The DMMO-RPG known as Yggdrasil was a game that utterly dominated the video game industry for well over a decade. Its peerless freedom when it came to the customization of the player character's avatars, builds, housing, weapons, armor, items, and even its environment is what catapulted it to a level of success no other game had ever reached before. Players from all walks of life flocked to Yggdrasil to fulfill their fantasy dreams; from mighty warriors who commanded vast armies into the most glorious of battles, to invincible wizards who summoned the most epic powers from the sanctuary of their towers. Anything you could imagine, Yggdrasil made it real.
However, Yggdrasil still wasn't a perfect game. Things like bugs and glitches were ever-present despite the developers always doing their best to patch and fix them as soon as they were reported after every update. But if there's anything that defined Yggdrasil almost as much as its fantastical freedom and immersing atmosphere, was the love-hate relationship between the player base and the 'shitty devs' as they were universally known to both new and veteran players alike.
One of the greatest sources of frustration for players was the blatant unbalance of classes, including but not limited to the power disparity between the relatively weak martial classes and the incredibly overpowered spellcasting classes, a shameless lack of fairness at max levels which was basically a reversal of the low-level meta were warriors always started much stronger than the mages who had to make do with very few weak spells.
So basically, the most casual max-level mage was much more powerful than the most min-maxed warrior, an unfairness that was never really fixed despite the shitty devs' numerous attempts to bring balance to their game. But such was an inevitable thing when there is such a huge amount of varied content in an MMO; if you're not willing to homogenize the game, then there will always be a specific race, class, and playstyle that is objectively better than all the others.
And if that wasn't enough, not many players enjoyed the fact that spying, data mining, grinding world items, purchasing power through the gacha store, and many other activities that bordered in cheating weren't only allowed, but basically encouraged to properly progress in Yggdrasil. If it wasn't for the horrible realities of real life that forced people to dive into virtual reality to find a measure of solace and escapism, not everyone would really be willing to put so much time, effort, and even money into such a toxic game environment. And thus, almost like a self-fulfilling prophecy, Yggdrasil inevitably came to an end.
It took a little over 12 years, but the stockpiling issues eventually became too much to bear, and the players slowly but surely abandoned the game for other titles that were doing what Yggdrasil did but much better. Special events had fewer attendees than in previous years, entire guild halls were empty, and the ever-decreasing amount of new players wasn't enough to make up for the vacancies that weary and burnout veteran players left behind.
In fact, today just happens to be the very last day that the Yggdrasil servers will be up, and many hardcore players decided to log-in one final time and will stubbornly remain online until the game forces them to log-out, none the wiser about the legendary odyssey that each of them will experience.
But not all of them are hardcore players, however, since there's one particular player that did in fact abandon the game some time ago, but was nonetheless aware that today was Yggdrasil's final day and decided to log-in one final time to say his goodbyes to the game that used to bring him so much joy...
[Two hours before Yggdrasil's shutdown]
"At long last, this day is finally over." Tanaka Ito said to himself as he entered his apartment, the screeching sound of his old rusty door welcomed him again after yet another day of overworking in the office.
As soon as he stepped in and locked the door behind him, the motion sensors turned on the apartment's lights and the air purifiers began their work. He took off his multiple layers of clothing one by one, placing each one in a nearby bin while his air-filtering mask and goggles were placed on a table that was just beside the bin.
He was now only wearing a pair of loose boxers and a plain shirt, both pieces of clothing which were noticeably old and worn out, but Tanaka couldn't care less about how unsightly he looked because he was the only one that lives in this apartment, nobody ever visits him because he has no friends nor any living relative either, and considering how he has no intention or desire of ever getting married, he will continue to live alone until the day he dies, so spending time and money in looking presentable is such a waste, Tanaka feels.
After cleaning his dirty and sticky face and hands - the body parts which are the most exposed to the contaminated air outside - with a towel he kept hanging on a wall hook nearby, Tanaka felt a sense of liberation that was clearly reflected on his face and finally began to act as an actual human being instead of an old broken down machine, there was a flare in his eyes and a tinge of excitement in his step, he was really looking forward to this day after all.
