Suddenly, the peaceful kingdom of Aionne was plunged into chaos. Indistinguishable mutterings of complaints filled the air because the people still couldn't accept how ugly they really are.
Rome wasn't a looker himself, but he didn't panic. No one cared to see his face anyway.
Moments later, the guildmates of the ripped man beside him arrived, mocking and laughing at his stupid appearance until he lifted one of them up into the air with one hand.
'Uhk... better get the hell outta here...'
Rome sneakily left the scene and walked around, observing his surroundings. Though the players were all riled up, the NPC's seemed to be not affected at all.
But actually, upon closer inspection, Rome realized that they no longer acted like programmed characters inside the game. Their movements and facial expressions, even the way they talked to each other about the bizarre reaction of the players seemed so real.
'What the heck is going on? Wasn't the game supposed to shut down?'
Rome decided to summon the UI to look at the settings, but when a holographic screen appeared in front of his face, the usual options and texts weren't there.
The UI was where players viewed the settings, customer service, log out button and other useful features. But now, there was nothing on the screen except a short, mysterious message.
Before reading it, Rome looked around him and saw the other players doing the same thing.
He then began to read the text.
[ What is reality if not a happy dream? Saviours of Frostgard, welcome to the new world. ]
Almost all at the same time, the players fell silent as the realization dawned on them. Rome's green eyes slowly widened, his heart pounding against his chest.
There was no returning home, no leaving the world of Frostgard Online.
It was at the tip of his tongue. Eventually, the perfect term arrived at Rome's mind:
Isekai.
'We have been isekai'd!'
Everyone had already seen this in novels and anime before. But to think that it would happen to him...
And not just him. It was a mass Isekai of billions of players across the globe!
The world of Frostgard Online was massive, with an amount of maps and biomes impossible to explore in one lifetime. Aionne Kingdom was just one of the starting points of the story. Depending on the server you choose, you would end up in a completely different beginner's town, and there were different variations of the opening story for every server.
So, instead of the players being separated through the servers, they were separated by region instead. The world of Frostgard was big enough for double the global populations anyway, and there was no means to create a duplicate account.
Assuming that all the players across Frostgard Online had been transmigrated into the game, then there must be currently at least five billion people who had been isekai'd.
With that said, everyone had already accepted this fact, it seemed. Humans really were quick to adapt.
Rome looked around him and the players were already banding together for a better chance of survival. After all, no one knew what would happen to them if they died here.
There was a possibility that dying meant returning to the old world, but no one seemed to like the idea.
Besides, if it meant unlimited subscription to the game, who would want to leave?
In the distance where a lot of people gathered, Rome saw a man clad in majestic metal armor lined with gold. A glorious red cape flowed behind him with the symbol of their guild. Everyone looked at him, hoping to be accepted into his guild and he stood tall in front of the crowd like a messiah.
He was Mathias_05, the strongest player in the Aionne region. He dominated both PvP and achievement leaderboards ever since the game was released.
Frostgard Online generated its revenue mostly through the game subscription and the sales of the game itself, as well as the equipment and custom PC builds. Thus, there were never items to be bought with real world currency in the game. You can't just spend money to buy skills or weapons to make yourself stronger.
In other words, the game was very free-to-play friendly. You rise to the top using your skills and intelligence alone.
That was what Mathias_05 had done.
His class was called Gladiator under the Warrior category. A class that wielded powerful weapons and possessed skills that could shake the earth. They were inhumanly tough and the more you attacked them, the stronger they became. It was a truly formidable class.
The one who claimed the second place in the leaderboards was Alex_The_Great, an incredibly handsome young man with unmatched 1v1 skills and was widely known for his lightning fast reflexes and epic outplays. His class was called Shinobi under the Assassin category.
But as of now, only Mathias was present in the scene, tending to the people who wanted to join his guild and form alliances with him.
Rome hesitated to go near the crowd. Would they even accept him if he did?
In the middle of his contemplation, he felt a soft hand gently patting him on the shoulder.
Rome almost glitched in shock before slowly turning his head to look behind him. And as he did, his jaws almost dropped.
"Don't be shy," an attractively cold feminine voice said. "Mathias encourages everyone to join him. You know the saying, united we stand, divided we fall?"
If it weren't for the small HP bar above her head and the circle saying [Lvl. 269], he would assume that this woman was an incredibly beautiful NPC. But no. She was a player like him.
She had long, straight, and silky black hair that was primarily black but accented with streaks of deep violet. Her face was pale and refined, with smooth, delicate features. She stared at him with her sharp eyes, and even though it looked quite emotionless, it was nothing short of mesmerizing.
She was dressed in a sleeveless high-neck black top that gracefully clung to the curves of her body. Falling slightly below her flawless, bare shoulders was a thick black coat which the design Rome recognized. There was also a sheathed katana hanging on her waist.
Did the appearance change even work on her? She looked as though someone wanted to design the perfect girl character and spent hours in the customization phase.
It was almost hard to accept that someone like her existed in the same reality Rome did.
"Go on, fall in line," she said.
His mind short circuited and the following words escaped his mouth:
"Thanks. You too."
As he was about to turn around and leave, he heard the beautiful girl chuckle.
"I don't have to," she replied with a faint laughter. "I am Alex_The_Great, the co-founder of that guild. But now, you can just call me Alex."