Lydia's POV
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""...Huh?""
Both Momonga and I exclaim in surprise.
I open my eyes.
I have not been forcefully logged out, and I did not leave the Throne Room.
I turn my head towards Momonga, and he must have felt my head move with his hand as he turns his head towards me as well. His hand on my head feels as hard as metal, and his jaw is open in shock.
Wait! His mouth is open?! This should not be possible in YGGDRASIL. The current technology does not allow for the changing of facial expressions. And his hand feels so real as well, nothing like the muffled and limited sense of touch in YGGDRASIL.
We both stare at each other in shock. Maybe my avatar is also showing emotion? I have a lot of questions piling up in my mind, but there are some that keep repeating in my head like a broken record.
What's going on? Has the server's shutdown been delayed? Is it a system error?
As I stare at Momonga's face, he does the same. We stare at each other in silence for a few seconds.
His skeletal face seems scarier than before, or is it just that it seems more real? When I look at his face, I can perceive details that didn't exist in YGGDRASIL. His face is much less smooth, almost like it has a real texture.
Did the Devs launch a new update instead of closing the servers?
After a few instants, Momonga looks away, his hand moves away from my head, and he tries to use the game console; then his jaw drops as if he were shocked once again. He even stands up from the throne to look around.
Trying to understand his agitation, I try to use my own console.
But nothing appears.
There is no console. It is as if the console didn't exist anymore.
I turn towards Momonga and try to calm him.
"Calm dow—" I stop and put one hand in front of my mouth.
My voice is different.
It's still soft and low in volume, but it is also sweeter and has a higher tone akin to that of a child's voice.
Momonga looks taken aback as well, turning his head sharply towards me and staring intently as I stand frozen, trying to understand why my voice sounds different.
Suddenly, our thoughts are interrupted by a sweet female voice.
"Is everything alright, Momonga-sama, Lydia Evie Hart-sama?" she asks in a worried yet respectful tone.
We both turn toward the origin of this new voice, only to find Albedo, who is looking up from her kneeling position with a concerned gaze.
Albedo?! She can speak? How? It was not a functionality of YGGDRASIL!
It seems we have stayed silent too long because Albedo asks us again,
"Momonga-sama, Lydia Evie Hart-sama, is there a problem?" she asks again, seeming even more concerned by our lack of response.
Momonga and I are speechless as we are still trying to understand why and how she is able to speak.
"I’m sorry." Momonga blurts out.
His voice sounds different as well, deeper and... commanding? He now has a voice that inspires respect and authority; it's the only way I can describe it.
Albedo suddenly stands up and approaches Momonga until she's almost on top of him.
"Is there anything wrong?" she asks once more, trying to get an answer out of us. Or Momonga, I presume.
Albedo's closeness lets us pick up on her smell...
Wait. She has a smell? I'm sure that Momonga must be thinking the same thing, as she is almost on top of him. But for Albedo to have a smell is unexpected; emulating the sense of smell isn't something possible with current VR technology.
"No... There’s... No, nothing." Momonga replies to Albedo's concerns hesitantly.
"Did something happen to you?" Albedo continues, seemingly not willing to stop until one of us gives her a clear answer.
Should I say something? But what should I say? That everything seems to have become real? Not like an NPC will understand that. Or will she? She seems strangely alive as well. Could it be... no, it's absurd. How could everything become real? It's a game, not real life.
"...The function to call the GM seems to have failed." Momonga replies to Albedo while I was thinking, bringing me back to reality.
Momonga glances in my direction, silently asking me for confirmation, and I answer by shaking my head. I can't access the console either.
However, what Albedo says next astonishes both of us significantly.
"Please forgive me for being unable to answer Momonga-sama’s question about the GM. Forgive me for being unable to meet your expectations; if there is a situation where I am able to make up for my mistake, I will be happy to oblige. Please give me your next order."
