Author's Note: Hello everyone! As you may have noticed this is my first fic here so I hope the formatting is up to the standards. While there are none in this chapter (that are important anyway) expect spoilers for chapters 15-16 of the Overlord light novels.
Also there probably won't be any smut as I kinda suck at writing those, but the Elf King merely existing in the fic kind of forces me to place an M rating I think.
Fun fact I just learned while trying to publish this: Wish III is not a taggable character at the time I'm writing this.
English is not my first language so if you notice any grammar or spelling mistakes be sure to let me know.
More notes at the end of the chapter.
Chapter 1
Lusterless dream
The Great Forest of Evasha was home to a great many things, both living and otherwise. Despite the abundance of monstrous predators, this 'forest' —though perhaps it would be more accurate to call it a collection of forests— was home to many powerful alchemical ingredients, coupled with impossible labyrinths and a neverending foliage that provided an almost impenetrable defense.
It was no surprise that people would find a way to survive within this harsh environment. While few and far in between, elf villages could be found decorating the treetops of the forest. Thanks to their unique magic, the elves had found a way to mold the trees around them to provide everything from houses to clothing.
Such was the case for this village.
...
Fire was all Lagi could see.
Not too long ago she had been dining with her parents. Roasted cottonhare may not be the tastiest of meals —despite what its name might suggest— but near the border of the forest, one could hardly afford to be picky. Everything seemed to be as it had always been, her mother was cutting the herbs they had gathered this morning and her father was replacing the defenses near the entrance to their home —Although such flimsy traps would hardly be able to stop a giant spider set on making them its next meal—.
For as long as she could remember her father had always been cold towards her.
At first, she believed this was how things were supposed to be, a caring mother and a distant father; however, while helping one of the village trappers set up a trap for 'grown-up stuff' she caught wind of a howling bird in the distance.
It perched itself near a sturdy looking branch, carrying something in its mouth; a pair of fledglings emerged from a hole inside the tree, opening and closing their mouths in a gaping motion.
The scene that played next could hardly be called surprising, that is, if it wasn't for the bigger bird's large crimson crest, a feature that clearly identified it as a male.
If this was how a parent ought to act, why were hers different? It wasn't as if she could ask the younger elves, they always avoided her for reasons unknown to her. The adults were no better, always deflecting the question or claiming to be too busy to answer. Either way she found her interest in the subject wane, accepting the reality that had been imposed on her.
She was about to head to her bed when screams reached her ears.
'A chilonid attack? It's a bit early for them though...'
Against her better judgment, Lagi peeked outside of her home in an attempt to find the source of the commotion. The bridges connecting the elf trees were burning, shadowy figures were climbing up the trees in an attempt to corner their residents; a bright, pure-silver figure was now covering her vision, she took a step back in fear. It was a winged knight, in its right hand, it held a flaming blade so hot she could feel her skin getting dry.
She turned to her parents who were now cowering before the sight in front of her.
They both wore a disgustingly tender expression, one which she had never seen on her father before, their reassuring smile looked as if... as if they were happy she was going to die.
But why? Was their home not being attacked? Did they not care about their lives coming to an end? Maybe they had—
These thoughts were interrupted by a strike which threw her off balance. She tried to stand up but found the energy slowly leaving her body, before long her vision had darkened.
...
Lagi slowly opened her eyes, a pain struck her ears and neck that she'd never felt before, she tried taking in her surroundings. She was in a box of sorts, with bars that allowed for air to get in but not enough space for her to fit her slender body through.
What had happened? Why was she being caged? She turned around to the other side of the cage and what she saw was despair.
Faces she had seen throughout all her life were now bruised and maimed, both young and old had the tip of their ears cut off. She felt so weak her knees gave in and fell to the ground; only a few of them turned to face her but most had ignored her, they had been awake the moment their torture began, hope had long since fled their bodies.
Lagi, looked up once more and searched for her parents, perhaps even in this situation she could find some comfort in their embrace?
"They ran, child" spoke one of the village elders. What used to be a gravelly voice was now monotonous. "...You should try to as well. It may hurt but it will be better than what they'll do to you when we leave this forest"
She could not understand what the older man —although he didn't really look that different from her own father— had just said, she simply couldn't accept that her mother had abandoned her. She might believe that her father had done so, his face always seemed to grimace when it met her gaze. But her mother was different. She HAD to believe that.
Old stories told of the endless dots that filled the sky granting their blessings when one was at their absolute lowest, a falling star often called an omen for such an event.
While the foliage above her blocked so much as glimpse of the night sky, she couldn't fathom her life becoming worse than what it was now. All she could do was hope that one among the sea of stars heard her plea...
Deep within the marshes of Helheim, inside the Grenbera Swamp, laid a tomb unlike any other. While the outward appearance of the necropolis was not particularly impressive, hardly any different from those one could find in the distant past, most players avoided this place like a plague.
The reason? Therein stood an evil which none but the bravest or most foolish dared to rouse. However, this same unbeatable evil now found itself unusually quiet. No, it would be best to say that the whole world was quiet... or so it would seem.
...
"I'm telling you, only {World Champions} can do it" spoke a cheery voice, clearly whatever the topic being discussed was, caused excitement within the demon.
"This again? You have been saying the same thing for 3 months now, Touch Me already confirmed he can't" In contrast, this voice was rougher, almost as if the owner had been parched for two days straight, it carried a vague hint of irritation, although it is unclear if this was due to the owner's condition or the topic at hand.
"While I disagree, with the notion that such an action is limited to only {World Champions}, Ulbert does have a point" The new voice was clearly sophisticated, furthermore, it cleverly hid the recipient's own interest "All signs point towards World-type classes being a requirement."
"It would explain how no one has managed to replicate such a feat" A fourth speaker joined the conversation, or perhaps it would be more accurate to say that it had circled back to him.
An audible sigh could be heard across the Round Table room, the other occupants who had stayed quiet could not help but agree with the sentiment of the emitter "Seriously, you three..."
Three months ago the unprecedented had occurred, an event which shook Yggdrasil's PvP community to its core.
The World Champion of Muspelheim had allegedly gone against his guild and used a World Item to turn himself into {World Enemy}, an act which allotted him with supreme power above even the likes of a legion —a party of 36 max level players— had it not been for the intervention of the devs when other players had finally managed to take him down, he might have claimed even more high tier items, erasing months, perhaps even years, of hard work for many.
In the merciless landscape that was Yggdrasil's PvP meta, news about especially powerful builds and tactics typically only lasted for two weeks before counters and strategies became common knowledge, neutering the effectiveness they may have once had; but this event was especial, a player —perhaps even his whole guild— had figured a way to transcend past the level 100 cap and turn into the most fearsome Boss type that the game possessed, it came as no surprise that this uproar lasted far longer than a week, with many chastising the devs for overlooking such a possibility... only to be shut down by them claiming the feature was intentional.
