IGTL Chapter 2

Full title: In-Game Transfer: I’m the Only One Who Can Log Out!? Rise in a World Where Game and Reality Are All Mixed Up!

Note: This chapter is sponsored by M. Mark (Saint tier)

Translator: Canon

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Chapter 2 - The Full-Dive VRMMO “Different World”

The full-dive VRMMO “Different World,” commonly called DW.

Developed by the Narou Project, it was a virtual massively multiplayer online game, and the hottest full-dive VRMMO at the time.

If I had summed up “Different World” in one phrase: medieval Narou-Europe aka Narurope.

It was a fantasy world that resembled medieval Europe yet was distinctly different; a setting that had always felt like it should exist, but never quite had, until this game.

Because DW’s world drew on Norse mythology, it consisted of nine realms. At that point, only the human realm, Midgard, was unlocked.

Future major updates were slated to add the other realms, and with each rollout players would gain new avatar options beyond the then-available human, elf, dwarf, and beastkin such as fairies, giants, and even monsters.

With a slime avatar, you could even role-play, “Plorp plorp. I’m not a bad slime, honest.”

Since player-killing (PK) was allowed, I had no desire to be culled by mistake just for being a monster.

Within Midgard, the three countries (the Central Kingdom, the Ligion Empire, and the Midgard Holy Nation) glared at one another while plotting behind the scenes.

Players chose one of these nations as their base and advanced the game from there.

I had been playing DW for five years.

That day was the long-awaited major event reveal.

The announcement was scheduled for noon, in-game.

“It’s 11:50 a.m.… Hello Work took up too much of my morning…”

The first place you arrived upon logging in was the Transfer Gate “Yggdrasil.”

By passing through that gate, you could dive into dungeons and, in principle, travel among the nine realms.

For the time being, with the other realms not yet implemented, inter-realm travel was impossible.

At that time, Yggdrasil only linked to the Central Kingdom, Ligion Empire, and Midgard Holy Nation, plus the dungeons you could access from each nation’s local gates.

There was also a movement restriction on Yggdrasil: for ordinary players, the gate could be used only to enter dungeons.

In other words, to travel between nations you had to go on foot or by vehicle.

If you wanted to use Yggdrasil without restrictions, you needed a paid item called “Move Yggdrasil.”

Very rarely, a boss would drop a single-use Move Yggdrasil, but the odds were practically nil.

And that paid item was ridiculously expensive, it cost 100,000 yen in real money.

Even so, it was essential for fully enjoying that world.

Which was why I had logged into DW before noon, intent on obtaining Move Yggdrasil ahead of the announcement.

A rumor on the strategy sites said that, with that major event, one of the remaining eight realms would finally be unlocked.

I might have gotten the axe from my job, but I had ample funds.

If I lived frugally, I could do nothing for over a year…

I headed to the Yggdrasil Shop near the gate and went straight to purchase the inter-realm travel item Move Yggdrasil.

“Hah-hah-hah, what can I get for you today?”

“Alright! Pops, I’ll take this Move Yggdrasil!”

“You got it! Move Yggdrasil, then. That’ll be one million Col. Can you pay?”

“Of course. Here, one million Col.”

“Much obliged! Come again.”

The shopkeeper, “Pops,” was an NPC.

He acted human enough, but only responded with canned lines.

As an aside, there were quite a few identical-faced Pops NPCs in that world.

They supposedly had a cool internal name like Rosette, but every DW player affectionately called them Pops.

No real reason, just tradition.

One million Col… that was a steep purchase.

No regrets, though.

For five years, I had poured nearly all my free time, and a quarter of every paycheck, into that game.

No girlfriend in real life, watching my friends marry one after another, while I dutifully collected login bonuses, dove dungeons, and cleared level-cap quests day after day.

Thanks to that grind, my level by then was 300.

Even in DW, only a select few ever reached that plateau.

Leeeeen-goooong♪

A bell toll announcing noon echoed across DW.

“Oh, it’s already noon? Let’s see what the devs have in store…”

Despite my casual tone, excitement welled up from deep inside.

