《RE: Young Master》 Prologue( patch 0.1.0) Death finally came for him. He knew it was inevitable but in his heart he still held an inkling of hope. But alas there isn¡¯t anything one could have done in the face of such a disease. It was genetic in nature and he already lost his father to it. His mother soon followed his father to the afterlife, not being able to handle his death. With no other people worth calling relatives it was safe to say that he was all alone in this world. The only solace in his life was the most popular virtual reality game in the history of the world, Zenith Online. He was one of the best players ever in the history in the game. One could even remove that ¡°one of¡± if not for the worry of drawing the ire of the other top players. The money left behind by his family was enough to buy a VR set and pay for the hospital bills for the remainder of his life. As his malady left him for the most part disabled and severely weak he spent most of his time in the VR world of Zenith.The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. The game was his life and he was more the Big Boss of Zenith then the terminally ill youth on Earth. All the effort that should have gone into studying or working a job like normal people went into playing the game or as he would say it ¡®living¡¯ the game. The Big Boss was a man who shocked the world, his legends changing the very way the game was played. He lived most of his life in that game and it payed off as in the end he truly did reach the ¡®Zenith¡¯. He became a sort of god in the hearts of ordinary players and the nightmares of many powerful organizations. The Doctors told him he didn¡¯t have long to live, the disease being much more potent in him then it had been for his father. He would die young but that only made him strive harder in the game. To leave a mark on the world as the Big Boss, was his only wish and he did it, but there was still some regrets in his heart. A yearning for something greater lingered. There was so much more he could have done but time was the one thing he didn¡¯t have. The Big Boss couldn¡¯t help but become emotional and started reminiscing the life he had in Zenith. ¡®Those days are over though¡¯. He let out a sigh. Huh he could breathe? He opened his eyes and the sunlight blinded him. ¡°What the fuck is going on?¡± Chapter 1 ¡°What the fuck is going on?¡± He shielded his eyes from the sun as he slowly moved around trying to get rid of grogginess. His mind and body were disoriented and it took a couple of minutes to take in his surroundings. Looking around he found that he was laying on a bed, a luxurious bed. The room was well decorated and quite big. Well it was too big in fact. Why would anyone need so much space? Well most people could walk and didn¡¯t have a crippling illness binding them to a bed, but this room was big by any modern man¡¯s standards. The architecture was quite unique and was similar to those photos he saw of old palaces and mansions. All in all this was not the hospital room he spent his life in. He took a deep breath and calmed himself. ¡®Stay calm, everything is alright.¡¯ He then got up and stood up by the bedside. He brought his hands close to his face and closed it into a fist marvelling at the power that flowed through. He felt strong. Such a feeling was foreign to him in real life. Azeroth Vanaheim A look of surprise flashed across his face as the name crossed his mind. Memories started flooding and he took a seat on the bed as he once again became disoriented. He was Azeroth Vanaheim, Third Prince of Verath Empire. The Verath Empire was ruled by The Vanaheim clan, whose territory spanned the entire galaxy. ¡®A fucking galaxy, what?¡¯ That was too much for him to take and his common sense couldn¡¯t comprehend the memories he was seeing right now. He decided to review them as and when he needed. For now this reincarnation of his was clearly similar to those novels he used to read back in earth. Death was not like how he imagined it would be. To think it was simple as closing your eyes in one life and then opening them in the next. Maybe something did happen in between but he wouldn¡¯t know. ¡°Azeroth Vanaheim, has a nice ring to it. Azeroth it is then¡±. Having decided to take up the name of this body¡¯s previous owner, Azeroth stood up and decided to go outside. Azeroth wasn¡¯t at home now, he was very far from it in fact. If the memories in his mind was correct he seemed to be in the city of Hamshil on the planet of Lital. It was a small planet situated near the borders of the Empire¡¯s territory. His Father sent him here in order to govern over this city as a test apparently. Speaking of his father memories rushed into Azeroth¡¯s brain as images of a powerful man that looked quite similar to his current body appeared. ¡®A god¡¯. This body¡¯s¡­ no his father was a mighty god that ruled over this galaxy as the Emperor of Verath. Garen Vanaheim was a powerful man who ruled over the Empire and brought it to new heights. He was talented in both combat and strategy and was good ruler to his people. Garen expected great things from his sons as well and they didn¡¯t disappoint, except for Azeroth. To be fair it was the previous owner who disappointed his father not him. Garen had three sons and while the first and second surpassed his expectations it was the third that was lacklustre to say the least. His father sent him to this backward planet in hopes of tempering him into a leader of men and making him stronger. As an empire that took pride in its military might it would not be good for even one of its heirs to be weak. One weak link is all it takes for the downfall of an empire. The task was a simple one taking into consideration of the previous Azeroth¡¯s talents. All he had to was, manage this one city and make sure it¡¯s a tad bit more powerful and rich in two years. Azeroth was 18 years old, well past the coming of age of a Verathian man which is 16. His brothers had already accomplished much by this age becoming renowned geniuses across the universe. Many expected the same from the youngest but disappointment was what awaited them.Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. Many of the other powerful ancient clans and kingdoms delighted in the fact that the Third Prince of Verath was not as monstrous as his brothers. It would truly be unfair for the heavens to give the Verath Empire another heaven defying genius. It was up to him now to surpass their expectations and prove them wrong. Along with rebirth came the troubles of the new life. Azeroth had to take on the responsibilities of this body and not die in the process. It would be hard and with this bodies subpar talents he may not make quickly advance in his cultivation as brothers did but he believed he could do it. It would be a grind but as a pro player from Zenith Online it was something he was well accustomed to. ¡®At least I¡¯m handsome.