This caused an informational hunt of an unparalleled scale, many looking to obtain said power for themselves and others looking to make a profit; even Ainz Ooal Gown's PvP expert, Punitto Moe, took an interest... for a time that is.
Despite making waves for far longer than any other event up till that point, the craze for the secret died down as well. By the second month, it was used as no more than a conversation starter, as if one were asking about the weather. By the fourth month it had become nothing more than an idle rumor one might hear across sketchy forums. Things were like this everywhere... but to three people.
The Three —self-proclaimed— Sages of Nazarick: Ulbert Alain Odle, Tabula Smaragdina and Wish III still talked about this topic with the same fervor they had the day it happened.
One was drawn to the mystery by it's allure of power, another was drawn by his own love for occultism and mystery, and the final one was —truthfully speaking— first dragged by the other two alongside the Paladin of Pure Silver, but unlike the Insectoid Champion, he decided to stay, finding the speculation and resource hunting a far more enjoyable activity than raid clearing.
This was how the three of them spent their time for the next year or so until...
"Tabula-san! Wish III-san! I got it!" The demon of Great Disaster spoke, the energy in his voice clearly palpable.
At the sound of those words the Brain Eater and the Jinn turned to their fellow 'sage' seemingly abandoning their previous conversation.
"Oh? a new development? You seem far more convinced this time" Said the brain eater, a thoughtful emoticon appearing over his head.
With a brief snicker the goat-like demon opened his mouth —or at least he would have opened it had the game allowed for such a thing— "But of course, as it happens, a certain someone owed me a favor and through them I was able to contact our Prometheus" a smug-looking emoticon was proudly displayed atop him.
"A full year after the fact? but not even his own guild could reach him, how did you even-? Nevermind, what did he tell you?" The Jinn's skepticism was all but palpable, and with good reason. During the two-month-long craze following the defeat of the World Champion, the guild to which he belonged to was assaulted and even blackmailed into revealing more information, unfortunately they, as was the rest of the world, were in the dark as to how exactly had their member performed such a feat. Their only clue being a missing World Item whose name they refused to reveal even after their guild weapon was destroyed.
But to these three —and perhaps a couple others— said occurrence did not present a problem; not long before the incident, that same guild had released a guide detailing their fight with the World Enemy —Demon Lord Pride, one of the Lords of the Seven Deadly Sins— this had led them to the conclusion that World Champions could somehow use the World Items dropped by these bosses to transform into a World Enemy themselves, however with no further proof to go off on, the rest of their guild was hesitant about facing off against these level-breaking bosses.
A reservation which they might be able to overturn now.
"That we were right on the money of course!" His spirited mannerisms briefly come to stop "Well mostly." The only answer he received were a pair of question marks above his friends.
"He did use the World Item dropped by Pride, but when he tried to replicate the process with their {World Guardian} it had no effect"
"Perhaps different classes need different World Items?" Proposed the genie, earning him a nod of agreement from Ulbert, Tabula on the other hand, was not so convinced.
"Different World Items have different effects, no? I believe it's more likely that the effect failed to trigger because it was already in use" Explained the bipedal cephalopod, opening both of his hands, he closed three fingers and made a pronounced gap between another "Pride is typically considered to be the worst of the seven sins, it only makes sense that its World Item would be a reflection of that"
"The other guilds would have caught wind of it if that was the case" Retorted the demon "Besides, they may be shitty, cruel and unfair but I don't think they would have limited that mechanic to just World Champions" Otherwise I'd be really pissed, was a sentiment that their friend harbored with such intensity the two of them could almost hear it inside their own heads.
In an attempt to revive the mood in the room, Wish III returned to Ulbert's secret meeting "Did he speak of anything else?"
"Oh right, he tried to warn me about it not being worth it, saying stuff like 'You will be hunted down before you get enough XP' and whatnot" With a far more casual tone, the goat demon returned to their planning.
The room however, fell silent once more after hearing those words. While it was true that their base had survived the biggest guild raid the game had ever seen and likely would ever see, it was also true that they would undoubtedly attract the attention of the whole server to their home if they were to follow through with the plan. Surviving such an onslaught would be damn near impossible and even if they somehow managed to fight the whole world off, the damage Nazarick would sustain would make it a pyrrhic victory.
'Besides I don't want to 'give him more fodder against me'/ 'face Punitto Moe'/ 'lose my collection' were the thoughts that echoed in their minds.
Suddenly, as if a light bulb had been ignited inside the genie's mind, he turned to his companions once more "I got it! Remember that new World Item Peroroncino and the others found?" The same event could be said to have occurred to the remaining two, had the game allowed for facial expressions, theirs would surely be one of realization followed by a smug grin.
"Good idea, we'll have to ask Momonga for permission to carry them for a while" a mutual agreement between the majority of the members in the guild as well as the approval of the guild master was required for their World Items to leave the treasury, such was the way of Ainz Ooal Gown.
"Still, we need to decide which remaining Lords we are going to target"
"Huh? Are we really going to do that?" Any refinement the voice may have once had disappeared in an instant.
"It's not like we can loot Pride's Item now, it's been missing for a year" He said in a nonchalantly manner of speech.
"He didn't tell you?" The response he received was a negative emoticon.
Tabula clicked his tongue "Should have guessed as much... In that case, how about Greed?"
"Eh?" It was now Wish's turn to be surprised, he turned to Ulbert's avatar "Why not Wrath? It ought to be simpler, no?"
This was a sensible question, if World Champions were a World's pride, then {World Disasters} are the wrath of a world, by common sense they should be the strongest, however...
"I don't like it but I can see were Tabula is going, we know the other guy turned into an enemy thanks to a curse much like my own class; honestly I forgot to ask him if there were other effects besides the increased level cap and stats" he said with a vague hint of shame "While 'Great Disaster, Demon Lord of Wrath Ulbert' does sound pretty cool I feel like its curse is going to come with some troublesome mind-afflicting effects" Despite saying something thoroughly embarrassing for the average person, there were no hints of shame in this statement, only wariness.
"Like he said, and if that's the case for the others, Greed is likely to have the less problematic downsides. In any event, either we confirm your theory and have access to possibly the most sought after secret in Yggdrasil or we get a brand new world item, either way Punitto Moe is sure to give his seal of approval" Closing their daily meeting, they will bring this up at the next guild meeting and hopefully get the others' support.
...
Deep within the marshes of Helheim, inside the Grenbera Swamp, there laid a silent tomb. No, perhaps it would be more appropriate to say that the whole world was silent. This was no surprise of course, not only had the playerbase waned throughout the years, today was the day the game would shut down for good.
