Year 2126 January 2nd, Yggdrasil, Morning
"Tabula."
"What is it? Are you still trying to admire my beauty?" Tabula asked, tilting his head to the side. It caused his straight jacket like clothes to shake up and down, together with his circular black studded headpiece.
Nao received a sudden urge to gag and almost coughed seeing his body move like that. But he managed keep it down and responded to him calmly.
"Can you not do that?"
Hearing Nao ask that, Isabella let out a rolling eyes emote. A bunch of smile emotes emerged from Tabula before a laugh came out.
"Hahaha! I'm only kidding with you. You said you wanted to continue what you talked about briefly yesterday right? Something about having more free time on your hands?"
"That's right. Due to some...circumstances, I've retired from my manager position from the company I've been working at. This was to start pursuing a dream of mine. Which is livestreaming!"
"Livestreaming, huh? Can't say I've dabbled much in that area myself. I'm more into the myths behind this game. It's always lovely to see things we don't typically see every day get personified. Plus I've heard the scenery in Yggdrasil is fantastic. Much better than our shithole of a planet. Even Helheim looks better, and it's said Helheim is the land of the dead."
"Heh, that much I know. I'd rather spend my time watching stuff go down in here than in the real world, so I share your same sentiment. But as we go along journey, I want to livestream the unknown areas we venture into. Mostly for hobby but if we can earn some cash off of it, that wouldn't hurt either."
"Why do I get the feeling you don't need money by doing this? Well, it matters not. Me personally I'm not against it but if you go plaster yourself over the net with ne tagging along with you two, you'll be a walking target. Are you willing to take that risk?"
"Heh, sounds like the scuffle you had with Trinity was not a mere scuffle. But yeah, I'm resolved to do this. Besides, once people start finding out how special our class is, it's only going to get worse from here on...", Nao continued to say as he trailed off into his own thoughts.
A momentary silence soon spread out between the three.
"It's only going to get worse from here on? Are you referring to how special our Heteromorphic classes are? I was curious myself as to why we gained three times as much as normal Human classes did. We'll need to be extra careful if we chance upon any of them. I doubt many will show up here considering the difficulty of the realm we're currently in."
"Right? I'd just like to keep this at the back of your mind when we venture in further, especially when we reach Helheim City, and I'll keep your warning in mind."
After Nao said that, Tabula nodded his head. Nao didn't know when the discrimination against the Heteromorphic class would start. It could happen within the first year of the game, or it might not spring up till a few years down the line.
Either way, it was inevitable for it to happen. Nao found it a good thing too that Tabula didn't get killed by those Trinity players. They were probably Heteromorphics themselves, as he didn't spot a single Human or Demihuman around his location.
Once people start discovering that there are no penalties to killing Heteromorphic players, the era of PKing will likely begin. Heteromorphics are essentially monsters, but with a player controlling the monster's body. They'll drop equipment and lose their 5 levels upon death and can't do anything about it.
But with that in mind, the three would tread deeper into Helheim. Yet Nao saw Tabula tilt his head to the side causing his body to shake. Nao shuddered again hearing this. Tabula's appearance was akin to that of a monster that ran away from an insane asylum. With his head replaced with that of a squid with four long tentacles going down the sides of his body. The rest of his look was thst of BDSM gear with a straight jacket like bodysuit to boot.
If Nao had to say, he was the embodiment of grotesque. But this was something he had to get used to. If Nao wanted Albedo to be by his side, and possibly Rubedo as well, he needed to make sure Tabula would still create the three and ensure he had the capabilities to alter the two's background information after Tabula retires from Yggdrasil.
But that wouldn't happen for at least another decade and after Tabula joins Ainz Oowl Gown in the near future. So for now he put this at the back of his mind as well. He then saw Tabula speak once more.
"Got it. When will you be starting up this livestreaming service of yours? Do you even have the proper equipment set up?"
Continuing the topic of livestreaming, Nao responded directly.
"I went through the notions of setting everything up this past week or so, so you don't need to worry about my equipment. My dashboard is all prepped and ready too. I just need to crop a good screen size and initiate it. As for when I'd start it...I was mainly thinking of livestreaming our dungeons and overworld explorations. Raids will come later if we meet up with more people. Do you two have any problems with that?"
"None from me.", Tabula simply answered.
"Me neither! From the looks of it this Icy Soul Wasteland is our next destination then. Its filled with graves and I can hear bones clattering in the distance, so we'll probably be fighting lots of Skeletons. We can clear it in a breeze with your light magic! I bet they're super weak against it!", Isabella responded while sending out another smile emote.
"Most likely they are. Hold on I'll start it up now."
The two nodded their heads. The cool thing about being in a virtual world was that he didn't have to actively close the game window. He minimized the screen a bit and saw the main hub. Finding Twitch 2.0 app, he launched it.
Nao also discovered that thanks to purchasing the Yggdrasil version with the Creator Tools and Arcane Eye, it also came with an exclusive function to link any streaming service directly into the Arcane Eye for third party livestreaming. Viewers didn't have to watch from a first person perspective. This special link also wouldn't delay the Arcane Eye's spellcasting functions either.
