"Um, so you're a beginner… right?"
"...I was told this is your first time…"
I barely managed to respond to Trinity's question.
"Hey, Amy? This is your first time playing AIWOn, right?"
"I'm surprised by this gear too, but there's no doubt this is my first time in Alive In World Online. By the way, Suzanne, you look just like you do in the real world."
"Sure, but you look exactly the same too, Amy."
"Oh, well, I have my reasons."
"What reasons?" I asked. "I thought this form would be easier for Yuki to recognize."
"I get it. So, you're keeping your name the same?"
"Yeah, probably better to stick with Suzanne. What about you, Amy?"
"I'll stick with Amy, but spelled as Ava in katakana."
The name is essentially the same, but maybe it's a mood thing? Now that I think about it, it's usually a bit awkward to call each other by our real names in these situations. But since it's just me, Ava, and Trinity here, it doesn't really matter to us.
"So, what about her?"
Amy asked, glancing at Trinity.
"Oh, she's a beginner guide, and she's going to show us around this world for the first time. I guess we can think of it as a tutorial," I said, explaining that having even basic knowledge about this world would be beneficial for us in the long run, so I recommended hiring Trinity.
"That's right. Exploring this world without any prior knowledge is far too dangerous. As the saying goes, 'slow and steady wins the race,' so let's have our guide fill us in on the details of this world," she agreed.
"Um, excuse me, was it Ava? Are you really a beginner? Your gear seems way too advanced..."
"I told you before, I'm definitely a beginner."
"Does that mean... you have a blessing?! Amazing! I've never seen one before!" Trinity, who had been rather calm until now, suddenly became animated as if she had spotted a celebrity.
"Trinity, what exactly is a blessing?" I asked.
"Oh, right. A blessing refers to the special abilities or equipment granted by the goddess Alice. Inhabitants of this world, known as Celestials or Terrans, can be born with blessings from her. It's the same for you otherworlders; when you first visit this world, you might also receive a blessing."
I see. In game terms, it's like special skills or unique equipment from a campaign. No, in the context of isekai stories, it's more like cheat skills or cheat equipment, right?
One notable example is the Third Prince of this country, whose eyes reveal the truth—known as the Eye of Truth. It's an impressive S-rank blessing.
As for Ava, her blessing is powerful, but since it's equipment-based, it only ranks at E. Still, it's rare to have such a full set of blessing gear, as usually one is the norm.
"Ah, I suppose nothing quite like that exists here," I said. "But it's certainly beneficial, and valuable for us in a rush."
"Exactly. It'll come in handy for searching for Yuki," Ava agreed. Reflecting on this, I felt a twinge of envy that the blessing gear had gone to Ava instead of me.
"Hmm? Do you have some urgent business?" Trinity asked suspiciously, having been listening to our conversation. It's only natural she would be curious given how animated our discussion was.
"Yeah, we came to this world to look for someone. So we'd like to wrap up the tutorial—uh, I mean the guidance—as quickly as possible."
"I see. Well, for starters, let's engage in battle with some monsters," she suggested.
Wait, suddenly we're jumping into combat?
◇ ◆ ◇ ◆ ◇
The country we currently find ourselves in is the Elegant Kingdom, boasting a hundred years of history. A grand road stretches out from the royal castle, extending north, south, east, and west, all leading to the massive outer gates. The Church of Alice is located to the southwest, and we were planning to exit through the southern gate to head toward the Zaus Forest.
"This kingdom is now known as the Kingdom of the Grasslands, but it used to be called the Kingdom of the Desert, with sand stretching as far as the eye could see," said Trinity.
"Wow, a Kingdom of the Desert? It doesn't look anything like that now," I replied, picturing a sandy landscape reminiscent of Arabia, yet here was an elegant kingdom that conjured images of typical fantasy towns.
As we walked through the streets, I saw girls with rabbit ears, tiger-faced beastmen, and long-eared elves casually going about their day.
"That's right. Until a hundred years ago, it was a desert, but then one day, everything transformed into grasslands," Trinity explained.
"One day? The entire landscape changed overnight?" Ava exclaimed, astonished, looking to Trinity for confirmation.
"Exactly," Trinity said with pride.
Still, I couldn't shake off the incredulity. How could a desert possibly turn into a grassy expanse in just a single day?
"Well, to explain it properly, we must delve into the creation myth," Trinity said, and she began to recount the legends of this world.
Long ago, it was said that eight divine creators brought this realm of heaven and earth into existence. Among them, the Three Pillar Gods—Sunflare, the god of the sun; Luna, the god of the moon; and Bold Brave, the god of courage—were created to maintain this world. To oversee it, they also created the angel Ava.
However, one of the Eight Heavenly Creators betrayed them, granting the demon lord Ava immense power and plunging the world, which had balanced the heavens and the earth, into chaos. The remaining seven Heavenly Creators each bestowed their strength upon adventurers, who then defeated the demon lord Ava. This demon lord's defeat is said to have occurred around a hundred years ago.
"The seven adventurers who vanquished the demon lord were honored for their deeds and invited to the realm of the gods. Among them, the most renowned is the priestess goddess Fenris. They are also revered as the Sword Saint God, the Battle Demon God, the Time-Space God, the War Goddess, the Heavenly Demon God, and the Great Sage God."
