2 Chapter 2

— Ulbert Alain Odle —

He stepped into the nine realms of Yggdrasil with a stoic face. Internally, he was excited about all the possibilities. The world was gorgeous, more gorgeous than he could ever imagine. For all its desecrated beauty, Earth didn't hold a candle to this world.

It wasn't even a competition.

With the Earth being a dying planet, a DMMORPG like Yggdrasil was a godsend. A game that offered views that humanity had long since ruined. It was why he had come to despise his race and chose to create a heteromorphic character instead, settling on a lesser demon with a goat-like appearance.

"Ulbert!" He heard from behind, turning to see an Insectoid wearing brown rags running toward him.

"Touch Me." He greeted, sending the Insectoid a smiley emoji.

"It's finally time, we're in Yggdrasil! The beginning of our journey will be a glorious one!" The hyperactive man shouted, causing Ulbert to shake his head.

"Of course, let us begin, my dear minion!" Ulbert threw his hands out dramatically, and Touch Me stared at him momentarily.

"Wait…Who's your minion?! I'm not! We're equals; in fact, I'm better, you evil-doer!"

He and Touch Me had been friends, playing games for over a decade. They played most, if not all, games together and would typically start around the same time. With Yggdrasil being the biggest game in history, with new revolutionary technology, they knew they had to play it, and they were both lucky enough to get a copy of the game on release day.

"Yeah, whatever, let's start." Ulbert summoned his beginner staff out of his inventory.

"Right!" Touch Me shouted, bringing out his beginner sword and running along the path.

Yggdrasil was a massive game of nine realms, and Ulbert looked forward to exploring them all.

— Later —

"Damn, this sucks!" Ulbert shouted, launching a ball of fire at one of the slimes. "I need help here, Touch Me!"

"You know I can't help you! Physical attacks don't work on slimes!" Touch Me shouted, running around and dodging the attacks of five green slimes he aggroed.

"Damn it!"

They had grinded all the way to level ten and were quickly two of the fastest-growing players thus far, but upon completing a quest, an extra objective appeared, and they had to slay slimes.

The problem was Touch Me wasn't suited for such a thing, which meant Ulbert would have to do all the work. There was a problem with that.

Ulbert was a magic caster, specifically an AOE mana caster. Such a play style required him to have a party around him because of how his magical attacks worked.

Sure, he could do significant damage in a fairly wide area, but he would lose out on his MP quickly…and a magic caster without MP is a non-factor.

"One of the slimes attacking Touch Me aggroed on Ulbert, and he didn't have enough MP to keep attacking. The slime launched forward and hit him in the chest, sending him skidding back words as his HP ticked down from half to a third.

Was this it? After all their grinding, was this how they would die?

Ulbert closed his eyes, ready to accept his fate and make a new character once this was over.

"..."

"Ulbert!" He heard Touch Me shout and opened his eyes…to see all the slimes unmoving. No, unmoving wasn't the right word; they were moving or trying to.

They were stuck in something sticky.

"Webs?" Ulbert asked with unhidden confusion.

"I'm gonna be honest; I don't have a lot of MP, so you guys will have to finish them now."

Touch Me, and Ulbert's heads snapped to the new voice to see a black spider with deep red eyes staring at them.

[Player: KakueiSolos (Lvl.11)]

"A spider and level eleven?!" Ulbert asked before shaking his head. No, who helped them didn't matter; this was their chance!

"Touch Me!" Ulbert shouted, and Touch Me nodded; the spider couldn't trap all the slimes, only those surrounding him, so Touch Me was still being chased. Touch Me bolted away, the slimes following him as he ran, and Ulbert did the same, running in the opposite direction. They could finish the quest later; they always had time, and it would always be there for them to complete. "Thank you!" He shouted to the spider that had saved them; if not for him, they would have had to recreate entirely new characters after dying.

As he ran, he made a silent vow. He had never been one to leave debts unpaid, so he promised himself that he would pay the spider back for its assistance.

He put it on his persona, the name of Ulbert Alain Odle!

— Kakuei —

I bit into the last of the slimes that had been attacking the two players. Thanks to my spider race, I had venomous fangs acting as a magical attack, so dealing with slimes was easy for me.

[Quest Completed]

[Objective Reward: 10,000 EXP]

[Bonus Objective Reward: Slime Necklace]

[You Have Leveled Up!]

[11-12]

I grinned at the level-up I received for completing my quest. Level 12, I knew I was the highest-level player in Yggdrasil. My foreknowledge of the beta helped me formulate the best pathway to strength.

Although the grind wasn't all clean, as if to troll me, some of the quests had been moved to different places, which forced me to take more time looking for them. I knew the Devs were the type of bastards to troll their gamers, but the fact they went out of their way to specifically troll me…as the only fucking spider beta tester, I considered them moving 'Spider Race Quest Givers' as a personal attack on my grind.

I vowed to curse them over by getting stronger, but I did not intend to complain or make a personal attack on them. I rather like my character, and I'd rather not face the wrath of an angsty bastard with admin privileges. No, sir, thank you.

I skittered my way out of the forest I was in, heading in the direction the players went. I was no fool; I read their names and knew well who they were, even if my memory was a little hazy.