And only three souls could be found inside this marvel of a monument...
'Hah... I guess it was too much for them this week too, even when today was the perfect opportunity for it'
It wasn't as if Wish III disliked Amanohitotsu —who was now giving his farewells to their guild leader— after all, he had only come to check up on how the base was doing and ranted about the work he'd have to prepare for tomorrow.
He was simply saddened by the fact that His, Tabula's and Ulbert's work will all be undone this night, and they weren't here to even get a glimpse of it in action.
He wasn't blaming them, far from it he should be reproaching himself. Placing this much value in a piece of fiction he always knew would come to an end... No, could he even claim he ever cared about this project of theirs?
The azure genie looked towards the ceiling —failing to notice the new arrival— and looked back on the past 4 years of his virtual life.
'I don't think I ever did... but then why did I continue?'
He already knew the answer... the destination is rarely ever as rewarding as the journey taken to get there, and his was no different. He stuck around this venture because he thoroughly enjoyed his interactions with Tabula —Whom he had begun to admire due to his extensive knowledge of history but more importantly as a fellow gap moe enthusiast, as he would call it— and Ulbert, —Whose over-the-top antics had grown on him, much like how Momonga and Peroroncino had said— all the discussions, arguments, experiments and adventures they had together while trying to reach their very own Holy Grail felt more accomplishing than any promotion he could ever receive —Not that he knew how getting a promotion felt like but he always assumed it must feel good— and now, when he was finally past the finish line he had no one to share his joys with...
'What am I saying? That's not even close to the truth, and why am I wallowing so much? Momonga is here and so is Amano-'
As if reading the thoughts that were forming inside his head, a very soft and tired-sounding voice called out to him
"Ohh Wish-san is here too? I didn't expect so many people would be coming here"
"Ah Herohero-san, forgive me. I was too busy with my own thoughts, how have you been?"
While he couldn't see the slime's real face, he had a feeling it was now adorned by a bitter smile "Same as usual, My boss placed another deadline on us.."
...
"Still, You've done a great job at taking care of our home, Momonga-san" an appreciative emoticon floating over its 'head'.
"Ah that's not true, Wish here has been helping with the upkeep" The overlord turned to him once more, saying something weird.
'It's not as if I didn't help with collecting gold but he was the one who was doing all the finances, what's he thanking me for?'
"You are too kind Momonga-san. I only helped with gathering gold, he did all the work really" He shook his hands in the air as if to divert any credit directed to his person, with an unusual pair of gauntlets adorning both of his arms.
"That reminds me. I never did ask you, why were you and the others always wearing those?" A small tendril sprouted from his body pointing towards the spirit's arms.
There was only one thing 'those' could mean when referring to Wish III.
{Avarice and Generosity} were a pair of armored gauntlets that drastically contrasted with each other; one was a demonic-looking hand cast in steel the same color as the void, covered with twisted thorns and sported a strange crimson glow in between the cracks purposefully left in the metal coverings. While the other looked like the delicate hand of the world's most fragile maiden, its metal plates were a pure white color embroidered with lines of gold. It was the very personification of the word 'good'.
Startled by his own insistence on wearing the World item Wish turned to the guild leader "Ah! sorry about this Momonga, it seems it became a bit of a habit"
"Don't worry about it, to be honest I also forgot what you and Ulbert were trying to do" He tilted his head downwards and used a 'sorry' emoticon.
"Umm, well back to the question... it was just a side project Ulbert and Tabula had invited me to, we devised a way to get rid of the level cap with this guy here, —He pointed towards an... interesting object that sat on the blackstone table— we were collecting a bunch of XP and planned to use it when the game was ending but..."
He turned to some of the chairs with missing occupants.
...
"Then why don't you use it?" asked the ooze
'Eh?'
"No no I can't just take our hard work for myself" He added a fake laugh in an attempt to defuse the situation but the slime was feeling especially assertive for some reason.
"Well I don't see them here right now. I say we make a vote for it, right Momonga?"
The undead sat there silently staring at both of them for a second before deciding to speak "Well if it's like that... It should be fine, no?"
'You two...' taking a deep sigh, the spirit decided to relent before the voting took place. He already knew what the outcome would be.
"Fine, I'll do it" He couldn't tell what they were thinking —both due to their inhuman bodies and the lack of facial animations— but he could feel a certain victorious aura emanating from them.
He placed his hand above the object in the table, a golden wolf-frog hybrid which held a glowing ruby shaped like an apple inside its mouth. This was {Geri} the World Item the guild had received upon defeating the Lord of Greed. Its official ability allowed the owner to 'upgrade' a data crystal in rank once every three weeks.
Outstanding ability aside, there was a reason they had chosen the Lord of Greed as their first target; while Touch Me represented the pride of a world and Ulbert harnessed the wrath of a dead world, Wish III had a rather unique class. Even though his current build was certainly capable of combat, it was not and had not been his main focus. Not since he made a dedicated utility build; his in particular, was focused on one thing: casting the Super Tier spell [Wish Upon a Star].
By focusing on replicating the abilities of the mythical genies, he discovered a racial tree that provides further reductions on the XP requirement of the spell.
Eventually, during an excursion led by Yamaiko of all people, he was asked to provide lodging for the group to collect information on a rival guild's mining operations. He was originally going to wish for a castle —assuming he was even provided with that option, as the spell was largely based on RNG— but stopped the moment he caught wind of the options he had been given.
[Create Castle] —or {I wish for a monument to my wealth} as the text box called it— was indeed there but what really drew his attention was an option simply named {I wish for the world}. He had no idea what such a wish would do but by the sounds of it, it was more in line with what something like {Ouroboros} could do. After discussing it for a while with the party, they agreed to him picking that option, best case scenario it really would give them temporary ownership of the world, worst case scenario he gets a snow globe; what none of them contemplated however, was that it would provide him with an elusive World-type class.
Typically, these classes were considered trump cards for any player who had them, as such, they required the fulfillment of a special set of conditions in order to be acquired, a world champion would need to win a developer-sanctioned server-wide tournament, a world disaster would need to kill it's previous holder and so on. His condition? To cast [Wish Upon a Star] 1001 times. In exchange for such commitment, he had received the ultimate utility job class {World Desire} which granted him access to the [Equivalent Exchange] skill; by enduring a 3 minute-long casting time and sacrificing an item, Wish III could make a wish that scaled off of the value said item possessed, with Divine level gear being equal to a wish that would normally cost 5 levels. Better yet, his wish would not be randomly generated, but rather GM would reach out to him and evaluate the item that had been used, providing an appropriate trade based on the caster's wishes. But the real value of this skill was its ability to sacrifice World Items. By performing an act so barbaric, most guilds would PK you for simply suggesting it, this skill could rival even {Ouroboros}, such was the power of those who inherited the greed of the world.
