My family runs an adventurer's guild.

The so-called "newbie village," also known as the "newbie map," is a common feature in online games, referring to the starting point for new players.

In short, it involves having new players complete simple tutorial quests, fight easy-to-kill low-level monsters, or have NPCs explain the basic world-building of the game to help players quickly understand the game world and learn its basic functions.

In this way, they won't stumble and get hurt at the beginning, but can improve their game skills step by step. Once players graduate from the beginner's area, they usually won't make silly mistakes due to a lack of common sense, and won't be brutally beaten and ridiculed anymore.

The dreamlike otherworldly adventure created by the Adventurers' Guild in Totoro Town can actually be seen as a kind of panoramic immersive VR online game...

In fact, in the Golden Dragon Kingdom and other colonized countries of the New World, although there are no such things as "newbie villages"—without the intervention of external forces such as gods, in the naturally evolved real world, it is impossible for any city to be surrounded by an endless number of low-level monsters that novice adventurers can keep grinding to level up, yet no high-level monsters that can easily wipe out their entire party ever appear.

However, the adventurers' guilds in this world, through years of experience, have also developed an unwritten rule similar to "newbie quests".

Newcomers who have just embarked on their adventurer careers, no matter how superb their swordsmanship and magical abilities are, will not be given important tasks at first. Instead, they will be assigned to low-level tasks with low risk but meager rewards, such as eliminating giant rats in the sewers, raiding goblin lairs, and clearing out overpopulated slimes, so that they can accumulate the necessary basic experience and understand the operation of the adventurer system.

It's basically similar to the internship period for new employees in companies in modern society.

This is partly to protect novice adventurers from taking on dangerous missions beyond their capabilities too early, and partly to hone their patience and accumulate various experiences through these small incidents—not just combat, but also how to interact with others.

After all, adventurers are not cold-blooded killing machines, but rather a rather unique service industry. Successful adventurers not only need to hone their combat skills, but also need to be down-to-earth, understand local customs, and be adept at dealing with all sorts of people from all walks of life; otherwise, they will only become cannon fodder.

If someone discovers through their experience during this beginner period that the adventurer profession is not as free, carefree, and glamorous as they originally imagined, they can quit the adventurer profession as soon as possible before they are in dire straits or injured, so as not to delay their life.

This kind of operational approach is roughly the same as in "Naruto," where fresh-out-of-school genin are assigned to one or two boring D-rank missions, such as finding cats, pulling weeds, taking care of children, etc., to train their patience and composure.

After a period of time, during which the guild tests the novice adventurers' character, perseverance, and overall qualities through new quests, the guild will raise the level of those who pass the test, allowing them to take on more challenging jobs with relatively high rewards, such as escorting caravans or fighting bandits.

However, although it's a beginner's quest, it still involves risking one's life against monsters. And those newcomers who come to the Adventurers' Guild full of hope and register as adventurers are often penniless hotheads with nothing but enthusiasm, lacking both martial arts skills and equipment. If they didn't see no other way out and their minds weren't filled with daydreams of overnight fame, who would be willing to risk their life to become an adventurer and earn money by risking their life?

Therefore, despite the protection provided by the established practice of "newbie quests," according to statistics from the Golden Dragon Kingdom government, the casualty rate among novice adventurers remains consistently high. Some, after paying the registration fee with their meager silver coins, would grab a stick and head into the sewers to kill rats, only to become the rats' meal themselves. Others, newly graduated novice mages, overconfident in their fireball skills, would rashly venture alone to hunt goblins without a warrior or archer as a partner, only to be overwhelmed before they could even cast a spell…

Ahem, I seem to have gone a bit off-topic. Let's get back to the main point.

In short, Phil's mistress, the silver dragon Lulutia, wholeheartedly supports Phil's idea of ​​creating a starting village within his "dreamlike" otherworldly adventure. This is because a similar concept does exist in the operation of real-world adventurer guilds; it didn't just appear out of thin air.

