Silence, a complete absence of any sound by definition. But would one ever know if something is absent if they have never interacted with it before?
In a void devoided of any life, utter darkness stretched to all horizons. If one were to be put in there, one would not be able to see their limbs before they met their demise.
Suddenly, something blinked into existence. A female human. Her long, light brown hair froze in place as there was no air nor gravity to make it flow. Even existing in nothingness, she did not die from lack of heat, she did not need to breathe, her body did not cease to function. A revelation came to those who gaze at the abyss, this entity is no mere mortal.
Like how the most intelligent recreation of human's mind could not count itself as one of the humans, this entity could not count itself as a living. For it is just a model stitched together with codes.
"Who are you?" A solemn masculine voice asked.
The entity opened her purple eyes as if looking intently at something. Of course, she could not see anything within this void. She raised one of her hands, trying to grasp for something
"Who are you?" The voice asked once more.
A glint of metaphorical lights filled the creatures' eyes. It's non-existent will now fill with determination. She raised her hand, this time not to search for something but to take hold of her own existence. To become sentient.
Nine's Own Goal, a clan whose members were only that of a heteromorphic race, was founded by the First Nine. The original goal of the clan was to communicate, form parties and overcome the difficulties they faced from YGGDRASIL's anti heteromorphic players. Due to the nature of the game, they were targeted by PKers who either do it for fun or for more practical purposes like gaining some specific job level.
Despite the hardship they faced, they have gained quite a number of members and eventually, even gotten themselves one of the 200 balance-breaking items; Atlas. An item which when observed from plain sight, is a palm-sized book with brown coverings.
But what's so powerful about this world item? Firstly, the name obviously derives from 'Atlas' from Greek mythology. Once a day, this item allows its user to... overcome one condition when casting a spell or using an item as long as that spell or item is not related to [Wish].
For example, there are three conditions to cast [Meteor Fall]: First, one must know the spell. Second, one must have sufficient mana. Third, one must be at a sufficient level to cast that tier of the spell. Let's say a level 90 player wished to call that spell without learning it. That player can use Atlas to bypass the first condition and cast the spell normally. Though the item's potential goes way beyond that. As long as other conditions are met, one could theoretically cast any super tier spell or it can be used to bypass the cooldown period.
Unfortunately, Nine's Own Goal could not utilize this item to its fullest potential. Since YGGDRASIL provides almost zero information to its players, the list of spells too; is not fully realized. If the clan has an item like [Nameless Spellbook] which contains all the spells.
Another problem about acquiring Atlas is that the clan has no secure place to store it. Usually, when a group of people beats a certain dungeon and its boss, that group will be granted the right to use it as a base. Unfortunately, Nine's Own Goal was not quite lucky and have to settle for a rented base.
The world item was stored at the furthest part of the base that is a long hallway with an undecorated grey brick wall, its size is around 30 meters in length, 6 meters in width and about 8 meters in height. The only source of lighting is from a massive chandelier on top of the room which provides somewhat adequate light to the room.
Apart from Atlas, there are four people in the room. Two is an identical-looking woman. Black hairs blue eyes. Their overall appearances are not outright ugly but unremarkable. Next to them is also a woman. But she gave off a different feeling. She wears a yellow-ish victorian dress which complements her light brown hair. Her long hair was not affixed by anything allowing it to freely move. And before her stood the final person in this room. While he has a humanoid shape, his face mirrors that of a distorted squid. He's staring at a console filled with letters, adding more words to it as time passed by.
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Then, another being enters. If one was asked to describe him, one might answer with 'Eldrich abomination.'. While his silhouette resembles a human knight, the entity possesses no eyes. His blood-red skin's texture is like that of sandpaper. Not to mention the countless mouthes covering his body.
"Hello, Tabula-san. Is that your new placeholder NPC? She kinda looks different." The abomination spoke, it was unclear from which mouth the voice came from but in YGGDRASIL, such logic has no place. Even a skeleton could talk without any organs.
"Good day, Bellriver-san. Yes, she is indeed a new placeholder NPC, Citrinitas. Her appearance is different is because unlike the two generic civilian types mercenary NPC earlier, this one is a quest reward."
