I do not know how long I was unconscious, but the moment my consciousness returned, I knew that things were not right.
Instead of waking up in a shitty apartment with my Neural Nano-Interface showing me the timing for my next shift at work, what I found was a strange ruin that looked like it would crumble if I looked at it the wrong way.
Made of stone that had long since withered due to the elements, it was the ruins of some sort of castle that would not look out of place in YGGDRASIL's Midgard. But I knew that this could not be the game.
Mainly because I could feel my face and the expression forming on my face, I could feel everything that my hands were touching as if I were in real life, which should not be possible in the game since the sense of touch over there was greatly muted, mostly similar to the haptic-feedback systems from nearly a century ago. I could even smell the scent of sulfur and other such things in the air.
While most of these restrictions in the virtual world were something artifically created thanks to the Social Order Maintanence Act that most contries of the world had signed long ago to keep people from confusing the virtual world with the real one (and to heavily limit the escapism spike that appeared in the populance after the last few forests of Earth died out due to pollution) it did not mean that some people did not try to hack into the systems and enable these settings. Something that I had once tried out of curiosity.
And yet, even that near-realistic sensation that I experienced for that limited time was nothing compared to what I am feeling right now.
Slowly, I got up from the ground, and only then realized that I was still wearing my armor from my Avatar.
...Ok, something is seriously wrong here. Am I still in the game somehow? Was there some kind of glitch that happened at the game shutdown?
I shuddered as I thought about that scenario. That disaster of 2080, when a few hundred players from an early prototype of a DMMO-RPG game were killed during the beta test due to a bug in the game flashed through my mind.
I despise the Earth of my time, and wish for nothing more than spending my life in the world of YGGDRASIL, but that does not mean that I want to die either.
'Alright. Don't panic. First things first, scout out the area.'
I thought to myself as I felt my emotions slowly stabilize, allowing me to analyze my situation more clearly.
First things first, I need to search for hostile mobs or creatures in the area.
"[Detect Life]"
A simple spell that looks for any hostile mobs in the area is a QoL spell and not categorized into the tier system.
The moment I cast the spell, I knew that something was wrong.
Because instead of a simple drop in my mana being shown on the screen, I actually felt something within me being reduced by a little bit. The amount was so small that I could barely detect it, but I still felt the difference.
Ok, now I am really starting to worry about what is going on here.
Thankfully, the Detect Life spell came back negative on any mobs nearby, so that means I could at least take the time to survey my surroundings.
Looking at the ruins around me, I started to slowly walk around, trying to see if I could find anything that would tell me what was going on.
It was only when I walked a little bit that I found that there was some kind of strange magic circle drawn into the floor of the crumbling ruin, in the same place where I had just woken up.
Wierd. Did I accidentally end up in some unknown area of YGGDRASIL due to some bug after server shutdown?
Whatever the case might be, I think I need to get out of here as quickly as possible.
I waved my hand in the air, right in front of me. An action that would always manifest the screen full of menu options, which included the log-out button. The Console from which we players control everything about our Avatars and interactions in the game.
Yet, no such console manifested at my actions.
I felt panic slowly grow within my heart as I waved my hand again, a bit more aggressively, yet the system did not recognize my actions.
'Fuck! What the hell is going on here!? Is this really a bug, or is something else going on?'
'If I am somehow trespassing or something into some internal beta testing of a different game or something of that nature, I really will be screwed! The police will throw me away for a long time!'
With no other choice, I decided to first try and reach the Administrators and the shitty devs somehow.
Maybe Message will work? I don't really have any hope for it since the Message spell was designed for use between players and not the GMs, but I don't have any other choice. Besides, if Drakovahn or any other player is out there who is also caught in this bug or whatever this is, it could be a boon to try and find out what is going on.
So, without wasting any time, I cast the spell.
Immediately, I once again felt that familiar dip in something within me, as the spell activated. Yet, it did not even ring like it should and instantly terminated, making a pit form within my stomach.
This can only mean one thing. I am alone out here, no other player aside from me.
Fuck.
Ok. Calm down.
I need to survey the area and see if I can recognize anything from it. Maybe I am still in YGGDRASIL or something. Given that I can smell sulfur and the scent of something burning in the air, maybe I am still in Muspellsheim?
I wanted to unfurl my wings and take to the skies. Something that I could do with a mental command that the system would interpret as a system command.
However, before I could even make the system command, the very moment I thought of taking flight, I felt my twelve wings unfurl and fill up with the energy within me, my mana, my brain supplied to me automatically.
In an instant, I shot into the air like a meteor and tore through the skies at lightning speed.
I wanted to scream at the sudden speed and actions of my body, but somehow, I suddenly felt a bit calmer and felt like all of this was very familiar. Like I had done all of this many times before.
The undercurrent of emotions was still there, but I felt like there was no need to let them take control. And right now, I do not even have the time to feel any of that.
Because right now, I could tell that all of this was not some bug. Not some kind of error in the code or anything like that.
This was real. As real as the wings that I could feel behind my back that I could control flawlessly, like the sheer power bubbling beneath the surface within me, like the strange sense of disgust I felt for everything around me, like a halo of divinity hanging above my head.
All of this was real.
Somehow, my Avatar from YGGDRASIL had become real, and I had become one with it.
David Goodman, an ordinary office worker from the devastated world of Earth from the year 2138, had somehow become Aetherion the Seraphim.
I continued rocketing into the sky, tearing through the clear purple skies of wherever I am, as my instincts screamed at me to do something.
So, I decided to let my instincts take over and let my control over my body go.
However, what I did not expect was for my World Item, Aurora's Oath, to manifest in my hand as a particular spell came to my mind.
'Hm. Might as well try it and see what happens.'
I felt a significant chunk of my mana disappear as I primed the spell and raised my spear.
With a swing, I called upon the spell that, in the game, was able to deal significant damage while ignoring all protection and armor points.
However, in this reality I found myself in, it did something far more interesting.
"[Reality Slash]"
The Tier-10 spell tore through the fabric of space, creating a momentary breach into which my body shot into as I was far too surprised to stop.
Then, only darkness remained as I once again went unconscious.
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Author Notes: Read 5 chapters ahead on Patreon: patreon.com/Ruijard1