2138.
In the past, people would have looked to the future in glee, wondering what advancements the world will have made. And seeing it as a a shining path that would lead them to whatever they wished to do.
However after many years with the constant shifting and changing of the status quo, this attitude towards destiny began to become more and more skewed, as people rarely even managed to fulfill their dreams and lost their passion as a direct consequence. The percentage was microscopic outside of the wealthy, and even then it was rare. Most people simply ended up as another cog in the wheel, simply earning a wage and the ability to go on another day.
Even so, people still held on the that faint speck of hope to carry them through the day, as the promise of advancement and promotion, was dangled over them like a carrot and stick. Yet even through this bleakness, the people who managed to achieve their dreams did still exist.
One such case was a man who referred to himself online as, "Punitto Moe."
He had always had to passions in life, Gaming, and war. Specifically the strategic part of combat and having to outsmart the enemy in clever ways. As most people who are passionate about a subject do, he tended to share much of his interest with the people around him. Though he may not have indulged in this as much as more eccentric individuals within his guild did, it was still enough for him to be labeled a military otaku.
He found that the best way to experience his passion was by playing online games and using his strategy and tactics to win. Though he did enjoy this, there was rarely any games that let him fully indulge in this pleasure. After he came to this realization, it lead him to what he felt his calling was. If he couldn't find one, he would simply need to make one.
As one of the lucky few to receive an education, he had a much wider range of careers then most, and was able to achieve his goal after no small amount of effort, becoming a programmer under one of the larger tech companies.. From there he simply used what he already knew of games to create his own worlds and ideas. He was under the firm belief that taking ideas from a game to use in his own was not plagiarism, but instead, "Inspiration."
Because of this experience, he was extremely good in online games, using the experience he had accrued form other games and the ones he had worked on to great success. His backlogs of games was utterly enormous as a result, and he possessed nearly every category of game there was.
Though his work hours were fairly long, he still found time to play all of them, a fact which consistently astounded his friends.
Yet it shows just how far society has degraded when such a relatively normal job is seen as a dream that only the wealthy can afford to attain, to say nothing of high end ones.
But when everything in their life is devoted to getting it, they fail to realize that they have nothing else by the time they achieve their goals.
.
.
.
"Uwah, why must programming be so difficult?"
He slammed his head down on his desk in defeat as the amount of errors he had seen today began to wear down on his psyche.
Even when you love your work, no one is safe from the stress of failure. And though he loved to create his own world and story, bringing it to fruition was proving to be a most difficult task. But he had resolved himself to bring his world to life, no matter how difficult.
Still, as he stared at the countless syntax errors, his motivation to do so it was getting weaker and weaker until it reached a breaking point.
"You know what? this can wait until tomorrow. I'm done for now. But man I need to cool off. I guess the only way to calm down after making games is by playing them."
One thing he was particularly grateful for was about his line of work was the fact that he was able to work from home. Though this had made him know as a bit of a recluse by his neighbors, he did not mind.
"Alright. What is on the agenda today?"
It was always a chore for him to decide one to play in his utterly extensive catalog. Should he try something new, or continue playing one that was already started? The same thing would happen each and every time he chose to play. Though he disliked how it cut into his free time, he also understood it was unavoidable, since he rarely found a game that he would spend all his time on.
Now, what to choo... what?
This time however, His course would be decided near instantaneously.
"Is that YGGDRASIL? Didn't they shut that down quite some time ago?" Though the only one to answer the question was the empty air around him, he already knew the answer. He had even received a request from Momonga on the day it went down to join him in staying until the servers ended. Unfortunately that was on a particularly busy day, so he could only stop by and say hello.
YGGDRASIL was without question his favorite of all the games he had played, so it was a shame to see the news the server was going down, especially since he had hoped to return to it one day. It was a game that allowed him to indulge in information gathering, since that role was extremely important in that game. The only thing he could think of that was a negative was the devs and there Sadistic ways of balancing the game.
No, he more he thought about it, the more he realized that was part of the reason he loved the game so much. Though the devs were universally hated by the player base for ambiguous about everything and everything regarding the game, the environment created by that made knowledge a great bargaining tool and weapon to use. Something no other game could do.