She responded to Momonga, and it isn't just a recorded voice. She is genuinely conversing with Momonga as if she were a sentient, living creature. Her mouth is moving as well; this is also something that was not possible in YGGDRASIL.
This is too different from the behavior of a normal NPC. Is Albedo the only one who changed? I glance at the other NPCs in front of the throne; they are still kneeling, but their heads are raised and they look at us, silently expressing the same concern as Albedo with their eyes. I'm even able to see little movements from their breathing or slight twitching.
I have a theory about what's going on, yet I'm truly unsure of its accuracy. While it seems rather absurd, I have to give it a shot to find out for sure.
"Sebas." I hear Momonga call, surprisingly calmly.
"Yes." he replies instantly.
"Leave the Great Tomb and search the surrounding area. If there are any intelligent or friendly beings, invite them back here. Negotiations should go so far as to please the other party. The search radius is one kilometer; try to avoid fighting." he commands him.
"Yes, Momonga-sama. I will do as you command." he replies coolly and firmly.
He seems to have understood the order and listens to Momonga.
I want to try something as well. Will he listen to me as much as he listens to Momonga? I have to add something to try it.
I can do it; come on, me. Don't fail now. Don't let your anxiety stop you now; you have to do it.
"Take one of the Pleiades with you as well. The others will head back to the 9th floor and continue their usual duties." I order. My voice does not reflect my internal struggle and sounds just like a carefree yet reserved child asking for something.
"Yes, Lydia Evie Hart-sama." Sebas acknowledges my order as well.
With that, after bowing to us, he turns around and walks out of the throne room; the Pleiades stand up and follow him as well after bowing to us.
Phew, that went more smoothly than I thought it would.
Momonga then turns towards me.
"Do you have an idea of what is happening?" he whispers to me.
I shake my head lightly. "I have no clue, but that can't be an update from the devs. It's just too much for that, and we would have been logged out if that were the case. I have a theory, but I'm still not sure about it..." I whisper back.
"Say it anyway; it's still better than nothing." he presses, still whispering.
"...I get the feeling that we are no longer in YGGDRASIL. Everything seems to have somehow become real." I tell him hesitantly in a whisper.
That's the only explanation I can think of that would explain everything that just happened. I can feel all of my skills in my mind, my sensations are no longer limited by current technology, and the NPCs seem to have become real and sentient.
"I had the same thought, but we must still see if we are really not in YGGDRASIL anymore.... You might want to turn around for the test I'm about to do...." he tells me hesitantly.
He glances at Albedo, and I immediately realize what he is planning, prompting me to turn around. My legs are dangling from the side of the throne and, almost by instinct, I begin to swing them lightly, one after the other.
18+ actions are completely forbidden in YGGDRASIL. If you do those kinds of actions in-game, you will receive a warning and could be banned. If you're banned because of this, it will be branded online by the Devs.
While Momonga does his test with Albedo, I will do another test of my own. I want to see if it is still possible to use magic even without the console.
I do my best to ignore the sounds coming from behind me and focus on trying to use magic.
My character is a Child of Mana, which means that my entire body is supposed to be made of mana, and its control should come to me instinctively.
I try to imagine my mana leaving my body through my hands and condensing into a ball.
And surprisingly, my mana does exactly what I had in mind. I see and feel it leaving my body to form a small ball of pure mana floating in front of me.
I try to move it around, and it moves. I don't know if it moves because of the movement of my hands or my thoughts. So I try moving it with just my thoughts, and it does move. It also moves when I try moving it with just the movement of my hands.
That little experiment tells me a lot of things. Firstly, that my species did not change. Secondly, that I have much more freedom with magic than in YGGDRASIL because it was impossible in YGGDRASIL to simply manipulate mana like this. And thirdly, that this is indeed reality. Those feelings are too real to be those of YGGDRASIL.
I really feel my mana leave my body, and I really feel a connection with that ball of mana. It's completely unattainable for modern technology to produce those sensations. Now that I think about it, I even feel a connection with every monster on the 11th floor.
