Chapter 1
In the year 2138 AD, there was the term: DMMO-RPG.
That word was an acronym for "Dive Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game."
These games were played by connecting a dedicated console to the brain via a neuronal nano-interface — an intracerebral nano-computer network, created from the fusion of cyber- and nanotechnology.
These were games that allowed one to enter a virtual world and experience it as though it were real life.
And among the myriad DMMO-RPGs that thronged the market, one of them stood head and shoulders above the others: YGGDRASIL.
This game had been painstakingly developed and released twelve years ago, in 2126.
Compared to other DMMO-RPGs of the time, Yggdrasil's selling point was "player freedom."
It had over two thousand basic and advanced job classes.
Every class had a maximum of fifteen levels, and so in order to reach the overall level cap of one hundred, one would need to take at least seven different classes. However, Players could take as many classes as they wanted as long as they met each class's prerequisites. A Player could even take a hundred classes at level one each, although that was very inefficient. As such, in this system, it was virtually impossible to make identical characters unless one was deliberately trying to do so.
In addition, one could use various creator tools (sold separately) to fully customize one's armor, weaponry, flavor text, appearance, and other cosmetic settings.
A vast playing field awaited its players. There were nine worlds in total: Asgard, Alfheim, Vanaheim, Nidavellir, Midgard, Jotunheim, Niflheim, Helheim, and Muspelheim.
It boasted a massive world, numerous classes, and freely customizable appearances.
These features ignited the creative spirits of its Japanese players and sparked what would later be known as a stylistic revolution. So popular was it that whenever the word "DMMO-RPG" was mentioned in Japan, listeners would immediately think of Yggdrasil.
—Still, all these were things of the past now.
"Who are you talking to?" A voice says.
The speaker is sitting in a chair with their arms crossed, looking at the person in front of him, the speaker is a human male, a very tall one, his face looks like a brick due to his strong and square jaw, and his thick cheekbones, due to the orange scarab-like helmet he wears and its veil, his ears, and hair are hidden so it was impossible to describe them, his torso is full of muscles, visible under a blue skin-tight full body armor he only uses because it's defensive stats and divine class makes it worthy, on his back, a huge orange greatsword with the kanji '炎', which means 'flame', was hanging.
This person is Frank, a member of the Millennium Guild, an Ancient Egyptian-based guild and one of the top 10 in all of the game history, ranking in 9th place, behind in the ranks by guilds such as the angel-only guild Seraphim, the Babylon Heroes a guild that only accepted players who had blades as their main weapons, the heteromorph-only guild Ainz Ooal Gown, and the elves-only guild Children of Ilúvatar. The Millennium Guild accepted anyone who followed the requirements, first, the character must follow the ancient Egyptian theme, second, they needed to be players that could contribute to the guild inside and outside YGGDRASIL, and third, they needed to be a level 100 competitive player.
Frank is a swordsman; his main weapon is the divine class greatsword, Salamandra, he has been using it ever since he found it in a time-limited dungeon that only gave a 0.1% chance of dropping it, Salamandra is an orange two-handed greatsword with a sharp edge, it is also enchanted with a spell that increases the user's fire magic and sword skill whenever its equipped.
Frank was one of the founding members of the Millennium Guild and a player since YGGDRASIL's first release, always a fan of warrior characters it was a no-brainer for him to choose a swordsman as his main character. As a top-notch player, Frank defeated many other warriors in PVP including former world champion Golden Fingers, the guildmaster of the Ferocity guild, Primal Ape, and many others.
Frank's skills as a swordsman player made him a legend whose fame was boosted thanks to his PVP victories, inspiring many new players to choose warrior classes for their characters and follow in his footsteps. As a family man Frank could only laugh in happiness when he learned about it, feeling like one of his children had followed in their father's footsteps on the path to becoming a warrior just like him. Not only was Frank a great DPS player, but he was also an incredible tank, despite his offensive build the defensive stats of his items grant his character enough defensive points for him to work as a tank, protecting his guildmates on the hardest raids and guild invasions the game has offered.
"I'm not talking to anyone…" The person responds to Frank. "…I'm monologuing."
The person is a male. His body has toned muscles, but they give him a slenderer appearance rather than a bulky one, from head to toe he is clad in a dark bluish-black robe with white outlines, and on his head stands a cone-shaped helmet connected to the armored shoulder pads he wears. He has pale green skin and long white hair; his eyes are blue with a black tattoo wrapped around them going into a straight line over his high cheekbones. He is tall like Frank, but instead of a greatsword sheathed in his back, he has a scepter with a blade-shaped bottom and a half-cone-shaped top just like his helmet with a blue sphere inside. (A/N: Darkside of Dimensions version)
This person is Mahad, another founding member of the Millennium Guild. Mahad is a summoner; his main weapon is the World Item staff, Rod of Stars, awarded to him by the game developers after winning the World Championship tournament by defeating former champion Touch-Me. Rod of Stars is an item that allows the user to summon level-cost summons without the player losing his levels, it also possesses three exclusive and most powerful summons in the game, the only downside is that these creatures can only be summoned once every 24 hours. As a summoner Mahad fights long distances, contrary to Frank, his main build is focused on his summons, buffing them with his magic and removing de-buffs cast on them by the enemies. This makes him weak at close-range combat, but his summons are always strong enough to make sure his opponents would have a lot of trouble getting closer.
Being a founding member like Frank, Mahad has been in the game since its release, his passion for magic was mirrored by his friend's passion for swords, and with this passion in his heart, he decided to go with a mage-build character, with so many options to choose from, Mahad took a long time to decide which one to go with, in the end, he chose summoner as his class, with his dedication and perseverance he became one of the best players in the game and arguably the best summoner. While his win over Touch-Me put him on the map, Mahad never felt like it was a well-earned victory despite his opponent saying so, feeling it was just dumb luck and a secret spell he used on the tournament for the first time which the enemy warrior had no preparation against. Unfortunately, when Mahad finally gathered the courage and confidence for a rematch Touch-Me had already left the game, and Mahad would never have known if he was truly the best player between the two.
While his battle against Touch-Me was the highlight of his YGGDRASIL life, it didn't take away the attention from Mahad's other achievements. While his PVP history was as good as Frank's, Mahad's talents rested on the dungeons and raids, he (and the developer's official rank list) considered himself the 5th best player in YGGDRASIL, he might've defeated Touch-Me, but he, and the developers, still believed the warrior deserved the 3rd place more than him, and by being the best summoner of the game, his creatures were undoubtedly powerful, helping his guild clean whatever the shitty developers had thrown at them, to this day the Millennium Guild was the only one in the entire game's history to clean every dungeon and raid of YGGDRASIL on their first try, all thanks to Mahad's abilities despite him never taking credit.
In some weird way, the different parallels between Mahad and Frank were what approached them both In YGGDRASIL and real life where they are best friends, Frank was a PVP-focused player, Mahad a PVE. Frank created his character to be a warrior who relies on physical strength. Mahad created his character to be a magician who relies on mental strength, not to mention their avatar's appearance. The thought about their friendship and differences made the Summoner smile as he paid attention to his best friend.
"Okay, why were you monologuing Mahad?" Frank asks after growling at his friend's attempt to be a smartass.
"Well, you know… YGGDRASIL". Mahad looks down and gives a sigh of disappointment.
Everything comes to an end, YGGDRASIL was no different, after 12 years of service the development team announced the servers would close as support to the game had ended a few weeks earlier. Mahad couldn't stop himself from being depressed, the world outside was horrible and YGGDRASIL was the only thing that helped him forget and escape that reality. He knows there are more games out there that he and Frank can enjoy together just like they had enjoyed YGGDRASIL in the last 12 years, but there is also another factor, one Mahad didn't tell Frank, he wanted to tell him in person, not behind a virtual reality headset.
"I know, we've had some good times… Dark Magician". Frank says and chuckles.
"You said it… Flame Swordsman". Mahad responds with a chuckle of his own.
One unspoken rule of the Millennium Guild was that every member needed to have a title along with their name, Frank the Flame Swordsmen and Mahad the Dark Magician started this tradition with the other founding members, Dave the Giant Soldier of Stone, Anzol the Magician of Faith, and Elia the Dark Elf, Mahad always thought she was lacking creativity that day since her title was basically her character's race.
"What game do you plan to play after YGGDRASIL ends?" Frank asks.
'None'. Mahad thinks but hasn't the courage to speak. "I haven't thought about that yet."
YGGDRASIL might have been ahead of its time when it was released, but it was still a 12-year-old game, and facial expressions couldn't change which Mahad was grateful for since the depressing tone in his voice would be obvious to his friend if he was also able to see the face Mahad is currently making.
