START OF RECORD 2: THE RED DREAM
Author Notes: In this chapter, I will be introducing Punitto Moe as Alice. Things might seem OC, but I think it's nice to view him as a real life person like Suzuki Satoru, with different background/motivations. I took the liberty to add a gender-bender to the story, since we all know the only 3 female characters in Nazarick was Bukubukuchagama, Yamaiko, and Ankoro Mochi Mochi.
Chapter 1
Greater London Arcology, The British Isles, 2130
Crowded memories of another time, they are never lost, just hidden beneath the mosses and masses fighting for breath. What is life if not the continuous passage of time which all living beings are equally entitled and burdened to experience from start to end? The amount of suffering and pain are already something that is dictated at birth, our will possessing little to no capacity to change it. Born as a peasant, live as a servant, die as a statistic. Such is the rule of life.
Alice closed the book. She let her body fall down to a bed with a thump. The soft mattresses cushioned her and she let out a satisfied sigh, gripping her soft white pillow and putting it above her head, cuddling it, giggling.
"Who's the lovely young girl who sneaked into my room today?" A tall blonde woman pulled Alice close and tickled her. The young girl laughed and squirmed and said, "I give up! Hahaha," she giggled at the same time and then pouted, "you're not supposed to disturb my reading time, give me space jeez, I thought you wouldn't be home until 8."
"Come on, it's a Saturday, can't a mother visit her daughter once in a while? I've brought some snacks for you, your favourite apple crumble!" Alice smiled, handing over the steaming hot dessert with a silver spoon.
"When am I allowed to see what's outside my room mom?" Alice spoke in a garble as her mouth was stuffed with the delightful pastry, taking bites greedily.
"When the time is right Alice, you'll get to explore the world once more, with me by your side, I promise," her mother said, grabbing another souvenir from her suitcase, this time a luxury branded shoulder bag, "try this on Alice."
"but mom, I really want to go outdoors, pretty please," Alice looked up with a cute expression.
"When you finished reading most of the books in the historical section of the library, I would consider letting you join me outside," the woman sternly stated, "oh come on, try on this bag and several new outfits I've gotten for you." Alice put on the new dresses with a grumpy 'fine, so-now-what' look on her face.
"You look beautiful Alice, it's only been some time, but you've grown so much," the woman kindly wiped a tear off her face. All the sweet talk is making Alice writhe in cringe, "mom, I really want to visit the town, it's been several days since I went outside, so please?"
"Sigh, okay," the woman crinkled her eyebrows, "but only for two hours or so okay? I have to return to work after that. However before that, I want to see what you've learnt today. Today, I have one question that I want you to answer with your own thought process. We've covered economics and political science just last year, and I've given you enough time to read. So today I will ask you this: is it possible to create a utopia society? And if so, what ideology is best suited to creating it?" she crossed her arms and waited for an answer.
"An utopian society is inherently an impossible goal to achieve, there had been many attempts to strive for a utopia where everyone is satisfied, but such a thing is not possible because humans come from various backgrounds and life experiences, each one with their own agenda. Hence, why I think the question is a trick question." Alice smirked, "there is no one ideology that fits every society, hence why I feel that to each one, their own."
"That is a good take on it, but I expect more hard empirical evidence to back it up next time you answer such questions, do you understand Alice? You haven't finished reading the communist manifesto or John Locke's theory of economics." the woman pat her in the head, glad that Alice was growing up and learning to think for herself, "come with me, we're headed to town."
The morning light painted the small town in a warm tone. I felt my mom's warm embrace. Her soft hands, her gentle smile. We were going to buy bread from the local bakery and beef from the butcher in the morning, then have a lovely picnic with dad in the afternoon.
