IMPORTANT - READ THIS FIRST!
#1. I'm not a die-hard reader of the light novel/web novel/manga
All the info I get is from the English-dubbed anime adaptation, and from the overlord wiki website. With regards to website information, I also took some comments into consideration, as long as they didn't sound completely over-the-top stupid. But even the over-the-top stupid comments, which I somehow understood as not stupid at all, I also considered. Oh, and I tend to misinterpret a lot of information in wiki-type websites, so take what you will from my story.
#2. I'm not really big on online games anymore.
I used to be, a loooooong time ago, but now only play them VERY casually. Like, more casually than a player known as a 'filthy casual.'
While that is true, I've read a few fanfics in which the protagonist, from their world, has become transported into a magical/fantasy world; hopefully I don't completely screw this up with that kind of knowledge in my head; it isn't much, but it's something. This story, staying true to the series, will have an OC that is overpowered in comparison to the people of the New World, much like Ainz. Will the OC be more overpowered than Ainz? Probably not, or at least I'll try not to make it so, but no promises. If overpowered characters, compared to those around them, are not your thing, you're probably watching the wrong anime.
Note: the OC's overpowered nature will only be true within the parameters of in-game combat. For example - the OC is a good PvP duelist (not the best, but not bad either) with a good grasp of his job's strengths and weaknesses. Does the OC know what a 'shit test' is? Absolutely not.
#3. While the OC is, I think, overpowered, big weaknesses are still involved.
For example - the OC has high physical attack, high magic attack, and above average mobility, but low defenses. What trope does this character fit into? I would say a mobile glass cannon. Dodging and high speed movement is possible, but upon taking a clean and actively undefended (block or parry) hit, it will hurt a lot.
#4. What are the combat stats of the OC?
These are approximate combat stats that DO NOT include equipment enchantments or active/passive buffs
HP: 80
MP: 95
PHYS ATT: 80
PHYS DEF: 40
AGILITY/STAMINA: 80
MAG ATT: 85
MAG DEF: 40
RESIST: 95
SPECIAL ABILITY: 100
TOTAL: 695
#5. The story will be told in first person point of view (POV), but will change, when needed, to third person. Afterward, it will hop back to first person.
Why? Because reasons and feelings... but mostly reasons.
#6. You will see a lot of references to various anime or games that you may or may not have heard of in the past.
If these references bother you, I'm terribly sorry but I'm not changing them. I meant for this story to have a lot of my childhood memories in it.
DISCLAIMER: I do not own any of the anime/game references included in this story. They belong to their respective anime/game universes, platforms, and creators.
#7. Will I be continuing the other stories that Odama Rasendori did not finish?
Maybe, depending on how this story goes. If it turns out that I do have a somewhat decent ability to write fanfiction, I'll consider it. If not, then... well, no.
#8. Reserved.
I'm sure there are others, but the above six (not counting the 7th) are all I can think of, off the top of my head. When I think of more, I'll include them here. Should you expect me to update this list regularly? Probably not.
DISCLAIMER: I do not own Overlord. If I did, Solution Epsilon would look more sexually appealing than she already is.
Overlord – Chapter 1
*tick* *tick* *tick*
I glanced to the upper-right side of my screen, less than five minutes until the YGGDRASIL servers close forever. It's been a sweet ride, but I guess all good things must come to an end eventually. I've been playing this game for years, even invested a considerable amount of time and money into it – it's been a wonderful online DMMORPG game, one of the very first successful ones since the hit sensation became a trend. There's even a new one that came out. What was it called? Something about swords and some kind of art… online, something.
Whatever. I ordered the box online, it's supposed to arrive three days from now.
I met some people on this server, who said they'd be playing the new game I just bought. They invited me to their adventuring party, but I haven't chosen to accept or decline just yet. I thought back to my old YGGDRASIL guild, the one I'm no longer a part of. It's the fault of a damned quest; it had some very horrible requirements, one of which denies me from having any access to a guild. Another requirement is having an empty buddy list. It's supposed to be a solo quest, for my race, the oni race, and it's proven to be extremely difficult so far. I've been at this for four weeks, and I'm so close to finishing.
I found the quest, a month ago – it was hidden behind many achievements, secretly added into the game with the most recent and final update YGGDRASIL will ever have. After clearing every single raid at the highest difficulty, including a new one that was added a few months ago, a hooded NPC appeared behind me while I shopped in town for some potions. The NPC's physical stature told me it was male, due to the lack of obvious body parts that would suggest otherwise. Before I could say anything, he walked by me, slipped an envelope into my adventurer's bag, and vanished.
I hadn't seen him since.
Obviously, I opened the envelope, read the contents, followed one extremely vague clue after the next, and found myself unlocking this racial quest that only an oni can undertake. It's been a topsy-turvy ride, but here I am now, in front of the big boss that's protecting what would be the final reward of this stupidly long quest line. I've gotta say though, I've enjoyed the hell out of it. I wonder if the development team added this quest just because they felt like it, and because the game was going under anyway. Maybe I'll send them an email when the servers go down, just to sate my curiosity.
