Albedo had conveyed her report to Suzuki, and after some deliberation Suzuki pulled out everyone who was above ground, ordered them to return to the safety of the Tomb, and ordered the illusion covering Nazarick to be completed.
He had no idea if an illusion like that could fool cameras or satellites, but he could hope at least.
Aside from that, there wasn't much else that they could do.
Or is there?
A thought had occurred to him.
Ten minutes later, both he and Hiroshi were back in the amphitheater watching a large djinn battle with some of the POP monsters of Nazarick.
Hiroshi was eating popcorn and kept absentmindedly offering it to Suzuki, who was sitting right next to him as Hiroshi kept forgetting that Suzuki couldn't eat.
"Oi, Sis, why are the Supreme Beings watching such weak monsters fight?" Mare asked Aura.
The elves were seated elsewhere in the amphitheater.
"Urm, I don't know, Mare," Aura said while gritting her teeth. "It must be some sort of experiment."
"But what kind of experiment?" Mare asked.
Aura scratched her chin. "I honestly don't know Mare. I don't even know if Demiurge could figure out what goes through Momonga-sama's mind."
Mare's eyes widened. Demiurge was widely known as the smartest within Nazarick- but did the intellect of the Supreme Beings surpass even his?
Well, to be fair, Aura was correct.
This was an experiment- but a rather simple one at that.
The djinn that was fighting was something that Hiroshi had summoned with the item he was holding in his left hand. It was a lamp known as Lamp of the Arabian Nights. It could summon a djinn, a race of heteromorphic creatures in Yggdrasil that usually specialized in magic casting.
There were many crystals with summoning spells imbued in them in the treasury, but they were consumable and so Suzuki didn't want to waste them right now.
The djinn was only level forty and could be called once every three days using the lamp, and the POP monsters that it was fighting against were not very strong either with the best of them capped at level thirty.
This was an experiment to see whether or not it was possible to gain experience points, and by extension, level up in the real world.
Normally Suzuki would've tried such an experiment on himself, but he chose Hiroshi as Hiroshi would be a far better candidate. For one, being the Guild Leader, it might be impossible for Suzuki to farm EXP from his own guild's POP monsters. Hiroshi however, was technically not a guild member right now, at least in his human form. Furthermore, Suzuki would only gain a single experience point per monster killed, and even if he did gain experience points, it would probably still take forever for him to level up.
Suzuki didn't know what level Hiroshi was per se, and neither did Hiroshi either, but Suzuki could see his health bar and compare it to his own. It would appear that Hiroshi was only about level three or so, but given the varying nature of how different races and classes gained health points it couldn't be said that this was wholly accurate.
As such, given that in Yggdrasil players would gain experience from creatures summoned by them, that meant that Hiroshi didn't even need to fight by himself. Even better was the fact that Hiroshi, though he was using a comparatively high level summon would still be counted as being only about level three (if that was his real level) for the purposes of calculating EXP gained. As such, this was known as a tactic that lower leveled players could use to quickly plough through the initial levels quickly. One could go from level one to level forty within a single day with some help from other players.
Of course, there were some potential flaws to this experiment. If killing POP monsters didn't give EXP, or if summons didn't grant summoners EXP for their kills, or if Hiroshi would still be counted as a guild member, or if EXP gain didn't work in the real world- well, if any of those 'ifs' was true, then the experiment would fail. However, given that summons could always be summoned again and the djinn was not a powerful creature, and that the POP monsters, if they followed Yggdrasil rules, would spawn on their own accord without any need for gold, the price of a failed experiment would be practically zero. Also, Suzuki had not brought out all of the POP monsters of Nazarick just in case- only half of them.
The djinn was able to defeat the majority of the POP monsters with ease given that if could Fly out of range and kite them with attacks. Once the stronger ones had fallen, it then resorted to its fists. Being a heteromorphic monster, it had its own racial advantages and disadvantages, though the POP monsters did not have anything that could counter it and as such it was able to make short work of the rest of the monsters, although its health had been greatly depleted as a result.
Suzuki glanced towards Hiroshi. His health bar had increased by a noticeable amount, it had almost doubled as a matter of fact. However, there was no mana bar.
