Vol 1 Chapter 1 (1/2)

Volume 1 Chapter 1 Part 1

Gate of the Otherworld Deepest Part ofTHE NEW GATE

Two shadows were squaring off against each other.

Volume 1 Chapter 1 Part 2

Gatekeeper [One Who Guards the Gate]Originhas been defeated. According, you will be granted the bonuses for defeating the boss. You have gained the GiftsLimit Breaker,Accomplished One, andLiberator. You have gained the skillsMeiou no Hadou [Wave of the Dark King],Shuusoku Hadou [Convergence Wave], andKakusan Hadou [Diffusion Wave]. You have gained the following items:Remains of the Guardian,Soul of the Guardian,Heart of the Guardian (T/N: In TNG, t.i.tles are called Gifts. The kanji reads t.i.tle while the furigana reads Gift.)

While listening to the announcement, s.h.i.+n simply stood still.

The place was flooded with light.

Origins body had scattered into the particles of light that now filled the room. After dancing around the room, the lights gradually faded away. At the end, all that was left was the tattered room, a door without a single scratch on it, and s.h.i.+n.

When the lights disappeared, another announcement was broadcasted.

Gatekeeper [One Who Guards the Gate]Originof the deepest part of Gate of the Otherworld has fallen. The dungeon has been cleared.

That was to inform s.h.i.+ns nakama that he had emerged victorious.

Accordingly, all players will now be able to log out.

Now all the players that had fought in THE NEW GATE knew that they had been freed from the game.

Its finally over...

Truly, it was over. The death game that had imprisoned all of them for a whole year was finally over. Just in case, s.h.i.+n pulled up the ingame menu. There really was a Log Out b.u.t.ton at the very bottom. He then pulled up his Friends List. The indicators to the side of each name that used to say Online were changing into Offline one by one. It appears that everyone was able to safely log out.

Ive fulfilled my promise! Right, Marino?

A sense of accomplishment filled his chest. Would that girl who had left this world praised him?

So wondered s.h.i.+n.

Well then! Shall we stay behind until all the other players have logged out first?

No more depressing thoughts, thought s.h.i.+n as he sat down. He decided to stay behind and watch over everyone until theyve all safely logged out.

s.h.i.+n took out the Survivors [Those Who Remain] List from his inventory. It was rolled up like a sheepskin parchment, so he spread it out. This item was a real time list of the names of every single player in the game. Alchemistnakamaof his who had empathized with his wish to see everyone off until theyve all logged out had spent 7 all-nighters making this item. They said that when a player dies or logs out from the game, their name would disappear from the list. While thanking his alchemistnakamainside his heart, he kept on watching as the list gradually grew shorter and shorter.

After about 3 minutes, the only name left on the list wass.h.i.+n.

Im the last, huh.

He unconsciously uttered those words.

When he was fighting, all he did was to stare straight ahead. But now that everything was over, it felt somehow deeply moving.

He probably wont ever return here after logging out. There was no way that this game that had turned into a death game would still continue running; no matter how you thought about it, it was impossible.

(In the end, it turned out like this, but putting the dying part aside it was actually quite a lot of fun.)

s.h.i.+n had been playing THE NEW GAME for pretty much 1/3 of his entire life. For better or for worse, he had spent an enormous amount of time together with this game. (T/N: I suppose that means the game didnt turn into a death game at the very beginning like SAO.)

Seeya, THE NEW GATE!

As s.h.i.+n murmured his farewell and reached to log out, the door in front of him let out a groan.

Nn?

Transfixed by the door that was now opening, the finger that was about to touch the Log Out b.u.t.ton stopped in midair.

The ma.s.sive doors whose resplendent ornamentation had become loose gradually creaked open. A brilliant light from the other side spilled through the widening crack, such that it was impossible for s.h.i.+n to see what was beyond.

What? I thought the game was completely finished...

s.h.i.+n was bewildered. Without regard for s.h.i.+n, the door continued to open, and the light filled the entire room until it was pure white.

Somethings not right here!

Feeling a growing sense of foreboding, s.h.i.+n rushed to hit the log out b.u.t.ton. But an instant before he could make it, the light filled up the entire room. As if he was swallowed up by the light, s.h.i.+n immediately lost consciousness.

The first thing that he felt was the wind. As his hazy consciousness gradually came back, he felt a warm wind flowing upon his skin. The next things that he registered were the hard ground against his back and a sweet smell that was tickling his nose. Oh right, the world is all dark because my eyes are still closed.

Nn...

