บท 6: Three Guild Meeting

[6/24/2126] (Author's Note: After 2 months of the game Yggdrasil's launch)

Suzuki Satoru had his mouth open in awe as he stared out across the character creation screen of the starlight-filled realm tree. He had finally caved and spent his job bonus from last year on purchasing a Yggdrasil headset and console. He spent the last 2 months being bombarded with commercials of Yggdrasil and the landscapes in-game. He finally resolved to try it out today.

He was usually exhausted after his shift as a salaryman. His coworkers were sometimes even just elementary school graduates just like him. His life consisted of the cycle of working, eating, and sleeping. He had no family to worry about him either. Satoru was not one of the lucky 'generational workers'. He didn't have a secure job passed down to him from his parents. He was an orphan and he barely made enough money to get by on his own.

Thankfully, he had done pretty well for himself and he made just enough money to keep himself above the poverty line. He had long gotten used to seeing other orphans' dead bodies lying in the streets dead from the toxic atmosphere and poor living conditions outside. He was thankful he had a roof over his head. Even if it was a broken-down apartment, it had air filters and would prevent him from developing cancer as easily by breathing the toxic air.

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Welcome to Yggdrasil!

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Satoru felt anticipation in his heart as he started to make his very own character for Yggdrasil.

....

In Vanaheim Outer Regions, 3rd Zone, Aurora Kingdom

A group of marching forces of elven mercenaries and cavalry gathered at the edge of the city called [Forth Rite]. [Forth Rite] was a newly formed city of trade settled by the Players of Vanaheim as a part of the [Aurora Kingdom]. Its biggest investors were one of the top 3 current guilds in Vanahiem: [GiggleHeart]. It stood at the edge of the 3rd zone of Vanaheims Outer Region and acted as a spearhead for many Humanoid and Demi-Human players to explore the surrounding areas and make progress towards reaching the center of Vanaheim.

In a meeting room within GiggleHeart's guild building in Forth Rite City, three players were sitting at a triangular-shaped table. Each of them was a representative of the top three guilds in Vanaheim currently: [GiggleHeart], [DemiDemi], and [DontTakeMyCookie]. A human with baggy eyes and a dark aura around him with the name of [DeathTones] was narrowing his eyes as he watched the other two players. He was the guild leader of [GiggleHeart].

On the other side of the table, a High-Elf woman was also seated. She had long blue hair and a touch of pink dyed in it. She had an aura of nature that billowed off of her, making the plants in the room seem more vibrant and full of life. She was the current guild master of [DemiDemi]: [Tonks].

And finally, a man with a contrasting style of part jester costume, part butler attire was in the third seat. His clothing looked like it was forcefully sewn together down the middle as the right side had a jester costume, complete with bells and frills, while on the left side was a neat black and white suit that a butler would wear. His name was [Tickles] and he was the guild master of [DontTakeMyCookie].

Each of the guild masters was silently reading something in the HUD and the room was silent. After a few minutes, Tonks spoke first.

"Is this information real Tones?" She seemed excited.

DeathTones gave her a glance before his eyes fell on Tickles to finish reading the document as well. Tickles had also finished and smiled, nodding to DeathTones that he was done.

"Yes, we have confirmed this information ourselves." DeathTones nodded.

"Haha, the heteromorphic players are going to be so mad! The developers really hate them." Tickles laughed.

DeathTones shook his head.

"It is a natural thing. I had considered if it was true only a few weeks after the game started. I only needed confirmation after we hit higher levels." DeathTones said.

Both Tonks and Tickles had their heads down in thought at that. They couldn't help appreciate allying with [GiggleHeart]. Their guild leader was an intelligent and efficient researcher when it came to finding out hidden game mechanics.

"It is troublesome that our realm has the least amount of Heteromorphic players here due to the natural suppression effect. No players would come here if they were smart. And now with this information coming to light... I can only imagine how much those monster players will curse the developers, hahaha" Tickles added in a bit of frustration.

"No matter, we can always use the [Bi Frost] at level 80 to change realms at will. " Tonks said in reply.