"Alice, watch your steps!" Mom carefully lifted me up from the ground when I fell after skipping carelessly on the cobblestoned road. "Ouch, that hurts," I rubbed the bruise on my knee, squinting, trying my best to appear strong. A surge of force suddenly pushed me backwards, heat blasting onto my face. I fell down backwards, trying to bring myself up. My ears rang, "mom?" In front of me, my mom's body was unrecognisable. Her face was blasted into pieces, the only thing remaining was her heels and handbag. I held her in my arms, hoping that she would be alive, but no mattered how much I prayed, that day would never come.
I gasped for air and woke up from bed, finding myself sweating from the nightmare I just had. Mother. The only person who truly cared for me, she was gone, because of the ignorance and selfishness of a single individual. I found myself crying once more. I will never be able to get over my mother. Anyone who suggested otherwise is a liar. Changing into my blouse and winter coat, I left my bedroom. Walking through the hallways and punching a button, the elevator took me upwards to the skyline of the arcology.
The weather outside was pleasant. Dawn has yet to break in the British Isles. I felt the comforting wind blow past my cheeks, carrying the scent of the vast blue oceans. I found myself walking through town, past the dormant fountains and closed luxury shops, wooden tables and closed umbrellas. I stood at the balcony and looked past the arcology's walls to the vast ocean and then the atolls that doted the horizon. She immersed herself in the beauty of nature and took deep breaths. Deep breath Alice. She sat down on a granite bench and leaned backwards, and took her phone out.
She scrolled through her social media account and smiled, seeing various pictures of beautiful exotic trips her friends had visited during their holidays. There was one picture which showed her close friend, Isabelle, posting a recent trip to the Maldives. She put on her earphone and listened to the latest J-Pop music.
She sat there as the sun started to rise from beneath the horizon. The only person currently working were the security guards who kept the arcology safe. One of them passed by, had a glance at her once and continued walking. The AI robot cleaners minded their own business, whirring past the wooden flooring.
It was then that her phone rang and she picked it up. A middle-aged man's voice was on the line, "Ms Pearson, this is CEO Johnson of New Vision Hospital Corporation, I have a special request for you."
"This is Ms Alice Pearson speaking, NVH number 15445189, greetings Robert, what's the occasion?"
One of our large stakeholders in Japan has disclosed that he has end-stage heart failure and is due to go through a cardiac transplant with a complicated endovascular repair of an aortic aneurysm at the same time. He was due at one of our facilities in Great Britain, however, his condition is such that we are unable to airlift him over such a long distance. He has requested only the best surgeon from New Vision Hospital and that is why I asked you this favour. We have arranged all the accommodation and expense compensation for your trip to Japan. I know it's very sudden and I apologise for that, but as a favour amongst friends, I hope you will consider it."
"I do have a clinic scheduled for today and several theatres for the week, some with high-profile clients, which makes it hard for me to cancel them suddenly," Alice paused, "if you can find a replacement surgeon that will help me a lot. My trainee isn't ready yet to handle the cases by himself."
"Alright, hold for me," the man paused the line then got back, "I've got Mr Kelly Moore on the line and he is happy to cover your rota for the week, will that work with you?"
"Sounds good," Alice replied.
"Great, I've already booked you the earliest flight from Heathrow to Narita. There will be several of our people who will liaise with you in the airport, sending you the details now, thank you for doing this and good luck," the man said.
Alice rode the transit shuttle, a hybrid between a flying drone and a self-driving car, from her house to the airport. A thick smog covered the landscape as she reached Heathrow Airport, no doubt a result of the irresponsible dumping of air pollutants by the large-sized manufacturing industries and a lack of government initiative and funds to clean up their mess. Great Britain was a failing economy, mostly run nowadays by US multinational companies and billionaires. It had been only three centuries since the British ruled most of the world and nobody expected its gradual decline from the world stage in just over a century.
