for the God of Forgiveness, they instead offer food through this item to people. Back in Yggdrasil it only ever gave random in-game food items a few times per day, but this world and all this seems that it’s also gotten an upgrade.” Spite explained. “It was actually not too uncommon back in that dungeon, but not a lot of players took them cause, well, not many used the food system.”

“I’m pretty sure World Searcher was the only guild that bothered to look into things at this point…” I sighed, remembering the second strongest guild there was and they tended to actively look for things.

“They tried to recruit me a few times… I just kept telling them to eat shit.” 

“They tried to recruit me as well for my love of Lore, but I was mildly dead set on joining Ainz Ooal Gown because the times I was recruited, there was some jackass from the guild that completely ruined it because I’m a Heteromorph and tried to gank me mid recruitment.” Drago admitted.

“People really didn’t like monster races and I don’t know why…” I sighed.

“I know, like come on, you get to play as a bunch of cool races, but Jane Headband and John Fighter are the things that people gravitate towards.”

“Nah it’s just an excuse to be racist.” Spite said with a shrug. “Heteromorph races aren’t human or human like, so they can discriminate since typically in media they’re portrayed as villains. Just lets them hate and feel justified with it.”

“Still stupid.”

“Then why’d you pick an elf?” Drago asked.

“Simple. It’s easy to blend in, and also typically Elves are racist to other human and humanoid races so I just shit talked them harder than they did to me. Seriously, the best most of them could make for Elves was Long Ears and Knife ear and always with the ears… I just called them every slur in the book.” Spite chuckled.

“Casual racism versus competitive racism.” Drago chuckled.

“The battle of who knows more slurs and who can create more slurs off the top of their heads.” Spite nodded.

“Always comes to slurs with you…” I sighed.

“As an American there is a dark heritage of the use and creation of slurs. One I embrace shamelessly.”

“Clearly.” I shook my head. “But here’s a thing that I actually need your help with now that we’re back on track, and that is for you to help the Kingdom start farming, as I have some plans for the new ‘Public Capital’ of the Sorcerer Kingdom.”

“Huh, yeah I guess you would need excess food stocks after that battle you mentioned. I have some stock rooms with excess stuff, but you’d need a crop that can grow fast and feed many.”

“E-Rantel probably already has plenty of Farms and the like, but it’s also a fortress city so it has a lot of other things going for it.” I hummed. “But labor won’t be an issue, enough controllable undead can easily tend to the farms to keep it self-sustaining.”

“You dumb ass.” Spite said. “And how will that hurt the economy?”

Huh?

“... Who cares? As long as the populace is fed and not worrying about the possibility of not getting their next meal, then who gives a shit about the Economy?”

“The surviving nobility for one, as well as international relations. At the end of the day it’s clear in this world money still controls much, not as badly as back home but enough that if one land was to let their economy tank by say, firing all the farmers in exchange for free undead labor, then neighboring lands will see either a means to take advantage of either the people of the unstable economics.”

“I legit forget you were born rich sometimes…” Drago said.

“Point is, undead labor as a means to farm is smart on paper but it means you have hundreds of farmers without work who have known nothing but farming their whole lives, potentially generations. They won’t be happy about it even if you compensate them.”

Hmm… He does have a point. I haven’t even considered the economics of all this… Ironic given what I used to do for work, then again I never actually crunched the financial numbers…

“While you have a good point on all of that… I suppose my main focus right now is the foundation of the Kingdom, less monetary and more focusing on how to make the people I’m now ruling over lives better, having Undead help the Farmers, Death Knights as Guards and the like.”

“So you’re more of a ‘I want to focus inward’ first before dealing with all the political and economic stuff right?” Drago asked.

“Exactly, plus I still have Albedo, Demiurge and Pandora’s Actor to especially help with that because they are all smarter than me… even though they jump to conclusions that appear from the ether.” I managed carefully.

“Hmm… In that case, if you want my help I’d like permission to use a large lot of the flattest land you have in the territory.” Spite said.

“Easy, there is a lot of space we have, ever since Re-Estize ceded control over E-Rantel to me, it came with all the land this border dispute gave me.” I answered, handing them a map that showed all the land I now owned.

Spite looked it over. “This one should do.” He said, showing me the land on the map. Hm? The land is flat yes but it’s also rocky as hell…

“A rather rocky area for a ‘flat’ area.” I admitted.

“Trust me, I know what I’m doing.” Spite smirked.

To be continued...

Chapter Text

It’s been two weeks since the cracks in the sky appeared and I found both Spite and Drago again. With all that panic that happened restoring order took longer than I liked, but thankfully the people were pleased that I was managing to keep it constrained. Well, mainly I was keeping high level summons there to ensure nothing too powerful seeped through from Yggdrasil.

Demiurge and others wanted me to immediately begin a conquest of our former home but that’s shelved for now. The workload here comes first.

Speaking of workload, despite both being max level floor bosses, Albedo and Shalltear both seem to find cooking and cleaning work to be… taxing. I’m just glad to have some peace again.

Drago has made himself a room in the Tomb of Nazurak, and in terms of duties he’s helping keep things from Yggdrasil from getting through the cracks…

Speaking off, there are more than expected. All across the lands, both in the sky and on land, and some reports of them in the seas as well. Meaning there are so many… the one to Yggdrasil seems the largest so far but until I see the others for myself I can’t determine anything. So far nothing seems to be emerging from the other cracks, at least not yet…

“Even with Pandora’s Actor acting like Momon the people are still anxious about the future…” I sighed, scratching my head as I focused on the papers in front of me, which I did learn that the Assistant helped auto translate things.

[“Your negative Karma does not help in that regard.”] The Karma Guide title popped up.

And then this thing… popping up when I have the potential to lower my karma but it’s been rather… inopportune timings each time…

“My karma doesn’t mean shit, it’s just cosmetic, and the people are more scared of what might come out of the crack’s given reports from traveling merchants needing bigger escorts.” I mentally countered, as one thing that helped us gain money was me giving Death Knight’s for a fee to travelers.

[“Karma is more than cosmetic, it’s a mentality and how the Afterlife weighs ones soul.”]

“The number you originally said was just cosmetic from a video game! I’m currently trying my best to run this kingdom properly but all I get is crap from you.” I mentally snapped, so much pressure from everything going on, even with the help, is getting really annoying and being told that extra crap isn’t helping.

[“You really don’t know then, do you? I suppose I can tell you a little secret about your Yggdrasil then, if you really want to know why your Karma matters so much.”]

“Then please tell me, cause besides it being a pre-req for certain spells, classes, and even boosting the power of spells, what the fuck does it do since you know so much?”

[“To be blunt, Yggdrasil, is a real place. A test and a playground made for the fun of a select few higher beings… The reason you and others saw it as a video game is because that’s what they wanted you to see it as… The world beyond the crack is your Yggdrasil, from launch to shutdown, the ‘developers’ wanted to see which of the humans of your world could go further than others, and they did this with the Karma System in game. A record of how far you’d be willing to go, in either direction, and if you were willing to stay with all of it after enough time passed.”]

That… That would explain why Yggdrasil is on the other side of that crack but…

“Then that doesn’t explain why I’m not cartoonishly evil.” I brought up.

[“Weren’t you? Back in Yggdrasil, did you not laugh and revel at the armies that flooded your tomb, only to meet a terrible fate time and time again?”]

“I’m a fucking Roleplayer! My build is genuinely dogshit compared to actual dedicated battle mages! It’s a Roleplay build that I stumbled into both the Overlord and Eclipse classes…”

[“Roleplay often lets people express parts of themselves otherwise repressed… and you, Momonga, expressed a grand capacity for cruelty and violence. Your Negative Karma reflects the depths of that capacity. You can be a good person, but in Yggdrasil, you embarrassed cruelty… and it reflected onto you when they ended the game, and gave out the ‘reward’ for those who were there when it all came to an end.”]

“Or, and hear me out, it wasn’t meant to be taken seriously and in good fun in a game world, not a Turing test to see who’s like Touch Me, a Super Sentai and Kamen Rider fanatic, or complete and total psychopaths.” I tried arguing with the Title, trying to wrap my head around this and it feels more like it’s insulting me and my friends.

[“The beings who set it all up normally are supposed to create realities, but they can oftentimes be lazy and figured they’d let the mortals of pre-existing realities build up on some basics.”]

So I got screwed all because some super god beings were lazy!?

“I went to Yggdrasil escape the lazy powerful fuckers! You’re telling me I just waltzed right into even more people that cared even less!?!” I mentally shouted, slamming my fist into my desk angrily.

[“... Yeah pretty much.”]

I was… genuinely livid here. I went to escape my shitty life, with forty friends that I miss everyday, just to be told I mystically screwed up because people in charge couldn’t be fucking asked!? “... No, if you want true depravity, look at your creators.”

[“Hey! I wasn’t made by those guys! Whole different group and department! That’s like asking someone from marketing to send invoices through the CEO or something nonsensical like that!”]

“And you justifying that me roleplaying is the same as me being some evil overlord is just as bullshit! I was having fun with friends! I didn’t ask to be told ‘yeah, remember when you practiced your villain laugh to taunt players that hate you? Surprise you’re secretly a crazed ax murderer!’, how do you I think I feel hearing that?” I mentally asked, calming down as I sadly remembered all the times me and my friends, my fellow guildmates… the closest thing I had to a family after my worlds work ethics killed my parents…

[“I’m trying to explain how it affected you. I didn’t make the rules, and all I can do is help you undo their lazy damage caused to you. Cause again, Negative Karma would work against you badly in the Afterlife, you know, incase you ever actually kick the bucket.”]

They mentioned the Afterlife before… I’m surprised such a thing is even real but, after everything I’ve seen so far, maybe I shouldn’t be…

“... Can… can you contact anyone in the Afterlife?” I mentally asked, as that just… both peaked my interesting, but also stirred something deep in my soul that I… I needed to know.

[“... Not alone… That’s… That’s where you need to help me. The more you work to improve your Karma the more I’m able to reward you. These rewards come in various forms and with enough effort I can scrap together something that can let you send a message to the Afterlife, or at the very least submit an invoice requesting information. The Afterlife is sadly more bureaucratic when you’re a worker and not a normal resident.”]

“That’s… depressing.” I thought bitterly.

[“Souls from across the multiverse, it’s a necessary evil, but there are more than enough employees to help keep things from stalling and none of them have to deal with your home world’s work ethics.”]

“That’s… better I suppose.” I thought as I sighed. “... But… hearing my time having fun with friends is bad when I’ve been so desensitised to everything… I walked over orphans without batting an eye cause it’s just so common…”

[“... I can help you find it… your Home World… but only if you can work on your Karma. Otherwise, I can’t do anything.”]

I see… It’s a symbiotic relationship… Karma Guide can’t do me anything unless I do something it requires… and… to find my home… I’d take it over and end the nonsense once and for all… maybe… maybe even finally meet my friends IRL…

“Alright… but soon I should go talk to the Adventerur’s Guild leader, that’s been a talk waiting to happen…” I thought carefully, as I’ve met the man a few times before as Momon, a respectable man and someone I could guess was strong when he was younger but… his eyes showed a wanderlust waiting to be reignited.

[“That could be useful. Eradicating dangerous monsters can help lower your Karma. Then I can finally do something.”]

“Well, not just that…” I admitted, getting up and, while in some fancy ‘regal’ clothing, I made my way to the Adventurer's Guild on foot cause some time to think would help. “It’s to have the Adventurer’s Guild be more like World Searcher, to give the Adventure back to the Adventurers instead of being glorified bodyguards or exterminators.”

[“Oh then perhaps you can have them start a small expedition to some of the Newbie Friendly areas in Yggdrasil. I imagine they’d be ecstatic over that.”]

“Yeah I’m pretty sure they would.” I hummed. “Though… also I need to find a city of Elves or Dark Elves for Aura and Mare… they are actually children compared to the other Floor Guardians, even if Spite wants to be a pedantic asshole about it.” I thought carefully, as I remember a week ago having spent some small time with Aura and Mare while Albedo and Elder liches brought me a lot of documents about how to run the kingdom. “Even if she’s been downed to maid duty, I still need her expertise and brain power on domestic affairs… this sucks, I’m just an office worker for crying out loud!”

[“Then there was the time you had a nice father son talk with Pandora’s Actor.”]

“Don’t remind me please… it’s still so embarrassing!”

[“That’s what being a parent does, seeing your own child do silly things, but he still had a point, what kind of King do you want to be?”]

I sighed, knowing that the Crack in the sky is one thing, but people still think ‘Evil Skeleton will enslave us all’ stereotype is valid when I’ve been doing my best to make sure things are easy and convenient for everyone… “After I talk to the Guildmaster, I’ll give you that answer.”

---

It was another week, work was getting done through my Kingdom but it was finally time for a ‘World Summit’, a call for all King’s, Emperor’s, or Ruling parties as we convened in a Neutral zone for everyone.

“Remind me again why I’m here?” Spite asked as he flanked me with Demiurge.

“Because one, you are the head of my Agriculture Development as well as the leader of your own area, two because I need some emotional support here, and three, fuck you.” I said.

“Shouldn’t have given you that Crystal Heart…” Spite grumbled as we both made it to the meeting room, seeing about a dozen human’s, and three elves, all sitting around the table making small talk, as I lightly tapped my Guild Staff on the ground and quieted everything down. “Thank you all for coming, Kings, Emperors, world leaders and your vassals.” I said, nodding as I saw the Re-Etsize king with his daughter and chubby son, Jircniv with his Sage and Great Warrior, the Elven king and his two advisors, the six members of the Slane Theocracy, and the Queen of the Holy Kingdom all in attendance. “I am Ainz Ooal Gown, King of the Sorcerer Kingdom, and these are my compatriots, Spite, the leader of Agriculture and Development, and Demiurge, my grand intelligence officer.” I introduced the three of us politely.

“You are the one that caused the Katze Plains Massacre.” The leader of Re-Estize, Ramposa the Third stated, staring at me carefully. “And while it was war… I’m willing to set that aside for what you have to say, as it seems you know the most out of everyone with how urgent you wanted this meeting.”

“Yes, and we shall explain in due time.” I said, sitting down with Spite as Demiurge, in his demonic form, decided to remain standing.

“And tell me,” The Elf King, Decem Hougan, said, who just at a brief glance I could guess was around level 80-85. “How did you meet Spite? It’s not everyday one of my kind works for the Undead.” He said, which was an honest question without any context behind how we know each other.

“Oh that? This bitch tried to steal some herbs from me when we first met.” Spite said, throwing a thumb at me.

The look of pure shock on the various delegates faces at his vulgar words would have been hilarious, had it not been directed at me!

“Okay, first off, it was not stealing!” I countered.

“Oh right, it was Ulbert, the goat bastard really wanted my herbs!”

I groaned and facepalmed. “And as you can clearly see… this man has no filter.”

“Quaint…” The elf king said carefully.

“So tell us,” One of the members of the Slane Theocracy, one of the six bishop looking bastards, started. “What do you know about the crack in the sky?” He asked, disdain for the three of us evident in his eyes even if his words remained calm.

“Yggdrasil.” Spite said bluntly.

AGH!

“You weren’t supposed to tell them that… at least yet…” I managed carefully, hearing muttering between the groups.

“Why sugar coat it. They weren’t gonna take a half ass lie either way.” Spite replied, sitting up as the Slane Theocracy members all seemed wide eyed. “It’s also where Momo, Drago, myself and even everyone in the Tomb of Nazarick came from. The same place your ‘Gods’ came from if I’m not mistaken?”

“I-Impossible!” Another member of the Theocracy said quickly. “There’s no way you could be Gods, y-you’re just-”

“Non-human.” I finished, staring directly at the Theocracy. “But yes… we have come from a different world, a place known as Yggdrasil, due to means we are still not sure about.”

“There is an old legend,” The Queen of the Holy Kingdom, Calca Bessarez, started. “That one of the most ancient and deranged Dragon Lords casted a spell, that cost thousands of human lives, to obtain ‘ultimate power’, it’s said that every hundred to two hundred years these artifacts appear and, sometimes bring about these ‘Players’ as records say.”

“They are our Gods! They defeated the Eight Greed Kings and brought salvation to our lands!” Another Theocracy Bishop stated angrily.

“Sorry to shatter the illusion.” Spite said, smirking. “If you really don’t believe us, we’d be more than happy to escort you through the crack into Yggdrasil, but the question then becomes… how much do you want to bet your safety on it? The other side opens to the Temple of the Lost Gods, a dangerous place of Yggdrasil rich in relics and history, but teeming with endless monsters both inside and outside the temple. Momo’s forces deal with the ones that linger out of the crack, but the numbers inside on Yggdrasil’s side are far more prominent… to be expected. A land as dangerous as Yggdrasil can only ever produce the strongest of ‘Gods’ as your history showed.”

“And let’s say we do believe you,” Jircniv, the leader of the Baharuth Empire, said carefully, interlacing his fingers as he stared at me and Spite. “That the cracks in the sky do belong to the world you came from, what is in it for us? Because let’s be honest, Ainz alone could conquer this entire world and we’d be helpless to defend ourselves.” He said, which honestly hurt me because I thought we were friends here.

“Jircniv, I thought we were friends.” I said in some mild mock hurt which… genuinely surprised the blonde.

“You… you thought I was your friend?” Jircniv asked in confusion. “But… but my Kingdom accidentally invaded you…”

“And it was water under the bridge, the people involved decided to invade were dealt with properly when we quite literally left them more money then they would have and they duly ignored it.” I stated with a hand. “You helped me bring about the Sorcerer Kingdom, and I did enjoy our talks.”

“To answer your question there is something you all can gain from this crack and Yggdrasil on the other end. Several things in fact.” Spite said. “Firstly, answers to questions I’m sure many of you have had about Yggdrasil, the land many of your ‘Gods’ come from… and second… is the power that can come with it.” He said, earning the attention of others. “You see, Yggdrasil was created by higher beings we referred to as Developers, or Devs for short. They made the world, and created it so if we Players went along certain paths we’d be able to increase our strengths properly and accordingly without risking coming across an enemy too powerful for us at the time. Add onto the fact that the monsters still drop various items and relics upon death, it’s a source of limitless resources, not just tools for magic and war.”

That’s true… if the same game rules still apply to all of Yggdrasil, then it’s a means to endless resources. Ore, wood, food… If done right it can solve a lot of potential issues.

“That’s… how is that possible?” Jircniv’s advisor, the old mage Fluder Paradyne, asked. “I… learning this, I can tell this is where Tiered Magic came from, but isn’t this power based on the Soul?”

“The Soul?” I inquired, as I haven’t really delved into that fact.

“It’s how the God Kin are capable of people as strong as they are.” The fifth, and more reasonable looking, member of the Slane Theocracy said. “The Soul is our Power, it holds the limits of our potential as most races can’t truly break through unless they are children of the Gods themselves, or are ancient races like the Dragons and their Wild Magic.”

“Hmm…” I hummed, scratching my chin in thought. “Do you think there’s some connection here Spite? You have the most experience with these weird kinds of things.” I said, given they had that weird ‘mother cauldron’ that spawned in the Ghost here…

“I suppose it’s not an impossibility… Soul Magic has been a thing across many other… examples. As the Sorcerer King and greatest spellcaster of Yggdrasil I guess that would mean you’d have the strongest soul of all huh Momo?” Spite asked, smirking that made all the members of the Slane Theocracy visibly balk.

“Okay, to be clear, I’m not the Greatest Battle Caster, those are two different things.” I pointed out, which made everyone balk.

“Wh-wh-what?” The Queen said slowly.

“But I am one of the only few that knows… the vast majority of spells from Yggdrasil.” I admitted.

“You… killed a hundred thousand with one spell… and the rest of the army with those… monsters…”

“New personal record to be honest, but that’s besides the point.” I said with a raised hand. “The point is… I am offering you all a chance to walk where we, and your ‘gods’, have walked, a place to become stronger, a place to understand, a place to truly experience as we have not.” I explained, which surprised everyone even more.

“What do you mean?” All the delegates asked at the same time in absolute confusion and mixture of horror and awe.

“Belive it or not, but for all the years Yggdrasil was our home, only about thirty percent of it was ever truly known to us.” Spite said. “And to be fair, that’s likely a rough estimation.”

“How… big is your world?” Jircniv asked in awe.

“Well… technically there are Nine Worlds for us.” I answered. “Yggdrasil is known as the World Tree, where it once held hundreds of worlds, but condensed down to Nine as a calamity turned each of the Worlds into World Items with incredible powers.”

“Course, that’s as far as we know. There is likely more to the story given some… new information learned after these cracks appeared.” Spite added. “But with time we can set up a means to aid in your kingdoms best to train there as well as utilizing the registered ‘Safe Zones’ and other places for resources. Think of it, unlimited ore, unlimited fresh water and crops that can grow twice, ten times faster without harming the soil or land, and the capacity for a growth in strength surpassing anything your people have been able to get to in your lifetimes. All we ask, is for cooperation and alliances. It’s like you all said, Momo here could have just killed you all and done it the easy way, but he wants to give you all a chance to be more than your petty differences.”

All the delegates started to mutter between each other, trying to decide on all these things that have come to light.

“And if you don’t believe my friend Spite, then hear it from me, and know it is with the utmost truth.” I stated, them all turning to me. “As the Sorcerer King, I want to make a land where no one, not human, elf, demi-human or heteromorph, have to live in fear, of repression, of thinking they are less than their peers because of race, wealth or power, I will build as close to a Utopia as I can, where the people can Adventure to the farthest horizons, discover brand new and interesting things, not have to worry about starvation or persecution, and overall… just knowing that there truly is a Tomorrow worth hoping for.” I said, from the bottom of my brand new crystal heart.

The delegates all gave one another some looks.

“We would like some time to consider the generosity of the offer.” One of the Elves said.

“Take as long as you need.” I said with a raised hand. “This is a lot to take in after all.”

With that, all the delegates left as I saw Spite case some Detect Magic and Repel Magic upon the room.

“Well that went pretty well all things considered.” He started.

“My Lord, are you sure it’s wise to let these lesser beings have access to our home?” Demiurge asked.

“We aren't letting them into Nazarick, Demiurge.” I stated. “But they are not lesser beings… they are what we once were, me, Drago, and Spite here were all Humans before this.” I admitted, as I might as well rip that bandaid off.

