Chapter 1: The New World (1)

[So what numbers do we have? Real ones, not the random ballpark figures that anyone can make up.]

[Last we checked the total budget for this monster ended up at almost a hundred BILLION yen. And that's not even getting into the various investments, stocks and potential patents that are riding on this entire venture. Akihiko Industries and Tenkai Initiative are now at the forefront of the largest technological boom related to a video game in history.]

"Okay...solid connection made, power is good...alright, last step."

[It's also the first possible economic bubble formed over a video game in history as well, considering how revolutionary and exciting this new full dive technology is there's a lot of average salary workers who have a vested interest in seeing where this goes, it's not just the big investors in tech companies.]

[No joke, care to guess where my last paycheck went?]

[The soundboard? And how did you get that bit of me screaming at my TV?]

A few flicked switches, slotted ports and Anton Corrin stood up with a satisfied sigh, cracking his neck and luxuriating in the release of tensed muscle and a job well done as his NerveGear began the final stages of updating and connecting to the local network.

[But I feel like we should take a moment to appreciate how this all came about, people. Five years back Akihiko Industries was on the verge of bankruptcy trying to create their namesake's vision and now it feels like we're on the cusp of seeing Tron finally become reality. Five years since Tenkai Initiative offered a deal that would see Sword Art Online replaced by YGGDRASIL 2, the two companies pooling their resources and influence to craft this momentous occasion we're all bearing witness to.

[A real, breathing fantasy world that 100,000 nerds are going to be spending a week enjoying before the rest of us. Man I hate those lucky bastards.]

[I hear there won't be any microtransactions though, at least not for the first two months while they get the customization the original YGGDRASIL possessed in working order. Word on the street is they wanted this to be a success before they went and monetized the hell out of it.]

A light 'beep' signified the final updating and synching was complete, the young man smirking as he switched off the podcast he'd been listening to before glancing at his digital clock.

"Ten minutes to go. About fuckin' time."

Travelling the length of his cozy apartment in about eight seconds flat he checked the refrigerator, nodding in satisfaction at what was ready and waiting for him. A heaping jug of chilled water and sports drinks, a big ol' pot of oatmeal and plenty of assorted fruits. Just the kind of healthy meal one would need for an afternoon and entire day of uninterrupted gaming.

"Heh, haven't done something like this since high school...alright, time to hook up~!"

Checking the door to his apartment to make sure it was locked as well as a host of other domestic chores Anton returned to his brand new NerveGear, one last check of the apartment's windows ensuring the cool air outside would have a way in as he began the process of joining the game, the day off of work tomorrow ensuring his time would be uninterrupted by anything and everything.

A slow, excited breath left him, smile tilting his lips upwards.

"Link start!"

A strange sense of vertigo and weightlessness hit him-

-and after a brief period of disorientation he found himself in the new and improved YGGDRASIL 2 start screen, familiar to the original he'd played for a few years but made all the more enticing by its new coat of paint and the novelty of the whole deal being in virtual reality.

"Awwwww yeah, now that's pretty awesome! Let's see, character import, character import...ah, there you are."

Navigating the menus Anton brought up the option to import his YGGDRASIL character into the sequel, a few seconds passing as his request was processed...and in a flare of light a towering figure well over three meters tall appeared before him, the being seeming halfway between man and dragon, a humanoid and flesh covered body that had scales growing in uniform patches across it while a lashing tail and retractable wings just completed the image, stern and unsmiling features that could have been carved from a mountain face glaring down at him while bright blue hair cascaded down its chiseled shoulders and back.

"...We might need to make you shorter, ol' Half-Scale buddy."

Quickly opening up the customization menu Anton began to adjust some sliders and other such variables, shrinking the avatar down to a more reasonable 2.3 meters and toning down on the muscle-size of his character, the hulk now having a swimmer's physique rather than a brick shithouse.

While not a big deal in the original since it was controlled through mouse and keyboard, YGGDRASIL 2 avatars were directly controlled by the player and being in a body too far removed from his own could end up being a bit of a steep learning curve. Toning down the physique was the first step while he figured the height was going to be easy enough to get used to, if a bit awkward at first. Kind of fun, too, since he was a bit on the shorter side IRL and always wondered what the world looked like from up there.