"Now that I have shared our guild research into the hidden class requirements. I hope your guilds will hold up your end of the bargain. " DeathTones narrowed his eyes coldly.

"Buddy, you are looking at the most reputable guild in Yggdrasil. Investing in me is a good bet." Tickles replied light-heartedly.

"Your guild was built on you backstabbing a previous guild master and taking his resources..." DeathTones replied.

Tickles flinched at that before smiling lightly. "Ah.. well you know what they say: The King is Dead, Long Live the new King."

DeathTones ignored his attempt at humor and stood up from his chair. He began to leave the meeting room.

"I expect you both to assemble your best raiding parties and meet our guild at the entrance to the [Labarinyth of Khiss] tomorrow at [15:00:00]" DeathTones left the room.

The doors to the meeting hall opened as he left and other members of the top three guilds came in. They split up into the members of [DontTakeMyCookie] and [DemiDemi] and talked with their respective guild masters. Tonks was talking happily with the other players in her guild all the while thinking to herself.

'So hidden classes can be unlocked by Pking heteromorphic players... sounds like fun!' She thought to herself while she glanced at the Realm Tree Leaderboards which displayed the top players across all the realms.

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[Realm Tree Leaderboards]

...

[Player Ranking]

- 1st [Treech] (Vanaheim) - Race: (Unknown) Heteromorphic - Level 70

- 2nd [Fishersman] (Asgard) - Race: (Human) Humanoid - Level 52

- 3rd [TouchMe] (Álfheimr) - Race: (Insect) Heteromorphic - Level 51

...

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'I wonder what he will think about all these restrictions against his race.' Tonks thought. She was hoping to see a great drama, like the fall of Icarus. She wanted to see Treech fall through the rankings due to their efforts and know that she would be the cause of his fall from 'grace'. She hugged herself with her arms as she felt pleasure at the thought of watching a man's face as he fell from heaven to earth. She fantasized about being that very reason for someone to lose all they had.

"Hehehe" she giggled to herself and the rest of her guild members looked at her with questioning gazes.

"Tonks-sama, what are you laughing at?" Another elf girl asked as she poked Tonk's bare skin on her arm cutely.

"Ooh, nothing... it's nothing" she waved her hand as if to shu the question away from her.

"Let's get going. We have a promise to keep to [GiggleHeart]" She announced. The guild of [DemiDemi] left the room. She shared the information privately with her guildmates and they all felt the anticipation of obtaining hidden classes themselves.

This would be the final moment that everything changed for Heteromorphic players. Where they found themselves actively hunted and bullied, even at lower levels.

...

In Vanaheim Outer Regions, 2nd Zone, Star-Dust Forest.

"Hahaha, damn these monster players are tough, leader. Do you think they are stronger than our classes?" A familiar player named [2Rich4me] commented as he looked down at a frightened heteromorphic player.

The monster player's name was [Starlight Prince] and he was a Star-Dust Ethermorph race. He had only been in the game for a week and he already felt like quitting. He chose the heteromorphic race because he always liked being the underdog. But he felt regretful that he chose Vanaheim. Vanaheim was the only location where he could spawn as a Star-Dust race, even though he would be suppressed, he hoped he could overcome it.

But he didn't realize that every other race in the damn game was out for his head!

"Why Why WHY WHY? Why is everyone hunting me down? Why am I so weak?!" He yelled out at nobody in particular. His blob-like appearance twisted and turned in frustration. His grey orbs that looked like moon rocks that orbited him, spun faster with his increased volume, then slowed down as he calmed down.

"Haha, you sound like a kid. Life isn't that fair, okay?" A familiar-looking man, who was now wearing nicer plate mail, laughed lightly as he held an obsidian sword. His player name read [DinnerPlate] above his head.

"Obviously, they aren't stronger than us. They still have their racial weaknesses to deal with." The final three of the familiar-looking human players, a woman named [MamaHots] replied to 2Rich4Me's question.