¡¯ Standing before the mirror, Azeroth saw a handsome young man with pale white skin, and black hair and eyes which were a common trait among the Verathian royals. He seemed to be 5¡¯8 which was quite short compared to the standard Verathian male who averaged around 5¡¯11. The men of Verath were all tall compared to humans in other empires being a nation that focussed on its military might. Thousands of years of training and combat had gradually changed the people of Verath to become much taller and heavier than the average humans. This reminded Azeroth of the kingdom of Sparta from his past life. The practices and customs of Verath were similar to it in some ways. Luckily they didn¡¯t throw ¡®inferior¡¯ babies of cliffs otherwise he wouldn¡¯t be here now. How he alone turned out like this was something that eluded the old Azeroth and his family. Some even questioned if he was really Garen¡¯s son but those rumours were disproved and silenced. He should also look into this whole ¡®cultivation¡¯ thing. The previous Azeroth never put much effort as he should have in it due to not only ¡®average¡¯ talents but because he knew he could never surpass his brothers. Looking through some more memories Azeroth could deduce that his talents were considered average only among the nobility and other powerful heritages. If he was a commoner, he would have been considered a genius. Alas the previous Azeroth was weak willed and easily discouraged resulting in a poor cultivation and physical fitness. Azeroth didn¡¯t mind this though, all he needed was some training and while he wouldn¡¯t be the strongest, he could at least make do. Bwooooom! The whole room shook as the sound of cannons firing filled the air. Azeroth felt fear grip for a second as he fell down. ¡®What¡¯s happening? An attack?¡¯ Memories flashed in his mind as he once again saw various images and playbacks. ¡®Fuck me.¡¯ This was not good for him. Unlike his plan of a slow grind he was straight up facing up against a raid boss. The city of Hamshil was under attack right at this very moment. After taking a minute to collect himself Azeroth found the situation was not as bad as it looked. The city is currently at a stalemate with the enemy forces so it wasn¡¯t in any immediate threat at the moment. Hamshil may not have been the best city on the planet but it certainly had good defences. Its high walls made it hard for the enemies to cross into the city and destroying its walls was not an option as well due to its mysterious hardness. The predecessors of this city used a strange metal that came from a meteorite in the construction of its walls. Just infusing a small amount into the materials that were used to build the wall already gave it extreme durability and hardness. The only way the enemy could get in was breaking the gates or crossing the walls. The gate had a higher concentration of the strange metal so the crossing the walls were the only way. The city was currently surrounded by the enemy. The soldiers of the Hamshil army were fighting of the invaders who were trying to climb the walls through ladders and siege engines. It surprised Azeroth that the previous host was irresponsible enough to sleep when the city was under attack. Shouldn¡¯t he be out there guiding his people? It mattered not what the old Azeroth did though, he would take over and do things his way now. The Hamshil city was in a unique situation where its previous city lord and his family were killed by their opponents from other cities. Normally the victors would have occupied Hamshil but due to his father¡¯s commands, he was established as the new city lord of Hamshil. Thus the other party could only concede to the Emperor and allow Azeroth to take over. They were given compensation by the Verath empire, and were satisfied and wouldn¡¯t dare ask for anything more. ¡®But if it¡¯s not them whose attacking the city then who is it?¡± Unfortunately he didn¡¯t have any more information from his memories. Sigh There was no rest for him, a person who just reincarnated. No breathing time, or no tutorial as one would say in the gaming world. Azeroth couldn¡¯t take his time in adjusting to his new life. He had to address the threat outside the walls of the city. Azeroth decided to go out and do his duties as the lord. Opening the door he took a step outside and surveyed his surroundings. He spotted a maid standing outside his room and walked to her. The memories of the previous host gave him knowledge of the common universal language spoken in the star system, so he didn¡¯t have to go through the trouble of learning a new language fortunately. ¡°Hello there, can you tell me where the General is?¡± Chapter 2 ¡°Hello there, can you tell me where the General is?¡± The maid was startled, a look of surprise flashing across her face upon seeing Azeroth awake, it was common knowledge after all that the young lord usually slept well past the afternoon. Azeroth¡¯s stay over here in the castle of Hamshil over the past few weeks led to the servant¡¯s in the castle already being used to their new master¡¯s habits. It was not her place to judge the master of the house and the maid quickly regained her control of herself and her expressions and volunteered to guide Azeroth to the War room. Azeroth accepted and followed her. On the way Azeroth admired the interior of the castle as he made his way to this ¡°War room¡±. He guessed it was where the Lord and his people formulated strategies and made important decisions during times of war. The maid opened the doors and announced his entry to the room¡¯s occupants. Azeroth took note of this maid¡¯s name and dismissed her as he entered the room. He looked around and saw a group of tough looking, battle-hardened men standing around a round table. The table was covered in a map that contained the layout of the city and its surroundings. On the map were several well-crafted pieces of wood that represented the forces of the city and the enemies. The red coloured enemy pieces vastly outnumbered the blue pieces of the city. Azeroth took his eyes of the map and looked at the men surrounding table and greeted them politely, ¡°Gentlemen, it appears we are in quite the dilemma.¡± There was no need for introduction among these people as his past self had already done so for him. Albeit it was a not the best of impressions his past self made. It was up to him to rebuild his relationship with these people and take his place as their lord not just in name but in their hearts as well. ¡°Lord Azeroth, this General offers his greetings.¡± A large man with a head full of white hair and with a long beard to match to boot greeted him. The man¡¯s muscular physique belied his old age as he stood tall beside the lord¡¯s seat. A large scar ran through his eyes from the top of his forehead to his chin giving him a slightly ferocious look which coupled with his physique gave an intimidating appearance. General Randheim served in the military of Hamshil for a long time and had many merits to his name. Azeroth took froze for an instant before a smile crossed his face and he said. ¡°General Randheim, you have worked hard.