Chapter Text
In a Dimly lit room, someone was playing on a PC, running a Game, typing, clicking and so forth.
"Oh well, Sekai not Included, huh? Oh? What's this button?"
On the Screen, a weird Option, "Isekai Scramble", was available in a large, red, button in the World Settings Option. Not caring for what it could cause, the person playing it clicked.
The door to the room was opened, flooding it with bright light from the Hallway.
"Mike, time to work."
"Right, right, let me close this ga- oh-"
"-You know that is the Isekai Management Software, no?"
"Eheee~ Eto.... Bleh!"
Miller just shut the software and PC down, then dragged his Cousin Mike for another day working the Stall of Wonders, not caring whatever stupid Mess he created.
Cid
"The Shadows are moving again..."
Cid Kagenoh speaks to himself, uncaring that Nu, working incognito along him in his Post Academy job at a small Mitsugoshi business, a calm and uneventful Hot Dog Cart by the Midgar's Capital Colliseum entrance area. She, like all members of Shadow Garden, kept his words to memory or noted in paper for later.
"So it seems, Cid."
'Man, Nu's acting is superb, and who knew Gamma had already such a Mob tier Job for me to work, forgotten by the masses, so Shadow cannot ever be traces to me!'
His classic deadpan poker face plastered over, he made the Hot Dog some passerby purchased, a simple Sausage in a bun with a zigzag line of Ketchup and Mustard, though a few went to the trouble of asking the deluxe one, that required precious extra seconds from him to add the lettuce and a dash of crunched Fried chips to the hot dog, seconds he could use saying some cool lines as Mob mind you!
"You felt it, right? A sudden disturbance in the world, a new Player seems to have come challenge us."
Nu memorized it perfectly. Excusing herself for a quick break (Cid probably believed she needed to use the Bathroom), she noted it on a piece of Paper she kept in her Cleavage to pass messages, though her D cups couldn't do what Beta did, keeping an entire pocket notebook for her notes, it was enough with some slimesuit aid to have these handy paper pieces to make notes. A Number covertly keeping presence nearby picked it and left, her place taken by another one. Returning to her Lord, she had to hold back from emitting a killer aura, as two nuisances showed to bother her Lord with their unworthy presence. Alexia Midgar, and Christina Hope.
...
His work was close to Part time shifts than a full Job, and he was happy for Gamma's understanding, after all, he still needed to make his Eminence Retirement Fund, and the best way he knew, was farming some good old Bandits! And the merchants said Bandits were attacking, he wouldn't kill them, but his "rescue" had a fee, okay? (Reminder this is one of the protagonists)
That had been his plan, except he found that something changed to a very Fundamental Level.
"The f*ck? After all this time training myself to the Bone! Why's there now GAME MECHANICS TO USE WEAPONS?"
Cid, now going as his Shadow self, didn't find Bandits, but instead he stumbled on something he found nicer, a Dungeon, it was an Old, Dillapidated Castle, the sight was nice, but the problem was when he went to fight the Animated Armors, who used a Variety of Knightly melee weapons. Only to find out when he felt pain, his Perfect sword Parry against a Two handed Longsword armor deflected the strike direction, yet the slash had still caused his slime suit to taoe damage, and some of it even opened a wound, he just focused Mana on the wound, it closed, but he didn't feel that his health was back at all.
Taking a more safe approach, he quickly found the Game like system, as when a Zweihander armed Armor did a similar initial Motion to the strike he parried, Cid evaded, and saw it, an abnormal shine over the blade, realizing the problem, he left the Dungeon. Back to Midgar, mood soured, he was walking the Main street, back to the Simple, but very comfy and adequately spacious Apartment Gamma had purchased for him, how he loved her for such sugar mama things (All over the changed world, the Shades and Named Numbers all felt a sudden need to be more sugary to Shadow/Cid, giving him a nice, cozy life with their money).
"Hello! You seem down, how about a small trinket? For free even."
He accepted it, it was free after all! A Tall, Handsome man, in clothes that Cid knew weren't typical for the technology level of Midgar, his vibrant red hair was wild, but it only made him a lot more of a Main Character, compared to Cid's perfected Mob style, the trinket was what in his old world would be a cell phone charm thing, pocketing it, hebsuddenly finds interest in the wares of the stall said handsome guy was running.
