Yggdrasil - 1

Year 2108 was when Ryouta was born into this world. Although his name might have changed to Yuki after his reincarnation, he remained fundamentally the same.

The year right now was 2126, and this time was also the worst for the planet. The entire world had been living in a dystopian state for the previous 50 years due to relentless pollution, leading to the world's collapse. The once-gorgeous nature now only existed in games. The sky was perpetually hidden behind black smog, with the sun making only brief appearances at certain times of the year. Toxic fog frequently covered cities, causing even more chaos. People had to rely on air filters to keep their homes safe and clean, and when going outside, they had to wear masks that acted as artificial lungs because surviving without them was nearly impossible.

Most of the world was now governed by big businesses due to the polluted state of the environment. Most things needed sponsorship from these corporations to even have a chance of thriving. This was the grim reality defining the pathetic state of the world.

Eighteen years had passed since Ryouta, now Yuki, was born, and he was currently celebrating his 18th birthday.

"Happy birthday, Master Yuki!"

"Happy Birthday to the Young Master!"

"All the best wishes to you!"

Congratulations poured in from all directions. The entire room was filled with influential people, and the center of attention was none other than Yuki Kokonoe, the second son of the Kokonoe Family, one of the huge conglomerates that held a massive monopoly over the 2nd Arcology of Tokyo. What's more, they had connections with Arcologies in Europe and South America, making the Kokonoe family and their business one of the most coveted in the world. Naturally, people tried to get close to anyone related to their family, especially Yuki, being the second son.

Despite being labeled as useless, Yuki had been given a significant amount of money by his parents. They had no particular expectations of him, but they wanted him to at least enjoy a good life, so they provided him with substantial wealth, a fact that made Yuki grin from ear to ear.

"Thank you, everyone," Yuki said as he held the wine in his hand. He appeared somewhat excited, with people around him clapping and cheering, almost reminiscent of a scene from Evangelion. However, his excitement wasn't solely for his birthday but rather something else.

Eventually, the party came to an end as the night concluded. Yuki returned to his home; he had actually been at his family's home during the celebration. His actual apartment was located on the 45th floor of a massive tower within Tokyo Arcology 5th.

"What's the time, system?" Yuki inquired, addressing the system granted to him by the goddess. He was now in his room, clad in a night robe. After his arrival, he had already changed into his regular attire, with his shiny black hair draped over his shoulders, still slightly damp from getting out of the bath.

{It's approximately 11:54, Master,"} replied the system in his head. All Yuki needed was a thought, and he'd get his answer. However, Yuki said it out loud due to his habit. Yuki's life had been spent alone, so he had grown accustomed to calling out to the system verbally. His autism only exacerbated this tendency, causing it to occur almost every time. Thankfully, he had been fortunate enough to never be caught by anyone talking to himself. Even if he were, they wouldn't do anything to him; after all, he was their master, and his room was accessible only to his maids.

"What's the time for Yggdrasil's servers opening?"

{It's Approximately 12:01, Master,"} replied the system.

This system, granted by the goddess, was truly remarkable, even though Yuki couldn't see it. It had nearly unrestricted access to information, though it couldn't perform physical tasks. Instead, it possessed numerous other capabilities, including temporary mind manipulation through the creation of a series of radio waves and sound waves.

Anyway, that didn't matter right now. The main thing was the wish he didn't even want was probably the wish that troubled him the most, while also making things easier for him. That wish was beauty.

Although some might think beauty is meaningless in this ruined world, it was quite the opposite. Yuki had been reincarnated with his previous looks, but more refined and more beautiful. This beauty helped him greatly in getting along with his wealthy family. He could easily gather information through them, although he didn't really need to because he had his system.

"Let's set up the game first," Yuki said as he walked over to his VR Room.

It was situated right inside his bedroom, with a door to the left leading to the spacious VR room.

In this world, technology had advanced significantly, to the point where virtual reality had become the norm. Yuki was about to play one of the most anticipated titles of the year, and he was a beta tester due to Kokonoe Company owning a quarter of the stocks in Yggdrasil, the game he had been eagerly waiting to play.

Yggdrasil was a DMMO-RPG (Dive Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game), and Yuki's reason for anticipating it was obvious. After all, it was his ticket to a new world.

DMMO-RPG refers to "Dive Massive Multiplayer Role-Playing Games." DMMO-RPGs utilize an advanced ultracranial nanocomputer network known as the neural nano-interface, a piece of technology created from the fusion of cyber and nano-technology. In other words, they're the type of games that allow one to enter a virtual world and experience it as though it were real life. Originally, it was created for the military and later used for medical development, but the cost was too high. That's why the system's development was later simplified 10 years later, and now every home has it.

