Chapter 4: 1-3: Make a Wish

I won't bore you with the details of how our Guild was formed. I won't tell you of the lengthy process it took to get us to where we are now. I let Momonga continue as Guildmaster, despite his protests and my misgivings, for a few simple reasons.

In canon, Momonga was the only reason that the Guild stayed in one piece until the very last day. He led the Guild by example, befriending each member individually and helping them to work together in complete harmony. Ainz Ooal Gown was a group of people so diverse and strange that to lead them one had to be both extremely flexible and willing to bend over backwards to accommodate them at times.

If you know anything about me, you should've figured out by now that I don't really have that sort of skillset.

In addition, if I was going to dedicate all of my time to preparing for the New World, I wouldn't exactly have the luxury of leading an entire Guild. Coordinating events, managing finances, keeping track of forty-one different schedules… not to mention the fact that trying to get a large number of gamers to do anything is like herding petulant cats. I need to be able to operate freely, without the chains of responsibility binding me down.

So… yeah. As much as it would've been amazing to lead Ainz Ooal Gown, I probably would've run it into the ground.

But wait, I hear you asking. Why would I do all this? Why bother joining Ainz Ooal Gown at all?

Well… it was quite simple, really. I'm sure you've picked up on it by now, I've made reference to it multiple times. I'll explain it one last time, just in case.

See, from the moment I figured out that I was in the world of YGGDRASIL, I realized something. If I stuck by Nazarick, if I played my cards right, if I stood within its' walls while the game ended… I could become a god.

In this world, this magnificent world, I was a god.

I'll admit, at first the sheer idea was mind-boggling. But after the reality sunk in, I began noticing things that others overlooked. Simple things. I realized that the Artificial Intelligence of YGGDRASIL had long since evolved into something more. These creatures could live, and more importantly, they could learn.

I was a god in the realm of mortals, given free rein to do as I pleased.

Why did I ask for so little of the Developers back in the beta days? They obviously expected me to ask for an entire World to be built in my image, so why wouldn't I do so? Simple. This game, just like the 'real' world outside, was all just a passing-through point for me.

So rather than asking for a new World, I asked for my own Race. Rather than asking for some game-breaking weapon, I asked for my own 'territory', so to speak, with its own NPC levels built right in. Rather than my own game-breaking attack, I just asked that my Race be able to guard beautiful maidens. I had my own section of Nazarick all to myself, a place that I had absolute rule over, a place where the Developers had granted me total freedom in exchange for monthly reports on the kinks in the software.

To the Developers, I was the epitome of a comfort gamer. A role player. The kind of person who played only for fun, exploring the various features the game offered. An old man, living for the simple pleasures. They gave me a hundred NPC levels as a built-in part of my character, and in return, I helped them better their game.

They made me a god, and I gave them advice on programming. Who got shafted here, I wonder?

As the game further developed, they began implementing the more traditional Raid Bosses into the game. I took this as my long-awaited opportunity, charging out to confront them on my own and laughing in the face of danger. I challenged the first of them with absolutely no gear on me, trusting my [Totem of Life] to keep me from losing. Arguably it was the single most broken accessory I was capable of equipping, making my endgame so much easier. Its purpose was simple—granting me an Extra Life once every 16 hours. Not as powerful as some armors granting much the same, but the tribal tattoo-like overlay functioned just fine.

My fellow Guild members laughed, calling me a madman, watching as I lost over and over and over again at the hands of Bosses meant to face dozens of Players…

…Until I started winning.

The whole of YGGDRASIL seemed to pause in shock as I delivered the final blow to a Level 80 World Threat. The first high-tier Raid Boss ever to be beaten solo by a Player.

My spoils, a shitload of gold and Data Crystals alongside an honest-to-God World Item, immediately prompted others to try their luck at the same. But unlike me, they faced it down with their best gear and weapons—only to lose them as they were mercilessly slaughtered. I gained quite a following for a time as I slowly marched around the Nine Realms, challenging every Raid Boss ever discovered and always coming out on top. All the while, I was armed only with the [Totem of Life] and the ever-growing stock of EXP within my ring.

