Chapter 1: A New Beginning

Hi there everyone, how are you all doing? Thanks for paying my first story a visit, really appreciate you being here ^^

With all that said and done, let me bother you no further !

Enjoy :3

Disclaimer: I do not own Overlord as all original work credits go to it's author.

498/500

"Just a couple more to go guys!" Tabula yelled right after launching a myriad of spells at a nearby foe.

499/500

"Only one more to go! All yours Satoru!" Nishrenkai said before kicking and launching a neaby foe in his general direction.

"Boom."

500/500 completed. Congratulations Ainz Own Goal on the successful completion of the limited time event! Rewards will be distributed to the mailbox of every member present. Thanks again for you participation.

"Too easy guys."

"GG."

"That was a good warm up for tomorrow!"

"Still can't believe that its finally here tomorrow!"

"Me too!"

Satoru was just as excited as everyone else within the guild, after all, Yggdrasil was finally going to implement a brand feature!

"Errr...Satoru? Hate to sound like your dad or anything, but don't you have school later?" Touch me said almost comically bombing the entire atmosphere, instantly shifting the young boy into the spotlights.

"Ohhh it's past 9 pm, we had better let Satoru catch up on some beauty sleep." Punitto mentioned with a grin.

Satoru threw his bedside clock a quick glance before facepalming...

It read 3am.

'School might be a bit tiring today...'

"..u"

Something felt off.

"...ru."

Yes, his bed felt incredibly hard. Needless to say, his pillow wasn't much better.

"...toru."

Perhaps he had fallen off in the middle of the night because this was anything but comfortable.

"SATORU!"

"Whaoooo!"

Momentarily startled by the violent outburst from an unknown source, the young man of 18 years, leapt up wondering just how his alarm managed to learn of it's owner's name. Eliciting the the last signs of fatigue in the form of a long yawn, the black-haired performed a couple of side stretches before scanning his environment. Rather than recieving the usual ambient sensation his personal quarters provided, a rather disgruntled figure that resembled his teacher greatly, stood cross-armed in front.

Was he in the middle of class?

At this point, Satoru was desperately searching for obvious signs to disprove this hypothesis. Yet when one took into account the neat arrangement of desks coupled with the smirks adorned on every other student present, it was certainly difficult to formulate any kind of counter argument. A large message written on the blackboard with chalk served as the final nail in the coffin.

Afternoon English Session

"Errrr..Urghhh...I can explain this!"

"Ohhh you can?"

"Well I errr...was busy...doing my homework last night and didn't get around to sleeping."

"Let me guess, a dog ate it on the way? Is that why you failed to submit it despite skipping rest?"

"Exactly!"

"Come to my office after school."

"But..."

"Satoru!"

"Sorry."

This wasn't anything out of the ordinary. In fact, if one were to draw a conclusion based on the amount of time Satoru spent visiting the teacher's office, suggesting he lived there wouldnt be too much of a stretch. The principle being able to recognise him despite never teaching a class was more than enough proof.

Breathing out a small sigh, the black-haired once again occupied his seat, this time putting in a little extra effort to keep both eyes open.

There had been a small shred of truth during his earlier scuffle with the teacher. To be more specific, the part where he had pulled an all-nighter. As for his homework? Let's not dwell on the past.

'Seriously, who could resist staying up after months of waiting for the game's newest patch release?'

Having purchased the complete DLC bundle, there was no chance Satoru was going to simply sleep and wait to try it out tomorrow. What was initially planned as a small test run eventually spiralled into a full blown addiction. Before he knew it, the clock had worked it's way towards school time.

'But damm it was fun, can't wait to hop back once school is over!'

End of school arrived in the blink of an eye and Satoru found himself in front of the teacher's office...again. The last shred of anxiety he felt had long since faded from his repeated visits here, hence the small breath he took before giving the door a few solid knocks could be more accurately described as annoyance more than anything else.

"Afternoon Miss Shizuku, I'm here."

"Come in."

The young boy slid the door open before making his way over in practiced strides, eager to head home after as soon as possible. The older woman he faced had other ideas however, having yet to offer him a single glance since his entrance, evidently preoccupied with a stack of colossal paperwork. It wasn't until she makred the last of them, did she finally turn around to address the only other occupant within the room.

