Dyne was pleased. Being alive was always better. And his thoughts on being able to play the game in a very immersive experience is tempting.

“Oh! Right. What happens if I die in-game?”

“You die, of course. Right now, you do not have the cultivation to fully wield the Imaginarium Bond. At least not yet.”

“Then it's in hardcore mode, huh?”

“It will be an extremely hardcore mode. After I create the world, I won’t be able to make any changes after it. And I will intentionally make it difficult that even someone like you would find it very hard to survive.”

The battle around them had also stopped as most retreated. He could hear various gang members passing by and did their best to look for him. One had actually opened the illusory trash bin that Strafe had created.

But upon opening it, the man simply frowned and moved away as if he saw nothing. Dyne glanced at the man but wasn’t afraid since he was starting to be

“Whatever. It beats dying here. At least I can play a bit more. I’m game! I mean, It gives me another life. And this is sorta like isekai, which is also cool...” Dyne just laughed.

“Then shall we start?”

“Oh, right! What happens to you?”

“I plan to become the artifact spirit of this Imaginarium Bond if the Sovereign of this place allows me. I will basically be trapped in that item for a few years. At least, instead of dying, I can prolong my life just a bit longer to help you. Of course, my power will be very limited. I won't be able to do much and even save you if you fall into dangerous situations inside the game. I can only bring you in and out of the world and whatever items you can bring in.”

“Does that mean that you’re going to be my console?”

Strafe didn’t know what to say.

“I guess you could say that.” Strafe nodded his head though he was unsure of it.

“I have a few questions… The first world you will be creating will be Legend of Legaia, right?”

“Yes.”

“What is the exact process of you creating it? Will you simply create it to fit the plot of the game?”

“It will be slightly different from that. It won’t follow the game exactly as it is. But I believe it will be an improvement.”

“How so?”

“The method that I will use to create it involves sacrificing several god-tiered items that my master left behind. But I won’t be creating the world characters immediately. Rather, I will create it from the very beginning. For example, in Legaia... I will create thousands and thousands of people to inhabit the human world and the Seru-kai world and then allow the world to shape on its own.”

“Oh. You can’t create it at once?”

“I cannot. Unless I want them to be mindless creatures, I have to create things from the beginning. The lives of everyone created there will be real lives. They are actual people.”

“Then wouldn’t it change the world? What if people do stuff that will change the game?”

“While certain changes can happen, I will set the fates of certain people and grant them the Imaginarium Bond’s favor. This means everything you know of in the game will perfectly come to pass as the Imaginarium bond will guide everyone's fates towards that direction. But apart from them, the other souls will have free reign. Although the Imaginarium bond will limit their destiny, they will still be able to do anything they want. For instance, in the World of Legaia, do not be surprised to see more towns and villages than what it was in the game. The size of the world in Legaia, after all, is large. And I will be maximizing it. It may take you years to fully explore even the Drake continent.”

“Let me get this straight… There will be people who have free will in that world. And because of that, some things will sorta change. But because of that fate guiding thing that the Imaginarium Bond possesses, it will still follow the main storyline?”

“Yes.”

“So if like… someone in Legaia wants to kill baby Vahn, that person will fail because no matter how he tries, he won’t ever succeed?”

“Correct. The Imaginarium Bond will continue these whispers of fate that will guide all the characters, be it the enemy or the possible allies. You have to follow it to what the game allows. But moving beyond that, it will change. For example, if you stay in Drake Continent for years, things in the future towns may change. For example, Octam would probably have been sunk by Xain. On the other hand, things may change if you disrupt or interfere with the timeline by doing certain actions in the game,”

“Like if I kill Zeto on the first time that he appears in Rim Elm?”

“That is one example. Therefore, if you stick to the same timeline of the game and follow the actions that the characters do, it will progress almost naturally as long as you keep moving forward.”

“Alright. I understand. But as you said, there might be more survivors who will find a way to escape the Mist in the world of Legaia since there will be an untold number of people who will live in that world. This will also affect some parts of the game that you know. For instance, the items in the game can no longer be acquired easily.”

“I expected that. If people can think freely, then there’s no way people will leave precious items lying around the area. I guess if you try to do that and make fate leave treasure chest everywhere, it will eat up more energy as you would need to alter more fates to put those items on those specific places in the game, right?”

“Correct. Of course, all items will exist in that world. So you may find some precious items here and there since the chaos of the Mist would result in chaos. It just wouldn’t be as easy as finding treasure chests in caves and such.”

Dyne sighed.

“Ugh. That’s annoying. I was hoping to get OP powers immediately!”

“You have the potential for greatness. I have seen it in your memory. But you must walk a harsh world to maximize that potential. If you have such powerful equipment early on, your path will be hindered, and you won’t even make it to my strength.”

“Yes. I will also add a few more Easter eggs.”