Yuki's VR room had two VR consoles: one for playing other games and one specifically designed for Yggdrasil, coupled with a golden headgear in the center. He had purchased it two years ago, after confirming Yggdrasil's release date during its development stages. This VR console was a notch above the others, with high security as its main feature, making it nearly impossible to hack. 

"This is the best! I can't wait to try out Yggdrasil!" Yuki shouted in excitement as he sat down on the black, beach-like chair and reclined backward. Slowly, he used his hands to plug a neural transmitter into the neural port behind his nape. When the neural transmitter finally connected, Yuki felt a slight tickle, but it soon went away.

"Let's start," he said as he put on the golden headgear, which began glowing, and tapped it to dive into the game. He immediately appeared in a blue interface, with the Yggdrasil logo shining in front of him. As a beta tester, this logo was still missing a few details that would be added before the game's release.

Yuki wasted no time and tapped on the logo, triggering a tutorial screen. He quickly went through the tutorial and was then teleported into a room with other beta players. There were about 200 players in this huge hall, and initially, they all seemed to share the same stature and size, until they began changing, and Yuki could guess why.

He then looked at his character creation screen.

[Character Creation]

- The World Seeks the Name of Its Savior

[Please Choose an In-Game Name]

[Enter_____]

The first thing to do was choose a name, and what better name than something he came up with himself.

[Nex Yuki]

Yuki typed on the keyboard and pressed Enter, immediately seeing:

[Name Registered Successfully]

"Hmmm, this sounds good," Yuki muttered to himself. He chose the name Nex for a reason, and he liked his name Yuki, so why not mix the two? Nex Yuki sounded good, he thought.

Then he was faced with the most important decision a player could make, something that would determine their fate.

[Please Choose a Race]

[Warning! Your Race Will Determine Your Fate]

"Well, I can already understand that warning," Yuki muttered to himself. He was well aware of the drastic effects that a chosen race could have. He could already see many players choosing humanoid races and vanishing to start their game. He still hadn't seen a single player choose a heteromorphic race.

Yuki ignored that and looked at the available races.

[Humanoid]

• Description: A flexible race with humanoid appearance that provides a wide range of benefits and reliable job class coverage due to the absence of racial classes.

Races Available: |Human| |Elf| |Dark Elf| |Light Elf| |Rainbow Eye| |Winged Human| |Dwarf| |Sharp Horn| |Four Eyes| |Wild Elf| |Faith Sapien| |Fourthen| |Prasia Tailfolk| |Shadow Touch| |Petra Tib Neeg| |Manava| |Jinn Albashara| etc.

[Demi-Humanoid]

• Description: A race of human-like beings with varying physical attributes, some possessing partly upright postures and animal-like features. They offer a balance between job and race class stats.

Races Available: |Giant| |Centaur| |Goblin| |Kobold| |Lizardmen| |Mermen| |Minotaur| |Ogre| |Troll| |Nekomimi| |Mandrake| |Tuveg| |Naga| |Dragonkin| |Vulpaculae| |Houndmen| |Panthern| |Ceraton| |Peloderm| |Elefant| |Equin| etc.

[Heteromorphic]

Description: Inhuman, monstrous races. Most of these races possess monstrous features and appearances, and can only appear human through further customization. They can choose to dedicate leveling up to racial classes, limiting their job classes, or vice versa.

Races Available: |Undead| |Angel| |Zombie| |Demon| |Doppelganger| |Dragonoid| |Golem| |Insect| |Plant| |Slime| |Skeleton| |Vampire| |Lycanthrope| |Ghost| |Elemental| |Dullahan| |Birdman| |Homunculus| |Castkin| |Chernobl |Fairy| |Spirit| |Youkai| |Siren| |Xana| etc...

There were over 700 races and racial classes included in Yggdrasil for players to choose from. Yggdrasil, after all, was a game known for its freedom and customization. One of its mottos was that "Strength is not everything."

Yuki went through the basic races available. It was easy to guess that most players would choose humanoid races, as many races were available, and no one wanted to appear as a monster by choosing a heteromorphic race.

However, what they didn't know was how advantageous the heteromorphic races could be. Yuki didn't even hesitate before selecting the Demon race.

You might wonder, why Demon? Well, there was a specific reason behind it. The Demon class was one of the requirements for his cheats to come to fruition.