He opened his eyes as he sat up. The world before him was a meadow that stretched as far as he could see, with tree groves dotted here and there. White and pink flowers were blooming where s.h.i.+n had been sleeping. With s.h.i.+n at the center, the circle of flowers had a diameter of roughly 3m. Apparently, the smell which had been tickling s.h.i.+ns nose from earlier was from these flowers.

This place is...

His mind began to turn, trying to answer the question of why he was in a place like this.

(Today, I fought with the boss Origin at the deepest part of Gate of the Otherworld and won. Thats right, Id cleared THE NEW GATE. Then it became possible to log out, and I had waited until everyone else had been freed...

His mind gradually came back into focus. The light at the end that he had seen, that was,

The doors ... opened?

Thats right, after defeatingOrigin, the last boss, it became possible to log out, and he too was just about to log out when the door that had been closed suddenly opened and he lost consciousness.

What on earth was that? And this place...

Even when he looked around again, there was really nothing but gra.s.s and groves of trees. Nothing else was to be found.

Could it be that Im still inside the game?

s.h.i.+n wasnt sure whether his finger had actually reached the Log Out b.u.t.ton at the end. He wasnt sure if it was some kind of an event at the end and that he hadnt actually logged out yet, so he tried to call up the ingame menu.

...oi, oi.

Lined up in front of his eyes was a translucent interface and menu items lined up next to it. It was without a doubt the ingame interface from THE NEW GATE.

What on earth, Im still inside the game?

Ahhh, that scared me, thought s.h.i.+n as he scrolled down the menu. There, at the bottom, the Log Out b.u.t.ton...

... is not here!

It wasnt there.

The Log Out b.u.t.ton that should have been between Gold Owned and Help was not there. After defeating Origin, he had confirmed that the b.u.t.ton was back. But now it was gone again!

Oi, oi, oi, youve kidding me, right?!

He checked every single menu from the interface, but the log out b.u.t.ton was really nowhere to be found.

It was exactly the same as when he was inside the death game.

Tch!! Oh right, what about everyone else?

Was there anyone else other than himself? Entertaining that possibility, he took out the Survivors List from his inventory. If there were any other players whod also been left behind, then their name should appear on the list.

What on earth ... is this??

On the list was only his name. However, below his name was a message floating in the blank s.p.a.ce that said,

Cannot display due to lack of connection with the network.

His alchemistnakamahad told him that the Survivors List functioned by accessing the network inside THE NEW GATE and confirming the avatars who are still present. If that was true, then it means that s.h.i.+ns avatar was currently cut off from THE NEW GATEs system.

If Im not connected to the network, then how come I can still move my avatar?

Even though he didnt log out, he was cut off from the system. Was that even possible? In such a situation, s.h.i.+n would have become unable to move his avatar. s.h.i.+n was by no means an expert on VR technology, but he at least knew that that was how THE NEW GATE worked. If he thought about it normally, it was a contradiction to be cut off from the network and still being able to move his avatar.

I dont get it! What on earth is happening?

As the earlier feeling of relief evaporated in one go, s.h.i.+n threw himself back onto the ground. Without standing up again, he wracked his brain as hard as he could, but no matter how hard he thought he still couldnt come up with any answers.

(I cant go on like this. In times like these, I have to empty my mind for a bit first.)

This is what s.h.i.+n usually does to calm down when he finds his mind all muddled up. When he couldnt make anymore inroads, he would let go of all his thoughts, then rebuild everything again from the bottom up.

First of all, I cant connect to the network. Secondly, I can indeed move my avatar. Thirdly, the above two points are mutually exclusive.

The first point could be confirmed by once again checking the message shown on the Survivors List. As for the second point, it is indeed true that a connection to the network is essential to manipulate his avatar. In actuality, players who had been disconnected from the network due to bugs or whatever had become unable to move their avatars, so this must also be true. There is no particular need to confirm the third point.

Therefore, s.h.i.+n now thought about how it was possible for the two points to coexist.

He considered the possibility that it was just the Survivors List that was bugged and that he was actually connected to the network. It wouldnt be strange if that was true. The second possibility was that it was now possible to control his avatar even without a connection to the network. The problem was that s.h.i.+n was indeed moving his avatar, so there was no way to test this theory.

The last possibility is that this is now a fantasy.

He smiled wryly at this thought that had floated across his mind while trying to think seriously.

s.h.i.+n was a total gamer. He was into games so much that his friends even called him the gaming addict. At the same time, he also spent a lot of time on anime, manga, light novels, and web novels. He had read many novels of the cant get out of this death game genre. He was very surprised when he himself got to experience the exact same thing from the novels. Therefore, of course he had read stories with the setting of oh Ive arrived in a world exactly like the game world!. The reasons given had been varied, but there were a lot of stories where the main character had entered the game world as is.