“Easter eggs? You’ve looked quite a bit in my memories now that you know those terms.”

“I had fun watching your memories, especially with your very dense reaction towards women. You really should change that. That girl who you like? She obviously liked you.”

Dyne felt that he died at those words. He had been shot several times in the chest, but this time, that bullet was so strong that it even broke through the thick Kevlar armor that he wore.

“Please don’t kill me…” Dyne’s expression paled.

Strafe laughed.

“As for the Easter Eggs that I mentioned, you have to seek it out yourself.” Strafe laughed.

Dyne had yet to recover from that painful attack. But he focused on the exciting game before him.

“Sounds fun! Then since you’re going to go through the process of creating everything, I take it you have the ability to speed up time so that when I enter in the game, it will be right when the game starts?”

“Correct. It is among the other artifacts and tools that my master has bestowed. By my calculations, I will only need to speed up time and move it to about one or two thousand years to get to the part of the story.”

“Can you create it so that I enter these stories earlier than when the game actually starts?”

“Of course.”

Dyne fell into deep contemplation.

“Please hurry up in your planning. Don't forget that I am dying.” Strafe drank another mouthful.

“You said you could give me a few advantages? What exactly can you give me?”

“The goal is to make you cultivate. As such, I cannot give you items that are powerful in the game. At most, I could craft some accessories for you that will aid you. Thus, the Overpowered accessories like the Rainbow Jewel, War Soul, or the Wonder Amulet, and other late-game equipment's are out of the question. Besides, to create such a fate for you to find it will make it harder for me. And honestly, if you bring those items from the game and into the real world, you’ll be troubled to death. Unless you have the means to defend yourself, you will end up being robbed.”

“That’s true... Then what about the Ra-Seru? Wouldn’t that item grant me trouble?”

Strafe smiled.

“The Ra-Seru are powerful living artifacts. But since they are sentient, they have a way to hide the power and make it look like they are simple accessories. I will intentionally make them acquire that ability. Of course, I really didn’t need to. Going with how powerful these Ra-Seru's are, it was very hard for the henchmen of the Mist to sense and find them in the game. Meaning, it wasn’t implied specifically, but these Ra-Seru's have the ability to hide their power. Of course, you best tread with caution. Unless you can awaken five or so Genesis Tree, you’d best hide that from Saints.”

“Like Saint John from the Bible?” Dyne tilted his head in confusion.

“No! Those are... Argh... Those who have completed their Mortal Severing are what we call Saints. They have powers so great that they can easily destroy a kingdom of mortals with the flip of their hands.”

“Oh. You should clarify your terms! I’m still here on Earth after all!” Dyne laughed.

“Alright. Then before you send me into the game, I have a few requests.”

“Go on.” 

“Don’t send me in the game as the main character. Create the main character and do all that fate thingy to him. Just get me in the game.” Dyne smiled with a peculiar expression.

Rapture_edge

First five chapters up! Again, there are over 60 chapters on my Patreon so if you like what you have seen so far, consider supporting me on Patreon. If you are a Legend of Legaia fan (just part 1 and not the weird part 2) then you'll probably enjoy this book. Writing this is very very refreshing.

As an amateur light novel writer, I made the mistake of making my first novel a fairly complicated kind of novel. (New Game+ has now over 270 chapters in Webnovel) And as I continued to build the world of that story, the demands in storytelling also increased. So I wrote NGCW as a refresher to write something easier.

My journey in New Game+ has taught me that I have a bit of an OC in terms of world-building. And it also was true when I began to write my other work-in-progress stories. But when I wrote Nostalgic Gamer in a Cultivation World (NGCW), I didn't have this issue. It was because the games themselves already have lores of its own. So instead of "building" something, I would just improve on it. And I had fun improving on the lore especially with Legend of Legaia.

For those who have played the game, there are many plot points not clearly explained. For one, it was implied at the beginning of Legaia, that monsters existed and nearly killed humans until the Serus came. But what exactly is the relationship between monsters and Seru? Can monsters equip serus? Why did everyone avoid the Mist? The only people who managed to travel in the Mist were Cara (but she had the Ra-Seru Egg, Horn) Vahn, and Val. How did they do that when even the Hunters avoid the Mist?  What happened to the other gods of Legaia? (Ferti, the God of Sea/ Evil God/ War God) why are there only 9 Ra-Serus but 10 Genesis Trees mentioned in the game? What happened to the mysterious last Ra-Seru? Nostalgic Gamer in a Cultivation World explores everything and details everything that these games did not fully explain.

In Legaia alone, everything mentioned above and so much more will be explored. I hope you guys will have as much fun in reading this as I did in writing this. Of course, those who HAVE played the game will appreciate this story more. For now, the next chapter will be next week following a 3 chapter per week rate. See you on the next chapter!