It was this style of fighting that he specialized in. gathering information to use against others, and thus turn the situation into his favor. He would sometimes get a bit to into the role, earning him no small amount of teasing from his guild mates.
The memories of his times with the game trickled down like rain, and gave rise to a warm smile, as he wished to relive those memories once again.
"I doubt it would have been brought back for no reason. An offline patch would be pointless for that game, since the fun is being with other players, so maybe they had a update and brought it back? Maybe people wanted it and I just missed that it was brought back online? Hmm..."
Though he didn't no the reason for its emergence, he was still happy to see it. Though he didn't expect his old gear and Nazarick to still be there after so long, but even if he had to start over, he wouldn't mind. In fact he may be able to find a better class for his purposes, as commander was not suited for that role as well as other. But he had fun with role playing as a great leader with it, and it was useful to others, so he did not mind.
Clearing his head of his pointless thoughts, he refocused on his goal and moved over to its icon.
"Well, no time like the present I guess."
Tap
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The first thing he saw when he opened his eyes was a sea of green.
What lay before him was a forest so thick, that the night sky could not even be seen. A gentle wind blew through the tree line, creating the sound of rustling leaves and shrubbery that was both calming to the mind, and pleasing to the ears.
In spite of this fact, anyone in his circumstances would likely feel the exact opposite of those emotions for one crucial reason.
Those sounds had not been heard on earth for over 50 years.
"..."
Though this would normally cause a large amount of alarm, he could only stare blankly at what was before him. Even for someone who prided themselves on being level headed, such a reaction was completely abnormal.
In all likelihood, his brain had become overloaded with the influx of new information, and his exact circumstances had yet to register in his mind, leaving him only to stare into the empty space before him.
Yet even when the reality of his situation had hit him, he did not fall into panic. He was shocked at such a development, but his consternation only lasted a moment, as he immediately checked his surroundings for any sort of clear or present danger, but could only see the emerald sky stretching on without a sign of life in sight.
Even after verifying that nothing was in his general vicinity, he could not completely alleviate his suspicion. Randomly appearing in a forested area was
After his surroundings were clear, he moved on to check himself for any abnormalities, and the moment he did, the memories of his previous actions came back to him.
"AH, now I remember, I had logged on to YGGDRASIL earlier, so I must be in the game since I'm still my old avatar." Honestly he was a bit embarrassed for the way he acted, and was thankful that no one was around to witness it, but he still was questioning what had happened between then and now. "Why did I black out just now?"
He briefly began to ponder the matter, before recoiling in shock at a revelation he just experienced. He had out his arm to where his chin would be if he were still human, but when he made contact, he noticed something that was impossible.
Feeling.
Something that was impossible to properly replicate within VR had just been experienced by him, and that single small brush had snapped him back into his previous state of shock.
That small touch also began to alert him to other things that did not make sense. The fact that his HUD was nowhere to be scene, the fact that he was not in any starting area that he knew of, nor his guild base, and other small details that slowly forced him to accept reality.
He had been summoned into YGGDRASIL.
What other option could there be given the facts? The most glaring being his new form, as that was his avatar within the game. Though he was extremely confused, he managed to regain his calm after a few moments.
The how or why of his situation did not matter. The best thing to do in this moment would be to cast out everything unnecessary and have a clear mind.
The fact is that I have been summoned, so there no use panicking over what's said and done. Though I'm confused on how this came to be, the main question I have right now is–
"–Where am I?"
Though he may have accepted his situation, he still needed to learn more about it. YGGDRASIL was host to an uncountable number of forested areas that were made from various different materials, such as crystal and coral, and even when they did use the standard wood, there would always be some sort of gimmick involved. And though it was beautiful, the area would never look so... ordinary.
The exact specifics of his circumstances were also unknown. Were there people that lived here? Was he weak in comparison to themselves
Though he had resolved himself to keep a level head, he could not help but feel his gut cramp up from the stress at the prospect of dying to an unknown force.
Encountering people right now would probably not be a good idea. Without prior knowledge, the likelihood that I will say or do something to get me into trouble is quite high.
Considering how Heteromorphic creatures were treated in both YGGDRASIL, and within most forms of media, it would probably not be the best of ideas to start looking for human settlements looking like this.