I took a deep breath slowly, then let it out as I looked at the demon general before me – a minotaur-like creature donning black and red armor, and wielding a gray-bodied spear with a sharpened diamond tip. Blood was splattered all over its body, along with slash marks through its armor. I looked to the upper-left side of my screen, noting my total health to be at fifteen percent, and total mana at eight percent, then back at the demon general. It's been a hard-fought battle, but I need to finish this.
It doesn't have much health left, but then neither do I. I have passive abilities that allow health regeneration, but those effects are negated for this boss battle. One attack will finish this; it'll finish either of us depending on who lands the final blow.
I gripped the leather-bound hilt of my silver claymore, Raijin. It was originally a katana, but I changed its appearance to a claymore as soon as I found the time to gather the materials needed. There's an NPC in almost every town that offers services that changes the appearance of items to another item. However, only similar items can act as a catalyst for item-appearance changing. For example, a one-hand sword will only change to another one-hand sword. A claymore, being a two-hand sword, was a good candidate for a katana, which is also a two-hand sword.
I think katanas are cool, but, as a Japanese man, I'm already used to the appearance of katanas due to our culture and so the look of one is somewhat bland to me. When I saw a claymore, once, when walking down a market plaza in-game, a medium-tier great sword was featured as one of the store's hottest selling items – obviously for newer and journeyman players. It wasn't very powerful, but the polished silver, V-shaped cross-guard, the black leather-bound grip, the silver pommel with a sapphire embedded in the center, and the Scottish-inspired straight blade made me drool.
I bought it immediately and used it as a catalyst to change the appearance of my katana.
Regarding Raijin itself, two good years was what it took to gather the materials to craft this divine-tier blade from the piece of crap weapon that it used to be. It came from a quest in town. A dull blade was thrown into a trash heap, and adventurers picked it up to start the quest. It was apparently an ancient magical sword that was once wielded by one of YGGDRASIL's greatest heroes. The sword was passed down from one great warrior to the next, but its magic waned through its countless battles.
What differs Raijin from other weapons is that it houses the soul of Xolotl, the elder god of thunder and lightning. It grants the wielder all the primal fury of the most powerful lightning creature in YGGDRASIL. Only a righteous hero, pure of heart, could wield the sacred blade… well, that's what the quest text said. Truthfully, I'm pretty far from pure of heart but I don't think I'm an absolute douche bag either. The quest involved the elder god being released due to a weakened physical blade from ages of constant battle.
Adventurers required a high black smith, smelting, mining, and enchanting level to find the required ores, scattered all over YGGDRASIL. That's one method. The other method is hiring the services of adventurers who possessed said non-combat classes. That is the route I took.
The ores needed were known as argonite, a very rare ore that had a three percent drop rate from raid bosses at the highest difficulty setting, and could not be sold or bought.
Nine argonite bars were required, at a rate of two ores per bar. The bar itself isn't what's needed, per se, but the core at the center and inner-most of the bar. to refit the sword. After the sword's physical form was restored, the wielder had to slay the rogue elder god, which required at least two raid parties – 20 players per raid party. Evixius would only spawn in fiery areas, randomly, about four times per year, and only sixty minutes at a time before despawning if not killed.
The wielder would have to be the one to deal the killing blow, with Raijin, to reseal Evixius into the claymore. Afterward, a maxed level enchanter would have to place a spell on the blade that would ensure Evixius would never be released again.
Many adventurers eventually gave up early on or halfway into the quest, opting for easier-to-obtain weapons. Between 1-5 players ended up completing the quest, per server, obtaining a fully-powered divine-tier two-handed sword as a reward.
Raijin is perfect for my class, the war wizard. While warriors can cast up to tenth-tier physical arts, and mages can cast up to tenth-tier magic arts, war wizards can only cast up to ninth-tier, but of both arts. The unfortunate part is while war wizards have high attack power in terms of melee and magic, they, conversely, have low physical and magical defense. I'll never beat a mage in a full-on magic brawl, but my ninth-tier melee attacks will easily overwhelm his pitiful physical defenses, same for warriors and their inability to use magic, and lack of high magical defenses.
Raijin, on top of already having extremely high base stats, has a few effects of its own: it deals normal weakness damage to all enemies not weak or resistant to lightning. Enemies resistant to lightning take normal damage as if its resistance was negated. Enemies weak to lightning take double weakness damage. All damage it deals is evenly split: half as physical, and half as lightning.
It has the ability to purge one harmful magical or physical effect from the wielder every ten seconds; it grants a four percent health regeneration, of total health, per second; it bumps up the damage of my ninth-tier lightning spells to be on par with their tenth-tier versions; it also halves the mana costs for all lightning element magic arts at ninth-tier and under. The lightning damage boost also affects weapon swings at a rate of fifty-five percent, increasing the base fifty percent lightning damage dealt by Raijin to a total of 77.5 percent damage dealt as lightning.
Lastly, Raijin is indestructible. This is due to the soul of an elder god trapped inside. So long as its soul is intact, the body of an elder god is indestructible. When I drew its soul from its body, into the sword, its body dissipated into nothingness. With the enchantment preventing it from ever escaping again, or being magically drawn out, the sword not only acts as its prison but its permanent body as well.
