4 Chapter 4: Creation

The time had come.

Like when he was waiting for his DIVE machine to arrive, Hanzo was sat around once again waiting for a special email from the developers of Yggdrasil. Today was the day that he would receive his early access to download Yggdrasil. According to some follow up information, there will be a few limitations such as restricted areas and activities until the public release, however there will be no limitation imposed on levels or equipment.

Even though he felt slightly let down by the idea of not having access to everything, Hanzo was excited at the fact that he could power level as much as he wanted. He knew he would definitely need it when Player Killing became a large problem in the future.

Eventually, Hanzo noticed a small notification at the top of his email tab. He hastily clicked on the email and opened it. Without hesitation, he clicked the link and started the download process.

He had his DIVE machine connected via a cable to his laptop. This is the only way to download games virtually on the device.

His download finished after a couple of hours, marking the start of his years of Yggdrasil.

As soon as it was finished, Hanzo disconnected the device and laid down with the headgear on. Pulling down the visor, he dived.

Unlike his first time diving, Hanzo was excited about what he was about to experience. His mind started to formulate his next step as this was one of his biggest choices in his life. Since his first transmigration, he had gone over multiple scenarios on what his character would be. Unlike the rest of the early access players, Hanzo was making his character to be the best for the New World.

As he was contemplating his final decisions, a his vision brightened as he was shown an image of an ugly troll man. It's skin was a pale green with a large pointed nose and what seemed to be chewed off ears. Its body was fat with various dirt marks dotted around on it.

Immediately, he frowned, his attitude turning hostile. It was not hostility towards the ugly figure in front of himself, it was instead at the message next to it.

'Self Creation completed. Real life likeness 98%. Would you like to use this character? Yes or No?'

"Are you fucking kidding me?"

Infuriated by the message and afraid he may accidentally agree, Hanzo yelled 'NO' with an aggression he had not shown since being transmigrated.

"What does it mean 'likeness'? I look and act nothing like a fucking bridge troll"

After mumbling his complaints, Hanzo took a few deep breaths and managed to calm his anger. Then, he returned his gaze to the avatar in front of him. Instead of the troll, it was now a blank human default.

First of all, it seemed that he had to choose one of the three great races, Human Race, Demi-Human Race or Heteromorphic Race.

Naturally, Hanzo chose Heteromorphic without any thought. As soon as he did, the avatar changed into a strange sludge monster. At least it looked better than the troll.

Ignoring the change, Hanzo started to browse the specific race options that he could choose. His mind buzzed with glee as he saw the many options ranging from Skeletons, Vampires, Ooze and even Imps. The vast variety stunned Hanzo. Although he had prior knowledge about the player freedom and mass amount of content, he was still shocked by the Racial Classes alone. It made him wonder how the other players were taking it.

As he scrolled through the options, he stopped on one. He had decided this was it. After choosing the race, the avatar changed and showed a man which looked like a normal human. However, it's eyes had a golden glow as it stared into the distance. Additionally, there was a mass amount of scales covering his back, chest, arms and legs. It was a Dragonoid. That was the choice that Hanzo had decided to go with.

Originally, he had wanted to go for the Vampire. However, this would have restricted him a lot more than the Dragonoid would. In terms of stat distribution, they had very similar set up, both being good at Magic and Physical fighting. Ultimately, what sold Hanzo on the Dragonoid was that Vampires had a deep weakness to Silver which was easily accessible by even low ranked adventurers in the New World. While Dragonoids had a weakness to Dragon Slaying elements too, he knew for a fact that it was very rare in the New World.

After selecting his Racial Class, he started to customise the appearance of his character. He chose to keep his height the same at 6ft so that he did not have to readjust himself later on, however he changed his appearance rather drastically.

His hair was a deep black that had silver tips on the edges of his fringe. Normally, Hanzo would not have gone for something like that, however the combination of that and the dark grey scales across his body and the white skin of his human features made him accept the idea a lot easier. Following this, his reptilian eyes were the same gold however the pupils were now a crimson red.

