An online game called Yggdrasil was about to shut down in seven days.
Countless players were either cheering, grieving, or feeling nostalgic.
Only Roy wore an expression of profound relief.
It was finally about to start.
Whether Roy could reach the skies in a single bound depended on his operations right before the server shutdown.
Obviously, Roy was not a person from this world, but a standard transmigrator.
In his past life on Earth, he was struck by a truck, and not only did he fail to die completely, but he also obtained a secret treasure called the Dimensional Gate.
The Dimensional Gate, as the name suggested, could travel through anime crossover worlds to experience different lives.
For example, fantastic and dangerous worlds like Hunter x Hunter, Pirate King, Naruto, Overlord, One-Punch Man, and Toriko.
During his first traversal, the Dimensional Gate offered a special discount.
He could travel with his physical body or be reincarnated.
If Roy chose reincarnation, it would also provide a beginner's gift pack, allowing for various choices.
Such as family background, physical health, bloodline talent, timeline node, and so on.
For instance, choosing the Hunter x Hunter world allowed him to be reincarnated into the Zoldyck Family; choosing the Pirate King world allowed him to become part of the D. Clan; choosing the Naruto world granted the Uzumaki Bloodline, and so on.
However, if he chose a too-lofty family background, his talent would not be high, remaining merely ordinary.
For most people, this was already a perfect life.
The Dimensional Gate was truly a generous entity.
Therefore, among the many worlds, Roy chose Overlord.
It was not because he liked the Bone King, but because he could exploit a bug.
The work Overlord told a dark fantasy story about a corporate slave, Suzuki Satoru, from a Dystopian World who did not log off when the game shut down, instead carrying guild NPCs and divine-class items across into the New World to turn the tables, become a max-level big shot, and gradually sweep across the world-known to pugilists as the Bone King.
Just hearing about it felt satisfying, the ultimate feel-good story.
Crossing over with a game account alone could be called the easiest difficulty in cultivation.
Naruto had his talent and cheats maxed out, yet he still had to train hard to shape the Rasengan.
Luffy obtained the Human-Human Fruit, Model: Nika, yet he still had to do sit-ups to train.
In the world of the Bone King, you only needed to play the game.
In other words, as long as Roy chose the pre-game corporate world of Overlord, he would have a second chance to defy the heavens and change his fate.
This was far more cost-effective than becoming a member of the Zoldyck Family or possessing the bloodline of the D. Clan.
He wouldn't trade it even for a Rinnegan.
After all, being able to cross over via a game account meant instantly transforming into a powerhouse, accompanied by a mountain of wealth, divine-class items, and subordinates.
Admittedly, the numerical stats in the Bone King's world were not particularly high.
The destructive power displayed by powerhouses was roughly at the nuclear-explosion level.
For instance, the ninth-tier magic [Nuclear Blast] possessed the power of a small tactical nuclear weapon.
Putting powerhouses from Overlord into Hunter x Hunter, they might not necessarily withstand a large number of Poor Man's Roses.
Not to mention worlds like Naruto or One-Punch Man, which could produce star-destroying powerhouses.
Yet its advantage lay in its comprehensive mechanisms, complete with all kinds of abilities, extremely high richness, involvement in various deep-seated laws, and countless treasures. This gave it an advantage over other worlds.
For instance, fifth-tier magic could already perform resurrection, which was truly exaggerated.
Take a gamble, and the bicycle turns into a motorcycle.
At the very least, Roy could choose to live in a high-tech world, waiting for the Dimensional Gate to spend time and accumulate energy to open again for another traversal.
Anyway, he had no intention of being a commoner.
Thus, Roy made his choice.
Chosen World: Overlord
Timeline: 2108 AD, 18 years before the game's release.
Family Background: Higuma Family (Assets of $200 billion USD, upper-middle aristocracy level)
Family Relations: The eighth son who did not inherit the family business, yet was deeply favored by his father.