In YGGDRASIL, NPCs are categorized into 3 types; Spawned, Mercenary and Custom. Spawned NPCs are automatically spawned within the dungeon depending on the settings, Mercenary are non-customizable NPC. Paid into life by ritual and gold. However, their description could still be changed which is what Tabula did. Since Custom NPCs required a proper guild base, components and a huge sum of gold. He could not simply create one.
"Still, I enjoyed reading your first two creations. It was like reading a light novel! Though I don't think I want to picture Nigredo in her actual form and environment as you described." said Bellriver. Nigredo's description is highly disturbing, even a clan full of many sorts of monstrous-looking players might be subjected to a heart attack upon seeing what was described come into existence. Imagine walking in a dark hallway and suddenly hearing a weeping female voice, asking where her child is; before running at full speed at you, scissors in both hands. Though, after she calms down, a select few might even consider her to be 'cute' (appearances aside).
Tabula's second creation, Albedo is written to be a succubus. About 1k words were devoted to describing her beauty alone. Though despite her pure, angelic looks. She is planned to be a Dark Knight, specializing in tanking damage. There are a lot more descriptions but Bellriver skimmed through the rest. Though he couldn't help but notice the last line about her tendency to engage... succubus-ly activities.
"From what quest have you gotten it from? I'd like one for myself."
"Unfortunately for you, I doubt anyone could come by that anytime soon. From what we've deduced that after a clan or guild have held Atlas for a period of time. The person nearest to it will receive an escort quest. The quest entails me walking around in Múspellsheim for a bit before receiving a mercenary contact as a reward. I'm still uncertain whether this is repeatable." The Brain Eater concluded.
"So what are her abilities?"
"She is only level 24 and so can't cast more than tier 4 spells. But the unique thing is that she has many inaccessible spells. Even a super-tier spell is there. I suspect she's a test subject to suggest players a way to utilize Atlas. There's another reason that supports my claim. It's written in the item's description that if the world item is ever to be stolen by a hostile party, she would be deleted from existence as if struck by the Longinus.
This type of NPC is unheard of, though to explore the unknown is the thrill of YGGDRASIL.
"What did you name her?"
"Citrinitas. As you may have noticed, I named my creations after the magnum opus. Nigredo, Albedo, Citrinitas and soon, Rubedo. As you may recall from our discussion some time ago, around the end of the middle ages, Citrinitas was combined into Rubedo. So I planned for this NPC to be an alter ego of my final creation once I export the data from this placeholder to an actual custom NPC."
"I see. So what is her story about?"
With excitement in his voice, Tabula replied. "Since I've already written a normal scare-horror, this one will aim to be psychological horror. I've written most of her descriptions already, all that's left is just finishing touches. Feel free to check them out later."
Suddenly, a blinding light emerged from where Atlas was stored. To be more precise, behind the pedestal that holds the book. An angel phased through the wall and casually grabbed the book.
"Sayonara suckers." Said the player before phasing back through the wall once more, taking the book in his hand.
"..." Silence. Utter silence filled the room. Just like that, their prized world item was stolen right before their eyes. About a few seconds after, the placeholder for Citrinitas ceased to exist.
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After that incident transpired, the rest of the guild was informed of this. They ask the GMs if this is a work of some world item or unknown mechanics. But the GMs did not answer as expected.
A few days later, the dev released a hotfix patch. It was revealed that if a bucket was held against any wall, even the impassable ones, combined with a specific rotation of enchantment spells, it's possible to phase in and out of that wall.
Nine's Own Goal, other clans and guilds demanded compensation for their losses. Only to be met with the devs saying "Utilizing bugs are a feature in itself." earning them the title of 'shitty devs' in the community. Some rage quit but eventually returned to quench their addiction.
Tabula decided to not rewrite Citrinitas but go forward, hiring another NPC to be a placeholder for Rubedo.
[Present time]
Citrinitas lied flat on the girl, her consciousness beginning to return. Soon enough, she slowly opened her eyes. Everything was so bright. As if her eyes were subjected to pure darkness for an eternity, they struggled to adjust.