"Alright, I think that's enough for now! Momonga and Agil are probably already waiting for me, their avatars are close enough to normal human proportions, the boring saps."

Chuckling to himself Anton finished saving the changes and initiated the final loading process into the game proper, his modified avatar - sans its old levels, equipment and draconic features aside from the scales for obvious balance purposes - appearing in the starting town with a flash of bright light as the young man luxuriated in the sheer breadth of sensations assailing his senses.

"Damn...they really went all out with this. It actually feels sorta like real life."

Sure, the NerveGear's capability of simulating real life tactile experiences had been the main selling point of the tech but it was another thing entirely to undergo the process in person. Some things felt a little muted, sure. Taste and smell were definitely some of the less well-defined senses while his vision had a strange FOV to it that wasn't congruent with his in real life...but everything else seemed spot on, if a bit strange.

"Wild, even my avatar feels kinda funky."

Stretching and shifting his draconic body Anton found that his skin where the scales covered felt stiff and calloused, not shifting as easily as the more human bits did...which was awesome, since there was no telling how his tail and wings would feel once they grew in at higher racial levels.

"Holy crap, what would flying feel like?!"

Grinning widely to himself the male moved to step forward, dozens of other players of all races and shapes appearing amidst flashes of light as they logged in-

-and his heel caught on the floor, Anton's eyes widening as he promptly fell flat on his face with a heavy THUMP, a few other players laughing at his misfortune as the Half-Scale slowly hobbled to his feet, an amused voice stating, "You too, huh?"

Glancing to the side Lance found a large Ogrillo avatar sitting against a nearby building, a Human and Dark Elf seeming amused at their mutual predicaments as the monstrous avatar a good three meters tall added, "Should have taken up one of the shorter races, hindsight being 20/20. A Dwarf or Fae, I think."

Grinning at the other player Anton responded, "No kidding, I shrunk this bad boy and now I'm wondering if I should have done more...I ain't exactly the tall type IRL."

The Dark Elf smirked, stating, "Better hope there's no X-rated patch that comes out later on, or you two are gonna be hunted the servers over for threatening all the girls with a good time."

The Human rolled his eyes, grumbling, "Only you would immediately think about how to turn Tron into an eroge."

Snickering at the byplay Anton departed at a more careful pace, offering a wave to the trio that they returned, another figure moving to join them as he continued on his way.

Following his map as best he could while trying to avoid the countless players, NPCs and other individuals slowly crowding out the sprawling Town of Beginnings Anton gradually began to acclimate to his considerable height before finally catching sight of the two he was supposed to meet up with.

"Momo, Agil! How's the first few minutes in this world treating you?"

"Good god, Cake...seeing you in that monstrosity like this is alot different than it is from a monitor."

"Tell me about it. First thing I did in this world after getting high off the sensory information was trip over my feet. Kinda wish I'd made my avatar a bit shorter, gonna have to hop on to character creation later and fix that."

Momonga and Agil - usernames hovering right above their displayed health bars - stared up at Anton as he approached, the male's fearsome appearance somewhat undercut by his game ID.

Cupcake:D, a name that he had somehow managed to claim as his own despite the sheer impossibility that NO one that had played the original YGGDRASIL long before he did adopted it.

Momonga - in the uninspiring and fairly unimpressive avatar of a heteromorphic Skeleton Mage - disbelievingly asked, "You were even taller before this?"

"Yup. Guess you two are right at home, what with normal sized avatars and all."

Agil even looked a fair bit like his IRL self, tanned skin and shaven head that was accentuated by the large axe strung over his back and barbaric looking armor, the starting equipment of an Axe Raider job class.

"That we are. Never thought I would live to see the day Tron became a reality, though."

Rolling his eyes at Agil's response Cake clapped his hands together, creating a noticeably loud SMACK as he asked, "So, friendos...what's on the menu? Quest? Tour of the town? Level up?"

Momonga raised a hand as if they were in school, sheepishly lowering it once the pair gave him wry looks and responded, "Why not try leveling? And I really want to see what the player skills in action are like."

"No complaints here. Alright, player skills it is! Lead on, bony. This was your idea, you show the way."

Momonga brought up his map without further question, striding off as the other two followed, Cake asking, "So how long do you think it'll take before old YGGDRASIL habits take over and all the humanoid races are fighting with the heteromorphs?"