"Satoru-kun..." she began with an audible sigh, clearly at a loss for words. "I think we both know why you're here. Surely, I'm not the only one getting tired of this routine right?"

"No Sensei, I am too." The young boy replied without a second thought.

"This school life you're leading..." she paused to glance at his test scores before continuing, "Is frankly appaling and everyday you spend without change is another step towards repeating a grade at school. Do you understand Satoru?"

"Mhmm hmm." The half-hearted response coupled with a casual small shrug was all he could muster.

"Listen to me Satoru. I'm saying this not as your teacher, but someone who has been through a fair share of life expreiences. Now is the best time in life to dedicate your time developing and honing new skills, you're in your prime after all. Whether that be sports, academics, art etc, find that one thing that will propell you onwards."

"..."

His homeroom teacher leaned forward in her chair, taking the silence as a sign of his absolute attention. "I know what happened in the past, but you can't just dwell on it forever. It's time to face reality. What would your parents think if they..."

"What would they think?" The young man snapped at the only topic that ever caught his attention before continuing in an even louder voice. "What would they think?!"

"Satoru..."

"If they really did care, I wouldn't be alone now."

The walk home from school was always something that Satoru found oddly relaxing and soothing, as though the cool evening breeze could somehow blow away his day's worries. It wasn't particularly adventurous per say but the setting sun sent rays that reflected beautifully across the roadside river, painting a picture that even the most experienced artists would have trouble replicating.

If only he had someone to share this view with.

Out here, he felt free. There was no homework to worry about, no teachers to scold your mistakes. Heck, he didnt even have to bother putting on a facade in front of others.

Having to generate excuses whenever an invitation was thrown his way by classmates for any form of gathering has frankly...grown tiring.

See most would automatically label Satoru as an socially awkward individual. After all, why else wouldn't a healthy 18 year old student hang on with his friends whenever the opportunity arose right?

Well, they would be partially right.

The real reason however, was his current financial situation. Having been abandoned before he was old enough to remember, Satoru grew up under the care of his many relatives. Each of them, taking him under their wing for a year or two before the next took over. They had treated him with care and given him their fair share of attention...but deep down, he knew that he was being a hindrance. Beneath their friendly facade, Satoru could tell more and more clearly that he would never truly be a part of any family.

Eventually he became painfully aware that moving out was the only option, to try to survive on his own even if that mean't living on a tight budget.

That had been a couple of years ago.

It had been rough for the young man, having to dedicate every yen he had towards basic living expenses, often skipping meals for several days in a row. Naturally this mean't that he had nothing to spare for any unnecessary actitivites such as going to the movies or eating out, which essentially created an invisible barrier between him and his fellow classmates.

But at the very least, he could actually relax around his apartment without constantly feeling out of place.

In order to fill the void in his social life, Satoru had resorted to playing online games. Having heard and read multiple positive reviews for one particular free mmorpg, the black-haired decided to give it a shot.

Yggdrasil, boy was he glad he tried it.

For the past 2 years, he had spent numerous hours developing, training and enhancing his character. If he couldn't shine in real life, why not shine via his online persona?

And that he did.

It was by no means an easy feat, and looking back on all he had achieved since the beginning, Satoru had no choice but to call his character an absolute masterpiece. Not only were they visually appealing and trained to the maximum level, but they also boasted incredible stats in every single aspect, with a particular emphasis towards magic, learning and memorising up to 718 different spells. To add the cherry on, his character also adorned what most would deem as end-game gear, items which took him the better half of this year to grind materials for. Fortunately, his efforts had not gone unnoticed, for his character had earned itself a place amongst the strongest, widely recognised throughout Yggdrasil community as one the most popular players. Satoru, to this day, still never quite understood exact reason behind his insane popularity though, because he never really interacted with anyone outside of the guild. And yet, there was supposedly some group that basically worshipped his character.

"Now that I think about it, the developers of Yggdrasil never got around to explaining..."

Yet his stomach had other ideas, growling in hunger as it disturbed the otherwise ambient atmosphere.

"Welp...best to head home then." Patting down himself, Satoru took one last breath of fresh air before commencing the last of his journey back.