¡± Although he already knew of the general from this body¡¯s memories, looking at such a figure in the flesh still shocked him a bit. He wasn¡¯t too disturbed by such an appearance though. While he may have been normal citizen of Earth, he was also someone who witnessed much in Zenith Online. While the limits of technology may have prevented some things from being felt in virtual reality, he still faced various monstrosities in the game and the general and the rest of the soldiers in this room didn¡¯t shake his heart much. Azeroth calmly made his way to the Lord¡¯s seat at the head of the table under the watch of these men. Looking at the map and the surprised faces of the men around him Azeroth spoke, ¡°General, brief me about our current situation.¡± The General and the men in the room were still astonished at Azeroth¡¯s sudden arrival. The young lord just walked into the room, strode up to the head of the table and sat on his seat like it was a normal occurrence for him. It had only been a few weeks since Azeroth came to this city and was appointed as its lord but not once had he performed his duties. He lazed around all day and left all the work to the city¡¯s officials and left the army in the General¡¯s care. The lord of a city was supposed to look after its administration and bring development and prosperity to the city but Azeroth did none of that. There was nothing to be done if their Lord did not instruct them and the people would never take things into their own hands, considering Azeroth¡¯s special identity. Azeroth¡¯s father Garen made sure that he couldn¡¯t use his identity in this test as that would make the whole ordeal worthless. After all who would dare oppose the Prince of the Empire? All that was informed to the public was that their new lord was the son of a powerful noble from another planet. This would allow Azeroth to gain control of the city while also not making things too easy for him. The title of nobility would not necessarily ward of other more powerful city-states and kingdoms. Other territories would want to challenge Azeroth if they knew of his nobility in order to prove themselves and to obtain greater wealth and these conflicts would help Azeroth to grow stronger. Garen¡¯s thoughts were on the right track but he unfortunately underestimated his own son¡¯s laziness. Azeroth was not going to repeat what his predecessor did, he would fulfil his duties and complete his father¡¯s test. ¡°Well General, I¡¯m waiting.¡± Randheim was shook out of his stupor and replied quickly, ¡°Forgive me milord, this old man was too caught up in his thoughts.¡± Azeroth smiled and told the general it was ok and gestured him to continue. Randheim then gave him a detailed report on the city¡¯s current predicament. The enemy had the city surrounded on all sides and were currently trying to use siege ladders to try and scale the walls. The enemy army had ten thousand troops and were trying to use their numbers to overwhelm them at the walls.Stolen story; please report. Luckily the soldiers of Hamshil weren¡¯t weak and managed to repel the invaders using their advantages as the defenders. After losing many men the enemy knew that siege ladders alone weren¡¯t enough especially when General Randheim or the captains of the army arrived to assist the ordinary soldiers whenever a stronger enemy came up the ladders. The enemy retreated back to their camps and the soldiers of Hamshil cheered thinking they warded off the enemy but reality was cruel. The city discovered that the enemy wasn¡¯t leaving at all and upon sending scouts to gather information were terrified to discover what was happening. Their opponents were bringing siege towers to attack their city. Unlike siege ladders that enabled soldiers to climb up the walls one by one, siege towers would enable multiple soldiers to scale the walls at once. The siege towers were nothing more than gigantic elevators that would bring a group of soldiers up the walls. This would allow the enemy to launch more coordinated attacks as they would regain their number advantage. The past few days had been peaceful with no major battles occurring as the enemy was biding their time, waiting for the arrival of the siege towers. Only the occasional warning shots from both sides every now and then reminded the citizens of the city that they were under attack. The city officials and the military put on brave faces and assured the people that nothing would happen and everything would be alright in a few days. They even used the name of their new lord to bring hope to the citizens. Wasn¡¯t their new lord a son of a noble from another far-off land? He would surely have a way to save the city from its current predicament, right? It was all they could do to prevent panic and tensions from spreading across the populace. The military force of the city only numbered two thousand soldiers and five hundred them were new recruits from the emergency prescription due to the city¡¯s state of war. If the enemy truly managed to bring their siege towers and successfully managed to bring a significant amount of their soldiers inside the walls then there was no way for the army of Hamshil to resist them. Listening to the report, Azeroth knew that things were in dire straits indeed. He himself possessed no real power and the soldiers they had would not be enough to stop the incoming invaders. What could he possibly do to save this city? Looking at the worry on Azeroth¡¯s face, one of the captains of the army present spoke, ¡°My lord, there is no need for you to worry. If the invaders do manage to succeed, the others and I will help you to escape the city. As long as the lord could ask his noble house to avenge the city, we soldiers would be able to die in peace.¡± The person who spoke just now was Captain Harrison. He was a strong man who spent most of his life in the army. He was devoted to the city and its people like all the others in the room. After the old lord and his family died, the switches in allegiance made many of the men in the military including him anxious but General Randheim assured them that under their new lord they would rise to new heights. Unfortunately, they only got disappointment in return and now that the city was under such danger, he along with the others knew that there was little to no hope of overcoming this obstacle. Nevertheless, they were loyal soldiers and fulfil their duty to the end. Looking at these men who were ready to die for their people, Azeroth¡¯s respect for them grew. He smiled and said, ¡°Let us hope it won¡¯t come to that captain, although I do appreciate your loyalty.