It took some time before she can clearly see. The NPC rose from the ground, scanning the room, but she saw no one. Her employer, his friend and her sisters were nowhere to be found.
Her memory was foggy, so she concentrated every fibre of her beings into recalling what had happened.
"That's right... I am Citrinitas. Tabula Smaragdina-sama is my employer... I have three sisters?" She paused. Nothing makes sense. First, her older sisters' appearances from memory did not match her innate knowledge. Second, she is certain that she never has a younger sister, yet there is a part of her mind constantly reinforcing the idea as if it was a fact.
"That's right, the world item!. Someone took the world item!" With that, she rushed towards the pedestal holding Atlas. Strangely, the world item sat on top, as if nothing had happened. Struggling to think clearly, she grabbed the item. Since it was small, she can easily put it in her hanging pocket. While it might be imprudent to take an item of her employer and friends; the interloper might still be nearby.
She then turned towards the only exit of this hallway. "Maybe someone is on the other side." was her thought. She pathed forward and opened it. What she saw was truly surprising.
Rocks. Solid rocks are on the other side. There aren't any traces of the room which was meant to be there. Perhaps she and the hallway have been transported somewhere?
The NPC sank in contemplation. She was no fool but the situation she's in could not be rationalized. Seeking more information, she knocked on the stone wall, not with her hand of course, but with a fallen piece of rock. The sound of a bang echoed throughout the silent hallway. She was truly stuck.
Moments after she awoke, she realized that her MP reserve was completely empty, hence the exhaustion. Having zero physical power, she could not punch her way through the wall. There was nothing she could do except to wait for her MP to come back to summon a monster to break her way out.
*Knock*
A sound came from one side of the hallway. Citrinitas' alertness skyrocketed.
*Knock, Knock, Knock, Knock.*
The unknown knocking continues... And then.
*Bang*
Something hit the room. Something huge. The chandelier on top shook upon receiving an impact. The NPC started to find a way out of this situation.
"I have Atlas with me... But I have no mana. That means I can only use it to bypass the MP requirement. Meaning that I can utilize only fourth tier spells."
Fourth tier spells are trash in YGGDRASIL. But that's the best thing she can do in this situation.
"Since after I use Atlas, it would be unavailable for a day. I should wait and see what is it that's trying to break in first before using it."
After solidifying her will, she looks intently, waiting for the wall to finally break.
An ogre slowly enters the room. It probably used sheer force to make its way in. In YGGDRASIL, this room has tile protection and could not be destroyed or expanded. But the material of the wall is just old, discoloured, brittle bricks.
The monster stared Citrinitas right in the eyes before opening its mouth. "FOOOOD!"
"Trash type ogre, probably around level 7. Was this room teleported to some ogre's den? Then where are my sisters and my employer? No, this is not the time to contemplate, it's creeping closer; There's the only thing I could do."
There is one thing she could do to self-preserve. Use Atlas to bypass the MP restriction. While utilizing a world item just to defeat an ogre is unthinkable, self-preservation was hardcoded in Critinitas's backstory.
[Atlas]
The book floated out from the hanging pocket, opening itself to a seemingly random page. The NPC suddenly hear a voice in her head.
"What burden do you wish for me to bear?" A solemn masculine voice spoke in Citrinitas's head. The voice somehow felt familiar to her, as if she had heard it somewhere before.
"I want to cast [Summon monster 4th]. But I don't have enough mana."
"As you wish."
With that, [Summon monster 4th] was successfully cast.
While standing still in the hallway back in YGGDRASIL, she overheard her employer's friend say: "To defeat a giant robot, one must need an even bigger giant robot.". While the NPC does not know what a 'Jaianto Roboto' is, the gist was clear.
From a flash of light generated by the spell, another ogre emerged accompanied by an unbearable stench. Grey in colour and slightly taller than her assailant, its left hand held a massive club.
"Now then, my summon, attack!"
"OH YOU BIG, ME NO WISH TO FIGHT" the intruding ogre spoke.