Little did he know...that the small thought his stomach interrupted...would come back to haunt him later in the night.

"Suzuki Satoru."

"Yes mister Lee?"

"Where is your rent?" The owner of this rundown apartment building was a large burly man with a fully tattooed right arm, the sort that police would arrest first if spotted at a crime scene. Narturally, Satoru did his best to stay out of his way but it wasn't exactly the most easy thing to do when you lived right next door.

"Well all I have right now is 800 yen here but I actually need that to buy food for the next few days and..." The young boy began, fishing into his pockets for all his spare change.

"I'll just take that now."

And that was that.

Every last yen from Satoru's open palm had disappeared behind a large green door that slammed in his face.

"Well, I still have some food at home. Just need to ration things out a bit!" Satoru did his best to deter any negative thoughts.

After all, today was a big day for all Yggdrasil players and if what the developers said were true...Satoru should have a parcel waiting for him right on the other side of his apartment door.

"There's no place like home..." The young man mumbled before inserting his apartment key into the lock and giving it a unsuccessful twist. "...when you can actually get into it that is."

Turning around briefly to confirm that loud music was being played in the owner's apartment, Satoru took a couple of steps back before giving himself a mental prep talk.

'Look Satoru, I've hunted dragons and raided guilds in Yggdrasil with ease on a daily basis. Theres absolutely no reason why I can't knock open a stuck door in real life. I totally got this!'

Taking a few breaths in preparation, the young man quickly dashed forward ramming his right shoulder against the hard wooden surface, successfully opening the only barricade that obstructed his humble abroad.

Except it came at a minor cost.

'SHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII...SUGARPLUMS!' Satoru internally screamed whilst giving his aching shoulder a rub, hoping to ease off as much of the flaming pain as possible.

After jumping around like a mad man for several minutes, he finally settled down enough to refocus his tear-blurred vision, allowing him to finally locate the object that he had been looking forward to receiving all day.

A card was attached to the top of the parcel. Peeling off the tape, Satoru quickly opened it up, a big smile slowly forming as his eyes scanned the message within.

To Suzuki Satoru,

Thank you very much for accepting our Beta team invitation! As you will have already known, the top 20% of players within Yggdrasil were offered a unique opportunity to be a part of the game's first virtual reality dive! Finally players will be able to experience first hand, all the adventures that their characters have been undertaking in way that replicates if not surpasses reality.

Take over your character and see the world of Yggdrasil through their eyes!

If at any point during the event, do you feel the need to ask questions, simply talk to one of our many GMs present and they will provide you with adequate answers.

We look forward to seeing you at 9pm tonight when the servers go live.

From The development team.

"Hahaha, yes!" The young man couldn't help but give off an excited laugh before quickly tearing the box open, revealing a helmet like device within.

Thanks to the manuals that the Yggdrasil team had sent him a couple of weeks back when he accepted the Beta, Satoru knew exactly how to operate the machine. After plugging the cords into the appropriate computer ports, he triple checked to see that every step of the procedure had been completed before throwing his bedside clock a glance.

It read 8:55pm.

"I still got 5 minutes to spare, lets see if everyone else from the guild is ready to go."

Every member of Ainz Own Goal had agreed to show up tonight for the big event. In fact, they had all been equally if not more excited than Satoru, which actually says a whole lot considering his unhealthy obsession to the game.

Opening the Yggdrasil gaming client, the black-haired boy double clicked the guild communication tab and surely enough, he was immediately bombared with messages from every other member.

"Hey its Satoru!"

"Satoru! :O"

"Satoru!"

"Yayyy!"

"Heyyyy Satoru!"

"Woot, you finally made it!"

"Finally the team has assembled!"

"IKR?! Full house!"

"Phew, thought you weren't coming for a second! D:"

"Me too, was so worried we would miss our star player!"

Satoru couldn't help but smile at the how welcome his guild always made him feel, even if it was all online. Deciding to join in on the fun, he replied jokingly to the latest message.

"But of course, the hero is always the last to arrive ~~ :P"

"Snapp!"

"Ohhhhh step back!"

"Lol Satoru."

"Hahaha."

"As expected from one of the most popular players around!"