"I feel... sort of weird," Hiroshi said. It was a strange feeling- as if his body had gotten lighter somehow. As he focussed, he realized something else that was different. "Hey- did they add something called 'Martial Arts' to Yggdrasil?"
"Eh?" Suzuki answered. "No- not that I know of."
Hiroshi had never heard of such a thing known as a 'Martial Art' before, but he somehow now knew, deep down, that he could use one. Whatever it was. And he knew what it did, somehow, instinctively. It was like how Suzuki had mentioned that he could somehow knew what each and every single one of his magic spells did.
As such, given that it was a non-lethal move, Hiroshi decided to go ahead and test it against the djinn.
"Martial Art- Possibility Sense!" Hiroshi said.
It was a Martial Art that would let him get to know the possibility of victory against an opponent.
As such, his possibility of defeating this djinn was a hundred percent.
That was all that had happened. He glanced at his hands. They were still human hands. He got up and did a few practice punches and kicks. His body felt more powerful.
Honestly, he still felt disappointed. He had hoped that with leveling up, he might get his Yggdrasil avatar's body, but not only did he not turn into a slime, he didn't even get a choice on what his levels were used for apparently. They seemed to have been allotted to him randomly. He didn't even know what he had leveled up into.
The fact that he had gained something called a 'Martial Art' implied that he was sort of a warrior, which was a real bummer considering the fact that he was hoping to learn how to use magic. Sure, it was great to have inhuman strength but truthfully it wasn't as fun as casting spells.
Hiroshi told Suzuki about what his new skill could do with a bored tone.
Suzuki however seemed to be far more excited than Hiroshi, though again, it was difficult to tell given his skeletal face.
"Ah- what a curious ability!"
"I'm not sure what you mean by that," Hiroshi said. He was rather bummed out that that was the only ability he had gotten.
"I can't imagine something like that existing in Yggdrasil," Suzuki explained. "From what did this skill calculate the odds of you winning to be a hundred percent? I don't think you're nearly at the djinn's level yet, but- oh! Maybe it had taken into account the fact that it was your summon and you could order it to lose. But a computer game such as Yggdrasil couldn't possibly take into account so many possibilities at once."
Now that Hiroshi thought about it, he had to agree that it was kind of strange. Plus, this ability would've actually been quite useful back in Yggdrasil.
There were players who hunted player killers for sport, and as such many of them would use the spells False Data- Life and False Data- Mana to make their health and mana bars were inaccurate, and then change their gear so that they looked like low level players. Whenever a player killer would arrive, they would then turn around and completely destroy them.
If this Martial Art was so accurate, it would've helped avoid such a thing happening. Also, if one knew the enemy was so strong they had no chance to defeat it, that would mean that they could flee. From a tactical standpoint, it was an invaluable skill, though there were probably ways to counter it.
"Try testing it a bit more," Suzuki said.
Hiroshi nodded and tried to use the skill on Suzuki. It didn't seem to trigger any of Suzuki's defensive skills, and the result was that Hiroshi knew he had no chance of defeating Suzuki.
Well, that was only to be expected.
"It's probably due to my physical immunity," Suzuki said. He was invulnerable to all physical attacks from anything level sixty and below. Just then, Suzuki stood up. "Wait, there's something else we can try!"
Hiroshi wondered what Suzuki was saying when Suzuki clapped his hands and called for Aura.
Aura rushed over immediately. "Yes, Momonga-sama?"
Suzuki mentioned a list of monsters he wanted delivered to the amphitheater.
Once they arrived, Hiroshi took a swing at each of them using a sword. Suzuki's physical damage nullification was valid for anyone below level sixty, but there were lower tiers of physical damage nullification, some taking place at level forty, others at twenty, and so on. And when a lineup of creatures with such abilities was formed, it was possible for Hiroshi to have a rough idea of how strong he was.
Come to think of it, Hiroshi realized he didn't even need to swing a sword at them- he just had to use Possibility Sense. Since he could not use magic, any enemy that he couldn't harm with physical damage was impossible to beat.
As such, Hiroshi found out that he was somewhere between level ten and twenty.
The djinn he had summoned was now gone and so was the mental link he had with it given that the time the summon would last was over.
"That was quite impressive, and we did get quite a bit of information," Suzuki remarked. "Do you want to continue? I could get more POP monsters."