"I've heard rumors about YGGDRASIL 2, but that's all there is to it, rumors". Frank says.
"Fancying yourself into capturing the great Millennium Palace again?" Mahad asks with a mocking tone.
The Millennium Palace wasn't a place that came with the original game, it was released with YGGDRASIL's first expansion called 'Invasion of the Outlanders'. In this expansion story, the Greek Gods and the Egyptian Gods invaded the world tree, and it was the players' duty given by Odin and many other important NPCs to stop them from conquering the nine realms. The Millennium Guild didn't have a base for themselves at the time yet, most had already been taken, so when the expansion was released the guild decided to take one of the dungeons as their base, but it couldn't just be any dungeon, it had to be the best there was, meaning it would have to be either Olympus, home of the Greek gods, or the Pyramid of Light, the Millennium Palace's former name, and former residence of the Egyptian Gods, but to do so, both places had to be found by the players first. Many players hated the Millennium Guild for taking the Pyramid of Light for themselves, the reason was that they were the first guild to find it and complete it, and by making the Pyramid of Light their base it meant all the other players could never experience the final chapter of the Egyptian campaign of the expansion, that had forced the developers to create a copy of the original Pyramid and renamed it to Shrine of Illumination, but that copy was unable to be taken as a base by anyone.
'Blame the game, not the player. Besides it was hypocrisy on their part to complain about what we did. Ferocious Fangs and Ainz Ooal Gown took the Gardens of Blood and the Great Tomb of Nazarick as their bases after discovering them and made everyone unable to experience the original dungeon. Guess they only got away with it because the original dungeons weren't essential to the story like ours were.' Mahad says inside his head.
"I wouldn't mind doing so. This place does have a special place in our hearts". Frank says and sends a smiling emoji to Mahad.
"Truer words had never been spoken, my friend". Mahad says, responding to Frank with a winking emoji.
"Although we could diversify some things, when we created this place we basically renamed everything by just putting 'Millennium' somewhere in the name". Frank says.
"Hahaha. Well, we have to blame our dear founding member and college Anzol, The Magician of Faith, for that, she was the one who picked the names". Mahad says.
"Really?! Cause I seem to remember you let her choose the names after constantly trying to deny her the title of magician because you were already using it". Frank says, and Mahad could've sworn he had a mocking smile on his lips followed by a raised eyebrow.
"There was no need for another person with the title of magician". Mahad stated, believing he was right.
"She thought otherwise, or have you forgotten about Dark Magician Girl?" Frank was smiling under his virtual reality headset, Mahad knew it.
After the guild took over the Pyramid of Light the game developers let them keep all the NPCs inside except for the bosses, in return they would let the guild create their own bosses to replace them, each one would be a level 100 NPC created by the players. Dark Magician Girl was one of those NPCs, she is the guardian of the third floor, a level 100 magic caster focused on offensive spells of dark magic attribute. Dark Magician Girl's whole appearance and lore were created by Anzol as a way of parodying Mahad for wanting to be the only 'Magician', while also incorporating Anzol's love for magical girls. When Anzol first showed the guild her creation, all members but Mahad loved it, and by vote, Mahad was unable to order her to remake her NPC even if he was the guildmaster. Mahad also had his own NPC along with Anzol and the other three Millennium Guild founders, the decision of letting the founding members be the ones to create the NPCs wasn't made by them, they actually wanted to decide by lottery so everyone could have a chance to be chosen to create their own NPC, but the guild members insisted, saying that there would be no Millennium Guild without the five founding members, seeing that it would be impossible to change their friends' minds they accepted and created 5 of the 11 NPCs letting the remaining 6 being sorted by lottery among the remaining members of the guild, a curious fact is that the Pyramid of Light only had eight floors, making three of the original bosses optional, but for defeating them instead of just going for the main ones was one of the reasons the developers let the guild have 11 player-made NPCs instead of 8.
"I remember perfectly". Mahad says, squeezing his left eye behind the VR headset.
"And what was the lore Anzol put it in her?" It was a rhetorical question made by Frank, and Mahad knew if he didn't say it the warrior would.
"Dark Magician Girl is Mahad's apprentice, she admires him as a teacher and wishes to be just like him. Because her master is more focused on summons and support spells she trained herself as a battle mage so she could be his other half and be unstoppable whenever there is a fight, and they are together". Mahad says with a bitter tone, he had no problem with the NPC and its lore, but it was perfectly clear Anzol did all she could to mock and annoy the Dark Magician.
"Ah, the high school drama where the student falls in love with the teacher, it never gets old". Frank chuckles at his comment for there was an irony in what he said, Mahad when he was twelve did had a crush on one of his teachers, and Frank probably told Anzol when she was creating Dark Magician Girl, and another member of the guild, Axel the Tiger Axe, a beastmen player whose character was of the barbarian class, was a teacher and married one of his former students after she graduated from college.
"Well, Anzol didn't put anything love-related in the Dark Magician Girl's lore, so what you are saying is nothing but headcanon". Mahad said in a defensive tone.
"Fine, I'll give you that". Frank says. "Back to your monologue. You were doing it because YGGDRASIL will end, you are sad, I get it, I'm also sad, but there's no need to stay so depressed, there will be other games buddy".
"Yeah, I know". Mahad wished their talk had continued and didn't returned to the topic, it was a good talk, they were having fun and despite Mahad's embarrassment, it was still better than remembering the reason he was sad, not having the courage to tell Frank why he is like this only made it worse.
"Well, tomorrow, if I finish my work early, I guess I'll start looking for a new game for us to play and also do a little research to see if the rumors about YGGDRASIL 2 are true". Frank says, letting out a huge breath, Mahad knows what is about to do. "What about you, what are gonna do?"
'Lay dead'. Mahad grinds his teeth, hating his cowardice. "I'll take the day off and rest."
"You're lucky, 99% of people don't have one of those since the day they were born". Frank says. His words pierced Mahad's heart, his friend's ignorance didn't hurt him, but the sadness of letting him in the dark did. "Well, I'll be going now, I'm sorry for not staying until the end."
"It's fine Frank, don't worry about it". Mahad says, managing to make himself smile and wishing the best for his friend.
"Here, take it". Opening his console Frank sends all his items to Mahad, including his divine-class armor and Salamandra making the Summoner's jaws drop at his action, and because his friend was now wearing nothing but the trunks that are the default to all humanoid characters whenever they are not wearing any item. "I wish I could stay here with you until the servers are closed, I really do, but I'm exhausted, so I hope my items are enough to make up for it."
"Frank, this is, I don't know what to say, you put your sweat and money, not counting thousands of hours in the effort to acquire each one of these items". Mahad says as he looks at the items he received before putting them into his inventory. "I can't accept it."
"Yes you can, besides, YGGDRASIL will be gone by tomorrow, why does it matter?" Frank shrugged his shoulders in the real world. "I'll be going now, take care Mahad."
"Frank, I…"
"Yes?"
Mahad was close to saying it, just a few words and it would be done, but then what, he asked himself, his friend would take pity of him, and maybe stay, but that would only prejudice him and his efficiency in his work on the next day. Mahad couldn't allow himself to be a source of nuisance to his friend, so he refrained from doing it.
"Thank you, for everything, for being my friend, for staying with me after the others left, for always being there for me". Mahad wanted to cry, his fear of telling his friend only made him angered and hate himself for it.
"Always buddy, always". Frank says and clicks on the exit button of his console.
Alone in the room, Mahad clenched his fist so hard both in the game and real life, in the game it looks fine but in real life, his hands are white with the strength he is putting behind.
"DAMN IT". Mahad screams, hating himself more than ever right now. "You should've told him. You idiot, you gave him false hopes, and now he will try to talk to you on the morrow, not knowing you will be dead, curse you a thousand times."