Talent Level: Ordinary person
Physical Level: Ordinarily healthy
In this world where capitalism had developed to its absolute peak, Roy did not want talent, nor did he want to engage in family civil wars.
He just wanted to be a parasite and enjoy the pleasures of the aristocracy.
When Roy lowered all other conditions, the Dimensional Gate gave him the highest family assets.
In the aristocratic circle, it belonged to the upper-middle to lower-middle level, not quite the top tier.
What was the ultimate evolution of the capitalist world?
That was the rapid expansion of the fortunes of the mega-corporations.
The assets controlled by the top elites had long exceeded ten trillion dollars.
The Higuma Family controlling two hundred billion dollars in assets could only be considered the middle tier of the elite pyramid, requiring them to continue striving.
This was not worth marveling at for Roy, as long before the era he transmigrated from, the assets of the richest person had already surpassed the trillion-dollar mark.
In the extremely cyberpunk world of Overlord, the wealth polarization of the year 2108 AD would only be even more exaggerated.
Going a step further, it was feared that a final investor would be born.
If Roy wanted a higher level of assets, he would have to severely sacrifice his physical health, intelligence level, or appearance level.
There was no need for that.
It was just playing a game.
He only needed the wealth of the Higuma Family to leak out just a tiny bit to supply him with heavy microtransactions, or to find a way to transmigrate again if he failed.
Everything else did not matter.
Thus, he was reincarnated into the Higuma Family, renowned for being mediocre and indulging in pleasure.
"Roy, are you really going to live like this for the rest of your life?"
"The family is very disappointed in you."
Just as Roy intended to enter the game again, his eldest brother Arthur paid an unexpected visit.
Roy could not help laughing and saying:
"Big brother, there's nothing shameful about this."
"Compared to second brother deliberately not using autonomous driving and street racing to kill people."
"Compared to third brother starting a business and losing five billion US dollars for the family in two years."
"I haven't done anything bad."
Arthur found it hard to keep a straight face.
After all, the Higuma Family was full of all sorts of eccentric stars.
Roy himself even worried when some peerless hero would pop up and lead the common people to string up the entire family on street lamps.
Fortunately, the Robot Legion was already highly mature, with over ten million robots spread across the world, responsible for suppressing the lower-class people.
This was also the reason why Roy had never felt much affection for the family all these years.
Staying with you guys, I even feel like a good person.
It's very stressful!
"Can those be the same?"
Arthur said angrily:
"What they committed were merely small mistakes that nobility would make."
"Yet you actually enjoy games for lower-class people."
"This completely tarnishes the glory of the family and is a truly major mistake."
"The Corporate Federation is still discussing chemical bliss for valueless lower-class people, letting them indulge in the virtual world, live happily until death, and utilize resources more effectively."
"At least their fantasies can provide some data for AI training."
"Although it hasn't passed yet, it has already gained twenty percent support."
"So stop playing these lower-class games. When someone heard about it, they even proposed expelling you from the circle!"
"It's only because I'm your older brother that I care about you!"
Yes, games for lower-class people.
Although the Higuma Family to which Roy belonged could not be counted among the top elites, they were able to know a lot of intelligence unknown to commoners.
In the original work, there was a very strange setting.
That was Suzuki Satoru taking out one-third of his salary every month to top up the game, continuing to top up for twelve years, yet being able to rank near the top of the game server.
Such a level of microtransactions was truly laughable.
Because in the web version, it was specified that he spent 50,000 yen per month on microtransactions, and comprehensively speaking, Suzuki Satoru's monthly income was 150,000 yen.
Then, over the twelve years of the game's operation, the total microtransactions were 7.2 million yen, and even with some extra gacha draws, the total amount could not exceed 10 million yen, which was about 60,000 US dollars.
An epoch-making game running for twelve years, yet only needing 60,000 dollars in microtransactions to rank near the front of the server.
