A Pain

ravens flew in the sky, carefully looking at the ground. these were no normal ravens, but dragon ravens. they looked a lot like normal ravens, but they had the claws of a dragon, their feathers were harder than steel, and their senses were far sharper. these were Odin-tamed beasts, Huginn and Muninn. they had no true combat strength, but their speed was off the sharps along with their sense capabilities.

"There is a village up north, a human village... no, it's more like a human tribe," Odin said while standing next to Raven, who held a scroll, and with a hand seal, a map was slowly being written

"A tribe?" Raven stunned asked in shock, although her face remained blank. Odin nodded slightly at her words, before casting an illusion, showing Raven what he saw through the Raven. Raven looked at the humans who were wearing beast clothing, sitting around campfires, 

"They using hands to make fire... it seems like magic isn't common here," Odin said while Raven cast the spell [Massage]

"Fuma, have you and your man to move north," Raven said, Fuma was a dragon shinobi. not too far away, a young man covered from hand to toe with a shinobi outfit froze while looking toward where Fume wished her to move.

waving his hand, he single towards everyone to follow him, causing them all to disappear, and a moment later appearing on a tree branch next to the Huginn, they bowed slightly towards the birth as they knew Odin was watching,

Fume's eyes bowed as he used a skill of his to measure a target's strength, he closely looked at everyone in the village, before he took out a scroll and showed it to the raven. it was unclear when he wrote on that scroll

"Fume says everyone in that village is at level 1 the strongest being level 10," Odin said calmly, Raven's eyebrow raised slightly... they were so weak? but she reported this to Igneel, using Massage which allowed her to speak with someone far away.

"Lord Igneel said, to have the surrounding 25 km mapped out, he would personally go to that village," Raven said with a stunned look, causing Odin's face to harden...

'so weak.' Igneel thought after ending the massage with Raven, he looked towards Alfred who was glaring at him with a look that said, you shall not go anywhere. 

"My lord, is it not reckless to go outside? we have no clues on what is going on, you should stay in the guild where it's safe." Alfred said softly, to which I shook my head while cracking my neck.

"I'm the only one with a guild weapon, that being said, I should be the only one stepping out. our guild is a guild weapon, the only one of its kind to be moveable, so stay here. plus, I was the strongest of my mind, I reached number one." I said with a smile, 

"Still... you should let us collect more information first. as you said, there might be beings above level 100 here." Alfred said to which I just sighed while picking up the magic wand in front of me. taking it, I aimed to cast it, just for it to slip out of my hand.

"You see... I find it weird so many things changed, yet some rules remain." I said with a smile, in the game, one couldn't just pick up a sword and start swinging it around, one needed the job classes to be allowed for such things.

Igneel was no magic caster, the only magic he had was through his job classes, but most of them were considered skills instead of spells in Igneel's eyes.

"My lord, please don't change the subject... although I am curious, what has changed?" Alfred asked, to which Igneel thought for a moment before answering.

"you guys seem more alive. there were many limitations had I created you guys, I could give you power, and all of the looks you want... but this, where you are alive, thinking... I couldn't do that, which was a huge shock." I said, shocking Alfred for some time, although he didn't show. he was skilled in hiding his true thoughts,

"so, there are two things I could guess from this. One we might all follow the realm rules as our former world, or two... this world follows the same rules." I said while picking up a sword I had the job class, Dragon Warrior. I should be able to use any weapons but magic caster gear.

According to the YGGDRASIL standard, the DMMO-RPG had over 2,000 basic and advanced job classes available in the game to unlock and choose from through various conditions such as killing Ice Dragon monsters. Compared to heteromorphs and demi-humans, humanoids gain all of their strengths from job classes and skills. In YGGDRASIL, strong classes were typically balanced out with weaknesses and penalties... well, not all of them.