[Demon]

Description: A race of menace born to create and cause destruction. They are creatures of eternal darkness, blessed and loved by evildoers. Demons are creatures that thrive in sin and evil. Only those who have the capacity to become evil and accept themselves are capable of being born as one. Demons always have negative karma and are vulnerable to divine.

Racial Classes Available: |Imp| |Lesser Demon| |Devil| |Incubus| |Infernal| |Shadelitch| |Gargoyle| |Fiend| |Oni|

"System, the racial class that I need to choose is Devil, right?" Yuki asked the system for confirmation.

{Yes, Master. The Devil racial class is the way to unlock the broken racial class.}

Yuki looked at the array of racial classes available. What he needed right now was Devil, and he immediately tapped on the Devil race without any hesitation, adding it as his race.

Immediately, his entire body changed, and his previous avatar underwent a transformation; he now resembled a hideous demonic creature with a red body, a flaming tail behind him, and two devil wings sprouting from his back. When he accessed a screen to observe his entire appearance, he was repulsed by what he saw.

"System, I hope the customizables can fix this, right?" Yuki asked with concern, as he didn't want to remain in this hideous form forever.

{Yes, Master, the Cosmetic Skins will make you look beautiful again.}

Hearing the system's reassuring response, Yuki let out a sigh of relief and made slight adjustments to his appearance. A new array of options to refine his demonic look appeared before him.

After customising the demonic body to look a little more human, he looked at the new array of option before him.

- A Player needs to have a home 

[Please choose a world to spawn in]

•Asgard [Unavailable]

•Vanaheim 

•Alfheim [Unavailable ]

•Jotunheim

•Niflheim

•Midgard [Unavailable]

•Muspellsheim

•Nidavellir

•Helheim

Yuki was well aware that Heteromorphs couldn't enter some of the worlds, but what was there to worry about? When he would be able to beat everyone, he'd surely blitz into those worlds. Furthermore, there was no description in the beginning of the game, and it was still in beta with only 200 players present.

"Which world would be the best to start in, system?" Yuki asked the system as he looked through the six available worlds to spawn.

{The best place to start would be Helheim. The world is best suited to level up masters' Racial Classes and unlock the hidden race.} said the system.

"Okay then..." Yuki immediately chose Helheim as his spawning location, and a screen appeared in front of him showing a map. The map was a basic representation of the overworld of Helheim, with some locations marked in red, probably indicating cities or other important spots. Yuki chose one of the central locations in Helheim. After all, in Yggdrasil, the further one ventured from the center of a world, the harsher the world became; that's how it worked in Yggdrasil.

"Let's go!" Immediately, Yuki felt a falling sensation before he appeared in a dark, grassy land. He looked up at the sky, only to be greeted by darkness, a perpetual darkness similar to the real world.

Immediately, he was greeted by a screen in front of him displaying words that appeared like credits before vanishing.

[Welcome to Yggdrasil, Player. You have been sought and called upon by the will of Yggdrasil to save the dying world.]

[The World Tree Yggdrasil, which had countless leaves, is dying now after almost all of its leaves were devoured by the World Devourer.]

[Please save the world from the World Devourer and save your world.]

A simple prologue and a story, not very long. Yuki was already aware of it. After all, he was someone who had watched Overlord more than ten times.

After the beginning lore ended, Yuki was greeted by a new notification. 

After the introductory lore concluded, Yuki was greeted by a new notification.

[Your first New Chain Quest is Available]

[Chain Quest - Fight of the Invaders]

Description: The will of Yggdrasil has called upon all its players to help fend off and destroy the enemies of the world. Fight off the invaders who are trying to eat the last remaining roots of Yggdrasil.

[Quests]

[Beginner Quest]

Description: Defeat 10 Level 5 Monsters.

Rewards: 700 EXP, 3000 Gold Coins

Yuki swiped off the notification and focused on the other notification displayed in front of his status.

When he tapped on his head, he was greeted by new types of notifications.

[You are the first player to choose a Heteromorphic Race]

[Congratulations! Your race has been enhanced]

[Your racial Class [Devil] has evolved into [First Devil]]

Yuki opened his status and observed his rather pitiful stats, but he couldn't use any cheats right now. The gacha and Customizables were not yet accessible, and the shop remained closed to all players, set to open on the first day of the next month.

"Let's focus on leveling up first," Yuki thought to himself, understanding that he needed to level up his racial class to unlock his cheats.

___________________________________________________

[AN: Yes, there will be a chapter tomorrow. And yes, this will be a long story. Good night now. ]