The demon general before me let out a piercing roar, forcing me out of my personal thoughts. It must be getting restless. It's just a collection of pixels and polygons. Can it even feel restlessness, or feel anything at all? I don't know, nor will I ever. I have a little under a minute to finish this. Of course, none of this will matter once the game shuts down. But I want to be able to tell myself that these past four weeks was not for naught.
I gripped the hilt of my claymore and used a magic scroll to imbue it with the power of light. As a demon, it has a natural weakness to light or holy attribute weapons and enchantments. I looked to my mana bar, six percent left, enough for one more spell but I won't need another. This stupid thing already beat me half a dozen times, so I have its pattern down by now. I would have taken longer on this quest, if the death penalty applied, but it doesn't against this boss.
The creature rushed at me and stabbed its spear in my direction. I parried the strike sideways and struck its sternum with the butt of my sword, causing it to stagger. Quickly, I strafed behind it and swung my blade straight across its spine, cutting its body in half.
The demon roared, possibly in agony, as it dissipated into tiny particles of black polygons. I let out a breath of relief and sheathed my sword as I sprinted up a flight of stairs. Right before me was a shrine dedicated to some deity, I think, and a glowing rune blade floating just over a stone podium. Both blade sides formed semi crescent-moon shapes that repeated four times from the base toward the middle. Red runes were etched on both flat sides of the sword, spelling out its name on one side, and the word "vanquisher of evil," on the other.
The game's tool tip had it named "Bishamon," after the Japanese god of war. It seems to have high base stats, too high. Here I thought Raijin was already powerful, but this thing has at least twice or thrice the juice. The item's flavor text said: "this mythical world item has the power to drive away evil."
Whoa, this is a world item? Sweet, I've just hit the jackpot! There was also some red text under the item: "Bishamon can only be wielded during the Oni Ascension transformation." I rolled my eyes, of course there would be a stipulation. Still, it's a world item, so that's gotta count for something. But it being chained with the usage of Oni Ascension means it won't be getting as much up-time as, say, Raijin. Then again, I did somewhat expect this. It's a world item, and those are too powerful to just use over and over without conditions.
Looking at it again, it seems to be an item with limitless uses – just that it requires a catalyst in order to use. Otherwise, it collects cobwebs in my inventory bag. Maybe I can put it in Nazarick's world item vault. It would be fairly useless for anyone without the proper catalyst, though.
Oni Ascension is the second step to Oni Awakening, a racial ability that every oni has. Oni Awakening grants 45 percent increased damage dealt, 40 percent decreased damage taken, and adds a 50 percent resistance to all harmful magical effects such as freeze, burn, poison, and curses. The skill has a six-minute cooldown and a 60-second duration. Oni Ascension was one of the rewards given on this quest, but I can't use it until I finish this quest. It increases the damage boost of Oni Awakening from 50 to 150 percent, grants complete immunity to all damage, and decreases that application rate of harmful magical effects by 85 percent.
However, unlike its predecessor, Oni Ascension has a six hour cool down with only a 100-second duration. Still, for complete damage immunity and more than double damage dealt, it's an incredible ability. I bet the development team added it for shits and giggles, since players would only be able to experience it for a month or less due to the game shutting down. I think I heard the development team moving on to a new project; I can't remember what it was, though.
The moment I took hold of the blade, a screen appeared, in front of me, congratulating me on completing the quest. I breathed a sigh of relief as I was transported out of the dungeon and back outside – a meadow-like clearing outside a cave. I glanced to the upper-right corner of my screen again, watching the time tick down.
Ten seconds left. It's been fun, YGGDRASIL. I wish I'd have enough time to make it back to the Great Tomb of Nazarick and tell the others of my accomplishment. Oh well, this is what I get for lollygagging so much. I closed my eyes as time struck down. I might as well stay until the end, when I get forcefully logged out. This game is owed that much.
Five, four, three, two, one… zero?
I opened my eyes, slowly looking around. I was still at the meadow area, but a few differences quickly stood out. For one thing, I can feel the sun's light on my skin. YGGDRASIL, advanced as it was, didn't have this feature. Sunlight would touch one's skin, but the feeling of heat would be absent. It's the same with cold environment – players could never truly feel the frozen bitterness of ice. We could feel winds breezing, but only to the slightest degree. I heard that the new online game I bought has perfected such features. I'd like to give it a shot, but first I need to know why I haven't been kicked out of the game yet.
I checked the in-game clock, but saw no clock present. Right under the clock should be a mini map that detailed my immediate surroundings. That map was not present either. I noticed I was no longer holding the sword obtained from the quest. At least that one makes sense, since I have to use the Oni Ascension ability before being able to hold it. I attempted to contact a GM, but immediately found that it's impossible without the in-game menu. I tried to bring it up via voice command, but no such window would appear.
I thought about my predicament for a moment, taking note that my body had become a bit heavier due to the sudden weight of my armor. In YGGDRASIL, players don't feel actual weight on their bodies due to their equipment since it's just polygons and data. Fortunately, war wizards can only wear up to leather armor.