Obviously such a skill would be beyond broken if he was allowed to cast it every day —although you would be hard-pressed to find a guild willing to sacrifice a single world item, let alone one every day— as such it possessed a gargantuan 730 hour-long cooldown.
It was for this reason and the one he'd given above that they had not followed through on their plan to consume the World item.
'But now there's no reason to care about that'
Just as he placed his hand atop the golden sculpture, a familiar black board covered his vision.
[Are you sure you want to sacrifice this item?]
(You will lose ownership of this item and will have to wait a period of three months before you are able to collect it again)
[Accept] [Deny]
The first time he had been greeted by this message it had startled both him and the rest of the guild. Peroroncino had complained about 'how unfair it was that the other guild was allowed to keep their item but we have to break our backs twice if we want to keep our supply of divine tier data crystals' but this idea was —Much to his, admittedly comical, dismay— dismissed in place for the idea that they too had to acquire their item twice, which would help explain how the leak regarding walkthrough had occured in the first place.
Focusing on the desired bracket, two things happened at once:
The first was that {Geri} had been disintegrated into several motes of lights —Had they been staring at treasury's console they would have seen it been removed from the inventories—
The second was the sudden surge that turned below mediocre stats into slightly less pathetic ones and pushed his good ones past the 100 parameter —that is to say, only 2 stats are now overboard—
"Ohhh~ I think I see a new icon next to your name Wish-san"
"Umu, your HP seems to be roughly on par with mine now"
His two spectators commented, he focused on his periphery and, much like what the elder ooze had suggested, there was a new icon decorating his screen. Clicking it revealed that which the sages had feared.
'Increased costs from NPC vendors and the gacha, hm... good thing I won't be using either of those any time soon then; now for the second step of the plan.'
The Jinn activated the dual item and a new screen came to his vision. He pulled out a journal from his inventory and inserted the exact amount of XP he had stored over the years, Herohero and Momonga may have inspired him to reap the rewards of his hard work, but there was no way he was going to take Tabula's and Ulbert's.
With a final digit and one last look at his journal, he activated {Avarice and Generosity}.
"Amazing!"
'Eh?'
"Congratulations!"
'EHHHHHHHH?!'
Oblivious to the turmoil inside the man before them, the two heteromorphs continued their praise.
"As expected, all that work really paid off" said the slime, his voice, while still tired, showed a noticeable degree of amazement.
"Indeed, 143 levels is quite the jump. It should be the third highest among world enemies, right?" Momonga's voice was slightly trailing off into memory as he tried to remember the higher ranked enemy bosses.
Wish III on the other hand, was not amused.
'What hell do you mean 243?! you shitty devs! No wait, did I miss a zero? No no I checked it twice there's no way I could have missed it. I should have gotten at least 300 levels. Sure, through sheer stats I should be able to take on 10- no, 5 or so players but what the fuck is up with that curve?!'
...
So continued the talks, revolving mostly around work and Herohero's ever-increasing health problems. Wish III had been paying attention worried about his friend but he quickly returned to his console in lieu of the conversation being almost entirely about work related activities, which he currently wanted to avoid, so now he was picking classes left and right. At first he had tried to look for special mage classes available only to genies, only to find that there were none, slightly miffed about having wasted 60 of his available levels he instead tried win a bet he had made with Peroroncino long ago; the end result was a confusing mage build mixed with a subpar nightblade and a slightly worse mystic archer.
...
After about 20 more minutes of sharing grievances from the real world, the nightmarishly long list of crimes against worker rights —Not that they were worth much nowadays— came to a halt.
"I'm sorry for making you both listen to my whining. I can't really do much IRL"
The slime avatar started to sway around the area where it's head would, vaguely resembling a bow
"It's fine you both listened to me and problems, how could I not listen to yours"
"Like he said, don't worry about it, Herohero-san. I asked you all to come despite everyone being so busy. Not listening to you would be bad practice on my part. I'll always lend my ear."
A sour chord was struck inside Wish, in truth he had always known that Ulbert and Tabula would likely not be coming today —after all both of them had donated their gear to the treasury— which only made him want to skip out on the meeting that their guild leader had organized even more. However, it is precisely because he had bore witness to Momonga's own downward spiral that he had decided against it.
Even when he was out XP farming or grinding for gold he was keenly aware of how the skeleton's mood dropped whenever a member signed off their gear always using the same desiderative:
"I hope we'll meet again somewhere"
He could not guess what went through his friend's mind whenever that happened but each time it did, it seemed as though a piece of his soul had been forcibly ripped out. He made it a daily objective of his to make idle conversation for at least an hour, he was unsure if it was the act itself or if the man before him was so lonely that mere chatter could cheer him up.
And now it is happening again...
"Ah, I'm very grateful for that. I'm glad I could meet with friends after signing on... Although, I think it's time for me to log off."
As if a spring had been activated, the genie knew he had to jump to the action. While he wouldn't consider either himself or Herohero the most exciting company, they were all friends, 'the more the merrier' was an all too fitting line for the current situation.
"Herohero-san, I've heard that breaking habits is often good for one's body, It's a bit late on the clock but why don't you-"
However, as if he had known from the moment he started talking what the genie was about to suggest, the guild leader leveled his voice in an attempt to drown out his.
"Khm! It's fine, Herohero. It really is getting late. I guess time does fly when you are having fun"
There it was again, he had tried to hide it but even Herohero who had not seen either of them for a bit under 2 years could tell he was disheartened.
Moreover, Wish III stopped dead in his tracks, almost feeling the sensation of a cold sweat running down his back.
What was he thinking? He had heard the condition his friend was in, the man was practically crumbling as they spoke and he almost suggested he do something that would certainly worsen that, for something as stupid as a videogame.
...
"I really am sorry about this Momonga-san, I wanted to stay until the end but I'm about to fall asleep"
"Well you do sound pretty tired. Then you should log out soon and have a good rest"
"Umu, it was fun being with you all, I hope that we meet again somewhere"
With those words, the room fell to silence once more. Only 2 beings remained, both too distraught by their own thoughts to say anything.
And yet, it fell to the guild master to break the ice
"I appreciate what you were trying to do Wish-san but we shouldn't intrude too much on Herohero's life" The tone of his voice was somber, it almost felt as if those words weren't meant for Wish at all but for himself.
"You are right. I guess I just... thought we'd be able to talk for longer. We haven't seen him for 2 years" however he received no reply, instead they returned as they were before.