¡± Azeroth was deep in thought as his gaze wandered across the solemn men in the room and then the map. The men here were at their wits end and were already talking about fighting to the death and such. It was understandable as there was truly nothing the city could do in this situation. Even the evacuation of the citizen¡¯s was impossible. Things did look bleak for them and Azeroth could think of nothing to solve it. There was no special strategy they could employ as nothing would work in the face of sheer power. This was more so true in a world of powerful individuals. Cultivation allowed one man to possess power that could overwhelm hundreds. The strongest warrior in the city was General Randheim, a peak Mortal realm Warrior. The captains were all Middle Mortal realm warriors and the soldiers below them were all early Mortal realm warriors. If Azeroth remembered properly, the cultivation realms went from Mortal, Spirit Mortal and Transcendent. Each realm was split into Early, Middle, Late and Peak stages. There were more realms above this but the chances of encountering them in this small planet were impossible. At most the highest power on this planet would be an early Spirit Mortal. More powerful cultivators would head to toward the centre of the empire in search of greater prospects. The rulers of most cites would be peak Mortal realm warriors and perhaps they would have an ancestor level figure that was at the Early Spirit Mortal Realm. It was quite surprising in fact that Randheim had managed to reach Peak Mortal Realm as that was already on the level of top powers on this planet. Randheim though still stayed loyal and continued to lead the armies of Hamshil. Many forces tried to recruit him but Randheim did not waver at all. Randheim¡¯s presence was most likely one of the reasons his father confidently left him in this place. Alas, even a Peak Mortal Realm warrior like Randheim could do nothing in the face of a large army. Azeroth himself was currently at the Middle Mortal Realm but that meant nothing. Other heirs in his generation from powers equal to the Verath Empire were already in the Spirit Mortal and Transcendent realms. His brothers were legendary talents and were existences above the Transcendent Realm at his age. Azeroth couldn¡¯t help feel frustrated at the fact that this body of his did not possess similar talent. A Mortal realm cultivator could not go against armies singlehandedly, split oceans and tear mountains. Those things could only be achieved by those of a higher realm. While thinking of power that was out of his reach, Azeroth couldn¡¯t help but ponder about his days as the Big Boss. ¡®If only I was still the Big Boss. This army would tremble before me, I could crush them like ants, I could squish them like bugs, I could squash them like inse¡­.¡± *Ding | System initializing¡­. 3¡­2¡­1| |Welcome back player @!*$)U$ ¡°BIG BOSS¡± @&T*^R | |Loading Character please wait 1%....| Azeroth couldn¡¯t help but jerk back in his seat upon hearing voices in his head and seeing notifications on a blue screen in front of him. The others in the room saw this and wondered if their lord was having a nervous breakdown. They couldn¡¯t help but take a step back when Azeroth suddenly got up with a wild smile on his face. ¡°Milord, is everything all right?¡±, asked Randheim with concern. Azeroth laughed and left the room while saying, ¡°Things have never been better my general. I must go back to my room to meditate, do not worry about me all of you focus on increasing the morale of the soldiers. I may have something that can help us get through our troubles.¡± Azeroth quickly headed back to his room and told the maid who previously helped him to not let others disturb him. He locked the doors and sat on his bed and looked straight in the air. Well actually he wasn¡¯t looking at air he was looking at a screen he was all too familiar with. |Loading Character please wait 5%....| The animation of the screen, the voice that read out the notifications, it was all too familiar to him. It was the system that guided him during his days in Zenith Online. Zenith Online¡¯s Supreme AI decided that in order to give user¡¯s a better experience and smoother journey, each player would be assigned their own basic AI assistant whose gender and voice they could select. It was a low-level AI that would act as their guide in navigating the system and its various functions in Zenith Online. It didn¡¯t have any personality of its own but you could give it a name and it would help you through out your entire play time. Rather then a generic AI that you would hear when logged in and out of Zenith Online, it would be your own AI assistant that would greet you. Such a concept worked well considering Zenith Online had a futuristic setting much like his present world. Azeroth hesitated, what if this was all just a hallucination? Maybe his recent reincarnation affected him mentally more than he thought? He was scared, a false hope is always worse then a harsh reality. ¡®Wait, if me reincarnating in another universe is possible, then what is impossible?¡¯ Before he could hesitate any further, he called out, ¡°Viki?¡± ¡°Hello Big Boss." Chapter 3 ¡°Hello, Big Boss.¡± Hearing that familiar voice, Azeroth¡¯s breath quickened as he grew excited. ¡°Viki is that really you?¡± He felt like he was still dreaming, but hearing her voice again it was certainly no dream. ¡°Player assistant Viki reporting.¡± The presence of the user interface of Zenith online and Viki was truly mysterious but Azeroth didn¡¯t bother questioning it for long. The character loading screen finally reached 100% while Azeroth was inspecting the system¡¯s UI and Viki. | Launch Character | | Yes/No| ¡°Viki, what will launching my character do?¡± ¡°You will login into and play as @!*$)U$ ¡°BIG BOSS¡± @&T*^R.¡± Viki spoke as if Azeroth was still in the game, and he knew that he couldn¡¯t get much information from her anyways considering her limited capabilities as a low level AI. Perhaps someone else could help him with his questions. ¡°Viki, contact the Supreme AI of Zenith online.¡± If player¡¯s had any problems with the game such as bug reports, enquiries and other things related to the game then they could directly contact the Supreme intelligence of Zenith Online. | Establishing connection with Supreme AI¡­| | Connection failed¡­ Retrying in 1...2...3¡­| . . . | Connection failed¡­ Retrying in 1...2...3¡­| ¡°Okay Viki, you can stop now.¡± ¡®It was worth a try.