Black leather wrist-gloves, silver cloth pants, a silver cloth long sleeve, and under-the-knee leather boots donned my hands, legs, torso, and feet. Worn over my clothes is an enchanted, black, full-body, leather cloak with a hood attached at the rear-end of the neck area. A zipper-function is present, starting from just over the knees to the area between the collar bones.
The entire set is of legendary-tier, custom-enchanted to increase my physical and magical power. Secondly, on my right ring finger, under my leather glove, is a divine-tier racial ring called Qarzulen, Spirit of the Oni Gods. It has the appearance of an ordinary golden ring with its name engraved around the inner layer in YGGDRASIL language.
Its effect is quite nice if I do say so myself.
Qarzulen adds a second charge to my Oni Awakening ability and halves the cooldown timer. Furthermore, if I were to take fatal damage, and a charge of Oni Awakening is available, I would automatically enter said transformation and will be healed to 50 percent of my total health. If Oni Awakening is already active, prior to taking fatal damage, I am, instead, healed to 30 percent of my total health. Passively, it increases the damage-dealt buff, from Oni Awakening, by 10 percent, for a total of 55 percent. The activation effect can only activate once every ten minutes.
Apart from gear, another thing that bugged me is my somewhat taller and leaner body structure. I was much more physically fit in high school, but the lack of P.E classes in college made me put on a few pounds. I wasn't, by any means, fat, but I didn't feel all that fit either. In fact, I sometimes have a hard time buttoning my trousers for work. I can feel the abs on my stomach. I never had abs when I was younger, more of a flat stomach. But now, I actually feel quite powerful. Still, I'm glad to not be wearing heavy plate armor like warriors and knights. I can't imagine how encumbered I'd be, wearing such dense metal on my body.
As an adventurer, I'm allowed a maximum level of 100 and it can be split in various ways so long as my total level is 100. I've even heard of some players making alternate accounts and raising their characters to have 100 level 1 jobs for fun. Most of YGGDRASIL's high level players maxed two or more combat jobs and took on some non-combat classes and raised those as high as possible, with any remaining levels.
Typically, a player character would choose between their combat jobs as their main job, and then transfer skills from other learned jobs to use for their main job. Only abilities that corresponded to a similar job identity would be available for use. For example, a fire ball spell couldn't be used by someone using a warrior-type job. Conversely, a sword-swing physical art couldn't be used by a magic caster-type job. However, a weaker version of both abilities can be used by a player equipped with a hybrid-type job, such as armored mage.
All jobs, combat and non-combat, excluding race traits, can reach a level cap of 15. I maxed three combat jobs, four non-combat jobs with a level of 10 each, and my race, which included five skills at a level cap of five per skill. For each level I gained to my race, one level would be added to one of the three skills at my choosing.
My main combat job is war wizard, a hybrid that equally uses strong melee and elemental spells; my second combat job is dark knight, a tank role that specializes in physical defense and protecting myself or others from light or holy magic; my third combat job is paladin, a tank profession with a focus on handling magical damage, as well as buffing myself and party members with resistances to shadow damage and effects.
I transferred all of my dark knight's defensive spells to my war wizard, combining physical and magical defense spells with physical and magical offense spells. I also transferred my dark knight's two-handed weapon expertise skill to my war wizard. I wouldn't be able to use Raijin without it. War wizard is a hybrid job that innately allows the usage of one-handed melee weapons, not two-handed ones. I needed my dark knight's expertise skill for that.
As for the healing, buffing, and magic protection spells, I transferred them in to my war wizard as well, but was wary of using them. Players who raised a third combat job, and added skills into their main job, faced a certain dilemma: those skills would cost about 25 percent increased mana. This system was implemented to discourage players from raising too many jobs and eventually weakening their overall main job. However, a minor loophole to this was declaring a war wizard job as a player's main job due to their larger-than-average mana pool.
While this is true, their mana pool is smaller than magic-focused jobs. On the flip side, they have a higher health pool than them. Conversely, they have lower health pools than physical-focused jobs, but higher mana pools than them. War wizards, like warriors, archers, and thief-type jobs, also have a stamina bar. Stamina is used for physical-type attacks. True to their hybrid nature, war wizards have less stamina than warriors, archers, and thieves. However, if the stamina and mp bars are added, the result is an amount very slightly higher than a magic caster's mp without enhancements.
I also took on four non-combat jobs as money-making professions, capping them at level 10 each. My non-combat classes are chef, shape shifter, craftsman, and farmer. Shape shifter, while not very useful in making money, allowed me to blend in with the human-type players and creatures around me. Hostile human-type NPCs, up to level 100, would not attack me unless I engaged them in battle first. Players above level 75 were able to sense I was under a disguise and would attack me as soon as they learned I played a heteromorphic race.
In YGGDRASIL, heteromorphic races were hunted down by human-type races for sport and fun. The latter was the majority race in YGGDRASIL.
The last thing I maxed was my racial job. Each race has five skills, but I chose the three that I thought I'd use most often: Oni Awakening, Summon Oni, and Health Regeneration. Oni Ascension is attached to Oni Awakening, acting as a second transformation, and has no actual level. The Wield Bishamon skill is attached to Oni Awakening as well, through Oni Ascension, and doesn't have any levels either.