"Let's see...there's still around two hours left until the end of this day, I have plenty of time assuming I don't dally around."
Having confirmed the time of the day with the help of his apartment's wall clock, Tanaka hurried to his fridge. He didn't have to walk much because his home is actually quite small; a 350 square feet apartment with only a single-sized bed, a mini fridge with a microwave on top, his gaming station, and the aforementioned bin and table as furniture, with only the toilet and shower having their own separate room.
Inside his fridge were the typical jellies, flavorless nutrients, and other types of unappetizing manufactured substances that Tanaka usually consumes for sustenance, but sticking out as a sore thumb was the only thing that could actually be considered proper food inside that fridge; a cup of brand ramen that he was saving specifically for a special day like today. As it turns out, even cup food like this was relatively expensive for people like Tanaka who were barely living above the poverty line, despite the fact that he works 55 hours per week on average. But alas, that's simply how the current world is like, and there's nothing the common folk can do about it.
So instead of wallowing in such fatalistic thoughts, Tanaka instead decided to prepare his gaming station while his ramen heated up in the microwave. It wasn't anything too fancy, a well-kept gaming chair - complete with footrest and armrest with cup holders - and his outdated but still functional control helmet. It's true that he could save some money and get himself better hardware, but that's yet another thing Tanaka thinks is a waste.
"In such a competitive market, the moment you purchase the newest gaming tech it immediately becomes obsolete. You can't properly future-proof your stuff anymore."
After all, if what you already have works well enough and you're confident it will continue to work in the nearby future, there's nothing wrong with playing games with older hardware.
With 60 seconds left until his ramen was done, Tanaka threw himself into the chair and let out a heavy sigh. He was dog tired, that's for sure, but he didn't want to sleep just yet, this was the final day of Yggdrasil after all, and he could sleep all he wanted after his gaming session is over.
And the fact that tomorrow just happens to be Tanaka's day off also improved his mood quite a lot, he could enjoy himself to his heart's content even after Yggdrasil's shutdown forcefully logs him out. There were plenty of awesome games out there after all, and Tanaka was a casual gamer of many of them.
- ...now that I think about it, there isn't really a game I could consider myself to be a serious hardcore gamer of, not since Yggdrasil became such a shitty cesspool that is. Such a shame, Yggdrasil used to be so awesome.
Truth be told, Tanaka still liked Yggdrasil a lot, he harbors many fond memories of the game that he refuses to forget. But just as he's clingy to the good memories, he's clingy to the bad memories as well. And Tanaka knew deep in his heart that - had he allowed himself to remain in a game that was rapidly and irreparably becoming a bastion of toxicity - he would come to hate Yggdrasil, and the good memories would eventually be corrupted and overwhelmed by the increasing amount of bad memories, so to protect what was such an important and positive part of his life, Tanaka jumped ship before it sank.
And it was among this sea of sorrow and regret that Tanaka heard his microwave inform him that his ramen was ready. At last, he could savor something that actually had flavor!
He jumped from his chair and opened the microwave to grab the steaming cup, then took a fork from the utensil box he had on top of his microwave before coming back to sit on his chair.
Since he wanted to give his ramen another minute so it could cool off a little, Tanaka placed the ramen in one of the armrest's cup holders and used this time to connect himself to what he - and many people in the current world, for that matter - called 'the real world'.
He picked up a nearby black power cable which was connected to a wall outlet and removed the protective plastic covering on one end of the plug, revealing a plug that was roughly three centimeters across. A silver gleam blended with the liquid glittering off the slippery protective fluid.
Tanaka held the cable in one hand and lifted up the hair on the back of his neck with the other. The subdued glint there came from the man-made object embedded in the nape of his neck.
With practiced ease he opened the cover on the back of his neck, the sliding motion exposed the socket hidden beneath it. And he then pressed the plug home, without any hesitation.
"There we go..."
Tanaka now felt light moving through his body, as if his blood vessels were filled with radiance. The room he was in hadn't changed at all, but Tanaka's field of vision was now different from before.
