You are very strong, but my painting style is better than yours!

This mediocre worldview was something Iori could easily grasp, posing no challenge whatsoever, and even leaving him with little interest. If he didn't have other things to do, he wouldn't have stayed here for long.

After several days of investigation, he has basically confirmed that he has not come to the wrong place; this really is "The Undead King"!

However, the situation is similar to that of "Shadow Reality". Instead of directly traveling to another world, they arrived at the Earth dimension related to it.

In short, the plot of "Undead Overlord" is about a gamer/office worker who is transported to another world with top-tier equipment and guild NPCs. He seems to be developing his character cautiously, but in reality, he is constantly crushing the natives.

—It may be a bit simplified, but it's pretty much the same.

The story unfolds primarily in another world, with little description of the world the protagonist lived in before his arrival; all that is known is that it was a future cyberpunk world.

Iori is a typical anime fan and never even considered this setting that only existed in the background... but she never expected to be transported here first.

Iori had meticulously verified the current situation, even though his memories were so hazy that he couldn't even spell out the protagonist "Ash King's" full name—after all, he had transmigrated many years before his soul materialized. But the advantage of the internet age is that you can find the information you want as long as you have keywords.

It is known that the protagonist's guild's base is the "Great Tomb of Nazarick," a top-tier guild that has attracted many paying and hardcore players. A guild composed entirely of characters of different races and based in a tomb should naturally generate a lot of buzz. Furthermore, this game is a once-glorious "full-dive game," utilizing virtual reality technology similar to "Sword Art Online."

That made things simple. Iori just did a quick online search and found the famous guild in the massively multiplayer online game (MMORPG) – [Ainz Ooal Gown]!

They were once very famous, but that was all yesterday's glory.

Time is a cruel thing, especially in a highly consumerist capitalist society. The lifespan of an online game is artificially shortened. Even though there are many die-hard fans, people still keep quitting. Now, YGGDRASIL is facing shutdown.

The once top-ranked guild, Ainz Ooal Gown, has now fallen to the top 50, with its members largely "AFK" (away from keyboard), and only about three or four members remaining active online.

The fact that this guild has declined so drastically yet still remains on the leaderboard proves that it was indeed very glorious in the past, and its foundation alone is enough to support the structure of a large guild.

Of course, all of this is data stored on the server and has no impact on the real world.

—That's how it should be.

However, Iori knew that when the game shut down, there would be a mass time travel without warning, not only involving the original protagonist, but also the entire guild base and many NPCs!

Iori wasn't particularly interested in the cyber world she was currently in, but she was quite curious about that unknown magical otherworld.

In "Shadow Reality", Iori found a spacetime rift and forcibly crossed it using his immortality, which allowed him to travel between the two worlds.

But this time it was obviously different. Iori had no way to detect the location of that other world, and the information she had was also quite limited. The only way seemed to be for her to enter the game herself and wait until the server shut down.

Sounds simple?

That would be troublesome!

With a little thought, at least three potential problems can be identified:

First, the original protagonist's soul transmigrated, and he only became aware of the other world, while his body was a lich manifested from game data. In other words, his physical body remained in the real world—just like Iori's friend, Yosuke Shimazaki (his uncle in the other world).

If Iori also enters the game and waits to be transported, what will happen to his materialized soul body? Will he be transported entirely, or will only his consciousness travel there, leaving behind a physical soul?

This is an unknown, meaning it is uncontrollable and carries potential risks!

Second, whether or not one can travel through time is likely based on a certain probability; simply staying in the game does not guarantee success.

The reason is simple: a once-glorious large-scale game should have a considerable number of players waiting until the very last moment before its servers shut down—don't underestimate the power of nostalgia.

However, the protagonist in the original work never found any other players, and even if you add up the "Eight Desire Kings" and "Six Great Gods" who appeared in the history of the other world, the number is still too small.

As an anime viewer, Iori is unaware of the later settings in the novel. She only occasionally came across the Eight Greed Kings while browsing online forums. If it weren't for the easy-to-remember names, she might have forgotten about them altogether... I don't know exactly how the author resolved the plot holes, but Iori is now facing the real world, so there must be a logical explanation.

Therefore, this time travel event also has certain rules. The force that caused all of this chose the [Ainz Ooal Gown] guild, the Eight Greed Kings, the Six Great Gods, and so on. Among these time travelers, the only one whose identity can be confirmed at present is basically the original protagonist, Ainz Ooal Gown.

Third, the issue of the soul of NPCs.

This is something you don't need to consider in novels, but it's terrifying to think about in reality...

Before the transmigration, the NPCs in the Great Tomb were undoubtedly data, with their appearance, level, and personality all being settings adjusted by the player according to their personal preferences during creation.

But after being transported to another world, all these NPCs "came to life"!

It's not that AI has become sentient or anything, but that it has truly developed a soul with intelligent life!

