A/N
Hey, a new idea for a story popped into my head. I'm not abandoning my other stories, but I have an urge to write this. I'll be writing multiple stories at the same time now, so it will be an interesting experience for me.
Just to let you know, this story is not set in the same universe as my other stories. While several principles and classes are kept, the characters and backstories are different. Also, just like my other stories, Ainz will not be transported to the new world here.
This story may seem a bit generic based on this chapter, but I do have an idea to make it a little different. You probably won't see it for another chapter or two though.
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On a hill in the temperate virtual world of Midgard, far away from the plains filled with players in the distance, a black oval rippled into existence. A figure stepped through the portal and stepped onto the virtual hill. He was dressed in fancy, one might say gaudy, robes, with a circlet adorned with many exquisite gems on his head. His boots stepped onto the hill covered with grass, but he did not feel anything, for sense of touch did not exist in this game. Even if it did, all he would feel would be the soft leather of his ancient dragonhide boots.
There were several powerful creatures on this hill, but none reacted to the player who just arrived. For today, the last day of YDDGRASIL, no monsters could attack or be attacked.
This player's screen name was Kaching and he was here to watch the fireworks scheduled for the last day of YDDGRASIL.
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Mitsuo Yagami was a young man with little interest in games. However, his younger sister, Harumi Yagami enjoyed playing games, and convinced Mitsuo to play YDDGRASIL. Both of them belonged to the guild 'Force Network'. Force Network was a guild that had been in the top 50 ranked guilds in YDDGRASIL for several years now, despite always having fewer than 60 active members. The guild started with a group of 6 founding players who decided not to invite strangers into their guild. Every member who joined had a real life connection with one of the other members, be it a family member, friend, coworker, or neighbor. As a result, the members of Force Network had an incentive never to betray each other in game. While one of them might have done so given the right circumstances, it just hadn't happened. However, another effect of this policy was that most members were casual players, not really focusing on YDDGRASIL. Even in the most active days of the guild, less than half of the members could truly be called active.
Under normal circumstances, a guild like Force Network would not be considered an elite guild. However, there were several dedicated players, one might call them achievement hunters, that pushed the guild to the top. The point when Force Network started gaining power occurred when the guild acquired the world class item the 'Cauldron of Abundance'. This world class item allowed the generation of any type of crafting component, effectively allowing the creation of many extremely powerful items. Shortly after that, four of the original six founding members each obtained powerful crafting classes. These players acquired the ultimate general blacksmith class, 'Hammer of Creation', the ultimate general forging class, 'Forge of Infinity', the ultimate general alchemist class, 'Distiller of Eternity', and the ultimate general enchanting class, 'Imbuer of Destiny'. Together, they created the world class item, the 'Mythic Gem'. With two World Class items, the guild Force Network quickly rose in the guild rankings. However, what made them truly powerful was the fact that the two world items they had was an excellent combination. The Mythic Gem had several powerful effects, one of which was the ability to increase the effects of certain items. This ability by itself was not very impressive, but one of the items the Mythic Gem could enhance was the Cauldron of Abundance. By using these two items together, the Cauldron of Abundance effectively quadrupled its item output, allowing Force Network to create many items. With the support of the four ultimate general crafting classes, they were able to create many items that rivaled the power of guild weapons.
After tasting defeat at the hands of Force Network, many rival guilds complained to the developers, but predictably, they did nothing.
Force Network gathered information about many different class combinations and shared it with their members, causing several members to restart their characters. A little over two years ago, Force Network attacked the ultimate guild base of Alfheim and conquered it, making it their main base. They quickly used the 3000 levels of custom NPCs and equipped their creations with powerful equipment to repel intruders. To enhance their defenses, they also had their crafters create many powerful golems to aid in the defense. Each of these golems was made of extremely rare materials from the Cauldron of Abundance and was capable of fighting an entire party of max level players. While they were arguably the guild with the most power at their disposal, they were never able to acquire another world item, possibly due to their lack of dedicated players and badly timed opportunities.