Mahad, whose real name is Y/N L/N, unlike Frank, whose real name was Frank, didn't have a family, no wife, kids, or any living relative. Living in a world dominated by mega-corporations means less longevity, Y/N's parents were one of those, his mother was a seamstress, not like those of the XIX and XX century who worked with a sewing machine, but operating big machines that produced the thread used to make the clothes that protect people against the venomous environment that is the world outside, while his father worked on a chemical factory, one that was among many others responsible for the toxic air outside that forced everyone to wear masks or filters to avoid getting their lung burned by the corrosive air. Both his parents died at peace in their sleep, but the cause was obvious, they died because of overwork. Ironically, each check of the insurance money Y/N received from the companies for his parents' death was bigger than all the payments they received their entire life. While the money was not a problem Y/N was alone and needed a job if he wanted to keep his parents' apartment which forced him to work at his father's old job and take his place, forcing him to give up on going to college and abandoning the scholarship he worked so hard to achieve. For the next 10 years, the 17-years-old at the time worked in the chemical factory, moving giant containers of chemical products day after day until tragedy struck, two weeks ago while doing his job, Y/N had fallen into one of the chemical containers because his superiors neglected the security issue the workers union told they had in their workplace by not replacing the security bars that were deteriorated because of the chemicals. After getting pulled out of the container Y/N was hospitalized and the factory was forced to pay for all his medical expenses, a small consolation for sure since his diagnosis showed Y/N would die soon, luckily Frank had been too busy with his own work to learn about Y/N accident, another small consolation for the man. With the knowledge he would die soon, he decided to leave the hospital and go back home asking for the medics only for painkillers as he didn't want to prolong his incoming demise. In the last two weeks, all his spare money was given away as donations to people in need along with his furniture, leaving him only with his bed, his VR machine, his fridge, and his stove, just waiting for his death while playing his favorite game.
"I'm so sorry Frank, but tomorrow by now you'll never see me again". Mahad says and gets on his feet, ready to leave this room that once held a hundred people from different regions, races, and playing styles.
Taking a look at Frank's gear Mahad shakes his head but manages to smile one last time, he was always the more optimistic of the two, and the lucky one as well since unlike Mahad he managed to go to college with the scholarship and earned himself a good job and family, yet Mahad never once felt jealous of his friend, only happiness for him.
Closing his inventory window Mahad raises his hand and picks the item that is floating at the center of the reunion table, this item is made of pure gold, shaped like an upside-down pyramid and its most distinguished feature is the eye it has on one of its sides. This item is the guild weapon and greatest pride, the Millennium Puzzle. The Millennium Puzzle is an amulet that boosts the wearer's stats by 10% and makes them immune to all types of de-buffs and negative stats, not much for a guild weapon but nothing less than a World Item would be able to give the user victim of a negative effect, besides, the puzzle's main function wasn't to be powerful but to be confusing.
The Millennium Palace had been one of the three guild bases that had never been captured in all of YGGDRASIL's history, the other two being the Great Tomb of Nazarick of Ainz Ooal Gown and the Babylon Gardens of the Babylon Heroes. Nazarick ensured their safety with hundreds of powerful NPCs that always overnumbered anyone who dared invade, not even when fifteen hundred players invaded the tomb did it succumb. The Babylon Gardens ensured their safety with hundreds of deadly traps, their largest invasion was of five hundred players, many of them were rangers and assassins just so they could deactivate or locate the traps, but they still failed. The Millennium Palace ensured its safety by making every floor give the invading players all possible negative stats, and by making each floor secured by hardcore puzzles and secret keys that were held by the floor guardians, these puzzles were required to be finished after defeating the guardians and taking their keys for the doors to the next floors to be opened, the puzzles were so hard that by the time the invaders solved them, all dead NPCs and players would be resurrected, and the invaders would be too weakened by the negative status and fights they had to fight back, the biggest invasion was of eight hundred players, Mahad would not lie, they were almost conquered, but almost, they were saved by the guild's ace in the form of the 7th floor guardian and the Millennium Puzzle that day, the name Millennium Puzzle wasn't just for show or to match the guild's name, it had this name because it was so hard to finish it that one would literally take an entire millennium to solve it if they tried every possible combination even if they only took one second to try each one. Because of that they never managed to reach the 8th floor since the Millennium Puzzle was the key and for the key to work the puzzle needed to be completed.
Of course, there were risks with this strategy, one of YGGDRASIL's rules is that if the guild weapon is destroyed the guild is disbanded forever and the players have to start from the beginning, Millennium found that out the easy way, and when they did, they created a perfect replica of the Millennium Puzzle, but without any special effect in it and made the replica the new key to the 8th floor and to open it they had to find where all the pieces were spread throughout the other floors and then solve it, of course, no invader ever did. Another rule of YGGDRASIL is that the no base can be 100% hidden by magic or the scenery, and every floor needs to have a way to be accessible to other players so unlockable doors were also forbidden, and many times the Millennium Guild were forced to show to the developers that the enigmas needed to unlock the floors weren't impossible, just absurdly hard, especially the Millennium Puzzle.
With the Puzzle now in hand, Mahad leaves the guild's meeting room and decides to take one last walk on the 8th floor. The architecture of the Millennium Palace, like the pyramids of ancient ages, was full of hieroglyphics and paintings of the gods, these hieroglyphics tell stories of the past, however, the stories told by the Millennium Palace's hieroglyphics were about the guilds' adventures, and the supposed gods were just paintings of the guild members, for Mahad, the hieroglyphics were simple to do since he studied the meaning of the symbols all his life as a hobby, while the paintings were done by Dave, who always wanted to be an artist, the wall closest to him tells the story about how the guild first defeated Surtr in the Onslaught of the Giants event, that was a funny day to remember and seeing how he wrote the story as him being the great hero just brought a smile to the Summoner's face, mostly because he was the hero.
"Maybe I have exaggerated a little though". Mahad says as he sees a painting of him defeating Surtr.
Mahad looks at the game's clock and sees it is only five minutes until midnight, despite his desire to read all the adventures he wrote on the walls he can't, he has a job to do, feel like the king of the world before the world ends and he dies, he didn't want to be dramatic, but he was actually dying so he felt entitled to be dramatic just a bit.
It doesn't take long and Mahad reaches the final door. It is guarded by Mahad's own NPC who is the last line of defense the guild has against invaders. Mahad's NPC is called the Black Luster Soldier, a knight in blue and gold full-body armor with only his face visible, he has green skin and long red hair tied into a ponytail, despite the skin color he is still a human, and he looks like this because, like Mahad, he possesses Racial Jobs that changed his original appearance, his main weapon is a curved one-hand sword and a shield. Mahad smiles looking at his creation, another parallel between him and Frank, Mahad is a magic user who created a warrior NPC and Frank is a warrior who created a magic user NPC.
'Maybe I should bring him with me as well'. Mahad tells himself before speaking with his own creation. "Black Luster Soldier, good to see you, still unmoving and standing guard, protecting our home no matter what. I'm proud of you, and for your service, I'll give you a reward. Follow."
The last word was a command, behind the Black Luster Soldier stands a giant double door made of gold with hundreds of silver spheres linked to it, behind this door is the Pharaoh's throne, only two ever sat upon it, Amon Ra when it still belonged to him and was the final boss of the Egyptian campaign of the expansion, and Mahad himself as the guildmaster. No one but the members of the Millennium Guild knew what the place behind that door looked like, with immense pride Mahad opened the door and gazed upon the throne room he and his friends created all those years ago, everything looked exactly like the last time he was standing in this place, except one thing, standing beside the throne something, no, someone was there, as Mahad approaches the throne he immediately identifies the individual, it is Anzol's NPC, the Dark Magician Girl, Mahad immediately wonders why she was there and not on the third floor, but then he sees something in her hand, it was a letter, overwhelmed by curiosity Mahad ignores why Anzol's creation was in the throne room and just take a sit on the pharaoh's throne, he grabs the letter from the NPC's hand and opens it, believing the answer for her presence is written on it.
Dear Mahad, I tried, I really did, but couldn't manage to be with you and Frank for the final day, my boss is making me work overtime like always, I hope you understand and find someplace in your heart to forgive me for telling you this in a letter instead of face to face. I want you to know my time with you guys was the best of my life, every moment spent with you made me forget the hell we live in, and coming back, even to just give you this message brought tears to my eyes, wishing for those days to come back with everyone, to see Frank do a Leeroy Jenkins and jump head-on into a world boss, to see you acting like a true Pharaoh whenever you made your summons, even Dave's stupid know-it-all attitude whenever something needed an explanation. But life is not fair, and we have to work with what is given to us, to me it was only five minutes to log in, write this letter, give it to Dark Magician Girl, and put her in the throne room in the hope you would actually come here before the game ends, see her and the letter, then read it, I definitely should've just send it via inbox now that I think about it.
Makad chuckles and gives a warm smile at the last part before continuing to read the letter.
There isn't much to say anymore, I really miss you guys, and I know you miss me too, no matter the problems we had in the past, if we ever have the chance to see each other again I hope it is sooner, rather than later, and when it happens that we may be able to experience all that fun and joy we felt since we first met, Dark Magician, Flame Swordsman, I love you guys with all my heart, and I hope everything in your future is as bright as your souls. Goodbye.