"No, thanks for now," Hiroshi said.
"Ah! I'm sorry- you look tired," Suzuki said.
"Yeah, it's weird," Hiroshi said. He hadn't really done anything which was too physically demanding. However, now that he thought about it, using that Martial Art seemed to get harder the more he tried. It was as if he had spent the whole day intensely studying for an interview.
Hiroshi bid farewell to Suzuki and used his ring to teleport towards Nazarick's kitchen.
Although he had used the ring several times today it still amazed him how he could literally warp the world around him with just a thought.
Now that was the kind of power that he'd like, not something like what he'd gotten right now.
Getting food from the kitchen wasn't hard at all- they were practically begging to give him all of it when he said he was hungry, and he had to point out that he could only carry a certain amount. In response to this, all of the staff assured him that they would carry it all to his room.
That was right- he technically did have a room reserved for himself. He was feeling a bit tired even though it was still twelve- perhaps that Martial Art had taken more out of him than he had expected. He still took some food in his hands though just in case it would take the others time to get to his room.
With his hands crammed with food, he turned around and stepped on something odd.
Someone's foot.
Hiroshi Hirota stumbled and dropped what he was carrying.
"Agh! A thousand apologies!" a man in an orange tuxedo said as he got to his knees.
Ah, this is one of Ulbert's creations.
The very thought was enough for him to shudder.
However, Demiurge did nothing but bow his head apologetically.
"Ah, no, it's my fault," Hiroshi said.
"Nonsense Herohero-sama," Demiurge replied. "I should have taken care when I noticed you."
Demiurge had been preoccupied with the problem of what the Supreme Beings were planning and as such had been too slow to react when Herohero had turned around.
"It's alright though," Hiroshi said. "Ah, could you help me carry this stuff to my room then?"
Demiurge, rather than reply, practically snatched all the stuff from Hiroshi and with a sweep of his tail collected everything that had scattered on the floor.
Hiroshi would've normally just teleported, but as he realized that he didn't need to haul all that stuff back to his room he decided to try the long way.
After all, it would be great to see the rest of the guild base that he had helped build.
The two of them walked in step.
"Forgive me for asking, but I simply wished to know if your experiments bore any fruit, Herohero-sama," Demiurge prodded after about five minutes of silence.
"Huh? Experiments?"
"Indeed, the ones that you and Momonga-sama were performing on the sixth floor," Demiurge said.
Hiroshi narrowed his eyes. 'H-How did you know about that?"
"Mare told me all about it," Demiurge said.
Oh right, the guardians could communicate with each other. Hiroshi sort of had forgotten about that.
"Ah, well, we did manage to get some results," Hiroshi said. Truthfully, it had been a rather fruitful day even if he was disappointed with the results about his training. They had managed to confirm many things- including the fact that there were several things that they didn't know about, such as Martial Arts.
Speaking of Martial Arts, was it possible that Demiurge might know about them? Demiurge was supposed to be the smartest NPC, but Hiroshi didn't know how that translated into real life. There was no intelligence stat in Yggdrasil, after all.
"Have you heard of something known as 'Martial Arts?'" Hiroshi asked.
"Forgive me, for this one has not heard of such a thing," Demiurge said.
"Well, I managed to unlock one while training," Hiroshi said. "But Suz-I mean Momonga didn't know about what it was either. I haven't seen it before."
Demiruge's eyes widened. "Did you truly discover something that not even Momonga-sama did not know about? And it was something unknown up till now? As expected of the Supreme Beings!"
"Oh yeah, I just wanted to know if you knew what a Martial Art might be," Hiroshi said. He didn't really know the extent of knowledge that the NPCs had, did they know everything about the game world? Or did they only know things about what they had been programmed with? Did they know about all of the items they had been given?
Eventually they reached to where the guild member's rooms were kept.
"Thank you, Demiurge," Hiroshi said. He was actually quite surprised at how affable the archfiend was- he was sure that Ulbert had not programmed his NPC to be so servile.
"There is no need for your thanks, Herohero-sama," Demiurge said as Hiroshi took the stuff from Demiurge's arms.
"Oh, there's something else-" Hiroshi said. "Can you send a message to Solution and ask her to come to my room? I'd like to meet with her when she's free."