What had entered s.h.i.+ns head just now was exactly that. Abruptly, the thought that this was perhaps the real THE NEW GATE world had floated into his mind. This would explain how he could move his avatar even though he was not connected to the network.

No way, thought s.h.i.+n as he gave up thinking for a moment and just looked up at the sky. The blue sky spread out before his eyes, and little white clouds floated along. At the corner of his eyes was the meadow and the edge of the groves. When he focused there, he could distinctly see each leaf one by one.

...................

He could see them. Very distinctly. Leaf by leaf.

He was seeing TOO well.

He could now see even better than when he was in the game. It was almost as if this was the real thing.

Indeed, VR technology had already reached the point where it was possible to construct a world that was almost like the real world. Sensory input was not limited to vision and sound; it was also possible to reproduce touch, smell, and taste. However, theres a limit. No matter how accurate the reproduction, it was still only possible to get close enough to be almost like the real thing. The resolution was such that anyone who has seen the real thing would easily be able to tell that it was a mere replica. In the end, it is only pixels and voxels.

However, everything that s.h.i.+n could see, from the movement of the clouds to the l.u.s.ter of the leafs to the contours of the flowers blooming in the wild, was screaming that this was reality.

...................

s.h.i.+n slowly brought his hands to his face.

The creases and fingerprints that he couldnt see while in the game were there.

Is this ... really real?

Having reached this realization, he started to understand everything else one by one. The scene in front of his eyes, the rustling of the leaves, the feeling of the wind on his skin, the smell that was tickling his nose everything was different from what he had felt while inside the game.

After the death game, now a trip to a parallel world ...

s.h.i.+n had now succeeded in experiencing the two biggest urban legends related to VRMMOs. Depending on the person, this might be a highly desirable situation, but all s.h.i.+n was thinking was that he would have preferred some down time between the two happenings. The only outward indication of this weird way of thinking was s.h.i.+ns calm expression.

Ahh ... why is this happening~~

He raised his voice lazily while rolling on the ground. The gallant figure of him fighting Origin was nowhere to be found. In addition to the fatigue of fighting Origin, being sent to a parallel world right when he thought he could log out had made him so tired that he just wanted to take a rest. To sum it up in one word, he was now the very image of languidness. It would take a while for this syndrome to burn itself out, so for the moment s.h.i.+ns chest was only filled with the desire to just laze about.

Ahhhh~~~ ... Haaaaaa~~~ ...

For a while, s.h.i.+n just repeatedly rolled around like as if he had regressed back into an infant and gotten stuck in that state. Abandoning thought and just lazing around for a short time apparently seemed to suffice as a modic.u.m of rest. Feeling a little bit better after those few minutes, s.h.i.+n began to think again.

There were too many unknown in his present situation. As there was no one nearby, he couldnt gather any information. Although his body still felt a bit heavy, he started to move and at the same time began considering what he should do next.

(In any case, I have too little information. For now, lets bring up the menu interface again and confirm my status and items. After that, lets go look for somewhere with people.)

He called up the menu interface and looked at his character screen. The left half of the screen was a 3D model of s.h.i.+ns avatar, while the right half had menus that led to other interfaces likeAttribute Points,Equipment,Gifts, andSkills. (T/N: One more reminder that in this game, t.i.tles are called Gifts.)

The 3D model of his avatar was a young man with black hair, black eyes, and a common face whose sole unique characteristic was the slightly sharp look in its eyes. Being a direct reflection of s.h.i.+ns real face and body, this avatar was also around 180cm tall and looked a little gangly. His friends in real life who were in athletic clubs had frequently told him to go train his body more.

He realized some slight changes from the fight against Origin when he checked theEquipmentwindow. The main thing was that he was no longer wearing his m.u.f.fler, handguards, and greaves. What he did have on was the black long coat with red lines on it,Long Coat of the Dark King, the pants that were part of the set, and accessories . He founds.h.i.+ngetsu [True Moon]in the column of weapons. It appears that his favorite beloved katana was safe and sound. In his equipment storage was everything that he had from before coming here and also the stuff that he was no longer wearing after the fight. All of his items and the money that he had were all unchanged, so there were no problems on that end.

Next was hisAttribute Points. Originally, aside from LUC, all of his other stats had been maxed with 9s. While praying that he didnt get nerfed, he opened the window.