-Anzol
Mahad wanted to cry, but he feared that all his tears had been used when he found out he would die, he placed the letter in his inventory and took a look at the clock, one minute until the end of the game, twelve hours and one minute until his death, with a loud sigh the Summoner looks at Dark Magician Girl and the Black Luster Soldier and gives them a command.
"Kneel". Mahad says, like the pharaoh he loves to roleplay whenever he sits on the throne or battles a foe.
Obeying the command both NPCs get on their knees, Black Luster Soldier on the left side of the throne and Dark Magician Girl on the right, it was a nice view that could make a great wallpaper, but due to the humongous size of the throne room it felt empty, Mahad didn't like to show his ace without a good reason but everything would soon disappear so he didn't care at this point. If he was going out then it would be with style. Raising his World Item Rod of Stars Mahad starts his enchantment.
"[Triple Maximize Summon: BLUE EYES WHITE DRAGON]"
A magic circle appears on the ground, from out of it, three enormous dragons, identical to each other, rise. These dragons are the Blue Eyes White Dragon, a level 100 summon and Mahad's strongest summon, not counting the Rod of Stars' and 11th-tier summons. With a deafening roar, each dragon asserts their authority. As the name says, Blue Eyes is a dragon with white scales and blue eyes, its teeth are triangular and sharp, it possesses two arms with four claws in each, and it has a serpentine body sustained by two powerful legs. This legendary dragon is a powerful engine of destruction. Virtually invincible, very few have faced this awesome creature and lived to tell the tale.
While the three huge dragons filled some of the space, Mahad wasn't satisfied yet, if he was a normal magic caster he would've reached his limit since non-summoners can only cast three summons at the same time unless they use an item, or if the summon used casts more than one creature, but with individual summons like Blue Eyes, three is the limit, but for summoners like Mahad the limit is five, and since he still feel the throne room empty he decides to cast another one.
"[Maximize Summon: SUMMONED SKULL]"
This time a different creature comes out of the magic circle its appearance is like a corpse with bones exposed over rotten purple flesh, the bones over the flesh look like muscles but it is redundant for the rotten flesh is also pure muscles giving the skull creature a fit appearance. Despite its appearance, Summoned Skull is not an undead summon but a fiend of the dark attribute, besides the bones and rotten flesh its body has two arms with a clawed three-finger hand, two black wings on its back, curved horns in its head, and green eyes that look like the souls of the condemned who perish by its power. A fiend with dark powers for confusing the enemy. Among the Fiend-Type monsters, this monster boasts considerable force. Its special ability is that despite being a level 95 summon its mana costs are very low making him one of Mahad's best and most used creatures.
"Just one more. [Maximize Summon: WINGED KURIBOH LVL10]."
Unlike the four others, the last summons didn't look scary at all, its appearance was that of a cross between an angel and a dragon, but that was just a distraction, the real creature was the brown ball of fur with two eyes staying where the dragon angel's stomach was supposed to be. This summon is WINGED KURIBOH LVL10, despite being level 100 it is almost useless in combat but its special ability is what makes it so valuable and many times Mahad's savior, its main ability is that once summoned Kuriboh eliminates all the opponents' summons and renders them unable to make another summon or cast a spell for 10 seconds, the downside is that Mahad also suffers the penalty, but the pro outweighs the con since Kuriboh is always cast for last making the first penalty useless against Mahad.
Feeling that the crowd inside the throne room is enough Mahad looks at the clock, just in time to see only 10 seconds are left, with his staff still raised above his head Mahad raises his other hand holding the Millennium Puzzle and sits on the throne like a pharaoh and closes his eyes, death would embrace him soon, and his life was full of regrets, but in this moment, he was happy to have none.
23:59:58
23:59:59
00:00:00
00:00:01
00:00:02
Mahad opens his eyes but instead of being in his room, he is still sitting on the throne, for a moment he curses inside his mind, the shitty developers were so incompetent they couldn't even make a decent shutdown of the game and screwed a perfect moment of the summoner. Too annoyed Mahad tries to log out by himself, but when he goes for his console nothing appears. He tries again, once, twice, but nothing.
'What is this?' He makes the question he knows he will get no answer for. 'Am I locked inside the game? No, no, that can't be, the developers would never risk a lawsuit this size.'
Giving a loud sigh Mahad closes his eyes and massages his forehead, but there is a trick, he feels his hand touching his forehead, VR games are not allowed to give players any sensation of smell, touch, or taste, only sight, and hearing, yet here is Mahad, touching his forehead, then hair, and feeling every single inch. The summoner wants to panic but something stops him, a white aura only visible to him wraps around his body, and then his concerns end, as if his spirit racial class is forcing him to detach himself from the concerns of the living. Feeling calm Mahad grans his hair and smells it, it smells like peaches and raises another red flag inside his mind, first his console, then the sensation of touching something, now smells are possible, Mahad had a theory of why, but it was too stupid so he didn't want to even considered, instead he goes for another test, his console was gone and he could touch and smell, now he needed to taste, covering the lower half of his face with his hand Mahad licks the palm of his glove and feels the bitter taste of fabric in his mouth making him spit and rise from his throne with a scream.
"WHAT IS HAPPENING". Rage consumes Mahad, but the white aura once more surrounds him, making him feel like it doesn't matter. 'I'll call the GM, if this is a prank it is one of very bad taste'.
"Master, is there something wrong?" A feminine voice spoke right when Mahad was making the call.
The summoner looks at the source, his fingers still in his ear waiting for the GM who never answered. The speaker was the Dark Magician Girl, for a moment Mahad believes he is hallucinating.
"Master, what is the problem". Dark Magician Girl asks once more, making the white aura return.
"The GM is not responding, but it doesn't matter". Mahad tells her.
"I'm sorry master, this GM should never be so impolite and ignore you". Dark Magician Girl says.
Mahad wanted to respond but he was too focused on her lips, they were moving and in perfect synchrony with the words coming out of them. The summoner looks at the Black Luster Soldier and he, along with the Blue Eyes, the Summoned Skull, and Kuriboh are all looking at him. Mahad doesn't want to believe in the theory, but the facts are being spat on his face every second since the server failed to shut down.
"Black Luster Soldier". Mahad speaks, making the knight who has been looking at him hold his breath. "Go to the Palace's entrance, I want you to scout the area in a 1-kilometer radius and if you find anything that looks intelligent I want you to capture it and bring it here."
'This is a complex order. NPCs don't obey unless they are given specific commands or follow their programs.'
"It will be done, my Pharaoh". The Black Luster Soldier says before getting on his feet and leaving the throne room.
Mahad wanted to consider the theory now. The Black Luster Soldier was following an order that he wouldn't in the game, he spoke, just like Dark Magician Girl, yet called him Pharaoh, something Mahad had put in his lore when he was created, saying that he always called his creator Pharaoh, it was two points saying the NPCs were alive against one saying they are still just programs.
'Let's see my summons, in the game their programming doesn't allow them to stay more than 10 meters away from the summoner.'
"Blue Eyes White Dragon #1, #2, and 3#, you three will stay outside with Summoned Skull and Kuriboh to protect this floor against invaders on Black Luster Soldier's behalf". Mahad stated, sounding more and more like a Pharaoh.
The three dragons let out a roar, Summoned Skull growls and Kuriboh let out a 'kuri kuri' sound before they all bow to Mahad and leave.
The summoner's jaw almost dropped again, the throne room was over a hundred meters long, yet his three dragons and two fiends just left through the door to stay out, guarding the floor.
'It is madness, it has to be, I need to-'
"What about me master?" Dark Magician Girl asks, making Mahad get out of his stupor. "What do you want me to do?"
'-That's it.' Mahad screams in his mind before addressing the NPC in front of him. "Ah yes, please Dark Magician Girl, come closer."
Mahad stares at the NPC in front of him. Dark Magician Girl has blonde hair and green eyes, her skin is of a light shade and looks smooth and soft, and her gear looks like a mix of Mahad's own, her cone-shaped hat being the best example, with a Maho Shoujo design with pink and blue being the dominant colors, Mahad couldn't deny, Anzol did a good world with her creation, Dark Magician Girl was undoubtedly beautiful. The summoner shakes his head, he needs to do this because he needs to make sure this isn't a dream or a programming error, not because he is a man almost in his thirties who never had a girlfriend.
'Somehow I feel like I just angered, annoyed, hurt and depressed a lot of people'. Mahad thought before shaking his head and looking at the NPC in the eyes. "Dark Magician Girl…"
"Yes, master". Her eyes shone so brightly, and her smile felt so warm that Mahad felt sadness, anger, pain, and all the bad feelings one could have because of what he was about to do.