As Trinity spoke of these myths, Ava's solemn expression shifted, and she suddenly burst into laughter when the discussion turned to the Seven Divine Kings. What could she have found so amusing?
"Well, it would have been nice if the story had ended on a happy note, but reality is often not so kind," she continued. Indeed, the absence of the angels who once maintained balance in the world led to turmoil. Thunder roared from the skies, heavy rain fell, the earth trembled, and earthquakes split the ground. Magical energy overflowed from its reservoirs, unleashing hordes of monsters that rampaged through towns and villages.
The Central Kingdom, once deemed the heart of the world, bore the brunt of these upheavals. Already struggling under the weight of celestial and terrestrial disasters, the sudden onslaught of monsters left them unable to mount any effective defense, and within just a few days, the Central Kingdom fell into ruin.
"And thus appears the goddess Alice. Feeling responsible for the actions of her sister, the Demon Lord Ava, she decided to take on the management of this world. Governing the skies, calming the earth, giving missions to monsters to manage their actions, she transformed the desert into a flourishing grassland to replace the fallen Central Kingdom with the elegant Kingdom."
"I see. So the change from desert to grassland is the work of Goddess Alice."
"Goddess Alice has been recognized for her achievements and was granted divine status by the God of Creation of the Eight Heavens. However, she chose not to ascend to the realm of the gods and continues to oversee this world. As a result, the faith in her, Aliceism, thrives as the state religion of this kingdom."
"By the way, what happened to the God of Betrayal from the Eight Heavens?"
"Oh, the God of Betrayal was defeated when the Seven Royal Gods ascended to the divine realm."
That makes sense. They wouldn't leave a traitor unchecked. Yet Ava still wears a solemn expression for some reason.
"To further the development of the world, Goddess Alice summoned beings from another world about three years ago," she continued.
Three years ago...? Wasn't it two years? The release of Alive In World Online was around two years ago. I vividly recall being persistently invited to play by Yuki back then.
Oh, I just remembered that the flow of time in this world is different from that of reality. Here, time moves at a strange 1.5 times its normal speed. The reason for this awkward pace is that if it operated at the same rate as the real world, those who could only log in at night would be limited to nighttime play. Even with a 2x speed, players logging in at midnight or noon would still only be able to play at night.
If it were sped up to 3 or 4 times, the time gap would widen too much, causing significant disruptions in AIWOn activities from just one day of absence. As a result of these considerations, we ended up with this peculiar 1.5x time flow.
"These days, a significant number of interworld beings reside here and engage with us, the beings of this world," Ava said.
"Even if it's under the goddess's guidance, you beings of this world have done well to accept us interworlders," I replied.
As Ava pointed out, cross-cultural exchanges are rarely simple, especially for beings from another world. After all, to them, this place is just a game—a fabricated reality where arrogant individuals might emerge.
"Well, there were various troubles early on, but we've made substantial contributions to the town's development and adventuring activities. Now, we have become indispensable."
Hmm, while there's no concept of levels, it seems there are certainly differences in the growth of interworld beings compared to the beings of this world.
That's precisely why the rapidly growing inhabitants of this other world are being accepted.
As we continued our conversation, we passed through the southern gate. Trinity showed the gatekeeper what appeared to be some kind of card, and we were allowed to pass without any issue. It likely helped that Trinity was our guide. Once we exited the southern gate, a vast grassy field unfolded before us, and in the distance, a lush green forest stood majestically. That must be the Forest of Zaus.
"Alright! Let's go!"
With Trinity leading the way, we headed straight for the forest.
---
Alive In World Online Strategy Thread 106
336: Anonymous Adventurer: 10/29/2057 (Mon) 20:00:10 ID: bb86brz2kT
I noticed there's an Angel Quest at the Adventurer Guild. Is that the same as the Grand Quest?
337: Anonymous Adventurer: 10/29/2057 (Mon) 20:02:21 ID: S10bUn119
Normally, I'd think so, but I have a feeling it's a bit different in AIWOn.
338: Depuko: 10/29/2057 (Mon) 20:03:33 ID: Dpbl16Slv
No, it's different! The Grand Quest is a team effort that everyone participates in, while the Angel Quest is for individuals or small parties.
339: Anonymous Adventurer: 10/29/2057 (Mon) 20:04:52 ID: Adl6Ms10r
I think it's about time we learned that AIWOn shouldn't be treated like just any ordinary VRMMO.
340: Anonymous Adventurer: 10/29/2057 (Mon) 20:06:45 ID: K1llEr412
By the way, the quest giver, Goddess Alice, is that the NPC we encountered during character creation?
341: Anonymous Adventurer: 10/29/2057 (Mon) 20:07:56 ID: gI11z2DHr
What exactly is this reward called Arcadia?
342: Anonymous Adventurer: 10/29/2057 (Mon) 20:09:09 ID: sUo5tONan0t
Hmm, the quest involves defeating or earning the recognition of 26 apostles to obtain their tokens... That sounds pretty challenging, doesn't it?
343: Anonymous Adventurer: 10/29/2057 (Mon) 20:10:10 ID: bb86brz2kT
>>342 Right? That's why I thought it might be a Grand Quest.
344: Depko: 10/29/2057 (Mon) 20:10:33 ID: Dpbl16Slv
>>341 Arcadia is a sacred land where the gods reside. Visiting Arcadia grants you the chance to acquire even greater powers from the deities... or so the story goes.