Name: s.h.i.+n Gender: Male Race: High Human Job: Samurai Level: 255 (MAX: 255) HP: 22832 (MAX: 9999) MP: 21349 (MAX: 9999) STR: 2225 (MAX: 999) VIT: 2017 (MAX: 999) DEX: 2170 (MAX: 999) AGI: 2236 (MAX: 999) INT: 2032 (MAX: 999) LUC: 36 (MAX: 99)

... No way, no way, no way.

s.h.i.+n took his eyes off of the screen, looked somewhere far away for a bit, then looked at the screen again. There was no way that doing that would change what was on the screen, though.

No, wait a sec. Wait a moment!

He looked away from the screen again and stared at a point far away. He then rubbed his eyes. Confirming that his vision was not blurry, he finally looked at the screen again.

Im not seeing wrong ... right?

In the end, s.h.i.+n had to look three times before finally acknowledging that he wasnt seeing wrong.

The reason was simple. Aside from LUC, all of his stats differed greatly from what he remembered.

VRMMORPGTHE NEW GATEwas different from other VRMMORPGs in that if you spent enough time, it was possible to max out every single stat (except for LUC).

Ever since closed beta, s.h.i.+n had spent an overwhelming of time in the game and calculated the most efficient ways of farming. He had also repeatedly reincarnated his avatar before finally maxing out every single stat. Although there were other players who had gotten close, he was literally the only player who had truly maxed out his character.

Consequently, he had maxed out HP and MP at 9999; STR, VIT, DEX, AGI, and INT at 999; and LUC at 36. His LUC was so low only because the amount was decided during character creation and couldnt be increased nor decreased afterwards. However, all of s.h.i.+ns other stats were now more than double the max.

This games balance ... has been totally destroyed ...

There was nothing to do but to just be amazed.

His stats were now so high that he had no idea how strong his full power would be.

... Im pretty tired of being surprised by now ...

He was almost going to hit himself because of how ridiculous he looked from having been continuously surprised the whole time. With that said, though, it would be unproductive to just continue staring at the status window, so for now he decided to continue checking other interface menus.

(Theres something here that Ive never seen before.)

The long and short of it was that there were Gifts and skills that he had never seen before.

The new Gifts wereLimit Breaker,Accomplished One, andLiberator. The new skills wereMeiou no Hadou [Wave of the Dark King],Shuusoku Hadou [Convergence Wave], andKakusan Hadou [Diffusion Wave].

s.h.i.+n had heard the announcement after defeating Origin, but it had completely slipped his mind.

Curious about their effects, s.h.i.+n selected the three new additions to his list of Gifts.

Limit Breaker Your power can surpa.s.s the limit. The upper limit for all stats has been removed. Stats will rise according to how many attribute points were discarded prior to limit removal.

Accomplished One Blessings be upon the one who has broken free of samsara. At the moment this Gift is attained, all attribute points will be doubled.

Liberator You are the hope of those who have been imprisoned. Immune to all binding and restricting effects. Forbidden magic, traps, items etc. are rendered ineffective.

... what on earth is this?

Every one of these new Gifts that he had gotten were ridiculous. He knew pretty much every Gift, but he had never heard of such game-breaking Gifts.

It was well and good that he finally solved the mystery of why his stats had jumped up so much, but with these Gifts he was now basically cheating. It was not even on the same dimension as having rare equips or having high levels from the start. But LUC alone remained unchanged (in accordance to the games settings). Was it supposed to be some form of hara.s.sment?

Most characters who get sent to a parallel world from an MMO are strong enough to be cheating, but isnt this overdoing it a little?

With his original stats, s.h.i.+n had already been publicly called a cheater. After he single-handedly beat a party of 12 max level players (their levels were maxed, but not their stats, and they had never been reincarnated), they had screamed You freaking cheater! while dying. s.h.i.+n did have a harder time against players who had reincarnated several tens of times and whod almost maxed out their stats, but he was still able to handle four of them at the same time. In the first place, it was extremely rare for any other players to seriously consider beating him.

Now that those stats have been even further amplified, as long as he didnt get killed off instantaneously there was no way he would ever lose to anyone else.

s.h.i.+n prayed fervently that these Gifts would never be propagated.

One of the shadows belonged to a monster. The name of the Gatekeeper [One Who Guards the Gate] wasOrigin. It was the end of the VRMMORPGTHE NEW GATE, and its strongest monster. As a humanoid dragon type, it had a humanoid body with a dragons head, wings, and tail. It spanned roughly 20m. Its eyes were dyed sky blue, while the horn on its forehead and the scales that covered its entire body glittered golden. Concealing the stature of its well-trained body was, again, golden armor. The spear in its hand that was completely devoid of ornamentation was, once more, golden. Though one might be tempted to just call it ugly, its body was radiating an overwhelming air of intimidation that was on par with the G.o.ds. However, it did not emanate hatred. It was indeed worthy of being called the most powerful monster. It would not even be an overstatement to call it a divine beast.

