Vol 1 Chapter 1 (1/2)

Chapter 1: Catastrophe

1

A tree stuuessed He went around that stuht where he remembered it

Green hout the land The asphalt, once ubiquitous, appeared infrequently here and there shi+roe dashed through the ruins The buildings stood in close succession, coiled and soiant, ancient trees

He was running past scenery that he hadn’t seen before, yet it still felt somewhat familiar to him

There were silhouettes of people curled up in the streets

These were likely Adventurers in the same situation as shi+roe Their moans and screaradually rose up in his throat

But he was barely putting up a show

”What's happening?”

”I-I'e, what's this?!”

”S-So?!”

Their screa animals

Those excessively ht back a tiny amount of composure in shi+roe To not screa

(I can move my body as I likeit's uncohtly differentthankfully, not by much)

What spread before his eyes was the city of Akiba

Many abandoned buildings were intertwined with ivy, reaching out vigorously from the asphalt here and there The vines blended with the ancient, spirit-blessed trees Nostalgia washed over hiest city of the japanese server of Elder Tales

”Akiba? Ridiculous! Have I gone nuts?! Someone, someone, answer me!”

Anearby shouted Everyone was dressed as a citizen of a Middle-Ages fantasy world, wearing full-length clothing or even armor

That was normal

Elder Tales was the world's largest class of aic

But then, it was 'just a game'

The wind brushi+ng onto shi+roe's cheeks was cold, , like he was in the middle of a thick forest

The air was different from the dry and somewhat prickly air in Tokyo where shi+roe lived The wind, twisted with the sreenery, told him that this place wasn't the world he was familiar with

shi+roe shook his head and thought back

He was playing Elder Tales

He reame displayed on his LCD monitor

Elder Tales was actually a long-running title, boasting a 20-year history Of course, its contents and gaine were replaced with the latest version by frequent software updates, but its abundance of data and deep ga operation on the popularity of its users

Today should have been the day to commemorate the release of the 12th expansion pack of Elder Tales The data he had downloaded beforehand would be lifted of its restricted status and would bring about new items, new zones, new monsters and battles; and, above all else, raise the level cap of the world of Elder Tales

Today was also the very day the expansion pack was brought live, so there should be a great nua that, but the fact that many of his friends were connected was confirmed from his Friend List

shi+roe was a veteran player in Elder Tales

He started this ga it for 8 years

There were over 100,000 players in japan alone The number of fans ide exceeded 20,000,000 Thetime

He had, of course, been looking forward to this expansion pack; however, he felt aard about frolicking about it like a newbie, so he decided to pass tiinner area, tutoring a pair of tith soe of items

But there his memory was abruptly cut

shi+roe re flames in a black scene The sky was filled with sticky darkness like asphalt scrolling quickly and a white moon that cut out that blackness

However, that was it

And now, shi+roe was running in Akiba as his own pair of legs that had turned real kicked off the ground

A rhyth in his ears

This fa telepathic call

shi+roe concentrated on his forehead in a way like he was squinting his eyes and selected ato this gao of the panic he felt at first, shi+roe had quickly picked up these controls

”You here yet, shi+ro?”

”I'm almost there!”

shi+roe listened to the voice of his dear old friend as he e of collapse

The clear sound of hih the top of the trees and a huentle breeze And then there was the dazzling light

This brightness was so one couldn't experience unless one witnessed it in early su heat, the sun rays si intensity of light

The city was illuiant trees and buildings cast deep black shadows on the main streets covered in black soil and asphalt The contrast was beautiful

The scene that was spreading out before shi+roe's eyes was so he had seen countless, countless tiame world, the city of Akiba

However, that scene had an overwhela shi+roe completely

shi+roe was sprinting in this scenery with his very own legs

Every step he took, he felt the slipperiness of wethis blood to every nook and cranny of his body, which was heating up from the exercise

