A/N: Here's the first chapter, self inserts can be terrible, but hopefully I don't fuck this up too bad. Meh. I'll have fun with this either way so sit down and enjoy. If you don't know about Dingir check out any of the Dingirverse comics, books, and games. Heh, that makes me sound successful, but that shit wiped out my savings to have them made, though I still have a soft spot for my baby: Grey Faction despite all the trouble it caused me to get published. where was I? Right, testing your patience. My bad, well look down, its there.
(Chapter updated 11.04.20)
A nerfed Dingir in Final Fantasy 9
CHAPTER ONE
Since when was a Fang a deadly rival?
"You think yourself a warrior? Don't delude yourself, you escape reality with your books, now let's see if you can live up to your alternate self. But you must earn your strength, good luck Mark, and welcome to Gaia, survive if you can, hero."
The voice echoed in his head as the man struggled to his feet, his head swimming, he peered at his surroundings, lots of grass, flat ground, though he dimly noted a castle-like structure many miles in the distance. "What the hell?" he muttered, having been in Japan moments before. He had been in Japan because his Grey Faction novels were being adapted into a game with Squaresoft. Due to it being his first game, he had been living there while it was being made, with the intent of being as involved with its development as possible.
'What was I doing right before this?' he wondered, his mind somewhat hazy. It took several minutes but he eventually dragged up a memory. He had been chatting to the old man in charge about its development, the old man had said something weird, a flash of darkness, and now he was in the European countryside, or something that looked like it, seemingly transported by magic.
'Did that guy drug me?' the man wondered. The very much confused and lost man looked to be about thirty, with slightly messy black hair and a short neatly trimmed beard, dressed still in the black shirt and former trousers he had worn to the event, his suit jacket missing for some reason.
'Well whatever happened, I need to find people so I can get travel back.' For now he would explore and hopefully find his way back. The giant castle in the distance was his best bet for now.
Hoping that there was a way back, now having time to consider the odd words that sounded in his mind during the flash of darkness and awakening here, truly hoping that there wasn't truth to it.
Taking a few steps forward, he promptly tripped over a small leather bag that definitely hadn't been there before. Spending a few moments to swear heavily, he then scrambled up from the grass into a seated position and opened the leather bag to find the following items.
Bronze Sabre
Traveller's cloak
Isekai ring
Potion x 1
Above all of these items were little screens with their names, how ridiculous, was he truly in Gaia?
'Did they put an occulus on me or something?' Mark shakily mused, a final grasp at the ridiculousness of this situation, he touched his face, there was nothing there, no sci-fi helmet, and not even his own glasses yet he could see clearly. "I-Is this for real?" Was he really in the game world of Final Fantasy 9? Mark then examined each item, and each one then appeared/equipped on his person, the sword and sheath was suddenly belted to his waist, his shirt and trousers were suddenly enshrouded in the worn brown cloak, and the potion now hung from his belt by a quick knot of rope. "This is amazing..." he muttered.
Mark then noticed that folded at bottom of the leather bag was a scrap of paper. "What's this?" he picked it, it read:
Hey Mark,
Figured you'd probably want to play the denial game, so here it is, nice and simple, you need to play through the final fantasy 9 game I created, otherwise you'll be trapped here, well until Kuja destroys the world, then you'll be dead. Your avatar is based on that Dingir character you made, but I'm making you level 1, nerfed you good, so best of luck lasting long enough to actually get involved in the story-line, but if you can live up to your fictional self's potential, maybe we'll meet again. Oh, and watch out for the Fang.
Regards,
Hironobu
:)
Hironobu was a big name in the gaming industry and one of the people being headhunted to work on the project which was still in its early stages.
But more importantly...
!
"What Fang?" Mark wondered, then stilled as he heard a menacing growl. Jumping to his feet, Mark turned in the direction of the sound, drawing the curved sword in a smooth motion. That reaction saved his life as he was pounced upon by a large, savage looking wolf, who easily knocked him to the ground. Thankfully his bronze blade was caught in the mist monster's mouth and it was unable to tear out his throat. However in spite of that it clawed at him repeatedly while it still trying to bite around the blade. Mark held back an unmanly shriek, as its sharp teeth snapped inches from his face as he pushed back with his sword, shaking with effort. It had more strength than him, not surprising since he was apparently a level 1, which was a child's strength. During this struggle, Mark spotted that above the Fang's head was its level and HP, it was a level 5 and explained why it was overpowering his large frame so easily.
'I won't be killed by a mob character!' Mark thought with a surprising surge of anger, overcoming his panic, he yanked his sword to the side, still in the monster's mouth, twisting the Fang's head painfully. It yelped in pain and not wasting the opportunity, Mark used the twist along with the weight of his whole body to throw the Fang off of him. He scrambled to his feet, wincing as several bleeding wounds stung at his hurried movement. The Fang regarded him with caution now, circling him, snapping its large teeth for intimidation. Mark raised his Sabre, ready to meet it, while following it as it circled him, waiting for its attack.
"Game Alert: First random counter has begun, current skills available, none." whispered a voice in the back of his mind.
"Well that's helpful," Mark muttered sarcastically, not questioning it, he needed to keep focused on this gigantic wolf, Fang, whatever. Any other game they'd call it a Dire Wolf.
"Current magic available: Poison, Regen." the voice continued. Now this had some potential. One white magic, the other black magic, one healed little by little, and the other killed little by little. Assuming he had enough MP, Mark could use this combination to kill it. Hopefully his sword would be enough to speed things up. The fact that the magic granted to him, loosely imitated Asag's pestilence power and Adel's healing power, was an irony not lost upon him. A nerfed Dingir indeed.