"Normally I would say we'd be seeing that by the end of the day...but with how novel all of the virtual reality stuff is? I say give it a week."

Chuckling at Agil's more optimistic estimation Cake stated, "Three days, tops. Never underestimate the power of a griefer, Agil."

"You're probably right. Back in the cafe we call those kinds of people the soccer moms."

"You get a lot of soccer moms coming into your place? Given its out of the way spot I figured you mostly got people that just ended up being lost, that's how Momonga and I found it."

"Worst days of my life, those ones."

The pair smirked, following in their companion's wake as he guided them further out of the increasingly noisy and chaotic town.

"Skill! [Anger Drive!]"

Anton grinned as the NerveGear simulated a rush of power across his body, a strange tingling dotting his nerves as the effect took place, a swing of his arms sending a rush of air towards the figure of a snarling Plains Wolf-

-and the monster ignored the aggro drawing skill as if it didn't exist, the towering Half-Scale blinking in surprise as his spell did nothing, the feedback of the missed ability causing his Avatar to slow while [Anger Drive] went on a cooldown almost twice its normal duration.

"Well shit. Hey, guys, pro tip! When using a player skill don't miss, you get nerfed pretty hard!"

"Of course the devs didn't mention anything about that!"

"This is YGGDRASIL 2, Momo. If anything I expect those cagey bastards will be worse than they were before."

"That's...probably true. Especially in an entirely new system like this one where-"

"Oi! If you two are done chatting I'm still being used as a chew toy over here!"

Both Cake and Momonga halted their idle speculations and turned to where Agil was still taking on the trio of Plains Wolves, sweeps of his axe keeping the wily beasts at bay but no one was under the impression that was a strategy that would last forever. While the Axe Raider had pretty good sustain and burst damage that was only once it was a few levels in, the early stages left it pretty weak to all forms of damage.

"Right, let's get to. You wanna give it a shot, Momo?"

"Sure, why not? I'll try not to miss like you did."

"Alright, smartass, why don't you-"

"Skill! [Mana Bolt!]"

The starting spell for any of the myriad offensive magic users in the game shot from the skeleton's fingertips, a bright but simple lance of blue-tinged energy that struck one of the wolves as it lunged in to bite Agil's flank, the canine monster yelping in shock before exploding into blue and white pixels.

"Holy crap, Momo. You just one-shot that thing."

"Yeah, and get this, [Mana Bolt] refunded some of the MP needed and is on a shorter cooldown than it normally should be."

"Ahh, makes sense. Risk versus reward is the name of the game for player skills, ain't it-"

"Still two monsters, just an fyi!"

Sheepishly returning to the fight the pair of heteromorphs made quick work of the wolves assailing Agil as they took note of their rewards, a small chunk of gold and EXP but no drops.

"Next time you're up front, Cake. Or does the Guardian not want to do any real guarding?"

"Sorry, kinda got swept up in the rush of testing out the features of the game. But get this about player skills, Agil…"

Player skills had originally been conceived as a mechanic in the original draft of the game when it had still been named Sword Art Online, a move the players would activate and then automatically follow through on which would deal a variety of effects or ranges of damage, depending on position or area hit.

Since the developers had wanted to keep that particular paradigm but also balance it around YGGDRASIL 2's combat engine they had made it so player skills would enhance any of their spells or abilities when activated, success obviously netting higher damage or a bevy of additional effects while a miss or some other kind of fuckup would see the player punished.

No doubt the key to effectively making use of player skills was to know when it was safe or advisable to use them, as opposed to just casting the spell like normal.

"So how much EXP did you guys get off of that?"

"An eighth of a level up or so, how about you?"

Cake snorted, wryly commenting, "Less than half of that, I forgot how much EXP a Half-Scale needs to actually get anywhere in this freakin' game."

While Half-Scales were definitely one of the more powerful and stat-heavy heteromorphic races - never mind being able to straight up turn into a damn dragon at high enough levels - they were balanced around the fact that they couldn't wear most armors and took a fat amount of EXP to level up compared to most other races.

Seeing as how he had chosen his starting job as a Guardian - to make use of the aggro drawing skill the class started with - before going all in on the Half-Scale and would likely be a pretty shit tank until he got to level 18 or so...maybe he hadn't thought this through all the way.