"Please give me your arm". Mahad curses inside his head, thinking he is sounding like a creepy person for asking that.
"As you order". Dark Magician Girl says before bowing and showing Mahad her arm.
The Summoner gently grabs the NPC's wrist, as he'd feared, she has a pulse, everything he has tried showed him this is reality, not some bug or programming error, the NPCs can talk, they have facial expressions, they follow orders that contradict they programming, they act in ways that goes against their old capacities, and now, Dark Magician Girl is breathing normally, she has a pulse, her wrists emits human warm, even a perfume aroma is smelled by the summoner. Mahad was almost convinced the game had become a reality, but he still needed one final proof, the definitive one, breaking a law of YGGDRASIL that would result in a permanent ban, which means, performing a profane act forbidden by the developers.
Mahad gulps hard, and his heart beats faster, feeling like at any moment it will explode, sweat starts to form on his face and his hands are trembling, letting it go from Dark Magician Girl's arm. Mustering all the courage he could, Mahad looks the NPC in the eyes and says the words that would get him crucified by Anzol and all his guildmates.
"Dark Magician Girl… Can I touch your butt?" Mahad says, his shame reached heights so high that no matter how much that white magical veil covered his body, it didn't stop him from feeling like an old pervert who deserved to die alone and unloved.
"Master wants to… touch my butt?" The smile on her lips and the shining in her eyes were gone, it felt like a cloud was hiding them and Mahad wouldn't blame her if she slapped or punched him.
"Never, nevermin-"
"Okay". Dark Magician says, interrupting her master as he is going to abandon the foolish request.
"Ha?"
"If this is what master wishes, then I will do it". Dark Magician Girl says. Her cheeks were completely red.
Mahad wanted to dig his head into a hole and never take it off again, he felt his legs weaken so he fell over his throne, he closed his eyes while massaging his temples attempting to release the stress that was making him feel like he aged a hundred years. When Mahad opens his eyes again the vision he has would make him be adored and hated by many, Dark Magician Girl is right in front of him with her back turned just waiting for her master to do what he wants. Mahad looks at the NPC's face and the guilt only increases as he sees her holding her breath with her eyes closed.
'I'm the worst'. Mahad thought as he approached his hand to the target.
18+ Actions were forbidden in YGGDRASIL, if this was still the game the moment Mahad touched Dark Magician Girl he would be banned and all this dream-slash-nightmare would end, but if this is reality, then he would need therapy and prepare himself to adapt to this New World.
"Kyaa". Dark Magician Girl lets out a cute yelp once Mahad's hand touches her.
The Summoner takes his hand off Dark Magician Girl one second later after touching her, he drops his shoulders and a breath he was holding, totally dejected, this performance he made is the last straw, this is now a reality, the NPCs are real, his summons are real, his new body is real, everything is real, and he has no idea what to do.
Mahad was ready to die. After he had fallen into the chemical container his life was forfeited, now, he is probably cured, if he really became his game character it means he would live a long and healthy life as his racial classes didn't age lore-wise, in a way, he is happy, but disappointment is also there, he was going to die and already came on terms with the fact, yet now this was taken from him, it is strange to be disappointed with the fact you won't die but Mahad's death would be on his own terms, getting saved by a third party or divine intervention without his permission felt to him the same as being manipulated and playing on someone else's hands.
'I'm really a bastard, aren't I, there were millions of people back there wishing for a second chance in life, I got one and instead of feeling joy I'm complaining about it.' Mahad's thoughts are then interrupted.
"Is that all you wished from me, master?" Dark Magician Girl says, taking Mahad out of his stupor.
'Damn it, I'm here feeling depressed and sorry for myself and yet she's still worried about me when she should rightfully be angry for what I did.' With this thought Mahad's determination returns to him, he gets on his feet and looks at the NPC in the eyes. "Dark Magician Girl, I'm deeply sorry for what I did, I promise you, I'll never do something like this to you again unless it is what you wish for."
'That's right, if the NPCs are alive that means I don't get to feel angry about what happened to me, if I can't live for me, then maybe I can live for them. They are all my responsibility now that they are real beings.'
"Yes, Master". Dark Magician Girl says and bows to Mahad.
"Rise, Dark Magician Girl". Mahad says and locks his eyes on hers. "Something has happened with the Millennium Palace. We must stay on guard until we know what. My task for you is to raise all our defenses to the maximum, then I want you to inform all floor guardians to meet me on the fourth floor, I'll inform the fourth guardian myself so you may ignore him. Come to think of it, you may ignore the 7th-floor guardian, the Treasury Guardian, and the two special guardians."
"Yes, Master". Dark Magician Girl tells him, fire and determination burning in her eyes, making Mahad glad that his action didn't make her hate him.
"One more thing". Mahad says, making her stop in her tracks as she is about to leave the throne room.
"Yes, Master?"
"After you leave, inform my summons to return to the throne room". Mahad says.
"It will be done, Master". With another bow, Dark Magician Girl turns around and leaves.
Something was different, Mahad could feel a mental link between him and his summons, in the game there was an icon under his HP and MP bar indicating what summons he had active and their status, but this wasn't a game anymore, so Mahad supposed that this mental link is what informs the player all the info about their summons. Another thing different is his mana, in the game, to keep a summon the player needs to use their mana to maintain a summon, so if the player has 100 points of MP and the summon costs 75 points of mana, the player's MP bar will not go higher than 25 until he releases their summon or until it is destroyed, however, ever since he arrived in this world Mahad feel something inside him recovering as if he was taking a breath after a long run, the only thing he had spent was his mana which could mean it is being replenished, and yet his summons are still active, this should not be possible, the only explanation possible would be if before arriving in this world his three Blue Eyes, the Summoned Skull, and Kuriboh, became summons that are independent of him which doesn't make sense since he has no job levels as a beast tamer, if his summons became independent beings they should have independent thoughts.
"Yet they appear to be loyal and to follow me. But wait, if they became independent, could that mean I can summon three more Blue Eyes White Dragons?" Mahad contemplates and almost smirks at the appeal.
Before the Summoner could test his theory the door of the throne room opened and his five summons entered the place, they walked with their heads high, showing pride and confidence, once they were at the bottom of the stairs that led to the throne they stop and look at their master in the eyes.
"Bow before me". Mahad orders, they all follow his command, Mahad feared they would react negatively towards his orders but his mental link with them is telling them that obeying him is the highest of honors and that he looked and sounded like a king. 'No. A pharaoh.'
"Raise your heads". Mahad orders and they all obey. "Am I your master?"
They all nod.
"Then as your master I command you to make a choice, you are all free of my servitude if you want it, but if serving me is your desire know that you may have to sweat, bleed, and maybe die for me, so I want you all to choose wisely now. If you want to be free you may leave through the door you came and I promise no action will be taken against you, but if you wish to serve me, then stay and show me your determination". Mahad says, all those years of role-playing really paid off for there were no pauses or awkward movements of his lips during his speech, if someone from outside saw him they would believe he had been doing this for years.
The three Blue Eyes roar, Summoned Skull lets out a loud groan and Kuriboh says 'kuri kuri' with eyes full of determination. The summons had made their choices, they chose to serve, now and forever. Mahad smiles at them and claps.
"WONDERFUL". Mahad yells. "Welcome to the Millennium Guild."
The mental link tells Mahad they are overwhelmed by his generosity.
"Now come with me my summons, we have much to do. [Gate]". Mahad says and points his staff to his left where a huge black portal with purple edges opens.
This is the [Gate] spell, it is used when more than one person needs to teleport, the Millennium Guild of course is full of protection spells against teleportation magic, the only people who can do it are the guildmembers, and those who possess the guild's ring which of course is only given to guildmembers, the guild's ring is a ring of pure gold that has the same eye the millennium puzzle has on its back, Mahad uses his on his right ring finger, a fact mocked many times by Frank and Anzol, which made the summoner blush more than once in the past.
Speaking of the Millennium Puzzle, Mahad puts his guild's 'weapon' on his neck, replacing his former amulet, a good decision, all his items save the Rod of Stars and his former necklace are of Divine-class, the highest level YGGDRASIL items have, while the necklace was just a legendary item, back on YGGDRASIL one could spend years playing and not find a single Divine item, Mahad and many of his guildmates were able to gather knowledge and do grinding enough that managed to make all members have at least one Divine class item, of all the Millennium Guild members only Frank had a full set of Divine items, Mahad was second with only his necklace being Legendary, something he finally changes as of today.