"Current HP: 62 /100. Current MP: 300/300." the voice supplied helpfully in its robotic whisper.
It was frightening to think that those few scratches and being pounced earlier had taken nearly half of his health, the large pool of mana Mark had however meant he could cast both magicks repeatedly. The Fang pounced at him again, aiming for his throat once again - only able to follow its wild instincts. Mark was ready for it, he quickly ducked and rolled under it, slashing its belly as it passed over him, but the bronze Sabre only drew a shallow cut. Despite his large frame and weight, a level 1 was pathetically weak. Level 5 was the average for an adult who never fought or trained.
"Magic it is," he conceded, his basic stats must be far less than his actual body back home. "Cast: Regen," he declared, he felt a brief surge of power, a green glow flickered around him, healing him somewhat, for the next little while, it would continue to do so. Cool, so voice activation worked.
"Cast: Poison!" Mark yelled, pointing his palm dramatically as the creature approached. But no purple blob shot out at it.
"Game Alert: Before Level 5, Poison requires physical contact with opponent to activate," the voice explained, as Mark narrowly avoided the Fang's next attack. Another green aura surrounded him for a few seconds, Regen activating again automatically.
"Shit!" Mark turned and ran, he'd able to dodge better if he was already moving quickly, the Fang after a moment's surprise hurried after its prey, the Fang tried to take out Mark's legs, but he just barely kept ahead of it, running in the direction of the castle, likely Alexandria's walled capital city. Not that it was close enough to get help, he wouldn't get there anytime soon, but why waste stamina going in another direction? The castle was still going to be first destination.
Regen activated again, the wounds finally closed up, and more strength returned to his muscles, but he was still panting heavily, truly this level one thing was seriously nerfing of his real life physicality, let alone the Dingir ones he had created in his books. Mark sidestepped suddenly and the Fang shot past, just missing him, but as it did, he brushed its side with his hand. "Cast: Poison," a purplish blob appeared on the mist monster's fur, before sinking in. It gave a startled yelp of pain, as it's HP took a small but noticeable decrease.
It growled menacingly at him, "Let's have a chase, you and I," Mark replied, grinning, before bolting. This time the Fang immediately followed, but every twenty seconds or so, it let out a whimper, pausing at the sudden pain as the poison took more HP. Allowing Mark to narrowly keep ahead of it, though the zigzagging and hiding up a tree towards the end definitely helped.
Some ten minutes later, the Fang wobbled and collapsed, unlike in the game however, it didn't just vanish, several items appeared next to it, a blue vial, he recognized as a potion, and a small red feather, that was likely a phoenix down, no coins though. Mark climbed down the tree, cautiously approaching the Fang. He stabbed it with his Sabre, but it didn't react, yep, definitely dead. A screen appeared in front of his eyes.
"EXP gained: 85 points, Level up to Level 3. All stats increased by 2%," he read, feeling his body growing minutely, but noticeably stronger as he pressed the button to acknowledge it. The screen vanished, he picked up the potion and phoenix down, tucking it into his pocket, as a solo player he couldn't use it, but it would come in handy later. As for the potion, he awkwardly stretched out the short rope that held the first potion to loop and tie both potions to his belt. It was a pity he hadn't been able to grab that small bag, but he didn't fancy running back to find it, he could get another one later.
"Game Alert: Item discarded: Isekai travellers sack, like the game, allows for infinite storage of items and equipment, while limiting to 99 of each item." whispered the voice. "These kinds of items are very rare within the world itself."
"Really?" Mark sighed. "Guess I better look for it..." he sighed again, and began to jog in the direction of where he had first appeared. "It's a long enough flipping walk as it is." His feet were hurting, leather work shoes were not made for dashing away from monsters. But he needed every advantage, he had lucked out in a way, as the Fang was a level 5, a single win had leveled him up twice to level 3, but if he hadn't been able to use magic, he would have likely lost and been killed, a wild, four legged feral creature wasn't the best match up for his sword techniques, he knew a lot of them in real life, but when he reached for those skills, his memories were fuzzy, save for the most basic information, part of the nerfing no doubt. This wasn't going to be easy. His advantages stripped away in a world where they would desperately be needed.
Sometime later...
Once he finally found the damnable bag, he put the extra potion and phoenix down inside, the bag was tied at the top with a simple knot, and had a long strap that let him hang it from his shoulder to his opposite hip, he could fight and run with this on, hopefully when he accrued lots of items, weapons, and armour, it would hopefully remain this light, come on game logic!
"Now then, lets see if that's Alexandria or not," and so began his long walk towards civilization. (Hopefully)
CHAPTER END
Character stats (End of Chapter 1)
Name: Mark Green
Character class: Wizard Knight
Level: 3, 123xp until next level up.
HP: 100 / 102
MP: 257 / 306
Weapon: Bronze Sabre (the weakest Sabre in the game, but sharp and sturdy)
Armour: Traveller's cloak (a worn but sturdy cloak with a hood used by travellers)
Footwear: Leather shoes (simple work shoes)
Accessory: Isekai ring (given to travellers from another world, no effects)
Skills: None
Magic: * Poison * Regen
Trance: * Balmung strike
Items: 2 potion, 1 phoenix down, Isekai's travellers sack
Gil: 0
Next Chapter
Chapter 2: If you want to be a hero, better lose that penis
A/N: Hope you enjoyed the first chapter, lets hope things work out for our hero...nope that doesn't fit at all. Its me after all. I've had my bad-ass moments, but such a description does not suit me. Lets go with... Protagonist. Yep, that has a nice ring to it.
Though don't be expecting an OP self insert/OC story, even I'm not that deluded, though I do have my moments.
This is a dangerous world.
Set aside hope and dreams...
and fight for survival.
;)