Alice arrived at the departure terminal and saw a couple of working class individuals with their white collared and blue collared outfits scurrying about their work or their busy schedule. A young boy was happily playing his paper plane and running about in the coffee shop, to his parents embarrassment. An elderly couple with rather cheap minimalistic outfits were happily talking about their latest trip to the Maldives arcology. Alice couldn't help but feel glad that at least a modicum of wealth equality existed in the British Isles in comparison to other places where their concept human rights is just outright terrifying.
"Attention passengers, the Flight from Heathrow to Narita is open for boarding in 10 minutes, please head towards the gate, thank you," a female announcer spoke in the airport's intercom. Alice had just been thinking of Japan. She dragged her luggage to the airport company's first-class check-in counter and showed her documents. The woman at the counter glanced at the passport and printed out the plane ticket, "all done, hope you have a pleasant flight to Japan, Ms Pearson."
Time passed. Alice looked at her watch. 21:13. She looked out the window at the scene of modern Neo Kyoto. Numerous floating platforms filled with beautiful apartments and greens dotted the oceans, shining brightly. As the plane slowly made its descent into Narita Airport, the plane was slowly enveloped by a green fog. Streaks of tar and soot swept past the window like it was rain, making her squint. Below, she could not make of anything other than clouds of greenish yellow and the silhouettes of buildings. Neo Kyoto isn't called the Venus of Earth. Just like Venus, it had the most beautiful arcologies in the planet. Equally, behind the surface hid a nasty terrible secret — the lethal concentration of sulphuric acid and other air pollutants that lingered around the mainland. It was air that will slowly kill a person over the course of a week if they were exposed to it without any sealed breathing apparatus.
Alice read the magazine sitting on her lap. All these air pollutions were not a result of the megacorporations as the masses might have believed. It was the consequence of the Great Arcology Wars that occurred several decades ago, when a rogue Russian Federation launched Operation Bane from the Sakhalin Islands, and bomber planes dumped thousand tons of noxious experimental gases over the Kanto and Kansai regions of Japan, with the aim of crippling its economy. Naturally aligned with the Western powers, the Russians sought to weaken the Western economy by taking out it's allies — starting with its Pacific friends. The government of Japan had been too late to intercept the bombings and there was nothing they could do about it aside from condemning the Russians. In a single day, Neo Kyoto has turned from the most technologically advanced metropolitan area into another of the cities devastated by the Great Arcology War.
She heard several gasps from the passengers beside, who seemed to be speaking in Korean. "I can't believe this is Neo Kyoto." A South Korean man muttered to his friend.
Unlike the Japanese, the South Koreans successfully neutralised the Russian threat, with the help of the main bulk of the US Pacific army stationed in South Korea. With the growing threat of North Korea and the dissident of American troops in Japan, the US army had pulled out of Japan and has since then been concentrated in South Korea. This allowed the South Koreans to defend themselves from military threats and foreign espionage.
"I feel bad for them, as much as the Korean government held a grudge against Japan in the past, I do not feel they deserved this," the South Korean commented.
"The Japanese surely had it rougher than us alright, buy what's past cannot be changed. I'm just glad that the US had the guts to end the Russian threat permanently. The tactical nuke that exploded in the Red Square killed a lot sure, but it stopped the world from further destroying itself."
"A first world country that turned into a second-rate country in a single day, it's an example that just shows nothing remains forever."
"Also shows us how destructive humanity can be," the South Korean said. Although the arcology wars were less bloody and savage than the second world war, the long-term environmental of it was far far worse. In an already deteriorating planet, it was enough to tip the scales and create the worst ecological disaster in history.
The planes wheels touched the ground and Alice was sent recoiling slightly back, saved by the seatbelt. "We have landed at Narita Airport. Welcome to Neo Kyoto, we hope you had a pleasant flight." The captain's voice crackled at the intercom.
"Please fasten the masks and gowns provided if you are travelling to the mainland. The Japanese Department of Health and Security mandates that all foreign passengers follow the rules and regulations for their own personal safety."