"Oho? Seems you have quite the eye, no stealing though."
"Eh, sure, do I look like a Thief?"
"More like a Baron from some Boonies, second son and the discarded one since the more talented Sister is the heir, so you are living through money scraps."
"You stalking me or what?"
Cid was scared about how precise the guy's guess was.
"Nah, just too good at these things, get me in trouble a lot, ya know? A silver haired Princess of this lovely Kingdom almost tried to bisect me for my guess on her love interest."
'I can see that Tsun princess doing that...'
Refocusing, he check the items. Most he believe are just fancy named trinkets to waste time with. As if some silly Silver ring called Normalcy Accessory would let him do as he pleases, or that someone would be selling a Cloning Kit made absolutely Foolproof. But one item caught his eye.
"Guide to Mobius for Eminences?"
"Thisbone? Acquired not long ago, you can skim a page or two, no speed reading with Magically enhanced brain power, ok?"
'Something tells me he knows i am not a Mob.... Tch... Damnit! You and your amazing Supreme detective Main character powers!'
Resigning to doing as he said, he opens a random page of the sonewhat thick Book, the cover and paper clearly were more modern, he felt the polymer resins in the hard cover after all. And his desire to buy this was set, the page showed exactly those Animated Armors.
"What's the pricing?"
"One Hundred thousand Col, converting, it makes for One hundred twenty five thousand Zeni."
"OOF."
As if Lady luck smiled to him, as always, suddenly Nu appeared, acted like some lovey dovey girl friend (the With Benefits kind), and sweetly paid it for him. Thanking her and gifting her that trinket he got for free, Nu took it as if he gave her an Immortality elixir, he was able to get to the apartment alone, and with a great Item, without reservations, he began reading it, ready to fully adapt and become again, the truly all Powerful Eminence in Shadow.
Ainz
Ainz was working like routine, running a Country had indeed become a soul crushing job, even reminding him of his original world's work as a Salaryman, while the Elites enjoyed life and luxuries in their Space Stations, and the Plebeians suffered with the Toxic Atmosphere of Earth as well the Rampant Criminality, Corruption and abuse of power those in power did. Still, he wanted to run his Magic Country well, but the first priority was taking care of the Guild and the Creations he and those who worked along as part of the Guild made.
When a pause in the paperwork came, one of the Homunculus Maids in duty for work time put a freshly made cup of tea and sweets for him, a Message notification rang in his mind, it was a call from Sebas, who should be doing scouting work on another Nation as the Plans after destroying Re-Estize began in earnest.
[Sebas?]
[Lord Ainz, sorry for the sudden call, but I believe I came upon an issue that requires the wisdom of yours truly.]
'Hmmm, a Problem? There shouldn't be much that could pose a trouble where he and Solution are headed to... Still, better play safe.'
Decision set, Ainz replies.
[No problem at all, it's good to see such proactivity from you. What's the problem?]
[Our Carriage, as expected, got ambushed by some foolish human bandits, while I dealt with it, one of them used a rather peculiar type of sword skill, it didn't deal damage to me or Solution, but my own Martial Arts Skill somehow failed to activate.]
'WHAT? UNKNOWN SKILL? HIS MARTIAL ARTS FAILED? HUH? EH? HUUUUUUUUUUUHHHHHHHHH-'
The shock had his jaw drop, surprising the Maid, who was about to Panic, his Race specific Emotion suppression activated, making him close it, and for once, thank it being a thing.
[Understood, arrive at the next planned city or town, and once you secured a safe Inn, we will teleport you back for a comprehensive report! You did well telling me this, Sebas! Exceptional work!]
[Very well.]
The call was ended. Ainz then called for Albedo and Demiurge.
[Albedo, Demiurge, I want all of our forces called back to Nazarick temporarily, once they return, and Sebas is teleported back for an Importsnt report, put Nazarick to Maximum security! A full meeting with all Floor Guardians aside Gargantua is to be made.]
[Understood!]