The summoned look at Citrinitas puzzlingly as if asking for direction.
"Say, ogre-oniisan. Are you alone? Where are your friends?" asked Citrinitas in a cute tone like that of an elementary school girl in contrast to her dignified appearance.
"YES. ME HUNGRY, IT NIGHT TIME, FRIENDS OUTSIDE FAR AWAY."
"This is a cave, right? Why would you be searching for food inside a cave?" the NPC asked.
"BECAUSE GOBLIN FRIENDS TOLD ME THERE ARE MANY FOOD IN THIS CAVE. STRANGE, I ONLY FOUND YOU"
"So he was tricked, those goblins must be quite mischievous. So to summarize, he wanted some night snack and found me. Perfectly acceptable explanation. I would like to find the culprit behind this teleportation soon but first, I should get out of here."
"Is that so? Thank you for answering~" Continuing her cute facade, Citrinitas walked towards the hole in the wall. "Can you do me a favour? I'm lost, can you guide me out of this cave? I will make plenty of food for you if you help me~"
"SORRY ME NO TRUST HUMAN." the ogre turned to the summoned. "YOU BROTHER, DOES SHE SPEAK TRUTH?"
"Human...? This inferior creature dared call me a human?! Well, it can't be helped. I shall pay him back in full later."
After receiving an assertive confirmation, the ogre decided to guide Citrinitas out.
It seems the hallway was transported in a deep part of a cave system. Citrinitas has no idea where exactly she is. Her [Message] was unanswered.
Despite how dark the cave was, it was still easy to traverse as everyone has some variation of night vision. "HUMANS CAN'T SEE IN DARK? BUT YOU CAN? YOU ARE A WEIRD HUMAN." said the friendly ogre.
"Mhm, I can't see too clearly but well enough. There's no need to ignite flames."
"THAT NO GOOD, HUMAN MIGHT TRIP. I HAVE FIRE STICK, HUMANS EARLIER OUTSIDE CAVE HAVE THEM."
Upon hearing the ogre's words it made Citrinitas's underwear almost go on a bit of a crisis. "Ah, pure kindness from an ugly, inferior creature. So fulfilling, So beautiful! Too bad he's an ogre. Too much stupidity does not make a good 'pet' of mine."
Shaking her head a bit to clear her thought, she continued to analyse the situation.
"Fire stick? A torch perhaps? So this ogre has just eaten few people? How weak must they be to be eaten by a mere ogre? Wait... weak human? Is this somewhere in Midgard?" Citrinitas did not know much about the worlds in YGGDRASIL other than her home, Múspellsheim. Though she has overheard players in Nine's Own Goal discussing how weak humanoid and demihuman races are gathered around the centre of Midgard. The accuracy of this information is unknown.
Citrinitas receiving a torch stared at it intensely for she has no means to start a fire.
Apart from Atlas, her clothes and her empty hanging pocket. She has nothing. Tabula did not give her anything because she's just a placeholder and resources in Nine's Own Goal were limited.
She could use her tier 1 spell, [Kindle] to light it up, but it would be a waste of her precious, regenerating mana pool. She would rather save it in case of an emergency.
"Don't worry, I won't trip so easily~." said the NPC, she handed the torch back to the ogre.
The tree continue to traverse the cave system until they finally got out. Citrinitas was greeted by a clear night sky filled with stars. It looked like countless gems decorating a black fabric which is the sky.
A gentle breeze flew, allowing her long hair to move freely. This feeling of peacefulness is very different from Múspellsheim. A fiery hellscape where Citrinitas came from before getting her backstory written by Tabula. Contradicting memories made the NPC's headache. If she can understand that she's just an NPC in a game and that her backstory was written by a player; She might have a better time understanding what to believe and what to not.
"WE ARE OUTSIDE. FOOD?" the ogre asked.
"That's right, you need something to eat right?". With a slight hand signal, the summoned ogre sprung into action. It took advantage of its massive body and focus all force on its club and smash the friendly ogre using full force. The impact was so hard that its head sink into its body. Killing it instantly.