...
After what felt like hours in complete silence, a voice rose up again, in a pitiful attempt to fix the sour mood.
"Say..." The skeleton turned to face his friend who was in turn, staring at the wall "Nobody ever managed to get this far, so all it's ever done was collect —metaphorical— dust, why don't we take it out for a spin? At least until we reach the throne room?" There could only be one object to which he was referring to, the staff of Ainz Ooal Gown, their guild's pride and joy, which everyone had helped build.
'I suppose it should be alright, there's less than 40 minutes until Yggdrasil shuts down for good. And I think I'd like to hold it even if it's just once'
With a nod, Momonga stood up and picked up the staff, after which they both made for the throne room.
...
Along the way, the genie had also suggested they take the NPCs they find on their way claiming it to be a shame they didn't have the time to station the guardians nearby.
As they passed through the double doors of judgment, Momonga caught wind of the magnificence that he and his friends had managed to build.
'This is the result of everyone's hard work. I wish you were all here to- hm?"
Stationed next to the {Throne of Kings}, stood a woman of unparalleled beauty
"That is one of Tabula's NPCs, right?" spoke the undead trying to divert attention away from the world item the woman held. A world item that he was sure wasn't there last week.
"Umu, I believe her name was Albedo but.. I can't remember much beyond that she was a succubus."
Momonga turned around and gave the cadre they had picked up the command to kneel by the steps. Curious towards the information that even the man he considered to be the closest to their mad alchemist had forgotten, Momonga sat in the throne and opened up a console that detailed the contents of Albedo's flavor text. A decision he quickly came to regret. The man who designed her was someone who held many obsessions, among those was an obsession for unnecessary details; scrolling at a moderately rapid pace, he was able to catch a few glimpses of what was written inside this short novel such as 'order', 'wife', 'Lu Zhi' and the like. While he had frankly no idea what half of those meant, he did understand a particular set of lines that would have caused his scrolling to do a full stop had the settings not ended there.
"She is also a slut"
'...Eh? Isn't that an insult?! Uwaah'
He had suddenly remembered another obsession held by the same man. Gap Moe.
Had he been alone, perhaps he would have outwardly expressed the cringe he felt at what his friend had written.
But he was not alone.
Even worse, he was with someone who shared such an obsession. Momonga discretely took a peek at his companion, who had been reading the flavor text along with him, his movements were stiff. It seemed as if he had been shocked by the text as well.
'Umu, then perhaps this much should be fine'
"I understand that this is what he liked but isn't this a bit...-"
"I-I can't believe this. This is awful..."
'So even he is appalled... then maybe I should-'
"How could he even call this gap moe?!"
'...Hah?'
...
Wish III sincerely couldn't believe what was in front of his eyes, had sen— Tabula-san run out of inspiration?
'Perhaps what I said earlier is too harsh... still..'
"This is just a regular succubus! There is no contrast, they are meant to be attractive! What the hell was he thinking?"
"U-umm, then ... should we change it?"
"Obviously, we can't leave that thing there. There's barely any reason for it as well."
"I see..." extending the hand which held his staff, Momonga produced another console and removed the slut line.
"It feels a little barren though... Here" The skeleton handed over the console he had just used over to him.
"Eh? what for?"
"You knew him better than I, besides this is the kind of thing you two were invested in, no? Just make sure to write something better, please" After thinking for a few seconds Wish III agreed with Momonga's idea. Time to practice on something he liked would be time well spent.
'But what should I change it to? hm.. Umu, that's good but it needs... something.'
The genie looked around the room, scanning for a target to fuel his inspiration. It was then that his eyes landed on a certain bleached visage. His mind ran countless scenarios and interactions in the span of a few seconds.
He then produced a grin that —had anyone seen it— would have sent a chill down their spine.
'Yes, this is perfect!'
...
Momonga had no idea what his friend was writing but he seemed very enthusiastic about it. He had stopped looking in his general direction and immediately got to writing. What once had been a small sentence, was now a full paragraph.
Not a second too late, Wish III spoke again:
"Hm, it should be fine now"
"Oh? I thought we were just going to be filling the bit we removed. What did you replace it with?" a 'curious' emoticon was produced in front of the undead.
"It's a secret~" His voice trying to do an imitation of Bukubukuchagama's acting voice. His own being incapable to reach the slime's high tones. Instead it came out as creepy-sounding.
"You are aware I can just check it again, right?"
"Then I can't stop you" His curtly retort forced Momonga to think.
'He must have written something embarrassing, I know I would have. That must be it, he's ashamed. I won't push further then, besides with the speed he wrote that paragraph.. he must have been planning to make that change for a long time, no? I should let him indulge himself a bit too.'
"I see"
With the flick of a wrist, the mysterious console disappeared. Leaving the two of them to contemplate the majestic room.
...
'But... this isn't right, is it?'
Part of Wish couldn't help but feel depressed. The game was ending in less than 10 minutes and all they were going to do was idly wait for them to be forcibly logged out.
But it didn't have to be that way.
He knew Momonga had prepared a "surprise" somewhere near Nazarick. He had said as much in an email he had received along with every other member in the guild, he called it a "Grand send-off" to all of their memories together; even without seeing what the actual surprise was, he could tell the guild leader had worked hard on it. But now —much like what would have befallen his own plan— his efforts will be discarded, much like how the mega corporations would dispose of the bodies of those who died from overwork while on their grounds.
He couldn't allow that to happen.
"Hey Momonga" He called out to the lich "You said you had something prepared in that email right? Do you think we have enough time to see it?"
Momonga's skeletal visage turned upwards —no doubt checking the time they had left—
"Yes, it is not something that should take much time. Remember the floating island above the divide between the swamp and the plains?" asked the overlord. There were a few floating islands littering the sky above their home but there was enough distance between them that such simple instructions could be used to point towards one in particular.
With a nod of understanding, the spirit replied "Then let's head there, it would be a shame to waste our guild leaders hard work" he let out a small chuckle.
"You are right..." the undead started the motion to get up from the throne but stopped halfway through. "... Why don't you head there first? I'd like to give my farewells to everyone here" he motioned to the flags hanging from the seemingly endless ceiling.
"I understand... take your time" after those words he activated one of the rings sitting on his fingers.
Another window appeared on his screen —This one detailing multiple locations within the tomb— after scrolling for a few moments the azure figure vanished from view.
...
Another of his friends disappeared before his eyes one last time.
With a sigh, he sat on the throne once more and lifted his finger, pointing towards the first of the flags.
"Ancient one..."
...
The walk from the bottom of the first floor to the surface had been a surprisingly lengthy one but he paid it no mind. Once he was outside of the central mausoleum he looked to the sky, searching for his target.