Quickly catching on, the Developers began an event to showcase their newest additions—The Parade of Heroes. It offered Players the chance to double their EXP gain for the duration, but only so long as they went solo. I didn't care too much about the event itself, but when they started adding temporary Raid Bosses just as an exhibition match, I jumped aboard the bandwagon quicker than you please. They reached out and requested to televise the matches to increase popularity, and I agreed on the condition they added a brand-new Job Class.

They ceded, telling me there was one that would only be available to someone who had beaten five hundred Raid Bosses in single combat.

So I fought. I fought over fifty separate Raid Bosses that month, from lava-throwing behemoths to icy winter spirits. I made a show of relishing the challenge, even shifting into Dragon form whenever I thought it might be 'fun', or more accurately in order to more rapidly decimate the Bosses.

Leveling was still inhumanly hard. The Developers made my Race's side-effect so awful any other Race could have maxed out dozens of times over. Sure, my starting EXP penalty was times six in the early game, but it drastically increased every 10 Levels to a frankly unfair degree.

To my amusement, the flavor text for the Race explaining this stated that Dragons gained power as they aged, which I pointedly avoided commenting on. The shitty Devs were probably having another go at me.

Even back at Level 70 I could give a high-end Level 100 Player a solid fight, but my Stats came at the price of having to earn EXP as if I Leveled up to 100 several times over. By Level 80 it took me over seven Raid Bosses and their entourages alone just to Level-up once, still suffering from the drawbacks of a huge size and relatively weak Magical Defense. Sure I was somewhat overcompensating with Exceeding Limits Physical Attack and Resist Stats, but it was still a pain in the ass.

By Level 90 I was forced to kill over 175 Raid Bosses to progress the final few Levels. I even died once after a Raid took out my [Totem of Life], losing five Levels because some prick used an AoE Super-Tier on the area I was in without checking to see if anyone was around to get caught in the crossfire. Five Levels might have seemed like nothing to normal people, but for me it was akin to losing hundreds of hours of EXP grinding.

The Devs added an Item in the cash shop to bypass the required Quest to respec into the Dragon Race, and countless people moved by my performance were inspired to try to become Dragons themselves. None ever made it past Level 10, much to my amusement. I earned my power, and they couldn't be bothered to replicate the feat. The Devs helpfully offered disappointed Players a different cash iem that let you reverse your decision for obscene amount of money, returning the game to normal once more.

In the beginning the fights were manageable. Then I was gradually forced to use some of the drops from previous Raid Bosses. Then even that wouldn't cut it and I had to tap into using various cash shop items I had picked up on the Devs' payroll. First the Bosses were meant for a party of three, then five, then nine, then fifteen, until eventually it required an entire Legion to combat them. I faced them all head-on with nothing but my Maiden and my wits.

My constantly-gathering ring was responsible for some of my woes, though I considered it a worthy sacrifice. The percentage it pulled might've been negligible to others, but thanks to the ludicrous Race penalty it pulled more than most Players got in their lifetimes.

I swear to God, those Devs have it in for me.

My EXP had been gathering for ages, and since I eventually reached Level 100, my ring simply continued collecting. The ring swapped from a measly two percent drain to taking all of it automatically, which grew my stores at a tremendous rate. But I didn't create another NPC, not yet. I continued to fight, waging war after war, fighting everything from a titan holding a miniature planet to a man made of pure wind.

But, like all challenges, this one eventually came to an end. My five hundredth battle came in a rush, with me pitted against a Dragon with pitch-black scales. What an irony. The Developers had gone all-out, and I saw quite a few Players hanging around to watch the spectacle for themselves. But in the clash of the titans, only one could come out on top. After over an hour, I finally slew the behemoth, which had appropriately named Challenger, and amidst the cheers of my fellow gamers, I beheld my new Job.

The Ultimate Raid Boss.

To my utter shock, the Job Class boasted not only a world-breaking Skill, and a lift in stats, but also a very interesting side-effect. For every enemy in my immediate vicinity, I gained +10% to all of my Stats. All of them. And it didn't seem to have an upper limit, either. Confused, I called up the Devs for an explanation.

It's because you spent so much of your time and effort on our game, that we gave you such a thing. They told me. If anyone else dares try to do what you have, they deserve the same Job Class.

It was overpowered, yes, but they assured me that other Job Classes offered just as much power to their owners and left it at that. Considering I was already a living legend, I was hardly inclined to test their words and seek out one of the others.

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