"Oh well, not like I'm going to go back on that choice now. I made it work in the OG YGGDRASIL, I can make it work in this one."

"So do we have any particular destination in mind, or do we just keep grinding until something else pops up?"

"I vote for we just keep heading straight in this direction until we reach the edge of the map. I mean look at this place, it's fucking massive!"

Unnecessarily gesturing to the horizon Momonga nodded in agreement with Cake's exclamation, musing, "It certainly explains why there was such a large download necessary for the game...what is this, thirty or forty kilometers across?"

Agil checked the map the undead was looking at, musing, "I'd say more along the lines of fifty. The Town of Beginnings is almost five across itself, the surrounding plains look to be at least four times that in every direction."

"And who knows if the map boundary is actually the end of it? You know how the YGGDRASIL devs are, it'd be just like them to put a whole dungeon or other town just off screen, waiting for someone to get curious enough to explore. And then get violently murdered but them's the breaks."

The duo nodded in agreement, Agil shrugging as he said, "Well, let's pick up the pace then. Who knows, maybe there'll be some kind of achievement or special job class unlocked for getting to the edge of the world first?"

Momonga and Cake looked at each other...and immediately broke out into a sprint, Agil right behind them as the Half-Scale shouted, "That's exactly the kind of shit they would think up in their twisted little heads of theirs! C'mon, guys! We better hurry it up and-SHIT!"

The trio lost a few precious seconds from their beeline towards the map's edges as Cake tripped over his feet, faceplanting directly into the dirt as the other two sighed and shook their heads.

They were probably going to have to slow their pace a little, unless they wanted to be stopping every few seconds.

"You just had to go and pick the big freakin' avatar, didn't you, Cake?"

"Yes, you're right and yes, we'll see who's laughing when I'm soaring through the skies and you're gazing up in envy at me. Now why don't we power walk our way to the edge of the world, eh?"

"Well, no special job class...but damn if you weren't on to something there, Agil."

The trio strode into the confines of a small shrine tucked away in a remote corner of the plains, mostly hidden by a treeline and adorned with a single, worn-looking statue of a nine-tailed fox.

"So is this going to be some kind of special event where we get jumped by an uber boss and insta-killed or a nice, peaceful award for our long walk?"

"Honestly? Flip a coin."

None of them made to approach any closer, despite the very enticing, very collectible scroll placed at the bottom of the statue.

"...Fine, I'll go. You two stay at a safe distance and write my legend if I get insta-gibbed by a monster or something equally horrific."

Momonga bowed his head, responding, "We'll do just that, Cake. Probably in haiku form."

"Not that it matters to me, but why haiku?"

"Quit stalling and get to it, Cake."

Agil's attempt at shoving the Half-Scale met with hilariously meager results, Cake smirking at him before nonetheless doing as asked, striding forward on far steadier feet than he had previously before coming to a stop directly in front of the altar, cocking his head at the scroll before shrugging and picking it up in a meaty hand.

"Well...here we go. Christ, I hope I don't end up being the first player to end up dying in this game."

He stared around the small shrine, waiting for something to go sideways with equal parts nervousness and anticipation...and after almost a minute he released a small breath, the game clearly not intending to kill him for the temerity of trying to actually play it.

"Looks clear, guys!"

"Whew, I thought for sure you were going to get wiped out by overleveled mobs there…"

"Thanks for the vote of confidence, Momo."

Ignoring Cake's wry tones Agil nodded towards the scroll, asking, "So what's the news, Cake? Anything special in that scroll?"

Using his menu to pop it open and see what the scroll contained Anton read the popups that appeared in his vision...and felt his lips curl into an unstoppable grin, turning to his two friends with supreme smugness.

"Guess who just unlocked a rare job class that we thought wasn't going to be granted?"

Both blinked - Cake assumed they did, Momonga lacked eyebrows...and eyes - before the Skeleton Mage protested, "What?! Seriously?! Is it reusable?!"

The scroll promptly crumbled into blue flame and fading ash.

"I'm gonna go out on a limb here and assume no, Momo."

"That's not fair, what class was it?!"

Idly examining his fingernails the Half-Scale replied, "Oh, nothing too special...just the famed 'Kyuubi' job class."

"...Hate you...so much."

Agil slapped an open palm over his face, grumbling, "Well it's nice to see at least one of us got something out of this little venture."