"Now kid, we can let you go and keep your level, but you gotta give us something worthwhile, yeah?" 2Rich4Me stated while making a rubbing motion with his fingers

"You think I was born yesterday?" Starlight Prince sneered at him for trying to trick him into giving away his items so blatantly. They would kill him regardless because he had read on the forum posts this morning, that certain hidden Character and Job classes would unlock for humanoids and demi-humans when killing heteromorphic players. Practically everyone and their aunt now knew that heteromorphic players were looked at as no more than mere mobs to farm now.

"Tsk*" The man clicked his tongue in annoyance at his failed scam attempt. He looked up at the start night sky and the surrounding redwood trees reaching upwards. He couldn't help but appreciate the changes that happened since this forest changed from the [Aiym Forest] to the [Star-Dust Forest]. It was very beautiful at night.

"Alright, just finish the kid off, and let's keep hunting," DinnerPlate said while raising his sword.

Suddenly a voice sounded from behind them.

"Maximize Magic: Star Collapse"

*Woosh* *Waaaaw waaaw waaw waw...*

A burst of magic power came from behind them as a low hum pulsed with a lower and lower sound. A silver and black orb condensed in the center of the 3 humanoid players. A strong suction pulled them towards it as a powerful implosion rocked the surroundings. The nearby redwood trees splintered and broke from the gravitational pull of the spell. Silver starlight pulled into the surroundings like small slow beams, towards the center of the orb.

"Wha-" The 3 players couldn't even respond as their mid-level 30s characters couldn't handle the power of the spell. Their burst into specks of light as their HP hit 0. The spell ended as a small pulse of a silver ring shot out the objects that were once sucked into the center orb. The redwood tree splinters scattered and shot everywhere.

Starlight Prince looked around curiously after seeing such a powerful spell. He had never heard of the spell before and its damage was very powerful. However, he didn't see anyone after the effects cleared.

"Hello?" He called out.

A dark green-looking humanoid suddenly appeared, as if pulling back a curtain of starlight. His body had veins that looked like electrical circuits of black and silver. And he had small buds blossoming across the surface of his skin. A small canopy of branches and leaves stretched over his head, but it perfectly covered his shoulders and head like an umbrella.

"Hello there," Treech said as he waved a hand in greeting. He then went and collected the dropped items of the 3 players he killed before he clicked his tongue.

"*tsk, I finally found you respectless bastards and you drop mere Middle-Class items? Give me back my Gachapon items!" Treech grumbled to himself as he organized his inventory.

Meanwhile, Starlight Prince had started circling Treech a few times. He was trying to figure out what kind of race Treech was. There are many races in Yggdrasil and the developers even mentioned that not even 1% of the game had been explored since its release 2 months ago. He then just realized Treech's name above his character.

"Ah? You are that Treech?! The number 1 on the leaderboards?! The 'Unknown race' Treech!!!" The guy practically had stars in his eyes.

"Hmm? Ooh yeah, I guess." Treech nodded absentmindedly as he looked was reading the Middle-Class Item drops he had just gotten. Suddenly, Starlight Prince made a gesture like he was kneeling. His blob took the shape of a human kneeling on the ground.

"Please accept me as your disciple, Sense!" He shouted loudly with zeal.

"Ooh okay," Treech commented automatically.

Starlight Prince stood up and gave a bow. The blob bent at a 90-degree angle.

Treech finished what he was doing in his inventory and closed the menu in his HUD. He turned to see the Star-Dust race player bent at a 90-degree angle to him. He was confused and thought back to a few moments ago. Then he remembered that he had just agreed to be this kid's teacher.

He facepalmed as he realized what he did.

"Listen, kid, I didn't really think about what I was saying and I... " he looked at the kid who practically had the characters of 'respect' carved into his eyes.

The kid had stars in his eyes as if he had just met his childhood hero. He realized the kid was hanging on his every word and he started to feel a bit bad about turning him down.

"*Sigh, never mind."

Treech shook his head at himself. He looked over the blob in front of him before walking deeper into the [Star-Dust Forest]. Starlight Prince followed silently beside him as if it was a perfectly natural thing to do.

(Author's Note: A lot of original characters in this chapter, hope I did okay in staying true to the magic of Yggdrasil and made some interesting characters. Tell me your thoughts in the comments.)