It was then that a cool breeze swept by me, snapping me out of my thoughts for a second time.
I looked behind me, seeing the cave where the final stage of the quest took place. Have I somehow been transported inside the game? That seems to be a decent conclusion – it's like those childhood memories of being taken into the game of my dreams to live out the rest of my life. Back then, I wanted such a thing to happen. But now I don't! I finally got the guts to ask out this cute and sweet girl at work, and she said yes. If I don't find a way out of here, I'll miss my date for sure!
Well, I won't make any progress if I just stand still. The first step turned into a good walking pace. I noticed a pond to the side and looked into it, admiring the enigmatic outfit I was wearing. It felt like I was at a renaissance… I've never actually been to a renaissance, though, but I've seen images and videos online.
I also noticed my face had a darkened blue color, glowing white eyes, and hair that seemed to defy gravity – like it was submerged in water. As an oni, this is normal. I shrugged my shoulders and walked on, not exactly sure where I was going as I followed a one-way road. Now that I think about it, why don't I know where I'm going?
I've played YGGDRASIL for years, and I know the place very well. I'd need my map for a couple of regions, but the overall world wasn't unfamiliar to me… and yet this world is. Am I really in YGGDRASIL?
I walked another few minutes in silence until the path became a four-way cross walk. A coach, with two brown horses strapped in front, passed across me. There were two elder passengers; the woman wore a brown long sleeve tunic and a beige ankle-skirt, while the man sported a white tunic and brown pants. Both wore a pair of old black shoes… without laces. Before I could raise a brow at their choice in fashion, the old woman looked to me and let out a frightful scream, pointing at my face as she shut her eyes.
At the woman's sudden shout, the old man, whose hands were on the reins of the horses, pulled against them, ordering the steeds to stop walking.
Why is she pointing at my face? What's wrong with it? Has she never seen an oni before? Oni are a very common race in YGGDRASIL, and human NPCs have no fear of us unless we mean them harm. I may a claymore strapped to my back, but I haven't engaged her in battle, or anyone for that matter. But if she was pointing at my face, shouting her heart out, then it means I'm definitely not in YGGDRASIL. Wherever I am now, oni are probably considered monsters. Well, we kind of are but at least we're human-shaped and not obscenely tall, giant, bone-skinny, or fat.
The older man comforted his wife and began to look my way.
"I'm sorry, kind sir. I don't know what came over my wife," he said with a smile, patting the older woman's back. "What's the problem? It's just a man with strange clothes and a sword. You yelled like you saw a monster."
I narrowed my eyes slightly as I drew my sword used the blade to reflect at my face. I looked like a normal eastern man with long, disheveled, black hair. I noticed a sudden spike of energy in my body. Did I just use a type of spell without realizing it? Perhaps my body reacted to the old woman shouting at my inhuman appearance. I'm going to have to revisit this later. The old woman slowed her shaking to a halt as she looked my way.
"Oh… forgive me, young man. I could have sworn I saw a dark-skinned monster with glowing white eyes and hair. It must be these old eye balls of mine, please accept my apology," she said.
"No problem," I said with a light chuckle.
"Say, are you headed to E-Rantel? We can give you a lift, if you like," said the old man. What a strange name for a village. The even stranger part is that name doesn't sound familiar in YGGDRASIL. I might as well ask them. "It's the least we can do for the trouble."
"Um, before that, and I know this is an odd question, but does the word Yggdrasil mean anything to you two?" I asked.
Two elders looked to each other for a moment, then back at me as they shook their heads with grunts. So it's true, then. I'm not in YGGDRASIL. But I'm still wearing my equipment from the game. Too many things don't add up. There's only one logical thing to do now, since I've apparently been transported to a new world where magic and monsters are probably involved, due to the existence of my equipment; I need to gather some intel. I'm not even sure if I've been taken to a game world, since everything looks and feels so real. If I'm not in a game world, does that mean I can't respawn if I die?
I better not try that out.
"I see. Well, I'm a traveling warrior from the south, seeking adventure… and a meal," I said, cursing my luck for not packing food.
I have some potions and other varieties of healing items in my… wait, where's my adventurer's bag? I patted my hands around my body, unsuccessful in locating said container. What I did find, however, was a brown leather pouch strapped on my belt by a metal chain. I opened it up, fingered inside, and pulled out a small marble. A second later, the marble transformed into a vial containing blue liquid. These are the mana potions of YGGDRASIL. I cocked up a brow and slipped the vial back into the pouch. It turned into a marble again.
Hmm, that's convenient.
It seems I still have all my stuff, well, I assume so, but they're now in the form of a marble until I take them out. And, when I want to put something back in, I merely place it at the mouth of the pouch and it'll turn into small marble. I'll need to find a way to organize my stuff, though. It would be bad if I wanted a healing potion and instead pulled out a mana potion. At the mention of food, the elder woman's face brightened up.
"If a meal is what you're looking for, E-Rantel has a couple of taverns that serve meals for all stomachs in this world!" she said.
"Oh, really? How much per meal?" I asked.