Had he known this would happen, he would have spec'd more into Illusion magic, as that would at least give him a means to hide himself easier. Sadly, the commander type skills he had possessed no such abilities.
Plus I left all my old gear with Momonga-san, so I'm even weaker then usual. Sigh... Why did things have to end up this way...
Though he was bothered by his lack of preparation, that did not mean he was unhappy with his situation.
His old world held nothing of value to him other then his own work, but when the only thing worth anything in your life is your livelihood, then whats the point?
Compared to that, he was in a world with a completely clean slate, and could choose to do whatever he wished, however he wished. Not only was the prospect of his new options quite invigorating, but the idea of a completely new world that was waiting for him filled him with immense joy. However information gathering needed to be done before any of that could become a reality.
"The best thing I can do right now is stay out of sight, and slowly lean more about my situation." If it turned out he really was in YGGDRASIL like he initially assumed, then things would not nearly be so bad, as he had quite a vast amount of knowledge on the game and its mechanics, so he likely could survive for quite a long time if he played his cards right.
With his plan set in stone, he gave a small Hmph to psyche himself up, and set off into the night, to gather as much information as he was able.
Yes, that's how it would have gone.
As he went to leave where he could see the most light, he felt small hit on his back. It felt light, as if someone had poked him. Yet the area where he felt it was quite large, and the contrast of such a large object making such a light impact unnerved him. Not to mention he had no clue on what had actually hit him in the first place, as the lack of force or pain made it impossible to guess without prior testing.
He immediately spun around, to face whatever had landed a clean blow. Normally he would never be caught unaware like that, but somehow something had gotten the better of him. It would seem he was to caught up in his own thoughts to notice his surrounding, despite the fact that he had just resolved himself to be careful, he managed to make such a mistake within mere seconds of his pledge.
What am I, a noob!?
The first thoughts that raced through his mind was it was an attack from a rouge type player or enemy, but he quickly dismissed that as impossible, since any move from the attack based stealth jobs would be sure to deal an immense amount of health. Though it may end up being something less dangerous, it was necessary to imagine the worst case scenario and plan accordingly, then to underestimate his foe and be killed in short order.
Though the likelihood of that scenario was not very high, he could not simply throw away the possibility of encountering a dangerous foe. He still was quite clueless in regards to his current situation, which could only allow him to grasp at straws as he began frantically rummaging through his memories to imagine the identity of the unknown assailant.
A curse from a forest sprite? A High level trap? Or is it something completely unknown to me? Damn it! Why did this have to happen so soon! He lacked what he considered the greatest weapon of all, information. And without his one true weapon, he felt as defenseless as a newborn.
Regardless, the only way to obtain said weapon would be to face his adversary head on and work from there. Which was why he had chosen to stand his ground rather then immediately flee. If it was faster then him, he may as well have just placed a "kill me" sign on his back.
Yet once he had turned around, what was before him was completely outside the scope of his imagining. What was before him was none pf the dangerous situations he had imagined, but instead what appeared to be a young boy, Elven if his looks were any indication. No matter what way you looked at him, he seemed to be completely average, yet he would not let down his guard until he had confirmed he was not a threat.
His pure white hair was shaggy and spattered with dust, "well kempt" could not be used to describe it under any stretch of the word. Along with the signature long ears that came with the race, his face was youthful and quite pretty despite being male.
His cloths however seemed to be quite strange. Despite appearing to be mercenary like, with leather being bound in various places, it had a quality to it that showed it was no mere patchwork ensemble. That cloths themselves, though simple in make, seemed to be designed with the express purpose of blending in. A symbol was also sewed above the left breast. One which he did not recognize.
He seemed to have just fallen on the ground, as he was trying to get his bearings as he held his hand to his head. More then likely he was also distracted, and did not notice Punnito Moe, much like he had just done. However, his body seamlessly blended into the forest clearing, so his blunder was much more excusable.
Still, one should never make such an easy mistake. Camouflage is one of the first things you need to learn how to detect.
As he continued to chastise the tactics of this rookie in his mind, The elf finally began to come to his senses, and turned his gaze upwards at what he apparently had just slammed into at full force.
Only to stare wide eyed in abject terror.
"Hiiiieeee..."
A/N Though Ainz basically embodies all his guild mates values, I think he is show to take after Punitto the most with how cautious he is,