"Welcome to Japan," a Japanese man bowed, as Alice got her papers signed at immigration. She looked around to see people waiting in the arrivals gate, one of them holding a sign that mentioned her name.
"You're a police officer aren't you?" Alice commented as she followed the man, who nodded, explaining that it was normal for police officer to escort important individuals in the city, stating the increasing crime and a need for caution. They walked towards a Quarantine bay where they were provided protective masks, and exited an automatic door to a main road that stretched several kilometers, covered by a glass dome. The air was slightly dense and warm outside, but it appeared to be rather clear overall. The same couldn't be said by the yellow fog that surrounded outside the glass canopy.
"Please, this way," the man spoke in good but slightly accented English, pointing towards a black limousine with the logo of a megacorporation. Alice stepped in the car. She was in the backseat. In the front seats were a chauffeur dressed in formal attire and the police officer.
She reclined and relaxed at the comfortable couch that the limousine provided. She particularly liked the choice of floral-woody fragrance inside the vehicle. "Doctor-sama, my employer had instructed me to hand this over to you," the police officer handed a tablet to her. She unlocked the tablet with the codes that she was provided by the CEO of New Vision Hospital. A document appeared on screen. Alice recognised that it was a patient medical record right away that seemed to be translated from Japanese to English in a foreign way. Certain words were quite funny in the way it was phrased. She read the notes for a while, taking notes, and then set it down, stashing it at her.
She looked outside. In the translucent window, she could see traces of rain droplets that bounced off the glass, and she took quite an interest in it. She looked at the skyscrapers that dotted the skyline and the buildings around the main road. They were quite eerily dark, so different from the cityscape in Singapore or Seoul. It looked just like a dystopian world. She couldn't wait to explore the city after the surgical operation was over.
"Thank you for saving my husband, Doctor, my family and I are indebted to you and New Vision Hospital. It must be very hard for you to have travelled so far. Apologies for making this request, it's just that my husband has just been very attached to his work his whole life. He works and even sleeps in the company building. Only on weekends would he visit us in the Arcology." a wealthy middle-aged lady shook Alice hand and wiped her tears, "please take this as a gift." She handed Alice an expensively wrapped gift, "it's a precious sake drinking set from the best artisan in Kyoto."
"It's been a pleasure, I have full confidence that Mr Kishimura will recover. There is a tiny chances of complications along the way, but I am sure that with enough rest and the proper attention from the medical team, he will return to normal health in a month's time," Alice reassured the lady.
"I am very grateful for this gift, I hope the family will be able to rest easy with this news." They said their compliments and goodbyes to each other.
Alice sighed, it's been a long day and she just wanted to rest. She rode the elevator and walked to her hotel room, popping open a bottle of whisky and drinking it from the glass.
Meanwhile, in the traffic, Suzuki Satoru looked at his watch. He was going to be late for his first night shift. He sprinted through the alleyways carrying his briefcase, dodging the crowd of people on the way to work.
He reached the hotel, dropped his bag, and went on to work.
"Satoru, make it quick, get to work," his manager told him. "You're assigned to food delivery service from this week onwards."
"Hai! (Yes)" Satoru said. Finally, Satoru thought, not the cleaning duties. He did his work to his hardest, until his shirt smelled of sweat and had to change his clothes. The hotel was a high-end hotel that paid rather well; hence they provide their employees with a shower, their own suit and uniform which they wash inside the hotel.
In the early morning, Alice ordered her breakfast in-room service. She was watching online videos of DMMORPG games, when her doorbell rang and food service was announced. "Come in," Alice said.
Suzuki Satoru opened the door and went in with the meal course. "breakfast," in Japanese. Alice nodded and paused the TV. Satoru glanced at the TV a bit, which Alice noticed.
"Do you also play the game by any chance?" Alice questioned him.
"YGGDRASIL, it's a similar game," Satoru said in his best English.
"Tell me more about it." Alice leaned forwards with a smile.