"A plate of decent meat and bread and a mug of water is around five krill, I'd say," he said. I tilted my head in confusion. What the heck is a krill? "Oh, right, you're a traveler; you must, then, be confused at our system of currency. Odd, I thought our currency was universal. If not, then I guess it would make sense for you to never have heard of our monetary system."
I nodded.
"What you need to know are the three types coins used as money in this kingdom: the bronze krill, the silver dill, and the gold quarl," he said. "Krill is of the lowest value, followed by dill, and quarl being the highest. A hundred krill is equivalent to one dill, and a hundred dill is equivalent to one quarl."
"I see. Would you kindly give me an example of what I can buy with, say, a hundred of each coin? I'd like to have a better idea of the purchase power of each coin," I said. The old man stroked his chin for a few seconds.
"A hundred krill can buy you a good horse, a hundred dill are enough for a set of heavy mythril plate armor and a mythril weapon, and I think a hundred quarl can get you a good house, including a stable for your horse, at the nicer part of the kingdom, Re-Estize," he said. Well, that's a bummer; the money I have from YGGDRASIL is worthless here since they use a different currency system. The coins in-game didn't use a copper and silver system, only gold.
Also, he mentioned Re-Estize as the name of the kingdom. Far as I understand it, E-Rantel is a small town located within the borders of the kingdom of Re-Estize. I should have them explain more of the geography to me. Might as well gain as much information as I can. The old woman brandished a bronze coin with the emblem of a sword embedded at the center, and showed it to me.
"This is a krill," she said. I took a mental note of the bronze coin and nodded. "My husband and I have a handful of krill, only a few dill, and only two gold to our name. Otherwise, we would offer you more than just a ride to E-Rantel for my shameful reaction."
"Please, think nothing of it. Perhaps I can find work at E-Rantel, to pay for my meal," I said. The two nodded as I entered the coach and sat next to a bag of what looked like wheat. I guess these two are farmers of some sort. My guess is they're going to the village to sell some goods.
As for me, I need to learn how to use my powers. Assuming I've taken on the persona of my YGGDRASIL character, I should have retained all of his powers as well. I drew my claymore, wondering how to wrap it in electricity like I did in the game.
The base of the blade sparked with blue electricity that lit the body of the blade to glow blue with crackling thunder. Okay, it's just like the game, then; I merely have to think about which ability I need to use, and then it comes to pass.
I felt a tiny bit of mana drain from my body, courtesy of the ability used, then it returned a second later. Good, passive recoveries are check. I focused on removing the electric element from my sword, and out the energy went. All right, simple enough. It would be pretty embarrassing if someone of my level couldn't perform the most basic of attacks.
I took out my pouch, next. I need to find a way to organize my items so I don't end up using the wrong stuff in battle. Suddenly, the coach stopped. I heard voices outside and strapped my pouch back on my belt.
"All right, oldies, you know the drill. Step away from the goods and no one gets hurt," said the voice of a very cocky man. I sighed at the events that transpired. The usual mugging, in every hero's story book. I can never understand what drives these low lives to rob the belongings of old people who can't even defend themselves. I stepped out of the coach, surprising some of the bandits outside. "Boss, there's a man inside."
"Is that so?" said a taller and stronger-looking man in the background.
I notes his muscular appearance, seeing the muscles on his muscles. This guy must take pride in his strength, showing off his arms as he wore a simple chest plate that covered his torso except his shoulders, arms, and hands. He pulled out an axe from his belt and pointed it at me. "Nice cloak, buddy, it might keep me warm at night. Why don't you take that off so I won't have to hurt you? And hand over that sword on your back, too."
I silently complied with the second request, quickly drawing my claymore so it made a SHING sound as the metal slid against the insides of the scabbard. I tossed the sword at the bigger man. He held his hand out to catch it by the hilt. Immediately, lightning surrounded the sword as the man dropped the steel on the floor. He let out a painful grunt and covered his seared palm with his other hand. A second later, the claymore returned to my hold. Good, so my sword still follows the soul-bound rule of YGGDRASIL.
Almost all high level equipment in YGGDRASIL is bound to the hands of the player who first wields it. It can be sold to a vendor, or destroyed, but not traded. Well, Raijin is indestructible and only a moron would vendor it for any amount of measly gold.
"I'm sorry, did you not want the sword?" I asked, raising it to him. His men readied themselves for battle. One of them swung a sword at me. I moved back, but not far enough as the blade nicked my cheek. The attacker smirked for a moment, and then his face became stricken with horror. I felt the wound on my face gradually closing until there wasn't a scratch left. Blood was still present, but that was it.
While most races cannot passively heal in combat without some type of active spell, the oni race has the passive ability of self-regeneration, as do a couple of other races – though their regeneration works in different ways. Vampires, for example, must kill a non-mechanical creature to restore a small portion of their health.
Oni can heal one percent of their total health per second, at all times. But, if we evade damage for ten seconds, that healing rate increases to six percent per second. It's almost useless for PvP combat, though, since players at maxed level are capable of dealing enormous amounts of burst damage. Many players are even able to kill others through a stun or a loss-of-control ability such as disorient, forcing the target to sluggishly walk around uncontrollably. Such abilities can be resisted or fully negated through items or other abilities, of course.