Do I still have the same restrictions I had in YGGDRASIL?
I raise a hand in front of me and stare at it. My body is made purely of mana, and I can control it at will. Does that mean I can manipulate my own body? I imagine my hand turning into some kind of mist and then will it to happen, and it does. I see my hand turn into a bluish mist, and the weirdest part about it is that it still feels like my limb, just... freer? Maybe?
I turn the mist back into my hand before staring at it once more. If I can do that with my hand, can I do it with my entire body? If so, what are my limits? Can I turn into a dragon? Does the transformation change something, or is it purely cosmetic?
I should do further tests to answer all those questions, but I'll do them later. I don't think the throne room is an appropriate place for that.
Now for another test. My build allows me to create new kinds of personalized monsters, but do I still have YGGDRASIL limitations?
To test it, I lift both of my hands in front of me and start imagining. I need something that wasn't possible in YGGDRASIL. How about... a lizard... with a crystal growing on its back? No, that would not be enough.
I imagine the lizard with the ability to read minds or memories by touching its target and then projecting them like a hologram through the crystal on its back.
How would a being like that be created? Reading minds and memories wasn't something truly possible in YGGDRASIL, despite the skills existing. They were mostly skills players could only use on NPCs to gather information.
I focus and will the being to be created on top of my hands.
[Summon: Thought Projection Lizard]
Thanks to my racial skills, I don't need to chant the spell out loud, nor does a magic circle appear. Only a faint flash of light that is quickly replaced by a small creature.
The little dirt-brown lizard with red eyes is small enough to fit in the palm of my hand and has a large blue crystal covering its entire back. It also has a large flat tail covered by multiple smaller crystals.
Did it work? Does it have the abilities I envisioned for it?
To test it, I mentally command it to read my thoughts and project them in the form of text. And it's doing it! I see my thoughts being projected like a speech bubble from the lizard's crystal on its back. Its crystal glows with a soft blue light when projecting something.
I mentally command it to stop and I observe it adjusting itself in the palm of my hands.
This little guy is level 40. Nothing impressive, but its potential usefulness is. Its stats seem to be heavily oriented towards MP, as he has a lot of it for a level 40 monster. I suppose it's to help him read minds and memories while projecting them. If I were to assume, it's weak enough to be overpowered by a level 35 monster.
Anyway, that's not important. I didn't create it to fight. Maybe... maybe I should give it a name, as the first monster I created in this supposedly new reality?
I think the little guy is capable of sensing my intentions, or maybe it's simply reading my thoughts without projecting them, as I feel it stir excitedly in my hand at the thought of giving it a name. It's kind of cute. Okay, scratch that, it's adorable, and the crystals on its body give it some kind of luxurious air.
Okay... let's see. Maybe I should go with something simple that would reflect its abilities. If I go with something simple, why not just call it 'Thought'?
The lizard looks up at me and the crystals on its tail begin to glow softly. Almost immediately after, I feel its contentment and happiness at the name. Well, "Thought" it is then.
I let 'Thought' climb up to my shoulder through one of my arms before bringing my focus back to Momonga and Albedo. Still, I don't turn around as I don't want to see if they haven't finished.
When I stop focusing on my experiments, I hear a soft moan from behind me.
Is he still at it? Didn't you already conclude your test, Momonga? There's a temptation to hurl the ball of mana at Momonga to wake him up, but I ultimately decide not to.
He too can have a bit of fun, after all.
Or is it that he is too lost in thought and forgot what he was doing? Yeah, that seems more like him.
Also, speaking of which... where is the ball of mana? Did it disappear when I stopped focusing on it?
Anyway, I am waiting for him to finish his business.
"I’m sorry, Albedo." I hear Momonga say after a short while. It appears that I was right and he wasn't doing it consciously and was simply lost in thought.
But Albedo seems to have liked it a bit too much. However, when I think about it, it was only to be expected. Albedo is a succubus, after all.
"Will I have my first time here?" she shyly asks Momonga.