[As you wish, Milord!]
'This is bad, if suddenly something made Yggdrasil skills and powers useless, Nazaricks strongest assets are gone!'
Standing up, he assures the Maid on duty he is going for a walk, straight to the Sixth floor, the Colliseum, Staff of Ainz Own Goal in hands. There, he again Asks Aura and Bello to set some targets, saying he wants to again, test his skills a bit. As the tests go, indeed, he finds something drastic had changed.
'Weird, the Mana Cost hasn't changed much, but the system at its core has. Many Elemental attack Magics are gone, replaced by a simolified set of Five, the only chabge for then is the element you use, but Lightning and Electrical ones are gone for real.... But my Darkness related spells haven't changed, a few seem missing, like Grasp Heart...'
The Arena had the results of his testings, dozens of summoned Undead, from Skeleton soldiers to Death Knights to higher ranked Undead such as Liches; a skeleton wall in the middle of a puddle of poison, and a small area where only sand remained, in contrast with the compacted soil of the Colliseum's arena space.
"So Cool! Ainz-Sama!"
"Y-y-yes! I-impressive, Ainz-S-sama!"
"Hmmm, yes. Aura, Bello, could you both show your skills as well?"
They both obeyed, and quickly the two had surprised faces, Aura because her typical started attack failed to activate, and Bello because a circle formed under his feet, and after a delay Ainz knew was too long for what skill he wanted to use, it also fired a large boulder instead of the Mud Swamp skill he tried.
"A-ainz-Sama!"
The two exclaimed, feeling as if they failed their master.
"At ease, you both didn't do anything wrong, in fact, even my skills seems to have changed."
"Eh?"
"I will tell more once all of our Forces have returned, for now, let me clean my mess here."
With one gesture of his staff, he cancelled all the summons and the skeleton wall, the Poison Puddle would need one of the Healers of Nazarick to cast a purification on it. He left to wait Sebas return.
...
As he ordered, a Full meeting of all Floor Guardians sans Gargantua (A Supermassive Golem, so it could neither fit the throne room, nor add insight of its own) was in effect.
"-And this concludes my Report."
Sebas finished telling in detail about his Martial Arts skill failure, just the nature of it put all Guardians at a state of nervousness. It was after all, a sudden and never expected for issue.
"Good work Sebas. Now, once he reported this to me via Message, I made tests of my own, Aura and Bello Fiore also tested their own Skills. It is for sure that all of Nazarick assets that use some form of Skills is affected."
The news that even their supreme Being leader was affected shocked all to the core. Especially Albedo.
"But rest at ease, it seems the effects on me aren't crippling at all, some changes were even with positives."
He showed by summoning a Death Knight.
"It seems my Undead Creation has been replaced with a modified version with different restrictions, the benefit is that it no longer takes my XP to create undeads above the lower ranks, the trade off is a stricter hard cap on how many I can make and sustain at once."
"Your preparedness is truly astounding, Ainz-Sama! Give the Order and I will thoroughly get our forces up to date to what has changed in our own abilities!"
Demiurge took this as Ainz once again being several steps ahead anyone, even whoever caused such massive Change.
"Hm, i leave this for you, for the Floor Guardians, help one another find out what has changed on your skills, your builds are after all, unique and made by my fellow guildmates, Whoever has caused this mess will pay, for no one DOES ANYTHING to Nazarick and goes unpunished!"
"HAH! HAIL AINZ OWN GOAL!"
after some asking for each Guardian's opinion on the matter, the meeting was Adjourned, Sebas and Solution were to stay at the Merchant City they stopped at until things calmed down, and any forces that could stay within Nazarick were to do so until adjustments to all their plans were done.
Five days later, Demiurhe personally delivered his Report to him.
"Are these findinds undeniably correct? Even after testing counter theories?"
"Yes! With Aid of you allowing unrestricted use of Potions, We managed to break down this new system to the written system. However, it seems there's some Skills we have yet to experiment on, as it seems we have no Nazarick assets with them, and the requirements to unlock its acquisition have eluded me for now."
'Great, Obtuse skill acquisition requirements.... I do remember there was some odd game in the news that fit the bill... But what is it? No matter, it can wait.'