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Mitsuo had been in Force Network for a little over a year now. He found it slightly ironic that they had gotten so powerful, only for the game to shut down. Mitsuo had been invited by his sister to join the guild, but he was never active in it. From what he knew, Harumi had been invited by one of her friends in college. Despite being a casual player, he managed to get his character, Kaching, level 100 thanks to YDDGRASIL's generous EXP system.
Force Network had hosted a party for all remaining guild members at their guild base a short time ago. They had said their goodbyes, had emotional moments, and reminisced old times. To be honest, Kaching felt a little out of place there. After a while, people started logging out to do various other things, most likely go to sleep considering the time. Kaching took a quick tour of their guild base before travelling to this hill to watch the fireworks the developers promised. There were several players on a nearby field socializing, but Kaching did not have many friends nor was he very sociable in YDDGRASIL, so he did not join them. Besides, he thought that he could have a better vantage point from the hill. Even if the developers claimed that the fireworks would be visible almost everywhere, it didn't hurt to try.
Kaching took a quick look at his guild tab on his HUD and saw that he was the only guild member still online. It wouldn't matter either way as he would be soon forcibly logged out. Kaching decided to lie on the ground, watching the fireworks in the distance, and reminisced about the short time he spent in YDDGRASIL. Eventually, he let his mind wander over inconsequential things as the time ticked by.
Suddenly feeling uncomfortable, Kaching adjusted his position on the hill, feeling the grass beneath his fingers as he turned on his side.
It took him a few moments to sense that something was wrong. Instantly, the player Kaching jumped to his feet on reflex and looked around. The area he was in was unfamiliar to him. While the land seemed peaceful, the terrain was not what he saw several minutes ago. Kaching wondered what was wrong for a few seconds before he realized that he shouldn't have been able to feel anything earlier. He quickly concluded that he was no longer in a game and this was a new reality.
Kaching was slightly surprised by how quick he came to this conclusion. He wondered what could have caused him to think this way, and his mind instantly provided an answer.
In YDDGRASIL, Kaching had acquired a powerful class called 'Enlightened One'. This class had many benefits, but the one that stood out now was the skill 'Supreme Insight'. The flavor text for this skill stated 'The one who achieves enlightenment shall gain the power to quickly comprehend everything, understanding the world in ways normal ones cannot imagine'. In game, it was a passive skill that lowered the cost of all spells and reduced the casting time and cooldown time of skills and spells. To Kaching's knowledge, it was one of the few ways to shorten the cooldown time of super-tier spells, although it still took a significant amount of time before one could cast another super-tier spell.
In this new world, however, the Supreme Insight skill seemed to allow Kaching to gain insight to various things. Somehow, he knew he was in another world and his skills and abilities from YDDGRASIL worked here. He knew that he could access his inventory, cast spells, and do things that would normally be impossible. However, he also knew that he lacked knowledge in other areas. For example, while he knew what he could do, he did not know what the people of this world could do, if there were any at all.
Kaching was slightly worried about his predicament. He was not a devoted player of YDDGRASIL. While his guildmates said his build was excellent, the fact that he could not verify it himself proved that his knowledge was lacking. Kaching knew many classes, builds, and combos, but he didn't study them seriously; an elite player knew much more than him. Additionally, this was his fifth attempt at creating a character, so he was not familiar with all of its mechanics. YDDGRASIL only allowed one character per player, but the player could always reset their character. He had many things to learn.
To complicate matters, he was alone. Kaching never played solo in YDDGRASIL; he always had a group to support him. The last day was an exception, as it was the end of YDDGRASIL as all of the monsters were not aggressive and no one wanted to fight another player. He normally played with five other players: Ironwall, Katsuo, and Yamato on the frontlines, Echolord exploring the area, and his sister ChocoTart supporting the group. Even when he didn't go with his usual group, someone in the Force Network was always available. Kaching had no experience travelling solo, and to make matters worse, he was a magic caster. Magic casters were strong, but they had a few weaknesses, such as needing MP to use their most powerful abilities. The problem that stood out now was the fact that he was exceptionally weak in a melee fight. If an enemy got close to him, his chances of victory would plummet. Kaching did not have any abilities to summon creatures to act as meatshields. While he did know the warrior transformation spell [Warrior Form], which was a weaker version of [Perfect Warrior], it would only make him a subpar warrior. There were many potential problems and he lacked information.