The other shadow belonged to a human. The mans name wass.h.i.+n. His real name was Kiritani s.h.i.+nya. He was the top player with the highest combat ability who had been in the VRMMORPGTHE NEW GATEfrom the very beginning. His height was slightly over 180cm. If one really had to say, his physique was more on the slim side. Both his eyes and his hair were black. Despite facing off against Origin, his face, which was quite mediocre, being neither very handsome nor particularly ugly, did not show a single sign of nervousness. Around his neck was a thin, black m.u.f.fler with red zigzag lines on it. He was also wearing a long coat and pants that were also black with red lines. Aside from the deep crimson hand guards and greaves on his arms and legs, he was not wearing anything else that looked like armor. The only weapon he was wielding was the black katana in his right hand. Though the handle, guard and blade were all black, the edge of the blade glowed a faint red, as if rubies had been rubbed in.

s.h.i.+n took a step forward. In response, Origin took a stance. In contrast to s.h.i.+n, who had on only hand guards and greaves for armor, Origin was equipped head to toe with his armor and spear. From an outsiders point of view, this scene was the epitome of folly. The only foreseeable future was one where Origin would turn s.h.i.+n into a lump of meat with only a single swing of his spear.

The very moment s.h.i.+n took another step forward, Origin lunged with its spear. A speed unimaginable for its gigantic body coupled with the sheer size of the spear made it look like a wall was pressing in.

The attack from the spear pierced the ground under the flagstones. The thrust not only blew away all nearby flagstones, it even gouged out a large part of the earth underneath.

However, s.h.i.+ns figure was no longer there.

s.h.i.+n was at Origins feet. The instant before the attack, he had predicted where the attack would land through the Support-Type Martial Skills.h.i.+ngan [Minds Eye], then rushed forward at high speed using the Movement-Type Martial SkillShukuchi [Blink].

While hidden from Origins sight, s.h.i.+n aimed at its right foot and activated the Sword-Type Martial SkillKogetsusen [Arc Moon Flash].

The edge of the blade glowed crimson along with the activation of the skill. At that moment, the speed and damage of the sword was amplified by 1.5 times. s.h.i.+n struck with the weight of the momentum of his entire body.

s.h.i.+!

All of his fighting spirit concentrated into that split second. Leaving behind a red trail, the blade split the armor on Origins right foot in half. The slash almost sliced the foot in half, causing fresh red blood to gush out, staining the golden scales. Origins HP bar fell by about 2%. Considering that it was a single strike against the games strongest monster, it was an impressive amount of damage.

”!!”

Origin shrieked from the pain of the attack on his foot. A shrill sound like pieces of metal being scratched against each other echoed around the room. Ass.h.i.+nganpredicted the next incoming attack, s.h.i.+n reacted instantly, das.h.i.+ng out from under Origin as fast as he could. Having amplified his leg strength to the very limit, s.h.i.+ns body left afterimages from the movement.

Right after s.h.i.+n moved away, the b.u.t.t of the spear slammed down, almost as if it was trying to crush the afterimages. The power did seem to be slightly less than before, seeing as fewer flagstones were blown away. However, it needs not be said that the power was still way beyond any normal standards.

Fast. As expected of the final boss.

Even while facing the frightening power of the spear, s.h.i.+n had the composure and room for admiration. Acknowledging his opponent, the last Gatekeeper [One Who Guards the Gate], as a worthy opponent, he stoked up his fighting spirit even higher.

Although s.h.i.+n was composed, he still remained very vigilant.

When the HP bar at the edge of his vision becomes empty, he would be the one whod die. s.h.i.+n had come this far while knowing this.

s.h.i.+n was here in order to clearTHE NEW GATE, which had turned into a death game.

There was no one fighting alongside him, but there were a lot of people whod supported him. The equipment that he had on were mainly procured by himself, and the items that he had received from people turned out to be pretty ineffective in a boss fight. Despite all that, he was determined to fulfill the hopes that all of his nakama had entrusted him with.

There was that young girl who cried from wanting to see her family so badly. There was that young man who had become lost after losing his elder brother. There was that man who struggled on in the face of adversity, refusing to give up. And there was that girl who always ran back to offer help to people who needed it. Everyone had struggled, given up, then risen again to challenge and fight the world. Sadly, some of them had eventually disappeared.

They were imprisoned for a whole year. s.h.i.+n didnt know if it was long or short.