This was so he couldn't doubt; this was reality

The city was, indeed as shi+roe remembered it, the city of Akiba

The cru Barrack bars, and the old trees spreading their roots on the roads were all sed by a green forest even as they coexisted This was the garound of the ancients This was Akiba

Within the League of Freedoo Yamato, Akiba was the hometown of the players and the core city of the japanese server in Elder Tales

He ran through the center of the street and made a turn at a corner of a three-story inn-and-bar

The crus made of concrete: Suftek, Yashi+kayas and faave the impression of the real world's Akihabara, and they were reconstructed as ruins of an older era in Elder Tales

The legacies of the old era were sleeping here and there in this world They could be giant underground ruins or towers that pierced the skies This city of Akiba was a legacy itself

As if clinging on, buildings iant concrete structures that were on the verge of beco rubble, and all of that was embraced within the bosom of the ancient trees The scenery was miraculous

After shi+roe arrived, Naotsugu, as sitting on concrete debris, stood up and received him

The lights shone in fro the two of theed

Naotsugu looked pale, but he still laughed heartily and slapped his sheath

He was a bitsteel aru had a shi+eld on his back and looked like an ancient heroic warrior in his get-up

”Hi, shi+ro!”

”Naotsugu, eh good ”

shi+roe didn't kno to react when he heard Naotsugu's greeting, and fell back on this plain cold greeting

Elder Tales had a standard voice chat systea on the phone Some players didn't like to use voice chat and insisted on text u were not like that

That hy shi+roe reu's voice

Naotsugu Hasegawa

If anyone asked shi+roe as thethe first few choices that came to mind

Online gah the Internet Elder Tales was a 'Massively Multiplayer Online' or 'Massively Multiuser Online' game Several hundreds or thousands of players would be connected to the saaa or co with each other

shi+roe had played Elder Tales for aa styles and opinions, but ame world

With the increase in online cri your personal data was common sense for the online community

But that didn't mean you couldn't make real friends

Naotsugu knew shi+roe's real naave him his contact details and was one of the few players that had met with him offline as well

shi+roe let out a sigh of relief when he heard Naotsugu's voice

They ht have met in person before, but they had spent u spent countless nights with shi+roe in the Debauchery Tea Party, visiting countless border zones, experiencing countless battles together He was one of the players in Elder Tales whoreat friends with

They had chatted about so s under the skies

They even discussed their boring feelings Naotsugu was coame

For shi+roe, this cheerful and reliable voice was the syu

”What's this situation? Did Elder Tales evolve to this level while I wasn't playing? To be honest, this is too real forthe level of particle effects and rendering ht? Is this a joke?”

Naotsugu pouted as he asked shi+roe His cheerful and chatty voice sounded a bit depressed

”This is nerve wrecking”

shi+roe vaguely nodded and raised the ic staff in his hand

(Coic staff)

This was a coaht It wasand slender tree branch and reinforcing it with es

The only place you could find this was in a role-playing store

He probably noticed shi+roe's silent reproach

Naotsugu bent his head to check hih dozens of kilograant hilt on his waist Naotsugu looked like a warrior in a fantasy setting

”Eh, I look like a role player myself”

”That's right”

Even though they were not sounds of joy, the two of thehed

”Now that you mention you look the same”

”You too”

The two of them observed each other's appearance

shi+roe and Naotsugu were basically gaa 3D models, a far cry from the real world But the two of the was as detailed as reality

But if you looked closely, this was not turning the gaaned for both males and females

Since it was a aly appearances To meet the demand of the players, the market would use beautiful 3D models

But Naotsugu was not just turning his stylish character in Elder Tales into reality shi+roe had seen him in real life several times, and he looked exactly like shi+roe remembered

”Naotsugu, your face looks very similar to your real face, doesn't it?”

With the scar that ran through the brow of his gaht eyes with slightly drooping corners His adult face had a boyish grin on his lips

”You too, shi+ro, a scholarly lasses and wicked beady eyes”

There were friends who described shi+roe this way, and his features seeht about this, he gave the standard answer he used countless tinore that?”

