[ ~ Chapter • Start ~ ]
In a tall cliff, an orange haired man in a white suit looked over the horizon, his facial expression not changing in the slightest.
This man was the Lord Administrator, Ragna (True Name: Hinoshi Hagazou ), and beyond that expressionless face, in the "real" world, was a pale skinned man who has had a small, content smile on his face.
"Hmmm... My final plans are going well this midnight." He spoke quite happily with a short sigh, yet like earlier, his facial expression didn't change. "Not too well, of course. If it did, then it might fail soon enough. My former colleagues, former soon-to-be dead boss and his megacompany... in that dying world called Earth, that is my final goodbye, I suppose."
He knelt down and sat at the edge of the cliff, looking at the time at the corner of his HUD.
[11:30:01 PM]
"I can't just be sitting down here, right?" He said, shaking his head and immediately floating out of the cliff. "I've got to visit the place where it all began: Midgard. Just to spend my last time there, to remember the past of 15 years ago."
The truth is, he was the only person left alive that was still working for YGGDRASIL's progress, though due to his condition, which was him quite literally dying right now, due to a powerful disease, he was no longer capable of updating, calibrating and augmenting the game.
Call him and his fellow developers shitty, trashy, and every sort of profanity, but the truth was, nobody bothered to update the game other than bots who do most of the calibrating and fixes, and the other administrators are here only for the money to get things done through the request of the players finding the world items known as [Ouroboros], and [Five Elements Overcoming].
There was another game similar to YGGDRASIL, though it's far more better and advanced because of it's use of the [Parallel Dive Gear] (some call it the Neo Dive Gear), a heavily modified and enhanced Dive Gear. Due to it's insanely rising popularity, and other former administrators flocking to it to gain admin access, Hinoshi couldn't help but admit that it's actually good and not lacking much (he even got the [Parallel Dive Gear] and the game for free as a gift from one of his true colleagues).
But, his love for YGGDRASIL, this game which he dedicatedly poured blood, sweat and tears and endured pain, in emotional, mental, and physical aspects made him quit the game, no matter how much better it was.
"[Activate: AC2125 World Teleportation - Town Of Beginnings]" He spoke, before his vision blackened and a loading screen appeared before him for a few seconds.
After that, he was now on the middle of a town that looked pretty empty except for several NPCs wandering around as programmed. Most even have "!"s above their heads, and some were gesturing at him.
However, he no longer had time to play his role as a "Player". After all, YGGDRASIL will be dead soon, and it will only become history.
Sitting on a bench nearby and with his hand on his chin, he began to wonder... what would his life be if the wars that caused Earth to be covered in thick clouds and made the air completely poisonous? Truth is, he'd prefer being under blue skies and clean air other than die suffering.
"[Check Player Status: Show Only Active]" He spoke with curiosity, wanting to know what was happening to the remaining players of YGGDRASIL.
A massive screen showed up in front of him, showing every player under their respective guild (or party, if not, on solo), several hundred of them, a few tens already logged out just recently. He began to read the guild's names out loud, yet never spoke of the players names.
"Trinity, 7 members active. Ainz Ooal Gown... 1 member active... Great Cat Kingdom, 1 Member Active... 2ch Alliance... 4 Members active... World Searchers... 3 members, impressive."
Ragna waved his hand to dismiss the screen before him, laying back on the bench and closing his eyes.
"Man... I feel very sleepy right now... And cold..."
The moment he noticed this, he thought he could just sleep this out and soon get forced out of the [Dive Gear]. After that, he'd wake up, and do work... yeah... not happening.
He considered suicide after that you know.
Like hell he wished to experience being beaten down as hard as possible before dying.
The moment he allowed himself to sleep, the clock had struck 12.
After that... in the real world, several days later, news broke out, thousands of people are revolting against a megacompany and are probably taking over it. It may take days, even months, but...
... Whatever revolution they were doing will succeed.
In another world, the same orange-haired man slowly woke up, confused about his surroundings.
"... Huh? Where am I?"
[ ~ Chapter • End ~ ]