"Just joking haha, and I'm not popular." Satoru grinned as he offered the standard response.

"Dude, we get random players asking us about you all the time."

"That is legit so true, half the private messages I get are fanboys and fangirls of Satoru."

"Well, the only reason why they are interested in me is because..."

BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!

A message quickly flashed across Satoru's laptop screen.

-The virtual reality beta event will be commencing in 20 seconds, please ensure that you are comfortably seated with your dive helmet securely fastened on by then-

"Ohhh it's about to start guys!"

"See you all on the other side!"

Satoru quickly scrambled across the room, pulling his large recliner chair closer to his laptop so as to not stretch the helmet's cords too far. Just as he was brushing all the scrap A4 paper from his seat, Satoru felt a sharp sting radiating from his thumb.

'Nuts! Won't have any time to get a bandaid for this paper cup.'

With only 5 seconds left on the clock, the black-haired quickly adjusted himself comfortably in his seat before leaning back, waiting eagerly to enter the virtual world of Yggdrasil for the first time.

5...

"Steady my breathing..."

4...

The young boy took slow and deep breaths.

3...

He could feel the palms of his hands beginning to sweat.

2...

Tightening the grip of his right hand, Satoru could feel the determination and excitement boil within him.

1...

"Hahah, this actually feels just like my first time logging into Yggdrasil...equally as nervous!"

0...

At that precise moment, Yggdrasil disappeared from his list of games...In fact, his entire helmet seemed to have powered down.

"Huh?"

Just as he was about to get up however, his vision was blinded by a glowing white light that seemed to erupt from within the helmet. Before he even had time to question it, his surroundings seemingly burst into a million specks of light before gathering at his feet. Forming into intricate circular design, the mysterious aura surrounded before engulfing him completely.

"Urghhhh..."

The young man found himself mumbling almost incoherently before gently opening his eyelids. Blinking several times, his vision took a few seconds to completely focus and adjust to the new lighting. While it wasn't particularly dark per say, his room was a lot more brighter in comparison, therefore giving Satoru the first clue that his location has since changed. Glancing directly ahead, Satoru took several moments to realise that he was actually lying with his back on the ground, the view he currently saw being a ceiling made solely from rectangular stone blocks.

"So where is everyone?" The young boy questioned out loud to no one in particular after failing to hear any voices nearby. "Perhaps I took the longest to recover from the dive? No matter I can just check via in game."

Like with the helmet setup instructions which Yggdrasil set to him via email, the developers also gave him a copy of the commands a player could use in game to access menus like their friend's list.

"So if I'm not mistaken, you're supposed to swipe in a downwards motion to open up the general menu." With his back still on the floor, Satoru performed said action with his right hand.

But nothing happened.

Again and again he tried but to no avail.

"Ok, I must have misread the instructions somehow. No need to panic, I just needa find a GM."

Satoru proceeded to push himself off the ground and into a standing position before giving his shoulder a good rub.

"Owwww, my shoulder still really hurts from that whole breaking-into-my-own-house incident huh?"

But it was in that precise moment that several pieces of the puzzle fell into place, inciting a level of fear he had never experienced from Yggdrasil before.

Wasn't this virtual reality? If so, why is his shoulder hurting from a injury he received in real life?

Giving his right thumb a quick check, Satoru felt his heart skip a couple of beats.

There was a small trail of blood trickling from the paper cut he had received only moments before his supposed dive.

"I'm not in my characters body...?" Now that he was upright, he could see the wall in front of him was actually one giant mirror.

Reflected back at him was none other than Suzuki Satoru.

This didn't feel real at all, perhaps it was just one big nightmare. How else would you explain how he got here right?

But surprised always came in an army, and this was no different.

"Suzuki-sama?"

Almost jumping at the mysterious voice that broke his trail of thoughts, Satoru slowly turned his head towards the source, only to find himself staring face to face...with his in-game character...the very being he had achieved so much with over the past 2 years...

"Narberal Gamma?"

A/N - Thanks again to you all for reading my very first fanfic, and I hope you enjoyed your stay. I'd also appreciate anything you have to say, so feel free to leave behind anything that comes to mind.

Looking forward to seeing you guys in the next chapter!

~Lynn~