"...That's definitely the right thing to do. What you did in the Marvel universe, throwing a few clueless guys into a completely unfamiliar world to go on an adventure, is irresponsible for both the adventurers and our guild. We have to correct this."

Miss Silver Dragon Lulutia stroked her chin and said, "...First, set up a beginner village so they can learn how to be adventurers, at least to avoid the farce of five cat-people getting humiliated by three stray cats; then run a training course to give them a basic understanding of modern life on Earth, like how to turn on and off lights and water pipes, etc. That should be enough to let them freely adventure in various worlds..."

Seeing that her mistress also supported the suggestion, Phil couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Next, the training courses on common sense in modern society can be temporarily put on hold, but the preparations for the beginner village must begin immediately.

Clearly, with the meager manpower, resources, and financial strength of the Totoro Town Adventurers' Guild and the Church of the Sleeping God, they simply do not have the conditions to set up a beginner village in the Golden Dragon Kingdom. Therefore, this beginner village for training novice adventurers can only be placed in the other world of "dreamwalking".

So, which other world should you choose as your starting village for your "other world dream tour" adventure?

Ferry the cat and his owner continued their discussion on this crucial issue of deciding their next course of action.

Sword Art Online?

This online game world looks magical and has a real adventurer vibe, but it's actually a magic-free world that Phil and his friends can't enter at all. Phil's mistress led the organization that created this "dreamlike otherworldly adventure" in the Kingdom of the Sleeping God. It's essentially a magic summoning and descent system, so they can only enter worlds with magic. Whether it's low-magic, medium-magic, or high-magic doesn't matter, but they absolutely can't enter worlds without magic.

So PASS.

The world of Azeroth in Warcraft?

While "sleepwalking in" is not a problem, this is already a high-magic world through and through. The frequency and intensity of wars and conflicts are far too high. Both the Alliance and the Horde are full of powerful forces, and there is also the even more terrifying Burning Legion, whose destruction of a world or two is commonplace.

In this turbulent world, trying to create a newbie village that resembles a separatist territory will likely result in it being razed to the ground in no time.

Moreover, in Azeroth of World of Warcraft, there is a group of bronze dragons who wield the power of time, manipulating every timeline to ensure that history unfolds according to the script. And anything outside the script, such as newbie villages set up by otherworldly beings, is hard to say whether it will also fall within their elimination scope—facing a group of overpowered administrators who can repeatedly reload saves and rewind time, Phil really doesn't have the confidence to confront them head-on.

Continue with PASS.

"KonoSuba: God's Blessing on This Wonderful World!"

Although Axel Castle, the main setting of the series, is essentially a "starter village" for novice adventurers to level up, the world there is filled with incredibly powerful and controlling gods (with Aqua being an exception), making the entire world practically a stage for the gods.

Judging from the protagonist's experience, even a mere adventurer is under the watchful eye and control of the gods, demonstrating the extent to which the world is controlled. If outsiders like Firi and Lulutia were to try and interfere... the prospects are likely not optimistic.

In fact, according to Miss Silver Dragon Lulutia's speculation, let alone adventuring there, she and Firi might not even be able to cross over, as they would be expelled by the world's will. This is because in the world of "KonoSuba: God's Blessing on This Wonderful World!", there is no shortage of transmigrators, but almost every transmigrator is under the arrangement and control of the gods, and no other undocumented individuals are allowed to smuggle themselves over.

Then PASS.

Is it wrong to find love in a dungeon?

If in the world of *KonoSuba: God's Blessing on This Wonderful World!* the gods remained relatively aloof, perched high in their celestial kingdom, remotely controlling the wars and battles on Earth, then in the world of *Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon?*, the gods simply took up permanent residence and vacations in the labyrinthine city of Orario, enjoying the amusement of watching their respective kin fight monsters, much like gladiatorial combat in ancient Rome.