Several windows popped up within his line of sight, showing him the information flowing into the processor within his brain which allowed him to begin operating the CPU with his hands.
For someone from an earlier age, the sight of an adult making gestures at empty air would seem bizarre. However, current technology allowed the cranial CPU to read the weak electrical impulses of his synapses and converted them into data; basically, Tanaka could control the supercomputer with his mind alone.
Tanaka's thoughts reached his supercomputer through the medium of the cable, he opened up his web browser, wrote the URL of his favorite video streaming website, and began to look for a good video he could watch while he enjoyed his ramen in the peace and quiet of his apartment, contemplating how he could enjoy the last moments of Yggdrasil while he slurped the heated noodles.
- It has been, how long now, a year or so? Since I deleted my original Yggdrasil account, at least I hope I can remember how anything in the game works.
There were still a little less than two hours left until the end of the day, so Tanaka was in no rush to finish his meal nor stop enjoying the random videos of his favorite content creators. Streaming was also a fiercely competitive market as well, so content creators were always trying their best and more to make their videos as entertaining and rewatchable as possible.
And before Tanaka knew it, 30 minutes had passed.
He was drinking the remaining soup from the cup as he took a peak at the digital clock in the corner of his screen. An hour and a half until the end of the day was still plenty of time, but if he doesn't log-in now he might miss the final day of Yggdrasil without realizing it, and he can always keep watching videos after his gaming session is over after all.
"Alright, it's show time."
This is usually the moment when he would connect and put on his control helmet as mandated by computer law, but Tanaka didn't feel like putting it on today.
As it turns out, the vast majority of individuals don't like the idea of using the helmet, because the sole purpose of it is to record everything you do in the virtual world and it even retains a month's worth of footage of whatever is it that you do in the internet.
It's only natural for anyone to enjoy their privacy.
However, the sad truth is that the neural nano-interface - which is a human brain augmentation that allows it to function like a personal high-performance supercomputer - was sometimes used in cybercrime, specifically by hackers who would use the brains of others as a springboard to commit anything from multiple digital thefts to mass fraud.
Considering how said personal supercomputers were more of a necessity in the modern world than a commodity you can choose not to have, not having a nano-interface in your brain wasn't really a choice for anyone. And thus, wearing the helmet was a way for the authorities to confirm your innocence in the event that you're somehow involved in cybercrime, so very few people chose not to wear the helmet.
So why wasn't Tanaka connecting his helmet? Because the truth was, he couldn't bother to care.
Is not like he wouldn't mind if a hacker used his brain's supercomputer to commit some crime, he would be quite upset if that happens. No, is simply because Tanaka is the type of person that doesn't allow others to mandate how he should live, nor how he should do the things he wants to do.
Tanaka does in fact use the helmet, but only for especially long gaming sessions where he's planning to play games for many hours straight. But if his gaming session will be merely a few hours long, then putting on the helmet is such a nuisance.
The fact that the modern justice system is such a joke doesn't give Tanaka any faith that the helmet would actually prove his innocence were a hacker to actually use his nano-interface for a cybercrime, either. Add his anti-social nature and unhappy past experiences where people always side against him regardless of the situation on top of that, not bothering to follow the law if it inconveniences you makes perfect sense for Tanaka.
So not wasting any time, he closed his browser and began operating the console window floating near his hand. He opened several new windows nearby and one of them had 'Yggdrasil' written in large golden letters, so he immediately touched it.
The world changed.
Tanaka's cerebral nanomachines began their computations, disrupting his field of vision and taking control of his voluntary nervous system.
He now found himself in an empty void that extended in all directions, there were small things sparkling in the distant darkness like stars, giving the void an appearance reminiscent of space. And among them floated a gigantic tree that seemed to encompass everything.
Part of his visual field flickered, and when he tilted his head to the side he could see a person. Rather, it looked like a person, because that was in fact an Yggdrasil game avatar, one that Tanaka all but totally forgot until now when he looked at it again after so long.
- Ah, of course. I did in fact delete my original game account, but I was still on the fence about abandoning Yggdrasil, so a few days later I made a new account and began to work in a new avatar.