For the final touch, his physique was like that of a swimmer. It was toned and well defined however the muscles of his body were not excessive. Overall, the avatar exuding an atmosphere of majesty as though it was built to lead.

"Yep this is it, definitely better to have an avatar that looks good. I cannot imagine looking in the mirror as an Arachnoid"

Hanzo appreciated his newly customised avatar from the side. He felt content with his creation, thus he chose the save option, prompting the game to ask for confirmation. Accepting again, Hanzo was then given an input box asking him to input his player name. This would be a name that the members of his guild would use and he fully intended to assume it when he went to the New World too. He liked Hanzo, but he felt that once he left his current body, he would need to become his avatar.

Fortunately, Hanzo did not have to deliberate as he had already chosen a name. He inputted his chosen name, causing a confirmation screen to appear.

'Would you like to use the name 'Zelphyr'?'

He immediately agreed. As he did, he received a welcome message before his vision turned black once more.

A few seconds passed before, light slowly started to fill his vision. After a few seconds, the environment rendered in fully, a sigh of relief escaping Hanzo mouth. Finally, a game that took eye safety into consideration.

As he looked around, he noticed that he had spawned into what seemed to be a temple, the temple was made of a majestic marble-like material that seemed to absorb the sunlight and glow. Hanzo was not alone, in every direction, masses of people were gathered in groups speaking about their characters and some already joining parties.

Even though he would eventually join a party, Hanzo decided to go out solo and get himself sorted out before he started to worry about party dynamics.

Opening his map function, Hanzo chose to teleport to Helheim.

His body faded away as he vision went dark briefly. It quickly returned to him, but the scenery was completely different. The marble buildings were replaced by dark-green trees that twisted violently creating awkward passages. The floor was coated in a mud, with Hanzos feet sinking slightly as he walked.

"Well, beggars can't be choosers as they say"

There were multiple reasons as to why he had chosen such a uninviting start location. One of them being the fact that it was uninviting. At least for this month, he should have as few run ins with players as possible, allowing him some form of safety from curious Player Killers. Although the hunting of heteromorphic races was not a trend yet, there was no doubt that there would be some curious players who try it. It wasn't worth the risk.

Thus he transferred to a horrible world like this.

Additionally, the enemies here are mainly undead and Insect Heteromorphs with the stronger races residing in the center. This makes it fairly friendly to new players.

As Hanzo looked around, he heard the squelching of the mud from the distance. He immediately adopted a combat mindset, ready to attack at any minute. As the squelching got closer, he heard the scratching of bones as the enemy walked.

"A skeleton by the sounds of it"

Hanzo mumbled as he waited for the skeleton to turn the corner, readying his starter bastard sword. Just as predicted, the skeleton turned the corner, it's rusty dagger at it's side.

Without waiting, Hanzo jumped out from his hiding spot, his sword raised above his head with both hands on the hilt.

The skeleton finally realised it's situation and rushed to intercept, alas it's reactions could not compare to those of a Dragonoid, especially in an ambush.

The sword came crashing down onto the defenseless skull of the skeleton, sending the undead tumbling backwards until it stopped moving. After a couple of seconds, the body evaporated into the air, blue particles floating towards Hanzos character. As he looked at his interface, he noticed his experience bar had gone up and was the same colour blue as that of the deceased undeads particles.

"Man... that was an easy fight but I am definitely not happy about that"

A frown sat upon his face as he looked down at his sword. He knew that on undead, especially skeletons, you should use hammers and other bludgeoning weapons since it's their weakness. Nevertheless, it was concerning that he could not cut through the bones of a simple low-levelled skeleton with his current sword.

"I need to find ways to get better equipment"

From what he read on the email, the game store would not be open until the day of the public release. This mean't he had to grind his way up levels without the use of the gacha machine or bonuses using the store.His wealth could not currently help him.

Deciding to leave that thought for another time, Hanzo set out to search for more prey.