Still, it has its uses in PvE combat, as well as dungeon and raid settings, assuming the player can evade damage until their healing ability increases to six percent per second. However, such a feat is normally very difficult as group-wide damage-dealing abilities are common among bosses. Some aren't very strong, but even weak damage, including damage over time spells, will restart the timer for the oni's increased health regeneration.
The health regeneration passive racial ability stacks with Raijin's four percent per second, granting a total of five percent total health regenerated per second. That, alone, makes regeneration powerful. With Raijin's passive healing, along with an oni's racial passive healing, I'm a very difficult opponent to take down. I don't have as much defenses as warriors or tanks, but being a war wizard with dark knight and paladin abilities means I have enough physical and magical defense to at least not explode, in one hit, from powerful attacks.
Those defensive buffs can be dispelled, though, sadly. If they are dispelled, they will have a recast period of thirty seconds, more than enough time for me to blow up from ample amounts burst damage. Some might call Raijin's healing ability overpowered. To them, I say screw off. It took a total of two years from my life, up to six hours of play time per day, to create. This healing ability is mine by right and merit... and a massive lack of a social life.
I wiped the blood off and looked around – okay, eight of them. I thought of fighting them myself, but this is a good time to test some of my other weaker abilities.
'Summon Oni,' I said speaking the words in my mind as three creatures donned in enchanted garb appeared around me. All three are oni and perform different combat specialties. The first is a male who dons a suit of heavy plate armor, carrying a sword and shield. The second is a female wearing leather armor and wields a bow. The third is also a female but wears a magic robe with a staff in hand.
The Summon Oni spell is a racial ability that all oni, in YGGDRASIL, possess. When used, three lesser oni appear around the caster: a melee brawler, a ranged damage-dealer, and a dabbler of the mystic arts. According to lore, these three were the first ones to practice combat via sword, bow, and magic. They taught their art to their fellow oni, beginning the practice of warfare for the entire race. None of the summoned oni wore helmets, allowing their white hair to flow against the wind as if submerged in water like mine was before my body automatically applied a human disguise.
While the spell provides the caster with three pet-like units, that are easily defeated by player characters of a similar level to the caster. Although classified as pets, which means their power scales with that of their caster, the hp and mp of the summoned oni are capped at level 65. This means the ability is popular for low-level and even mid-level oni, but not so much during high levels. Another down side is its long cool down of twelve hours, but this is somewhat remedied by subtracting three hours from the remaining cool down with the death of each summoned oni.
The ability has no duration; the summoned oni fight by their caster's side until they die.
Unfortunately, the caster is limited to controlling three lesser oni at a time. Otherwise, the caster can have many oni under their command if they wait long enough and cast the spell each time it's off cool down. But since the summoned oni are easily dispatched of by players, dungeon monsters, and raid bosses, high leveled oni players don't bother with this skill. The men around me began to shake with fear as they retreated behind their leader. My summoned oni are supposed to be mid-tier status, at best, so these men should easily be able to dispose of them.
Still, I'd like to try it out. The outcome, however, caused my jaw to drop.
Two bandits engaged the melee oni, a tall and lean male named Shizuki, but ended up with their heads lobbed off with a single swing. The archer oni, a lithe female named Shizuku, pulled her bow string, creating three arrows of mana between her fingers, and let them fly, piercing through three more bandits. The mage, a slender woman named Shizuko, raised her staff as two bolts of lightning came from the sky and roasted two more bandits, leaving only the leader alive. I was speechless… these men are weak! My left palm met my face really hard. The bandit leader backed away until his back was pressed against a tree.
"Monsters! Get away from me!" he turned around to run the opposite direction when a mana arrow pierced through his heart, causing his body to slump cold on the floor.
"Was that his heart? Good shot," the warrior commented, blowing my mind. Wait, they talk? They never talked in YGGDRASIL, not even speech bubbles. They had grunts, but that's about it. Huh… I wonder if I can have conversations with them.
"It was no trouble," she said, turning to me. "There are two more humans, sire, but I sense no malevolence from them. What are your orders?"
The two elders froze in terror at the sight that befell them. I walked up to them, took a deep breath, and showed them my true face. I looked at the older woman.
"You weren't seeing things. This is my true face. I'm sorry for deceiving you earlier," I said. "While it's true that I'm a traveler… sort of… I'm not human, but I also mean no harm. My name is Kaiserius Vol-Charis."
"Kai… serius? What an odd name…" the old woman mumbled. I didn't disagree. YGGDRASIL has the strangest naming system I've ever seen in any DMMORPG. She turned to my summoned oni, for a moment, before turning to me. "You are monsters, but you don't mean to harm us? Such a strange world we live in."
"Yeah, no kidding," I said. I'm still trying to wrap my head around it, myself. I used my shape shifting skill to returned to my human disguise and glanced to my oni. "Hey, can you three put on a human disguise? I can, so maybe you can too."
