The Eve

Darkness and cold were the melody of this world. The daylight hours in Helheim were brief, and even during the day, the sky remained a shroud of gray.

Hahaha Hades traveled from the world in the central region to Helheim, located on the periphery. He couldn't help but shiver; although one could not feel cold within the game, he was still unsettled by the perpetually gloomy atmosphere here.

Ever since YGGDRASIL released the major expansion "Fall of the Valkyries," Hahaha Hades had been in a state of semi-retirement. While he would still update his equipment and the like, it was merely out of the habit of his past spending, until he eventually quit the game entirely.

Returning to the world of YGGDRASIL after a year, he felt a sense of unfamiliarity. This was only natural, as he hadn't logged in for a very long time.

This unfamiliarity also increased the time it took for him to travel to Nazarick. He arrived at the "Crystal Plains," a border region of Helheim. To reach the Great Underground Tomb of Nazarick, located in the "Grenbera Swamp," this was the only path.

The "Crystal Plains" were not named for being filled with crystals. Instead, in this plant-covered plain, the frozen leaves of the vegetation were as sharp as blades made of crystal. Every step taken resulted in damage, and even if one were equipped with "Relic" grade armor, one would still be cut and suffer a continuous health-draining debuff.

However, Hahaha Hades was not worried, as his equipment was all "Artifact" grade, and he was naturally immune to the negative status effects caused by the environment. Although the "Crystal Plains" also contained mineral-type monsters with high defense stats, they could not hinder Hahaha Hades's progress in the slightest.

This was because he was not moving on foot, but using flight to reach Nazarick. Although the sky also carried negative status effects for humanoids, with the support of his top-tier equipment, those minor debuffs were of no consequence.

Hahaha Hades accelerated, heading toward the Great Underground Tomb of Nazarick located in the "Grenbera Swamp," while simultaneously checking his inventory.

Most of his primary items were stored in his inventory. The capacity of an infinite inventory was only 500kg, which was not enough for him, so he possessed many such bags. They could be crafted as long as one had the materials, making them very practical for crafting-oriented players. Materials needed for smelting and production could be categorized and stored in these bags, saving the trouble of running to the warehouse.

Hahaha Hades carried so many infinite inventories for another reason.

This reason had to be attributed to one of the World Items Hahaha Hades possessed—the "Seed of the World Tree."

Compared to other World Items, or even the "Twenty" that possessed heaven-defying abilities, the power of the "Seed of the World Tree" was not particularly outstanding; its potential was limited by the strength of its user.

The effect of the "Seed of the World Tree" allowed players to freely change their race. In YGGDRASIL, changing one's race was not an incredibly difficult feat; with certain items and the completion of specific quests, players could successfully transition.

However, there was one exception in YGGDRASIL: for Undead players, the only way to change their race was to rely on the "Seed of the World Tree."

If the only function of this item were to facilitate race changes for Undead players, it would be far too underwhelming for one of the only two hundred World Items in existence.

Perhaps the operators realized this issue as well, so in addition to changing races, the "Seed of the World Tree" could store all the data of the races the holder had transitioned into.

Specifically, when your current character reached level one hundred and you wanted to change to another race, this item would store all the data of your current racial character, allowing you to play the other race with peace of mind.

But what if a high-level player came to PK you while you were leveling up your new race?

The answer was to use the "Seed of the World Tree" to switch back to the stored level-one-hundred racial character and let the opponent know they had messed with the wrong person.

The "Seed of the World Tree" could store the data of two different racial characters. In other words, in addition to his own base racial character, Hahaha Hades had two backup level-one-hundred characters he could switch to.

Of course, the two stored races and the race currently in use had to be three distinct races. The "Seed of the World Tree" had a storage limit of only two slots. If one wanted to store a fourth race beyond the one currently in use and the two already stored, one would have to choose one of the stored racial data sets to delete.

Consequently, this naturally increased the demand for inventory space. Different characters and different professions required different tools and items. Hahaha Hades had three characters of different races and professional types, so a 500kg inventory capacity was naturally insufficient.

Although, logically, adding one more 500kg bag should have been enough, one of the two races Hahaha Hades stored was purely a production profession, so triple the inventory capacity was a necessity.

That said, Hahaha Hades could not carry all the materials for his production profession on his person, as those materials were simply too numerous; it was unrealistic to carry them all. In his guild's personal warehouse, he had not only countless materials but also various semi-finished items and equipment from when he was leveling up his production proficiency.

Just as Hahaha Hades was becoming familiar with the long-unused YGGDRASIL operation panel and replying to messages from the six guild members one by one, he was about to reach his destination.

"The 'Purple Poison Swamp'..."

Hahaha Hades looked at the location prompt provided by the map on the YGGDRASIL interface.

"Hmm... the 'Grenbera Swamp' is in the depths of the 'Purple Poison Swamp.' Almost there," Hahaha Hades muttered to himself.

Although one of the races he stored had the Magic Caster profession and could use teleportation magic, the map of YGGDRASIL was vast, and many areas were restricted from teleportation. Unfortunately, those areas were often on the necessary path, so traveling in YGGDRASIL was quite time-consuming.

Watching the time until the YGGDRASIL server shutdown draw closer, Hahaha Hades realized there was no way to invade Nazarick and use the second World Item he had worked so hard to obtain.

The remaining time was not enough for him to do anything else, but at least going to Nazarick to take a look would be a closure to his former goal.

As he grew older, Hahaha Hades had gradually lost his former passion for the game, perhaps because his life had become more fulfilling than the virtual world. Regardless, YGGDRASIL was a memory of his "chuunibyou" phase in life.

For instance, his in-game name, "Hahaha Hades." Hades was the god of the underworld who governed life and death in Greek mythology, and at the time, he, being in his "chuunibyou" phase, thought this name was very unique.

However, because he had entered the game a few days late, the name had already been registered by someone else. As a joke, he typed in "Hahaha Hades," and to his surprise, the registration went through immediately.

23:59:40

Looking at the time on the YGGDRASIL interface, Hahaha Hades sighed. Beneath his feet lay the Great Tomb of Nazarick, but time had run out.

23:59:50

Gazing at the surface structures of Nazarick, Hahaha Hades recalled that battle from long ago. Times had changed, and that event was merely an insignificant experience in his life, yet that period had been his youth.

23:59:59

...Time to say goodbye to the past...

00:00:00