"But of course," Demiurge said, now on one knee as his hands had been freed. "I am sure she will come to your room immediately!"
"Uh, no, there's no need for that, I don't want to disturb her if she's doing something important," Hiroshi said.
"No, there can be no greater goal than that of serving a Supreme One," Demiurge said.
"Uh, alright then, thanks," Hiroshi said and retreated into his room while kicked the door shut behind him. He wanted to get out of that awkward situation as soon as was possible.
However, as he shut the door a wave of guilt came over him. If he thought of the Great Tomb of Nazarick like a corporation, then Demiurge would definitely be a junior executive at least. As such, asking him to do something like carry food around or to carry messages as if he was some sort of errand boy would be a disgrace to his position, wouldn't it? Hiroshi remembered his own office- at the very least there people took turns on who would order out food and the like.
It seemed that Hiroshi however had turned into the kind of boss that forced the intern to fetch everyone's coffee rather than trying to teach the intern something special. No, not even an intern- in this scenario he had done something like that so someone who held a management title at the very least! It was like a CEO telling a manager to fetch him coffee.
He chastised himself and told himself that he wouldn't let something like this happen again.
He then kept everything that he had got from the kitchens on a table.
He examined the room- this was his room and he had technically been here before in-game.
However it was an entirely new feeling to be here in person. The game did not capture the grandeur of the place.
He had once been lucky enough to stay inside a five star hotel on a business trip, but that paled in comparison to this. He went to lay down on the bed- amazing!
The bed was somehow so soft it felt like he was sinking into it and at the same time firm enough to support him.
He had been feeling drowsy earlier that morning while getting ready for work but now felt wide awake. Either it had been Solution's magic, or perhaps the leveling up, but either way he felt himself full of energy despite the small amount of mental fatigue he was suffering from.
However, he wasn't very happy with leveling up given the results it had brought. As a matter of fact, he was kind of scared at the prospect of leveling up more.
The reason was that he clearly had no control over what kinds of levels he would gain. In Yggdrasil it was far more important, especially in competitive play, to level up into the right kind of class rather than simply level up. Also, unlike in the video game, he knew no easy way that he could lose levels. The obvious way to do it in game was to die- that would free up five levels for you to invest somewhere else.
Of course, he didn't know if that would work in the real world. There was no real way to attempt to do so, other than to die, and Hiroshi wasn't going to risk that yet.
That was the real reason he had declined Suzuki's offer to train more. He wanted to be sure that he could level up into classes he cared about rather than into random ones before he dedicated himself to getting stronger.
These thoughts were interrupted as he heard knocking at the door.
"Herohero-sama, it is I, Solution Epsilon. May I came in?" a voice rang.
Hiroshi found it weird to listen to her voice. He had not programmed one in, and her voice matched that of a young girl in her twenties. It was not an unpleasant voice, but it made him wonder how it was that her voice had been decided given he had never written a description for it.
"Come in. I wasn't expecting you so soon," Hiroshi said.
"Pardon me," she said as she opened the door a crack. "If this is an inappropriate time, I will come later."
"No, no," Hiroshi said. "Please come in."
Solution walked in and then got on one knee just like Demiurge before her.
"There's no need for that, you can stand up," Hiroshi said. The whole display made him feel uncomfortable. He felt like an imposter sitting on such a wonderful bed.
Solution got up and smiled.
Urgh, why did I make her like an H game character?
Hiroshi felt his heart throb. Now that his mind was no longer so consumed by chaos, he was able to see his creation properly for the first time.
She really was beautiful- in his mind that was how a perfect beauty would look like.
"As your creation, I await your next order," Solution said.
Her smile was heavenly and quite genuine- unlike the scarier smile she had given him and Suzuki a while earlier.
"Oh, there's nothing that needs to be done, I just wanted to, ah, um, spend time with you," Hiroshi said. "You know, get to know you a little."
Solution smiled even more widely, and now her face was quite distorted. "Of course! Nothing would please me more than to spend time with my creator Herohero-sama, the one who gave me life!"
When she said 'one who gave me life' Hiroshi couldn't help but feel as if she was basically saying that Hiroshi was her father. That made him quite flustered as he was having a lot of thoughts towards her that a father would not have towards his child.