”What is the current situation? Tell , 'Black Heart Glasses'”

”I personally want to tell you, but I don't know anything”

shi+roe and Naotsugu kicked away the shattered debris and sat down shi+roe didn't have any information to explain the current situation

Compared to the suburban area shi+roe woke up in, this was closer to the center of Akiba If you listened carefully, you could hear the buzz of the city from here

”Firstly, this is not a dream”

”Yeah”

shi+roe nodded and agreed to Naotsugu's inquiry

When he regained conscious, he was in a familiar place that didn't exist in the real world, which seeame with the world of sword and sorcery as its backdrop Players could create their characters, Adventurers, and travel through the world from their characters' view

The body that shi+roe was controlling like his oas a character he controlled in the game, 'shi+roe' But the appearance of this character seemed to reflect the real face of shi+roe

”Have you seen the status screen?”

”I have”

Since Elder Tales was a gath, stamina and all sorts of abilities were represented in the forah the menu

There were no such game-related screens anywhere you looked in this world If you focused on your forehead region, the world would present a translucent status screen displaying all sorts of values and graphs By controlling the cursor with your mind, you could perform all sorts of action Both of the up

They also discovered the telepathy function This was a function to contact your friends that were online in the game In the Elder Tales world, this function was si players to contact their friends from far away

However, they could only contact people registered on their friend list

Focusing on his forehead and browsing his friend list desperately with rusty controls, shi+roe had been shocked and he shouted when he discovered that Naotsugu was online

Naotsugu was surprised when shi+roe contacted hireed to meet up at the ruins nearby

””

””

The silence hung between theht about what to say But the ansas obvious, shi+roe had a better grasp of the situation than Naotsugu Froed into Elder Tales in the past two years

shi+roe told Naotsugu everything he knew

Everything wasn't much

If it were about things that happened during the two years when Naotsugu wasn't around, they could have talked all day But shi+roe had no clue regarding the reason and background as to why they were involved in this perplexing event

What he could confirm was that he installed the expansion pack 'Novasphere Pioneers' and was playing with beginners just outside of the city when the incident happened The place looked the sa point of Elder Tales, Akiba, and they seeame world They had the same bodies as their characters and retained all the iteame

(Now that I think about it, how are the twins doing? I need to check on them later)

But shi+roe didn't knohy this was happening

As shi+roe narrated, Naotsugu listened carefully When unfamiliar terms popped up he would ask about them, but he didn't interject with his own opinions

shi+roe didn't like noise He was fine with lively and festive atu was cheerful and h to listen to others

Their characters differed but they hit it off well, enerosity to compromise with each other

”I see, eh, alternate world an alternate world has sucked us in, fantasy has become reality”

”So Naotsugu, why are you here? Making a comeback?”

Naotsugu replied:

”Yeah, I heard about the new expansion pack, and things at ere caled in to take a look”

come back

(So Naotsugu was co back)

He recalled that Naotsugu was 2 years his senior

shi+roe o shi+roe was already a veteran player in Elder Tales then It was normal for a middle school student to play with computers in that era, but shi+roe was one of the few homely types Put simply, even if he went out, his heart was still at home he was a kid as lonely even in a crowd

Even after e, hethe virtual world every day

Elder Tales already had a special place aing game with incredible content, it had to be Elder Tales; this was the view of the gast the players

For instance, Elder Tales had a grand vision, the 'Half-Gaia project' It oal of the project was to recreate Earth at half its scale

The starting city for japanese server was Akiba, corresponding to Tokyo in the japan archipelago North Ael' as starting cities japanese and American servers were just convenient names to refer to The online world was made up of many different servers connected to each other, so it was theoretically possible to head for other continents or even the end of the world Hence, one of the selling points of Elder Tales was the ability of players to travel to other servers, so normal MMOs could not emulate

The Half-Gaia project was a long terame was not a perfect rendition of the real world