He never actually got to use his new account at the end, since Tanaka ultimately made the personal decision to just abandon the game instead of just starting again with a brand new character. So during the last year, this unused character was just sitting here, gathering virtual dust.
"Should I take this chance to remake you? What race and class were you again? It was so long ago..."
He does have a minute or so to think back after all, since the loading bar at the top of his view was still many seconds away from reaching 100%, so until then, he had nothing else to do.
Racketing his brain, Tanaka managed to roughly recall what was he trying to do with this new game avatar that was currently standing in front of him.
Originally, when he first got into Yggdrasil, Tanaka played the role of a humanoid wizard who focused on the evocation school of arcane magic, basically a 'blaster mage' build, a build that he definitely enjoyed playing as for nearly a decade, but at the back of his mind he was always resentful for the arcane mages' lack of melee combat ability.
Of course, it was indeed possible for arcane mages to spec into melee by taking the appropriate advanced classes, specialized skills, and custom-made weapons, but that always meant 'dipping' - that is, taking a few levels in a class that has nothing to do with your current build's playstyle - into a melee class, usually [Fighter], and the more levels you take in that class, the slower your spellcasting progression is and the weaker your spells will be at max level.
In contrast, divine casters had the same spellcasting progression as the arcane classes, yet they also had a combat ability on par with other melee classes like monks and rogues - who on paper weren't as good in pure close combat as fighters, paladins, rangers, or barbarians were, but could more than compensate with their other abilities and gimmicks - without the need of multi-classing or even dipping.
Some made the argument that arcane spells were, in general, better than divine spells, hence the lack of melee combat ability. But the players who were intimately familiar with both types of casters - like the mystic theurges - simply called bullshit on that claim.
Also, another thing stacked against arcane mages was their lack of muscle not only for combat but also for a multitude of PvE factors as well, yet another thing that divine spellcasters were much better at. The druids, in particular, were leagues ahead of even clerics in that aspect thanks to a build option that banked on a mechanic called [Animal Companion].
If a druid was willing to sacrifice some magical firepower, then they could nourish loyal magical beasts that served as their mounts and faithful allies. And if said druid was willing to limit themselves to a single beast and fully min-max said companion, then said magical beast could have power and abilities almost on par with a second player!
Because of all that, Tanaka decided that if he was to start Yggdrasil again with a clean slate, he would be a divine spellcaster this time.
More specifically, a Primal Beast Druid build, a type of druid whose [Animal Companion] wasn't a beast he would custom-make, but rather a creature that he would have find in the wild and tame as his own. As a general rule, the monsters found roaming in the nine realms of Yggdrasil were usually stronger than ones custom-made by players to serve as their companions, and this was twice as true with dragonkin monsters like wyverns and drakes, creatures that players weren't allowed to make. So a Primal Beast Druid sacrificed dream creatures for the chance of having the strongest companions.
"A human druid, yeah I remember now. I even gave you higher physical stats than my original avatar in preparation for all the physical combat I would have had to learn."
Appearance-wise, his new avatar's race was the same as his original one, and Tanaka didn't change the aesthetics of his avatar much, either; a white-haired man with pale skin and orange eyes. He had a pair of black tribal tattoos around his eyes to show his primal magical bend, and the facial hair was removed because Tanaka wanted the new avatar to have a more youthful look than the previous one. He also buffed up the physical body and made it taller to match the looks of someone who dabbles in melee, as well.
"Not even two full hours left until the game ends, not much point in anything I do, really. Might as well just take this avatar and roll with it."
So without any further ado, Tanaka reached out his hand forward. And at the moment that he touched the avatar, his point of view changed.
Countless lines of algorithm swept across his vision, and they all vanished as quickly as they appeared. These lines seemed to have some significance, but since Tanaka wasn't a programmer of any sort, he couldn't properly understand what they meant and thus, were meaningless to him.
He was now one with his avatar, he could control its movements as easily as he could with his real body. And just in time, the loading bar in the corner of his vision finally reached 100% and several icons appeared in front of him.