¡¯ Azeroth inspected the screens in front of him and discovered that it could be controlled via his thoughts. He could close and open those screens and minimize them to the corner of his eyes. Right now there were only two blue screens available to him. The initial screen containing his basic character information and the ¡®Launch Character¡¯ screen. | Launch Character | | Yes/No| Looking at the screen in front of Azeroth selected yes. The whole turned upside down and he became disoriented. When he came to Azeroth was in a white space. He looked around the white space and noticed he wasn¡¯t alone. Standing there was his character from Zenith Online. There was joy in Azeroth¡¯s eyes as he looked at his character. Just when he was about to take a step towards it, his character suddenly became illusory and slowly faded away as lines of code outlined it. At the centre of his character was a ball of energy surrounded by a dense amount of code. Shocked by the digital appearance of his character Azeroth took a step back. The ball of energy slowly left the illusory body of his character and floated towards him. Without any warning the ball of energy flew right into his chest at a startling speed. Surprised, Azeroth¡¯s hands went across chest but he couldn¡¯t find a trace of that ball nor did he feel strange as well. An electronic noise rung in his head as pieces of code came out of his body and danced around him. He felt a surge of energy go through him as he watched his own body slowly become illusory.If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. Soon multiple surges of energy passed through his illusory body as the code floating around him entered into his body and seemingly fused into it. Under Azeroth¡¯s panicked eyes, with each energy surge the code was absorbed into his body causing small changes almost as if his body was being edited. Azeroth lost all control of his body and could only spectate the ongoing changes. As more of the code was being absorbed into him, his body slowly became less illusory. Finally as the final pieces of code were absorbed by his body, a final surge of energy passed through him as he blacked out. Opening his eyes, Azeroth discovered he was lying face first on the floor. Groggily standing up, he stretched his body and collected himself. The first thing he noticed was that room seemed smaller somehow¡­no wait he was bigger! Azeroth looked at his hands as he marvelled at the strength flowing through him. He felt much stronger. This strength didn¡¯t look like it belonged to the Middle Mortal Realm Azeroth at all. He walked to the mirror to see the changes and boy was he surprised. The reflection was not that of Azeroth Vanaheim but the Big Boss of Zenith Online. He looked exactly like his game character albeit some changes. He still had the facial features of the old Azeroth but everything else was completely akin to his character from Zenith Online. Reflected in the mirror was a 7¡¯2 tall man with hair as white as celestial clouds and eyes shining golden like the sun. He was extremely muscular and along with his exceptional height made quite an intimidating figure¡­almost. With the handsome face of Azeroth, instead of being fearsome and terrifying he was instead majestic and valiant. His body was the perfect combination between the old Azeroth and the Big Boss. Clenching his fist and feeling the amazing strength flow through, Azeroth knew he was stronger than before his transformation. Almost habitually he opened his status screen. | Name: @!*$)U$ @&T*^R | | Title: The Big Boss | | Guild: The Caelisti Familgia | | Main Path: Genetic [ Titanic Monster(Kaiju)] | | Rank: A (S) | | ..........| . . . Looking at the familiar screen Azeroth felt happiness well up inside him. Looking at the strange name though he was puzzled. ¡°Viki why is my name censored?¡± It took a while for Viki to respond, she was probably running diagnostics. ¡°There seems to be an external force preventing the name from being represented. Reason for this is unknown.¡± Noticing Viki¡¯s unique choice of words, not displayed or shown but ¡®represented¡¯ Azeroth mind quickly worked and he tried saying his character¡¯s in-game name out loud. ¡°@!*$)U$ @&T*^R.¡± Even through speech the name couldn¡¯t be spoken as it came out as gibberish. Azeroth got an idea and tried something else just to be sure. #RE@!# *($@&^. Too his surprise he couldn¡¯t even utter his past life¡¯s name. Azeroth then wondered about this ¡®external force¡¯ that Viki spoke about. ¡°Viki can you describe this external force of you mentioned?¡± This time Viki took longer to respond. ¡°The external force seems to be the rules of player¡¯s current location.¡± It was an ambiguous answer but then Memories appeared once more giving him an answer. A long time ago Azeroth overheard one of the empire¡¯s expert¡¯s talk about the universal laws. In this case it was about how powerful cultivators can use elemental laws in combat further empower there attacks. Elemental laws aside, every universe had its own set of laws that it is governed by. These special laws must somehow be preventing the names from being ¡®represented¡¯ in any way. Most probably he wouldn¡¯t be able to record his name in written form as well. ¡®Wait a minute, since when was I able to form logical assumptions on such a foreign subject so quickly?¡¯ Not only was he strong, he also obtained his character¡¯s advanced intellect. It didn¡¯t matter anyways, the past is the past and is best left behind. He had a new life now and with his power as the Big Boss life would be much easier. Upon further inspection Azeroth saw that his rank was A now. It downgrade from his S rank. Puzzled he once again turned to Viki. ¡°The external force has forcibly interfered and suppressed your rank to A. Reason for this is unknown.¡± ¡°Hmmm.¡± From his memories he knew that most species in the universe where born with a cultivation within the Mortal realm. Some races were born within the Mortal realm and reach the Spirit Mortal realm upon maturing into an adult. In some legends a few incredibly rare beings were even born directly with power of immortals. Azeroth as a descendent of a powerful lineage knew that they were no mere legends though. Perhaps the universal laws forcefully capped his power at A rank in order to ensure he was within the Mortal realm? It was a reasonable assumption. His power in the game if compared to this universe¡¯s power system was at least at the level of a Spirit Mortal Realm powerhouse. Since his transformation involved bringing in the power of his character from Zenith Online, maybe the laws of the universe decided it was similar to being born and thus capped his power to A rank. A frown appeared on Azeroth¡¯s brow realizing he couldn¡¯t unleash his full powers. While thinking about his powers Azeroth couldn¡¯t help but think of the future. So what if he could regain S rank again, what would he do then? In Zenith Online, S rank was the maximum tier one could reach, that is it was the level cap of the game. Judging by this universe¡¯s standards S rank would be only as powerful as a Spirit Mortal Realm. Would he forever be limited in power? Azeroth also thought about cultivation. This was the main or it could be said the only way of gaining power in this universe. Could he still cultivate after his transformation? He had many questions, his advanced intellect from his transformation only creating more questions. There was only person who could answer him though. ¡°Viki is it¡­¡± Chapter 4 Azeroth looked at the ceiling and thought about the conversation he had with Viki. He learnt a lot of interesting things over the past few hours. It seems the universe has nerfed him to an extent. There was not much he could do about it. His powers were forcibly suppressed by the universe and there is no