Finishing her morning meal, Alice planted both feet onto the soft fur carpet and walked on the marbled floor tiles, towards a coffin-like silver contraption just beside the window with a good view of the outside world. It seemed to be quite a pleasant morning, with the sun shining high above the sky. She dimmed out the glass-pane visibility, making it change from a transparent window to a translucent then an onyx-like opaque colour. The room slowly dimmed, and she turned on the Deep Dive Machine, allowing the contraption to hiss open. After speaking to the stranger in the hotel, she decided to give the game called YGGDRASIL a try.
"[YGGDRASIL へようこそ.]" Alice was caught off-guard by how the game started up in Japanese.
"[言語を選択してください:]" More words she wasn't able to understand…
"[日本語] [中文] [한국어] [English] [español] [português] [Français] [Deutsch] [Українська] [Русский] [عربي] [हिंदी] [ਪੰਜਾਬੀ] [ภาษาไทย] …" Finally, something she could comprehend. She clicked on the only language she was fluent in.
"Welcome to YGGDRASILTM, the first DMMO-RPG game to achieve 100 million registered players. In an office in Shibuya in 2120, a team of programmers dreamed of a virtual world where anything is possible*. Two years later, the alpha test-server was launched, and YGGDRASIL became a reality. (*Note: This excludes gore & violence, profanity, sexual content, illegal hacking, and any acts of crime, which are forbidden in any games under the Seoul Cyber Security Laws of 2099. Game restriction varies depending on region, always refer to your local rules & regulations)."
"It is a game where you can choose many paths in a fantasy-world, be it a blacksmith seeking profits, or an adventurer roaming the vast worlds. The only limit is your imagination." The game screen slowly transitioned from a blank white screen to the pitch-black of outer space.
"[Prologue]" A word flashed onto the screen, like the introduction to a Star Rebellion film.
"Eons ago, before the creation of the universe, there was only the 2 elements: heat and cold. In between, there was Ginnungagap, where life emerged in the form of a titan, the primordial Ymir." The narrator had the characteristic gravelly voice like Borgia Friedmann, a famous German voice actor.
"When Ymir died, the three brothers Odin, Vili, and Vé took his body and gave birth to the 9 realms, with the giant tree of Yggdrasil at its centre. As the tree grew, new realms were created. Soon enough, there were thousands of new worlds that were formed from the original nine. Like the leaves of a tree, some realms prospered, while others became desolate wastelands where no life could thrive."
"And then, one day, the World Eater descended upon the universe." A fire spread through the branches, tracing its way from the peripheries to the centre of the tree. "One by one, the realms that have been ravaged by the World Eater perished, leaving behind no survivors."
"The World Eater's hunger only grew with each fallen realm, and hence the conquest of the outer realms reached its finale very quickly." It showed the World Eater, a black entropic mass of particles, force itself onto a barrier.
"Meanwhile in the realm of Asgard, things have not gone unnoticed. The Allfather Odin himself had been closely observing the situation. The barrier that protected the inner realms from the corruption of the World Eater would not last forever, Odin concluded. Thus, a royal edict was sent out across the realms of Yggdrasil. Under the banner of Asgard, heroes from all over the realms responded to the call, forming the humanoid coalition."
"Amongst the chaos, the World Eater's rot has unknowingly found its way into the inner realms through small breaches in the barrier's integrity. Thousands of monsters started pouring into the inner realms closest to the barriers, invading the lush forests of Skogrjotun, the aquatic realm of Sjóheim; even the impenetrable city of soaring ravens, Hrafnheimr, was not exempt from this invasion. Though the inner realms begged for reinforcements from the 9 realms, their calls have been ignored. Sick and tired of Asgardian politics, the demihumans of the inner realms formed a coalition to reinforce each other realms against the oncoming horde of invaders. As a testament to their desire to rebel against their Asgardian overlords, they named their base of operations Fort Valheim and called it the 10th realm." The images of beast-like humanoid creatures could be seen marching through an incredibly humongous fortress that has been erected above a frozen mountain range.