".....Wha—?" is Momonga's only answer as his mind appears to freeze at the unexpected development of the situation.
And to be honest, I was speechless as well. I mean, I'm still here, you know? Yet I don't interrupt the situation as I find Momonga's reaction hilarious. I don't even need to turn around to imagine what kind of face he must be making right now. Well, it's easy because he's a skeleton now, but still.
Also, because I don't know how to interrupt this, I mean... what am I supposed to say to the horny succubus and the awkward skeleton she is almost riding?
"May I ask what I should do about my clothes?" Albedo continues, maybe not sensing Momonga's awkwardness, or maybe not caring.
"...Ha?" is the only sound coming out of Momonga's jaw as he tries to process Albedo's words.
I have to keep it together; don't laugh, Lydia. That would be mean to Momonga. He does not deserve that. Don't laugh.
"Should I undress myself? Or would I trouble Momonga-sama? Wearing clothes, later on... they might get dirty... No, if Momonga-sama wants me to wear these clothes, then I have no objections." Albedo clarifies, going further into detail and ideas.
After those words, Momonga finally comes back to his senses.
"That's enough, Albedo." he says surprisingly calmly.
After Momonga's words, I judge that they both have finished, and I finally turn around on the armrest of the throne to look at them.
"Huh? Yes, Momonga-sama." she replies to Momonga's words, clearly confused.
"Now do not... No, now is not the time to do such things." he says hesitantly.
"I am terribly sorry! We are obviously facing an emergency situation and I was only thinking about my own desires." Albedo says hastily, with a tone full of guilt.
Albedo starts to kneel in apology, but Momonga reaches out to stop her.
"No, all of this is my fault. I forgive you, Albedo." Momonga admits softly. "Other than this... I have another request for you." he continues.
"No matter what happens, I will obey." Albedo replies seriously, as if everything that happened before was just my imagination.
"Notify the Floor Guardians; I want them to meet me in the 6th Floor’s arena. The time will be one hour from now. I will inform Aura and Mare myself, so you don’t need to contact those two." commands Momonga to Albedo.
"Yes, Momonga-sama. I repeat, other than the two Guardians on the 6th Floor, inform the rest of the Guardians that they will have to gather in the arena in one hour." She acknowledges the order and repeats it to make sure she understands it perfectly.
"Correct, now go." Momonga confirms.
"Yes." Albedo replies briefly before leaving the throne room.
Momonga watches her leave and once she's left he sighs deeply.
"...Ah... Damn it...!" Momonga mutters to himself.
"What? It wasn't that bad, was it?" I ask, wondering why he is suddenly feeling so down.
"No, it's just that it feels like I have tarnished Tabula’s NPC." he admits quietly.
I lean a bit towards Momonga and touch one of his arms to support him.
"Well... in my opinion, if she's acting like this... You didn't really tarnish anything. I mean, she is how Tabula-san wanted her to be, no? So don't beat yourself up over it. Plus, thanks to that test, we got confirmation that we are not in YGGDRASIL anymore, right?" I tell him, hoping to cheer him up a bit. But for some reason, it doesn't make him feel better.
"No, it's not... It's not like that..." he says weakly.
"What do you mean?" I ask for clarification.
Momonga sighs deeply.
"I modified Albedo's settings earlier. I saw something that I didn't like in her settings, and I replaced it with 'She is also deeply in love with Momonga.'" he admits guiltily.
"Oh... I... I see what you mean now... But... what was the thing you replaced?" I ask hesitantly.
"Tabula had written, 'She is also a nympho.'" he reveals quietly.
"Huh?" I mutter confusedly, trying to process the information. After a few seconds, I continue, "Then you didn't tarnish anything, Momonga."
"I didn't?" He looks up at me with what I can assume is a surprised and hopeful gaze.
"I'll be honest here, Momonga. I genuinely believe that you, in fact, made her better." I tell him.