“But you are our Creators, our supreme beings, you have moved past such weaknesses!” Demiurge said quickly, which honestly… kind of surprised me.

“You… don't care that we were human?” I asked.

“You gave us life my lord, and while I dearly miss my own creator, you stayed and gave us meaning,” The demon in the fancy suit stated as he kneeled down. “And there is not a day that goes by that I'm not thankful for that.”

“Demiurge please, don't kneel.” I said quickly and nervously.

“I think what your ‘Dear Leader’ here means is that while yes we used to be human, we still hold memories and sentimentalities from those days.” Spite said. “It’s why despite the fact most of you just want to kill off all humans, he’s put up with your less than positive outlooks on them because having been one former he knows that humans are complex creatures and sometimes need a good authority figure to guide them in the right way.”

Demiurge seemed to perk up at that. “Oh… I see. That explains much. Thank you for clarifying this for me.”

[“You have told Demiurge the truth and while he isn’t fully grasping things right, he’s going to be viewing humans more on their potential worth based on their actions rather than their strength or intelligence alone. Your Karma has been raised to -495. You have earned the Karma Title ‘Only Human’.”] Karma Guide notified.

Karma Title?

“Well… let’s see what this new Karma Title is first…” I thought carefully, checking to see what ‘Only Human’ was… also that reminded me of that hundred and some odd year song when CEO’s tried to gaslight their employees…

[Karma Title: Only Human - The inhuman subjects of The Tombs of Nazarick now view humans through the perception that you once walked among them. While not all of them will show every human respect, they will be less inclined to bias towards them and when encountering a friendly human, will be more inclined to be friendly with them.]

“That’s good…” I thought, as it’ll at least help everyone not be rude about things like this. “I’m glad you understand Demiurge.”

“I shall take my leave.” Demiurge said, giving a bow before taking his leave.

“So, what now?” Spite asked me.

“A lot more work…” I sighed. “Need to set up proper ways to get to Yggdrasil, wait for all the other countries to come to a decision, prepare for the Slane Theocracy to pull some religious bullshit and try to backstab us…”

“Hmm… Too bad we can’t get any of these Lost Gods to help us. The real deal could get them to fall in line…”

“Besides the God of Forgiveness and maybe the God of Karma, I have been told the people that created our World, even Yggdrasil, are lazy bastards that cared even less than the rich and powerful back home.”

“Somehow that makes a lot of sense… Still, to have an actual god on our side would be useful. Could help clear up most of this nonsense…”

“True.” I nodded. “But… I mean, technically we have one in Little Ghost…” I admitted carefully.

“He’s a bean. Not a god.”

“He can be both, but point is… there’s a lot we still don’t know about, and that’s not including if there will be… other ‘outsiders’ involved…”

“Other outsiders?”

“Well, just worried if that crack in the sky leads to places that aren’t Yggdrasil.” I answered.

“Fair. We really need to head to the others and see what’s there. We… might even find some in Yggdrasil thinking about it…”

“There’s seventy percent of the game we’re missing, so who knows what nonsense we’re going to witness here.”

—

It felt odd to be back in Yggdrasil. Part of me still finds it hard to believe. But Spite was right… There are Cracks here.

The central spawn area, Spring Town, has a massive one right in the center of town. The NPC’s here are all… more lively than before. They live and act as normal but they’re like Albedo and the rest… genuinely alive now.

Asking around, I learned that most of them say all that comes through the crack is cold air.

Standing in front of it here… Yes, this air is colder… not frigid like a winter biome but… familiar… Almost like… AC when you enter a store?

“Huh… that’s odd.” I said carefully, walking up to the crack and seeing if I could walk through it like the main one.

I did, the sudden brightness blinding me as-

“Hello and thank you for visiting.” Two voices spoke.

What?

My eyes… or whatever lets me see, adjusted as… HUH!?

I looked all around me seeing what looked like the biggest ever department store… ever!

Before me were two inhumans. One a cloaked being with a large sword with runes along it in their grasp, a nametag saying they were called ‘Henry.’

The other was some kind of female reindeer with more of a proper uniform, but a leather vest over it, several piercings on her ears and nose and her nametag read as ‘Dess’.

… WHAT THE HELL IS THIS?!

“... I’m sorry ma’am, Henry, but… what the actual fuck!?” I asked incredulously as I furiously motioned to everything.

“This is… The Store.” Henry the cloaked one spoke. “A place where… Travelers between dimensions… Can shop or buy.”

“Yeah, that.” Dess said. “You’re the first one to make it through that new crack though so, congratulations. Here’s a coupon.” She handed me the coupon- First 100 purchases under 1,000,000 Rem free?!

… What’s Rem?!

“Okay so uh… what’s Rem, what’s in this store actually, what caused the Cracks and… uh… I have too many questions, I’m so sorry…” I said, knowing this is a retail environment so it must be hell for them as is.

“Wow, a real newbie huh?” Dess hummed as she crossed her arms. “Mind if I give this guy the run down Henry?”

“Not much… Happening here… Anyway…” Henry replied.

“Thanks. Follow me Skeletor.” Dess said, motioning for me to follow. As she did I saw it… on her left wrist… an Assistant…

“You also have an Assistant?” I inquired. “And also… yes, the Crack’s in the sky literally just happened three weeks ago for me so I have absolutely no idea what’s going on…”

“Yeah, just about everyone here does.” Dess said. 

I took a look at as many of the shoppers and employees as I could… She’s right… It looks like most if not everyone here does in fact have one…

I followed Dess through the walkways as she began talking. “So yeah, this is a giant store fit inside its own dimension. Used to be this place called Questmart but that went under so the new owner Shopkeeper took over the realm and remodeled it.”

“Huh… that is interesting.” I admitted carefully, seeing so many different people and races here just mingling about. “And I take it the work is… okay?”

“Well, besides the Dire Drug Store Beetles that spawn in sometimes, it’s a good enough place to work.”

“I’m sorry, but Dire what!?”

“Eh, some nasty little things. We get a lot of pests that wander through the barriers and with the cracks we’ve had to close off whole aisles since some of them let some nastier things through while others bring more customers. Also to answer your earlier question, Rem is the currency of the grander Multiverse.” Dess said, showing me a small almost pebble like stone with some rune on it. Wait, that rune looks… Norse? “This is five rem pebble.”

“This looks like a Nordic Rune…” I tilted my head in confusion. “Hmm, interesting indeed…”

“Yeah, not too sure about the why or how this became the multiverse’s currency, I do know that at least here its exchange is worth the same as any currency across the multiverse, so no matter the universe your money is good here.” Dess said as we reached… An escalator. Wow I haven’t been on one of these in a long time- Sweet Fuck there’s multiple floors! And this one is purely for food?!

“How… how big is this place?” I asked slowly.

“My guy, it’s an entire dimension so… as big as your average universe, maybe? Might be more? Not really sure.” Dess shrugged.

“Ah… right…” I said carefully. “How long have you been working here?”

“Four years. Been working here ever since I ended up here.” She said.

“Well, gotta make a living somehow.” I admitted. “So… Multiverse… how big is it?” I asked carefully, cause some fantasy settings have it kind of finite?

“Okay so you take a universe… and you hold it up between two mirrors… then you hold those up between two mirrors… and then repeat and do the same with branching timelines and then you repeat all that on the other end of infinity for some reason then you take into account the Light and Dark Realms then the Void and Retirement Realm and… So it’s big.” Dess said.

… Huh?

“Okay so… I was following you until the ‘Light, Dark, Void and Retirement Realms’ part.”

“Hang on I think I have a map…” Dess said as she seemed to tap a finger to her Assistant and a display menu appeared.

Huh, so there’s multiple ways to get those menus to pop up for you huh…

“Here.” She said, handing me what looked like… It looked like some kind of giant tree glowing bright, two massive orbs of energy perched carefully between branches. The roots growing in and with an ever expanding darkness all around as some kind of odd beasts, birds and some other kinds of creatures made of space itself roamed the tree and branches. A second, thinner form of what looked almost like a vine plant was growing along the trunk in one spot, moving up it slowly. “That’s basically how this all works more or less.”

“So like Yggdrasil but… on a much bigger scale.” I said as it all kinda clicked for me.

“I guess.” She shrugged. “Like I said, this place is for those traveling between dimensions to shop and buy or rest. And some of us like myself just… ended up here by accident.”

“How so? Do you… what? No clip out of bounds like either bad collision or the Backrooms or something?” I asked.

“That’s what some people told me I did. All I remember is walking home after dark after sneaking out of the house to piss my mom off, then I tripped over this weird looking rock, and just fell through the ground and crash landed in Asile 44. Thankfully it’s where they stock the throw pillows.”

“Well, at least it was a gentle landing.” I admitted.

“I guess. This place gave me room a board, I get an employee discount on everything, even at the restaurants, and honestly it’s been a lot of fun.”

“Do you miss your family?”

“... My little sister and dad, and my best friend Azzy and his little brother Kris… my mom can kick rocks though for all I care.”

“... Don’t condemn your mother…” I sighed. “You never know when you’ll truly lose them…”

“If her schedule is right I’ll lose her in forty more years… woman planned her own and my life to the date she expected to die…”

… Damn.

“Your mother must be very meticulous and… busy.” I said carefully.

“She is the mayor back home of my hometown, but it felt like she was a mayor at home too rather than being my mom…”

“You never know what’s truly happening underneath, sadly…” I sighed.

“... Well she’s a deer too, so… Venison?”

I managed a chuckle as I just… thought about my own mom. “If there is a way… just tell her you still care… don’t miss the chances with family like I did if you are capable of going back to your home.”

“I’ve been able to go back for some years now… The problem is which version of my home is my home… Apparently across the multiverse I just disappear in just about all of them so… not exactly easy to know which version of my home is my home… Spent a lot of time wondering but just… stopped trying to figure that out after a while. Looking for a needle in an infinite haystack.”

“If you can’t find the needle, maybe the needle will find you? Wouldn’t be the weirdest thing possible.” I admitted.

“Maybe… But anyway, the store is open all day every day, and you can buy just about everything here.”

“That is awesome.” I nodded. “Hmm, but what to buy at this point…” I hummed as I scratched my chin. “Oh, actually, you might know what this is, but who is this statue based on?” I asked, going through my Assistant and showing off  an image of that Statue of the ‘Cauldron Mother’. “My friend found it from a World Item and it… somehow spawned in Little Ghost from Hollow Knight…”

“Huh. That looks like a Mother’s Rebirth shrine.” Dess informed.

“Mother’s Rebirth shrine? As in like… a God of Motherhood or something?” I inquired.

“No, that’s someone else.” She waved a hand. “See, there’s this being you’ll learn about who’s only ever referred to as The Mother, and she’s always depicted as a pregnant woman. There’s two of them. The Mother of Creation and the Mother of Time. The story goes creation mother is why reality can grow infinitely, and the mother of time is why time can endlessly stretch on and branch off without stopping ever.”

“Well… I suppose it makes sense that the Creator God would be a Mother.”

“Well, not really gods. There’s kind of a tier list to it. There’s mortals, Then demigods, spirits, things like that, then there’s Gods, then there’s Admins, then there’s All Makers. That’s what the Mothers are.”

“Well, I now have a name for the race of assholes that just made my world then said ‘eh, screw it’.” I huffed.

“Yeah I hear they do that a lot. Most of them are part of some group called The Family, but I don’t know anything about that… Oh, I guess if you want you can ask my supervisor about them. He is part of The Family from what I hear.”

Hm? A conversation with a true Supreme Being… 

“Well… it would be interesting given this entire thing threw my life upside down and… the Temple of the Lost Gods being prominent to a weird anthro dog person.”

“You’ll have to be more specific my guy, there’s a lot of anthro dog people around here.” Dess said as we got off the escalator. “So do you want to eat first or do you want to talk with Blake?”

“The God of Forgiveness to be more precise, and I’d like to talk to Blake first if that is alright.”

“God of Forgivness… Oh yeah, that puppy that’s part of the Rebirth Empire… I’ve heard of them. Anyway, one moment.” She said, pulling out a radio from her back pocket. “Dess to Supervisor Blake.”

The radio crackled. “Speaking.” The voice sounded young but rather tired.

“Got someone here who wants to speak to you. Walked out of Entry Tear number 4,556.”

“Got it. You two still there?”

“Food Court 44.”

“Here.” I actually jumped as the man’s sudden appearance. He was humanoid but also… partly… equine, I think? Certainly had the ears of an equine, and tail that poked out their pants. His skin also had a thin but dark and dominant green with brown hair. 

“That’s him.” Dess motioned to me with her radio.

“Alright. You on break?”

“Always.” She smirked.

He rolled his eyes. “Just be glad you’re on Greeter Duty after the incident with the Atomic Grenades in Asle 940.”

“Atoms go boom.” Dess chuckled as she walked off.

“... Excuse me what?” I asked carefully.

“With these cracks we’ve been dealing with some… less then ideal pests that try and enter the store so we have to fight them back. Dess likes to use explosives and some of our explosive stock is nuclear.” Blake said to me as if that wasn’t absolutely insane. “So, I was told you came through entrance 4,556. Did Dess give you the coupon for being the first to enter from that way?”

“Yes, she did… and I’m still trying to fully wrap my head around everything besides the multiverse… it’s been three weeks since this happened…”

“Well, Three Weeks for you at least… These cracks appeared through time as well so… but it’s really been what… ten years now?” Blake hummed. “Point is that the flow of time between dimensions can also skew things. So, what seems to be the issue then sir?”

“Well, not ‘issue’, but just… as I said before, trying to wrap my head around all this and need some… answers.” I said. “The first question I need answered is if any… outsiders will appear either in Yggdrasil or the New World and if we need to prepare.”

“Most likely, though who and what I can’t say, I don’t know where the all the cracks in your realm lead to. Just be glad this one let to my father’s store. It’s considered True Neutral Ground. No one can do battle here or they risk eternal banishment.”

Hmm, so this Shopkeeper person Dess mentioned is their father then? Neutral Ground… no one can do battle here… that means the ‘Pests’ they’re dealing with must be mindless monsters.

“Thank you, I will need to… start preparing…” I sighed, knowing that either terrible people might invade or give the Slane Theocracy a ‘boost’ with their ‘Human supremacy’ bullshit.

“I guess your worst issue might be a few of the Gods from the Dark Realm… Maybe some of the more rogue forces from the Realm of Light but not too sure.” Blake hummed.

“I’ve… handled Gods, the World Enemies could be considered that now right?”

“Maybe… that all depends on which ones find you first and how they react. These Gods though, they have multiple universes worth of followers, and are backed by All Makers Pain and Dark Grey.”

“... I don’t like that.”

“Neither do a lot of people, but that’s how it is.” He shrugged. “Anything else you wanna know?”

“Is there a book about more… general information about the wider Multiverse and things involving the Assistant? It’s been… quite a massive amount of things to look through.”

“Hmm, there’s a lot of options there… Huh…” Blake leaned in a little closer to me. “You have a System Title.”

“Yes, the God of Karma has a basis for it but the God of Forgiveness was the one to greenlight me having it… how and why I’m not sure…”

“Well I can work with this.” He said, tapping my forehead with a finger.

[“Administrative Credentials Accepted… Upload of ‘Multiverse-Pedia’ Completed… Adding Explanative Function to Priority Programming… Karma Guide Will Now Give Explanations To User Inquiries About The Multiverse.”]

I blinked. “Um… I take it it’s because you are related to one of these ‘All Makers’ right?”

“And I am one.” Blake said.

WHAT?!

“... Okay, uh… what does being an ‘All Maker’ even mean? I have been told about the Mother who’s basically the Creator here but uh…” I trailed off, my brain halting once again as I tried to fathom this stuff.

“How to put it… To be an All Maker means you not only can create vast multiverses, but you can survive outside in the wild energies beyond the Barriers of Existence. It’s the Mothers that create the Barriers that keep us all from basically being slaughtered by the energies, but only All Makers can naturally survive within this energy. Think of it like this then, Mortals pray to Gods, Gods by relation would pray to Admins, and Admins would pray to All Makers.”

“I… think I fully understand.” I nodded.

“Good. You are free to shop and spend and even sell if you wish, and if you feel the need for some cash or a little fun, there’s an Adventurer’s Hall on Floors 444, 902, 1,003, and -453.”

“... Of course there’s basement floors…” I muttered, but then I had a thought. “Hmm, actually, is there a way I can partner with that Adventurer’s Hall? While I do want my worlds Adventurer’s to embody their name sake, some people sadly won’t do it just because they have wanderlust or are intrigued about the unknown.”

“It’s largely run by the Realmless, people who lost their home realms or dimensions for one reason or another. Most of them end up here, so you’d have to talk to the one running it… My sister Nyx.”

“So I won’t have to ask everytime… are most positions in management and the like done by your family?”

“In The Shop? No, it’s really just me, dad and Nyx. The rest are Employees we hired either from the grander Multiverse or who worked their way up the ladder over the years.”

“Ah, alright.” I nodded. “So just have to talk to Nyx about a… partnership at least for the Adventurer Hall’s aid.” I said carefully, even if it’s not a ‘partnership’ it’ll at least be something possibly mutually beneficial cause not everyone just does good things without wanting something out of it.

“I’ll send you to her main office.” Blake said, snapping his fingers as I found myself in… Oh I am getting the most nauseating case of deja vu… This whole room reminds me of my old work office…

I looked down, seeing a woman that was similar in species to Blake, but her fur color was a dark, almost light absorbing jet black as her hair was by contrast an almost glowing white with small streaks of brown in it. Her eyes were also a bright amber gold.

“My brother sent ya?” She asked without looking up from her paperwork.

“Yes, I’m here to ask about if you’d… allow your Adventurer’s Hall to sponsor the endeavors of my world now that the Multiverse is… cracked.” I said carefully, trying to be professional here and also not piss them off. “God, it’s like interviewing for a job all over again! This sucks!” I mentally whined.

She looked up, then blinked at seeing me. “I know you… Momonga, right?”

“Yes, I am Momonga… I’m going to take it you’ve met another version of me or something?” I asked.

“No, I've just seen Overlord.”

What?

“Um… excuse me?” I asked in confusion.

She sighed, opening up an Assistant display for herself. “There’s a rule in the Multiverse known as The Bleed Effect. Basically what one universe will consider fiction can and will exist in another and vice versa. As a result, many realities know of each other as fictional media. For example.” She put a DVD set for… That’s me! On the cover of an… anime?! “Most realities will know you from Overlord, as the name commonly is known as. Your reality might not be exact but to be fair that also means there’s an infinite take on the variations of the ‘Overlord’ series out there to match. This version is just what my Auntie King recommended.”

“I… suppose that’s fair.” I said carefully. “Jeez… I must have been such a nerd…” I groaned, thinking about how people might have seen me with my inner monologues and mild panicking all the time.

… The others can never see this…

“Anyway, so what’s your apparent unique situation if I may ask?” Nyx asked.

“Well, probably not ‘unique’, but due to the Crack’s in Reality, the world I’m currently in and Yggdrasil are connected and I want to bring back the Adventurer’s Spirit to the New World and its inhabitants, but I ask your help to incentivise people because not everyone will look at a brand new world and explore it without something in it for them.” I explained carefully.

“Fair enough… Actually that might work… Hmm…” Nyx seemed to hum. “Tell ya what, I’m willing to send more than enough people your way on one condition.”

“And what is this condition?” I asked, knowing Nyx held all the cards here and I was asking for her help but I still need to know what I’m getting myself into.

She stood up from her desk, walking passed me to a window that was covered by closed blinds. She moved them open and motioned for me to look.

I did, and was surprised. These aisles and such… I can see the lines where the Adventurers Guild and all that is set up below but passed it I see… tents. People just sitting around clearings or in the aisles… a mass homeless encampment?

“These are the Realmless. No more homeworld, let alone home reality. Most end up working either for dad and my brother here or some become Adventurers… but others… they never get over the loss and… stay in their misery.”

“They will be taken care of, as citizens of the Sorcerer Kingdom.” I said really without thinking, cause… those tents and all the homeless just… reminded me of home, and… all the dead bodies I had to walk over on the day to day walk to work…

“Thank you. I’m more than willing to assist with other things. I know you can buy whatever from this place so to help with that I’ll send you a check each month as thanks. It will be deposited to your Assistant Account directly.”

“Thank you Guild Master.” I nodded, showing at least respect because she is the boss of the Adventurer’s Hall so might as well.

“No, Thank you. These people need a home… and maybe with a place to really call their own again they can finally head towards a real future.”

[“Notice! For taking in the Realmless, you have knocked off a large chunk of your negative karma! Karma is now at -395! You have earned the Karma Titles: Take me Home and Kind Hearted Undead.”]

That one act took off a hundred points? Sweet!

[Nyx has sent you a direct deposit of Rem! Note: For the help with the Realmless. Assistant Account: 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 Rem.]

HOW MANY ZEROES?!?!?!

“... Uh… um, I don’t… that many zeroes exist!?” I was flabbergasted at the number.

“Trust me, my family is old and loaded. The only ones that actually come even a little close are the new Rebirth Empire in the Realm of Light and that’s mainly because they have a Goddess of Luck and Fortune with them.”

“Oh…”

“Wait, no, I forgot, she’s not a Goddess of Luck, she’s the Embodiment of True Luck.”

“...  I fear what this person would do if they met Spite…”

“I dunno.” Nyx shrugged. “I’ll have a few of the guild workers help gather up as many of the Realmless as you can take with you this time around, oh and for some quick and easy homes check Aisle 44,809 over there. There’s a lot of instant house constructs there.”

Instant buildings? Now that will be very useful…

“Well, better than constantly casting magic to build places. I may have had MP above the cap but even I don’t have that much MP.”

—

[Karma Title: Take Me Home - Your actions to help give houses to the Realmless has spread through the Realmless of The Shop. You have begun to obtain a positive reputation for helping those in need or in dire situations. Realmless you take in and house will not take kindly to openly spoken attacks on your character and will affirm your good name.

Karma Title: Kind Hearted Undead - Your kind acts have helped melt the cold aura your intimidating presence can give off to others. You are now more likely to build friendly relationships with others so long as you act kindly towards them. Those with purely negative opinions of you now have small doubts in their bias and will be willing to think over their opinions of you.]

“That will definitely help my efforts across the new world.” I thought as I sighed, continuing to write on some documents. “Just wish it didn’t come with all this paperwork.”