In Elder Tales, the world was divided into many zones, each with its own territory and boundaries

The vast sea of trees in Mount Fuji was a zone where ferocious eon shi+nshuku Metro Coe for adventure, and the city of Akiba was a non-combat zone

Going deeper, a room in a hotel was also a small zone Soame coins, you could be a land- or home-owner

All zones were connected in their oays Open plains, for example, didn't have boundary demarcations, so players weren't able to tell which zone they were actually in When they moved across zones, they wouldn't even notice

Sos and rooh a door

Froed tens of thousands of zones

With such a scale, the developing co coeable veteran players like shi+roe were convenient reliable existences

shi+roe had been invited by a of it as a trial

Guilds were the roup in Elder Tales

After entering a guild, players could access the guild account in the bank and use the guild warehouse to e their equipuild members kept in touch with each other so it was easy to form raid parties

So uild since it was convenient and had many benefits

Since shi+roe liked to research the gan servers, his knowledge was better than that of other veteran players who had played as long as he had From this perspective, shi+roe was souild he chose to join

No player could grasp the details of all the zones perfectly; shi+roe was also not a genius of that level But things like main routes, the connections between zones, or the transport devices known as Fairy Rings could shorten your transportation tireatly What you could buy at which zone or where you could hunt for a specific e needed to be accumulated slowly over time

Countless zones, endless varieties of items and monsters, missions known as quests, all kinds of ancient lore and knowledge and anything else the developers could think of The culmination of all these was Elder Tales

But shi+roe could not get used to relationshi+ps that included elements of convenience and benefit He had mellowed out now, but the shi+roe back then wasneat freak

Even if shi+roe didn't make many requests of others, he didn't kno to decline others

He didn't reject thes didn't accept them either

There were all sorts of people in the ga as there were people, there would be both pure and impure relationshi+ps For the

shi+roe noticed that he was being used like a walking encyclopedia Along with his high-level character, he was dragged around like an all-purpose tool to fight for the convenience of others

shi+roe couldn't adjust to this type of relationshi+p or reject it tactfully, so he chose to leave the guild and le with others in temporary raid parties by himself

Before shi+roe realized it, he had becoh-level character As his farew, he fell deeper into solitude

Naotsugu er and travel alone, having given up on guilds shi+roe was starting to grow nu of solitude

shi+roe and Naotsugu met in the Debauchery Tea Party

The Debauchery Tea Party was not a guild It was just the Debauchery Tea Party There was no other way to describe it It was just a group of players who 'just' happened to congregate there

Even though they 'just' happened to be there, but they were 'always' there and 'ready' to go

that was the place shi+roe belonged to

The guilds they joined were different

Their characters were not the same

They had nothing in common

They just gathered in the ruined building Sometimes in the plains, other times on the hills where you could see the stars

This group went on adventures

Elder Tales was a sword- and sorcery-style fantasy world, set thousands of years into the future This was the setting the players bought into

According to the legend of Elder Tales, there had been athe old world, which was miraculously reconstructed by the Gods into this one

This was a coames

Coiants, chimeras, and hydras roamed the lands

Most players found joy in battling Gaining EXP and leveling up after defeatingpowerful and rare treasures; this was the common way to play Elder Tales

But this was just grinding and far repeatedly and adventuring were different things, shi+roe discovered that for the first time in the Debauchery Tea Party And he could always see 'her' in the Debauchery Tea Party, as well as co 'her' shi+roe was also a companion there

The people shi+roe ht be the first friends he u was one of them

2

”Since you were co?”

