The Next Step

Higashino Makoto arrived at the exit of Novas Aetir and took a ring from his inventory. Its name was the "Heart of the Doppelganger."

Its effect was an extremely weakened version of the Doppelganger race's innate talent, allowing him to change his appearance while reducing his attributes to eighty percent.

Its advantage was that it could not be dispelled by magic that saw through Doppelgangers.

As a cash-shop item, not only did it provide no attribute bonuses, it even reduced one's stats. It could only be set to one appearance, and that appearance could not be changed through further purchases.

In other words, if you wanted to choose a new appearance, you had to buy another one. It was an extremely unpopular cash-shop item.

The appearance Higashino Makoto chose was an optimized version of his life before last: a handsome young man with black hair and black eyes.

This was what Higashino Makoto planned to use to start an alt account.

As a transmigrator, how could you show your face without a few aliases?

Besides, due to what he had done, the name "Amon Nikola" should have been fairly well-known among the players who remained until the end.

Though he was not sure how many people knew that Novas Aetir was his guild's headquarters, someone surely knew that he possessed quite a number of World Items.

To make his enemies lower their guard, it would be better to use another name.

So Higashino Makoto directly used it to replace the vanished "Ring of the Eternal Serpent."

After leaving Novas Aetir, he cast "Greater Teleportation" toward a certain location.

The super-tier spell "World Change" was capable of altering the climate of an area, with an effect that covered an entire region.

Based on information from the anime, however, its effect in the other world should have been enhanced to the point where it could alter a region's climate either periodically or permanently.

After confirming that Novas Aetir was within the spell's coverage, he formally began casting.

As a super-tier spell usable in the game only by players with caster levels of roughly Lv. 70 or above, and one whose cooldown was shared across the party, it required a very long casting time.

Of course, as a cash-shop player, he could naturally use a cash-shop item to erase the cast time and make it instantaneous.

The instant the spell was activated, a massive magic circle appeared above Higashino Makoto's head, while dozens of magic circles rotated and rose and fell.

Higashino Makoto grasped it in his hand and used it immediately without hesitation.

Forget fishing like the Bone King—there was always the chance of getting eaten instead.

People often said the Bone King was outsmarting the air, but as the story went on, it became clear that caution really was an extremely important quality.

But he still did not know exactly what point in time he had transmigrated to. If it was six hundred years before the original story began, then the other world was still the domain of the True Dragon Lords.

For all he knew, he might have to become humanity's savior alongside the Six Great Gods.

The era of the Six Great Gods would not have been too bad, but the era of the Eight Greed Kings would have been even more troublesome. Not only would he have to fight the True Dragon Lords, he would also have to guard against those bastards stabbing him in the back.

Once "World Change" was used, it would definitely draw the attention of interested parties. Should he take the initiative and strike first?

He could not be that unlucky, could he? Surely he would not randomly pick a spot and happen to run into a True Dragon Lord or something?

Fortunately, until "World Change" successfully activated, there was not even a shadow in the surroundings.

The information-defense magic he had deployed beforehand had not activated either, so he could assume there were no enemies nearby for the time being.

Whatever. He would go home and lie low first.

Though he really wanted to roam the other world right away, after thinking it over, he decided it would be better to raise his level to 200 before going out to crush the weak.

(The protagonist still did not know that he had been screwed over by the game developers.)

As for gathering intelligence in the early stages, did he not happen to possess a suitable World Item?

"Huginn and Muninn" were undoubtedly inspired by the two ravens of Odin, the king of the gods. They took the form of earrings adorned with two black ravens.

In the game, their function was individual information defense combined with wide-area intelligence gathering.

After he equipped them on his left ear, one of the raven-shaped ornaments came to life and perched on Higashino Makoto's shoulder, while the other turned into a tiny raven-shaped tattoo on his earlobe.

Higashino Makoto also learned their respective names.

Huginn, representing "thought," was the one that had turned into the tattoo on his earlobe; it was roughly equivalent to a level 100 intelligence-type caster specialized in "protection."

It was used to ensure that his information could not be accurately discovered, and it could even mislead enemies with false information.

"Mm, not bad. I can swap out the equipment I was using to conceal my information for something that boosts attack power."

Muninn, symbolizing "memory," was the one on his shoulder; it was roughly equivalent to a level 100 intelligence-type caster specialized in "scouting," and it would begin working as soon as he issued an order.

It could fly at tremendous speed, and Higashino Makoto could share its sight and hearing, even borrowing its beak to speak.

Though its HP was very low and high-level enemies could kill it, Muninn would not truly die.

After being "killed," it would respawn at his location at dawn the next day. Other than being unusable for that day, there would be no losses whatsoever.

Higashino Makoto could only say that it was absurdly overpowered.

"As expected, that garbage game YGGDRASIL had no balance whatsoever!"

What? I'm the one using the overpowered item?

Then it's fine.

He extended his left hand, and Muninn obediently hopped onto his arm.

Higashino Makoto stroked the raven's feathers as he gave it an order.

"Go gather intelligence on the nearest human city. If you encounter an undead of the Overlord race, adventurers named Momon or Ainz, or high-level dragons, report back to me immediately."

"Go!"

With a wave of Higashino Makoto's hand, Muninn circled upward into the sky.

Before long, a ripple of magical power surfaced around it. It had probably used some kind of spell similar to "Astrology."

Not long after, Muninn seemed to have found its answer and flew off in a certain direction without looking back.

Using Greater Teleportation, he returned to Novas Aetir and canceled the ring's ability.

As the saying went, life was about eating and drinking.

If one could not enjoy life while alive, they might as well be dead.

That was also one of the reasons Higashino Makoto insisted on choosing the human race.

Given that he could attain longevity either way, the human race, which could satisfy his appetite and *desire, was naturally the best choice.

Or rather, it was practically perfect.

As a hedonist, Higashino Makoto had naturally invested considerable effort into the dining halls.

He had summoned no fewer than three pay-to-win monsters who had maxed out the "Chef" class alone!

Unfortunately, Novas Aetir had been built too recently, and much still needed improvement. Most of the NPCs had been assigned to strengthen defenses and construction in their respective fields, leaving them far too busy.

At present, most restaurants did not even have a single person in them, making them look deserted and bleak.