“Excuse me, Lord Ainz.” I turned, seeing that Sebas walked into my office. “I am sorry to intrude, but I have a report from Lord Drago regarding these… Realmless, I believe they were called?”

“No need to apologize Sebas, and yes, they are called the Realmless.” I answered. “But report, what has Drago said about them?”

“He reports that settlements on both sides of the crack, or Tear, as some are preferring to call it, are going well. The Shop Guild sent many adventurers to help quell the monsters in the area, and one in particular he has noted has stood out both because of her youth, power and overall shameless nature in what he says is ‘Pure Greed For Powerful Toys’.”

A young adventurer huh? Surprising… Maybe not so much… a fair amount of the Realmless from what I saw looked rather young… and she’s in it for powerful items huh? Still, if Drago noted her then she must be something…

“Tell me, who is this young adventurer that is even making Drago point them out?”

“Her name is Obsidian, and she seems to be some humanoid Otter. Age fourteen.”

Fourteen? That’s younger than I was expecting…

“That is concerning, especially with that phrase he gave…” I frowned, as I didn’t entirely want to start promoting someone that was in it because of pure selfish desire, this whole thing was made to do genuine good for those in need damn it. “Just more complications…”

“Do you wish to have them removed?”

“Hmm… I think I will see them for myself, judge them in person. If she was that bad, Drago would have mentioned it in his report but he did not. I want to evaluate this unique child myself.”

“Very well.” Sebas said, giving a bow as he left.

And an excuse to ignore paperwork is always welcome of course.

“Hopefully this won’t end poorly…” I thought carefully.

I used a Gate to get to the crack, seeing things on this side looked good. Walking through it, I saw the armored settlement around the Lost Gods Tomb, and spotted Drago ahead as I caught up to them.

“Hey Momo, you get my report?” Drago asked.

“Yes, and I’m here to look into this Obsidian girl.” I answered simply.

“She’s on the outer perimeter… Originally I wanted to give her easier work, but according to the guild she’s a fairly high up ranked Adventurer.”

“... I don’t like that.” I said carefully. “If she’s this high ranked at so young…”

“Yeah, their Ranking System is a bit weird but basically they do the F through S rank system but there are four tiers in each rank of that, and once you reach the fourth one you can do a rank above your to the next. She’s currently rank CC, meaning she’s the second rank of the C tier.”

Hmm… That means she is rather strong. I can’t compare it to the other guild ranking, but I’m willing to bet that means if she can handle the monsters around the Lost Gods Tomb, she’s at least strong enough to take on the dungeon itself…

“Hmm…” I hummed carefully, which means she could be around level 80+ here…

Wait, if CC rank makes her around level eighty then what the fuck would the A or S Ranks be?!

“She’s not a bad person, I can tell that much…” Drago hummed as he crossed his arms.

“How so?” I inquired.

“I get the feeling she’s trying to get more power and powerful weapons for a… personal vendetta. She fights like… she has no regard or concern for her own life whatsoever.”

“And that’s why I need to talk to her here cause… that is not healthy.” I said carefully.

“I know… She should be along the western fields. Said something about getting more of those Angel Drops.”

“Weird that they specifically want the drops from Angels.” I hummed.

“Well on top of their weapons they can also drop Panaciencia’s and sometimes a protection charm of Repel Greater Evil.”

“Wonder why she would need those?” I hummed. “While good to have Repel Greater Evil, still an interesting to think about.”

“Maybe you can get it out of her cause she wasn’t telling me. Just called me a himbo e621 front page mascot…”

“And what does she look like?” I asked.

“Like an even bigger e621 front page mascot if it wasn’t for her age.” Drago shrugged.

“... Well that’s concerning.”

“She doesn’t look…” Drago took a breath. “She doesn’t look mature if that’s what you’re worried about, she just looks like a fourteen year old humanoid otter… Though I guess her colors would do it… maybe… Ugh I don’t want to think about this.”

“No no, I get it… not the weirdest thing sadly.” I sighed. “Well either way, just have to talk to her to see if she’s… okay mentally.”

I left Drago to his work as I walked out of the fortress town and managed to find this Obsidian girl after following the gunshots. She was taking on three of the angel enemies that spawn around here.

She was indeed a humanoid otter, dark black fur along her body, a thin layer of fur with patches of what looked like neon seafoam green along her neck, arms, tail and at the tips of her ears. Her hair was brown and cut short, shorter than Aura’s even. She wore green camo shorts and a black leather jacket… and for only using handguns not only was she dealing incredible damage to the angels, she was dodging all their attacks with almost second perfect timing.

Still… I can see what Drago meant. She’s dodging basically at the last possible second even when she has more than enough time… She’s trading her safety for extra damage.

“Risky style of play for a child…” I thought sadly.

… No… not play. This is real combat for her… For all of them…

I watched as she suddenly tapped one of her guns against her assistant mark, surprised as she then fired the gun and the angel seemed to explode when hit. Explosive bullets? She must have some ability or something that lets her switch ammunition types without needing to actually reload the guns.

The angels fell fast soon after, and with that done she holstered her weapons before rushing over to the dropped loot.

“Hello?” I called out to the child.

“So do you usually get your bones off watching a fourteen year old girl fight a bunch of monsters or are you experimenting?” She replied without looking back at me.

HUH!?

“And immediately throwing insults my way is a good thing… why?” I asked

“Because I find it funny.” She said, holding up the Repel Greater Evil protection amulet. “And that’s four…” She muttered.

“Certainly aren’t laughing if you think it’s funny.” I pointed out. “And why do you need all the Repel Greater Evil amulets?”

“Figured they’d help when I kill one of the Chaos Gods.”

… Huh?!

“I’m still new to the wider Multiverse, but what?”

“You know the Dark Realm?” She asked as I nodded. “It’s Pantheon is run by a group known as the Chaos Gods. Four ancient gods that existed before most of creation even had the dust and gasses that would become suns and planets. One of them retired from what I hear but she wasn’t the one I’m after anyway…”

“And which one are you after if I may ask?”

“The God of Plague, Nurgle.” She said as she put the amulet away and looked over the other drops.

“Well, you’re going to need a lot of Resistances, because while Repel Evil might work if it’s directed, the Plagues wouldn’t be considered ‘Good or Evil’ in this case.” I brought up. “While Panacea’s are a good idea, those are potions that only last so long.”

“I’m aware. Doesn’t hurt to have them though. The main thing I need is to learn what his Divine Weakness is…”

“Is it a random thing or is it the antithesis of what the God is?” I inquired.

“It’s unique to each god… it’s the one thing that even in the hands of a mortal can be used to kill a god. Like Baulder and Mistletoe.”

“It would be a closely guarded secret, unless you know someone that could give you a hint or at least in the right direction to take your endeavors down.”

“That’s where I keep running into dead ends… the only people who would know, well, ones dead now, hallelujah for that, and the other two… I doubt they’d tell.”

“Well, it’ll depend on certain situations. But mind if I ask why you want this Nurgle to die?”

 “... Same as everyone else…”

“And I’m just going to guess this God has killed a lot of people?”

“Countless. Across multiple planets, and multiple realities.”

“Ah, he has committed atrocities and someone wants to make him accountable for his actions.” I nodded.

“I imagine most of the Realmless settled here feel the same. Hell, when news that his wife, the God of Bloodshed was killed, the realmless threw one hell of a rager. Heh. Managed to sneak a few beers in all that partying.”

“Well, I can imagine Nurgle was right pissed about it, but considering his crimes I feel nothing.” I shrugged.

“He doesn’t deserve the sympathy… He just deserves to die…” She said and finally turned to face me.

Those eyes… I’ve seen them so many times… Tired, broken, seen too much… and done too much. I saw them in the eyes of everyone at work. Everyone I saw on the street… even in my own mirror.

She’s seen hell… and endured it.

I stepped forward, kneeled down and put a hand on Obsidian’s shoulder. “I understand.” I said softly.

“Well, ye-”

“No no… I understand.” I repeated, staring her directly in the eyes.

“You don’t…”

“I know what it’s like to be tired and broken… you saw Hell flash before your eyes and had to endure it… I was put to a grinder for as long as I’ve lived… I understand.” I said, seeing those tired eyes tear up.

“... How old were you?”

“Since the day I was born.” I answered. “But more specifically… I was ten when I saw my mom die of exhaustion… trying to make a cake for me… for fourteen years I was an orphan in a dystopian hellscape, where corporations used and abused anyone that wasn’t ‘well off’ enough… I don’t know how many dead orphans I walked over when I went to work every day…” I sighed. “How old were you?”

“...Four. My home wasn’t that advanced, but there were trains and some industry… Life was nice. Me, my mom and dad… Then Nurgle came… The ground withered and rotted. Stones broke into sand, plants withered and his demons attacked indiscriminately… Dad was… eaten… I can still hear the crunch as that Great Unclean One laughed while eating him… Mom threw me into a river, hoping the current could get me away fast enough… I watched as that plague fog of his just touched her skin… and she rotted alive in seconds. One of those cracks appeared while I was drifting and I ended up in The Shop…”

I nodded. “I understand… you witnessed horrors that scarred you in mere moments… I had it dragged out for over a decade… but,” I said. “There was a silver lining to my story, and it can be a silver lining for yours as well.”

“No thanks, I like my skin.”

I rolled my eyes as I managed a chuckle. “No, the silver lining is that I found friends, someone to show me there is still hope in a world that is absolute garbage… a family.”

“Well lucky you…” She said dryly.

“And the same can be done for you as well.” I stated. “I understand you have seen hell, but there are others out there that can give you that spark of hope for a better tomorrow… don’t push everyone away, especially don’t put yourself into situations that will get you pointlessly injured.”

“I have healing items and magic. Besides, if I die I’ll just respawn back later.”

… What?

Obsidian saw my blank look at her and raised a brow. She saw my own Assistant and she gave me a deadpan stare. “You have an Assistant and don’t know about the respawn mechanic…?”

“I have only known about the wider multiverse for a month now.” I answered. “You have had ten years to understand it fully, I have been extremely busy running a kingdom.”

She rolled her eyes. “Well, basically if something or someone kills you you will respawn in the last place you slept within two hours. That being said there are a few things that can perma kill you, like having your soul obliterated or if certain monsters with a Boss Rank of 20 kill you, that can end you forever though technically if you know how you can even survive that. Void Admins too but those are really rare and not likely to run into one.”

I see… So this device gives me borderline immortality… That’s so cool! Now it really is like back in Yggdrasil! Only without the death penalties! 

“The more I learn about the wider Multiverse, the more comfortable I feel with it knowing it’s based on MMORPG logic.” I said contently.  “But my point is, you can’t do this alone, not only will there be hurdles you literally can’t get past by yourself, but a lonely road destroys you in ways that could be worse than what started you on that road.”

“Eh, I’ll think about it.”

“Just… give it a try, alright? From someone who has experienced hell to another… being alone is not worth it.”

“I said I’ll think about it. Besides, I am sticking around here for a while as part of the job.”

“True.” I nodded. “And you are doing great work.”

To be continued...

Chapter Text

I want to keep a close eye on Obsidian, so I’ve given her a room back at the Tomb while she’s working here for the Shop’s Guild.

I think having a genuine place here will be good for here, and if she’s willing to return when the work is done, then all the better… Besides, I feel like this… Nurgle, could be a threat to us… The other Gods of this Dark Realm must be a terrible force…

“What can you tell me about them, Karma Guide?”

[“Displaying Dark Realm Gods List…”]

[Dark Realm Gods:

Chaos Pantheon:
Nurgle: Leader of the Chaos Pantheon, Oldest and most powerful. Status, Alive and Active.

Khorne: God of War, Rage and Bloodshed. Despite their title they honor battles and worthy foes. Status. Alive and Active.

Tzeentch: God of Sorcery, Change, Knowledge and Trickery. Status, Indisposed. Will reappear within 3,000 years.

Slaanesh: God of Pleasure, Lust and Excess. Status, Retired. Replacement Pending.

Pantheon of Kings:

Abraham: The Shepherd God. Status, Reborn.

Greta: Goddess of Bloodshed. Status, Deceased.

Teddy Dunwitch: The Eldritch God. Status, Alive and Active.

Akande: God of War and Conquest. Status, Alive and Active.

Nightmare: Goddess of Nightmares and Fear. Status, Alive and Active.

Spiral: God of Light. Status, Alive and Active.

Amon: God of Assimilation. Status, Alive and Active.

The Dark Spirit Gods: Carnage, Alive and Active. Illness, Alive and Active. Panic, Alive and Active. Patience, Alive and Active.

Core: God of Darkness. Alive and Active.

Brinia: God of Knowledge. Incarcerated. Alive. Inactive.

Alex: The Nokori God. The God Maker. Status, Alive and Active.]

“That is quite a diverse cast and divinities… though what the hell is a Nokori?” I asked.

[“A Nokori is a Chimera-like race born from the fusion of an intelligent being, a mindless beast, and a magical relic. They are a uniquely durable race, and are largely known across the multiverse as one of the more unlucky races due to the fact that they are either made artificially from unwilling test subjects, and even in realities where they are a naturally born species they are often hunted by demons for their magic.”]

“Interesting.” I thought. “But these gods might attack if possible… which do you believe is the most likely to invade if given the possibility?” I mentally asked, knowing this doesn’t give definite answers or is meant for even guesstimations but it’s a semi-sentient AI that knows the Multiverse, it might know a good enough guess.

[“The most likely to invade would be Akande, however it’s not uncommon for one of the Nokori God’s Creations to ‘Perform Miracles’ as they wander the multiverse.”]

“And that’s a swift way for them to get attacked by me if they try that.” I thought carefully. “So good to know… we’ll have to prepare, though I might need to figure out how to get Assistants for the Floor Guardians so they can get stronger…”

[“They can be obtained at The Shop for free.”]

Wait, seriously? This thing can basically grant unlimited power to a person with enough time and training and they just give it away?

“How the hell is it free when it does so much?” I mentally asked.

[“The Assistant isn’t just an item, it becomes part of the user once installed and can also be passed along from parent to child, like hair and eye color, and will activate for the child at age 5.”]

“That’s… that’s incredible!”

[“It’s also why it’s free, as the creator figured that given people who have it can pass it along to their children and they’ll be born with one already, that they’d rather give it away over charging any price for it.”]

“Right, so I’m going to… need to head back…” I sighed. “I mildly thought it would just be New World and Yggdrasil, but apparently the world is a lot bigger than I once thought.”

I suppose before I do that I should go check up on Spite and his farmland. I still have no idea why he wanted such rocky land…

“Let’s hope Spite hasn’t done anything weird.” I thought, getting up from my chair and opening a Gate to Spite’s location.

I arrived to… woah. So far it looks like half the land was already growing crops. I’m not sure what at a glance, but the other half… that’s a huge pile of gravel!

I walked around til I found Spite kneeling down as he looked at some sprouts.

“Hey Spite.” I called out.

“Hey.” He said, looking up and giving a wave. “How’s your work been?”

“I made a deal that made the Sorcerer Kingdom home to a bunch of Multidimensional refugees and orphans.”

“That’s good, also upsetting to know that’s a thing…”

“Especially when one of the stronger Adventurer’s I’ve come across is a fourteen year old girl that lost her home world and family… at four years old.”

“... Did you adopt her?”

“No, just gave her some advice.” I admitted. “And a room, but I didn’t adopt her.” I stated carefully.

“Hmm… We’ll see.” Spite chuckled. “Work here has been good. As you can see, Crops here have taken well and all the gravel there is gonna start my next project.”

“What do you plan on doing with all the gravel?”

“Simple. I’m gonna help improve travel through the territory with paved roads.”

Ah. That makes sense. Paved roads would be both a huge improvement for travel and it would show off that the kingdom is well off enough to create paved roads outside large cities.

“Good, getting paved roads is a good start to help travel.” I nodded.

“Yup. It will be even better once I get back to the Ruin Dwarf Kingdom Dungeon back in Yggdrasil.”

Hm, that is a weaker dungeon, mostly it just has tools, golem and a few ‘automiton’ enemies and… Iron Ore…

“Hmm, why do you need to go there if I may ask?” I inquired.

“The ore. Gonna need a lot of it if I wanna build a proper railway.”

“Actually, yeah building a railway is gonna be necessary all things considered, and if we supplement it with a Mana Engine there won’t be any pollution involved.”

“And they said investing into Old Dwarven Tech was not worth the complicated steps.” Spite smirked.

“Currently I am trying to get the Dwarves to relearn and expand on their Rune Magic and technology.” I said, as during this month of nonstop business I managed to drop by the Dwarven City and get all that sorted out, even made some Ice Dragon friends along the way.

“Cool. Oh hey Bean.” Spite said as I turned and saw The Knight walking up to us, holding what appeared to be a rather… abnormal looking apple. He held it up to Spite who took it. “Thank you Bean.”

“That is a strange apple, what is it?” I inquired.

“I dunno, Bean ate an apple then spat out the seeds then that tree down there grew from it.” Spite said, pointing towards the tall tree in the distance. It was pitch black with seemingly glittering bark. Leaves that glowed the same color as stars and the apple, the skin was like looking at the night sky.

“Okay, I need to see a thing here…” I muttered, as with all this brand new crap happening I was able to grab the Skill ‘Scan’, and working in conjunction with my Universal Appraisal spell I decided to finally appraise Little Ghost to see what the hell is going on with him now.

[Scan Complete!

Name: N/A (Bean)

Race: Insectoid 

Titles: One With The Void, Eater of Creation, God Slayer

The Subject appears to be a minor God of the Void with a small affiliation for Creation. Scan suggests this came from consuming something with pure creation energy.]

“Well that is at least interesting to know.” I thought, now deciding to scan that feather because something about it just… unsettles me to no end.

[Scan Complete!

Name: God Phoenix Tail Feather

Class: Legendary

Rank: SSS+

The Tail Feather of a newly ascended God Phoenix. Each cell within a God Phoenix constraints the pure energy of a multiverse's birth. It is truly pure creation energy and infinite power.]

ACK!?

“... Spite… have I ever mentioned how much I hate your carefree attitude sometimes?”

“Let’s see… There was the time back in the Ruins of The Grave where you kept shouting at me for trying to see if your avatar could swap heads with the skulls there. Then there was the time when you were fighting that Tree Golem I was all over it plucking the herbs and such off it’s body… Then there was the time when you were trying to get the gun blueprints for your combat maids and snuck that paper on your back that said ‘Cat Girls With Guns Get Me Off’... Shall I name more?”

“Well you can add to the list of ‘wearing the tail feather of a phoenix that has multiverses for cells’ to that list… literal pure creation energy and infinite power… and you are using it as a fucking decoration…”

“Huh… Neat.” Spite nodded.

I sighed. “Well, there is a lot of work, and thankfully all this food is going to be of good use, my coupon can only last so long for food for… thousands, even with Nazarick’s own food stores and farms…”

“Hmm… Right… How much money did that Nyx girl give you? Cause if you can buy anything in that place then I might have an idea for something useful.”

“Oh… I uh… blanked that number out of my mind… uh… I think it was thirty zeroes after the one…”

“Damn. Well with a budget like that I’m surprised you aren’t looking into good investments.”

“I didn’t know that many zeroes could even go into a bank account…” I said weakly. “And… I don’t even know where to begin! There’s so many things I can immediately do that I don’t know where to start, and before you say ‘all at once’, that’s not how that works.”

“My guy, you’re talking to a guy who despite being immobile for twenty years of his life, still had rich parents who got them into the best VR Schools in the country. Despite my attitude, I know economics and investments.”

“I’m sorry…” I sighed. “Just… a little overwhelmed is all…”

“Clearly. Mind listing off the things you have on your plate to start?”

“Get the Floor Guardian’s Assistants, set up training grounds for them to get stronger, have to plan brand new infrastructure due to the new Multiverse in mind, plan out new crops, make sure there’s enough food and space for all the new members of the Sorcerer Kingdom, buy new gear or at least smithing equipment to upgrade all our Gear because there’s even higher levels…” I groaned.

“Hmm… Let me handle Infrastructure and the farm planning. With whatever you deem a good budget I can check out this Shop place myself and see what’s useful for us long term and gather what will be useful immediately.”

“Thank you, oh I also need to spend on fortifications for the cracks spilling between Yggdrasil and the New World, and I need to worry about literal evil gods storming here and trying to take over the place!” I groaned.

Spite looked me up and down.

“I am not evil, nor am I a god!” I countered quickly. “I don’t care if my System Title tells me otherwise, roleplaying does not equate to me being a psychopath!”

“This is why I don’t roleplay and just be my usually snarky bastard self in every game.”

I sighed. “I just have too much… it doesn’t help that Albedo and Shalltear are both on maid duty, who would have thought a funny punishment for them would bite me in the ass…”

“You rely on them a lot more than you realized huh?”

“They are smarter than me in several ways.” I stated bluntly. “Why shouldn’t I trust reliable people to help me figure all this crap out when I was just an office worker?”

“Fair enough. If you’re that in need of an Assistant, the helper kind, you can ask Pedro.”

Right, that’s the NPC Spite made to be Emily’s father. I remember Spite telling me he based their personality after one of his teachers…

“I mean… if you're willing to spare one of your people.” I sighed.

“I’m sure he’ll enjoy helping.” Spite nodded. 

“It’ll help at least… seriously, missing one of the three smartest people in Nazarick is really tough, and Shalltear not being on the front lines with Drago also hurts in some cases.”

“To be fair given how much he still hates her for being the reason he never cleared the Tomb those two would either end up fighting or fucking… or both?”

“I don’t think Drago is a necrophile, and two… to be perfectly honest, Drago could have beaten Shalltear if he bothered to use his Dragonoid Racial Skills with that Heart… he probably could have done better against Touch Me if that was the case.” I said, as Dragonoids are… special as I thought about to what Touch Me explained when he was creating Sebas.

“First off, don’t say that word… Shalltear might be a vampire and by definition undead but Necrophile just makes me think of sickos humping actual corpses not mystical vampires… But anyway, how much for my shopping investment trip?”

I sighed, transferring a quintillion Rem into his Assistant wallet. “Rem is the Multiversal Currency, but it works best in The Shop.”

“Damn. I can do damage with this. Come on Bean, we’re gonna do some investing.” Spite said as he tapped his shoulder and The Knight jumped up and clung onto them from there.

… Okay that’s really adorable.