One could only say it was inferior to Genshin Impact, and it really deserved to close down.
When Roy first saw it, he only felt that the author Maruyama did not understand microtransactions and did not know how terrifying the depth of MMORPG microtransactions could be.
As a result, when he wanted to play the game, he was stopped by his older brother and only then understood their view on virtual online games.
Entertainment for lower-class people.
The birth of this kind of game served only to help megacorporations achieve one goal-chemical euphoria.
People without value provided training data for AI, honestly staying in nutrient capsules until they died.
The value of Yggdrasil was not the game itself, but researching the precursor technology for chemical euphoria while incidentally squeezing the last bit of wealth from the poor.
This game was never meant to make money. Many of the outrageous World Items and things that defied game logic inside it were actually experimental products.
After Roy learned this, he almost suspected that the Bone King had not crossed over at all, but was simply arranged by a megacorporation in another game world to undergo simulation testing.
He thought he had chosen the wrong world.
Later, relying on the family's information network, Roy confirmed that the chemical euphoria project had not yet been approved.
It was no lie that the Bone King could still cross over and grow stronger.
Now that his eldest brother brought up the past again, Roy only gave a faint smile:
"Big Brother, after all these years, you still don't understand me?"
"Aside from being a parasite, I don't want to manage anything at all."
"I'm not even in the inner circle, so how can I talk about being expelled from it."
"Speak, what do you want?"
Arthur could not help sighing:
"How can the eighth brother misunderstand Big Brother? Big Brother is genuinely worried for you. Originally, you could have completely become the family heir..."
"Then goodbye."
"Wait, the eighth brother holds related shares in the World Seed Bank, right?"
"Don't say you don't have them; Father secretly gave them to you during your eighteenth coming-of-age ceremony."
Normally, Roy had no right of inheritance to the Higuma Family and could not inherit two trillion dollars in assets.
What, wasn't it said to be 200 billion?
When Roy was born, the assets were 200 billion. After thirty years of desperate struggle by countless corporate slaves, those cogs' blood and sweat transformed into a warm two trillion dollars.
As for the true giants, they stepped into the hundred-trillion-dollar tier.
The figures were frighteningly high, just like running a nuclear-powered printing press.
To ensure the prosperity and flourishing of the family, the Higuma Family would not divide the inherited assets, instead choosing the most outstanding person to inherit the family business.
Family members held a coming-of-age ceremony at eighteen based on their aptitude and achievements, with their status divided into heirs and non-heirs.
Non-heirs would receive their own share of assets to live in peace.
The people of this generation of the Higuma Family were all very capable; six people retained heir status and were engaged in fierce struggles.
Currently three were dead, leaving three.
Only Roy and the third brother Raymond became non-heirs, taking away the startup capital.
The startup capital was not much: a total of one billion dollars, plus ten million dollars in living expenses every month.
Roy's third brother chose to start a business and was now heavily in debt, able to rely only on the ten million dollars a month to pay off debts. He was so poor he could not even afford a villa in the ecological city, and his life was extremely miserable.
As for Roy, he was very cautious, only depositing his money in banks with the highest safety coefficients, purchasing capital-guaranteed wealth management and trusts, and slightly making money by relying on the family's inside information.
So far his assets had become ten billion dollars, just touching the threshold of this era's wealthy.
For his impoverished younger brother, eldest brother Arthur was originally not very interested in bothering with him.
He had only recently obtained important intelligence.
As early as Roy's eighteenth coming-of-age ceremony, their father had privately gifted him 3% of the shares in the World Seed Bank.
Why Father doted on Roy was a matter difficult to discuss.
However, the value of the World Seed Bank was immense because the Higuma Family was in the ecological business, controlling the production and sales of the world's food.
Therefore, a 3% share was enough for Arthur to gain the upper hand in the heir war, mobilize more resources, and fight the second and sixth brothers.
That's right, the wealthy struggles of this world were just that unpretentious and boring.