"Of course, my lord," said Shizuko as a bright light surrounded her and her siblings. When the light faded, they took the guise of ordinary humans donned in combat equipment. All three sported raven-black hair and chocolate-brown eyes. "Oh, by the way…"
The archer tossed me a hair band from her pocket. I used it to tie my hair, now sporting a low pony tail with a few strands of long bangs down my face. Shizuki's hair was cut short, but spiky. Shizuku's hair was much longer, falling down to her back. Shizuko's hair was mid-length and layered.
"Amazing," the old man complimented. "You all definitely pass for humans."
"Oni are practitioners of various styles of magic. Such a simple spell to blend to our surroundings is child's play," Shizuki commented. He says that. But in reality, he and the two others have the non-combat sub-job of shape shifting.
"I see," said the old man, looking to me. "By the way, your friends came out of nowhere. Assuming you summoned them, are you some kind of magic caster?"
I was quiet for a few seconds. How does he know of the magic caster class? It's an actual class chosen by adventurers at the tutorial stage. Magic caster is a general term for a player who primarily uses magic for combat. It's a class that branches out to various different jobs, including the elemental sorcerer, the dark necromancer, and the holy priest.
Mages and sorcerers command the arcane and elemental forces of the world, bringing all manner of destruction to their enemies. Dark necromancers practice black and unholy magic, wielding both against their foes. Holy priests use their magic to heal and support their allies while smiting evil. Come to think of it, wasn't Momonga a necromancer? He loves this game more than I do. I wonder if he's trapped in this world too.
I shook my head, nah. Even that guy has a life – he doesn't play this game 24/7… or does he?
"No, I'm not a magic caster," came my answer. "I'm actually a war wizard – a warrior and mage hybrid. I have great proficiency with melee and magic skills, but I don't have the physical constitution to wear metal armor the way warriors can."
"A war wizard? Perhaps where you hail from. But, around here, the closest identification would be a battle mage. Though, I suppose the two titles are similar enough," he responded.
I don't have the desire to correct him in saying war wizards differ in that their defensive stats are much lower due to their inability to wear plate armor. The trade-off is higher offensive power and mobility, in comparison. While war wizards can strengthen their defenses using magic, the buffs are inferior to the raw level of protection granted by plate armor. A war wizard can be instantly killed, in one blow, by extremely powerful attacks from raid bosses, but a battle mage will live. It will still hurt a lot, but they won't be down for the count.
However, with my high health regeneration passives, if the attack doesn't kill me, I'll heal right back up in no time. The latter class didn't exist in YGGDRASIL, but it did in other fantasy games that I've played in the past. Hmm, now that I think about it, the battle mage has a very similar class fantasy and skill set to armored mages of YGGDRASIL. I guess they might be the same but with different names.
"Anyway, thank you for saving me and my wife. If you want, we can still take you to E-Rantel. We actually need to make a pit-stop at Carne Village, to drop off some goods for a family friend, but we'll be well on our way afterward. Three additional mouths to feed means you definitely need to find some work."
Carne Village? Another location, huh? It would be wise to remember these towns and cities since I have no idea how long I'll be stuck in this strange world for.
"We ancient oni have long since passed into the afterlife," said Shizuko. "We appear to you in flesh, but our bodies are merely constructs of magic now. We bleed if injured, but we do not require food, drink, or sleep to function."
"Oh, well, all right," said the old woman as I hopped inside the coach. The old woman climbed back on the front of the coach. The old man approached the corpse of the bandit leader and removed a silver pendant worn around his neck. He made his way to me and handed the piece of metal to my hand.
"I've heard of this man, a rogue adventurer who once worked for the adventurer's guild in E-Rantel. He is worth a half-dozen dill and two handfuls of krill. My wife and I are old and happy; we have no need for such a bounty. However, since you're a traveler, I assume you will have need of some money. This should get you enough to start your journey in these parts," he said.
"Wow, thanks," I said, pocketing the silver pendant. It had a name engraved on it, some strange writing that I couldn't read. I assume it's the name of the bandit leader. Hmm, written language… I'll have to learn that in order to survive around here. It seems the people here speak Japanese, but the written letters are not kanji or any symbols I've seen in high school or college.
"Take it to the receptionist in the adventurer's guild at E-Rantel. She will give you the bounty that was set for the bandit leader," he said, making his way to the front of the coach and climbed it.
Since my summons don't require sustenance, I instructed them to maintain a perimeter around the coach for protection. It seemed to put the old couple at ease, anyway. I, on the other hand, am quite hungry. I have enough energy to fight, but my stomach feels like it hasn't had food in at least half a day. Considering how weak the bandits we encountered were, however, I doubt much of anything around here will pose much of a threat. Also, if my lesser oni fall in battle, I can just summon them again in later. If anyone or anything gets passed them, I'll know it's time to get serious.
Until then, a nap is in order.
There's chapter one. Do your reading and (maybe) reviewing thing (be gentle... hopefully). I've written about five more chapters, but they're chock-full of errors and holes that I just recently discovered through my journey of the wiki site and ideas that came up over the past few weeks. I need to read through and update them, before posting them. And even then, with my track record, I'm almost sure there will still be tons of mistakes.
EDIT #1: I didn't catch this earlier, but Qarzulen, Spirit of the Oni Gods, is supposed to be worn on the right hand, not the left. This mistake has been fixed.