“Adorable.” I chuckled. “Well, I’ll bring you to the entrance, then have fun I suppose.” I said, opening up a Gate to its location. “... I will never get tired of Gate being such a useful spell.”

“It is a very useful spell.” Spite nodded as he walked inside.

As he did that I went to his hamlet to find Pedro.

If I remember right he’s an older elf as well, same wrinkled skin as his wife Matilda, all white and grey hair though and he does wear an old fashioned if well kept suit that fits his older frame a little loose.

I walked up to Matilda’s house and knocked on her front door. “Matilda? Pedro? You home?” I called out.

“Well hey there skinny bones.” Matilda said as she walked up to be. Before I could reply though she shoved a sandwich in my face.

“Matilda please…” I sighed, gently taking the sandwich.

“I was told you found a type of food you could eat. So I prayed at the God of Forgiveness statue for some meals and a recipe book. Trust me, you can actually eat this one.” She said with a chuckle.

Hmm, Spite must have told her then.

“Well, if you insist.” I said, deciding to take a bite out of the sandwich if she said the God of Forgiveness gave her a recipe book for monster food.

Oh wow… I can taste all the ingredients! The mayo and mustard and lettuce and ham… Oh First that rice ball and now this… I’ll have to make eating a regular thing again.

“Even if I don’t have to… man have I missed eating food.” I sighed happily.

“Glad you’re finally enjoying yourself.” She smiled. “I heard you call both me and my husband?”

“Yes, I was wondering if Pedro was here for I… need his assistance.” I admitted carefully.

“He should be in his office. Just down the hall that way at the end.”

“Thank you.” I nodded, quickly finishing up my sandwich and cleaning myself up with a cloth real quick before heading to the old man’s office.

I reached the door at the end of the hall, knocking. “Enter.” An elderly voice called from within.

I walked in, seeing more of the various relics Spite found through his time in Yggdrasil being a lucky son of a bitch. I also saw shelves of books, ledgers I think? Pedro looked as I remembered. Even that suit he wore, the same light brown with gold buttons. He was writing something in a book while looking over one of the artifacts.

“Hello Mr. Pedro.” I said politely.

He looked up at me. “Ah, Momonga. How have you been?” He asked as he looked back to the book, continuing to write.

“I have been… doing well to say the least.” I managed. “How are you doing Pedro?”

“Same as usual, cataloging all the trinkets Spite has, appraising and documenting them, keeping up with the farm’s various stocks, all the more mundane things.” He answered.

Ah. So Pedro keeps track of everything here on the farm then… including Spite’s finds.

“I take it this is a full time endeavor?”

“I don’t mind. It keeps my mind active. And my walks to all the cellars and silos keeps me active. So what brings you here then?”

“I need your help.” I admitted. “I am… in a bit of a bind, too much work for me, and even if I can create highly intelligent monsters, or have help from others, there is still a lot of work…”

“Ah, well what do you need help with then?”

“Well… basically what you are doing right now for Spite just uh… on a grander scale if that’s alright.” I said carefully.

“I see. Fill me in then.” He said, closing the book he was writing in before pulling out a fresh blank one.

I sighed, creating a seat real quick and sitting down. “You might need a drink… it’s gonna be a bit.” I managed as I proceeded to inform him of the mess I’m in that I’ve been trying my best to keep from falling apart.

He nodded, producing a cup and a bottle of what looked to be mead from another drawer on his desk. Some magic to create ice in the cup before pouring the drink into it.

For the next several hours I told Pedro about everything I had to handle and all that was going on. I even asked Karma Guide for a few extra details on things.

By the end of it he had two and a half notebooks full of information. “This is good so far. I’d like to ask if I can accompany you to Nazarik to speak to the staff and others for any remaining details.”

“Of course.” I nodded. “I’ll inform the others immediately.” I said, sending a Message spell quick to the the Floor Guardians, even Albedo and Shalltear, and several others as I opened up a Gate for Nazarick.

With that we walked in and Pedro got to work immediately.

With that I decided to check and see if Obsidian was in the room I offered her. As I approached it I could hear… Heavy Metal? Ah that takes me back… Went to a few underground ones and more than a few in other VR Concerts back in the day…

I say that like I’m old but I was only in my early thirties…

“Obsidian?” I called out, knocking on her door.

The door opened and- Sweet Punk Rock!

“Hey Lord Ainz!” Aura said cheerfully. She was dressed in… well, punk attire. Mare nearby looked similar, still cross dressing, and both were drinking soda and… a lot of pizza. “The new girl is awesome! This music is what I imagine the screams of the damned sound like!”

“It’s a bit loud but not bad.” Mare said.

Obsidian herself was sitting on the bed cleaning her firearms. The room itself was decorated already. Posters, more modern decorations I haven’t seen in so long.

“Bukubukuchagama is gonna kill me!” I mentally whined as I looked to Aura and Mare. “... Nuu… my sweet children nuu…” I whined.

The music suddenly stopped with a record scratch. 

“... How did that work?” Obsidian asked motioning between Aura, Mare then me.

“... Lord Ainz?” Aura asked. “Do you… see us as your children?”

Oh crap! I said that out loud!

“Crap crap crap! Okay, calm down, deep breath, it’s not the first time you’ve said something embarrassing in front of people… the less I remember about what I told Ulbert and Buku the better…” I thought quickly. “Er, uh… well, ya see…” I scratched my head trying to find the right words.

“Lady Bukubukuchagama… told us she had a crush on you Lord Ainz.” Mare said nervously, like he was saying such a deep secret as I… felt my jaw go slack.

“Huh!?” I asked in surprise. “Um… okay, we’ll focus on that later.” I said, shaking my head quickly as I gently put a hand on Aura’s head. “... Aura, Mare… even though you are my dear comrades creation… at this point, I’ve seen you two like I see Pandora’s Actor… as my children.” I admitted carefully, not wanting to hurt their feelings by saying something stupid so I just immediately went with the thing I know these two needed to hear.

“What an incredible revelation!” I jumped, turning to see Demiurge smiling wide. “So lady Bukubukuchagama in her feeling for our Lord Ainz must have made Mare and Aura as the children she imagined having with you! How wonderful!”

Wait no-

“I must inform the others!”

Demiurge was out and gone before I even got so much as an ‘Ah’ out.

Aura and Mare seemed to give me hugs, they then called me dad before rushing out with the biggest smiles.

“... So does that one guy in the suit jump to conclusions often?” Obsidian asked after we were both alone now.

“... I’m going to feed that frog demon bastard his own wings I swear…” I groaned and facepalmed. “But… sadly yes… my friend Ulbert made Demiurge… like a Yes Man, even though he is capable, very smart and understanding… he’s a Yes Man.” I said, leaving out how Ulbert made Demiurge as everything he hated about his work back on Earth.

“So he’s an ass kisser then?”

“Among possibly being a sadistic, results matter being that harms others for fun and curiosity but… thankfully he doesn’t seem to have been causing any of that.” I admitted carefully. “Demiurge is a Demon after all… just… please don’t tell Demiurge… it would genuinely break his heart if he learned this…”

“For being a Lich Lord you’re surprisingly soft hearted.” She replied as she put her gun away, done cleaning it I suppose.

“I’m an Overlord thank you very much.” I said. “Rare racial class, but I’m still a human at heart, as I care about… about my Family’s-”

The sudden scream that cut me off was a gutteral, primal scream of pain and agony.

Ah… Albedo must have heard the news…

“Your family is weird, but kind of neat.” Obsidian chuckled.

“You should see their creators, an even weirder bunch but just as nice… it’s why I care so much about this Guild and everyone in it, the forty other guildmates were… my Comrades, my found family to be honest.”

“Must be nice…”

“... You can be a part of it if you want.” I admitted softly. “I know it’s… sudden to bring that up but… well there’s already been one eldritch screech from a demonette, it can’t get any weirder.”

“Heh, Kind offer… I’ll consider it, but even so I have other stuff to do. Both for the guild and personally… Like torment those rich kids who are playing Adventurer with their mommies money, and flirting with this cute fox girl at the guild.”

“Don’t torment people just because they're rich, my best friend was rich and he was the nicest person I knew.” I stated. “And you flirting with a cute fox girl?”

“Her name is Citrine, and she works as one of the receptionists for the guild. My age. We’ve been on a date.”

“That’s good.” I nodded. “Glad to know you're working on a good relationship.”

“I have friends. Most of them are either just older than me or are busy working with this or that. Besides, all I do is Graffitee the rich kids ship and one time I did paintball them before knocking them around. They’re well trained but hilariously inexperienced.”

“So you’re bullying them because… they’re rich?” I asked slowly.

“... I bully them because they’ll never know…” She said. “Never know the pain it feels to lose everything because of who their parents are… They’ll never know that loss… All the realmless I know, know this pain… and I resent them for that… They’ll never feel this pain, never be a Realmless… They’ll never lose anything…”

“Blaming them for not experiencing the same thing doesn’t solve anything, and it’s concerning that… it sounds like you want them to experience the same things when you want to kill the man that caused your plight so others don’t suffer the same fate.”

“I know it doesn’t make sense… but every time I see that… spark in their eyes, that…”

“... Innocence?” I offered.

“... They were lucky to be born to the Gods of the Light Realm’s Pantheon… Just lucky to be born to the right parents who will never go away… never be taken from them…”

I sighed, scratching my skull as I tried to think of the right words here. “Two of my best friends were on opposite sides, Ulbert, a ‘lower class’ person like me back on Earth, and Touch Me, a Mantis World Champion that was ‘high class’... and even though Ulbert disliked Touch Me due to classism and some other hidden agenda… They both still worked together, trusted each other enough to get through the day and… could have been great friends if they truly talked to each other.” I explained. “It doesn’t matter the background, what matters is their actions… wishing the same pain on others isn’t good in the slightest, and only distances yourself from others, like that fox girl you’re trying to date, does she have the same eyes as you or like those others you are bullying?”

“Citrine is… odd… She’s like… in the middle, I guess? I dunno how to describe it… I can tell she’s seen bad things, and she is Realmless, but she’s also still got that spark… not as bright as those other kids but… still present.”

“Do you want to see that Spark gone?” I asked her simply.

She shook her head.

“Then why do you want the spark gone from the others?”

“... I dunno… Maybe I’m just broken like that?”

“You’re not broken, just misguided.” I said. “Like… my one friend, she went by Almaghest, she was a Fairy, spent way too much time maxing out illusion magic classes and her racials, and with Luci Fer they pulled a lot of pranks… but the day came when she finally came to confide in me about all her pranks, it was a coping mechanism for herself, as she believed being the ‘comedian’ was the only way for people to truly care for her, even if it got people hurt… as long as it made people laugh she thought it fulfilled her…” I sighed, remembering the… terrible sobbing I heard from her that day. “She was misguided, as all she wanted was true friendship, to finally be with someone that saw past her jokes and attempts at comedy to just… the poor soul that needed a helping hand, and it all started when Touch Me was the one that recruited her, and told me to look after her as I was the Guild Master at the time.”

“... You’re not half bad with advice… but you’re one awkward parent figure if the way you handled those twins' new looks is anything.” Obsidian said, managing a small chuckle.

“I couldn’t get a word in edge wise before things went to hell… also you were the one that is making them do their ‘punk rock phase’...”

“Hey they saw the cover art for that song’s album and wanted to know about it so I gave them a makeover. They seemed to like it, especially since it looks like they haven’t worn any other types of clothes.”

Huh… That is a good point… All the spare clothes they have are the same as their normal attire.

Maybe I should get everyone some casual clothes and something for myself too? Most of the clothing I do have are various attires from Yggdrasil and armor. Not to mention a few I borrowed from my friends. Actually… an in-human line of clothes might be fun to see on everyone. Even if most everyone has a humanoid body.

“I'm going to need to buy a wardrobe for everyone.” I admitted.

“So any particular reason the twins cross dress?”

“Their creator, Bukubukuchagama, just wanted them to crossdress, probably thought it was cute or something.” I shrugged. “Not sure really.”

“Eh, they pull it off really well. Without knowing beforehand you could easily mistake them as the wrong gender. I have a feeling their taste in clothing isn’t gonna change much as they age.”

“Doubt it, they actually suggested everyone in Nazarick crossdress, but I shot that down as both it being… embarrassing and unnecessary, but it would make the twins less special.”special

“Fair. Some races don’t even wear clothes often. Mainly because their fur covers everything anyway.”

Huh, I guess that makes sense. If everything is already hidden by natural fur then clothing would either be decorative or for special occasions I imagine.

“True, still trying to… fully wrap my head around a lot of things still.”

“I’ve learned that when it comes to the multiverse that the best thing to do is to accept new information as it comes and try not to question the parts you don’t understand too much.”

“That's probably for the best.” I sighed.

—

“What do you mean a planet room?!” I balked.

“A fully customizable room that houses its own planet that can be designed entirely to the owners needs. Apparently people across the multiverse buy them for everything from personal parks and an excuse to technically never leave the house while also touching grass, to agriculture… imagine farming an entire planet… and I got multiple.” Spite said with a smirk.

“... Fucking hell…” I groaned. “Right… got entire planets…”

“And they were stupid cheap! Only like a grand each.”

A thousand for each is cheap… Knowing Spite he must already have bought plenty in terms of seeds as well as more modern farming equipment and I’m not sure what else.

“Well… we have more than enough space to do anything we want.” I admitted.

“I also took care of that. See it turns out that for the more ‘advanced’ or I guess ‘Civilized’ Multi dimensional civilizations, even simple buildings basically run off Tardis logic… and one can apply this logic through one simple type of Engine that once installed into a building grants near limitless expansion internally.”

“How in the world does that work?” I asked incredulously.

“From what I gathered it looks like the Tech is actually a mix of magic and technology. Apparently after browsing through the book sections out of curiosity it seems the original founder of Freak Inc. learned that you could make circuit boards in the same shape and form as most Rune Magics and from there is evolved, but for the Engine in question is uses these.” Spite pulled out about twenty varying colored crystals, carved like gemstones and each seemed to pulsate with energy. One I noticed seemed to radiate pure magic. “These are Elemental Gems, apparently they can be found across the Multiverse and each gem contains the raw power of what’s considered an element of creation itself.”

“That is fascinating!” I said in amazement. “Literal pure elemental energy in gem form?”

“Yeah. They got Fire, Water, Ice, Earth, Space, Time, Electricity, which for some reason they call Electronium, Light, Dark, something called Nothingness, Void, and a bunch of others.”

“I think one of the Realmless is an Electronian now that I think about it, and what’s especially weird is because ‘Electricity’ shouldn’t equal them looking… like that.” I said, remembering seeing an Electronium Ferret woman and… I’m sorry but should that lady be a nine foot tall amazon goddess?

“Maybe it’s named that way cause one of her species discovered it?”

“Hmm, maybe.” I hummed, scratching my chin. “But it’s another thing to think about and delve into, cause now that I’m being told rune work can be used with electronics… now there’s so many different things we can come up with.”

“True, but it might be specific runes… In any case once these farms are set up and going food will not be an issue ever. I also handled the harvesting and replanting stuff with the purchases. Which leads me to my next purchase.”

“And what is your mystical next purchase that is bigger than buying whole planets?”

“I got us a ship that goes through space, time and can bring us all over this planet in minutes.”

“While that is fantastic, we have a lot of work to do that doesn’t involve space and time travel.” I admitted carefully.

“True, but this also means as of now we’re the only nation on the planet with the potential for something that likely won’t be achieved on this planet for melenia… A genuine Air Force.”

Right… When planes were first invented it changed the world for travel, transport and war.

The fastest planes with the best armor dominated the skies, and could rain death from above. As a deterrent, it’s priceless.

“I mean, that’s true, and while technically we did have an air force with winged creatures… well, one part of this is we’re trying not to cause war on this planet or Yggdrasil.”

“True, but with a means of proper flight we can also better examine this planet and Yggdrasil for cracks and respond timely to them.”

“That is true.” I nodded. “At this point it’s probably a miracle that we haven’t had any invaders and just kept it too Yggdrasil monsters… though the bad guys are probably still reeling even if there’s a decade time difference.”

“Maybe. Other than that I bought some pre-made food rations to help keep it stocked for the Tomb and the Realmless Refugees as well as construction equipment.”

“Thank you, might be small but it genuinely means a lot that you're helping me like this.” I admitted.

“Well you seem to really need it. Oh yeah I did get some other things. First, here.” He said, pulling out a large bag from his Inventory and handing it to me. I opened it, looking inside and… there were two odd fruits here. One was very reminiscent of a human heart, and the other… looked like a heart shaped pink apple?

“Um… and these are?” I inquired.

“The pink heart apples are called Lusts Quench. Apparently when eaten by a succubus it satisfies their need for lust and even helps quell their more… promiscuous behaviour. The one that looks like an actual heart is called a Flesh Fruit. When eaten by a species that can only feed off the flesh of another, like Zombies, Vampires, Ghouls, ect, it fills their hunger as if they ate the flesh or drank the blood they needed. And yes I got seeds to grow them as well. I figured Shalltear and Albedo could make the most use of them.”

“... Huh.” I said slowly. “That is… interesting to say the least… I’m not gonna question it…”

“Other than that I just bought some other… utilities…”

“I don’t entirely like how you said ‘utilities’.” I said carefully. “What did you buy?”

“Stuff…”

I gave him the flattest look a skeleton could give him. “Is it porn?”

“Who do I look like, Drago? It’s not porn. It’s just… enough weapons to take over our earth and… the means of mass producing an army…”

… HUH!?

“Why, how, for what reason, and.. The fucken… Whermst!?”

“I’m an American, surprisingly on sale, because you’re worried about other entities outside our world coming here and making hell, and in The Shop.”

“I mean… fair, but still!”

“Look, even if we can make peace with all the other nations and form a unified front, we still have to deal with the cracks and whatever unknown forces might be there. So far we’ve been lucky but luck only goes so far… For all we know the next crack we find will bring something here capable of easily killing us all.”

“True…” I sighed bitterly. “But we could also have the Light Realm outsiders get to us first I suppose.”

“I’m not so optimistic. We haven’t even met anyone from that place.”

“True… let’s just hope for the best.” I sighed. 

“Now, who’s going to be the mother Mr. Bone daddy?” Spite asked with a smug ass grin.

“Oh come on! Not you too!” I whined. “And don’t call me that!”

Spite chuckled. “Your followers really like to gossip. That and I could hear Albedo cursing under her breath from down the hall.”

“Damn it Albedo…” I groaned.

Spite chuckled. “Well at least things are going well right? At this rate we should be set supplies wise, just need to wait on those other kingdom’s answers.”

I sighed, nodding as-

Huh?

What was that… that… spike in magic… it was enormous…

“Even I felt that…” Spite said, gritting his teeth.

“Shit.” I said quickly, bringing a hand to my ear. “Every Floor Guardian! Red Alert, Nazarick at full defensive capabilities!” I used my communication spells as best I could.

“I don’t think that was nearby-” Spite was saying as the office door was kicked open, Obsidian rushing in.

“Move your butts that magic came from at least a thousand miles south of us.” She barked.

That would be… The Slane Theocracy.

“Oh no, the Slane Theocracy still hasn’t come to terms with the truth of things!” I groaned. “Fuck, don’t have a Gate point set up, Spite, how fast did you say that new aircraft was?”

“Whatever it is I can pilot it.” Obsidian said.

“Oh this is gonna be fun.” Spite smirked.

We quickly made it out of the Tomb where Spite produced- I’m sorry is that a helicopter?!

“That works, big enough to hold Skeli bones here.” Obsidian said as she jumped into the pilot seat.

A helicopter… a helicopter in a fantasy magic world… This feels wrong… but why is part of me geeking out over it?

“I shouldn’t be geeking out over a fucking helicopter…” I managed.

“What? This one goes two hundred miles an hour. Normally. I was told these are old designs with modern engines.” Spite said as he got in.

I sighed but walked in myself, taking a seat as Obsidian was actually piloting it- Okay wow this thing is fast…

In less than a few minutes we were already in the Slane Theocracy’s territory…

Something feels off… I’m not seeing any mages or guards… but I’m sensing mana all over this place… some residual, the rest feels… concentrated? Not like casting a spell more like it’s contained…

“I don’t like this.” I said carefully. “Mana Essence.” I said, as it was effectively a ‘Detect MP’ in people to see who had the biggest amount here as I looked across the city.

What is this? The mana I’m detecting… It’s far more than any human I’ve come across so far… It rivals some of the Floor Guardians… And it’s all over the place.

“Hold up, I’m landing!” Obsidian called out.

“Be careful, I’m getting a lot of Floor Guardian level’s of MP and it’s… all over the place.” I said carefully.

“Just the MP?” Spite asked.

I checked again… Yes… Only the MP. The rest seems normal to only slightly above normal for a human…

Obsidian landed outside a village and we didn’t have to enter to find one of these… what?

It stood on two feet, walking with a deranged look on their face, holding onto itself with tatters of clothes. It was like someone took a Koalla, a Bunny and Rat and merged them into a somewhat humanoid shape.

“A Nokori?” Obsidian asked. “Those shouldn’t be native to this world…”

“... Alex, or his followers must have gotten here.” I said quickly, as the only conclusion I could make with the information Karma Guide gave me not all that long ago.

“It’s likely one of his creations… He’s also known as the God Maker for a reason… and if one of his creations is here… They must be looking to expand his empire.”

“Why turn them into weird furries though?” Spite asked.

“Nokori have a unique trait about them, they’re the only race that can be merged with a Core Stone.” Obsidian said.

“And that is?” I asked.

“Think of it as a magic artifact that can absorb weapons and items and add them to another weapon, item or armor. Normally if one applies these stones to themselves they gain all that it can do but it locks them out of the Assistant Abilities and Skills, even Titles… But not Nokori.”

“The Slane Theocracy must have agreed to this to gain power, I’m certain they hate the fact they have to be ‘equals’ with my Kingdom.” I said carefully.

“That’s not how the Nokori God works.” Obsidian said, shaking her head. “He doesn’t make deals or bargains… He has people transformed, and then taken… This isn’t the Slane Theocracy’s desire for power, this is stage one in its total abduction from this planet.”

“How do we stop it?” I asked quickly.

“We need to find the God that’s doing this and take them out.”

I nodded, donning my Divine Gear and Staff of Ainz Ooal Gown, a Guild Weapon above even my Divine Gear. “Let’s get to it.”