"Hey, neither of you wanted to go investigate the possible death trap, finders keepers. And you both leveled up on the way here while I'm still stuck at level 1. So, yeah, everyone got something."

Momonga gave him the most deadpan stare possible despite having static facial features.

"Gain one level-"

One bony hand rose.

"Gain a rare job class that maybe a few hundred had in the original game."

The other joined.

"Hmm...I think I'll take the rare job class."

Rolling his eyes Cake set and saved a waypoint on his map, responding, "There, you big baby. I saved our current location so you can always come back and see if it respawns or something."

"When it was that easy to get? I doubt we'll be that lucky, if I want to get it later it'll probably be locked behind some raid boss or equally absurd hurdle. The devs probably just put it there as a reward for whoever stumbled upon it first."

Chuckling at the truth of that statement the trio instead turned their attention to the distant sight of the game's namesake, the tree Yggdrasil and the fortress of Aincrad that had been constructed around it.

Even Momonga, who had seen the Burj Khalifa during a business trip, found himself in awe of the monolith on display before them. It reached seemingly forever into the sky, towering laughably high even above the clouds that reached maybe a third of the way up its length, branches growing sporadically through the smooth and artfully sculpted surface of Aincrad, the concentric megastructure snugly fitted to the great tree while leaves the size of freakin' aircraft carriers cast the lands below into random patches of shade, depending on the angle of the sun.

"You know...that amount of memory suddenly makes a lot of sense, considering what we're looking at right now."

"No kidding, in all honesty I'm surprised there wasn't more required. I mean look at that monster…"

Agil cupped his chin, the sun perfectly eclipsed by the gargantuan structure overlooking the Town of Beginnings and casting everything into a strange ambiance as he mused, "How big do you reckon each of Aincrad's 39 floors are? Assuming what we're looking at is actually representative of its size and not just a visual asset."

Cake shook his head, responding, "Couldn't even begin to tell you without actually being inside. I mean the tree itself is 'just' a few kilometers thick but Aincrad is way wider than that, easily eclipsing the Town...ballpark estimate? 1st floor is twenty kilometers across and let's not forget the branches popping out of it here and there, which could easily act as smaller floors all on their own."

Momonga ran a skeletal hand over his bony head, voice awed as he murmured, "All this with YGGDRASIL's level of customization...it's just so much. You could spend a decade doing nothing but exploring and barely scratch the surface. God forbid if they start adding expansion packs."

Cake nodded, musing, "Call me crazy, but I think they're going to start quickly earning back their investments. And I'm with you now, Agil. With all of this it's going to be at least a week before people remember humanoids and heteromorphs aren't supposed to like each other, if only to follow tradition."

"I do like it when people come around to my way of thinking."

The trio chuckled at the man's words, content to just watch the scene before them with quiet appreciation-

-and blinked as they were suddenly in the main square of the Town of Beginnings, squeezed shoulder-to-shoulder with thousands upon thousands of other players, all of them muttering in confusion as the glare of a mass teleportation spell finally faded from sight, a growing murmur of excitement and bewilderment increasing amidst the player population as they turned to each other, asking if any of them had a clue what was happening.

Turning to Agil and Momonga - who had made the sudden jump right alongside him - Cake asked, "Well, bets? Some kind of welcoming announcement? Special event?"

Momonga tapped his unmoving lips, stating, "If it is one I doubt the devs are going to make it too easy of a one for us. Probably will end up with us getting killed by an endgame raid boss in a scripted event we can't run from."

"I would accuse you of pessimism, but you're probably not wrong."

Agil suddenly nudged the pair, pointing up towards Yggdrasil itself...and the crowd of players quieted, a single, colossal branch that made skyscrapers seem puny in comparison moving towards them with a titanic groan of wood and rustle of leaves that sounded a bit like a minor hurricane.

"Well the sound design is certainly impressive."

Momonga and Agil wordlessly nodded, all eyes locked on the steadily approaching branch with no small amount of anticipation and trepidation.

Halting a few dozen meters away from where it would have turned them all into pixelated smears on the ground the wooden length abruptly changed course, curling upwards before blossoming into countless flowers, vines and other bits of plant matter that coalesced into the rough approximation of a human body...had humans grown to be really damn tall.