"First things first, though."
Kaching cast several information spells on himself and his surroundings. For the most part, the information he received was exactly as he expected. There were no powerful monsters in the area, no signs of magic, and nothing affecting his body. Two things surprised him, though. First was the fact that friendly fire was on, as he had to deactivate his counterintelligence skills and spells before he could get any information. Second was the fact that now he was somehow able to wear rings on all of his fingers, instead of just two. Players in YDDGRASIL could do so, but they had to spend real money to buy that privilege. Kaching did not spend any money in YDDGRASIL, and only had a few cash shop items that were given to him by others.
Kaching then went through his inventory, identifying the effects of several key items. He would have gone through everything, but his inventory was massive. From scrolls, to potions, to raw materials, he had a staggering amount of every type of item imaginable, with the notable exception of cash shop items.
Currently, Kaching was wearing a guild ring and a ring that increased his defenses. He removed the guild ring and put on four rings in its place. First was a Greater Sustenance Ring, which would greatly reduce his need for food and sleep. Second was a Supreme Ring of Revival, which would automatically resurrect him if he died with minimal experience loss. The ring could be used once before it needed a day to recharge. He just hoped he didn't have to test it out. Third was a Greater Ring of Concealment, which would shield him from divination and information gathering spells. Finally was a Store Link Ring, an item crafted by the top crafters of Force Network. It had the ability to store and share certain things between players. In YDDGRASIL, members of Force Network often used this to power level players. However, Kaching's identification spell revealed that this ring could now store and share much more, from nourishment, to rest, to experience. For some reason, he could use it to share MP but not store it. It was also incapable of storing or sharing HP. However, with this and the Greater Ring of Sustenance, he could survive many days without food, water or sleep once he stockpiled enough. Kaching had 9 other Store Link Rings in his inventory, as well as over 50 Branch Store Link Rings: rings that could link with other Store Link Rings, but could only take from the storage, not add to it. From what Kaching learned from his identification spells, these rings could now be used to give their bearers benefits from the Store Link Ring, but they couldn't take it on their own, a user of the Store Link Ring had to command the withdrawal. Surprisingly, the Store Link Ring now had the ability to give its benefits to individuals nearby, albeit inefficiently, upon the command of its owner. However, what interested Kaching in it now was the ability to link up with other rings to increase storage capacity. With over 60 rings, he could store a huge amount of nourishment and stamina. Of course, he had to sleep and eat first, but it could be useful in the future.
Realizing he needed more information next, Kaching cast a [Greater Arcane Eye] spell and started searching for signs of life. There was no intelligent life in the nearby area, but this spell allowed him to search far away. After a while, he came across what appeared to be a caravan lead by humans traveling on a dirt road. From what he saw, the people here were of a very low level and poorly equipped. Kaching switched out his more noticeable equipment to weak items, cast spells on the rest to conceal their power to blend in with them, and teleported to a location along the road the caravan was travelling. If he encountered a bad situation, he could easily swap out his gear thanks to some of his equipment's abilities. Thus, the player Kaching encountered the people of this new world for the first time.
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I think I'll stop it there. I'll put two character sheets on this page.