'I think it should be that one.. even if it's not I can change directions once I'm airborne'
With a quick cast of [Fly] from his hotkeys, Wish III took to the skies, the island slowly growing bigger with each passing second.
...
'"Small surprise"? Mused the Jinn to himself 'When did he even have time to place all of these here?'
Before his eyes, there was a breathtaking scene. An island —a little bigger than 200 square meters— had its surface completely covered by fireworks. There was not a single piece of land —outside of a small section disconnected from the main body— where he could stand.
'There must be dozens of thousands here. Just where did he get them?'
He turned to the tomb below hoping to see a skeletal frame ascending in view...
But there was no soul to be found.
He looked at the clock on his screen.
23:58:57
'!'
He considered going back to the tomb, standing here alone would be far too depressing. But he stopped no sooner than he cast [Fly].
'I won't get to the throne room in time. Momonga won't fare any better. It will take far too long for him to get out of the first floor... Haaa... this is why you are shitty devs'
With a final curse he resigned himself to simply converse with his friend through [Message].
[Momonga-san—] His voice was briefly interrupted by a strange sound.
[!... Forgive me, Wish-san. I got distracted by my nostalgia. I'll head there immediately!]
[There's no need. You won't get here in 40 seconds]
...
[Sorry about that..]
[I mean it. It's fine. It is the thought that matters. I have to say, I'm impressed by how many rockets you managed to collect]
[Umu, I went to the shopping district the other day. Oh! That reminds me]
After a few more seconds, a gift appeared in the corner of his vision.
[Hm? What's this about?]
[Since I won't be able to see it, I want you to use it... under the condition that you record it..] That last part sounded more like an afterthought.
[Deal].
After accepting his friend's gift, he produced a stick-like object with a button at the center.
Taking one last look at the scenery he couldn't help but let out a depressed sigh at the grim background.
The details were impressive, but the oppressively dark sky overcast above the icy world, only occasionally illuminated by crimson lightning strikes, was hardly a sight one would want to make their last stand in.
Unfortunately, options were a thing he did not possess.
Steeling his mind he pressed the button.
It took a while but the first of the rockets erupted in a blaze of pure light. And then another. and another one.
[So? how is it?]
23:59:43
[I feel like I'm standing in the middle of [Fallen Down] ... I can't see a thing]
[Ha ha is that so?-]
23:59:50
[-Well I'm glad the sight is better than Helheim's overworld]
[No argument there]
23:59:55
[It's been fun]
[Indeed]
23:59:57
Having run out of things to talk about, Wish III rested his head in a tree that was nearby and closed his eyes...
23:59:58, 45
23:59:59, 37
23:59:59, 59—
...
00:00:03
00:00:05
'Hm?'
He was certain midnight had just passed, so why had he not been greeted by his home screen?
Opening his eyes made him want to sprout a second pair to glare harder at the scene before him.
Gone were the crystalline planes and the hellish swamps. Instead, he was greeted by one word: green.
Nearly everything around him was a shade of green, the rest were copious amounts of bark and the occasional flower or berry; the only thing that had not changed from the previous location was the lack of sunlight, although here it was less so because of the ever-present mist but rather never ending treetops.
Whether it was noon or the middle of the night, he couldn't tell. If there was any sunlight —or moonlight for that matter— it was completely incapable of getting past the sea of leaves that took up his vision.
'I've never seen a game shutdown its servers but this can't be how it's supposed to go... right?'
Perhaps the devs had decided to give their own final send-off to the game they had worked on for over a decade. Or perhaps the ending had been delayed and someone had gotten past his countermeasures, forcibly teleporting him to a distant location —He was out in the open after all.
'Either way I can't stay here'
Initially, he had considered casting [Fly] and escape the forest that way. But ultimately, he decided against it, as doing so would not only leave him exposed to ranged attackers, but also reveal his position to anyone nearby who happened to have the same idea as him. Instead he chose the next best thing.
"[Perfect Unknowable]" At the utterance of those words, all traces of Wish III vanished, only the most skilled of rangers and those equipped to deal masterful illusions would have any hope of finding him.
'This forest is pretty big, hm? Some of these trees must be as tall as a skyscraper' Mused the genie. While perhaps a bit of an exaggeration, there was some truth to his words, certain trees around the area were well over 100 meters.
'The detail is pretty amazing too, the 6th floor we made with Blue Planet doesn't compare. The difference between a bunch of losers and a million dollar company, I guess... Still, I don't recognize any landmarks. Is this Álfheim? Hm, no, it looks too... normal. Maybe Midgard then?'
Too preoccupied to notice his missing HUD, Wish III continued walking —Or at least he believed he was walking, someone more skilled may have been able to tell the trees apart from each other. But this was Wish III, and he was walking in circles.
'This thing is way too long! Haaa... I should call Momonga so we can regroup. I wonder how long it will take for the devs to make an announcement.'
"[Message]" This was the first inconsistency Wish III noticed. Instead of the usual black box detailing his contacts. He felt a thin thread extending from his mind which tried to reach an impossible void. Eventually, the thread broke. Leaving him with more questions than answers.
'Is it too far to connect? Is this even how it's supposed to work? What's going on?! Wait, where is my HUD?!'
Once more, Wish tried to contact someone, this time a GM. Unfortunately he received the same results.
Wish began to panic. 'Had he truly been attacked? But there's no way someone could have blocked his access to a GM. Why couldn't he log-out?' and so on; countless theories emerged and were discarded with equal speed, just what in the world had happened to him?. At some point, he had divined what the best plan of action would be.
"This is illegal! I am being held against my will!" He shouted at the top of his lungs.
If the place he now found himself in was truly part of the game, that much should have worked as a deterrent. Dive systems were afflicted by a myriad of laws that prevented their use in certain industries and practices. Among those laws was one that forcibly recorded voice commands locally, and required companies to monitor for certain keywords in order to react accordingly. If something could even hint at the possibility of a user being trapped, measures of the highest level would be taken in order to avoid a lawsuit.
But nothing happened.
As if in response to the veil —which up till this point had kept Wish III complacently ignorant— vanishing, dozens of new smells assaulted his nostrils. The freezing wind pushed against the shimmering silk that covered his body, in turn making him aware of the unnatural softness of his clothes.
'W-what's going on?! Did my helmet malfunction?! What are these scents?'
The closest he could compare them to, was his boss's office. It was hardly a 1-to-1 comparison, frankly speaking, it was a disservice to this place calling them similar. But having never entered an arcology himself, this was the best he could do; the forest scent was overpowering his nose, he almost felt like he would throw up.
'My head feels like it's going to split, I need to find a place to rest!'