"This is already excellent work. For now, focus on passive surveilance, and if the chance seems right, find those with said skills or who may know how to acquire them, since we don't know for sure many details yet, rely on Summons and Mobs we can create endlessly for this mission."
"As you wish!"
Bowing down, Demiurge left.
...
Rimuru
"Wah!"
Rimuru wakes up with a jump. Noticing he wasn't in his bed in the City of Tempest, but sitting over the cold, ground of a Forest.
"What? Where the hell am I?"
[Impossible to Determine]
"Michael? Impossible? Why?"
[For some reason, my Connection with the World System has been cut. Currently, only the massive data and information processing capacity your Slime body holds allows me to analyze the situation.]
'Great... Now- hm? Why does my body feel weird?'
Rimuru stands up, and touching and looking over his body, the first thing, the clothes were different, a bit worn out, a simple blue cloth shirt, an old Leather chest armor piece, the Beige Cloth shorts were kept in place by a badly beaten Leather belt, the simple boots had signs of quite the use.
"Wow, the hell? I look like some Hobo almost... First let's transform-"
[Master, Unfortunately, it seems it will be impossible.]
"Why?"
[I scanned your body further in-depth, it isn't just your slime shapeshifting a Human body, it is an actual Human body, your slime main body is operating the brain and serving as Blood of this body.]
"Huh?"
[This body is recently deceased, Sixteen to Twenty Hours at most, though the Lack of Rigor Mortis indicates the Slime part of you started assimilation within this body shortly after it deceased.]
"But Slimes in our world can't do that!"
[Given the evidence at hand, Master, we got sent to another World, but since this world's slimes also cannot do most of what a Slime like you can, you were turned into the closest alternative for those abilities and peculiarities.]
"So we both got packed inaide a Slime that had talen control of a recently deceased person? And why does it look like her as well?"
[Probability indicates coincidence, but perhaps it was the system's whim to have your new body be as close to what you grew used to.]
"Fair.... And scary... But close...."
A weird fear creeps Rimuru's mind, slowly inching his hand to the crotch, only a few taps say all, and then he presses over his chest.
[Yes, Master, this Body is female, comparing it overall, and basing off both Shizu's peak and the current one's potential peak, this one surpasses Shizu's beauty score based on basic Human beauty standards evaluation and measurement methodology by one and half points, from a seven oit of ten, to Eight Point Five out of Ten.]
"..."
Resigned, Rimuru took her new Gender until a chance to regain the Manhood came.
[Though Master, with the Genderless shapeshifted mimicry outdoes even this one by being a Nine-]
"-Shut up! Not another word about this and my other Body!"
Michael obediently stopped.
...
"What a Stupid Skill system is this?"
Rimuru tried using the old, worn out Steel Sword this body had sheated on its Belt, after a brief time testing things so Michael could gather Data, its news weren't reassuring.
[Unfortunately, while some Skills seem obvious in how to get, a few elude my current data. Though obviously the two strongest are assured to require slaying Dragons.]
"You don't say.... Fine... Not like I can hunt Slimes, they have been very nice to me...."
[Slimes seem to know the you before we got put inside it, and lack enough awareness to realize someone else is piloting it.]
"Yeah, yeah... Hey buddies, this body has to live in Human settlements, where's the path out the forest?"
They guided Rimuru,the duty passing to different slimes, whose strength lowered the closer to the shallow area near the road it became. Once out, Rimuru thanked the last Slime and left. The stomach grumbling.
"So I now have to sustain this body's basic necessities?"
[If you so need, your Slime part can deal with the-]
"No thanks."
Just half an Hour before the Adventurers Guild closed for the day, Rimuru arrived, being greeted by a cute receptionist that looked super worried about her, a low rank Adventurer. Given that the Slimes were terribly weak at the shallower parts of the forest, perhaps this young Adventurer met its demise by failing to notice she got too deep, dying to Slimes she had no stats to deal with. The few Coins, Col being the currency's name, Rimuru got a room in this girl's Inn of choice, or more of financial needs.
"Michael, can you find a way to grind both XP and Skills efficiently?"