[Greetings, players of this new reality. I would like to welcome each and every one of you to the world of YGGDRASIL 2 and hope that these past few hours have been productive in, to borrow a somewhat more mundane phrase, getting your feet wet with what the NerveGear is capable of.]

The voice was powerful without being overwhelming, possessing a smooth and cultured accent that Cake knew he'd heard from somewhere-

[My name is Kayaba Akihiko and I personally extend my thanks to you all for making this venture possible.]

-ah, there it was. The guy who more or less trailblazed a path for this whole game to even be a reality in the first place.

Excited murmuring broke out among the game's populace, Kayaba raising the strange avatar's hand in a bid for silence that was quickly granted.

[No doubt you are all quite eager to get back to the game, or perhaps wondering why I've gathered you all here...the answer is simple. So that you may all bear witness to the birth of a new world, a world where one's creativity and ingenuity, their charisma and influence, their power and skill...all factors that make up an individual may be put to the test and expressed to their fullest, no constraints or artificial walls holding them back.]

More than a few of the YGGDRASIL veterans smirked at each other, the man no doubt perfectly understanding what had been a draw for them in the first place.

[To that end, I consign you to this prison. A prison as wide as the whole world, who's only bars are the ones you decide exist.]

This time it was raised eyebrows that were exchanged, most wondering if this was a case of flowery language gone wrong or a smug suggestion that the game would prove so addictive no one would want to leave.

[As of the moment I recalled you all to this square the means to leave YGGDRASIL 2 were locked and once this announcement is concluded the full capability of the NerveGear will be made apparent, this world to be your new reality.]

One could hear a pin drop.

[While unwitting in their task Tenkai Initiative was quite thorough in their work and design, you will no doubt quickly find YGGDRASIL 2 every bit as compelling as the old world was...if not more so.]

A slow murmur of confused and apprehensive discontent began to grow among the assembled players.

[Now I imagine a great many of you doubt the veracity of this claim, doubt my words and intentions. That is fine and perfectly understandable but time will quickly show that what I tell you now is the truth. And for those of you who yearn for a return to the old world, who wish to escape this reality...ascend to the top of the Yggdrasil tree and rescue it from the threat that seeks to end its life, you will find an answer to your search then.]

A low, grinding echo began to build as the towering branch retreated to the sky, Kayaba's avatar raising its arms heavenward before parting with,

[I wish you luck in your endeavors, players. This world is now yours to live and prosper in as you see fit...make the most of it.]

The tree limb returned to its previous position high overhead with the stately majesty of an ocean liner, the gathered player base still in a state of fugue shock and disbelief...and as one they all moved to their menus, searching for the log out button at a frantic pace-

-only to find that the option was completely and utterly lacking in presence, gone as if it had never existed in the first place.

Cake could only stare in disbelief at the missing option...and felt his nose wrinkle as his sense of smell suddenly seemed to skyrocket in sensitivity, a truly bewildering variety of odors briefly snapping him out of his shock at the announcement.

Mustiness, sweat, decay, dry stone, sulfur, smoke, meat, spices...all a chaotic mess that had him belatedly realizing that what he elected to set to a fairly low sensitivity rating in the NerveGear setup was now dialed to the max, if not better than it had been before, fitting for his Half-Scale avatar.

"And that begs the question of just what else has changed."

Turning to a thunderstruck Agil and Momonga, Cake felt his mouth twist in a slightly crazed grin.

"Guess that Tron comparison gets more and more accurate by the minute, doesn't it?"

And there's the first chapter of a story I'm super hyped to write!

The concept for this one came about after I consumed a lot of different media with similar premises, the two main ones being Log Horizon and Chaotic Good by MrGrin, both different in execution and appeal but touching on some of the same core concepts...namely, what happens when the video game world becomes the real one, where mechanics and processes are suddenly universal laws.

Heck, Log Horizon took it a step further and commented on the difficulty of creating a functioning society when everyone is basically a demigod in a strange land far removed from home. Now obviously I don't think I'll be able to measure up to that masterpiece of a story but I kinda wanted to give it a shot, combining those two source materials together into a coherent whole that will have a large, sprawling cast of characters and story arcs, going over an expansive tale of trying to acclimate to a strange new reality.

Hopefully people will really enjoy it because this is a story I've been getting super invested in, see y'all in the next chapter!