But now that he had gotten to this point, it made him wonder what it was that they should do next. He had not had a lot of female friends or colleagues, and as such was unsure of what he should start off with.
It's like suddenly having your imaginary friend come to life! It might even be something I would've been happy about a few years back, but now, it just makes my stomach hurt by thinking about it.
"Ah, and I wish to congratulate you, Herohero-sama," Solution said.
Eh? Congratulate him on what?
"Er, for what exactly? I don't think I accomplished anything special," Hiroshi said.
"Ah, there is no need to be modest, Herohero-sama!" Solution said. "Demiurge said that you had discovered something known as a 'Martial Art' that has never been known before-" she then paused as her facial expression froze. "Could it be that discovering something like that is nothing out of the ordinary for someone such as yourself?"
Huh? How many people had Demiurge told that news too? He had only mentioned the phrase in passing, but it looked like the entire Tomb somehow knew about it. Did news spread that fast in here? Well, it was only obvious it would with the use of the Message spell.
But why had Demiurge told everyone? Come to think of it, Hiroshi couldn't really blame Demiurge though as he had not said that it was sensitive information- but it wasn't normal for someone to spread something they had just heard like that, was it?
As it was, Hiroshi tried to use Possibility Sense on Solution and saw that it gave him a hundred percent chance of victory. That was probably because she was his creation and wouldn't fight back.
"Uh, yeah," Hiroshi said. "So, uh, what do you like to do?"
"Ah," Solution said as her smile widened even further somehow. "There is nothing more satisfying than dissolving humans and other lesser creatures slowly and painfully inside me. If they are helpless and innocents, even better!"
Hiroshi had sort of expected something like that, but it wasn't a hobby that he could share with someone else.
What was it anyway that he tended to do with his other friends? There was playing Yggdrasil, though that wasn't possible- or maybe, he could sort of play it in real life? But, that had far too many problems with it.
Either that, or they could go out for drinks. But he was aware of what Solution ate and drank, and that was out of the question as well.
Another option was to go watch a movie or an anime together. But what kind of movie would Solution like? A monster movie or a horror movie, most likely, he assumed.
He racked his brains and all he could think of was to maybe take a walk together.
Well, that would have to do. For now.
Mr. Yamamoto was the CEO of Labcorp Inc. a company that was officially listed as a business consultancy firm.
That was also technically true, but the kind of 'consulting' that they did for companies was not of the, ah, legal kind. Rather, they specialized in getting work done that no one else wanted to do.
Mostly it wasn't too dirty- just some employees didn't want to quit or were causing trouble and wouldn't shut up. Dealing with them was easy, but they had also covered up quite a number of incidents.
However, they were clearly compensated very well for these activities given how lavishly their CEO's office was decorated. There was a tiger skin hung up on a wall- illegal of course- bought from the Chinese black market. It was rather impressive given that tigers had gone extinct in 2087- this had either been an animal that had been hidden from the world or a failed attempt at cloning from some hidden lab somewhere. The floor was blanketed by a luxurious Persian rug covering the marble floor and flowers (real flowers mind you) lined many of the windows.
Mr. Yamamoto had been relaxing in his office. News of the flash of light that enveloped the world was lost on him- he had been asleep when it had happened and he had been granted no special powers for the same. As for the quarantine, that was something that annoyed him, but given the fact that his office was more like a bar/restaurant than an actual office he knew he wouldn't be too bothered by it. As a matter of fact, he had been wondering if his secretary- who was well known as being a 'secretary with benefits' was still around to perhaps entertain him.
However, such thoughts were lost from his mind as he was now focussed on just one thing- staying alive.
"I-I'll give you anything you want!" he screamed. "Don't hurt me!"
There was a monster in front of him which was ruining the serenity of his office. An ugly, hideous, horned red monster.
He had tried to call for security, but all of his phones had been disconnected by the monster before he could.
He had told his employees- those that were still in the office, not to disturb him unless they had found his secretary. As such, no one would come in. The office was well insulated to prevent eavesdropping but that feature he had ordered had now turned it into a prison as even if he screamed no one outside would probably hear him.
From behind the monster, a man stepped out into the light and slammed a piece of paper on the desk.
Paper? In this day and age?
It had a single name written on it: Tukuta Miyazaki.