On the other hand, there were three different types of job classes. They're usually ranked between base, high, and rare. Base job classes can be leveled up to 15, high classes can be leveled up to 10, and rare classes, like World Champion, can only be leveled up to 5 at max. most of the signal current JOb Classes were all Rare

Every base job class had a maximum of 15 levels to invest in. To reach the overall level cap of 100, one would need to take at least 7 different classes. However, players could take as many classes as they wanted as long as they met each class's prerequisites. A player could even take 100 classes at level 1 each, although that was considered very inefficient. As such, in this system, it was virtually impossible to make identical characters unless one was deliberately trying to do so.

For every class obtained, different spell lists were given to players. Having levels in specific classes and their respective skills can also benefit the players in ways that enhance their specialization of spells or summoning. When players level up along with their chosen class, they can choose three new spells from the class' spell list. Hence, level 100 Players could use 300 different spells at most.

Unfortunately, this has been counted as a separate system and the stacking of classes is different from the level of magic one can use. For instance, level 100 characters who had incompatible faith-type classes could use only up to the 4th tier of magic. If done properly, such characters should have been able to reach the 6th tier of magic. In this case, accumulating sixty levels in the wizard and forty levels in the cleric would not let one use the highest 10th-tier magic of the faith series.

Igneel looked at the sword, before he raised it, about to swing it down, but Alfred spoke just in time to stop me.

"My lord, if you swing that, you might cut down everything in your way. please know your strength." He said calmly, Igneel frowned slightly and stopped. he swung the sword slightly, trying to see if he felt like he was a master swordsman, but he felt nothing.

"then, how am I supposed to test my ability and such?" I said softly, in the game, one had a screen that popped up, and we had to do a lot of tapping to use skills, this is the main reason I used a sword and picked the human race as my avatar, I kept it simple, with a clear plan in mind. but in this world, I had to cast, think of a spell or technique, and use it.

"My lord, Hell and The City In the Cky all have arenas which you can go to test your strength," Alfred said to which Igneel shook his head slightly.

"I'm too strong... let's go to the 3rd floor. I will attack you and you shall defend against my attack, tell me how strong it is." I said calmly, to which Alfred nodded slightly while following me to the 3rd floor. he made some range between us, while I held the sword

'In the game, as a human... I was ranked among the top 3 players. Touch Me, and that other guy who was deleted from the game after being a world enemy. Touch Me was second, and I was 3rd.' I thought calmly while standing at the bottom of the water, looking straight ahead at Alfred. the water pressure was high, yet we were more than capable of ignoring it.

A World Enemy was described to be an immensely powerful, boss monster hidden deep in the game. There were thirty-two of these extraordinary monsters in total, and one could infer the dev team's love of dragons from the number of draconic entities among them.

On the other hand, there is a likely chance of obtaining a World Item after defeating one of the World Enemies such as the Lords of the Seven Deadly Sins.

Even if thirty levels 100 players work together, fully prepared and forewarned of the battle ahead, and enter combat with any one of these World Enemies, the outcome of the match would still be in doubt. If one of these monsters had appeared before them, it would be a threat to the best guilds out there. World Enemies' attacks could bypass the racial resistance of heteromorphic monsters or players.

By YGGDRASIL standard, despite a legion, composed of six parties of six players each (36 players in total), they would still not have much of a chance against these unimaginably powerful creatures.

While World Enemies are level-breaking monsters, even the weakest ones are over level 100. They were the first type of monsters confirmed to have a cap that is beyond level 100. They were even immune to some abilities of world items like Longinus.

What was so special about Longinus you ask? Well, it was a world Item. World Items are the most powerful and legendary items in YGGDRASIL. They possess massive power that could potentially threaten the game's balance, thus, earning them the term "Balance Breakers." They are also known to be called the "crapped out."

Longinus has the power to completely remove any target from existence at the expense of the user's own existence. There was no way to restore the data of anyone deleted by the World Item, other than by using the resurrection powers of other World Items; neither cash items nor resurrection spells would work. 