Of course, if we could get Princess Hypnos to organize a "Hypnos Familia" in Orario, it wouldn't be impossible. But... what special skills would a Hypnos Familia use in battle? It's easy to think of a pillow fight, isn't it?

Furthermore, Firi and his team created the starting village to train adventurers, not gladiators. The battles in the labyrinth city of Orario, which involve attacking dungeons and grinding monsters, are more like arena duels, completely different from adventuring in the vast wilderness. This makes it difficult to train and improve the overall abilities of adventurers.

Therefore, it also passes.

The Lord of the Rings?

The main setting of this story, Middle-earth, is also closely watched by a group of gods called the Valar. Elves, humans, dwarves, orcs, and all other races are merely pawns in the power struggles between these gods. The earth and sea are also creations of the gods' immense power. Furthermore, there is a group of wizards called the Maiar, such as Gandalf and Saruman, who travel the earth under divine command, maintaining the world's balance. They have pre-determined goals for the world's evolution, and any element that could potentially spiral out of control will be ruthlessly eliminated.

If an outsider tries to create a starting village in this world, adding variables to the course of history, they will likely be thoroughly defeated and then thrown out.

It's still a PASS.

Harry Potter?

Well, in this relatively low-magic world, there isn't an omniscient and omnipotent god who controls everything and treats everyone as puppets, acting as the mastermind behind the scenes. And the leaders of the "white path," such as Headmaster Dumbledore and Minister for Magic Fudge, are relatively easy to talk to.

But the question is, if the starting village is set in the world of Harry Potter, what monsters should novice adventurers fight?

Well, it's not that there are no monsters in the world of Harry Potter, but rather that magical creatures like the Blasttail, Bowtruckle, and Ball Runner have all become so rare due to habitat destruction and overhunting that they're now protected species. If adventurers were to hunt these creatures, they wouldn't earn the praise of the locals; instead, they'd be wanted and hunted by the Ministry of Magic's Aurors as poachers…

However, for the Totoro Town Adventurers' Guild and the Church of Hypnos, who were preparing to develop and promote "dreamlike otherworldly adventures," the Harry Potter world was not without value. For example, the modern society outside the wizarding world could be a perfect opportunity for the seekers of knowledge from the Golden Dragon Kingdom to study and explore, learning about the politics, technology, society, and economy of modern industrialized society, and selecting useful elements to build their own homeland.

The Muggle Studies class at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry seems quite suitable as a "modern Earth common sense training class" for players and a "preschool" for students studying abroad—the young wizards in the wizarding world don't have much better understanding of modern industrialized society than the medieval bumpkins in the Golden Dragon Kingdom (in the early 1990s, the Internet was far from widespread, so it could only be called an industrialized society, not an information society).

However, this should be done after things are settled in the newbie village. It seems too early to consider training courses now.

A Song of Ice and Fire (Game of Thrones)?

Hmm, Westeros, a continent divided into seven kingdoms, a low-magic world where knights reign supreme, a turbulent era of warring lords, the Maesters of Oldtown who despise mystical powers, and native gods whose power is so weak they're on the verge of extinction… If Phil and his companions were to travel there, it seems easy enough to carve out a territory and then do whatever they want without restraint. Even seizing the Iron Throne in King's Landing wouldn't be impossible.

Since Aegon the Conqueror, the founder of the Targaryen dynasty, conquered the seven kingdoms of Westeros with only three dragons, a small army, and two years, and according to Lulutia, the silver dragon, she could summon up to thirty dragons to aid her if she were to beg, then with such power, conquering Westeros would likely only take a few months…

Of course, such a brutal military strike, as if a mountain were pressing down on you, would probably only plunge the entire continent of Westeros into a state of extreme chaos and anarchy. As for how to rebuild rule and restore order, that is another problem to be solved.