With his new toned hands, Tanaka reached out the house-shaped icon which was the HOME button, and when he clicked it the house shape was replaced by a bar shape that represented the waiting area.
Once he clicked it again, a 'Are you sure?' window popped up, to which he quickly chose YES.
[Beginning entry]
[Please stand by]
The female voice coming from beside his ear had a musical quality to it, and Tanaka immediately realized that this wasn't the same voice he remembers from his distant days when he used to play Yggdrasil.
"So they got a new voice actress, those shitty devs never spared any expenses in making the game look and sound great, did they?"
Of course, despite being nearly indistinguishable from a human's voice, the sound that Tanaka just listened to was electronically generated. Not even people with excellent hearing could tell the difference, only those who were in the voice acting business were aware of voices like these, but since Tanaka himself wasn't a voice actor nor knew anyone who was, he had no way of knowing such a thing.
And finally, after a few more seconds of waiting, Tanaka had finally returned to Yggdrasil after being away for so long.
The world of darkness filled with light.
It was quite a strange feeling - even though he closed his eyes, it felt like they were still open - but after it passed, he found himself standing in the middle of a meadow. The brief disorientation he felt as his mind switched over to a fictional world quickly faded away.
He carefully looked around his surroundings.
The meadow was quite large, extending for many miles, but if he focused his vision he could see some forests in the distance. A few wood and stone structures here and there were also present, giving Tanaka the information he needed to know exactly where he was.
"If my memory serves right, this is Midgard, the starter realm for new players and the home realm where many veterans made their bases, too."
Said veterans used to include Tanaka himself as well since most of the other realms that reside beyond Midgard were quite inhospitable or even outright hostile to humanoids like him.
"I do wonder if the Mercenary Magicians outpost is still in the crimson forest, maybe I could go and take a look? I think I remember where it was."
Mercenary Magicians - Tanaka's former guild - was one of the most powerful, respected, and influential guilds in Yggdrasil. A guild so large with members so numerous, rather than having a single base in a single realm like most guilds, Mercenary Magicians had nine staffed outposts, one in each realm.
They had no centralized hub, but they did have a proper guildmaster, and anytime said master called for a large meeting that required the attendance of all guild members, the meeting was always held in Midgard's outpost, so naturally, that specific outpost was the largest one.
Arcane casters of all stripes and races were accepted despite the common online belief that only blasters with high firepower were accepted into their ranks, a rumor spread in no small part by the presence of their most famous members; the 50 World Disasters that always lead the charge in any guild war for the side that could amass the wealth required to hire them, they were literally called 'mercenaries' after all, and their fees were quite high.
"Maybe some of my former guild mates will be there, will they even recognize me I wonder. I look literally the same as before except for my lack of facial hair, marks around my eyes, and larger muscles...oh yeah, and I'm now wearing light armor instead of my usual obsidian robes."
While looking at his current avatar, Tanaka noticed that he was wearing the generic starter gear of a druid; an unenchanted set of studded leather armor - which studs were made of stone instead of metal - complete with a light wooden shield and a mundane scimitar stored in his inventory, all of it low-class.
"Alright, the console works the same as I remember."
Taking an even closer look at his item box he also noticed a single minor healing potion, an item that is universally given for free to all new players when they log-in to Yggdrasil for the first time.
"I'm pretty sure this area has some low-level mobs that are meant to be a moderate challenge to level 1 players, this gear will definitely come in handy."
After equipping his blade and shield, Tanaka was almost ready to set out and look for his former base, he just needed to confirm one last thing, the only resource to divine casters that's more important than weapons and armor.
"Spellbook...let's see. I only hope I chose these spells wisely, don't wanna die like a noob on the final day of the game."
Spellcasters of all systems with full caster progression start with three spells of their choice and get three more spells each time they level-up their respective class. So assuming that you don't multi-class nor dip and took the appropriate advancement classes, you usually have 300 spells by the time you reach level 100.
"[Cure Light Wounds], [Endure Elements], and [Entangle]. Eh, good enough."