Overpowered right, but why was I saying all of this? because before I became a dragon, I was powerful. Among the players at level 100, some built avatars better than others, and some were just trash. You can rank this by low, mid, high, and peak players. When I was a human, I was a peak player, standing in the top 3 of all players.

but when I became a dragon, I went on to step beyond the peak of players. Dragons were loved, special, and beloved creatures. after becoming one, I got to test that love the game developers had for them.

Of course, I was hunted down many times by other players. there was even an event where a few of the best guilds teamed up to storm the Dragon Palace, but they were crushed on the 4th floor. Among the many guilds, I would be the only one you would see to have so many spawns that spawned zero undead, less you look in Hell. but even the undead down there were all dragon-type

This was because of the guild base, it was unique and special, in the fact it was a world item. the only one of its kind capable of moving around. but the cost to do so was a lot, even so, I had placed it on top of the highest mountain in the game, and called for players to dare make their way through the harsh conditions to change my guild.

there were only 2 other guilds I ever considered a rival, Ainz Ooal Gown which held Touch Me which also held the most numbers of world items. while most guilds held 1 or 2, they held 11.

The World United, which held some of the best world Items, although they held 3, one of them allowed them to increase the overall level of the NPC in their guild, which made them the only guild to have more than 10. it was also held to the new best 3rd player after I took first place and Touch Me remained in the same spot.

We would fight for resources many times, most of them is them forcing me to stay away from mines, and dungeons, and the list went on. sadly, that was the golden years, before their guilds began to grow weak while mine only grew stronger. As for the new guilds that took over, they were nothing compared to them, I lost interest in playing with them and just went on to explore the game

Although a lot of information had already been collected about the game, most of it pertained to dungeons or other locations and it was estimated that only 30% of the nine worlds had been mapped so far. it just got harder and harder the map out the deeper you got into the game, be it more powerful monsters or the lands required far more out of you, there were some lands so hot your armor got damage, while some had some unique and deadly weathers which could roost your gear, or cause all kinds of negative effect on you.

I was busy exploring this stuff, while others have never seen level 10%, with those try-hards only seeing a good 20 or even 25% of the game. I managed to map 40% of the game, mostly due to how powerful I was. but it sucked, just when I became a world Dragon, the game was about to shut down...

'sigh, back to reality... is it bad that I didn't have a life outside of the game? forget it, this is a new world, a world awaiting me to explore the undead.' I thought while swinging the sword, at such speed and power that the friction with the water caused it to boil. the world sword couldn't handle such power, by the time Igneel was done with the swing, it had disappeared completely.

but the water in front of me boiled, it was a normal swing, but it sent forward a sword slash which split the water up ahead. Alfred's eyes narrowed seeing the incoming attack, he crossed his arms while sticking his legs deep into the ground below. sword clash and arms clash, the force causing a shock wave.

"you alright?" I asked while swimming over to Alfred. Some dragons needed air, and others like us didn't need to breathe.

"yes my lord... but that attack could have one shot at most level 100," Alfred said to which I nodded while looking at his arms he tried to hide. I had him show it, allowing me to see the cut he suffered, it wasn't too deep, but it was no simple injury

"My apologies Alfred," I said softly while placing my palm over his injuries and healing them, master of Body And Mind. it was a rare job class that gave a person complete mastery of body and mind. this job class only came to be after I became a world dragon, a dragon said to have existed before the world to light.

Master Of Body and Mind description says you have existed for a long time, gaining mastery of the body, soul, consciousness, and mind. it gave me many things, such as immunity to mind effect abilities, along with greater resistance to all-over attacks, plus the power to use Ki, among many other things.

"My lord, you need not worry for my sake. my recovery speed should have taken care of that in a matter of seconds." Alfred said moved by his master's care

"no, I thought you would turn into a dragon or something to avoid getting injured, I should have told you to do that ahead of time," I said softly while looking at the injuries that had disappeared as if they never existed, I sighed softly. it seems like I needed to be clear with the NPC or risk them doing stuff like this.