“How do we find this god then?” Spite asked.

“I can think of one way.” Obsidian said as she produced her pistols. “Just hope I’m right.” She added and aimed at the wandering Nokori nearby.

“They’re an innocent, why are you aiming at them?” I asked quickly.

“The Nokori God and his creations view mortals as nothing more than a resource. Producing nothing but Faith and Fodder for the Eternal War… Even so, they hate losing their livestock.” Obsidian said, firing her pistol.

A tendril emerged from the ground, rising up and striking the bullet away.

“What a bother.” A voice spoke as the shadows collected themselves into a pool. Rising from it was some form of horned wolf, with multiple tails all ending in pointed spear-like tips. Their fur was jet black and they wore a small set of glasses on them that rested on their muzzle. “Pesky little outsiders meddling in Divine Affairs.”

“Your ‘Divine Affairs’ is an invasion of a neutral world.” I stated. “Either surrender and leave, stopping whatever nonsense you had in store for this world, or suffer the consequences.”

“Neutral World?” They asked, slightly tilting their head. “All I see is unclaimed cattle, and three outsiders playing at Shepards." He said as I managed to block an incoming strike from their tendril tail. 

Shit! Even with the Staff and blocking I took damage from that hit.

He’s strong… He really is a God…

“Alright…” I said, tapping my staff to the ground and casting Time Stop, the world turning a monochrome but parts of it weirdly had a neon blue tint to it. “No more mister nice Ainz. Delay Spell, Maximize Magic: Grasp Heart.” I casted, raising my hand up.

“Now aren’t you a cheeky mage.” I looked up, seeing their head move as they seemed to be pulling their body… out of the spell?! “Not many can cast Time Magic this effective… You might be more useful as a resource.” They grinned, sharp teeth as their body was pulling out of the Time Stop spell.

As the Time Stop spell ended, I held an image of their heart and crushed it as I maximised this Instant Death Spell, and while it may not ‘instant kill’, it’ll definately fuck him up as I literally crushed his Heart.

I saw them twitch slightly as I did, but I felt resistance from the spell… I know I crushed it! Still they’re pushing through.

“What cute spellcraft… Allow me to show you mine.” They said, an eye turning full black. “Devour Mana.”

All around me the spell… Time Stop, he’s eating it?!

As Spite and Obsidian moved again the God before us sighed, my spell slipping down their throat like a noodle. 

“Triple Maximize Magic, Reality Slash!” I shouted, as three slashes that rend the very space they traveled through launched towards the strange god.

Their tails met the attack and were pushing back. Obsidian began shooting, and Spite produced his shovel.

“This isn’t good. What do we do?” Spite asked.

“Without knowing his Divine Weakness we’ll have to rely on basic weaknesses. This guy is Pharaoh, The God of Shadows, meaning he should be weaker to Light based attacks. He’s also a Nokori with a Darkness Affinity, meaning Light magic will be even more effective against him.” Obsidian said. 

I raised my Guild Staff, as its creation let me use spells I wouldn’t normally be able to cast. “Thank you my Comrades, for all your blood sweat and money to be able to fight with our Guild Weapon.” I thought in joy. “Maximize Magic! Brilliant Radiance!” I shouted, one of the orbs in the snakes mouths glowing brightly as holy light erupted like a volcano beneath Pharaoh.

His fur and skin seemed to burn as I saw Spite was casting some kind of spell to his shovel.

“That stung.” Pharaoh growled as multiple tendrils shot out at us.

I had to rapid teleport to dodge as Obsidian was dodging with great speed and Spite was blocking most of the attacks.

Damn it, we need Drago.

“Body of Effulgent Beryl." I said quickly, a green glow surrounding my body making me immune to at least one blunt attack if I manage to slip up here. “Oi! Drago! We need your help here!” I called through the Message Spell and also my Assistant’s phone, seeing Spite’s magic take affect as massive vines broke through the ground and lashed out at the god.

“I'm on my way, just hold on for as long as you can.” Drago stated carefully.

Even using Light Attacks with Maximize Magic he’s tanking these hits. the Time Stop spell only delayed him temporarily… Think, what other spells could hinder them?

“Long shot, but it might as least help.” I thought, pointing a bony finger towards as Darkness radiated across my body, my Overlord class boosting this ability. “Aura of Despair, Level 4.” I growled, as the God stared at me and went stock still for a moment as this level either induced ‘Insanity’, a rather nasty debuff back in Yggdrasil.

The seemed to fight off the insanity aspect, shaking their head only to be distracted long enough for Spite to get a whack in with their shovel as Obsidian got two shots in with her guns.

He punched Spite, sending the Elf flying into a building.

My Assistant showed his HP drop by half. Half his HP in one hit. I know he's not wearing actual armor but still…

[“Momonga. You need one of the Elemental Crystals. The Light Gem.”]

I was about to question it but at this point we don’t really have a lot of options as I brought out the Light Gem. “How do I use this thing? Is it an Amplifier or something else?” I mentally asked Karma.

[“Squeeze it in your hand and when the pop up appears select yes by thinking yes.”]

I nodded and squeezed the gem in my head, spamming ‘yes’ constantly as I didn't care if technically I had a vulnerability to Light I really needed this.

I watched as the gem seemed to suddenly melt, absorbing into my bones.

[You have absorbed the Elemental Gem of Light.

Notice! Your Undead race will suffer debuff-]

[“System Title Override!”]

[Override accepted! You will not suffer debuffs due to users race affinities.

Notice! New Class Magic Unlocked. The Holy Undead!

While active, all Necromancies and Dark Magic spells will instead be powered by Light and Light Magic.

User no longer receives extra damage from Light and Holy based attacks.]

“Alright, that seems like a good thing.” I thought carefully as I activated this ‘Holy Undead’ affect and raised my hand. “Triple Maximize Magic: True Dark!” I shouted, the 10th Level Dark spell shifting into a Holy Spell right before my eyes as it descended on high and slammed straight into Pharoah.

They screamed. Genuine pain as this attack damaged them and made them hurt.

Finally. Progress!

“Nice moves, but we have two options.* Obsidian said as she landed next to me. “We can kill him and he'll respawn and probably return later, or we can imprison him.”

“If possible, we should imprison him. But I don’t know if we have anything that can actually imprison him, he can eat Magic so I doubt my Dimensional Lock will keep him here long if he tries to escape.”

“I got you.” She said, pulling out from her Assistant inventory what looked to be a… rubix Cube, still it's giving off a powerful aura. “Get a few more good hits like that off on him and I can use this.”

“On it.” I said with a nod. “Do you know any spells I can also use?” I mentally asked Karma as I used True Dark again on Pharoah.

[“Any and all Dark Magics you use while Holy Undead is active will deal Light and Holy damage rather than dark. Your whole arsenal is now vastly damaging to them for the remainder of time it's active.”]

“Alright.” I thought carefully, hoping there was some higher tier magic I could use to bring even more pain to this guy but I’ll just keep going with this.

I do wonder what else my usual Dark Magic can do when replaced by Light…

“Maximize Magic: Rays of the Eclipse!” I shouted, another 10th Tier Dark Magic spell I rarely use, it summoning a false moon to block out the sun in the general area and fired off lasers of pure darkness normally

This time, it summoned forth the sun, the sky lighting up with false daylight as the beams rained down like hellfire that Pharaoh was dodging, blocking and the few that did hit seemed to hurt them just as bad.

When the spell ended he rushed back and towards the town.

“Oh no you don't!” Obsidian yelled as she rushed after them.

“Fly!” I snapped, feeling-

Fwoosh!

… Wings… Fuck.

“Did you mean to cast Fly or March of the Chickens?” Spite asked incredulously l, finally crawling out of the rubble of that building as I saw I created Angel Wings.

“I don’t know…” I groaned

“Hurry! Before he finds a person!” Obsidian yelled, hot on the god's heels.

I shook my head as I took flight towards Pharoah. “Dimensional Lock!” I shouted, chains lashing out at Pharoah to force him to remain in this world, no Teleporting, no Gate work in case he finds a person and manages to teleport out with whatever sacrifice they’ll make.

We caught up with Obsidian, gun aimed as Pharaoh had that Nokori from earlier.

Obsidian was aiming at her.

She fired. Right as Pharaoh jabbed his hand into her torso. Obsidian’s bullet hit the innocent in the head shortly after.

“Heh, too late.” Pharaoh said, ripping his hand out of the corpse and holding a glowing orb he quickly ate.

“The fuck did he eat?” Spite asked.

“Her soul…” Obsidian said sharply.

“He… ate that person’s soul…” I said slowly, staring at Pharaoh…

“Like I said, mortals are cattle to them… Were they a follower he'd be stronger, but since it was a random person it's more like a Full Restore.” Obsidian growled as I saw Pharaoh’s wounds begin to quickly heal.

“Skill:” I said, walking up to Pharoah, a Golden Clock forming behind my back like a Karmic Wheel. “The Goal of All Life is Death…” I growled, stepping again as Pharoah was… relishing in devouring that innocent person’s soul. “True Death.” I said, waving my hand as an Aura surrounded Pharoah, letting me know that the spell took affect as the time ticked down.

11

“Pathetic mortals!” Pharoah laughed.

10

“You truly think your paltry abilities can hurt me?”

9

“You will suffer.” I stated, leaping back as they tried to swing at me again.

8

Obsidian shot at them, deflecting another swing at me

7

“Maximize Magic: Wrath of the Earth!” I heard Spite shout, slamming their shovel to the ground and using a powerful druidic spell that had dozen’s of earthen spikes launch towards Obsidian.

6

“Pathetic!” The ‘god’ snapped as he destroyed the spike pillars, before the broken stones floated in mid air and launched at him.

5

“You will pay.” I declared.

4

“For the people you forcibly changed to suit your needs!”

3

“For the innocent who’s soul you just devoured!”

2

“And to set a lesson your pathetic realm will forever know!” I shouted.

1

“AINZ OOAL GOWN SHALL NEVER KNOW DEFEAT!” I screamed to the Heavens as the Bell of Death tolled for Pharoah, as that smirk, that smug aura about him that made him believe he was better than us, faded in an instant as his eyes widened in abject horror as he fell to his knees, his fur changing to a deathly white and falling out in places, vomiting up blood at a rather disturbing rate. “Now and Forever More. Obsidian! Do it!”

Obsidian nodded and threw the prison box at the dying God, hitting him upside the head as the box spun and opened up, sucking the ‘god’ straight into it without a single bit of fuss or pomp.

“... The Deed is Done…” I sighed, shifting back to my ‘normal’ form.

“... That was overly flashy…” Spite said.

“Somtimes you need to make a Statement…” I said carefully, staring up at the sky as the sound of glass shattering was heard. “Especially to those bastards that watched us.”

“Great… what now?”

“You have a shovel… bury the body of that Nokori Woman.” Obsidian said, picking up the prison cube. “I'm turning this in for the reward.”

“And I need to see the Leaders of this place…” I sighed. “Damn it…” I muttered, looking at the dead body. “... I doubt Resurrection spells work on Soul Death right?”

“There is a thing called an Echo. The Genetic Memory of a Person. That can be revived, but it would be with a new, different soul.” 

“Would she be the same person?” Spite asked.

“That's up to your own beliefs.” 

“Well… it’s probably the same person but… that’s a whole different topic that I’m not in the mood or headspace to think about…”

“Yeah… so who's offering a reward for that guy?” Spite asked, motioning to the cube.

“Realm of Light. And since this is one of Alex's then the other Nokori God is gonna be happy about that.” Obsidian said.

Other Nokori God?

“I… know this might sound dumb, but there are multiple Nokori Gods?” I asked, as considering there’s been plenty of different Gods of the same thing like Lightning and such.

“Yeah. The first was Alex, but he largely goes by The God Maker these days. The second Nokori God is called David Romero, he's also known as the Hellfire Human Hunter.”

“That is a wordy name.” Spite said.

“Yeah.” Obsidian nodded in agreement.

“Right…” I managed. “But you did well in that fight, Spite.” I admitted, cause they weren’t really a ‘fighter’, and more of a ‘homestyle RPer’ based on what they do and their build but still.

“I have played fighting games, just not as much.”

I nodded. “Good… and while I understand you don’t want to be on the front lines or fight at all, I’d still recommend training with either Cocytus or Sebas.”

“Nah I'm good.”

“Understandable.” I nodded. “Well, I best check on the council here…” I sighed, heading off to the ‘Church’ that acted as their capital building in hopes of figuring out if this was an invasion or if these assholes did this on purpose.

—

It was an invasion. Through their nonsensical murmurs it seems that Pharaoh just appeared. Saying something about the ‘Human Temperament’ before there was a blinding light… and they all recalled agonizing pain before waking up with fur.

I sighed, scratching my head as I tried to figure out how Pharaoh was able to commit such massive transmutation with what amounted to a flick of his wrist. “This is getting even more complicated…”

I need to know more about God's… I need to know about the kinds of God's this God Maker Alex makes…

[“Scanning Records. One New Account on God Maker Alex’s Divine Production.”] Karma Guide informed.

“And… what can you inform me about this?”

[“Incident Report 003230. Commonly Referred to as The Assembly Line. The God of Forgiveness in search of their evil counterpart, The God of Hatred’s parents, learned that the God Maker doesn't just ascend promising people to Divines, he grows them. The God of Forgiveness and Hatred both recount a large chamber with mounds of flesh hooked to machinery where infant, Newborn Divines were pumped out through tubes and grown in canisters. The God Maker seems to have learned that rather than replicating promising individuals, he focused on the source of the lineage and would kidnap various reflections of parents of powerful beings, and the success has reportedly been astronomical in the amount born Divines.”]

“... What the actual fuck?” I asked slowly, completely flabbergasted and… more or less speechless about how someone would, could, and is doing such a horrible thing!

[“The process seems to have both parents merged into an amalgam form, pumped with divinity and on permanent life support while surgically the tubes and other additions are added in. The resulting realization made the God of Forgiveness claim The Nokori God Alex as truly unforgivable.”]

“I’d be surprised if he thought that was forgivable!”

[“The God of Forgiveness can forgive a lot, and help others to move past who they were and become better, but God Maker Alex has become the first the God of Forgiveness has given up on.”]

“There’s a good reason for that.”

So this Alex is a complete Psychopath… and his Godly Creations literally vat grown… far more scientific than I expected, I'll admit that much.

“Alright just… calm down, the bastard is probably going to be hunted down for sport due to how awful he is…”

More than likely by the other Nokori God too…

[“Your Karma level has dropped to -195.”]

“... By 200 points!?” I thought in surprise, as last I was told it was at -395.

[“For defeating a God with hostile intentions, the God of Karma themselves has personally deducted the maximum amount they are allowed within the rules. You have also been gifted the Karma Title: Protector of The Realm and the Standard Title: I Beat A God.”]

“That second one is more of a statement than a Title but…  beggars can’t be choosers I guess…” I thought, looking into both Titles to see what they did.

[Karma Title: Protector of The Realm - Word about the events in the Slane Theocracy and how all the residents were changed to an Inhuman species by an other worldly god defeated by your hand has spread fast. The Other nations will vow allegiance to the Sorcerer Kingdom despite some internal parties distrust.

Standard Title: I Beat A God - Despite not being divine you have accomplished the feat of defeating a God. You gain +20% Damage against Divine Class enemies and +20% resistance to Divine based attacks.]

“Well that’s good to know… and well, at least everyone’s now going to ally with me so that’s also a plus.”

[“The Nokori God David Romero has also been informed of your fear and approves of your potential. They have gifted you the Divine Blessing, Nokori Kin.”]

A blessing?

“Nokori Kin? What, does this make people that are Nokori see me as friendly or something?” I thought, checking up this new Blessing as… so many things are happening at the moment.

[Blessings:

Nokori Kin: With this blessing the Nokori Race whether born as or transformed artificially will feel safer with your presence and will naturally trust you more. You also gain +50% charisma when speaking with a member of the Nokori Race.”]

Hmm… it looks like Blessings act a little like Titles, but rather than through the system it is directly given from a god.

“Alright, good to know I can be trusted by this new race.” I thought. “Just wish I was faster to prevent this.”

Hmm… Drago was still upset he showed up late for the fight, but at least he's been examining the extent of the Slane Theocracy. So far it's as feared, every man, woman and child was transformed. The psychological effects on the people added to the physical pain the change gave must be torture to them… what with their highly religious culture and rather racist view of other species. 

Hmm… maybe I can put this Nokori Kin blessing to use sooner than I was expecting…

I decided to use fly off towards the capital building, hoping to get the leaders to start a massive public meeting so I can hopefully talk to as many people as I can to hopefully curb this massive problem. “Would I get negative karma if I used Control Amnesia on willing participants?”

[“Depends on the extent. Brinia, the God of Knowledge used his magic and a special magic artifact to wipe the memories of the survivors of his genocide of humanity entirely, leaving that world's artificially created Nokori Race to inherit what their memory wiped minds saw as a world left in ruins that once belonged to a precursor race.”]

“... Okay I was just gonna leave it to the Theocracy cause of… all this crap, but what the hell…”

[“A vote then?”]

“Most likely, it’s why I’m trying to call for a General Assembly of some kind to talk to the populace.”

[“I can help with that. Generating Vote System.”]

After a moment another pop up appeared.

[Type Inquarry here.

Type Options here]

This feels like a social media poll, but it would be faster…

“Ugh… I thought I got away from that hell hole.” I thought with a small chuckle as I started to put up the name ‘Memories New or Old?’ with polls between ‘Keep your Memories’ or ‘Believe you're a Nokori’. “Um… that works right? I'm not really uh… good at this.”

[“Allow me to edit.”]

The message I wrote reappeared in a new pop up.

[You have a right to choose, so choose what you feel will help you endure.

-Forget you were human and start over.

-Keep Memories and try to move on.

The most selected option will apply to the whole kingdom.]

“Thank you.” I thought, as that sounds a lot better. “Didn't think this would have happened… mass amnesia to help the people… even if I have learned the Theocracy was made with the intent of keeping humanity alive.” I thought, having learned what the Theocracy was supposed to be and how it originated.

[“And in one night, all of them were human no more.”]

I sighed, nodding as I submitted the poll.

Results in twenty four hours… or when every vote has been cast…

“Let’s hope for the best.” I thought carefully.

To be continued...

Chapter Text

I am not surprised, but I am deeply disappointed…

“Cowards.” Spite huffed as I told him the results. 

Ninety seven present voted to forget…

What's worse is that it didn't even take long! Just five hours!

“So… gonna wipe their memories then?” Drago asked me.

“That's what people voted for… I'm just… shocked that people want to forget like, what the hell happened to make them forsake their humanity that fast?”

“Silly Jojo, the power of homoerotic piled up vampires is the reason.” Drago joked.

“Don't you dare bring Jojo into this dude.” I groaned.

“They're so racist they'd rather forget they were human to avoid hating themselves?” Spite offered.

“That is even more pathetic than how I once thought they were with their human supremacy.” I said bitterly. “But I'll ask around before doing what I have to, just to make sure.”

“Just give them what they ask for… people like this aren’t logical.” Drago huffed.

“I still want to double check I suppose, but I'm still gonna do it.”

“Me dos think Skelator procrastinates too much.” Spite said.

“I work a lot more than you do.” I huffed.

“I’d like to see you plow a field- Another month Albedo!” Spite shouted at the door as I heard the succubus yelp before rushing away from the door.

I facepalmed. “She really needs to calm down…”

“How did you even know she was there?” Drago asked.

“I could hear her rapid panting start up as I spoke…” Spite said.

“That’s… concerning.” I admitted.

“Hey, at least you have someone that wants you…” Drago sighed.

“Oh yeah that’s right neither of you have spouses.” Spite said.

“Yep, no lady back on Earth wanted me and never got lucky enough to get a thing to create NPC’s and lore my way into having one.” Drago stated bitterly. “While Jackson McHarem over here has at least three women that want or wanted him.” Drago pointed to me accusingly.

“H-hey! Th-that’s not… true…” I said nervously.

“Yeah. He edited it in Albedo and regrets it, and be honest, Shalltear will fuck anything pulse or no pulse.” Spite said. “Actually you probably have a shot with her.”

“No, I'm not fucking Peroronchino’s fetishes personified.” I stated. “Even when I get a body.”

“How much you wanna bet they end up in bed within a year?” Spite asked me.

Hmmm… Is a year enough time?

“I don't know if I'll find the other pieces in a year, and honestly Albedo is… my preferred body type…” I managed.

“This just in, the sky is blue, the grass is green, and men like huge tits and fat asses.” Drago joked like he was a news reporter.

“Oh shut up!” I whined.

“Okay, I think you two missed what I said, but I meant Drago sleeping with Shalltear.”

“Fucking gross.” Drago shuddered. “From what I heard about Peroronchino, the only fetish he didn’t step towards was Incest, everything else was more or less fair game.”

Spite looked over to me. 

“Eh, I'll say two years or one very heavy drinking day.” I shrugged.

The betrayal on Drago’s face was honestly hilarious. I didn't know a dragon could make that kind of facial expression.

“How dare you betray me like this! I thought we were friends!” The dragonoid said dramatically.

“We are, but I also know you're very horny. Not as horny as Peroronchino, few people are that horny, but horny all the same and by your own admittance you haven't been with anyone the fifty years you've been here either.”

“The clock is ticking, and your crotch is itching~” Spite cackled.

“I do not have the clap!” Drago groaned.

“I'm actually not even sure if STD’s are a thing in this world?” I added. “Medically there's little anyone really knows…” I hummed.

“Yo! Boneitus!” Obsidian called as she poked her head in the door.

Spite chuckled, as did Drago.

“Yes, Obsidian?” I asked, turning to face the otter girl.

“You're wanted at the towns and Fortress Town by the sky crack. They finished building the whole thing and you're wanted for some ceremonial ribbon cutting and maybe a speech?”

“Alright.” I nodded, getting up and opening a Gate. “We shall continue this conversation later.”

“I’m still not fucking a corpse.” Drago huffed.

“... Yeah I really don't wanna know…” Obsidian said as she quickly left.

I chuckled as I walked through the Gate, finding myself surrounded by the Realmless. I was already on a stage and, wow, Nyx?

“Glad you could make it.” She said.

“Hello Guildmaster, what brings you here?” I inquired.

“This is the first real settlement for the Realmless made for them, I wasn't gonna miss this occasion.”