The problem is that, apart from the White Walkers and wights north of the Wall, and Queen Daenerys's three dragons (according to Lulutia, the silver dragon, these mindless flying reptiles with wings evolved from their forelimbs rather than growing on their backs are at best inferior dragon beasts, even worse than the kobolds who at least have some intelligence), it seems that there are no other monsters to fight in the world of A Song of Ice and Fire.

In this situation, the adventurers of the Golden Dragon Kingdom "sleepwalked" into the world of "A Song of Ice and Fire". Apart from daily tasks and hunting, all they could do was kill people. The training subjects were too few and not comprehensive enough, which was not conducive to improving the adventurers' overall quality and could not serve as a novice village for practical training.

Therefore, it still goes to PASS.

OVERLORD?

Well, from a disadvantageous perspective, the protagonist of "OVERLORD," Ainz Ooal Gown, or rather, the 22nd-century Japanese office worker Satoru Suzuki, as well as Ainz Ooal Gown, the guild leader of the immersive VR online game "YGGDRASIL," and the Lich King Ainz after his time travel, not only have unsightly skeletal appearances, but also belong to the evil order of anti-humanity, which clashes with the attributes of the Golden Dragon Kingdom of the good order.

His guild base, the Great Tomb of Nazarick, is filled with a group of extremely wicked subordinates whose names are so evil they're practically red.

However, from an advantageous perspective, the Great Tomb of Nazarick is vast in scale and has numerous functions, including weapon forging, scroll crafting, potion production, and game trading—almost all the standard functions required for a starting village are available.

Moreover, after crossing over to the Kaz Plains in the fantasy world, the surrounding environment of the ready-made starting village of the Great Tomb of Nazarick is not only full of monsters and diverse in landscape, but also has frequent wars. After the adventurers of the Golden Dragon Kingdom dreamt of going there, they could not travel long distances but could frequently fight against a variety of different enemies on various battlefields to accumulate their experience points.

What's even more interesting is that, generally speaking, there are significant differences between a real world and a game world. For example, the strength of power, the level of a character, the durability of equipment, etc., are all difficult to directly represent with numbers, let alone gain widespread recognition from the natives of the other world.

However, online games cannot function without a data-driven power system; otherwise, the entire game will become unrestrained and fall into a state of chaos.

In the fantastical world of *OVERLORD*, due to the previous waves of YGGDRASIL players and guilds who traveled through time and their far-reaching influence, the entire world's power system has been "game-like." Phil and his mistress simply need to directly apply YGGDRASIL's power system, skills, and magic to the players, without having to rack their brains to devise their own solutions.

Furthermore, Ainz Ooal Gown, the protagonist of the story, or rather, Suzuki Satoru, a Japanese office worker in the 22nd century, is a veteran expert in the online gaming world.

This guy played online games with a fanatical attitude, neglecting sleep and meals, and even going bankrupt with his money for many years, spending almost all his income and savings on in-game purchases. And the game he played was a 22nd-century "sci-fi" immersive VR online game, far more sophisticated and complete than any early 21st-century online game. Therefore, Ainz Ooal Gown's understanding of how to operate an online game is probably even deeper than Phil's.

Although in the later stages of OVERLORD, Ainz Ooal Gown became increasingly cold and cruel, even going so far as to carry out massacres of hundreds of thousands of people and create "two-legged sheep ranches" (raising humans and demi-humans and then skinning them for the purpose of making scrolls).

Even in the later stages, Ainz Ooal Gown can only be described as a relatively ruthless and decisive tyrant who always kills for political and economic purposes, unlike Ryunosuke Uryu in Fate/Zero, who is a "happy killer" who kills purely for the sake of killing.

Throughout history, to become a great ruler, one must inevitably experience appropriate killing and bloodshed hidden in the shadows.