magical way to get back to his peak. The only way to reach S rank is to do what all Gamers are familiar with, grinding. Grinding back to his former level was going to be difficult though. It was as hard as grinding from F to A rank. The hardest part of the grind wasn''t the missions and tasks that he had to do for experience, it was the time taken to achieve it. Unlike the traditional levels in games, Zenith had grades instead. It started at the lowest F rank, all the way to the highest S rank. As a person who reached the end game of Zenith, he felt that F to A rank was quite simple. Perhaps getting A rank did take a bit of effort but it was achievable by majority of the player base. Levelling up all the way to A rank could be done through normal grinding which is basically doing quests and the like, but from A rank onwards it becomes much more complicated. In Zenith online S rank was the end game which meant that it couldn''t be achieved through normal means. Just doing quests or killing monsters for experience alone wasn¡¯t enough. One needed to have special achievements in order to breakthrough to S rank. Otherwise even if you get the required experience points through grinding your grade wouldn¡¯t increase to S rank no matter what. Only the top players in Zenith or otherwise known as Pro gamers were talented enough to get the S rank. The so called ¡°special achievements¡± were not the same for everyone. Depending on your chosen ¡°path¡± and the actions you have taken so far until A rank. The supreme AI of Zenith assigns certain conditions or achievements to each player to fulfil or obtain in order to get S rank. Albeit Zenith Online made it much harder by not telling the players what their condition or objective was. According to the game Devs finding out was ¡°part of the journey.¡± The Big Boss was one of the rare few players to get S rank in the game. Back to the situation on hand, now that Azeroth was back in A rank he had to grind back up to S rank. Luckily according to Viki, he didn¡¯t have to worry about the special achievements part as his achievements in Zenith Online still counted. All he had to worry about was getting loads of experience points. Hopefully it would be much easier since this new universe is filled with strong beings. There was some good news from Viki though, at least it sounded like good news. According to her, the level capped enforced by the game is ¡°absent¡±. The level cap was a fundamental part of Zenith Online¡¯s system but since he was no longer in the game it no longer applied to him. Theoretically it meant that Azeroth could grow without limit. It gave him a lot to ponder over but Azeroth decided to shelf that thought until after he reached S rank. With the city under attack it was better for him to focus on his current condition. He was still A rank which put him at the same level of strength as a peak Mortal realm cultivator. Unfortunately, that was all he had from the system. According to Viki his circumstances resulted in the utter destruction of all items in his ¡°inventory¡±. The whole transmigration through space and time resulted in the disintegration of all items in his inventory. An unseen force, which Azeroth assumed was the one that brought him to this universe managed to ensure the safety of soul but the items in his personal pocket space were not spared. Nothing from Zenith Online was strong enough to withstand his soul¡¯s travel through what could be described as ¡°Oblivion¡±, the nothingness between universes.Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings. He should be thankful enough that the pocket space wasn¡¯t destroyed as well. It was still frustrating though as many of the items were valuable and could of have been used to handle his current problems. ¡®I¡¯m sure I had a quite a few bombs in my inventory.¡¯ Staring at his hands Azeroth knew it didn¡¯t matter though as he still possessed the power of an A rank. While he wasn¡¯t sure how he compared to the people here, he was at least as strong as a Peak Mortal Cultivator or even stronger. He only had himself to depend on. Azeroth opened his status and took a look. | Name: @!*$)U$ @&T*^R | | Title: The Big Boss | | Guild: The Caelisti Familgia | | Main Path: Genetic [ Titanic Monster(Kaiju)] | | Rank: A (S) | | ..........| . . . ¡°Viki change my name to Azeroth Vanaheim.¡± His old name mattered no more in this new world. He was Azeroth, a proud prince of the Verath Empire. Boom. Azeroth shivered at the sound. An involuntary reflex that was the result of his fear. Vibrations could be felt from the cannon shot. His forces were firing warning shots at the enemy. Azeroth suddenly blinked in surprise. ¡®His forces.¡¯ The men on the walls were his people and they believed in him. He might have just arrived in this universe but that didn¡¯t mean it was going to be a relaxing life. It wasn¡¯t a vacation; no, it was a New Life. Azeroth was going to cherish this chance and live his life to the fullest. Sure, death was right around the corner and it was a world where the might was right. He was scared and he had every right to be so, but the world didn¡¯t care about his feelings. He had to get up and do his duty or it wasn¡¯t just his life on the line, it was the life all the people in the city. ¡°I am The Big Boss.¡± There was nothing to fear. The Big Boss was invincible and filled with limitless strength, He most certainly was not a terminally ill patient with no hope in sight. Smiling to himself Azeroth thought, ¡®As if a siege machine could hold a candle to a Kaiju.¡¯ Zenith Online had a unique path system instead of the traditional mmorpg classes. What made the path system special was that it could evolve into something unique. No one¡¯s path was set in stone after all. Zenith Online had three basic paths that players could choose from, the ¡®Genetic¡¯, the ¡®Magic¡¯, and the ¡®Techno¡¯ paths. He began with the genetic path and somewhere along it he found his calling as a ¡®Titanic Monster¡¯. As he became famous in the game and players found out more about him, they dubbed his class as ¡®Kaiju¡¯ after a popular type of monster found in movies. Eventually even though the official name of his genetic path was ¡°Titanic Monster¡±, he found himself calling it as Kaiju as well. It had a much better ring to it. His path was a pure genetic path. Most players combined another base path into their main path in order to obtain a more unique path and gain an advantage over the other players but not The Big Boss. He stuck to the genetic path and became Zenith Online¡¯s only Kaiju. Azeroth knew the various abilities he had would come in handy in the upcoming battle.. He didn¡¯t feel the need to test the limits of his current body or try out some of his abilities. There was no practice required at all. Whatever transformed his body also gave him all of the knowledge he had as the Big Boss. This included combat. Everything about his body felt¡­ natural. His transformation didn¡¯t give him any discomfort