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For four solid months I committed to the grind. I had mapped out the area from the starting town in a spiral. The further from town the more dangerous the area. I worked on my skills with each weapon system and took advantage of the best feature of the Doppelgänger the ability to adjust stats on the fly. I got this ability at the cap of the prestige class Greater Doppelgänger level 10. When I transformed into the Greater Doppelgänger I got a fourth finger on my hand. When I became a Master Doppelgänger I had five digits again. My face also changed a bit with the master class I still had no definite features but I had a different contour then lesser members of my race.

I also gained the ability to disguise my name plate and appear as one of the humanoid races of my choice. The skill was called [Alter Ego] and gave me a customizable character form. I designed myself to look like Henry Cavill because if you have a choice, then lets be real, thats what you want to look like. Using cash shop design items I made a custom looking armor that looked like it was for a spartan warrior king.

Finding myself pleasing to the eye I went to the towns world teleporter. I needed to complete a quest located on Asgard to join all my individual weapon skills and clear up levels for more important abilities.

Arriving in the city was the first time I was surrounded by other players. While I have seen others around occasionally Helheim is not a popular world. Especially without heteromorph hunting being a thing yet. Scanning the city I saw the arena in the background and made my way there. I signed up paying the 1000 gold to do the weapons master challenge that I heard of from the fighter in the inn.

He only mentioned it after I had 15 levels in swords man and 10 in Spearman. He said that I had to  master at least 4 weapons to qualify to be a weapons master in Asgard. My weapons were the bow, spear, sword, and dagger. Each had been leveled to 10 besides swordsman which was 15.

My stats were much higher then the training NPCs especially when I moved my physical attack and defense to the max with my skill lowering my magic stats and traded resist for agility. According to my stats I was a strictly Frontline fighter right now that was weak to magic. That weakness wouldn't matter in the arena for this bout due to the match rules. No spells could be used during a weapons master test.

My first test was with the bow. My agility was so high I could simply kite the Spearman around the arena as I peppered them with shots. It was a joke. The second match my spear was selected. I was facing an archer so I used agility and my spear skill whirlwind shield to block incoming missiles and close the distance. Up close I used jabs and thrusts to damage the opposing side untill the elf was defeated.

My next match was dagger vs dagger. The small rogue a halfling of some sort was punishing me with his blades until I started mixing in kicks and low wide slashes. I eventually wore him down in a bloody scrap and ended him with an over head thrust slamming into the top of his skull. I pounded a potion and readied for my last fight it would be sword vs sword. I assumed the fights were ment to show off the situational advantage for each weapon.

My last fight pitted me against a katana weilding samurai. My first thought was fuck he has reach on my blade and I can't use my shield. 'Swordsman' and 'Sword & Shield' were separate classes and I didn't use the class sword and shield when signing up. We both drew our blades and started to circle each other. He used slow and deliberate steps while I floated Mohamad Ali style.

He stepped towards me and I slapped his blade away from me stepping into his guard and using the skill [Pommel Strike]. He used a skill to create distance a moment later and we were back to circling each other. Our second clash had the NPC use a feint to put a slash on my bladeless arm causing some minimal damage. Realizing my physical defense likely out shone his physical attack I got ready to fuck him up.

Moving in close enough to start his swing I barely pushed him away and used the [Clench] skill from my kickboxing class. Then holding his wrist with my left arm I began to wail on him with my shorter weapon. Shorter meant deadlier in this situation I could leverage each swing while he needed two hands to use his. I swung and swung until he was at zero hp and raised both arms in a victory pose when I got the notification I won.

With the weapons master skill added I went to the city's finest inn. Sitting in a luxury lounge being served by gorgeous elf and winged human beauties I started seeing how the new class worked. I tried to add a level the usual way to the skill but it wouldn't accept the XP. I then had an inkling to how it worked. I selected both the [Weapons Master] and [Swordsman] class. The prompt came up [Do you wish to donate [Swordsman] level 15 to [Weapons Master] master class level 0?] I clicked yes and my skills and abilities from one of my favorite classes disappeared. [Weapons Master level 1]. And that was it I traded the grind of 15 levels for 1 level.

'Well that stings.' I thought bitterly people are going to hate this class. I look at the class details for level one. [Any weapon in your hands is automatically treated as a magical weapon for purposes of overcoming resistance and armor class. If the weapon is already enchanted all weapon skills associated with that weapon style are available.] 'Oh hell yes!' If I start putting money into getting magic items I'll be able to use any style I need in any situation.