After making a turn to his left and running past several trees he vaulted over a particularly large root, he hid behind the giant tree and dropped to his knees.
"Haaa... this sucks. Why isn't anything working? Did I... die?" Depressing thoughts swelled inside his mind "But then why can I still use my spells?... Wait, that's it!" A small glimmer of hope erupted from the Jinn.
"[Gate!]" He had no idea how it worked exactly but he had a feeling that the spell was supposed to feel like this. A circular disk of pure black emerged from the air... only to close itself before anything meaningful could happen.
"[Dimensional Lock]? No. It felt as if the spell failed to connect at all, I don't think it was blocked..."
His head dropped once more.
'No. I need to focus, I can't let this bring me down. What did Punitto Moe use to say? Panic is the seed of defeat?''
Clear of mind, he finally decided to scan his surroundings. Everything looked the same as before yet somehow different, the trees felt thinner in this area and the leaves were not as obstructive, he could see a single ray of moonlight passing through them. Could it be that the exit was nearby? He took a peek towards the direction from which he had arrived and the previous maze was nowhere to be seen. Gone were the walls of bark and moss, in their stead, he found multiple vines hanging from god-knows-where and oddly coloured mounds of dirt, but perhaps the most eye-catching piece of scenery were large hexagonal amber blocks that encompassed at least a dozen of the giant trees. This sight could only mean one thing.
Bees.
He had once heard from Blue Planet that these insects used to inhabit the planet, spreading the seeds of plants across forests allowing them to reproduce, at least he believes it was something like that.
They were apparently fairly cute and benign insects but since Yggdrassil's giant bees were the only ones he had ever seen, he couldn't help but question his comrade's taste —Not like his was any better— What he did know however, was that these monsters were trouble. While his gear provided him near immunity to poison attacks and his obscene base speed would allow him to dodge the bees' equally ludicrous movement speed. There were 3 big problems one would face when dealing with giant bees:
The first were their numbers, as a monster that lives in colonies giant bees are programmed to alert their hive if it catches so much as a glimpse of a hostile invader, which he very much was. Despite a singular bee not being much more than a nuisance to a level 100 being, they were excellent cannon fodder that would stall for time while other, stronger monsters came to their aid.
The second were the special variants that spawned in fae and demonic areas, while there were certainly other unique spawns, these were the most dangerous to his person at the moment.
The third and final roadblock was the queen, the praetorian guards were no slouches by any means but royal bees typically acted as raid bosses for the forests of Álfheim and Midgard, even worse, some could even apply a buff upon their death that would turn their guard into a truly terrifying force.
At this sight Wish III couldn't help but freeze. He was certainly stronger stats-wise than a level 100 being, but combat was never the focus of his original build, —not direct combat at least— and the new jobs wouldn't be of much help against the sheer numbers that a bee hive has. He didn't even know what the average level of this forest was, for all he knew it might as well be 200 or even 300. But before he could formulate a way to escape what was likely certain death, a grizzly roar echoed through the trees. He turned to the direction of the sound, at first, he panicked as he believed the incoming monster was invisible but upon closer inspection he saw a bird.
A small, plain looking bird, if it wasn't for the crimson crest on its head he was sure he wouldn't have seen it, as its plumage resembled wood. 'No doubt as a means of camouflage'.
The bird opened its mouth and the same noise was heard. This time however, it alerted more than just a startled genie.
Multiple thundering sounds emerged from the hive, only for the nearby trees to be covered by swarms of bees the size of a dog. And they were all staring at him.
'They can see me?! Why do drones have such a high detection ability? the hell do they need it for?!'
It didn't take long for the spirit to remember the spell he had cast earlier, likely ending [Perfect Unknowable]'s effect.
'But I thought it failed... Did its effects change too?'
Leaving it as a matter for later he turned to the current threat. He evaluated the number of enemies and their level, while he couldn't see their names anymore, —likely because of the disappearance of his HUD— he could safely remove Avalon bees and Glutoapis from his list of ever-increasing problems. With any luck, that would mean these drones were at most level 70, assuming of course this world also worked on character levels. Faced with a thousand unknowns and a singular truth, Wish III was left with only one way out, indeed it was the only thing he could do.
"[Triplet Widen Magic: Lazuli Magnet!]"
Three cerulean balls of lightning engulfed the horde of bees that covered this area of the forest. [Lazuli Magnet] was a 9th tier spell, while the damage it dealt was more than pitiful when compared to other 9th tier spells, it is largely considered the best AoE stun attack, useful when dealing with summoner-like players to nullify their meat shields.
He had planned to use this as a means of escape, paralyzing the enemy vanguard before the special forces could arrive. What he didn't expect was for a village's worth of charred corpses to drop to the ground. Were it not for the brand new smell of charred meat he would have considered that he was being tricked, but as Yggdrasil lacked any form of olfactory input he could only stare blankly at his work.
It wasn't long before even this was interrupted, as buzzing sounds grew louder and louder, three heavily armored looking bees emerged from the large blocks of honeycomb —the bees' armor was, of course, made of chitin. Even in Yggdrasil, only certain bosses and heteromorphic players who looked like bees wore armor—.
Behind them he could see an even larger silhouette, this one was almost human-sized. Out of the honeycomb, emerged a —frankly— disgusting looking thing, perhaps it was the light reflecting their home, but a yellow liquid seemed to be dripping from her mouth. Her legs were covered in wet hairs and sharp barbs that felt like they could cleave a human in half;
Its thorax was painted with a large red dot at the center of her back, her oddly large wings tucked just above it, and a large translucent abdomen which nearly glowed with its contents.
This was the queen and her praetorian guard.
Wish III wanted to flee at the mere sight of them, he had never been good with insects —especially cockroaches— ever since a certain incident, he knew he could probably lose them if he had flown away but if he did that, he was just as likely to run into another enemy, one who could be far stronger than the one before him. He had to take the chance, he knew it was a bad idea to judge a boss's danger based on their minions, but when presented with the danger of the unknown this was a safer bet.
"[Dragon lightning!]" This was a weaker spell than the one before, but unlike most of his grimoire, it required no preparations nor time to cast and it would allow him to get a better grasp on his opponents' strength. The drones from before had been killed by a spell that dealt barely any damage, but that doesn't mean the queen or even the praetorian guard would suffer the same fate. What it could mean, however, was that these bees were weak to lightning, something he could exploit to a great degree.
The elemental spirit pointed his index finger towards one of the guards, an action it seemed to recognize as dangerous but it was too late, an arc of lightning in the shape of a dragon sprouted from his finger and struck the insectoid warrior.
Surprised at the efficacy of his attack he tried the same again but the remaining fighters were already aware of the danger the mysterious attacker posed.