'Can't believe I took until the end of the game to have a full Divine-class set'. Mahad jokes inside his mind. "Follow me."
Mahad enters the gate and all his summons follow. They arrive in a desert, in the middle of a sandstorm nonetheless, all around one looks they would only see the horizon of this never-ending desert, but this place is still inside the Millennium Palace, Mahad and his summons just arrived at the 4th floor, and his arrival taught something new to the summoner, friendly fire is turned on in this world because the moment he came out of the [Gate] the millennium puzzle activated and protected him against the lower accuracy and damage the sandstorm causes invaders and all the other negative effects the floor causes.
'Can't complain, these negative effects are what made Millennium Palace never be conquered, guess I'll have to either de-activate all negative effects when we are not being invaded or give all the denizens of the Palace a Negate All Negatives ring, luckily the treasury has tons of those'. Mahad tells himself.
Negate All Negatives is a ring that does exactly what the name says, it negates all negative effects. Because the Millennium Guild's main defense was its puzzles and the maximum negative effects all the floors give to invaders, many believed the ring would protect them against the second and they would only need to worry about the first, grave mistake, of course, the guild would obviously have a protection spell against such item in their home, every floor had a spell called [Inutility], this spell was used by all guilds back in the day, it renders an extra piece of equipment such as rings and amulets useless and turns them into normal items whenever players were inside an enemy guild, and of course, the target item was the Negate All Negatives ring, the only downside of the [Inutility] spell is that it only works against one item and it has to be a specific one.
'Guess I'll have to turn off the spell and give the rings to everyone or turn off the effects, for now, we are not being invaded so I'll turn off the effects.' Mahad hands go to the Millennium Puzzle and the sandstorm disappears immediately.
Another important detail about guild weapons is that they are basically the main console of any guild base, they can override orders, commands, and even the NPC's programming, in other words, it is a master key that gives the user full control over the place, regardless of items bound to original users or if the person doesn't have permission from the original owner to make changes.
"Follow me my summons". Mahad orders and starts walking now that the sandstorm isn't obscuring his vision and his summons'.
Not too long after Mahad and his summons reach an arena, the construct of course is based on Egyptian architecture. However, Mahad must admit, the entire guild was tempted to go off-theme that day and base their arena on Greek or Roman architecture like Rome's Colosseum. The arena could be best described in one word, square, the floor is made of white marble with a square shape, and the arena stands inside a square booth for the crowd, and over a square pool full of crocodile NPCs, to the winner, glory, to the loser, crocodile dinner.
'I wonder if the crocodiles are loyal to me, we did program them to attack invaders, but we also programmed them to eat whatever falls from the arena.'
Entering the arena by one of the bridges that allows competitors to reach the center Mahad and his summons are greeted by a strange and peculiar creature.
The creature has a red body, and its appearance greatly resembles that of a clock, it has no legs but two gears acting like it with two feet coming under these hears on the lower part of the clock's body, its arms have no shoulders they just come out of gears like its feet does, both hands have mickey gloves and one of them holds a staff with a sphere at the top and one roulette inside it, on the top of its head there is another gear and on top of this gear a big red button, aesthetically this was supposed to be a magic's topper, and on his back a blue cape. Mahad approaches the creature and looks at its big, blue, and round eyes, and its mustache-like pointers.
"Time Wizard, good to see you". Mahad greets the creature.
"The pleasure is all mine Master Mahad, it is my honor to receive one of the Great Creators on the floor I guard." The clock-like NPC says, his voice sounding like a child despite his lore saying Time Wizard is over a thousand years old.
Time Wizard is the guardian of the fourth floor of the Millennium Palace, he is the level 100 NPC created by Frank, due to Frank's warrior build he was too vulnerable to magic attacks principally time magic which he had almost no counterspells against it, because of that Frank created Time Wizard, his revenge against all players who use time spells like [Time Stop] and [Slow Time], by creating the ultimate Time magic user, Time Wizard, Frank made sure that time magic would be useless to whoever dare use it while invading the Millennium Palace for Time Wizard has all the spells and counterspells for time magic, making him the ultimate time magic being.
"I came for a few tests. I hope I'm not being a bother". Mahad says.
"You would never be a bother, Master Mahad". Time Wizard responds.
Mahad nods to the giant clock and goes to the center of the arena with his summons and the guardian floor right behind.
'After using the Millennium Puzzle I've proved that items are probably all working, I could test the Rod of Stars but summoning Slifer, Obelisk, and the Winged Dragon of Ra would be too much overkill, and if an attack happens I would have to wait for 24 hours to call on them again, for now, I'll have to assume all my items work based on the Millennium Puzzle's performance.'
After reaching the center of the arena, Mahad stops in his tracks and the others do the same, the summoner turns around and prepares to start his tests.
'If this is like the game I'll probably just need to say the spell'. Mahad closes his eyes, he feels the mana inside him activate, and then he opens his eyes. "[Maximize Summon: BLUE EYES WHITE DRAGON]"
Nothing happens and Mahad feels the mana that should've been used to summon a Blue Eyes White Dragon return to him.
'That means the five summons in front of me still count as active despite them being independent, so let's try a different summon.'
"[Maximize Summon: BEAVER WARRIOR]."
Another failure.
'So that can also mean that I can't have more than five summons at the same time, just like the game, what if they are too far from me, could I summon one identical to them or just a normal summon?'
"Blue Eyes White Dragon". Mahad says, looking at the dragon on the left. "I need you to fly and go to the farthest you can on this floor."
With a roar the dragon bows to its summoner and takes fly, the speed is so great that it leaves a gust of wind behind and dust is raised from the ground making Mahad and the others cover their eyes as the dragon flies away.
Despite the distance Mahad still feels the mental link with the Blue Eyes, he then proceeds to try again.
"[Maximize Summon: BEAVER WARRIOR]"
This time it works, and a magic circle appears with one humanoid armor-wearing beaver inside of it, Beaver Warrior isn't an impressive summon, its level is 45, and most of the time it is used as cannon fodder for summoners to buy some time. Seeing that his theory worked Mahad starts another test, he looks at the Blue Eyes that was close to the one that has gone away and orders him to do the same thing and it obeys.
"All right, let's see if it will work now [Maximize Summon: BLUE EYES WHITE DRAGON]"
Nothing happens, but Mahad isn't frustrated since he just obtained new information.
'So, I can't summon another Blue Eyes even though I have only four summons with me, now let's see…'
Mahad using his mental link tells one of the Blue Eyes to return and in a matter of seconds, the magnificent beast is back at the arena.
"Beaver Warrior, walk eleven meters in that direction". Mahad orders and watches as the summoning goes to where he was ordered.
'Back in YGGDRASIL summons didn't go more than 10 meters away from the summoner, here this is not the case, not only I can summon more than 5 creatures, but they can also go far from me, I need to know if there is a limit for summons that are far from me'.
When the Warrior Beaver reaches its mark Mahad prepares another summoning.
"[Maximize Summon: Penguin Soldier]"
Once again the magic circle appears, this time with a purple penguin wearing shoulder pads and a sword in its flippers.
"How does that sword not slip?" Time Wizard asks.
'Good Question.' Mahad thought to himself.
Once Penguin Soldier fully materializes Beaver Warrior disappears.
'Hmm, I see, so I can have more than five summons. If my theory is right I can summon five monsters close to me if my three Blue Eyes, Summoned Skull, and Kuriboh are far from me. Still, depending on how many of these fives are closer I can only summon creatures to complete five summonings, now for the final test.'
Mahad disperses the Penguin Warrior and is left with four summons, with the remaining Blue Eyes still at the edge of the fourth floor, but not for long.
"[Maximize Summon: BLUE EYES WHITE DRAGON]"
This time the summon works, but not because Mahad was trying to summon a fourth Blue Eyes, but because he was trying to bring back the one he sent away, and from the center of the summoning circle Blue Eyes White Dragon appears in all its glory.
"Welcome back Blue Eyes". Mahad says, giving the huge dragon a smile.
"*ROOOOOOOOOOOOOAR*"
Applauses are heard, Mahad and his summons look at the source and see is Time Wizard the one responsible, his eyes are closed in a '^^' shape, if it had a mouth Mahad would've sworn it was smiling.
"What a good performance of power Master Mahad, no wonder you are the Great Creators' leader and Master Frank's best friend". Time Wizard proclaims with a cheerful attitude.
"You honor me with your words Time Wizard". Mahad smiles at the talking clock and bows to him.