I then try to put the rest of my martial skills into the [Weapons Master] class. [Not high enough class level to donate.] Damn it looks like I need to get back to the grind. But first to the local market. At the weapons shop I buy a magic weapon of every type he has available.

Dagger

Club

Spear

Javelin

Rapier

Scimitar

Quarterstaff

Hand axe

Sickle

Longsword

Glaive

Mace

Greataxe

Halberd

Flail

Lance

War hammer

Greatsword

Battle axe

Morning star

Sword

Maul

Longspear

Axe

And a new shield

The whole time I'm thinking its good to be rich!

After heading back to Helheim, I start the grind over maxing out and getting comfortable with each weapon then sending the XP off to further my mastery. At level 15 it maxed out and I got some new skills and a spell.

My character sheet looked so much more streamlined untill I realized I still have kickboxing on here and there is probably a way to add all the martial arts. At this realization I fall to my knees and scream "Whyyyyyy!"

6 months later I'm staring at my now much more streamlined character sheet. 15 levels in [Weapons Master] and 15 levels in [Martial Arts Master]

Now if only there was a magic version... I hate myself some times....

<4 months later.>

Thank the lord for area of effects and farming locations. With 15 levels in [Mystic Magi] my completionist brain shuts down. The Mystic was a very equipment focused class. Say I wanted to do necromancy I needed a grimoire focused on that. Those are not cheap, we are talking one to two million gold on the market. And thats only if its for sale. I will need to go adventuring to find materials to make other ones I need. Right now I have necromancy and elementalist grimoires.

Being on Helheim for a year and some change now I have found a load of interesting things. I have seen the future guild base the Tomb of Nazarick. I have not stepped foot on it yet but I go and look at it at least once a week. I have found a mine for celestial uranium and have been mining it and storing it for a few months now. It takes a while for the mine to reset and I have not been able to make a caloric stone yet.

I have unlocked a new class that I find extremely interesting and useful. Its called [Copycat], its only five levels and synergizes well with my play style. If I am fighting someone and I use the same weapon type as them I get bonuses to my stats. At the max level I can seal one of their abilities and use it myself. If I switch to the same race as them my bonuses stack! So if I am fighting a skeletal warrior and I switch races to an undead in the same category and use the same type of weapon I can send my adjustable stats well over 100.

The heteromorph hunting has started to begin so in order to not deal with this mess until momonga comes I decide to play as my alter ego in the human centric worlds.

I would often join groups under my pseudonym, farm resources do quests that couldn't be done solo and fight boss monsters. I studied the different strategies that everyone used and used my many weapons for a multitude of damage. I fought like Leonidas at the hot gates. I pumped unfathomable amounts of money into the cash shop. I designed a suit for when I'm in my dopple form that had me looking like a cross between agent 47 and slender man with muscles. I had a set of looted heavy, medium, and light armor for the dopple as well so I could match anyone's skill set.

I had acquired a few more grimoires for different magics. And upgraded all of my gear using different contacts and making trades. I would usually pay in gold though due to buying goldpacks from the cash shop everyday. The gotcha was introduced and I got a message about it from the GM. I told him that he should make a button so I could do multiple spins at once and send them straight to my inventory. They had a patch the next day just to accommodate my spending. They would ask every once in a while how they could improve certain things with the money I spent in mind. I never asked for too much to keep things from getting annoying for them.

Through that connection I found out about a racial class I could quest for that would compliment my build 'somehow' perfectly. When I chased down those leads I found I had to fight a overpowered changling monster solo. The creature could do everything I did and would have been a terrible fight if it wasn't for the power of money. Potions to boost me up constantly, quick change gear with the little popsicle stick trick from the anime. I was unbeatable, inevitable, and inconceivable. The changling didn't have gear giving him a proportional boost to his every change like me.

Defeating him gave me the racial class [Aspect of Change]. There were 5 levels, each one gave me another [Alter Ego] a different playable race but instead of still being a Doppelgänger for my racial levels I could build up whole skill sets from the ground up. All the racial bonuses and class levels anything was possible. I was essentially the only person in YGGDRASIL that had multiple characters. The grind hit hard then...