“Well, I suppose that’s fair. Though it’s… surprising it’s the first settlement for the Realmless.”

“Not many world have the space, and others are busy being at war.” She sighed. “In any case, thank you for doing this. So, want to give a speech for the new residents of this cross-dimensional town?”

“I shall do my best.” I nodded.

I walked to the center of the stage, looking out at the large crowd. A speech… I've made a few of these before. Hope they like whatever I can make up on the spot…

I lightly tapped my staff on the ground, it echoing loud enough to silence the crowd mutters as I took a deep breath, raising my hand and green magic spell circles appeared to amplify my voice. “Today, is a Glorious Day, for today you are no longer ‘Realmless’, but instead citizens of the Sorcerer Kingdom, Denizens of Yggdrasil, as you can finally rest knowing you finally have a true home.” I stated, my voice echoing over the large crowd. “While it may not be your home world, I promise, as your King, that I will do my utmost to make sure you are all taken care of, treated as equals and not ridiculed because of your previous status, and now that this will be a place you can be truly safe to rebuild your lives, focus on your dreams, and do anything you couldn’t do before, because I, am Ainz Ooal Gown!” I said, raising my staff high. “And by my name, the Guild of my Comrades, and the name of the Sorcerer Kingdom, shall know no defeat!”

I was met by applause. Shortly after, the people began to celebrate.

This is good… this feels like the right thing to do.

[“Congradulations! You have created the first major settlement for the Realmless! Your Karma Level has officially reached 0 and gone upwards to +10! You now can make use of the ‘Draw From The Past’ functionality of the Karma Guide System Title!

“The 'Draw From The Past' function will require the user to collect more positive Karma, which will now be registered as Karma Points, or KP for short! This first use will not use any KP, but the next will require 500 KP to use.”]

“The hell does ‘Draw From The Past’ even do?” I mentally asked. “And why so much?”

[“Wanna find out?”]

“Yes please.”

A new pop up displayed, morphing into… a deck of cards? Each card had the Guild Insignia on it and the deck began to shuffle around before a single card slipped out and floated before me.

Huh. Kind of reminds me of a Gotcha Game, but with cards.

“Alright, let's hope for the 5 star.” I chuckled at my silly joke as I flipped the card over.

Huh? I was surprised as on the card’s front was an image of… Peroroncino? The deck vanished and then the card floated out of my boney fingers, floating in front of me before a blinding flash of light appeared.

When it stopped…

“Whoah what the shit just happened?” Standing before me was… He’s… here? Peroroncino stood, arms spread out for balance before they seemed to be feeling along their body now. “What the… This old avatar?”

I saw the bird man moving around, flaring his wings as he got accustomed to this… “Pero… h-how!?

“Huh?” He turned, seeing me. “Momo? What the? Am I dreaming?” He asked, pinching himself. “Owe- Holy… wait this is real? That pop up was real!?”

“Y-yes, I… I don't know what popup you got but… it's real…” I said, wishing so dearly I could cry because I would right now. “My comrad… my friend… it's good to see you once again.”

“I was in… my place when this… pop up appeared in front of me. Like I was in a game at the moment and it asked me if I’d like to Return to Nazarick… It had been months since the servers shut down and I kind of thought I snapped so I clicked yes.”

“Trust me, I nearly snapped too when the servers shut down and I appeared here.” I admitted. “There's… there's so much to talk about…”

“I have multiple questions.”

“Go right ahead, ask away my friend.”

“First off… Did the game become real?”

“Yesn’t? It was a game before the massive crack in the sky, now it's real.” I explained carefully.

“Not sure if that explained anything to me but alright. Second questions. Did Albedo’s boobs become real!?”

… I laughed. I laughed so hard and loud. God I’ve fucking missed this! I’ve missed him!

“Yes, they are very real, and no, you can't fuck her… she loves me because I did some… small writing changes cause I'm a dork.” I managed through my laughter.

“Understandable. I too would have had I had the chance. Third question! Who’s the sexy with the fur and pony ears?” He asked, motioning to Nyx.

“I’m Nyx, and I’m out of your league.” Nyx answered.

“Both figuratively because she's a Guild Master, and quite literally because you need to calm thy horny my guy.”

“Ugh, don’t remind me. I’ve spent all the time since I left Yggdrasil in a mental hospital.”

WHAT?!

“What? When? Why!? Are you alright, what caused this!?” I asked in a panic for my friends safety and health.

“A horrific event. It’s too terrible to say!” Peroroncino said dramatically, holding an arm towards me as if to make distance. The lights then seemed to darken somehow as there was now a spotlight on them.

Wha?

“It was everything I was looking for. A single H-Game that was Dive compatible, state of the art sensation mechanics and top of the line AI for believable player interactions. I was hooked by the art, and as I made my way through the sexy land I found her. The in-game NPC that stole my heart. Alicia. She was everything I wanted and more. Perfect body type, all my fetishes, endless clothing options, and the dialogue. It was perfect, the most wonderful sluttery voice… That voice. Because of how she spoke I never connected the dots, I’d already done so much with them. Everything on my list, three times over and some new things only to then finally continue on to beat the game and then I saw it, in the credits… Alicia was voiced by none other than my own sister! I cried for days, puked for hours. Showered both in real life and virtual space. All the memories with her were replaced by my sister's face! I broke, so I quit all games and checked into a mental hospital. Where they basically medicated me while an AI ‘therapist’ made me talk about it because their facility didn’t want to waste money on human therapists.”

The lights suddenly came back on as the spotlight vanished.

I stared at my friend, at the over dramatic birdman… at my comrad… “I am going to find the Testicular Torsion spell, and I will cast it on you.” I said slowly, as I felt punished by hearing his dramatic tale of jerking off to his sister's voice.

“Hey! It was traumatic alright! It crossed a line I swore would remain uncrossed.”

“I thought you actually went insane from something important! Not you panicking over jerking off to someone voiced by your sister!”

“I was traumatized!”

I facepalmed and sighed ruefully. “Well, glad to know you're still in high spirits Pero…”

“So… can you answer me as to how I got here then?”

“That is because the world has gotten a lot bigger, and I got a skill that… lets me summon the guild members at random if I've been doing good.”

“That’s… weird… So… Did you throw my shit out or?”

“No, your gear is in the Hall of the Guild, and your bow was necessary in… dealing with a certain problem.” I said carefully.

“Cool. So how did you get here then? Were you online when the servers went down?”

“Yeah, I was sitting down in the throne room one last time… wishing any of you were there with me, as Herohero was… only there for a little bit before he had to sleep.”

“Glad someone made it at least one more time. Back in the facility they didn’t allow Dive Tech and internet usage was restricted. I did see the invitation you sent to my Email, and I am sorry I didn’t reply… I thought a lot about the old times in that game… The whole thing honestly felt… Sad and nostalgic. I did miss it. Wait, I just realized something! You said Albedo is real now… that means Shalltear…”

“Is also real, also has your fetishes, and really wants to bang me cause you're a really weird dude.” I frowned. “But I need an important thing answered… did… Bukubukuchagama… like me?” I asked carefully.

“Huh? Oh yeah. She had a big crush on you.” Pero said. “One of the few times we talked without it either becoming an argument or just her bitching was about her trying to decide on whether or not to ask you out… Only reason she didn’t in the end was because she figured given her VA career you might not like it with all those games and such she’s voicing for the dirty audience.”

“... God damn it… now everyone will truly believe Aura and Mare are what she imagined our kids would look like…” I groaned. “But she… still could have asked…”

“Huh? Wait, you didn’t notice?” Pero asked me. “You… Remember when we were sharing photos of our IRL faces?” He asked as I nodded. “While their blonde hair was all her idea, cause elves, but you never noticed? Their green and purple eyes… Dude, your IRL eyes are that green color, and hers are purple.”

… AHHHHH!!!

“I am the pain!” I whined, clutching at my crystal heart. “I'm turning into a dense harem mc! Fuck!”

“You really are dense…”

“Silence Siscon!”

I swear Peroroncino took physical damage as they flew back and crashed to the floor.

“... Sorry…” I said carefully.

“Your friends are rather silly huh?” Nyx asked me.

“Yes, and they're the best friends a man could ask for.” I said with pride, walking over and helping the poor bird up.

“Low blow…” Pero said as I pulled him up.

“Apologies… but we should head back. Back to Nazarick. Everyone there will celebrate your return… especially Shalltear.”

“Right… So aside from trying to ride something you don’t even have, how’s she been?”

“She's been… doing fine for the most part, is currently being punished for the sexual harassment she and Albedo do to me…”

“Yeah that tracks… Sorry for that…”

“It's alright,” I said with a raised hand. “It's been trying but thankfully she is learning.” I admitted.

“I’m sure having a carbon copy of all my fetishes makes that tricky… You know, some of the others always thought I made Shalltear to be something akin to my ideal waifu, but that’s not actually true.”

“That’s true, you got into an argument over not having the vampire loli huge tits with our guildmate that was creating her design.” I stated simply. “Couldn’t possibly be your true waifu.”

“Heh. No… Honestly, it’s a bit pathetic but even if I designed her to be my ideal everything, I always wanted a friend I could really perv out with. Someone I could talk sex and H-games with and even H manga and anime. My sister works in the industry for VA stuff and that would be awkward and gross, plus she half hates me, and no one in real life was comfortable talking about it and comparing. I used to just talk with Shalltear for hours back after she was made; about all this stuff and imagined she was listening.”

“I can understand.” I nodded. “Spite created his NPC’s to be a whole family funnily enough.”

“Yeah… Fuck wait is he here too?”

“And Drago, who I've just made a member of the guild cause seriously, you and me both know he shouldn't have struggled against Shalltear.”

“Well… That’s certainly a thing… Also glad to know my little pervy vamp can and always has kicked his ass.”

“Until he punts her through a wall cause seriously, have you seen what his world items do?”

“No and neither have you cause he only uses them at like, half power.”

“Yeah, that is also true.” I nodded. “Half power and he's able to beat Shalltear and get to the third floor by himself is still a hefty achievement.”

“Glad to know you still only ever talk about people’s positives regardless of their own shortcomings.”

“One of my best friend’s optimism must have rubbed off on me.” I shrugged.

“Don’t you mean, the friend’s optimism touched me?” Peroronchino said with the snarky pun.

“I hate that pun, how dare you ruin that Sentai super fan’s name even if it was his fault…”

“So what punishment did you give Shalltear that she isn’t getting off on?”

“She is acting like a maid in the most safe for work outfit we could create, no padding, no humiliation, just her in the most safe for work situation possible and it annoys the hell out of her.”

“Yeah that would do it.”

“And Spite made her dress like a fourteen year old so, that too.”

“Ah. And given all the other conditions… yeah she must not be having a good time. Damn.”

“While Albedo who… is deeply in love with me, is currently in a maid outfit having to not bother me for a while, and is currently dying inside as I… accidentally called Aura and Mare my kids not too long ago… and now I know that Buku did it on purpose…”

“You have my full consent to sexually approach my sister.”

WHA?!

“What, did you think I’d hate it? Just remember to have a clear safe word otherwise she will grind your bones to dust.”

“The fuck man! You can’t just drop this on me… especially when I don’t even know if I’ll ever see her again, even with my new ability.”

“Worked for me and I’m assuming you can do it again?”

I saw the Pop Up message appear… 500 KP…

… With enough Karma Points… I could get them all back…

“I just… need five hundred karma points… I need to constantly do good things to bring… to bring everyone back together…”

“Huh. Weird. Well, maybe I can help?”

“How so?” I inquired.

“Well, not sure how much it will help but I did work as a lawyer back on earth.”

… HUH!?!?

“What do you mean you were a lawyer?” I asked in surprise.

“Well, yeah. Might be cheap but being a lawyer for the corporations is actually stupid easy. Just make a bunch of pre-made cease and desist letters, occasionally fill out forms that are full of a bunch of legal talk that can be summarized as ‘Person X hurt Corp B by using their X-Y-Z in ways they didn’t want’ and slap some stupidly absurd fine or whatever to it and spend the rest of the time browsing for web for something sue-able. Which, fun fact, in my department there were only 3 people out of a team of 500 that actually took the work seriously.”

“Gee, I wonder why.” I rolled my eyes. “Wish my job was that easy…”

“Yeah. Think a lawyer has work in… whatever it is you’re doing?”

“I was just an office worker, a pencil pusher and just… bland and boring.”

“... So, that a no or you just venting?”

“Okay, sorry thought we were comparing work back on Earth, but yes, a Lawyer would help a lot, especially with how good you are at debating people.”

“Sounds like a plan.” He nodded.

—

The announcement was made to have all the Tomb’s residents gather in the arena while Peroroncino was hiding and waiting for his time to appear.

Drago and Spite were here too, and I was excited. They’re about to reunite with a friend and master, and in Shalltear’s case, their maker.

“Greetings, Floor and Area Guardian's, Pleiades and more, I understand that it’s been a trying few weeks ever since the Multiversal Crack appeared, but we have all been making great strides to become better and do much more than what we all thought before.” I said, starting off my speech strong… hopefully. “But today, there is an unexpected turn of events that has caused something I can only say is no less than an absolute miracle, even stronger than Wish Upon a Star.” I said, which caused a stir amongst the NPC’s here. “But it’s best if I show you the miracle, if you would please show yourself!” I said, raising my staff for Peroronchino to show up for all to see.

They flew high into the arena’s sky before landing next to me with some flair and as he rose up I saw the shock, awe and even tears in all their eyes. “Hey everyone! Long time no see!”

“Lord Peroroncino!” They all cheered.

“Holy shit he’s alive.” Drago said.

“Welp, time to connect a face to a shovel.” Spite said as he raised his shovel.

“DADDY!” We all heard as Shalltear launched herself from the crowd and hug-tackled Peroronchino. “Y-y-you’re alive! You’re here!” She shouted through her tears.

I put a hand on the shovel Spite raised. “Don’t.” I managed. “Let them have their moment…”

“Yeah… I can smack him later for using magic to put Emily in that bikini.” Spite said.

I’m not surprised… but I will not argue later when he does get smacked.

“Listen… he got really into bikini’s that one time, it was only for Shalltear but uh…yeah he got a bit overzealous with it.”

“Yeah… Still, how’d he get here?” Spite asked as Drago nodded in agreement to the question.

“It’s not like you just summoned him or something, I doubt whatever mysticism you have now let’s you summon isekai’s.” Drago admitted.

“Well that’s… technically true, I didn’t summon him, that would be my System Title, Karma Guide.” I answered.

“... That’s nine levels of bullshit.” Drago said.

“How’s that work?” Spite asked.

“So basically, the God of Karma created this and was refined by the God of Forgiveness, and it’s able to… circumvent a lot of things as it somehow gives me rewards that bend the laws of Reality somehow… maybe because it’s called a System Title or something?”

“And like that I’m even more confused.”

“I want a system title…” Drago muttered.

“I’m not sure if you can get one, hell, I feel like the luckiest person alive because I even got this thing… though be careful, I was told there was a System Title that is a sassy bastard.”

“That sounds fun.” Spite smirked.

“Doubt it but to each their own.” I said. “But I need Five Hundred Good Karma Points to summon the next one, I just got lucky they gave me a freeby.”

“Ah, Gotcha Game Logic… At least this time the rewards are useful and… important to you.” Drago hummed.

“So what next?” Spite asked.

“Next is… keep going I suppose.” I admitted. “We have a lot of Yggdrasil to explore, we have a whole lot of other things to worry about… and just keep busy I suppose.”

“Like we weren’t already. Well back to what I was doing then.”

“What were you doing?”

“Launching a satellite.”

… HUH?!

“Ex-fucking-cuse-YOU?!” Drago asked.

“What? We have ships now that can reach orbit, and the satellite was very cheap. Not only can it show us what we’re working with in terms of this planet, it can also scan and detect the cracks. Plus another one over in Yggdrasil and then we can learn that the Dev’s had Moon and Space expansions that never got released and or found.” Spite said.

“That… actually wouldn't surprise me…” Drago huffed.

“Those assholes had so much content that would have made the game better…” I grumbled.

“Hey, just think of it like this… If they’re content and quests are still there in Yggdrasil… then we’ll be the first and only people to complete them and reap all the rewards. Drago your teeth are showing.”

Drago’s grin was down right terrifying. “I’m just now really excited…”

“Slow down their Lore buff, we need to take this slow and steady alright?”

“But the lore!” He whined. “So much juicy and interesting stories to tell, plus all the fancy as shit loot to grab!”

“Too bad we can’t get anyone to help us actually find out what the fuck is even there or where too look…” Spite huffed.

Hmm… Maybe we can…

“I… think I know who we can ask.” I stated, scratching my chin in thought. “Though I don’t know if I’ll be pushing it, good will over the current Realmless City can only go so far so I’m not sure if it’ll work without some give on my end…”

“Less vague-anees please!” Drago groaned.

“Oh, sorry I just was speaking out loud, I need to find Nyx and talk to her about this.”

“Well have fun with that, I’m gonna go set a satellite in orbit then oversee the road constructions. Wait weren’t you supposed to wipe the people’s minds of the now former Slane Theocracy?”

CRAP!

“I forgot… I've been busy!” I whined.

“Best hurry up and do that first then.” Drago said.

I nodded and opened up a Gate quick. “Just one thing after another here…”

I arrived at the Church capital of the Slane Theocracy. The large building was quiet… empty…

“Took your time.” I turned, seeing that sitting next to the window was a reptilian Nokori in partial… wait… that voice… he was one of the representatives. He was sipping wine from a glass, a few bottles around them.

“I was busy settling other affairs.” I stated simply. “But I am ready to get everything sorted, but if I may ask… why does everyone want their memories removed?”

“Many reasons… for some, it's pride. Too proud of their humanity to live as a non-human. Hate. They know nothing but to hate, and are too cowardly to kill themselves, and would rather forget than hate themselves. For some… it's a fresh start. To start over unweighted by the past.” He shrugged, taking another sip.

I sighed. “I understand… all too well.”

“So, what will we remember when it's done?”

“Everything but the fact you were human.” I said. “It’ll be as if you were naturally born Nokori.”

“Not sure how that's going to work with remembering family and friends faces but, I guess that's for you to worry about.”

“It’ll work, I promise.” I nodded.

“Well, guess it would be a bit much for me to ask a request?”

“Depends, what’s the request?”

He took a long drink from his cup. “When you wipe away our memories of being human, wipe away all our memories of… this.” He motioned around. “Our church and religion.”

“I will try.” I said with a nod. “Especially the Six Scriptures that you and the others follow, the moment those words are burned you can… at least attempt to create something for the betterment of everyone.”

“Heh… funny, the gods that made them and this place wanted it to last forever… but in the end not even they lived to oversee it, and in less than a day it was gone… or will be. I suppose that's the nature of things in the end. To change, either slowly or immediately and suddenly…”

“The players were only human, same as me before I became this.” I said. “And to Err is to Human, as we all make mistakes, but to forgive and move on is to be like the Divine.” I admitted.

That earned a laugh. “We are as far from divine as mortals can be I'm afraid… maybe after all this, who we become next can be at least closer.”

I nodded.

[“Activation of the Selective Amnesia Spell will be Assisted by Karma Guide System Title to ensure permanent effects. Once the spell is cast the Slane Theocracy will be no more. Would you like to rename this land?”]

“Yes… but what too name it…” I thought carefully, scratching my chin. “How about… The Jewel of Hope?”

[“Understood. Once the spell is complete the Slane Theocracy shall be reborn as the Jewel of Hope Kingdom. A land of second chances and new homes led by the Sorcerer Kingdom.”]

“Good.”

[“Selective Amnesia Spell activated.”]

—

“Help with your Yggdrasil? Right… Another abandoned universe from the R&D guys…” Nyx said as she sighed. “Honestly those guys get lazier and lazier every time…”

“And I fear they’ll get lazier.” I sighed. “But I know this might be asking much all things considered given how busy you are and the like…”

“Well, it does fall under The Family's jurisdiction… Hmm… my brother has some experience… Or maybe… Maybe I can get Dad to do it…”

“Really?” I inquired. “That is… surprising you can even get your father into this.”

“Well he is my dad and has more experience with all this, second only to All Makers Lord.” She said as… is that a flip phone? Nyx opened it and began looking through her contacts.

“Surprised your using a flip phone of all things… and wow, your father must have done a lot of things.”

“Yeah, but he's also a bit old school.” She said, shaking the phone. “And yeah he's done a lot. About eighty percent of the Magic Tech he made. That includes the Assistant.”

“That’s incredible, Drago is going to have a field day if he manages to talk to the guy.”

“Doubtful, dad doesn't really talk about his past.” Nyx said as she dialed the phone. “Hey dad, can you come by my office? Not so much work related more cleaning up a mess R&D left behind. Yeah the skeleton guy I told you about. Alright see you in a bit.” She said, hanging up.

“That seem’s… a tad easy.” I managed carefully.

“He's been in a good mood lately.” She shrugged. 

“It's been a good few years.” I jumped and turned to see… huh. He was of average height, maybe… five eight? Dressed in a rather worn red hoodie, simple pants and shoes with a blank face mask with not even a pair of eye holes.

This is… not what I expected…

“Hmm, I didn’t… expect a Shy Guy look.”

“Are you referencing the SCP or something else?” Nyx’s father, Shopkeeper, if I remember right, asked.

“No, like the Mario enemy.” I corrected.

“I forgot that’s what those fuckers were called…” He replied, yawning.

Strange. I’m not detecting any kind of power or aura from them. Are they concealing it or something?

“So can you take a look at his universe or at least find someone who can?” Nyx asked.

“Sure. I'm not busy right now.”

“If it's not too much trouble.” I added in carefully, not wanting to be a bother here.

“Come on Bald Brooks.” Shopkeeper replied, pulling me by my armor's shoulder guard.

“Bald Brooks?” I questioned, following along with the guy.

I was pulled through a portal that opened up in front of where Shopkeeper was walking. Going through it we appeared to be in a largely dark room of sorts with only a small podium made of some kind of metal.

“And where are we exactly?” I asked carefully, as this felt more like either an interrogation room or a court room.

“Central Administration.” He said, walking up to the podium. The moment his hands touched it the darkness vanished, the walls turning into screens displaying multiple galaxies with smaller pop up screens showing various planets and even smaller screens running data at rapid speeds. “Huh, looks like this place was rather Frankensteined. Got bits of Choi’s work and some other things here and there…”

I was floored by seeing all this. “This place is…” I failed to find the right words here.