In no way did I remember all of the Supreme Beings of Nazerick; in fact, I only remembered five of them…but those two-

I knew them.

Ulbert Alain Odle, and Touch Me. They are two of the strongest players in Yggdrasil as a whole and the most vital/strongest members of Ainz Ooal Gown.

How lucky am I to have run into them, and not only that, but save them? It's as if the heavens themselves wish for my success!

Well, who am I to go against divine intervention?

— Later —

I walked into the 'Monster Den,' which was basically just a chill spot for heteromorphic races in the realm of Midgard. I knew they came this way; it was the most intelligent decision they could have made.

It wasn't completely safe, as there were no safe zones in the game of Yggdrasil. An MMORPG with no safe zones?! Who would design such a thing?!

These bastard Devs…they would, and did.

So while the 'Monster Den' was the safest place on Midgard for Heteromorphic races, it was also the most well-known and could easily be targeted by huge human raid parties.

Though there were none of those…yet.

I skittered around the area, my six red eyes scanning the area. I saw many varying races and, surprisingly, some Demi-humans. I came across one of the den guards and let out a low whistle.

[Monster Den Guard - Taruk (Lvl.50)]

This was one of the main reasons why the place was so safe. These guards were always around, and if anyone started trouble, they would be dealt with swiftly, whether it be killing them or throwing them in jail.

I walked past the guard and continued my search, not seeing them around, so I decided to expand my search into the buildings carved from the cave's stone.

I walked into the various shops before face-palming with one of my legs and heading to the tavern.

Where else would they be but the place to recover their HP and MP?

I pushed the door open, and several eyes turned to me. I gave them all a thumbs-up emoji, which had quickly become a sign of peace within the game, and they all turned back to focus on what they were doing.

Except for two people.

"It's you!" Touch Me pointed, walking towards me. "You're the strong spider that helped us."

"I guess?" I emojied a question mark. I mean, by Yggdrasil's player standards, I was strong, but in the grand scheme of things, I was pretty fucking weak. A newborn level 1 dragon would lay me the fuck out, but honestly, that's because dragons are fucking OP.

"I'm glad to see you made it out alright, friend!" Touch Me held out his hand for what I assumed to be a fist bump(I couldn't tell; he only had three fingers), and I bumped it. "Thanks for the help!"

"It was no big deal." I waved off, hopping on the seat and sitting uncomfortably on my belly.

"It was," Ulbert spoke up, downing his drink in one gulp, and a blue shine came over his body, signifying his MP increase. "You saved our heads. We would have had to create new characters and say goodbye to all our progress, but you changed that. Thanks." He bowed his head as was proper in Japan when thanking someone sincerely, but I waved my hand again.

"If you say so, if you wish to pay me back, a drink would be nice," I admitted. I lost a great deal of MP holding the slimes in place so he could run; it was only fitting he paid me back for it.

"Of course!" He perked up. "I, Ulbert Alain Odle, will buy you a drink!"

I deadpanned and nodded my head. I never liked the super deep roleplaying types, but this game demanded you do so. So I'd let it slide.

The NPC bartender brought me my drink, and Ulbert paid for it; I downed it in one go and smiled as my MP increased slightly. Not by much, but it would be enough for another quest.

"So, level twelve…how did you manage that?!" Touch Me asked, trying to sound nonchalant and failing horribly. I gave him a shrug with my front two legs.

"I was a beta tester, knew the game enough to level up quickly, and here I am." It really wasn't that interesting.

"You were a beta tester?!" Ulbert asked from my left as he sent a surprised face emoji.

"Mhm."

"That's awesome! What level did you make it to before the beta ended?" Ulbert asked, leaning closer.

"Level 37."

His eyes popped out of his sockets. "Level 37?!"

I gave him a short nod. Now, that was an impressive feat that I'm pretty proud of. The next highest-level beta tester after me was level 29 when the beta ended. The thing lasted around two weeks, so in two weeks, I managed to go from nothing to a third of the way to max level, which is damn good work.

"Amazing! I'm surprised you managed to get so high, it seems justice always prevails!" Touch Me crossed his arms and nodded sagely.

"Idiot, why are you always going on about justice? In what way was anything he did justice?" Ulbert frowned.

"Well, if you must know dumbass. He saved us, two adventurers trying to change the world and delivered divine justice to those filthy slimes that tried to end our dreams early! He is a man of justice, aren't you-" Touch Me paused to read my name above my head. "-Kakuei?"

"I am." I nodded. I don't know if I was a justice guy to the level of Touch Me, but I liked to see people get punished for their wrongdoings or see good people rewarded.

"See!" Touch Me's mandibles shifted into a grin. "He's a man of Justice!"

Ulbert let out a tired sigh and called the bartender over.

"What do you say, Kakuei of Justice? Would you like to join our Righteous Path?" Touch Me extended his hand, and I didn't need to think about it.

"Sure, I've been looking for a party anyways, and you guys will do nicely." I grabbed his hand and shook it.

We spent about half an hour in the tavern before returning to the slimes they had run away from.

This was the beginning, the beginning of Yggdrasil, the beginning of a journey of friendship, and most importantly-

It was the beginning of Ainz Ooal Gown.