[Cure Light Wounds] is a 1st-tier divine spell that channels positive energy to heal HP. It was a staple of all divine spellcasters and even some spiritual spellcaster traditions. The [Cure Wounds] line of spells - alongside the opposing [Inflict Wounds] line - was yet another thing that arcane spellcasters in general couldn't have access to.
[Endure Elements] is another 1st-tier spell that grants you a 24 hours long protection from any harm you would suffer from a climate that is either too hot or too cold, being able to chill comfortably in any condition between -50 and 140 degrees Fahrenheit, or -45.5556 and 60 degrees Celsius, and even the equipment you wear is protected as well. But it still had limits since this spell didn't gave any protection from skills or spells that deal fire or ice damage, nor against environmental hazards like smoke, lack of air, and the like.
And [Entangle] is a druid spell that makes any nearby grass, weed, bush, or even tree wrap, twist, and entwine about any creature in the area and those that enter the area as well, holding them fast and making them unable to move. You could still break free if you were strong enough to break the plant that was entangling you, but your movement speed was still reduced as long as you kept moving in the spell's area of effect.
"Just let me verify one last thing."
The last thing Tanaka needed to confirm was the skills he had. As level 1, he obviously didn't have much in the skills department, but they were still important. Only an inexperienced player that never played an RPG before would ignore them.
"Here is [Dispel], okay. Let's see the druid skills...[Nature Sense] and [Wild Empathy], only these? Alright, let's see what you do."
Because Mercenary Magicians only allowed arcane mages to join them, Tanaka never got the chance to interact with a druid player for prolonged periods of time. So even if he knew that druid skills existed and had a general idea of what they did, this is the first time he actually looked at their full description.
Nature Sense: Gives a knowledge bonus to natural environments and a perception bonus to nearby dangers.
Wild Empathy: Allows a druid to improve the attitude of an animal. As long as the druid levels are similar or greater than the animal's, a druid can make a wild animal tame, and a tame animal fully loyal. Magical beasts with powerful skills and abnormally high stats, however, have a natural resistance to this skill.
"This should be it. Very well, all set. Crimson forest here I go."
Despite its name, the crimson forest wasn't that dangerous of an area. It's true that the air was mildly poisonous and all mobs in it were hostile, but the 2nd-tier spell [Delay Poison] made you immune to the toxic air, and the mobs never spawned above level 40. Any level 100 mage could cast 2nd-tier spells without denting their MP reserves, and the 5th-tier spell [Hold Monster] wasn't that mana expensive, either.
And yes, Tanaka is level 1 right now, so the crimson forest would be immediate death for him, but he's counting on at least one of his former guild mates being present, or at least nearby the guild outpost.
He wanted to run as fast as he could, but Tanaka decided to simply jog instead because Yggdrasil has this little something called [Fatigue] that builds up the more you exhaust your avatar's energy. Only creatures that weren't alive like undead and constructs didn't have to worry about constantly looking at their stamina all the time.
Not to mention that hunger and thirst were also things he had to be constantly looking out for, but he was confident that in the remaining hour and a half of the game his avatar wouldn't get that tired.
And so another 30 minutes passed, the crimson forest was quite the distance away from the new players' starting point after all, but Tanaka did in fact remember exactly where it was. The multiple nostalgic landmarks he came across also helped him remember with more clarity, each place overflowing with great memories Tanaka will never forget, but he couldn't afford to indulge in them for the time being. Tanaka hoped that he could laugh all he wanted about past glories with his former guild mates.
- Here it is, this is the crimson forest, I'm certain.
Tanaka took a good look at the place in front of him.
- But what's with all this peace and quiet, I never came across a single mob on my long way here, and it seems that even the poisonous air in the forest was removed...what's going on?
He had absolutely no way of knowing it beforehand considering that he never bothered to look at the official newsfeed published after Yggdrasil's closing date, but on this day - and this day only - all the game's hostile mobs and environmental hazards were deactivated.
Slowly, ever so slowly, Tanaka took little steps toward the crimson forest, fully expecting the poison to sap away his HP at an alarming rate. But nothing.