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Kaching/Mitsuo Yagami
The Sage in Way Over His Head
Alignment: -25, Neutral
Job: Unemployed/Searching for job (In both worlds)
Residence: Kyoto/Currently a traveler
Racial Level: 0 (Humans don't have a racial level)
Job Level: 100
Mage Adept Lv. 10
Arcane Scholar Lv. 10
Enchanter Lv. 10
Spiritualist Lv. 10
Sage Lv. 10
Divine Scholar Lv. 10
Scribe Lv. 10
Master Sage Lv. 5
Master Enchanter Lv. 5
Master Spiritualist Lv. 5
Divine Master Lv. 5
Arcane Master Lv. 5
Enlightened One Lv. 5
HP: 65
MP: 100+ (Exceeds Limit)
P. Atk: 10
P: Def: 70
Agility: 60
M. Atk: 100
M: Def: 90
Resistance: 95
Special: 100
Total: 690+
These stats may seem high, but most of it is from the equipment that Kaching has equipped. His stats with Legendary-class equipment is not quite as impressive. As mentioned, Kaching/Mitsuo had assistance in building his character from his guild, so even as a casual player, he was able to get several powerful classes.
For this sheet, I decided to put the classes in the order the Kaching obtained them. Thus, he first got the mage adept class, then the arcane scholar class, then the enchanter class, and so on.
Kaching acted as the DPS caster of his group in YDDGRASIL. Thanks to some of his class abilities and help form his guildmates, he knows over 500 spells, although he usually only uses a handful of them.
The sage and master sage classes are classes that allow a player to use both divine and arcane magic. While they cannot use arcane magic as powerful as a dedicated arcane caster or divine magic as powerful as a dedicated divine caster, they can use both to adapt to their situation. The sage class cannot be taken if one has levels in certain magic classes such as Wizard, Sorcerer, Priest/Priestess, or Cleric, and once a character gets a level in sage, the character cannot take levels in those classes. The requirements of the sage class are a character level of 40 and a minimum of 5 levels in a beginner magic class, usually mage adept or acolyte. In order to gain the sage class, the player must also obtain the event item 'Zen Scroll'. While not rare, this item is difficult to obtain for players under level 50. The sage class receives bonuses based on the prerequisite classes taken, in Kaching's case giving him additional magic attack as he chose mage adept.
The spiritualist and master spiritualist class is not required for this build, but gives several bonuses to the enlightened one class.
Although Force Network had a player with the 'Imbuer of Destiny' class, there were a handful of situations in which a player with the master enchanter class could enchant better. Therefore, Kaching took this class to support his guild. Fortunately, in YDDGRASIL crafting, production, and enhancement classes gave stat growth and occasionally bonuses to other classes. Enchanter classes gave growth consistent with magic caster classes and several useful spells.
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Chocotart/ Harumi Yagami
The Cheerful Healer
Alignment: 150, Minor good
Job: Student
Residence: Kyoto
Racial Level: 0 (Humans don't have a racial level)
Job Level: 100
Acolyte Lv. 15
Alchemist Lv. 15
Advanced Alchemist Lv. 10
Priestess Lv. 10
Herbalist Lv. 10
Divine Scholar Lv. 10
High Priestess Lv. 5
Master Alchemist Lv. 5
Divine Master Lv. 5
Barrier Lord Lv. 10
Barrier Master Lv. 5
HP: 80
MP: 100+ (Exceeds Limit)
P. Atk: 10
P: Def: 80
Agility: 50
M. Atk: 50
M: Def: 100
Resistance: 100
Special: 100
Total: 670+
Chocotart has a support healer build. Again, most of these stats are from equipment. Chocotart/Harumi had help building her character like Kaching, but she was much more active in YDDGRASIL. Again, these classes are listed in the order that she took them in.
Similar to Kaching's case, Chocotart took the Master Alchemist job even though Force Network had a Distiller of Eternity because there were a few items a Master Alchemist could create better. Additionally, the alchemist classes synergized well with the priestess classes, giving good stat growth and class bonuses.
Chocotart is a powerful healer who is best when in a group. Although not completely helpless, when playing solo most of her abilities cannot be used effectively.
Chocotart was present during the last day of YDDGRASIL, but logged out before the shutdown. She will not be appearing in this story, although she may be mentioned.