"At the same time, inside the ranks of the World Eater's army, were creatures who evolved into sentient beings capable of independent thought, who sooner or later broke away from the main army and left to find their own path in their newly christened life. Zombies, vampires, and skeletons alike often found themselves regaining the memories of their previous life, where they discovered that they too were victims of the World Eater's unquenchable hunger. Scattered throughout the realms, these were the heteromorphs, the outcasts of society."
"[Quest: Character Creation]."
Three choices in the form of floating panels appeared in front of her. Alice closed her eyes and made her choice. "Heteromorph." A variety of characters appeared on screen.
Alice stared at the selection screen intently, then placed both her hands on her head. "Gosh, I need some inspiration for my character." Her mind wandered towards a cartoon character from the past. A cute pumpkin monster, with a scarecrow hat and a priestly robe. Add in a book. Maybe make everything green. Hmm, the closest thing they've got is this plant-type monster that resembles a Rafflesia flower and a Venus Flytrap combined into one. Sure, it was really cute, but why was it so short? Oh well, a trade-off, she shrugged. With the click of a button, she felt her consciousness drifting out and in, the next blink and she was standing in a forested area. She looked at her map on the bottom right of the screen, "Grimoire Woods" which had a black pearl-like circle underneath it. It had a caption underneath: '{This is a full loot PVP zone}'.
A tutorial banner appeared in front of her, which she readily accepted. It gave her instructions to follow, allowing Alice to gradually learn and get used to the game's user interface. Unlike other games she had played before, her character does not have any set skills. In her periphery, she saw the bar which was still grey, "Class skill level" and "Racial skill level" were clearly demarcated as blue lines and red lines respectively.
At this moment, she had just finished tutorial and was now wandering around the woods, when she noticed a trio of players approaching her. They were all well geared and seemed to be encircling her. Alice responded by typing down 3 letters to lament her hopeless situation. One of the players glowed as if activating a skill, brandishing a broadsword.
The moment the skill almost impacted her character, the attacking player phased out of her.
"Not worth it man." One of the enemies, a large knight, typed in chat.
"Another newbie?!" his friend also commented.
"he's got shield protection, can't do anything lmao." the attacking player walked back to his group of friends.
"Fack the devs and the new update. Everything was better in beta." the large guy seemed to curse in chat with emoji, ignoring Alice who was just standing dumbfounded. She noticed how the enemy player's names appeared grey and not red, indicating that they weren't able to damage her.
"Lolol you got shipped on again." The friend used the ROFL emoji. "Hey, you should thank the shetty devs and the shetty rules they implement."
"Come on, it's not worth it, let's gank elsewhere." The knight said.
Alice could only stare at them in disbelief. 15-minutes into the game and she was already not liking the game's population. She shook her head at how immature they were. Any parent would have a stroke if they let their children play this game. The last time she checked this game, it was T-rated. She quickly turned on the language filter to censor out vulgar languages.
Alice walked down the opposite direction. As she interacted with the environment, she found that she could harvest resources from nodes scattered throughout the map. The map she was in was rich in mithril-grade wooden logs. She was quite surprised that she was able to harvest it without any skills, given that there were level restrictions placed on harvesting resource nodes. She looked at her passive abilities and there was something that wasn't there before.
"[One with the forest: You have an unnatural affinity to the forest biome, which grants you special skills. Unlocks gathering of wood up to the adamantite-grade.]" She managed to gather several nodes of wood for couple of minutes and thought that if there were resources, then there must be a town to sell it in. She scrolled down to map to locate a town, only to find that it was flashing red. She zoomed in and at the same time, another tutorial tooltip appeared on her screen. "[Introducing: Cities]."