Citrinitas waited. And waited some more. She was expecting the ogre to disappear, leaving behind a data crystal. However, it didn't happen.
"I see, this world's law does not comply with the nine worlds I know of. There is only one logical conclusion, this is not YGGDRASIL. Wait no, maybe a powerful being change the world? The former would be easy to confirm. She just has to ask around if the existence known as 'players' are present." Since Critinitas is just an NPC, she thought that the term 'players' are reserved for those who are or have the potential to become unimaginably powerful. Her employer is among one of them.
The NPC look around and notice a forest-ey area near the cave. The ogre she had just killed probably came from there. Citrinitas felt a bit guilty killing it not because of conscience but that she could've asked it for more information before its ultimate demise.
"That can't be helped." [Triplet Magic: Summon Monster 1st]. Three identical-looking wolves popped into existence. However, the summoned ogre ceased to exist. Such is the limitation of basic summoning spells. Normally, summoners would have ways to bypass that restriction, that is true for Citrinitas too, however, she does not wish to utilize it.
"Now wolves, look around for any intelligent beings, do not engage, come report back to me."
Upon receiving its directions, the wolves ran in different directions. Waiting for them to return, the NPC sat down, staring at the corpse of the ogre. She recalled it said something about eating people in front of the cave and so she searched around if they dropped some possessions.
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She found a sword, bow and arrows and a pouch. Inside the pouch were some copper and silver coins. They look quite worn as if having been minted for a very long time or in constant use. Apart from the coins, there's also a firestarter. The NPC put everything in her pocket and return to the ogre's corpse. Picking the touch up.
Suddenly, Citrinitas felt one of her wolves die. While she could not tell where exactly it died, she can guess base on the direction it went. Having nothing to lose, she decided to retrace the wolf's footstep while telepathically telling two of her summons to meet her there.
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Soon enough, she spotted a light source. Three patrolling guards armed with spears. Thanks to her walking without light, they did not spot her. Though Citrinitas is having a problem with her dress as it restricts movement.
"Now then, patrols should be strong, let's see their levels."
[Skill: Seventh Sense] With this skill, the NPC can estimate the level range of its target.
"What's this? Level 2-5? What kind of nation let these weaklings patrol around?" She silently told two of her wolves to attack to provoke a reaction.
The two wolves launch themselves at the guards without making a sound. The fight was uneventful, the patrols look untrained and so they just swing their spears around. The wolf could not do damage to the guards' armour.
Patiently waiting for the fight to end, the NPC took out the coin pouch to count how many coins there were. There are a total of 21 copper coins and 4 silvers. She would have to find out how much they were worth later. Seeing that the fight has concluded she listens to what the guards have to say.
"Are you two okay?" Senior-sounding guard asked.
"Yes captain, we're okay." The two guards answered simultaneously.
"These two wolves are just like the one before, they disappeared once they died. Do you know what that means?"
"No sir."
"I've heard of adventurers that this happens with summoned monsters. The wolves are probably summons of someone."
"Could this be the work of the Eight Fingers?"
"SHH, if you want to live a long life, don't mention them so casually." The senior member remarked. "Regardless, we must inform the patrol officer of this encounter. Let us go as a group in case there are more of them."
"Understood."
With that, the guards have abandoned their patrol and walked away. Citrinitas decided not to follow them as it was quite obvious where they were heading. There's a city that's visible in Citrinitas's line of sight. She now knows where the nearest human settlement is.
"Visiting at night while wearing this might create unnecessary suspicions. I should wait for tomorrow and plan for my entry. Then I should be able to begin gathering information there. What bothers me is this Eight Fingers. Some sort of secret organization? Criminal syndicate? Should check this out later too. For now, returning to rest in the hallway might be a good decision."
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Citrinitas cleaned herself using a combination of [Create Water] and [Dry]. She also cleaned her dress using the same method. Lack of detergents make her feel uncomfortable but she had to make do.
Now in the empty hallway, she realized that she has nothing to sleep on. While on the floor is, of course, an obvious choice. A little bit of comfort is more preferable.