"What the actual f-...the poison was removed, and no violent monsters are attacking me either, was I being cautious for no reason? Oh well, at least I will be able to walk towards the outpost while I send the messages."
Since Tanaka wasn't expecting the dangers to be removed, his original plan was to wait just outside the forest while he called any remaining member of Mercenary Magicians that was online on this final day, and he still plans to contact any guildmate that may still be around, but now he can freely walk into the outpost without any need for his comrades to pick him up.
He also stored his scimitar and shield back into his inventory, he won't be needing them and the extra weight was draining his limited stamina anyways.
And after a few minutes of walking, he finally arrived at the Mercenary Magicians outpost of Midgard in its full architectural majesty.
Normally, Tanaka would use the arcane amulet that all members of the guild used to open the large double gates to enter their bases, but he renounced the ownership of that amulet - and the Mercenary Magicians membership, for that matter - when he deleted his original Yggdrasil account. He's pretty certain that his original amulet is stored somewhere in one of the outposts' treasuries, but he still can't open the door without it, so he continued to send messages in hopes that a former guildmate answers him.
He even began to shout out loud for good measure.
"Heeeey! It's me! It's Rhemurus! Remember me!? I'm back! Open the gates would ya! We have a lot to catch up to!"
Tanaka Ito - Rhemurus - wasn't the most powerful nor famous member of Mercenary Magicians, heck he wasn't even one of their World Disasters, and it was quite difficult to stand out among the 100 members of the game-spanning guild after all, but in the Midgard-based members of the guild at least, Rhemurus was a relatively popular player that had many friendships forged by years of mutual fun and struggle.
"Hey, Beltin! You're there right!? You never step outside the outpost's library! You bookworm! Don't tell me you picked today to actually walk out and breathe some air! Some non-poisonous air for once, guess I can't blame you can I!? Hahahaha!"
Rhemurus screamed as loud as he could, making as much noise as the game allowed to be converted into sound data. But still, nobody answered him.
"Yo Lidika! Guess what! I actually tried that mushroom recipe you never stopped talking to me about! Let me in and I will tell you all about it!"
Joyful calls were answered by dead silence. Rhemurus was slowly coming to a realization that was at the back of his head since he logged in, a fact that was only reinforced by the fact that none of the messages he sent had received a single answer, but he tried his hardest to ignore it until now.
"Triaxus! Okrin! Alannah! Bellarmine! Kinjiro! Cayder! Arsione! Ondrea! Sarvin! Yisivian! Shoremoth! Nisha!-"
He didn't want to believe it, but he had to accept it.
"-...anyone...guys..."
Not a single member of Mercenary Magicians bothered to join in Yggdrasil's final day, Rhemurus - Tanaka Ito - was all alone.
"You...you all serious? And all those tears and sad goodbyes you gave me the day I announced my retirement from the game? All those promises that you were looking forward to the day I came back? That you will be here waiting for me? All of it...all of it were empty words!? Lies!?"
Of course, he knew that nobody would answer him, but he still wanted to let it out of his chest, he NEEDED to let it out of his chest.
After a few seconds of blankly staring at the locked doors that will never open, Rhemurus turned his gaze down in defeat. He had come all the way here for nothing.
...no...not for nothing. He could still make out something from his current situation after all.
There's roughly an hour left until the game closes for good, at the very least Rhemurus hopes to have a little bit of final fun.
[One minute before Yggdrasil's shutdown]
Rhemurus was sitting at the top of the outpost's highest tower, his head tilted upwards to look up at the starry night sky.
He was aware that the Midgard sky was nothing more than an artificial virtual landscape, but that never tarnished the pure picturesque beauty of said sky. In fact, he could say that for any of Yggdrasil's sceneries, because truly, this was a game for the generations. Why the developers decided to shut it down is sometimes hard to tell, but someone like Rhemurus - who was intimately aware of the numerous problems with both the game itself and the player base - wasn't that surprised.
In fact, he was surprised that it took 12 years for the game to close.
"Oh, it seems there were some programmed fireworks. Too bad, I wanted to keep looking at the starry sky."