Loading up his personal page, Nao initiated his first stream. It wasn't cluttered with miscellaneous junk and only focused on what was in Yggdrasil. The moment it initiated, his Arcane Eye let out a small glow. Tabula and Isabella took notice of this and nodded.
"I'm not sure we'll get that many viewers, plus I'm not sure how many people actually stream Yggdrasil but I can only take my first step from here, right?"
"That's right. I'm guessing we're live now? Give me control of your dashboard for a moment and I'll change your title. This should attract some viewers, haha!"
"Part of me suddenly feels like not wanting to do that...", Nao said with a defeated sigh. Still, he ket Tabula do as he pleased. To him he sounded like he was going to troll someone, and sure enough, if Nao's eyes could turn wide, they would.
He saw Tabula walk right up to his Arcane Eye, allowing his viewers to get a close look at him.. Nao then saw the title of his change. It now read, 'Take this, Trinity!'
Nao then saw Tabula act like a skeleton, letting his clothes clatter around. Isabella and Nao shuddered once again hearing the awful noises vibrate from it. Nao couldn't help but curse out at him.
"I told you to stop doing that, didn't I!? Tabula!"
"Hahaha! Just go with it, Metatron. I'm sure this will kick up a storm."
"Can't we start this next area already? I'm already getting an itch to fight more monsters.", Isabella complained. "Tabula, you better not slow down our pace. We did take a first clear after all. We're already behind."
"Don't you two worry. I may not be best on the frontlines but I've got a variety of support spells and hidden weapons. I'll make sure Metatron can get his spells off."
"Okay!"
"Let's go then. I checked the level range of this Icy Soul Wasteland and it ranges from Level 15 to 40. We'll be stuck here for a while but once we clear it we'll be able to head into Helheim City!"
After Nao yelled that out Isabella let out another smile emote. The two then started to run toward the nearest graves, only to have Tier 2 Skeletons start spawning from the graves.
As for Tabula, he stayed close to Nao's Arcane Eye, giving one last grin emote to the stream. He had the Twitch 2.0 page open on his overlay, much like Nao did. Isabella also did the same as well. But once the three started their combat, little did they know that Nao's viewership was on the rapid rise...
And unbeknownst to them, Nao's first livestream was very successful. Time also started to flash by in their eyes. Days soon turned into weeks and weeks soon turned into months as the level grind continued.
Slowly but surely in these next few months, the three's levels rapidly rose but they did not receive any notification about the Icy Soul Wasteland being cleared. Not a single one. Nao also was steadily gaining popularity with his livestreams.
Even though time passed before their very eyes, Nao was having a blast playing Yggdrasil! He was also chasing after his dream that he couldn't accomplish in his first life!
Before Nao, Isabella and Tabula realized it, they spent a full year inside the Icy Soul Wasteland. This area was definitely a bottleneck for all Helheim players. Nao didn't think it would take up to a year to explore one area, but the three underestimated its size. Why else would its level peak at 40?
But they were finally in the clear when the three reached a castle-like structure made up of pure ice. This was the Lair of the Icy Soul Devil. The floor boss so to say of the Icy Soul Wasteland.
Along the way the three killed off countless undead and creatures of ice. Thanks to Nao's rising popularity the three started to attract other Heteromorphics that tried to PK them, but the three would always come out victorious thanks to their tight nit team. The three got rather close to each other during this one year of time and learned when to watch each other's backs.
As a result of constantly overturning the other PKers that came their way, Nao received his own moniker.
The False Angel.
His spells would cause destruction wherever he went. He was more of an Angel of Death instead of an Angel of Life, thus he received that title. But that's not what was important now.
The main prize now stood before their very eyes. They were now at the entrance to take down the Icy Soul Devil!
Yet Nao couldn't help but let out a curse once he received a notification after the the arrived in the area. An invisible barrier pushed the three out, causing confusion to spread out. Tabula and Isabella let out confused emotes before they too started to read the system notification they got.
<<Player Metatron has successfully reached the Lair of the Icy Soul Devil.
The home which belongs to the Icy Soul Devil. It is said that this devil reaps wandering souls, unable to repent. They get sent directly to the Hall of the Fallen to fight for the Goddess of Death Hel's pleasure, or on a whim, become her meal.
Rumor has it if one can successfully ferry the soul of this devil, one will obtain a unique job. Find the torch hidden somewhere inside its castle to illuminate its way.
*Please note this is a Raid dungeon.
Minimum count : 4 people
Estimated Level : 40-45
Rewards: ???, Hidden : ???
>>
"Well shit, looks like this is indeed a Raid. No wonder we haven't gotten any notifications yet. We also need a person to join us.", Nao responded while letting out a curse.
Hi guys Aht here. Here is the first chapter of the week!
One year down, eleven to go. Expect more time skips like these. I really don't want to stretch out Yggdrasil than any more than I have to.
Don't forget to drop those power stones and leave your comments below!