Did this time travel process transform data into a soul? Or does the other world itself have some special rules?

The anime didn't explore this issue, and Iori couldn't verify it either, which is why he felt "awe" about it.

It was genuine reverence, because it involved another hidden issue:

Does the protagonist "Bone King" have any other things mixed in with his soul?

He did indeed travel through time while maintaining his self-awareness, but the plot clearly shows that his personality and behavior patterns were influenced by the "player character" he controlled, gradually transforming him from a harmless office worker into an undead king who was extremely indifferent to life.

While this could be explained by "numbness," a rational analysis could reveal another possibility:

If the process of time travel can give souls to NPCs who are made up of data, then would "players," who are also made up of data, be an exception?

If the player character also develops a personality, only suppressed by a more complete human soul like a subconscious mind... then the protagonist's transformation in the original work can be seen as a process of merging the game character with his own personality, which suddenly becomes quite reasonable!

—With these three problems and the hidden pitfall, Iori almost gave up on this other world exploration out of caution!

However... there was also a great temptation involved, which made him decide to wait and see.

The reason is simple: if he can travel through time safely, he can also use this opportunity to gain considerable benefits.

Well, let's not worry about the future. This is a cyberpunk world after all, so let's take advantage of this rare opportunity and enjoy modern technology!

"This is my first time playing a virtual reality game... Hey!"

Iori lay in the state-of-the-art fully-enclosed gaming pod and selected the outdated game "YGGDRASIL"... After thinking about it, she decided to skip it.

He originally wanted to find out what the game was like, but the game content didn't seem to have anything to do with time travel, and he hadn't figured out how to deal with the original protagonist if he came into contact with the "Great Tomb".

Besides, there are still a few days before the server shuts down, so there's no rush.

"Black Myth Erlang, Only Dog, The Verdun Ring... Oh?"

He still wants to try games that he's genuinely interested in first. Regardless of whether he's become a social butterfly now, he still retains some of his original nature as a gamer and anime otaku.

He searched with only hope, but unexpectedly, there was actually a similar game in this parallel world, and it was even adapted into a virtual reality version!

It felt like I was back in college, opening my first first-person shooter game, Wanhua... no, I mean CS.

Well, even though I have a girlfriend who's practically perfect as a bed partner, I sometimes feel like thanking the fictional characters who used to keep me company.

Of course, at this moment, Iori had no impure thoughts; she simply wanted to appreciate the game CG from the parallel world and see what was different.

This is him, a devoted and pure game enthusiast.

"By the way, this is the time to say—"