The queen emitted a screech that made the remaining guard glow in a yellow hue.
'Looks like it's a commander-type enemy, that's reassuring. Maybe this really is a play test'.
As the genie continued thinking about his current situation, the two guards positioned themselves in the opposite ends of his vision and spearheaded a pronged attack, leaving the queen vulnerable.
'!'
Not used to being a frontline attacker, Wish III jumped back, evading the attack with a grace he failed to notice.
"[Twin Magic: Wind Cutter]" A pair of nearly invisible blades struck his enemies, slicing them by their thorax.
'Even a 4th tier spell is enough? Why are they so weak? Did they want to make a noob-friendly zone? Then why add enemies at all?!'
Getting increasingly more frustrated at the devs' odd behavior, he turned to the last enemy. Normally most raid bosses would start their second phase upon taking too much damage or losing their minions, but bee monsters were different, most of them were geared towards commander classes as a way to simulate the extinct animal's society. As such, Royal bees were typically weaker than other raid bosses, at least individually.
After a couple of metamagic enhancements, Wish III released another [Wind Cutter] splitting the sole surviving bee in half spilling both its entrails and the glowing liquid in its abdomen.
'That smells pretty good doesn't it? Mhm, it's probably not a good idea though'
After dispelling an intrusive thought, Wish III returned to staring at his handiwork... and he continued to stare for a while...
"...Why are they not disappearing?" He deadpanned.
While he felt his original idea of this being a simple playtest the Yggdrasil devs had forcibly dragged him to, starting to wane. He figured the only way to know for sure was to wait a while and try to find other players; Momonga may not be responding at the moment but that might just be because he is farther away than what [Message]'s range allows for, and that is not to say anything of the other players who were present at the time the game shut down.
In the meantime, he'd need to find a place to rest. For a moment he considered entering the now empty hive, but he remembered Blue Planet explaining how the larvae were kept inside the hive and while he was now reasonably sure he could kill them all if need be, he wasn't exactly jumping at the opportunity of sleeping next to insect corpses.
So, if not that, what could he do? Sleeping outside was a terrible idea, and this forest was far too narrow for [Create Fortress].
'Ah! That's it!' The Jinn tried to access his inventory and a dark void engulfed his hand. He didn't feel anything funny or painful, but he was struck with perfect knowledge about everything that was inside this pocket dimension. Even before, he had a better memory than most about what he kept in his inventory but now it seemed as if everything was a part of him that he could call to at any moment.
It was then that a pained expression formed on his face.
"Damn it, I handed my {Green Secret House} to the treasury. I never had much need of it after everyone started to leave. Damn you, past me!"
He tried to look for anything around that could serve as a momentary hideout but the only thing around that could fit that description was the beehive.
No, he refused to do that. Even if he had to sleep in the tree branches he would not sleep inside the beehive.
Having decided on where he'll spend the night, Wish III cast [Fly] and flew over to one of the thicker trees. It was an odd thing, some of its branches were unusually long and connected to other trees, even weirder, he found a space in the tree that was hollow. While he could certainly question the seemingly unnatural formation of this tree and its surroundings; he felt too tired to care and if he was correct, he'd likely wake up inside his apartment, waiting to be scolded by his publisher when his commute starts.
After some creative uses of [Create Item], he lied on a dark purple mattress with a velvet blanket on top. He had now gotten used to the impossible softness of his clothes, the impromptu bed offered no surprises.
He turned to face the wooden wall and closed his eyes...
But he couldn't sleep.
'This is going to be a long night, isn't it?'
Character Sheet (Pre-Geri):
Name: Wish III, Greedy Stargazer
Job: One of the 41 Supreme Beings
Residence: His chambers on the 9th floor of the Great tomb of Nazarick
Alignment: Evil — [Karma rating: -150]
Racial Levels:
Half-elemental (Air): 15 lv
Greater elemental (Air): 10 lv
Noble Genie (Air): 10 lv
Jinn King (Air): 5 lv
Job Levels:
Invoker: 10 lv
Exorcist: 10 lv
Dark shaman: 10 lv
Curse Lord: 10 lv
Prophet: 10 lv
Soulbinder: 5 lv
World Desire: 5 lv
Ability Chart:
HP: 55
MP: 35
Phy. Atk.: 10
Phy. Def.: 55
Agility: 95
Mag. Atk.: 35
Mag. Def.: 65
Special: Exceeding
Resist: 100
In this case, his half-elemental levels are working as a divine elementalist tree of sorts.
And that marks the end of the first chapter, I'm not too sure how well that fight scene turned but I think it's good enough for now though I may revisit it in the future. Overall I'm happy with how this turned out but that's just my opinion, what about yours? liked something? hated something? trashiest fic to ever touch this site?
Since I'm not too good at writing ending cards as you may have noticed here's a small QnA for some questions I thought of while writing this.
Why did you make this? The concept mostly started from a build that someone made in the Overlord subreddit. I liked the concept and wanted to write something with it. That's when I realized that Wish III would be a perfect fit for it, not only is there a complete lack of information regarding him, his name could also be considered a reference to a genie's three wish rule. Which left me with a blank canvas for me to mold, whose name is a perfect fit for this project; during the process of researching, a few other concepts took root inside my mind and I came up with this.
I originally envisioned for the story to take place around the Dragon Kingdom, the reason for this was a simple question.
"Who could be a good fit for the short summary you read at the start?"
Of course the dragon loli wasn't the only one who came up during the drafts, depending on how far back one goes, there are at least dozen different characters and groups which would give anything to have their wishes come true. Draudillon was simply one of the runner ups because of how little everything about her and her nation is known, as well as the many different conflicts surrounding it.
However, I ultimately decided against this for two main reasons:
The first, were the many great fics I've been reading recently that take place in it, at the moment those stories are still fresh on my mind so I don't believe I would be a able to deliver something that's not a mishmash of their interpretations from the mystery-filled nation, neither did I believe I could make them justice.
The second, was the release of the volumes 15-16 of overlord. The Forest of Evasha is already an interesting location within the world that hasn't been thoroughly detailed by Maruyama, leaving plenty of room for me to do my own thing. It is also fairly far away from the main human kingdoms and is in a rather... peculiar situation because of their king. Furthermore, there wouldn't be just one person in desperate need for a miracle but a whole Kingdom's worth of them
Why does W3 feel like x? The reason is probably because W3's is basically non-existent, the only difference between him and someone like Coup de Grâce, is the bit of info the Author shared where he stated W3 is a founding member of Ainz Ooal Gown. That's it. There's nothing else both are quite literally whiteboards outside of their names and what one might be able to extrapolate from, e.g: W3 Might be a genie and Coup de Grâce might be an Assassin-type character.