"No, no, please master don't bow, am I a mere servant, and while I appreciate your gesture you shall not bow to me when I'm the one who has to do it". Time Magic's childish voice in this instance fixed like a glove and Mahad just nods with a smile in response to him.
"Very well, now it is your turn". Mahad says.
"My turn?". Time Wizard tilts his body to the side, not understanding what his master means.
"I came here to test my powers, now I will test yours". Mahad tells the guardian.
"Had I done something to displease you, Master Mahad?" Time Wizard asks, sweating all over his clock-ish face.
"Not at all Time Wizard, I just want to see you in a fight, it has been too long since you graced me with your abilities as the supreme master of time". Mahad says with a soft tone to calm down the wizard.
"I see. If this is what master wants then I'll do it". Time Wizard says.
"Perfect, your opponent will be Summoned Skull". Mahad says.
"*Uuuuuuuaaaaaarrrrrrrrgggggg*" Summoned Skull groans.
Mahad leaves the arena with the three Blue Eyes and Kuriboh following right behind, they take a sit in the grandstand and watch as Time Wizard fights the level 95 summoning.
As the fight begins Summoned Skull is the first to attack, it uses electric attacks, and Time Wizard evades it with [Slow Time] making the attack much slower. With the fight going on Mahad hears a beeping sound in his ear, it feels like a spell was used on him but not an offensive one, he reaches his ear with a bit of mana and hears a familiar voice.
"My Pharaoh, I've finished my task". Black Luster Soldier says.
Mahad realizes this is the effect of the [Message] spell, used to directly speak with specific players.
"Very good. What did you find?" Mahad asks.
"It seems the Millennium Palace has moved my Pharaoh. All I see around us are mountains all around us". Black Luster Soldier says.
"… I see". Mahad worries that the Palace would stand out in an environment surrounded by mountains. "Are we exposed?".
"No, my Pharaoh, it appears that the palace is inside one of the mountains, only the entrance can be seen". Black Luster Soldier says, bringing relief to the Summoner.
'Another proof this isn't YGGDRASIL anymore. The Millennium Palace location was in a sand desert not in the middle of mountains.' Giving a long sigh Mahad is ready to end the spell and turn his attention to the fight, Summoned Skull has just struck Time Wizard with [Shock Wave] a 10th-tier spell that has a 45% chance of causing paralysis. "Is this everything you have to report?"
"No, my Pharaoh, the is something more. You asked me to capture anything I found that exhibits intelligence, well, I found one". Black Luster Soldier says.
Mahad eyes widen in shock, and he curses himself for he didn't consider yet that other players might have come into this world as well, and the creature Black Luster Soldier captured could be one, this lack of caution could have put the whole Palace in danger, and it would have been all his fault. Learning from his mistake Mahad swears to himself he will be more cautious and attentive from now on, but right now he needs to deal with this being the Black Luster Soldier found.
"You did well Black Luster Soldier. Bring this being to me. I'm currently on the 4th floor at the arena, I also summoned all the floor guardians here so you may also tell them what you have told me", Mahad says with a serious voice, with the risk of players around he knows he can't afford mistakes, from himself or anyone working with him.
"As you command my Pharaoh". Black Luster Soldier says before ending the call.
At the same time, the call ends the fight between Time Wizard and Summon Skull is over, since it was just a spar both used only one powerful spell the entire fight and by now their HP was fully restored, Mahad enters the arena and claps his hand, congratulation both fighters for the excellent spectacle they made.
"Well done, Time Wizard, Summoned Skull, you both make this Magician very proud". Mahad says after stopping the applause.
Both bow to Mahad in respect and Summoned Skull goes to take his place behind his master. The summoner approaches the floor guardian so he can talk to him about what is going on.
"There is another reason why I came here Time Wizard". Mahad says.
"What is it, my master?" Time Wizard asks.
"I'll tell you soon enough, I've already called all floor guardians to come so they may all know as well, for now, I'll just say that we are no longer on YGGDRASIL, how and why I can't tell for I don't know either". Mahad tells him.
"Is she coming?" Time Wizard asks, confusing Mahad who understands what he means after a few seconds of thought.
"Yes". Mahad says no more.
"Who is coming?" A newcomer asks.
Mahad and Time Wizard look at the speaker, it is a female, she has blue skin and blond hair, in her head stands a huge white tiara that looks more like a crown, and her clothes are a long green dress with no shoulder straps.
"Mystical Elf. Welcome, we were just talking about you". Mahad says.
Mystical Elf is the guardian of the first floor, she is a level 100 NPC with a build focused on defense, a delicate elf that lacks offense, but has a terrific defense backed by mystical power, despite being a magic caster she is used as a tank for her numerous defensive spells, her main strategy is delaying invaders the most she can so they waste all their resources trying to bypass her defenses, and when they do they are already too weak to continue to fight another opponent of the same level or deal with the negative effects of the Millennium Palace.
"Good things I hope Master Mahad". Mystical Elf says.
"Of course". Mahad says.
"I could never speak ill of you, my lady". Time Wizard says.
"Time Wizard, you always had a way with words". Mystic Elf says with a smile.
"I have to, otherwise I risk offending the Great Creators and my fellow guardians". Time Wizard says.
"Indeed, my friend, that would be a horrible thing". Mystic Elf says, and they both proceed to talk.
Mystical Elf is the level 100 NPC created by Elia, she and Frank were great friends, and Elia in a show of gratitude for all the support Frank gave her over the years made Mystical Elf's lore to be Time Wizard's best friend.
'Though again, Elia was always a little lazy, Mystical Elf is a carbon copy of her character, the only difference between the two is the color schemes'. Mahad tells himself in his head.
Apparently, some of the original creator characteristics are showing on the NPCs, which made Mahad wonder for a second about Dark Magician Girl, he and Anzol despite being good friends were always getting themselves into arguments with each other, if Dark Magician Girl took some of Anzol's personality why would she accept that absurd request? Master or not she should've reacted like Anzol and hit him.
'Maybe I'm just overthinking, although I'm pretty sure Anzol would never have gone with my request'.
"Good to see the spirit of companionship in my fellow floor guardians".
Mahad gets out of his thinking bubble and sees the newest arrival, it's a male elf, he has tan skin and long blonde hair, he is wearing a full armor colored green and brown, and a helmet with blades on it protecting his head, his main weapon is a sword he carries sheathed in his waist.
"Master Mahad, it is great to see you". The elf bows to Mahad.
"It is good to see you Celtic Guardian". Mahad says,
Celtic Guardian is a level 100 NPC and the guardian of the second floor, he was created by Dave who wanted to see a tough-looking elf for a change, Celtic Guardian's lore is that he is a warrior who seeks the greatest of challenges and toughest of battles, and values honor and respect above all in an opponent.
"It is an honor to be here Master Mahad". Celtic Guardian says.
"Oh hamburgers, I'm the last".
Mahad and Celtic Guardian look at the speaker, it is a man wearing blue and red armor with two spears on his back.
"Welcome Gaia the Fierce Knight". Mahad says.
"Just Gaia master Mahad, master Maximus always said the title was only to 'keep the theme', whatever that means". Gaia says.
Gaia the Fierce Knight, a level 100 NPC and guardian of the 5th floor, was created by Maximus one of the one hundred members of the Millennium Guild, since the guild conceded the founders the honor to create their own NPCs Maximus was one of the six winners of the lottery that would decide who would create the remaining six NPCs.
"Actually, we are the last".
Mahad looks at the newcomer and sees Dark Magician Girl, with her is something Mahad can't really describe because he doesn't know how to, it is one of those things one has to see, this creature is the Relinquished, a level 100 NPC that serves as the guardian of the 6th floor, Relinquished was created by Stardust, the second winner of the lottery to decide who would create the remaining six NPCs.
"Master, as ordered I have called all floor guardians except the guardian of the treasury, the guardian of the 7th floor, and the two special guardians". Dark Magician Girl says and bows to Mahad.
"You've done well, Dark Magician Girl". Mahad says.
"I only did my duty Master". Dark Magician Girl says.
"That you did".
Mahad goes to the center of the arena and all floor guardians follow him, once the summoner reaches his goal the NPCs stop in their tracks and form a straight line in front of Mahad, behind him the three Blue Eyes White Dragons stand strong and firm along the Summoned Skull and Winged Kuriboh LVL10. Once Mahad turns around to see the NPCs they are all on their knees.
"Now, as a show of loyalty and of deserving your trust, we will all renew our vows to one of the Great Creators and present to him the valuables artifacts that were entrusted to us". Dark Magician Girl proclaims, her eyes closed and one hand over her heart, all the others follow suit.