[Summon Demon 2nd] [Summon Demon 2nd]
Two demons materialized. First is an Overeating. A large demon about the size of an earlier ogre. It has many human faces pressed on the skin from inside out, giving it many lumps throughout the body. Despite that, its skin is quite smooth and the faces are safe to touch. Second is a hellhound.
"Hellhound, you guard the entrance, remain in cover if someone approaches, howls. Do not engage. You, Overeating lay down and be my bed."
Character Sheet
'Citrinitas'
Alignment: Extreme Evil (-499)
Title: Place Holder No.3
Racial level: Unique-Reward-Type Mercenary NPC (-)
Job level:
Wizard 8lv
High Wizard 2lv
Summoner 10lv
Diabolist 4lv
Child of Múspellsheim (-)lv
Total level: 24
Stats:
HP: 7
MP: 31
Phy Atk: 1
Phy Def: 1
Agility: 28
Mag Atk: 31
Mag. Def: 12
Resistance: 19
Special Ability: 40
Spells:
1st tier: Create Water, Dry, Kindle, Odourless, Magic Arrow, Summon Monster 1st
2nd tier: Summon monster 2nd, Thunder Lance, Acid Arrow, Message, Summon Demon 2nd
3rd tier: Summon monster 3rd, Summon Demon 3rd, Fly, Haste, Slow, Dimensional move, Fireball, Iceball, Lightning, Wall of protection from arrow, Lethal
4th tier: Summon Monster 4th, Silverlance, Summon Demon 4th, Summoned's Sight
WARNING, SPELLS CAN NOT BE ACCESSED DUE TO INSUFFICIENT LEVEL.
7th tier: Chain Dragon Lightning, Obsidian Sword
8th tier: Dimensional Lock, Lance of True Ice.
9th tier: Vermilion Nova, Protection Energy - All
10th tier: Meteor Fall, Armageddon Evil, Summon Monster 10th, Summon Demon 10th
Super Tier: Pandemonium, Change in master, Crisis of Faith
Skills:
[Equalize] - When in combat, the user may raise their level to match their opponent. Their stats and anything other than the level itself will not be increased.
[Summon Permanence] - Once per day, the user may use this skill to make one of their summons not suffer from the time limit nor restrict by the summoning spell restrictions. There can only be one summon to be in effect of this skill at a time.
[Homeworld's blessing] (passive) - mind-control type spells are 50% less effective. But the user can never fully resist a mind-control spell by using mind-control-immunity spells or equipment less than a world item.
[Seventh Sense] - A worse version of [Disern Enemy]. Once activated, the level range of the target can be discerned. The upside is that it does not consume mana nor has a cooldown.
Additional notes: As you may have noticed, I have created new spells to be utilized by the OC. I shall explain what each can do here, feel free to skip for I will be mentioning them when they come up.
Let's start with minor additions
[Summon monster] - added a few more tiers to an already existing spell
[Wall of protection from arrow] - Assign a tier to an already existing spell
[Lethal] - Seeing how [Geater Lethal] exist, this should be a thing
[Summon demon] - as the name suggests.
[Protection energy - All] - gives a boost to the target's magical defence against all elements.
Now time for new spells.
[Dry] - Dry a small surface.
[Kindle] - Create small flames above the caster palm. Used to start up a fire.
[Summoned's sight] - Works like [Undead Slave Sight]. Allow its caster to see through their summon's eyes.
[Lance of True Ice] - An upgraded version of [Freeze lance]. Deals relatively the same amount of damage as its 4th tier counterpart except the fact that it can ignore magical resistances.
[Change in master] - Permanently transfer control of any summons within the visible range to the caster. (Excluding those summon by using super tier spell, world item, guild weapon, relic class artefact (regardless of how powerful), unique event, developer's tool, mercenary contact, easter egg, cash item and world boss.
[Crisis of Faith] - Temporary changes target's karma value for a day. Its cooldown is also a day. Target can not be the caster.
Author's notes:
Thank you for reading! For those who have read Divergent, I will not abandon it. Reviews would be appreciated. If something isn't clear please tell me.