Link Start!

~~~~~

Chapter 331 Suzuki Satoru's Happy Story.

"I'm so angry! They created such a beautiful girl character, and not only did they not have a romantic storyline, but they could have at least made her a support character to help with battle! Instead, they sacrificed her to the Holy Sword?!"

What a piece of trash game! What a trash developer! I've already gotten this far, do I really need a holy sword?!

Oh? By the way, how many stats does your holy sword add?

……

In the dimly lit room, Suzuki Satoru took off his virtual reality glasses, got out of bed, and went to his desk to look up a walkthrough.

The forum is much quieter than before. Even with the release of the latest expansion, there aren't many people creating strategy guides. Not to mention die-hard fans, even haters don't post much anymore—that's the scariest thing.

Because everyone understands that this game has reached the final stage of its operation cycle, and the server shutdown announcement will be released soon. Those who are still playing now are just some nostalgic fans who are waiting to witness the final moment and get the "finished business" achievement.

The man whose character name is Momonga, but whose real name is Suzuki Satoru, is somewhat different.

He is also a sentimentalist, but not for the game itself. Rather, he cherishes the friends he made in the game, and even though things have changed, he can still feel the warmth of that bond.

So even if the entire guild was offline and he was the only living person, he tried his best to maintain it, preferring to interact with NPCs rather than disband the place, and even managed to get it on the leaderboard.

From an objective point of view, he was already deeply obsessed, and Suzuki Satoru himself was aware of this.

Of course, he was just a lowly office worker, and no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't change the general trend. When the day came that the server would shut down, he was able to hold on until the very end, which was enough to live up to these precious memories of the past, so he had nothing left to think about.

Having grown accustomed to being a night owl, he was still quite energetic late at night. After researching the information, he browsed the forums, which were mostly filled with players' complaints and their best wishes for the game's creators.

When XX was a child, he was crossing a log bridge when he saw a Peashooter on the other side. He blasted the Peashooter off the bridge.

[When XX was a child, he came home from school and tried to open the door, only to find himself blocked by an invisible wall.]

[When XX was a child, he opened his birthday present box, and two little monsters jumped out from behind and killed him instantly.]

[XX! Your mother is XXXX!]

What a kind-hearted, gentle, and polite player!

Suzuki Satoru felt much better. He posted a message saying "Strongly suggest adding a quest to revive XX female character" and then went offline. He knew that for a game with almost no popularity, such a thing was unlikely to get many responses, and the operators were even less likely to care.

After all, this is a capitalist society. If there were such abusive elements when the game was first released, it would easily cause a stir on the forums, and the operators would have to work overtime to rush out DLC.

"That's enough playing, let's go to bed!"

The thought of having to go to work again tomorrow made Suzuki Satoru feel a deep weariness; what stopped his brain from working was more numbness than drowsiness.

Ding!

"Huh? Email? Personal email...who would send me a private email?"

A message notification caught Suzuki Satoru's attention. He yawned, clicked on it, listened for a few seconds, took a deep breath, and his voice trembled with barely concealed joy.

"Helo Helosang?!"

The sender was Suzuki Satoru's friend in the game, and also a companion who had taken good care of him. They were both members of [Ainz Ooal Gown], also known as the Great Tomb of Nazarick, and were both overworked in real life, so they had a lot in common.

In reality, Hei Luo is an even more miserable office worker than Suzuki Satoru. He works for a small company that is known as a black-hearted enterprise. After he could not balance work and games, he gradually shifted his focus to work. I don't know when I last talked to him.

The guild 【Ainz Ooal Gown】 has always adhered to the principle of "reality is reality, and the game is the game", so even if they know the other party's real identity after a member quits the game, they will not try to contact them. Suzuki Satoru has not communicated with Hero for a long time.

This is not heartlessness, but a means of "self-preservation".

Society is too harsh on ordinary people. Entertainment options other than games require too much time, money, and emotional investment, which most office workers cannot afford.

However, close real-life relationships can also lead to trouble... For example, a member of Ainz Ooal Gown suddenly disappeared, suspected of knowing a secret of a large company and being silenced by them...

Since this incident, the unspoken rule has been that our friendships are limited to the game.

It was unusual for Hei Luo, a salaryman with many vulnerabilities, to take the initiative to contact Suzuki Satoru, but Suzuki was at a low point in his life. At a time of despair when he was about to leave, he received a message from his companion, so he naturally didn't have time to think too much about it.

"haven't seen you for a long time……"

Suzuki Satoru quickly replied to the voice message, feeling somewhat restless, as if he had returned to the anxious feeling of confessing to a girl he admired in high school and then waiting for a reply.

Well, that might not be entirely accurate, because Suzuki didn't have such a wonderful youth; all he had was a vocational school and the subsequent life of a corporate slave—and of course, he's currently single.

He has no wife or children, his parents died early, and he doesn't have many friends in real life, which is why he values ​​the friends he makes in the game so much.

In this chaotic era, the virtual personas we wear online are far more real than real people.

"How are you, Momonga? I'm back in China, and there's something I'd like to discuss with you. Would it be convenient for us to meet up? Of course, it's nothing bad, and if you're not interested, it won't affect your life."

It sounds like a scam... but Suzuki Satoru trusted Kurokawa's character, so he didn't suspect anything.

"Of course, but may I ask what exactly it is?"

No problem, but you might not believe it, haha~

As a corporate slave, Hei Luo's voice was unexpectedly cheerful, which Suzuki Satoru found very refreshing. However, what he said next made the corporate slave's eyes widen in surprise.

I've taken on a new project, which basically means I got a promotion and a raise, and that's why I was transferred back.

That's right, after the company went bankrupt, it was acquired and restructured by a large group, and I was fortunate enough to change hands.

A new company is planning to launch a large-scale virtual game with the goal of surpassing the peak of YGGDRASIL and leading a new era—well, it sounds a bit boastful, but it has really attracted a large amount of investment, and I feel very confident.

There's now a side project that involves finding game bugs from the player's perspective, then analyzing the data from real-world gameplay to provide insights into skill values, game mechanics, and the like.

"...Isn't this just a game beta test?"

Suzuki Satoru suddenly realized, "This kind of thing can be done by just finding some game enthusiasts, why bother setting up a special project?"

We should first hire a small number of experienced veteran players as consultants, and then open the closed beta on a large scale to ensure that there are no serious bugs or fatal flaws.

It seems the large corporation behind us is looking to enter the gaming industry, this time aiming to make a name for themselves and create a critically acclaimed title. The company's slogan this time is to truly consider things from the player's perspective, disregarding investment costs and expected returns, and doing everything possible to create a perfect game.

"Using hundreds of millions or even billions of dollars to test the waters, these big corporations are really generous!"

Suzuki Satoru sighed, "Um, what does this have to do with you, Mr. Kurokawa Kurokawa?"

The boss somehow found out about my involvement in YGGDRASIL. After a brief evaluation, he assigned me to lead the beta testing project, significantly improving my rank and compensation. I've now entered middle management—it's unsettlingly lucky!

If my boss hadn't spoken to me about this personally, I would have definitely thought it was an April Fool's joke!