As the bell fell silent, the sky suddenly flushed a fiery lycoris red.

“Whoa! What’s going on?”

I reflexively looked up. Cracks split the crimson sky, and from within emerged a giant clad in golden armor.

All around, logged-in players lifted their faces, eyes gleaming with anticipation.

Voices broke out, abuzz with the reveal.

“Whoa, sick! The devs went all-out! A giant… does that mean the unlocked realm is Jötunheim, land of the giants?”

“So glad I took the day off from work—!”

“Gotta go buy Move Yggdrasil after this!”

“Jötunheim, huh… which avatar should I pick next?”

The giant spread both hands, and the players fell silent. No one wanted to miss the event details.

Then, in a voice far too clear and composed for a “giant,” a rich baritone rolled down from above.

“People. As the creator of this world, I have an important announcement for you today.”

An important announcement, surely the implementation of Jötunheim.

Scalded with anticipation, I listened intently.

“As of today, we would cease service for ‘Different World’ in the real world, and invite all of you present here to a new ‘Different World.’”

“Huh? What was that supposed to mean…?”

A new Different World?

And what did they mean by “cease service”…?

I couldn’t grasp their intent and stared, dumbfounded.

“We have placed an Invitation to the new world in your item storage. Those who wish to embark should take it in hand.”

An invitation from the devs.

At that, I opened the menu, tapped into Items, and there it was in my storage: “Invitation from the Administrators.”

When I tapped it, a black envelope materialized before me.

I gingerly took it and broke the seal. Inside was a sheet that read “Welcome to New Different World.”

What was this? I looked back up at the giant. He curled his lips into a sly grin.

“Now then, that invitation you just opened was my gift to those who truly loved ‘Different World.’ I would give you one minute to choose: remain in this world, or log out and sever your ties with it.”

What on earth did that mean?

I still couldn’t parse what they were getting at.

Staring blankly at the giant, I let the minute tick away with the invitation in hand.

“Splendid. It seems roughly ten thousand players have chosen to remain. Your choice delights me. Please, enjoy this world, ‘Different World,’ now made real.”

A shout went up from someone nearby.

“H-Hey! The logout button vanished from the menu!”

“W-What? For real? What’s happening!?”

A buzz of panic spread as players repeated the words “can’t log out.”

What was going on?

I opened my own menu to check.

If the logout button had truly disappeared, that would have been bad.

“Huh?”

I hurriedly scanned the interface, and found the Logout button sitting right where it should have been.

“See? The logout button is still there.”

Ah, I got it.

Those panicking players, they were plants hired by the devs, right?

Probably a staged bit to hype the event.

Having rationalized it thus, I looked back up at the giant hovering in the sky.

“—I hadn’t introduced myself. I was Odin, supreme god and creator of this world, ‘Different World.’”

Odin, huh.

In that case, maybe the unlocked realm wasn’t giant-ruled Jötunheim, but Asgard, home of the Æsir.

As I mused, the “administrator” (self-proclaimed Odin) spoke again.

“Many of you are surprised that the Logout button has suddenly vanished. This is not a bug. Just as the world you lived in had no ‘logout’ function, so too did the Nine Realms lack any such feature.”

“Eh? What were they even talking about?”

My Logout button clearly hadn’t vanished.

While I sat there baffled, the players around me grew frantic.

“W-What are you saying? That’s a joke, right!?”

“Then how do we log out? Explain, admins!”

“H-Hey! Isn’t something off? My body… the sensation…”

“It seemed some of you had already noticed a certain possibility. For those who hadn’t, I would explain. The invitation you just opened was a device to transfer you from your former world, Earth, to this world, Different World. You cannot return to the world you came from. Enjoy this reality, ‘Different World,’ to your heart’s content.”

At that moment, this world, Different World, was enveloped in silence.

“Of course, some of you might still wish to return. Those who did should come to me. I would be waiting in Asgard.”

Leaving those words behind, the “administrator” calling himself Odin withdrew beyond the rift.

At once, the reddened sky faded back to its original hue.

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