Less than 60 seconds now until the game finally shuts down for good. During the last hour Rhemurus took the opportunity to explore the crimson forest to his heart's content for the first time without having to worry about his poison protection spells from wearing off, nor about constantly being on the lookout for mobs to suppress.
He had taken many fruits from the forest trees and fed some to his avatar, and the occasional lake in the forest was also a good source of drinkable water now that the poison wasn't around to contaminate it. He played his new self-given role of "guardian of nature" to at least take some enjoyment of the druid class he wanted to role-play, some final fun before the game ended.
With this newfound energy gained from the fruits his avatar ate, Rhemurus was capable of climbing and jumping around his former guild outpost's exterior. Luckily for him, the guild decided to add many transparent windows when this outpost was built, so he could still take peeks at his former home's interior even if he couldn't physically be there inside the base.
"Mmm...30 seconds now, should I say some final words? Nobody's listening, so those words would have to be for me and me alone."
What else was there left to say? Rhemurus saw countless blog posts and articles about Yggdrasil's shutdown, some of them written by expert authors who could convey any of his current feelings much better than he could, so really, what could he say now?
"...I guess...I guess deep down I just wanted to explore a fantastical new world once again, meet new varied individuals who weren't fellow dead-tired coworkers, to accomplish new things together...-"
Just 10 seconds now, after the clock finally announces that it's the next day, the real world will reject him and he will once again go back to the nightmare world he so thoroughly detests.
"-...to make new memories...but it's too late for that now..."
He just closed his eyes and braced himself, the beautiful dream is over.
[23:59:57]
[23:59:58]
[23:59:59]
[00:00:00]
[00:00:01]
[00:00:02]
[00:00:03]
- Farewell Yggdrasil, I will always treasure the good times.
After saying his final goodbyes in his heart, Tanaka wanted to meditate in solitude for a few minutes to properly process what he just went through, so he opened his eyes and tried to access his console to disconnect the nano-interface. But something was off, the console didn't respond.
==Author's Note==
Hello, this is my very first fic ever so I hope everyone enjoys it.
English is my second language so I also hope the story is at least understandable enough for the native English readers who stumble upon it.
I also want to clarify something now instead of much later on; you will eventually notice that I interchangeably use "Tanaka Ito" and "Rhemurus" when referring to the protagonist, and it may seem that I lack consistency in that regard, but reading the novel I sometimes noticed that the author tends to do that as well, using "Ainz" or "Momonga" when referring specifically to the Yggdrasil player, the all-knowing supreme being of Nazarick, and solemn king of the Sorcerer Kingdom, then using "Suzuki Satoru" when referring specifically to the human soul that resides inside said player, the imperfect person who more often than not doesn't know what's going on and is actually quite incompetent as a ruler.
At least that's how I remember the message of the novels. I have indeed read all the novels published so far, but I've only read them once though. I am in the process of re-reading them, however, so if I do find that I contradicted canon in some way I will come back to my fic and fix anything.
The web novel is also something that I'm trying to catch on to, but it's not a huge priority for the time being. I mainly read it to see if there are lore tidbits that may be absent from the novels, and if it doesn't contradict the revised series in any way then I think there's no crime in alluding to it.
One last thing. You may also notice that the chapters I published alongside this one may feel "incomplete" in the sense that they were suddenly cut off in the middle at the part where I decided to end them and the other half continues in the next chapter. Likewise, the middle part of some chapters may feel like they were meant to be when a chapter ends, and the start of another chapter was suddenly inserted to finish the second part. And if it feels that way, is because they were indeed cut like that.
I originally intended for each chapter to be roughly 10,000 words, but I eventually decided that this amount was way too big for the type of story I want to tell, so I decided to instead cut each chapter to roughly 7,500 words per chapter, give or take.
The schedule as I originally planned was one chapter per week as well, but I ultimately decided to release all polished chapters in a single upload for the premiere of my story, the prologue arc. The following arcs that I will be publishing after this one will be written in the 7,500 format from the beginning, so hopefully, they will be much easier to read.
At least that's the plan, and I hope everything goes smoothly.
So that's it for now, I will see you all in the next author's note!