"What do you mean? I modified the settings of Tabula. His creation! She is not as he wanted her to be! How could I not have tarnished her with that?" he asks, as if not understanding what I am trying to say.
"I get what you mean, Momonga, but... do you honestly believe that she would have acted differently earlier if you hadn't modified her settings?" I ask him, trying to guide his thoughts into understanding my point.
"I-I... I don't know." he replies hesitantly.
I guess I'll have to spell it out for him, then. I stand up from the armrest of the throne and walk in front of him. I might be small compared to his impressive stature, but it should still help him understand that I'm serious.
"I don't think so, Momonga. If she was really designed to be a nympho, what you did was simply make her focus on you instead of trying to 'do it' with everything in sight. You understand what I am saying, Momonga? This is why I believe that you have made a better version of her... So please, don't beat yourself up because of it." I tell him, hoping that this time, my words will cheer him up.
"I... I see... Thank you, Lydia... for not only not judging me but also reassuring me... like you always do..." he says out of nowhere, causing me to blush deeply and look away, flustered.
"P-please, don't go saying those kinds of things out of nowhere! It's normal to be there for your friends! I just said what I had in mind... This is nothing exceptional... And not something you need to thank me for..." I say hastily, not wanting to keep talking about it.
"Hahahahahaha... Thank you again, Lydia." He starts laughing softly and thanks me.
"Please, don't laugh..." I say weakly, flustered. "But more seriously, Momonga, even if what you replaced was not something outrageous, I still would not have judged you, you know? I mean, how could you have known that it would all become reality?" I explain, as he tends to beat himself up for things that aren't his fault.
"You really are kind, you know that?" he says quietly, causing me to stare at him confusedly.
What does he mean? We are friends. It's normal to be nice to one another. I did not do that out of pure kindness. I did that because he's my friend and has been here for me when the others left one after the other.
I don't know what to answer him; he doesn't look like he is waiting for an answer anyway. So instead, I change the subject.
"So... to the 6th floor then?" I ask.
"Yes, I want to try and see if it's possible to use magic and train a little bit." he confirms.
"It's possible; I already tried when you were doing your thing with Albedo." I inform him.
"You have?" he asks, surprised.
"Yeah." I reply simply while pointing at 'Thought' who is lying on my left shoulder.
Momonga leans forward to observe the lizard.
"I don't recognize this species. Is it one of your original creations?" he asks curiously.
"Yup. It can read thoughts and memories, and project them in the form of a hologram through its crystal." I answer proudly.
"I see." he replies simply.
"Okay... are we going to meet all the Floor Guardians at the same time?" I ask hesitantly, changing the subject of the conversation.
It wakes up Momonga from his daydream as he turns away from 'Thought' and looks back at me.
"Yes, why? Oh... don't worry, I'll do the talking. Just... try to look like a ruler even without talking. We are still not sure if the NPCs kept their loyalty to us after... that. But even so, you did well with Sebas earlier. If you can keep acting like this, it will be enough," he says gently.
I nod hesitantly.
"I also want to ask for your opinion. Do you believe that the NPCs are still loyal to us now that they are alive?"
"I think so, or at least it looks like that to me. They obey our orders and are respectful. In fact, it kind of feels like the treatment of royalty or that of a superior being." I reply in a matter-of-fact tone.
"Yeah, I get what you mean; I felt the same way earlier, but we still have to test it. Let's head to the 6th floor." he informs me.
I nod, but then realize my Ring of Ainz Ooal Gown is in my inventory.
Can I still access my inventory?
When I think of my inventory, a feeling tells me what items I have inside, and I have an instinct that tells me to...
It works; I reach my hand into my inventory, and my hand enters some kind of hole of pure darkness that appears in the air. This is my inventory.
I search inside with my hand to retrieve the Ring of Ainz Ooal Gown from it.
I equip it and look at Momonga, who was looking at me during the whole process. I nod at him, and we both use our Rings of Ainz Ooal Gown to teleport to a corridor leading toward an arena on the 6th Floor.