As for why Ainz Ooal Gown gradually lost his compassion and mercy and became a tyrant who slaughtered all living beings, it can only be said that "one who is near a cat becomes a slave, and one who is near a pig becomes meat"—how could his personality not become cruel when he was with so many evil NPCs in the Great Tomb of Nazarick every day and was infected and influenced by them?

Moreover, since his race has ceased to be human, his sense of identity with human civilization will naturally become increasingly weak.

But at least in the early stages of OVERLORD, Ainz Ooal Gown was just a corporate slave who was used to obeying his superiors. He wasn't the kind of protagonist who was all-powerful and didn't have the ambition and arrogance that some people had.

In short, if you recruit Ainz Ooal Gown to your side, you will not only get a ready-made starting village, but also a village chief!

(This means that real people replace intelligent VR, with professionally portrayed village chiefs as NPCs—in this other world where computers are underdeveloped, real people can only play the roles of NPCs.)

Okay! I've chosen you!

Ainz Ooal Gown from OVERLORD! Or rather, Suzuki Satoru, the Japanese corporate slave of the 22nd century!

You'll be the village chief of this newbie village!

But after deciding on the location of the beginner village, there is an even more troublesome problem that needs to be addressed.

So, what kind of extraordinary and refreshing tricks would it take to get Ainz Ooal Gown to obediently hand over his guild headquarters, the Great Tomb of Nazarick, to serve as a training ground for newbies in the Totoro Town Adventurers' Guild's "interdimensional adventure" or "fantasy online game"?

"...Sigh, there's definitely no foolproof plan, but we can't just not try. How about I try to fool him a little?"

After thinking for a moment, Phil sighed and said to his mistress, "...Please teleport me to the very beginning of OVERLORD, so I can try to meet Ainz Ooal Gown before he's been transported there! Sigh, when it comes to conning people, if you want it to work, you have to do it early!"

Welcome, Undead King.jpg

Author's message

PS: I received dozens more blades, though not quite a hundred, but with the increase in monthly votes, I updated a long chapter of 6000 words this morning.

Because there are still drafts available, the reward will continue until the end of the month, with an additional 2000 words for every 100 blades (a symbol of reward).

Volume 4, OVERLORD Online Game Version

Miscellaneous Facts: Trivia about the Origin of the White Wedding Dress

In modern society, the white wedding dress has become the most common wedding attire.

But why must wedding dresses be white?

You might say this is because white symbolizes purity, virginity, and so on in the West.

But in fact, even in Western European and American countries, the history of brides wearing white wedding dresses is not very long.

Before modern times, there was no fixed custom in Europe of wearing all-white wedding dresses.

In the Greco-Roman era, people did often wear white clothes for weddings, but this was not a special wedding dress. Rather, it was because the formal attire of the West at that time was mainly white. For example, the robes of the Greeks and the "toga" of ancient Rome were pure white with colorful trim.

In ancient Roman weddings, brides wore a uniform veil, but it was orange instead of white, symbolizing the flames of the goddess of the hearth.

After the collapse of the Roman Empire and the beginning of the Middle Ages in Europe, although a unified Christian wedding ceremony was established, the concept of a wedding dress did not emerge.

At that time, when Europeans got married, both the bride and the groom would wear their best clothes, whatever color was available, as long as it looked impressive. There was no such thing as wearing only white.

For example, in 17th-century Europe, English brides commonly wore blue dresses to church, French brides preferred bright red gowns, and Italian brides wore dresses of various colors, but rarely white—because in 17th-century Europe, white clothing, even if not necessarily the color of mourning, was at least a sign of poverty, implying that the bride was too poor to afford dyed fabrics…

Conversely, the Catholic Church has never strictly stipulated what color dress Christian brides should wear at their weddings (because there is no uniformity within European countries). So, there must have been European brides who wore white for their weddings at that time, but the proportion was certainly not high, and it was not very popular.

Until the Victorian era in the 19th century, Western brides mainly wore blue, gold, silver, pale yellow, or red dresses to church weddings, and at most wore a white veil.