"Mystical Elf, guardian of the first floor and keeper of the Millennium Key, I swear to serve under you and honor the Millennium Palace and the Great Creators now and forever". Mystic Elf says, holding a key of pure Gold with an eye on it like all the millennium items have.
"Celtic Guardian, guardian of the second floor and keeper of the Millennium Rod, I swear to serve under you and honor the Millennium Palace and the Great Creators now and forever". Celtic Guardian says, holding an axe-like scepter.
"Dark Magician Girl, guardian of the third floor and keeper of the Millennium Ring, I swear to serve under you and honor the Millennium Palace and the Great Creators now and forever". Dark Magician Girl says, holding an amulet of gold with a triangle in the middle.
"Time Wizard, guardian of the fourth floor and keeper of the Millennium Scale, I swear to serve under you and honor the Millennium Palace and the Great Creators now and forever". Time Wizard says, holding a golden scale.
"Gaia the Fierce Knight, guardian of the fifth floor and keeper of the Millennium Necklace, I swear to serve under you and honor the Millennium Palace and the Great Creators now and forever". Gaia says holding a necklace of gold.
"…". Relinquished holds an orb of gold with an eye on it in his hand, the Millennium Eye.
Relinquished couldn't speak but Mahad knew his words were the same as the others.
'That leaves only the fake Millennium Puzzle, still, The Millennium Eye always amuses me because of the way it tricked all the people who tried to invade. The sixth floor is the house of Relinquished and one of the special guardians, The Millennium-Eyes Restrict, between these two who would you think is the true holder of the Millennium Eye?' Mahad ponders in his head, amused at how so many people fell for it in the past.
Seeing how the NPCs trust and appreciate him Mahad opens his arms.
"Rise my guardians. You are all worthy of praise". Mahad says with conviction, making them all smile at him in relief. "Now, I called you here for a very important reason, as of now, the Millennium Palace has changed its location, and we are no longer on YGGDRASIL".
"What does that mean Master?" Celtic Guardian asks, his eyes showing worry and fear like all the others.
"That I don't know yet, Black Luster Soldier was sent to scout the area we find ourselves in so we can learn more of what is happening". Mahad tells his guardians and relief emerges on their faces. "Speaking of which, Black Luster Soldier, I'm glad you returned to us safe and sound."
All faces turned to the blue and gold knight, but soon their focus changed to what he was carrying with him. Eyes widened and some mouths dropped, Black Luster Soldier somehow subjugated a dragon and brought it to the 4th floor of the Millennium Palace.
Mahad couldn't suppress his anxiety, he barely arrived in this world and was meeting one of its inhabitants, and not a normal one either, but a real dragon, for a moment he felt like every lucky isekai protagonist from every light novel he had read when he was younger.
"What is that?" Time Wizard asks. "I mean, I know it is a dragon, what I mean is what is it doing here?
"My Pharaoh asked me to scout the surrounding area, and also capture anything that seemed to possess intelligence". Black Luster Soldier drops the dragon's tail he was holding to carry it and goes to his master to kneel in front of him. "I return to inform you my task is complete, and I was successful".
"Hmm. You may rise Black Luster Soldier". Mahad tells his subordinate as he walks closer to the dragon.
The dragon is huge, close in size to Blue Eyes White Dragon, it has black spikey scales, two upper limbs that resemble arms, two lower limbs that appear to be legs, meaning it walks on two feet, and two wings, it is without a doubt a true dragon.
"Tell me". Mahad takes his eyes off the dragon and looks at the knight. "How did you capture it?"
"While scouting the mountains". Black Luster Soldier says, but he is interrupted.
"What do you mean mountains?" Mystic Elf says. "The Millennium Palace is surrounded by a sand desert!"
"As I'd said before, the Millennium Palace's location has changed, how and why I don't know, and it is our duty to be prepared for whatever this new land throws at us". Mahad tells his guardians. "Black Luster Soldier continue with your report."
"As you wish my Pharaoh". Black Luster Soldier says. "In my investigation, not only I've found we are not in YGGDRASIL anymore, but I saw this dragon going right in the direction I came from, my fears turned into reality when I saw it landing at the entrance of the Palace".
Mystic Elf's face lost all her color when she heard that, feeling like she failed her duty as guardian of the first floor, Mahad noticed her and felt his stomach drop, he was the one who told the guardians to come meet him on the 4th floor, he is responsible for her feeling like this. He goes to Mystic Elf and puts a hand on her shoulder, she looks at him scared of a reprisal and tears start forming in her eyes.
"It is fine. I won't blame you, and I'm not angry with you. I ordered the floor guardians to meet with me here, the blame falls on me". Mahad tells her, making Mystical Elf and all the guardians shocked.
"Master Mahad you couldn't have known". Time Wizard says.
"Yes, it is not your fault". Gaia says.
"Maybe, but it was still my decision, my fault or not, I'm still responsible for this, no one should be free of accountability, not even me. Remember that my guardians". Mahad says.
They all bow to him in response, taking his words to heart.
"Black Luster Soldier, continue."
"When it landed I believed Mystical Elf would confront it, when she didn't appear I was led to believe she was performing a task for you my Pharaoh, so I engaged the beast in combat and defeated it".
'Hm, dragons were the strongest creatures back in YGGDRASIL, both lore-wise and gameplay-wise. I can't use it to calculate this New World's average strength, but for Black Luster Soldier to beat it means is safe to assume it is not fully grown yet, or that Level 100 is above even the strongest of this world, I'll have to see that later'. Mahad thought before looking at the Black Luster Soldier. "Tell me Black Luster Soldier, in a level of 1 to 100 how would you classify it."
"Level 60 my lord". Black Luster Soldier says.
"I see". Mahad looks at the dragon. "[Life essence] [Mana essence] [Full Analysis]."
'Racial levels are Dragonling and Young with 10 levels each, so my suspicion of not being fully grown yet was right. But these Job classes, Primitive Caster, Overed Dragon, Soul Blasphemer, I've never seen them before, could they be exclusive to this world or to dragons? then there is this World Connector, what if it makes dragons on par, above, or immune to World Items, if so it might be able to defeat me once it reaches level 100 despite the Rod of Stars.' Mahad's thoughts are at full speed, thinking of all the implications and risks this dragon and others could mean for him and the palace.
"It's waking up". Dark Magician Girl says.
The dragon opens its eyes and Mahad takes a look at them, they are red like blood and full of hate, with a gesture of his hand all floor guardians take a step back from the creature but ready their stances in case it attacks their master. Slowly the dragon rises to his feet, it is still confused because of the beat it took from Black Luster Soldier but little by little its awareness is returning. It takes a look around, first, it looks at the floor guardians, groaning in anger, and hate clearly visible in its eyes.
"Dragon". Mahad yells, making it look right at him. "My name is… Dark Magician, master of the Pyramid of Light. Who are you?"
Dragons and other players, Mahad couldn't risk being found and recognized in this world if they were hostiles, he needed a new name for himself and the Palace so he could remain anonymous and hide if he and the others were ever at risk, that day, Mahad the player of the Millennium Guild and master of the Millennium Palace died, and the Dark Magician took his place, master of the Pyramid of Light.
"Red-Eyes Black Dragon Lord". The dragon says. "And I will be your end".
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
Zhorvak
Zhorvak Done, next chapter, Red-Eyes vs Black Luster Soldier and Red-Eyes vs Dark Magician.
This was a long one, I'm not gonna keep you guys in suspense about the other guardians' identities, the guardian of the guild's treasury is the Millennium Golem. The two special guardians are the Millennium Shield, which guards the players' bedrooms, and by an NPC standard it makes them special in the other NPCs' eyes, the second special guardian, is Millennium-Eye Restrict, as Dark Magician said its job is to trick invaders into believing it has the Millennium Eye to open the 7th floor, last but not least, the guardian of the 7th floor, they are the Rubedo of the Millennium Guild, their secret weapon and holder of one of the fake Millennium Puzzle pieces that are needed to open the door to the 8th and final floor, not only each piece is spread around the palace it is needed to defeat them to get the last one, something that has never been done in all the guild's history, so, have you guessed who they are? Pretty obvious isn't it, that's right, the guardian of the 7th floor is none other than Exodia the Forbidden One.
If your favorite monster didn't appear don't worry, he will probably be used as one of Dark Magician's summons, so there is still a chance.
If you think I copied Overlord's first episode plot you are right, I thought that it was a good way of showing the differences between the Millennium Guild denizens and Nazarick, on personality, mindset, and relationship with their comrades. What do you think?
Well, that's it for now, thank you for reading see you next time.
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