Chapter: 2 - A New World?

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[Guy Crimson]"Wait... What happened?" I asked in confusion looking around at the confused looks of my friends.

[Guy Crimson]"Did the shutdown get delayed... why weren't we informed?" I asked bewildered at the situation.

It was only now I realized everyone was staring at me with wide eyes and mouths agape, catching on to what they are so interested in startled me.

[Guy Crimson]"I AM TALKING, HOW IS THIS POSSIBLE!!" I shouted with some fear lacing my voice, whatever was happening was pretty scary from our point of view.

[Testarossa]"Were we transported?... everything feels like real life, " she said pinching her arm, recoiling after feeling the pain.

[Diablo]"W-We need to check the continent for intruders, there could be other players here, and if this is all really real we have to secure our own safety," he said, his voice slightly betraying him with some cracks of nervousness.

[Carrera]"I-I-I will n-never see my f-father again..." she said with tears dripping down her face, all of us feel bad for her, she is the only one out of all of us that still has a parent, a parent she may never see again.

[Rain]"Brother... what do we do now?" as she said that they all looked at me, even though all of us made our own choices they all looked to me when group choices were made, I think this was because I was the eldest in the group.

[Guy Crimson]"I say we should follow... Ma- Diablo's decision? Also, how should we refer to each other... by our real names or these characters?" I asked, it could end up confusing mixing the names up at least if it's established early there will be fewer mix-ups.

[Misery]"I-I say we should refer to each other as these characters, we seem to have become them in their entirety like even now I feel leagues stronger than before... I just feel generally more healthy, " she says making a valid point.

[Everyone]"Agreed!" we all said simultaneously.

[Ultima]"I-I will take Carrera to another room to allow her to cool off, " she says leading Carrera out of the room presumably to an adjacent room.

[Guy Crimson]"I think Diablo's idea is the most sound for the moment, we have no idea if this is YGGDRASIL or something completely foreign. For precautions take a World Item that suits your build before searching outside. When we know it's safe in the area around the palace, training and using spells should be the priority, we need to be able to defend ourselves, " I said to see everyone collectively nod their head in agreement.

[Guy Crimson]"Our best defense is all of us staying together, if there are other players or something more dangerous, staying with each other will keep us here among friends, " again everyone nods at my exclamation.

Over the next few days, it has been a very emotional time for some like Carrera who has not taken kindly to being transported. She shut herself in one of the many rooms available to us, I have seen her once since what we dubbed "The Anomaly", may sound stupid but here we are. Carrera when I saw her last had bright puffy red eyes, I imagine she had been crying herself to sleep.

Some of us have been unaffected and are thriving in this new environment like Testarossa and Rain, they are the ones who have ventured further than the rest of us.

Ultima has been keeping Carrera company trying to encourage her to move on but to no avail, I mean moving on from my parent's death was very tough so I am not apathetic to her situation.

Misery has been hanging over my shoulder for most days, she was also the one to discover the function of the *Message* spell and its convenience of it.

Diablo is training in combat the most testing his skills against some of the higher-level monsters that spawn on the continent.

I have been attempting surveillance of the outside world with different tools and spells. It was when I hit a dead end with testing surveillance spells I had somewhat of a revelation.

[Guy Crimson]"The Atlas World Item!" I said out loud, I accidentally startled Misery who was lying on a giant fluffy pillow, she probably uses a skill to make it, but I can understand that Ice isn't necessarily comfy to sprawl out on.

[Misery]"Jesus! Don't scare me like that... what about it anyway? " she asked, at the end when I went hunting for World Items, some of my friends didn't even know their functions or even participated in finding it.

[Guy Crimson]"While this Item is pretty useless in YGGDRASIL by having no combat capabilities whatsoever, it could prove to be a useful tool here, " the reason I was searching for surveillance spells in the first place is that we're on a Continent of nothing but Ice we will be cut off from the rest of the world with no way to gather intel. All teleportation spells also require the user to identify where their destination is or the spell won't work.

This is where the Atlas World Item comes into effect, pretty much what it does is give a detailed map of the entire world while highlighting geological features like mountains, rivers, deserts, and some others like volcanoes. Zooming in on specific parts is also a feature of being able to observe individual people and even buildings. This sounds overpowered but in an age of everything having been recorded for different video platforms, the item was sold on the auction markets for very few YGGDRASIL coins.

I and Misery retrieve the item from the Guild treasure vault which is hidden behind several high-level illusions and traps to prevent invasions. Returning to an empty room with the item I was surprised to see someone who seems ready for work.

[Carrera]"How can I help?" she asked, you can tell she is still very much affected by what has happened which while concerning it's good seeing her up again. I smiled at her question, but right now nothing matters bar her mental health, approaching her I just hug her.

[Guy Crimson]"It's nice seeing you up again... don't forget we are all here for you even if it seems like we weren't empathetic to your situation, " I say as some tears stain my jacket that has escaped from her eyes. Misery also joins in on the hug showing her she is not alone in this wild New World.

[Carrera]"T-T-Thanks g-guys, your the best friends I c-could ask for..." she says as her voice was breaking.

[Guy Crimson]"I presume Ultima has caught you up on what we have all been doing thus far..." I asked her, releasing her from the hug.

[Carrera]"So she wasn't joking about using our character's names, " she says while giggling a little. Smiling at her laughter I proceed to make sure she is caught up on everyone's whereabouts as well as a few handy spells we've found like *Message* and *Gate*.

[Carrera]"Ok, question say the Atlas Item works... then what? if there are people somewhere else how should we act and who says any of them are nice?" she says raising valid points about the state of the world.

[Guy Crimson]"Those questions while warranted can be answered if there are people in the first place," I said in response to her query.

[Misery]"If there are we have to test how strong we are in this world, if it's YGGDRASIL there could be dangerous monsters like in the game. While if it isn't who is to say it's not more dangerous?"

[Guy Crimson]"When did you become so pessimistic, everything will be fine, we will make sure it all works out," I said smirking at her.

[Misery]"Ah, I learned from the best brother, you were always seeing the worst in everything... why can't I," she said while pouting.

After our exchange, we made sure the room was empty as this would now be our dedicated map room with most plans being decided here. The Item looked quite cool when activated, it was an interactive holoprojection or hologram of the entire world condensed inside an area the size of a medium-sized dining table.

The first thing we all noticed is our Ice Continent is the most North landmass in the entire world making up what could be perceived as a north pole in a sense. We also saw evidence of one singular huge continent that is directly south of us now. The presence of humans was a welcome relief but strangely enough, there was a massive number of demi-humans that seem to be culling humans. Dragons were situated on mountains further north while a nation of elves is the most southern presence of intelligent life. This was due to a massive empty desert at the base of the continent.

Something had caught Carrera's eye when scanning over the seemingly empty desert. Her eyes landed on a floating island that looked strangely familiar.

[Carrera]"Guys... is that a player guild base..." she said while pointing at the island floating in the sky. Spotting what she was pointing at I knew what that was the second I laid my eyes on it.

[Guy Crimson]"Eryuentiu..." I mumbled. "That was a Guild base I had considered getting before competing in the Event that won us the Ice Continent... I know someone completed its dungeon about a week before the event kicked off... thing is the Guild is in possession of it... I don't know it." I said staring at the endless streams of water flowing down the side of the castle.

[Misery]"It seems pretty evident now that players very well exist in this world... " she said also staring at the projection of the castle.