”Yeah, it is more or less stable Aye, this has been a hectic year”

The Debauchery Tea Party went on for 2 years, which was theand joyful period in shi+roe's time in Elder Tales But after soends came to an end

One of the reasons was Naotsugu taking a break away froame

During the winter of that year, Naotsugu wasn't able to go online for a period of time because of his busy work schedule Several people also left the game at that point due to personal reasons

The Debauchery Tea Party was not a guild

Since it was not a guild, they did not have any obligatory relationshi+ps Although everyone was all grown up and wouldn't say it due to eroup treasured their friendshi+p very much

It was not decided by anyone, the Debauchery Tea Party just went on an indefinite hiatus They thought about inviting new friends to carry on the congregation, but that would be a different adventure and story

Although the Debauchery Tea Party ceasing to function ret They enjoyed h

”Work was finally on track and going sort of sht now What really sucks is that there are no cute girls there”

”That doesn't ht?”

shi+roe brushed off Naotsugu's complaints

Naotsugu could be described as a 'hero'

shi+roe thought Naotsugu had ht be recklessness in sou stop being a chatterbox no matter what happened

”What's with your eyes? Closet pervert look?”

”I'”

”Yes you are There are 2 type of men in this world, open perverts who admit it and closet perverts who don't I am an open pervert who likes panties, shi+roe is a closet pervert who definitely likes panties”

The ridiculous theory made shi+roe pout

But shi+roe wasn't angry

Naotsugu had always been sensitive about others and his words were ht trouble others, shi+roe was a healthy man, so he was also interested in the opposite sex He knew that he could take this level of joke and conversation

”I also like Ah, although I like girls, I still have standards”

”I know personality is important, but you can still be attracted by their appearances”

” You ht?”

”Yeah”

Naotsugu gave a big sigh

shi+roe nodded, he understood Naotsugu's point

”Even if work had calmed down, there was no need to take a vacation in the virtual world And with things like this, can we really go back?”

Naotsugu said jokingly

All the other players trapped in this world should be asking the sa proble manner showed his mental tenacity and his concern for shi+roe

”I was thinking, maybe a new God just took over, and had a delusional fantasy”

”It is so cruel to trap us this way Really, the whole world has turned upside down, is this some type of festival?”

”Yeah, let's not have any expectations that we can go back anytime soon”

”Your way of accepting this situation also seems ruthless”

”Only suicidal people will showon”

”As expected of the tactician of the Tea Party”

Naotsugu replied condescendingly, then shook his head and said with a serious expression

”Right, no expectations for now So going by the fantasy novel settings, we need to survive by our own from now on?”

He was not happy about this, but shi+roe nodded and agreed with Naotsugu's questions According to shi+roe'snor inner twins before his consciousness was cut off

Everything he did was about the same as usual, but he was forcefully trapped in this situation

It ht be due to some external factors or some mistake he made, but there was no way for shi+roe to find out

There ht be some way out of this situation and alternate world, but shi+roe didn't kno at this instant

In other words, be it searching for a way back or going back to the old world by some unknown external mechanism, they needed to live in this world before that happened

”We ht wake up in our old world if we die here, but I wouldn't reco like that would be the sa a billion dollars froht explode!' ”

”Doesn't see for real, that would be a waste”

”That's right”

”But tactician shi+ro, it shouldn't be a probleht?”

”Is it?”

”We are level 90 right? It e a difficult zone, but it shouldn't be hard just living on right? We have money, we have equipment My equipment is a bit outdated, but it is still serviceable, so there shouldn't be any probleht?”

Elder Tales was a RPG that used level systeu were at level 90, the previous level cap in this world

But this was not so, about half the players were level 90

Elder Tales had a long history and sih hundreds of updates, adding all sorts of game elements

Although shi+roe didn't experience that period, the level cap when Elder Tales just started was 50 The players enjoyed the Elder Tales world and would grind their characters to the level cap, and request for more adventures from the developers

To meet these demands, the developers pushed out an expansion pack It had new eneher level cap for the heroes to becoer There had been several level cap revisions since then; the latest one was 90

The cap of level 90 cao The official announcement for the 'Novasphere Pioneers' expansion pack included an increased level cap to 100

This row their Adventurer's avatar

Before the release of the new expansion pack, half the players were already at the level cap and there was nothing strange about it

” I don't think this is it”

”Why?”