“Don't go dropping your jaw on the floor now.”

“I'm not just… it's breathtaking for someone like me.” I admitted carefully.

“If you say so.” Shopkeeper said as some new screens appeared above them. “Alright then now let’s see what we’ve got here… only 12% of planet Yggdrasil explored. That’s depressing.”

WHAT?!

“How!? It was said we only explored 30%!” I said, which still doesn't sound impressive but still!

“Yeah. Of that continent. You still had the rest of the planet to explore, and then add in the other planets, space and a few things here and there. Man they really ripped Choi’s work here… so in total for this reality you never even reached a full 1%. Looks like a .2% for the whole reality. Yeesh and they left all this behind? Lazy fucks…”

“Hold on, Yggdrasil is the Nordic World Tree, two it was a video game and 30 percent of all nine realms… but… what are you talking about?” I asked in confusion, as I know Spite mentioned something about a Space expansion but nothing else.

“Not according to this data. The planet is named Yggdrasil in the files here.”

I sighed. “At the time it was only a game.”

“Uh huh…” He replied as he looked through the various screens. “So what exactly is it you want done here?”

“Just exploring the wider world, because there is… a lot of space to look through and there’s not alot of people that can travel around it all.” I admitted.

“I'll say. 465 billion light-years with almost a centillion different planets. Not to mention the quest lists here.” He said as the list appeared across multiple screens. “I swear the newer teams get lazier each time.” Shopkeeper muttered as a keyboard appeared and he now began typing.

“I’m sorry how big?” I asked in surprise and shock at how huge Yggdrasil actually is.

“Five times bigger than the normal universe size. For the most part they did fill up all the space fairly well. Okay now let's just see… wow they didn't even install the Hunter Shadows files. Rookies…”

“The… what?” I asked worriedly.

“They're technically a monster race but they're intelligent and were created to be the main quest givers of the multiverse when it comes to Admin and All Makers quests.”

“Okay… so they aren’t hostile enemies, they’re just quest givers with their own civilization.”

“Well, there is one faction that is hostile but I'm not installing those files.”

“... Thank you.” I said carefully.

“Huh… well that's interesting…”

“What?” 

“Well if I’m reading this right…” Shopkeeper said as a new pop up display appeared. I could see the image of a room, a large orb with what looked like the milky way galaxy in it surrounded by statues of armored beings. “It looks like the Earth you and those others came from was set to be the Final Quest reward.”

… HUH!?!?!?

“How, why, uh… WHAT!?”

“It’s actually a really common trope some of the new All Makers like to use. Their own little twist on Isekai nonsense or whatever. Anyway, let’s just install the needed scripts next then place the Elder Tree for the Hunter Shadows to spawn from…”

“Drago is going to have a field day with all this stuff… and he’s also going to cause a lot of problems if he finds Earth again…”

“Litterally not my problem, what you guys do with your old home world is your business.” Shopkeep said bluntly as I saw… Why does this look like a Map Editor in a Game Maker engine?! I watched as he dropped a rather large and interesting looking tree not too far from the Realmless village in Yggdrasil. “Alright and now for a few other slice of life additions here…”

“Um… this looks like a Game Maker map editor and… what slice of life additions?”

“You’ll see… And yeah most of these realities are assembled similar to video games or movies or even comics. Hell there’s a whole library where worlds only exist on the pages.”

“Fascinating.” I said in honest amazement. “This Reality just has so many new things to marvel at.”

“I guess it is always impressive the first time you see it.” Shopkeeper said as he pressed the Enter key on the keyboard before everything began to close out and a single screen appeared with some more unknown data scrolling on it. “Alright, there. Automated systems working properly. The Hunter Shadows should be spawning in at the base of their Elder Tree about now. Your Yggdrasil and all of it is set to explore and such.”

“That’s great… but where is the Elder Tree if I may ask? Just so I can prevent a possible ‘panic attack the tree’.”

“Next to your Realmless Village. It should be fine, majority of Realmless know what a Hunter Shadow is but if you’re still concerned,” He snapped his fingers as a portal appeared next to us.

“Thank you… I’m still learning everything I can even if it’s only been a month and a half…”

Shopkeeper gave me a nod as I walked through the portal, finding myself back in the Realmless Village on Yggdrasil’s side and- Fuck that is a massive tree! That’s bigger than most sky scrappers!

The tree had no leaves, but its bark was an almost metallic gray and towards the base I saw a small tunnel leading under the tree itself.

“Life giving Elder Tree, I come in peace.” I said openly to the Elder Tree, as this was a place that created beings so, just to be on the safe side, I might as well state my intentions to such a massive and powerful being as I carefully walked my way towards the tunnel to see what was there.

[“The Elder Tree isn’t a sentient beings…”] Karma Guide informed.

“You never know, what you once thought a thing for certain can be untimely changed for all eternity in an instant.”

I walked towards the tree and upon reaching the tunnel to the base I already saw something walking out. They were dressed in some form of leather attire, the clothes covering their whole body head to toe, save a small opening their face coverings let show their skin was some kind of dark energy in a humanoid shape, with eyes like bright yellow orbs.

They looked up as they approached, seeing me and giving a nod. A hand reached up to their neck, and they spoke. “Traveler… Are you of this world?” Their voice was feminine, and unexpectedly ordinary.

“Technically yes.” I nodded. “It is nice to meet you, I am Ainz Ooal Gown.” I introduced myself to the Hunter Shadow.

“I… have yet to earn a name.” She said, her hand moving down. “As the first to emerge I am Chief of the tribe, but I have yet to earn a name.”

Interesting. Despite their appearance… Do they have a tribal mentality? Makes sense the first to spawn in would be the chief by default.

“How do you earn a name Chief Hunter?” I inquired.

“Combat. I must slay a powerful beast. Only once it’s blood stains my cloak will my name come to me.”

“That is very interesting.” I hummed, scratching my chin. “Well I know there are plenty of powerful monsters in Yggdrasil proper.”

“All I require is a blade.”

I thought for a moment, before digging through my Inventory as I pulled out Takemikazuchi MK 7. “This is the seventh iteration of my great friend, Takemikazuchi, most famous sword.” I said, the sword being a powerful looking Scimitar, wreathed in Lightning as it crackled with power of its divine class status. “I offer it to you, and a path to one such powerful beast.” I said, knowing one of the Eight Dragons is probably out and about.

They nodded, taking it and managing to hold it with one hand. Surprising. It’s much larger yet they’re wielding it like one would carry a smaller sword. How strong are Hunter Shadows?

“I thank you. I request for you to meet me here when the battle is done, so I can address myself to you properly, and discuss with you the secrets of Yggdrasil my people are born knowledgeable of.”

Oh no… Drago is gonna move here…

“I must warn you… there is a massive Lore Enthusiast that would probably ask you too many questions…”

“The young Lore Hunter Drago, it will be an honor to speak to someone wanting to know their worlds History.”

Wait, what? “How did you already know about Drago?”

“My people are born knowing everything about this world, including its purpose and original… inhabitants. Sorcerer Momonga.”

I mean… I shouldn’t be surprised, the history of Yggdrasil would be based on the game that lasted 12 years. “I understand, and offer a Gate to one such entity if you so desire.” I said, wanting to double check if the Chief wanted to hunt personally or if it would desire at least some ease of travel.

“There is no need.” They raised a hand. “I can make it to my target on foot.” She said, rolling her arm that held the sword before running. The ground kicking up under her heels before they sped off faster than I could move with the Fly spell…

What an interesting species.

“Interesting indeed.”

Alright, now that this is all done it’s time to get some good Karma to summon more of my friends.

Speaking of, I should check in with Peroroncino. Make sure he’s adjusting well.

“I mean, besides probably getting a spade to the face, I’m sure he’s doing some genuine father daughter bonding… hopefully.” I thought, using Gate to head back to Nazarick and see how things are going with my friend.

I arrived back to the Tomb and walked up to Peroroncino’s room door. Hmm… not hearing anything unsettling… so that’s a good sign.

I walked in and found him laying on his bed, with a bag of ice over his face.

“Spade to the face I take it?” I asked my bird friend.

“Actual pain from the hits sucks…” He groaned. “Can’t say I didn’t deserve it, I’ll admit that much, still sucks though…”

“Well… okay fair.” I admitted. “Did Shalltear take offense to that?”

“Yes but another whack from that shovel knocked her out. That Blessing of The Land and Blessing of The Divines that shovel of his has are potent stuff. And that’s not even his strongest tool. He rarely uses that freaking hoe.”

Right. He got it when he claimed Gaia’s Cradle. It’s unassuming, rough wood with the top being stone held in place by primitive string. The First Cultivation. Much as we’ve asked in the past he’s never let us examine it. Even Drago, and that dragon really wants to get a look at it.

“The only time I have known someone not to want to show off their hoe.” I joked, earning a laugh from Pero.

“Heh. Good one. Well, other than that things have been well. Sucks about Shalltear but so far everything seems nice, even with all the stuff I have to catch up on. Granted I’m rather creeped out by Demiurge. Something about him just feels… off…”

“Well, he was created by Ulbert to be the things he hated but also being a demonic yes man cause… seriously Demiurge really thinks I’m some master class tactician or some ultra smart person…”

“Seriously? Yeesh… So that whole World Conquest thing wasn’t actually your idea then?”

“Fuck no, I just said it off handedly when I was staring up at the starry night sky when I first got here… you… you have no idea how beautiful it was… like jewels in the heavens…”

“Heh… That does sound like a great view… I don’t think I’ve ever seen genuine stars before… Also what’s up with the sassy otter girl?”

“That’s Obsidian, she’s a very strong adventurer and… she’s… seen a rather violent kind of hell when she was 4.”

“Yikes… How bad?”

“Plague Demons invaded her home… she saw her father eaten whole and her mother’s body rotting away in seconds as she floated down a river before being sent to Shopkeep’s realm.”

“Fuck… and I thought shit back home was bad…” Pero sighed. “Do you have any ideas on how to help her?”

“No idea, because right now she wants to murder an actual god, the reason her world was destroyed… I would need to find out this god's divine weakness but it’s such a well guarded secret I doubt anyone knows besides him and his siblings.” I sighed. “The… best I can do is give her advice, help guide her, and try to do… something to help alleviate the pain she feels at least.’

“Hmm… Aside from being sassy, what's she like?”

“She… is lonely sadly.” I sighed. “She tries her best, but sadly she is in that ‘if people haven’t suffered like me, I’ll treat them poorly’ stage, which I’m trying to curb with advice, especially from our friends.”

“Oof… Oddly I can understand that viewpoint… That kind of pain must leave a hollow… pit in someone not much if anything can really fill… at least not easily. Hmm… Divine Weakness huh? What’s this God and their Siblings names?”

“Nurgle, the God of Plagues, and as I’ve learned, their siblings are Tzeentch, the God of Change and Magic, Khorne the God of Blood and Skulls, and Slaanesh, Goddess of Excess.”

Peroroncino gave me a deadpan look. “... Oh we are screwed…”

“Mind informing me? I know their names and divinity but I haven’t gotten around to knowing where or when they come from.”

“Mother fucker have you never heard of Warhammer!?” Pero shot up and was shaking me now. “Warhammer! 40K! The Grimdark future of mankind with a near immortal emperor overseeing mankind as gods beyond the physical plot our species and the galaxies demise while a thousand and one million other fucking battles are fought amongst the stars!”

“Isn’t that the bullshit you and Alphonse argued about!?” I asked, getting him to stop shaking me as I thought about Peroronchino and the other Nephilim member of our Guild that was a Psionic Warrior taken to its logical max levels.

“YES YOU EMPTY HEADED BONEY BASTARD!” He said, arms flailing for a moment before putting them over his face. “FUCK! If Warhammer is a real thing here then we’re ultra fucked, and not in the good way, no way in the ever loving hell am I gonna survive Slaanesh… It would be my best and last fuck!”

“Okay, okay, it literally can’t be that bad.” I said carefully.

“You ever see a fucking planet get so bad that the only option is the nuke it from orbit? Or a giant ship that’s a living organism for a Hive species that does nothing but eat every species they come across? Psychic fungus that have the super power of mass hysteria made reality where they can fly with big fuck off rocks and make anything they paint red explode and paint purple turn invisible? An ancient species of immortal machines that traded their fragile bodies for undying metal that can one shot most anything and are asleep in whole ass tombs under multiple worlds that are waking up with tech so advanced it’s basically godly and that’s not even counting they went to war against ancient gods, won and use them as batteries! OH! And let’s not forget that with Mankind itself, their most common food item is literally called corpse starch which is largely a slab of Mystery Meat because the phrase ‘Our citizens are our greatest resource” Is quite literal with the fact the average human planet is so overpopulated that surface is all one giant city, oceans no longer exist, and in the depths of these ‘Hive Cities’ there are people who have not only never seen natural light but because of how bad it is down there the Chaos Gods have a field day with demonic invasions and cults popping up all from just needing to be nice to someone once!”

“... You and Drago are going to be great friends.” I said slowly, as while I did retain all of it it felt more like a massive lore dump than warning me…

“Point is… we’re fucked…” Pero deadpanned at me.

“Just because they exist doesn’t mean they will be attacking us.” I said. “How likely are these Chaos Gods to attack this Reality?” I mentally asked Karma Guide.

[“Them directly? Minimal. Their forces? 60-%-75%”]

“I don’t like those odds…” I thought worriedly.

[“Since the death of his wife, Nurgle has amped up his armies attacks. Slaanesh, while retired, still has her forces around and once a new God of Lust and Excess is crowned, they will likely become more active. Tzeentch, while indisposed for the next 3,000 years, his forces still have their generals and Commander. Khorne as a God of War and Bloodshed actively seeks realities with strong armies or foes to battle.”]

“Damn it, can’t things go smoothly for once!” I mentally whined.

[“The God of Karma says ‘Welcome to my world’.”]

“... Should have expected that…” I mentally grumbled. “But we’ll work it out Pero, trust me.”

“The only thing that even works remotely as a deterrent against them, is The God Emperor… and working with Imperium of Man is not gonna work for us, they’re even more racist than the human only guilds back in Yggdrasil!”

“There’s Blanks as well, plus, this reality works more on Yggdrasil logic, so we are capable of taming them.” I brought up. “Plus, we can get stronger.”

“Oh sure you remembered Blanks are a thing but I am still not hopeful nor will I be expecting anything good to come out of this.”

I sighed. “We just have to work this out, train and get more levels and the like.” I said. “It’s like back when we first started leveling in Yggdrasil.”

“This Assistant thing doesn't use Levels… it uses Skill Points to get abilities or increase stats.”

“We still get EXP and get skill points from it.” I stated. “We still have a lot of work ahead of us.”

“Just like the old days.” He chuckled. “Well, where shall we start?”

“Well, due to certain things happening, we now have Quest’s again that’ll give us a whole host of rewards.” I said readily. “Just need to wait for the Quest Giver Chief to come back.”

“Alright. So how should we do this then?”

“Well, first we need to get you your gear.” I said. “Then make sure you aren’t rusty and remember your bowmanship.”

“Fair. Is it all still in here or in the armory?”

“It’s… in the Catacombs.” I sighed. “A special area I created after you all… left.”

“Firstly, sweet but also depressing… second, are you telling me I get to loot my own grave?”

“I’d prefer you not word it like that but… technically yes.” I said carefully, putting a hand on his shoulder and using the Ring of Ainz Ooal Gown to teleport down to the Treasury with him.

“Woah.” Pero said as he took a look around. “Rather fancy. One here for each of us then?”

“Yes.” I nodded, having taken off my Ring and lead him through the Catacombs. “Each and everyone of you, all your gear on mannequins and your inventories, guarded by the Golem Guardian’s for people that stupidly kept the Ring on them…” I said, looking at the forty friend’s armors and weapons… bringing Pero to see his own ‘grave’. “... This is the second time I’ve had to come here since getting to this world.”

“I am sorry we all left. For my breakdown and well, when it comes to my sister her VA career was really starting to take off. I know some of the others had various reasons… some of which I'm worried about…”

“Which one’s worry you?” I asked. “And for what reason? Cause… for the most part, people either grew bored, went to another game, or had work… it sadly happens.”

“Well, it's mostly Ulbert.”

“Oh no, what happened?” I asked worriedly.

“I only got bits and pieces of the conversation but supposedly I think Ulbert was joining the army or something?”

That's… odd. The armies of the world back on earth largely were only used to keep cargo for the companies away from pirates and bandits. Of which there were a fair many gangs of that nature.

“That’s… very concerning, besides PMC’s and Guard’s, why would he want to join the Military?”

“Not sure. He mentioned something about the training being important but like I said, I didn't get the whole conversation.”

“I… really hope it doesn’t lead to bad things…”

“Well if you end up summoning him next we can ask about it.”

I nodded. “Yeah, just have to work on all those karma points to bring everyone else back.”

“Any ideas on how to do that?”

“Good things, like taking in new Realmless, dealing with any invaders, just good stuff.” I shrugged.

“Sounds simple, I guess.” Pero said as we reached his tomb. I opened the door and inside were all his armors and bows and even his various arrow types. “How long did this take you?”

“It took me a month after… our first friend left the guild.” I sighed.

“How long ago even was that?” Pero pondered as he crossed his arms.

“I… I don’t remember sadly.” I sighed. “Just… after that, slowly but surely all of you started to leave but it felt so fast…”

“Yeah… one last question. What's with the voice?” Pero asked. “I know that is not your normal speaking voice dude.”

“I genuinely have no idea why my voice changed.” I admitted. “But it did and… I suppose beggars can’t be choosers when you don’t have vocal cords.”

“Fair enough. Just kind of weird. I'm still used to your slightly high pitched weeb voice.”

“Shut up bird brain.” I groaned. “My voice was not a weeb voice.”

“Heh. Sure, and Bukubukuchagama doesn't have an audio track of your funniest Villain Monologue Bloopers.”

“Oh god no, she better not have!”

Per smirked. “I am the chill running down your spines as you wander into the darkness, and as you wonder who I am, know this. I! Am! Bone Man!”

Agh! I said that during practice and had to get a silly intrusive thought out!

“Cease!” I groaned and put my face in my hands. “It’s too embarrassing!”

“Pfft! Well next time don't ask for acting advice from the girl who records every session both professional and privately practicing for review.”

I guess that's on me. I asked Buku for help with vocal range and staying in character. Even she admitted sometimes silly things happen and it's better to get as much of it out as possible before the real deal.

“Well I’m sorry I went to a professional for advice.” I huffed.

“It still worked out.”

“I mean, yes, it worked out for voice work, just not the thing that I was too dense to realize.” I sighed, as Buku apparently having a crush on me was ‘obvious’ and it will bug the hell out of me until I meet her again.

To be continued...

Chapter Text

“I’m not surprised you made a small house here… but I am disappointed by your lack of impulse control.” Spite said as he and I found Drago’s new place among the small village of Hunter Shadows by the Elder Tree.

In two weeks the tree became home to a village of them that grew out around the base and up along the trunk. The chief, Melda, greeted and named each new Hunter Shadow that came from the tree. While many began making the village, others began their wander. Going through the cracks to fulfill their purpose where needed.

“Don’t you fucking judge me.” Drago huffed.

Spite simply pulled out a small gavel from his Assistant Inventory and hit it against the doorframe. “You have been judged.”

I facepalmed. “Anyways, I’m glad you’ve moved in and are living well here Drago.” I managed.

“Yes, the Hunter Shadow’s are everything I could ask for and more when it comes to the lore of Yggdrasil.” Drago said giddily.

“Yes, lore you can talk to and it talks back. In any case what’s on the agenda of people who have shit to do?” Spite asked as he looked over to me, then tilted his head and avoided the thrown knife that landed just behind his ear and into the wall.

“Well, I have to head out and circle the borders again, ever since that Nokori God showed up, a lot of World Bosses in Yggdrasil started to get uppity and trying to get here to fight whoever the hell beat it.” Drago sighed.

“And I have a lot of paperwork to do…” I sighed.

“Alright, Guess that leaves checking the Cracks we’ve marked thanks to the satellite to me and the runt Momo adopted.” Spite said.

“Sorry.” I sighed. “I’d like to help but running the New Hope Kingdom as well my work load has been effectively doubled…”

“Yes yes mister God Killer.” Drago joked.

“Well, he wasn’t killed per say, just imprisoned and turned over to that Realm of Light place. By the way, what did Obsidian get for turning them in?” Spite asked.

“I haven’t asked yet, I probably should to see what kind of rewards we could get if we manage to capture these enemies.” I admitted.

“Alright, just make sure they look like cubes. God Forbid Nintendo lawyers send us a cease and desist through the multiverse for infringing on pokemon.” Spite chuckled as he headed off.

I opened a Gate, walking through back to the Tomb and figured I’d ask Obsidian first before heading to my office. She should be here at the moment. I don’t think she’s gonna head off to help Spite until later?

Ah yes, the music is blasting from her room. She’s here.

I walked over and knocked on her door. “You good in there Obsidian?”

The music cut off and the door opened. She was in shorts and a tank top. “Yeah, why? Something up?”

“Just wanting to make sure you were decent.” I said. “But mind if I ask what rewards you got for turning in that god?”

“Oh yeah. I got some Rem, some raw materials and supplies, an upgrade for my ship, and some other stuff I didn’t bother looking through.” She stated.

Huh. Rather bizarre mix but I guess it’s the quality? Hope the rem was at least worth it. It is a god of their enemy faction so I’m sure it’s a large amount.

“Well hopefully it was all worth it.” I admitted. “It was a god after all.”

“The ship upgrade sure was. Other than that the rest is in the chest there.” She motioned to the rather… high tech looking chest. “You can look through it if you want. The main thing I wanted was the upgrade for my ship.”

“Understandable.” I nodded. “I’ll take a look through the rest of the rewards, could probably start upgrading the tomb and our gear with it depending on the materials.” I hummed, walking up to the chest and looking to see how to open it cause this was not like any normal chest I know.

“Tap your Assistant to the glowing bit on the front. It links directly to it.” Obsidian said as she walked back to her bed.

Ah. That makes sense.

I nodded. “Thank you.” I said, tapping my Assistant to the glowing bit to see what goodies was in here.

The menu appeared in my Hud and…

…

…

HUHUH- WHAT?!