If Alfred had simply turned his hand into a dragon, just one hand should have been enough to stop the attack. sure he might be sent stumbling back, but he was a Dragon Overlord, in fact every dragon that was at level 100 was a Dragon Overlord,

"Let go," I said while leaving, heading to the throne room with Alfred. we were able to teleport around in the guild thanks to the ring that I gave Alfred and the one I held. the Dragon place ring, with it we could go anywhere within the guild.

I went to sit on the throne, before seeing if I could call up screen, and to my relief, I could call up the guild information. I went through it, and quickly my heart dropped. Alfred seeing the change in his look face looked at the screen and he too froze.

"I see... all of them are alive, so the cost of maintaining everything would skyrocket," I said seeing how the cost of running his guild had increased by more than 20 times. each floor now had people, plus each city had its stores and stuff to buy. since I guild each city off an already existing city, it had schools, stores, and many other things.

'where are the resources coming from?' thinking this, I quickly at where the money was going. and to be expected, each school, store, and other things were getting their resources from well... the system. if I stopped allowing them to do this, then they would quickly close things up.

"They need to be independent..." I said while rubbing my forehead, there was no farm, no factories, or any of the kinds. everything was coming out of my pocket, I had collected a huge amount of wealth and treasures, but how long could this go on?

"My lord, if I may... all of these could be shut down. we dragons need no stores or any of the like. we should throw to the side things the people don't need for the time being." Alfred said softly, 

"... no, we have enough money to last a few years. record everything that is being sold at that store, we would try and see if we can find a way to supply them without the need for the system. For example, fruits and vegetables can easily be taken care of by a farm." I said softly while looking at the number of NPCs we had on each floor, the spawns all added an extra 400 new dragons on each floor, making for, the once barely 100, and some NPCs go to over 1,000.

"plus the number is low. we have so much empty land, not being used. I will work on switching the second floor with the first floor. if anyone attacks, I don't want those in the city to suffer. instead, they would have time to escape to a higher floor. That brings me to the next concern... we might need an army." I said softly, while Alfred paid close attention 

"we should have it so, that once a dragon reaches an age it joins the army for a said amount of years. of course, there should be some benefits to joining, we can go over this at a later date. turning to the matter to do with money, we can exchange things for gold coins. I have a few ideas I wish to put into action." I said softly while sitting back and sighing softly. it's going to be a pain in the ass. everything was perfect, I had it so that the guild income was enough to play off everything in the guild.

The Dragon Palace lowered the price for all of the dragon spawns and many dragon-related things in the guild, so I never had to care for anything after I set everything up. I could go out of the guilds for months, and return without a change. but that balance I set up was broken, and destroyed. if I couldn't pay, the guild would no longer be mine,

"My lord," Raven's voice suddenly entered my head, causing me to sigh softly, before having her go on with her report.

"We have located a total of 8 other tribes each at least a mile apart from each other and holding around 150 to 200 people. from what it seems, they all avoid the forest we are in. From further look, I found a beast within the forest at level 15. it seems to be the king of these parts." Raven said calmly

"is that all?" I asked, 

"No, from what I noticed, they seem to be in clans, which are under a greater power. currently, one of these clans seems to be in battle. they do not know magic or the like, but they can use something similar to it, called Martial Arts. One of Fuma's men heard them talking about how many martial arts they managed to learn. it seems like 3 is considered impressive." Raven said, making me fall into some thought

"How are their wars going? how do you see them treating the losing side? which side is more... how do I say it, good." I asked to which Raven went quiet for a moment before speaking

"I can't say. but from how the losing side looks, the winning side doesn't seem to be the good guys as they stab through the butt and out through the mouth. this makes the losing side fearful to stand against them... but is that not a simple tactic in war to weaken the enemy's willpower to fight?" Raven asked, to which I just laughed slightly,

"it is... but it's a double-edged sword. it could also motivate people to fight back. send me the location, I will head over." I said with my smile disappearing. I just heard how people were being slaughtered yet I could care little for it...