It was a strange name, which was why he realized who it was immediately. It was an employee of another company which he had ordered a hit on. That job had paid exceptionally well.
"Tell me everything you know about this man," the man said. He was wearing a strange cloth over his face and had sunglasses on. Granted, with the ozone layer about as thick as a sheet of styrofoam, it was probably a good idea to wear sunglasses almost all the time, but it was still barely morning. Also his voice was distorted as if the man was using a voice modulator. He sounded like a robot going through puberty.
Mr. Yamamoto had never been put at gun point before. He handled such nasty business while keeping his distance away.
"I don't know who he is," Mr. Yamamoto lied instinctively. If he gave up such information, he would be killed regardless of what happened. And if not that, his business would be ruined regardless.
"Shall I make him speak, O Summoner?" the monster asked.
The man glanced at the monster. "Can you do that? Without hurting him I mean?"
The monster shook its head. "He won't be too hurt though. Don't worry."
Sweat poured down Mr. Yamamoto's neck.
"Who are you? Why are you doing this?"
He hadn't expected an answer, but the man stopped giving orders and looked up at the ceiling as if contemplating who he was. "My name is Ulb-I mean, my name is Jaldabaoth."
Mr. Yamamoto didn't even try to pronounce the name.
"However, don't bother hurting him," the man said. "I have another idea."
The man lifted a strange ornament- a statue made in the shape of a devil holding several orbs in multiple hands.
With a spray of dark smoke a creature appeared in the room.
It had the vague shape of a beautiful woman wearing a brown kimono with pink flowers decorating it. He would have thought of her as very beautiful had he not noticed her yellowish catlike eyes and the two horns protruding from her skull.
"I need to extract information from this target," the man said in his weird distorted voice.
"Charm Person," the woman said and suddenly Mr. Yamamoto felt at ease.
He could trust this woman- she was one of his closest friends after all!
"How do you do?" she asked in a honeyed voice.
"I'm good," he said.
"And what do you know about this name?" she asked, motioning towards the name written on a piece of paper.
"I'm sorry, I can't tell you," he answered with a shrug. Sure, she might be his friend, but this was a business secret after all.
"Umu, and why not?" the woman asked. She had such an adorable and innocent expression on her face.
"It's a secret," he said. "And plus, if you know, they'll hurt you."
How could he risk the life of such a good friend of his by telling her such a nasty piece of information?
His friend's face contorted into a face of rage- the serenity and friendliness it had had was now gone.
"Is there anything stronger you can give him?" the man with a cloth around his face said. Mr. Yamamoto had almost forgotten about him.
"Indeed, Summoner," the woman replied. "Schizophrenic Lust!"
This was a fourth tier spell within Yggdrasil which was reserved for monsters such as sirens and succubi which were known the charm men. It would grant the user complete control over a target- even the ability to order them to kill themselves. However, it had a drawback namely that it only worked on monsters the opposite gender of the user, and of course, creatures such as Undead were completely immune. It was basically a far more powerful Charm spell and magic resistances applied to it as well.
Mr. Yamamoto did not know anything about this though. All he knew suddenly was his own lust as he felt heat flow into his lower body parts. This woman was exceptionally beautiful and before he knew it he was kissing her hand as she wrapped a hand around his face.
"Ah, please don't stop!" he said. He found that he no longer cared about the other monster and the man in the room. He didn't care that this woman was clearly not human- he just wanted to pin her down and-
"Oi, oi, I didn't come to see this, hurry up!" the man from earlier said, snapping him out of his thoughts. Mr. Yamamoto did not even bother wiping out the drool dribbling from the corner of his mouth.
"Can you tell me about Tukuta Miyazaki then?" she asked. "Tell me and we can continue."
"Of course," Mr. Yamamoto said. "We had a job which ordered a hit on him."
"Oh, and why so?"
"Because he had found about the deaths of a few other workers at the company he worked with," Mr. Yamamoto said. "I didn't know the details, but some other members at his company had died. We had made it look like a suicide, but then he figured it out. And so, the company also ordered a hit on him as well as the usual work."
"Oh? And why did those workers actually die?" the woman asked.
"I don't know," Mr. Yamamoto said. "I didn't need to know."
By now he had had enough and reached for the woman's chest. His hand was knocked aside as he suddenly felt himself lose consciousness.