at all. To use his abilities was as simple as breathing. Azeroth just knew he could do it. If Azeroth had to pinpoint something different about his body from the game then perhaps it was the fact that it was ¡®alive¡¯. The Big Boss wasn¡¯t just a character in a VR game anymore, no it was breathing living person now¡­he is the Big Boss. The presence of life in his body told him it was all real. Such a feeling was absent in Virtual reality. One could say this was the missing 1 percent in a game with 99% simulation. That said he still wanted to test out all his abilities but considering that the city was in a state of emergency he didn¡¯t want the citizens to panic due to some of his more extreme skills. Right now, the most important matter at hand was to increase the morale of the men. He knew just what would help them too, himself. Using the excuse, he had prepared beforehand, Azeroth would tell the people of Hamlish that he was ¡®forced¡¯ to use his ¡®true power¡¯ in order to defeat the enemy. His new appearance and strength can simply be attributed to his mysterious background. Azeroth decided to head out and call in a meeting with the military leaders of Hamlish. Stepping out of the room he spoke to the maid standing by and said, ¡°Laura, tell General Randeim and his men to meet me in the war room immediately.¡± Azeroth then started to head towards the war room but then paused and looked at the maid who just stood there and looked like she saw a ghost. He then sighed and put his hand on the maid¡¯s shoulder. ¡°Hey you still there?¡± Laura got shook out of her stupor and composed herself. She then cautiously looked at the man before her and inspected him. The man looked completely different from the boy who just entered the room. Upon seeing his face, she realised that he looked eerily similar to the young Lord. Azeroth on seeing her antics sighed again and looked at her and said, ¡°Yes, Laura it¡¯s me.¡± Laura once again looked surprised. The young Lord said her name not once but twice, and what was even more amazing was that he knew her name. Laura bowed down and said, ¡°Right away my Lord.¡± As Laura walked away Azeroth said, ¡°¡­ And Laura I will explain later.¡± Laura turned back within another look of surprise and bowed once again and then went on her way. As he watched Laura walk away Azeroth couldn¡¯t help but admire at how calm she acted throughout the whole ordeal. She had more mental fortitude than your average maid. He took note of her as she might prove to be more resourceful later on and headed towards the war room. On the way he thought about how he would handle the council regarding his current changes and their plans for the upcoming battle. Chapter 5 Azeroth sat at the head of the table and watched the soldiers around gawk at him. Their initial reactions were not surprising or drastic in any way. Weren¡¯t their jaws supposed to drop upon seeing a 2 meter tall giant sitting at the head table? Apparently not because according to them his transformation was in no way hidden. The general himself said the aura released by the event was massive and even the enemies outside the walls detected it and were now slowing down their onslaught in caution. The source of all this commotion was traced to Azeroth¡¯s room so all the forces of Hamshil calmed down. It was no secret that their lord had mysterious origins. Perhaps he was going to use his ¡°true power¡± and help the city survive the calamity. ¡®Well their reasoning isn¡¯t wrong but still¡­¡¯ Looking at their expectant faces Azeroth didn¡¯t want to disappoint them. After all these men had done for him, the least he could do was reassure them. ¡°I will take care of the siege towers, you all will be responsible for the defence of the wall. Once the siege towers have been taken care of I will destroy the rest of their army.¡± To Azeroth this was a good plan, with the soldiers taking care of the city walls he would be free to rain destruction upon his enemies. When you had this much strength, strategies were unnecessary. The Military heads of Hamshil though were shocked to their core. They thought they were hearing things. The Lord by himself would handle the siege towers? Destroy their army? It was like they were hearing a fairy tale. Even though they could tell that Azeroth had gone through an incredible power-up they only thought it would at most boost their forces and help them to somehow whittle down the enemy forces. It didn¡¯t cross their mind that their Lord was planning on taking on the enemy by himself. General Randheim thought, ¡®Even though the aura from the lord¡¯s breakthrough was strong, it should still be within the Mortal realm. I guessed him to be a peak Mortal Realm. Was I wrong? Is he even stronger? Perhaps he reached the Spirit Mortal realm.¡¯ This thought was quite frightening to think about, the Lord maybe a genius from a powerful family but wasn¡¯t this too much. The General¡¯s thinking was correct but he judged Azeroth from a limited perspective. Perhaps on this planet Azeroth could be regarded as genius prodigy but when considering the universe as a whole he was moot. These people thought he was strong but Azeroth knew from his memories that he still had a long way to go to be even noticed in the grand scheme of things. He wasn¡¯t particularly worried about Hamshil¡¯s current predicament, to him it was easily solved. Azeroth was already thinking of how to increase his level and gain more strength. He was eager to increase his strength and explore the universe. He had so many plans. Once he proved himself too his family he would regain his freedom. While Azeroth was pondering about the future, the Military leaders of Hamshil were watching and waiting for him. Azeroth recollected himself and felt embarrassed. He got distracted and started daydreaming about the future. Azeroth told the men, ¡°That will be it, just focus on keeping the wall safe and I¡¯ll take care of the rest.¡± He then dismissed them and walked back to his room. The maid Laura followed him. Midway he stopped and instead decided to go outside and see attacking forces. Soon he reached the walls and looked at the tense pace of soldiers everywhere. As he walked past them, the soldiers looked in awe at the tall man before them. None of them recognised him due to his changes but his robes identified him as one of Hamshil¡¯s nobility. Few recognized the man before them and greeted him with respect. Azeroth simply nodded and walked till he reached the edge of the walls and could see the enemy. The enemy forces were camped far away but were still visible to Azeroth with his powerful eyesight. Nearby the city their forces were at standby and waiting to launch an offensive as soon as the command was given. ¡®They were launching shots moments ago, why did they stop?