[Rem - 99.5 decillion

Refined Iron - 99.5 tons

Refined Steel - 99.5 Tons

Refined Mithyral Ingots - 2,000 tons

God Steel Ingots - 100 tons

Food Rations (Divine Rank) - 99 million

Water Rations - 5.6 billion gallons

Token of Luck - 1

Token of Blood - 1

Blood stone ore - 99.5 tons]

The list went on…

WHAT?! All this for one god?!

“Holy hell this is a lot!” I said in awe.

“Yeah. The Realm of Light is known as the source of limitless resources. So since they have more than enough of everything creation could ever offer, they give it out in huge amounts.” Obsidian shrugged. 

With this much supplies not only could we feed all the people for years, hell centuries we can far more easily expand out across the world and then some! Hmm… Some of these look interesting… the Token of Luck and Token of Blood only have one each… Can I… yes I can. Good, don’t have to transfer them over to get some info on them.

[Token of Luck

Rank: SSS+

Class: Divine

A token of Luck from the Goddess of Luck, Katie. This token infused with her godly energy can be infused into weapons or armor to give the user of said item a boost in luck up to 150%.

—

Token of Blood

Rank: SSS+

Class: Divine

A token of blood from the God of Carnage, Blood, Monsters, Mercy and Custodians. With this token you can see the people your opponent has killed, how long they’d have lived if they were not slain, and if you wish, avenge them.]

Avenge them? Strange item…

“Hmm, interesting… though that is a rather interesting combination of divinities… Mercy and Custodians, and Monsters and Carnage together?”

I decided to take both before looking through this some more… Let’s see… Huh? Oh… OH!

[Reclaimed Stomach

Rank: S

Class: ???

An item for the undead who wish to return to their human state, even if in fragments. When equipped the undead can eat, drink and taste all manner of foods. Digestion however is simply transitioned into a split between restoring MP and HP.]

“Oh my god, thank you.” I said, as I tried to think of how the hell I’m supposed to ‘equip’ this thing.

I put that into my inventory as well before giving everything else a lookover. Hmm… Oh, a staff? That looks interesting.

[Staff of Brinia V3

Att: 5,000,000

Def: 1,000,000

Mag: 100,000,000/Max+10

Special Abilities:

Eternal HP: All healing spells regardless of strength will fully restore HP of user or targets.

Eternal MP: MP will not deplete when staff is in use so long as the caster has an MP value over 1,000.

Spell Replication: Any spell new to the caster will automatically be learned.

Spell Deterrent: Enemy spells are less likely to impact the user when the spells are cast at long range.

Spell Defence: Possibly generates a shield around the user that reduces enemy magic attack by 50% and physical damage by 20%

This staff once belonged to the God of Magic Brinia, who surrendered to the Realm of Light early into their War against the Dark Realm and the Pantheon of Kings. As such his spoils were taken and are given as rewards.]

“Hmm, interesting.” I thought carefully, as this might be a good alternative to using the Guild Staff.

Also, holy shit that magic damage! What does /Max+ even mean?

“Um… Obsidian, what does /Max+ mean in stats?”

“It’s an overflow value marker. The Assistant in terms of count only goes as high as 999 Centilion. When you go over it the value resets to one and gives a /Max+ meaning you’ve maxed the value display numbers once. Any number after the + part is how many more times it’s gone over the max value. But all the damage or whatever is still there, it just makes it easier to see on the screen rather than display it all as a super long number.”

Then that means… Oh… Oh dear…

“That’s… that’s a lot of Magic…” I said weakly.

I’ll have to run some tests later…

I added the staff to my inventory as well. “Is it alright if the rest of these resources are used for the Tomb and the kingdoms?” I asked.

“Go for it.” She shrugged.

“I’ll have Demiurge gather them later and with luck we can use them all to their fullest potential. To my office then…” I sighed, walking down the hall to my office and I walked in- Pero?

I stood there for a moment watching as Peroroncino was sitting at a newly added desk and blowing through papers with terrifying speeds.

“Um… hello there Pero, what are you doing in my office?” I asked curiously.

“Well I don’t exactly have one and frankly after seeing your bureaucracy skills here as a lawyer, even as a rather lazy one, I’m insulted.” He replied.

“I’m your average pencil pusher! I wasn’t in any management positions!” I whined.

“And yet somehow you were the sole person that made sure the Guild ran like a well oiled machine through finances and other such things.” Pero countered.

“Ugh!” I groaned. “Well… are you solving a lot of those problems?”

“Oh I’m already almost done.” He said.

Huh?!

“How!?” I asked incredulously.

“Well I understand legal jargon and these papers are full of them. Once you know what the long paragraphs actually mean mentally I just summerised it up to what it was and began signing the ones that were good, rejecting the bad, and you kept a ledger of expenses and such here already so budget allocation wasn’t too hard to figure out. From there it was just stamp here, sign there, shred these ones that would have just hemorrhaged or been a lost cause investment and review a few drafted treaties and trade agreements before scheduling a meeting for finalizations.”

“Right… so I’ll leave all that to you cause I have to allocate a lot of resources… like… I think several solar system’s worth of materials to boost the guild…”

“Damn. Well when you have a list let me know. With all that Spite got for us during that apparent Shopping Run, materials and such we’re all good, it’s mainly workers we’re lacking for a change.”

Workers huh? Fair enough.

I nodded and left to find Spite. If anyone can help me test these new items it’s him, plus I do want to see what’s beyond all these new cracks and what worlds they might lead to.

“Hmm, we both have Assistants…” I thought, deciding to call up Spite with my Assistant to save on some MP even if my regen was too high to really care.

“Yes Skelator’s less fit cousin?” Spite answered.

“First, you're a bitch.” I said to Spite. “And second, where are you? Peroronchino is almost done with all the paperwork and I have time to see the cracks with ya.”

“Uh… North. Not sure if this land even has a name all I know is that it’s cold as fuck, there’s snow everywhere and I see what looks like the rather adorable hybrid of a penguin and a seal all along the coast… Oh and there’s Obsidian’s ship. Was wondering when she’d show up.”

“Right, I’ll be there shortly.” I said, opening up a Gate and walking through to see what was up. “Also, Penguin Seals? What is this The Last Airbender?”

“I don’t know, I haven't seen that show in years. Anyway if you wanna hurry up and get here then you best do it fast. There’s a weird bit of magic around this crack and honestly it’s somehow colder being near it.”

“Right behind you.” I said as I walked out of the gate behind Spite.

“Mother fuck!” Spite yelped and jumped into Obsidian’s arms like a certain Great Dane would his best friend.

“So about this magic near a crack?” I asked.

“First off, you are very strong for a fourteen year old.” Spite said as he looked at Obsidian.

“Skill points dumped into Strength. Really helps.” She chuckled as she helped Spite to his feet. 

“Second, like I said, it’s somehow colder near the crack than anywhere else. I can tell the weather here is naturally cold given how north we are, but the cold coming from the crack is… different. It’s rich in magic and even colder. I’d wager… damn near twelve degrees… or negative eleven for you since you use Celsius back in Japan."

That’s cold… As an undead I don’t usually feel hot or cold but if there’s magic in it then it might actually affect me…

“Yeah, even I can feel it, and I’m undead.” I said carefully. “Hmm, wonder what’s causing this?”

“Has to be on the other side. Same as the AC from The Shop.” Spite sighed.

“Here.” Obsidian said, giving Spite and I… winter gloves? “They’re enchanted to help against cold. Just those alone are usually enough to fight off the worst of a subzero temperature.”

“Cool.” Spite said as he put them on.

I nodded and took the gloves and put them on as well. “Thank you Obsidian.”

“So, just walk through like last few times?” Spite asked.

“Would seem so.” I nodded. “But first, Body of Efulgynt Beryl.” I stated, as my body was covered in a green glow that will help negate the first attack just in case something immediately tries to attack me.

I walked through the crack, finding myself in what looked to be some kind of large estate garden. A barrier was around the crack and…

I made eye contact with a young lady with pink hair, dressed in a maid’s outfit and she seemed unafraid of me, but was rather surprised.

“Hello ma’am.” I nodded. “Sorry to intrude, but what is your name?” I asked politely.

“Oh you talk… As a skeleton I figured you just rattled and attracted rats.” 

“Well at a base I’m an Elder Lich.” I admitted. “But if I may ask, where is here?”

“You don’t know? That’s surprising. I take it that means this crack in the garden you emerged from was not of your making?”

“No, as I have learned the crack was created by… something extremely powerful exploding in the wider Multiverse.”

“Multiverse? Interesting… I will fetch the lady of the house. The Lord is currently pre-occupied… and for some reason you don’t come off as a threat to me. Do not prove me wrong.” She said before quickly heading to the large manor further along.

Hmm… She addressed the owner as a Lord… so this is a nobleman's house of sorts… I tapped the barrier with a finger bone. Hmm… feels as strong as the one Spite put around his farm. Fascinating.

“More and more interesting.” I thought, wondering who built this barrier.

“Is it all good?” Spite asked as I turned, seeing his and Obsidian poking their heads through.

“Well, we are at a Lords estate, and I just met a pink haired woman that I… weirdly trust for some reason.”

“That’s weird.” Spite said as he and Obsidian walked through.

“Impressive barrier…” Obsidian said, crouching down and tapping it with a finger. “Looks like some kind of spirit magic.”

“Spirit magic? That’s a bit rare in Yggdrasil.” I admitted.

“Sounds like they have some powerful forces here." Spite said.

“At minimum a powerful spirit, but I don't think they have an affiliation with the Dark Spirit Gods.” Obsidian stated.

“Let’s hope not.” I admitted carefully.

“Those are part of that Pantheon of Kings right?” Spite asked.

“Yup. Four terrible dark spirits that together make up a single god in their Pantheon. But this spirit magic doesn't have any signs of darkness or corruption so it's safe to say the one who cast this barrier has no affiliation to them.” Obsidian answered.

“Great.” I nodded. “Now let’s hope this Lord and Lady here are peaceful still cause this strong barrier still means they want people out…”

“Or they didn't know anything about the crack and figured putting this up was better than leaving it wide open in their backyard?” Spite offered.

“That was the idea, yes.” We turned, seeing a white haired woman approach us accompanied by the maid. Her ears… an elf it seems. “My name is Emilia. Might I know who you three are?”

“My name is Ainz Ooal Gown, and these are my friends, Spite,” I motioned to my elven friend. “And Obsidian.” I motioned to the furry. “It is nice to meet you Emilia.”

“Actually his name is Momonga, he changed it to be edgy.” Spite added.

“I changed it in Memory of my Comrades I would have most likely never seen again.” I stated carefully. “You're mistaking my name change with your first choice of a character name.”

“I'm sorry but who's back in Nazarik dealing with paperwork?”

“Peroronchino.”

“Who is one of said friends that isn't gone forever because?”

“My… system Title…”

“So why bother keeping the name change? Not like any of us call you it anyway.”

“I made it a promise to spread the name far and wide, both for my sake and the sake of the Guild, and I also said most likely.” I stated. “I’m sorry ma’am, my friend here is… how to put it politely…” I said carefully, trying to think of a proper way of calling Spite a jackass without being rude in front of a noble lady.

“A jackass?” The pink haired maid said.

“And proud of it.” Spite chuckled.

I sighed. “Exactly, so I take it you are the Lady of the this Estate?”

“Of sorts. It's a… bit more complicated than that. Ram here said you told her you were an elder lich. I must say, you're far more civil than old stories would have led me to believe.” Emilia said.

“That is because I am also in a ‘more complicated’ situation.” I said carefully. 

“Heh. So, what brings you all here through this crack in the air?”

“So these ‘Cracks’ are actually holes in Reality that can transport one to a completely different universe.” I explained. “We were investigating this one because it was producing Cold through magical means, even though it was already in a cold northern area, it was even colder than that.”

“Oh, that must be Puck. He's my spirit familiar and is asleep at the moment.” She said, gently touching the gem on her necklace. “He won't wake up for maybe another day. The barrier he cast took a lot out of him.”

“I understand… hmm, how long has it been since the cracks opened here?” I inquired, as I have heard from some of my followers that Time Zones are weird in the wider reality.

“About a year ago if I remember right.”

“Hmm, interesting. It’s only been two months since the cracks appeared in our world.” I hummed, scratching my chin in thought at the time difference here.

“Well, now that you know what's over here what are your goals?” 

“Alliances and trade mostly.” Spite spoke up. “Current we have a lot of resources but lack manpower and Momo here is wrapped up in a new kingdom that he… inherited, more or less.”

“Inherited?” Emilia questioned.

“In some ways…” I said carefully. “But the ‘inherited’ is because of ‘Outsiders’ invading and causing trouble for the people of the world, and I was the one that the previous leaders entrusted their kingdom after dealing the final blow against said invader.”

“I see. So does that mean there are outsiders our world should be weary of?”

“Yes, they are beings from the Dark Realm, lead by the Pantheon of Kings and the Chaos Pantheon.” I said, pulling out a book of all the specific parties to look out for and handed it to her. “These are some of the people we know that you should look out for.”

“That will be useful when I can read it. When the barrier is down, when Puck wakes up.”

I nodded. “I understand, this world has gotten a whole lot bigger, Lady Emilia, and we’re here to offer any help we can.”

“It’s good to know that we have more allies. Feels like we could use them. I am curious though, this nation you inherited, what’s it like?”

“It… was effectively a Human Supremacist kingdom based on their Religion but due to outsider interference, they forcibly changed their bodies into a race of magical creatures named Nokori… one mass selective amnesia spell later, my already growing kingdom got even bigger.” I explained as best and simplistic as I could.

“Why the use of an amnesia spell? I didn’t even know such magic existed.” The maid, Ram if I recall, said.

“They’re so racist they’d rather forget they were human entirely than live hating themselves as another race and were too cowardly to kill themselves.” Spite said.

“Basically, and in our world Magic is rather vast, but I don't know how vast compared to your world's magic system.” I said carefully.

“Well, in our world people are born with what we call a Gate. These gates are the source of ones ability to pull magic from. It’s best if one starts young as the older you get, the harder it is to open your gate and the weaker your magic potential is. Each person has a magic affinity that fits best. Mine is spirit magic, which is how Puck and I formed our contract. My friend Subaru has a talent for shadow magic, a rare kind but given his age when he started he can only use one or two low level spells that aren’t very useful. He tries though and maybe one day he can learn stronger spells.”

Interesting… Shadow Magic and all that relates to it across games and media usually show it being strong… but this guy has it weaker just because he started learning about it later in life?

“Bet if he gets an Assistant that will be easy to fix.” Obsidian said simply.

Huh?

“Excuse me what?” I asked curiously.

“Yeah. Normally inhabitants of the multiverse are bound by the laws of the reality they come from with a few exceptions. Magic and the way it’s used across realities more often than not varies wildly so from one reality to another the way magic is used changes. Some other things like physics, biology and other small or big things apply to that, that’s where the Assistant comes in. On top of all it offers naturally it also acts as a form of Anchor Point for people. Let’s say that one type of magic is impossible to use in this reality, but in yours is used commonly and freely. Someone from this reality could learn to use it when there, but the moment they come home it’s cut off from them due the the way magic in their home reality works. An Assistant allows a person to use that magic anywhere regardless of their reality of origin and its laws. As well as any biological aspects that work in one reality but not in another. It’s why anyone who travels the multiverse has to have one, otherwise they’re rather at the mercy of whatever laws the various realities have for physics, magic and ect.” Obsidian said.

I see… that makes sense why in the magic skill tree and all the others are so huge. It allows people to use all forms of magic regardless of the laws of the reality they’re in or from… Maybe that’s why when the servers went down I and the others were sent to that other world. Despite most people being weaker magically and physically, the general application and such is similar enough to let them be used. Even the items.

“This is getting curiouser and curiouser.” I hummed.

“So you’re saying Subaru could become stronger magically with this… Assistant? What else can it do?” Ram asked.

“Lots. Heck it borderline makes people immortal with a few exceptions.”

“Immortal…” Emilia muttered.

“Well, it's more like respawning than immortality.” I brought up. “If you have an Assistant, if you die, you are sent back to the last place you set as ‘home’ and your being is sent back effectively.” I said, having had to learn that but cause I heard ‘immortality’ and got very confused.

“Interesting… What about healing otherwise incurable illness or injuries?” Ram asked.

“Well, if you can’t do it through the Assistant then I know a place with doctors that have regrown limbs, replaced organs and all kinds of things.” Obsidian said.

I nodded. “Is there anything else you would like to know?”

“Well, for now I think that’s all. We best inform Roswaal about this and prepare for a proper meeting tomorrow.” Emilia said.

I nodded. “Alright, then we shall head back as well and prepare.”

With that we walked back through the crack.

“You best make a good impression.” Obsidian said once we were all back on the other side.

“You got that vibe too?” Spite asked as she nodded.

“Yes, I also got that vibe as well.” I said, as she seemed polite but not trusting in the slightest. “Which is fair all things considered, but I still trust her.”

“Well your best bet to get it returned in kind is to help that maid out. Clearly she has an ailment if she asked about curing them. So best bring an item or doctor that can fully restore someone, as well as Assistants and some magic tomes for that Subaru guy she mentioned.” Obsidian said.

“I think I have something in regards to the healing aspect that could work…” Spite hummed.

“What kind do you have in mind?”

“It’s a medicine made with the various healing herbs I’ve grown. It restores limbs, vitality, removes status ailments. You know, The Potion of Mercy. You only bought like fifty of them from me when you and your guild went on that Poison Swamp that put From Soft to shame.”

Ugh… I remember that place… Even at max level just standing in the swamp started wearing down resistances. Then the pockets of wandering miasma and various poisoned gasses… Even being an undead didn’t help me avoid it…

“That place was a pain in the ass, area wide resistance down and poison’s even undead have to suffer from…”

“Well I’ll bring some of those to be safe. You gonna bring anything aside yourself and I’m assuming Pero?”

“Hmm, not sure honestly cause there’s just been… a lot of things going on I haven’t really thought of the other floor guardians and if I should bring them along.” I admitted.

“I mean if you want, their party is a mixed bag but most of your guardians seem rather distrustful or just down right despise humans; and even if these people have inhumans in their group, it’s clear a few humans live there.” Spite said.

I sighed. “Yeah… I really need to get them to stop hating humans…”

“Can’t you use the Staff of your guild? You said you used it to alter Albedo before?”

“That was back in the Game, I don’t have any Dev Consol’s to change their settings.” I shook my head.

“So what can it do aside glow and be a decorative side piece to your throne?”

I proceeded to hit Spite with a Gravity Maelstrom.

“What did I do!” Spite coughed in pain.

“Don’t you ever disrespect my friends or the Guild ever again.” I stated in genuine anger. “The last time some chucklefucks thought they could use the Guild and my friends like that suffered justly for it.” I stated. “The Staff of Ainz Ooal Gown is the culmination of all our hard work, determination, and friendship that is still a powerful weapon.”

“And you’re getting them back for fucks sake.” He huffed, pulling himself up after the attack ended and rolled his shoulders. “Attitude like that is how you turn people into enemies. Or sow distrust in allies.”

“I’m sorry…” I sighed. “Just… my friends and the Guild are the closest thing I have to a family…”

“Thanks for letting me know I’m not close enough for that.” He added, opening a gate as he left.

“Damn… you fucked up.” Obsidian said as I groaned.

“Yes I did, but it’s difficult to not get pissed when you hear your friend go ‘the symbol of your friendship and trials is just a glowy stick that sits next to the throne’...” I managed, scratching my boney head. “Damn it…”

“And you expect him to know when he wasn’t part of your guild how? Hell, the only reason I know what it is is because Mare and Aura wouldn’t shut up when I asked about it.”

“It is a Guild Weapon, the item that quite literally… makes or breaks a Guild.” I sighed. “It might not be true anymore, but in Yggdrasil the game, if the Guild Item is destroyed, the Guild is automatically disbanded… I was holding the entire Guild’s fate in the palm of my hands everytime I used it…” I sighed. “I should still go apologize…”

“No offence but that’s some capture the flag bullshit in OP magic staff form.”

“Possibly, but if the Staff was destroyed, it wouldn’t have just been the Guild disbanded, the Guild Hall, the Tomb of Nazarick, would have been lost and everything else the Guild obtained…” I sighed. “Hopefully it doesn’t work like it did before in this Reality…”

“You’d best see if it does or doesn’t. I’d rather not lose my room all because your staff broke. Hmm… That does sound familiar though… Where have I heard that before…”

“I’ll go check.” I said with a nod. “Just… look that up first, then find Spite.”

I opened a Gate back to the tomb, walking to the throne room where the staff was currently.

How do I even check this…

[“I can assist here.”] Karma Guide informed.

“Hello there Karma, please help…” I thought weakly.

[“Analysis of the Staff of Ainz Ooal Gown shows that the item is still considered a World Item. In the right hands it allows one to reshape the world and create and destroy at their leisure. While the developer menu options are no longer present, it does however seem to contain foreign information.”]

“What foreign information?”

[“Memories.]

“Memories? What kind of memories?”

[“Based on the contents, the memories of all the Nazarik NPC’s. This explains a few things. After all, the NPC’s wouldn’t or at least shouldn’t be able to recall events that happened in their pre-self aware years given they didn’t have the ability to store memories like that, at least unless it was written into them as background data. The Staff appears to be acting as a focal point for all the former NPC inhabitants to recall information from their experiences as NPC’s and tying it to their newfound self aware consciousnesses. Were the staff to be destroyed, then it’s likely that the NPC’s would all forget their pasts. The Tomb would remain and they would live, but none of the NPC’s would be able to recall their own pasts.”]

“... While it’s… not as bad as I feared… it’s still bad if I fuck up and all our kids just… forget…”

[“This can be changed. All you would need is to find a person skilled in Heart Smithing.”]

“In what smithing?” I asked. “Um… what kind of heart are we talking about here?”

[“The Heart. The culmination of a person and what holds their memories. Or rather, the emotions attached to them. The former NPC’s currently lack this within themselves, hence the need for the staff to act as a focal point for them all.”]

“Right, do you know anyone or where to start?”

[“Uhm… no. Sorry, but I don’t know anyone I’m not given to and right now it’s just you.”]

“Right, sorry.” I thought. “So have to talk to Obsidian or find someone in Shopkeeps realm… but right now I need to fix things with Spite…”