"[Cities are safe zones where players can rest and recuperate.]" A number of quests popped up in Alice's screen. "Hmm, marketplace, blacksmith, artificer's shop, rogue's den, wow that's a lot to process." She read through the tutorial. Finally, just as the tutorial ended, another one appeared.
"[Introducing: Guild Warfare – Cities]"
"[Guilds can claim a city as part of its territory. During Prime Time, guilds can declare war on hostile cities to battle for it. To succeed, there are various objectives that must be taken…]" The amount of information was quite overwhelming for a normal person, but Alice took the difficulty as a challenge with stride. This can't compare to the hours of grueling studies and question bank work she did in medical school. Scrap that, this was nothing.
"Interesting… since I am not part of any guild at the moment, I won't have much trouble entering this city and accessing it." It seemed that she was quite behind on gameplay.
"7:00 – 9:00 JST – [SER] Seraphim vs [1SH] 1 Shot Hammer." Alice had a look at the guild leaderboards, finding that they were included in the top 10 guilds in-game.
As Alice approached the city on foot, there was a large concentration of yellow dots on the minimap that formed a large giant blob by itself, and she noticed an army of players just trying to get past the walls of the city. A siege ballista mount was busy pelting the city walls with enormous boulders. The city's walls were animated quite well, showing cracks and fires in certain locations, indicating that it was being destroyed by the opposing force. On the other side of the walls, there were players who were fighting back with their ranged skills. When the gates began to open, a group of players began to charge against the invading forces. This must be the defending guild, Seraphim, given how many angel-like figures they deployed. By focusing her attention on these creatures, she could see that they were called Archangel Flames, tier 3 angel spawns with quite impressive HP, at least, from her level 1 character's point of view.
Awe turned into horror as the blob of players slowly moved towards her direction. Alice froze as a group of players basically ran towards her. Level 100, Level 95, Level 97. And their HP almost gave her a shock. While she only had 100 HP, these players had HP reaching the tens of millions. Alice tried to navigate herself through the crowd when she realized they were not really targeting her, merely passing through her position. She approached the city's southern gates.
"[You have entered the city of Grimoire's Pass. Congratulations, you have discovered the capital city of Realm-214 (Grimoire's Woods).]"
**Below this is Punitto's Journal**
Day 40
Punitto Moe. How that name still embarrasses me at times. As a young kid, there was this cartoon programme that I loved to watch. Apparently, one of the first words I spoke wasn't mum or dad, but rather something out from that cartoon. Since then, my grandparents have stuck to it as a name of endearment, which is kind of sweet now that I think about it. I guess it makes me stand out in YGGDRASIL from the edgy generic names that people have or those that put X behind their name just for emphasis.
Since I returned from the Japan trip, I have been playing YGGDRASIL more often. It helps me with my stress and anxiety – who says that escapism isn't healthy? I've learnt to balance my work and leisure time years ago, this is no different. Although one problem I do have is my habit of spending money on the game's Gacha. In Japanese, these are like slot machines that dish out presents randomly according to luck. If I was a normal person, I would be broke by now, but oh well, that's the benefit of having a stable income in the real world. I really feel like exploiting this game with my family's money, but I would be quite irresponsible to do that. I did make a request for the devs to create a unique appearance for Punitto Moe, and they did it. They made my character look more like a humanoid fairy whilst retaining the heteromorphic trait.
Today, I managed to form a raid party to do an Asgardian dungeon – a five stars dungeon (the highest difficulty in YGGDRASIL. It's the weekend, so I easily formed a group of 20 players. The dungeon raid was a success. I managed to get a Legendary-grade dungeon map from the loot split. I'll keep it for now.