¡¯ Azeroth surmised it was due to his little transformation but still their reaction was a little overboard, or was it normal? It was not hidden that he had ¡®mysterious origins¡¯ and coupled with aura unleashed by his transformation it was more than enough to make the enemy wary. Till now the only powerhouse they had to be vary of was General Randheim but if this new lord was included into the mix then they had to rethink their strategies. Even one Peak Mortal cultivator was enough to overturn a war fought between mortals. Two peak Mortal cultivators would give Hamshil more than just a fighting chance. Siege Machines and other weapons might give an edge in wars but in a universe where men could split seas and move mountains, it was the powerhouses that each faction had that decided victory. Azeroth remembered the reading the reports given to him by the Randheim. The enemy had two peak Mortal cultivators and were suspected to have many more cultivators at the medium and low levels. A powerful force on this planet for sure, but Azeroth was sure he could take them on.If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. He couldn¡¯t really explain it but he felt really confident of his chances against enemy. Azeroth was different from those of this universe. He was a transmigrator and one with a fantastic power at his disposal. Going by the standards perhaps he was similar in power to a peak Mortal cultivator but even in the same level there were people who were more powerful and Azeroth was one of those people. He was tempted to simply just jump from the walls and immediately rush into the enemy and slaughter them all. Looking at the army beyond his walls bloodlust started to build up within him. If he wanted to he could probably restrain it but he didn¡¯t want to, his eyes then spotted a figure wearing a mask coming out of one of the bigger tents in the enemy camp. The masked figure was probably one of the peak Mortal cultivators and a leader in the enemy camp. As if sensing his gaze the figure turned around and faced the walls of Hamshil. Azeroth focussed in on the eyes of masked figure and his killing intent fired up. Unknowingly Azeroth was taking steps further and further until he reached the edge of the walls. ¡°My Lord, please be careful¡±, said Laura in worry seeing Azeroth teeter carelessly towards the edge of the walls. This shook him out of his stupor and he took one last look at the masked figure before walking away. ¡­ Far from the city of Hamshil in the enemy camp, the masked figure staggered feeling the killing intent from the figure on the city¡¯s wall. Alarmed, he saw the figure take one last look at him before returning. The masked figure thought, ¡¯Not good, that must be the rumoured lord of Hamshil. Just how powerful is he for his killing intent to affect me from so far away?¡¯ He then continued to rethink their strategies. Previously they still had the numbers advantage but now with the addition of a new powerhouse also one that powerful there was no way they could win in a straight on fight. It was still okay though, that was why they brought in those special shipments. Their sponsor was generous enough to give them weapons that they could never imagine getting their hands on, it usually required not just wealth but a powerful identity to obtain such goods. Previously the masked figure thought he wouldn¡¯t have to use it against Hamshil but now just to be safe he decided to arm the weapon. He would use it as a last resort against Hamshil¡¯s top warriors. Hopefully the siege machines were enough to finish of that city. Looking at the city once more the masked figure thought of the orders he received from his sponsor. ¡­ Azeroth returned to his room and sat on the floor to meditate. In Zenith meditation wasn¡¯t an actual skill but it was proven to increase the synchronisation rate between the virtual avatar and the player themselves resulting in faster reflexes and reactions in-game. It was also recommended to him by his doctors. Thus meditation became a routine part of his life. In a magical universe like this Azeroth was sure it would provide more help than simple spiritual satisfaction. Meditation gave rise to an inner peace and aided in increasing focus. After some time Azeroth collected himself and thought of his behaviour on the walls. Just the very sight of an opponent in front of him excited him greatly and he started generating massive amounts of bloodlust. In the end he even let go of himself a bit and directed a lot of killing intent in the direction of the enemy camp. This wasn¡¯t a reaction from him, it was more of a reaction from his body. The bloodlust was from the Kaiju part of him. Right now he wasn¡¯t just a normal human even with this universe¡¯s standards. Even before his transmigration despite the averageness of his predecessor¡¯s physique he was still a Verathian Royal, a direct descendant and the son of Verath¡¯s God. His genetics compared to a baseline human were perfect in every sense. He had never been sick a day in his life and even without cultivation his body was ten times stronger than the average mortal. Sure his talent in cultivation was not up to par compared with the other geniuses in the universe but his physical body was quite strong. Well not nearly strong as his brothers and again if he considered other geniuses he was tra¡­let¡¯s not compare anymore. Azeroth¡¯s body was already blessed with good genetics but with his recent transformation everything changed. Azeroth opened up his status screen. ¡­ | Name: Azeroth Vanaheim | | Title: The Big Boss | | Guild: The Caelisti Familgia | | Main Path: Genetic [ Titanic Monster(Kaiju)] | | Rank: A (S) | | ..........| ¡­ His eyes drifted to his path. The letters Kaiju stood out him the most. Focussing on the word he opened a new window. ¡­ Titanic Monster [Kaiju] There are monsters in this world and then there are Titanic Monsters. A Titanic Monster is not a unique species but a mutation in the normal variant of the species. This mutation popularly dubbed the Kaiju gene transforms the monster into a massive behemoth. While it retains some of the features of its original species it is safe to say that Titanic Monsters or Kaiju can be considered an entirely new species on their own. On top of increase in size, Kaiju are stronger, faster and develop unique mutations that allow for various functions but mostly related to combat. Scientists once thought that the Kaiju gene was present in the ¡®Alpha¡¯ of a species. This has been disproved. Kaiju are not alphas of the species the same way kings are not gods. Kaiju eventually evolve and advance much differently from its original species. One common point that all Kaiju share is that they are near indestructible cannot be killed via normal means. The most common way a Kaiju dies is by another Kaiju¡¯s hand. ¡­ This information about Kaiju wasn¡¯t new to Azeroth. It was common info that you could pick from the forums and databases of Zenith Online that was available to the general public. Azeroth knew far more information than given by the window. His main path was very unique. Rather than say it was a hidden class it was better to say it was a¡­ custom class.