Both sides would mobilize the Robot Legion to slaughter each other, and the battle situation was tragic.
If Earth became this terrible, it was thanks to their glorious achievements.
Otherwise, relying on this world's technology, the ecosystem could have been repaired long ago.
Nanobots were even popularized for civilian use, and even a lower-class person like Suzuki Satoru used them to play games, yet they couldn't fix a tiny ecological problem?
Who were they trying to fool?
The technological gold content of nanobots was enough to reshape the entire planet.
However, Roy didn't care about these; he cared more about which bastard leaked the information.
The Higuma Family's industries involved two trillion, and these fortunes were greater than ancient imperial thrones.
Therefore, the fourth brother died on the battlefield, the fifth brother was headshot by a robot, and the seventh brother fell from a tall building; the mortality rate was comparable to an ancient imperial palace.
There was no need to doubt that it was definitely done by the other brothers.
Now that Arthur came looking for him, it meant Roy was dragged into the heir war.
Originally, Father gave him the seed bank shares, and he firmly did not want them, but Father's attitude was clear.
"If you don't want these shares, then you must become the heir."
Only a lunatic would want to become an heir.
Therefore, Roy took the shares and hid them, not daring to spend a single penny, just treating them as if they didn't exist.
He never expected Arthur to find out anyway.
Roy did not continue to conceal it and directly asked:
"If Big Brother wants this thing, what conditions can you offer?"
"Eighth brother is decisive!"
"One latest Dome City, and one standard Robot Legion."
"All of them are the latest model of Liquid Robots. How does that sound?"
"That way, if you want to be a parasite, you can just keep being one."
"The terms aren't bad. Big Brother is sincere."
Arthur was overjoyed:
"Eighth brother is willing to trade?"
Roy shook his head:
"I need a month to consider and investigate."
"After all, I don't want to offend Big Brother, nor do I want to offend Second Brother and Sixth Brother."
"I need to investigate their situations and make preparations in advance for my own safety."
"Otherwise, even with the protection of a Robot Legion, I'm afraid I wouldn't survive this year."
Arthur's expression changed, but he knew Roy's temper.
Even Father could not change things that Roy decided.
Actually, Roy was qualified to become the family heir, but he gave it up on his own initiative and devoted himself wholeheartedly to playing games.
Arthur pondered and said:
"Fine. After you investigate, you'll find that Big Brother's conditions are the best."
"Second brother is not as patient as Big Brother. As for sixth brother, hehe..."
Even with the best conditions, I don't want them.
In another seven days, I will be able to cross over to the New World, become a max-level big shot, and the Bone King will only be worthy of shining my shoes.
Fighting with you guys is worse than playing games.
Once I master extraordinary powers, the first thing I'll do when I come back is learn from Uchiha Itachi and string all you guys up on street lamps.
If Uchiha Itachi encountered you lot, readers would only say it was a good kill, wondering how he even left one behind.
Roy deliberately said one month precisely because Arthur had a fiery temper. If he said seven days, he feared storms would be stirred up in two or three days, so it was better to broaden the time.
He agreed on a month, but only seven days remained.
By then you can go eat shit.
Roy had made many acquaintances in this game, as well as figures from the Resistance.
Therefore, he had made secret arrangements: if he died, his inheritance would be transferred to the Resistance.
Of course, in name they were not the Resistance, but a common Charity Organization.
In short, Roy would not give a single dime to someone like Arthur.
After all, the most terrifying thing in life was dying with money left unspent.
When Suzuki Satoru crossed over to the New World and became the Bone King, nobody knew whether his original body was dead or alive.
Life and death unknown meant he was dead.
Therefore, Roy assumed that after his successful crossover, his self in this world would be dead.
His arrangement for after-death affairs was also his final bit of conscience toward this world.
Now the troublesome people had all left.
Roy could finally log on with peace of mind.
Yggdrasil, activate!
Before you continue