Day 60
A lot of things happened. First, I'm no longer in the guild [Redacted]. The rumours were apparently true – about the guild being a potato farm. It wasn't difficult to decide who to believe. Between Warrior Takemikazuchi who had been active everyday in the guild and the guild leader [Redacted] who is never online, it's obvious who is in the wrong here. Along with several disillusioned members of the guild, many of whom were previously the highest-ranking officers of [Redacted], we formed a new guild Nine's Own Goal. We're currently recruiting members. There was a brief argument since Touch Me suggested that the guild only recruit heteromorphs, and [Redacted] left the guild. Luckily, we still have Genjiro, the best craftsman in the guild on our side. Also, there is Momonga and Touch Me, who I think are people with great personalities, on-board with the plan. Only downside is that we plan to increase guild tax – to fund guild activities. Let's see how it goes from here on.
Day 80
Everything is going well. We have 30 members in the guild so far – perfect for a raid party. I have finally revealed the legendary-grade dungeon map and the entire guild was ecstatic over it. I guess the only problem at the moment is to get enough guild XP to build a guild base in one of the outer realms. For a start, this is good enough, since we don't have much power or influence in-game yet. I have many plans for the new guild base. I agreed to share my room with BukuBukuChagama, one of the newer recruits. She seemed like a sweet person, and I can't stop laughing when her brother, Peroronchino, revealed that she was a voice actress. That was hilarious. There's also the interesting personality who clashes a lot with Touch Me regularly, his name is Ulbert-san. He constantly makes dark humour jokes, references dark facts in world history, and not only jokes about them, but glorifies them, which irks Touch Me. I could imagine that Touch Me has drawn a lot of similarity between Ulbert and the grim cases he encountered in his life as a police officer. Despite this, Ulbert is an amicable character, and he knows when to stop. I guess that's why the guild tolerates him. We also have a fellow European in the guild, at least partly European – Yamaiko. She's a fashion designer in real life, and using this topic, we talk a lot with each other. We have renamed our guild as Ainz Ooal Gown, on Variable Talisman's suggestion, which I think feels rather weird to pronounce, since the entire phrase gives off a grandma vibe for some reason – like Ein Old Gown? Ein being a German word meaning one. But whatever. As the only English person in this guild, I think I'll keep it to myself. I can't really go about insulting the guild name to others – for it would leave a bad impression.
Day 85
Tomorrow, we're going to raid the dungeon, we have finalized the team composition, and everything should go as planned. Genjiro has kindly donated many top tier equipments for each member to use. He must have worked hard for this. Playing the support role, my main objective is to make sure all debuffs are cleansed, buff my teammates, and in essence, stay close to my teammates. I have just completed my night shift in the surgical theatres. I am dead tired and will probably skip playing tonight.
Day 87
[Redacted Picture]
The picture above shows our successful raid today in a mythical dungeon called Great Tomb of Nazarick. Mythical! Can you imagine that?! Nobody was expecting this raid to last the entire day. Seriously, we started on Saturday mid-day and ended up playing until 1 hour past midnight on a Sunday. I'm completely done with raids. Had to order food delivery to keep myself sane. Could only imagine how the others managed to go through it. I feel bad for Blue Planet, who slept halfway through the raid. We got so much loot it was incredible! And the best thing is… *drum roll*… that we could set this dungeon as our guild base. It's incredible! We officially founded a guild base in one of the 9 realms – Helheim. I'm really exhausted today and can't really write much, but if there was one thing that traumatised me, it was the First Floor – a dark labyrinth where I got separated from my teammates and got swarmed by undead that looked crazy realistic. It's ironic how I'm supposed to be a heteromorph, but deep down, I'm still a human and these things scare me.
Author notes: I believe if YGGDRASIL was a game it would be somewhat like I described above. I have played MMO-RPG games, especially ones with full loot (which I assume YGGDRASIL is), and they're usually a place where the strong eat the weak. If Levelling up from level 1 to 100 in a period of a month seems impossible, have you considered that the possibility that the characters do RMT (Real money trading)? Almost all the massive guilds in MMO do this. Money must come from somewhere if AOG is to be one of the top guilds.
*Potato farm = guild which farms newbies for tax money