Eventually the time for the World champion tournament came. I played on Helheim and easily won being able to adjust for any play style as a hard counter. My egg shaped head became pretty famous after that. Especially when I went on to win the tournament between the champions. I met Touch Me there and added him to my contacts. The [Champion of Helheim] class gave me bonuses to being on that world. It also gave me access to unique summons from Helheim itself.

But the class [YGGDRASIL Champion] my reward was an actual customized world item. I chose a morph weapon and named it the all black. Based on the theme of Helheim I said it should also be a necro-sword. They let me add a ton of lore basically making it the All Black and only loyal to me. The class also gave me bonuses to using world items and protection from certain world item effects.

After the championship Touch Me and I would do team ups to hunt player killers. He was a good dude if a little preachy about justice. Helheim was almost a literal hunting ground for humanoid races. Myself and anyone in my party could kill humanoid players without penalty on Helheim due to the world champion skill. They received a buff from me called [Defender of Helheim]. It worked the same for Touch Me on Niflheim.

We eventually came across Momonga the skelly boi. At this point the game really felt like its speed hit a new gear. I was with a dedicated team that would run raids and hunt PKers when they were online. I was asked tons of questions about maximizing builds because I knew so much about different races.

Eventually a conflict arose at a guild meeting between Touch Me and Cold Bone. They were arguing at the meeting about a real world issue between them. Knowing where this was going I stopped the argument. "Touch Me, Cold Bone. Do you know how old I am?"

My question caught them of kilter, it wasn't the first time I had intervened in one of the clans arguments, but it was the weirdest opener I had used yet. "I never talk about the world out there." I say taking a spot at the campfire we were talking at. "Sit." Once they did I released a sigh. "Lets go around and say how old each of us are, how about you Momonga?"

"I'm 25 Quake-san." Momo's humble ass mutters out.

I nod and point to Touch Me "31."

We continue down the line "32." "28." Buku was "23." As the youngest and ancient one was "51."

It was time to put these kids in perspective and give them a taste of my IRL background. "What year is it Momo?" I ask the skelly boi sitting beside me.

He didn't need facial expressions to display how bewildered he was by my question. "2130." I nod in thanks.

"That would make me 139 years old." I drop the bomb to several shouts of no way. "I was born in 1991 in the good ole US of A, in Cincinnati Ohio. Well what month is it?" I ask again.

"April Quake-san but if thats true how are you alive." Momo responds.

"Whoops, actually I'll be 139 next month. I am alive because I got lucky. Right now I'm attached to machines that are keeping my body alive while my brain gets to explore this wonderful world with all of you." I say looking wistfully at the stars above us. I look back down between the two who were arguing. "Allow this old man to give you some advice. Make up. You two are friends you go on adventures together and protect each other. Each of us supports each other, before this group came together I didn't have any living friends. Hell my entire country is gone, so since you are still here and still young make up. Trust me when I say you would regret it otherwise."

Touch Me bows his head "I apologize Cold Bone, I shouldn't bring our work problems here and try to convince you to do things you don't agree with." After Cold Bone reciprocated his apology the atmosphere of the campfire came back.

"How am I 'Ancient One' compared to you?" Ancient One barks out with a laugh and we all join in.

"Well I'm sure you all have questions so let's hear them." I say to the group and Blue planet in his lumbering elemental form is the first to ask.

"Had you ever been to the ocean?" He says with a shaking voice.

"I have, during my childhood we would take family vacations to Florida. Well that place is probably completely under water now..." I continued to give them information about different places and who I was in my past life. It was the real me, just in a different world.

After a few hours many of the others had logged off. I was still sitting there with Momo and Buku. "Would you two do me a favor?" I ask the slime and skeleton. At their nods I state "All my family is gone. But I can see the same affection I had with my wife between you two. Go on a date before my birthday. Remind this old man of the spring of his life. You two clearly like each other, OH! Did I just somehow make a skeleton and a slime blush? Hahaha." I laugh at their embarrassed flailing. "Take a smidgen of my wisdom youngins, do it before you miss out on each other. Let me live vicariously through you, it will be a good present for my 139th."

The slime was almost cute the way she covered her face with her dripping appendages. The skeleton had his face covered with his hands sputtering. "Go on get out of here. Send each other a message IRL and make a date. I'm going to go look for a dungeon to conquer for when we next all meet up. Take care." I say walking away whistling to them what must be an ancient tune. "~I don't want to set the world on fire. I just want to start, a flame in your heart.~"