[Will do, Have a good sleep, I will keep an eye for intruders as well.]
...
Leon fou Bartfort
"Master, we got a problem."
Luxiom calls for Leon's attention.
"Hnnn? What's it? The sleep was good."
Grumbling, he puts his shoes off the rest, the empty area of the Command pannel of his seat as the vessel's Owner and commander, looking around, he sees nothing wrong.
"Mmmkay, nothing wrong, back to-"
"Master, My sensors detected an absolutely out of norms change in the Atmospheric Mana, that and after sending some scouting drones to verify the surroundings, there's no more floating Islands. Also out Altitude had to be dropped due to some unexplainable force making high altitude flight impossible."
"Waitwaitwait... What? How low are we? And what about a landing zone?"
Leon panicked, if this world was like the one he got reincarnated into, the surface is uninhabitable, even Luxiom's advanced Life support systems cannot filter the toxins and other hazzards fillin the close to surface air.
"Rest assured, we still about 500m high, the ceiling the force is allowing, also, the drones fully sampled and got me data to analyze the atmosphere, the surface is livable. I should note however we migh have ended in a different world altogether, the inhabitants do not seem to be of our Original World's Culture."
'f*ck! The hell? Did someone f*cking sit over a stupid Isekai Quartet Button or what?'
The automatic door hiss, Olivia and Angelica enter the Bridge.
"Leon! Luxiom said we needed to come, something happened?"
'How handy of this asshole robot.'
"You're welcome, Master."
"Yeah, yeah, screw you. Give us a comprehensive report, keep it understandable however."
"My, my, such demanding request, as you ordered."
Displaying through the Holographic screens, he gives a Timeline of events, data about the Air, images the drones took of the surface civilization, and a recorded video of men in Knight Armor laying Siege on a Castle, of note were two people in the sieging army, a Shield user with cat Ears, and a Human Archer, both suddenly became flashes of light, where after a few seconds, both now sported masks, and the two alone were all that took to demolish the Castle's Main gate, breaking the Siege. The video however suddenly cuts, though a glint from the archer woman indicated the drone was shot down.
"How high you kept it flying?"
Leon asks.
"About 200m high, I was playing safety first."
"And even so that woman bullseye sniped it. Maybe someone with a keen sense noticed the prying eye and notified her."
"Leon, a Good archer might also have a good sense to know they're being watched or followed."
Angelica speaks her five cents.
"Could be. Anyways.... Where exactly are we hovering over?"
"The rough estimates, my drones have only maped so much after all."
Luxiom displays a map of the known geography, the Supposed Capital with the Castle under siege was about a good day of March on foot of distance, when the map displayed what was bellow them, not even the AI could hide the disbelief.
"The ship's main cameras have been keeping an eye, but even to a Rich person with enough money to perhaps buy the world, an estate of such stupidly ridiculous size and such Hypercompetent staff isn't exactly what I can say even those exotic rich idiots will waste money on."
Luxiom says his side.
"Gotta agree with that."
Leon agrees.
"Ehhmmm... Is it me... Or there's a handful of Maids that seem that they know Luxiom is above them?"
The feed zooms to where Olivia points to, three Maids, moving seemingly like their daily routines, yet a focus on minor gestures or even their pace tells they are covertly communicating with others.
"Luxiom, get us outta this property, last i want is damages to you when we don't even know where an Airship port is available to get repairs."
"Gotta agree with you on this one, I will relocate to an area closer to a Border area, this will keep things from escalating if the Optical Camouflage fails again."
"Haha.... Move this f*cking bathtub."
...
'This world... The power system is different, they use Skills, only way to explain the relative rigidity in how certain things operate during combat.' Leon further analyzed how things were going on the feed, where he saw this Country's border forces watch in awe as one madman and Madwoman toyed with the Neighborhooring's nation army, using skills and firing off them not to kill or even injure, but to make the soldiers scared sh*tless.
"Whoever is this crazy ass guy and woman, I want nothingto do with them."
Olivia and Angelica can only helplessly agree to it.
"Master, you keep rising these flags, you will end having it."
Luxiom snarks about the flag event raising Leon was doing.
