Game Over : Marvel Reboot

Stepping into the world of YGGDRASIL, the first DMMORPG, was nothing short of surreal. Everything looked real—no, it felt real. The crisp air carried the scent of blooming flowers, the wind gently caressed my skin, and every sensation coursed through me as if I had truly been transported into another world. All five of my senses were fully engaged, making it almost impossible to believe that this was just a game. The real full Dive is just batshit insane, I opened the menu, and then fully cranks the sensitivity and sensation slider to 99%.

"Woah~ this is…just unbelievable…".

It was a jaw breaking moment for me, with the Sensitivity and Sensation set at 99%, everything felt even more lifelike for me. As I ran through my finger across my palm, it truly felt real. Also, I am not just doing this kind of thing because I am crazy or anything, the YGGDRASIL is the place where I had to accumulate experience, be it fighting, magic and even pain. This game allowed me to trained myself to the extreme, and one way to do that is to treat the game as a real life itself, forcing my body, instinct and reaction to adapt to be in a fight. This has to be done, beside where else I can do this, training to the extreme, where I do not have to be afraid of dying.

"Oi~ let's party up and go on a raid or something".

A player wearing some mismatch-colored equipment running down the street said to his fellow friend.

"Today weather seems very great right?".

An Elf chatting with the other Elf NPC right beside me.

"This is nice…".

In the heart of Oak Town, an elven settlement, as I sat on a wooden bench, basking in the immersive atmosphere. I watched as NPCs went about their daily routines, chatting, laughing, and moving with such fluidity that they seemed indistinguishable from real people. Players mingled among them, some forming parties, others engaged in trades or casual conversations. It was a breathtaking sight, to me it was every part real, but also hard to remind myself that this is not a real world but a game.

As I sat in silence, letting the experience wash over me, an unexpected wave of vertigo struck. My vision blurred for a moment, my head spun, and a surge of unfamiliar memories crashed into my mind like a tidal wave. It lasted for about a minute, but in that short span, I came to understand who I was in this world.

I was Sai Yuki.

A 35-year-old man, who is confined to a hospice bed, my real-life body was completely paralyzed due to the rare disease called the Locked-In Syndrome which rendered my body to be stuck in a vegetative state. while My mind remained intact, but my body was an unresponsive husk. The only thing I could move were my eyes, rendering me little more than a prisoner within my own flesh. Sai Yuki is also an orphan, my parents had perished in a tragic car accident, no siblings or grandparents, leaving me with no family and only a small inheritance—just enough to cover a few years' worth of medical bills.

My life had been bleak, to say the least.

Yet, the hospice staff had been kind, especially the doctor who had taken pity on me. He had introduced me to YGGDRASIL, suggesting it as a form of therapy—a way to experience a normal life within the confines of the game. Desperate for an escape, I had agreed. The game was immensely popular, and to my surprise, it also offered opportunities to earn real money. Given my circumstances, I needed any financial support I could get. My inheritance wouldn't last forever.

But unbeknownst to me, the moment I logged in, I died.

My frail brain, overstimulated by the overwhelming sensations, simply shut down. My physical body ceased to function, yet here I remained. Someone—or something—had taken over namely it was ME. Perhaps it was divine intervention, a miracle from The One. Regardless, I instinctively knew that Sai Yuki's body and mind would completely wither away in exactly five years. In a twisted sense, my alternate self-had gifted me five extra years of existence.

"Damn…. this Is…just sad, Man…. I guess no matter where we are…we always got the shittiest kind of luck, huh"

I silently offered a heartfelt thank you to the man who had given me this chance, vowing not to waste it. I even chuckled at the thought of honoring him by winning the World Championship Tournament in YGGDRASIL, ensuring that his name would be remembered. Choosing to keep his name as my own, I became Sai. That felt right.

After five minutes of silent reflection, I stood up, ready to embrace this world fully. As if responding to my resolve, a glowing window appeared before me.

{Quest Generated: First Step}

{Find Shevon and begin your first step into the marvelous world.}

"Oh, a quest…".

The task was simple: find Shevon, a local herb merchant. With a determined nod, I followed the quest marker to a quaint store built within a massive tree, even though the whole game world looked and felt real, things like this reminded me that this still a game after all. Inside the store, I found Shevon—a strikingly beautiful elf—greeted me warmly.

"Welcome~ oh! A new adventurer, come in! what a great timing for you to visit me! I need a tiny bit of help from you~…. Adventurer?".

Shevon welcomed me, her rather welcoming and bubbly voice shocked me a little bit, she sounds and looked very real to me.

"Ah! Yes…please go ahead and tell, I would love to help you with anything, Miss Shevon".

"Great!".

Luckily my replies were accepted and good enough for her has her bubbly nature sprung again, she requested that I gather ten healing herbs from outside the town. A typical tutorial quest, I guess. I accepted it, also I treated her with the respect she deserved. Unlike some players who sneered at NPCs as mere scripted entities, I saw them as something more—real in their own way.

Before setting out, I checked my inventory. As a warrior, I had been given a standard-issue sword. The inventory interface appeared as a simple grid with 50 empty slots. As I walked through the town, I curiously explored the system and discovered that the inventory could be expanded through level-ups, item enchantments, or in-game purchases. A grin spread across my face at the realization. If I was going to take this game seriously, I would hoard as much as possible.

With that in mind, I ventured beyond the town limits.

The outskirts of Oak Town were lively with players engaging in quests and battling monsters. Groups of adventurers cheered as they brought down creatures with well-coordinated attacks, while others dueled fiercely, testing their combat skills against one another. A few spellcasters stood at a distance, unleashing bursts of magic that illuminated the battlefield with dazzling effects.

Nearby, another set of players lounged casually, chatting as they observed the chaos. Some discussed strategies, others swapped stories about their adventures, and a few simply relaxed, enjoying the scenery.

I smiled at the rowdy and lively atmosphere before diving into my task at hand. The air buzzed with excitement, the sounds of battle and laughter mixing together into a symphony of adventure. I wasted no time scouring the lush fields for herbs. Within minutes, I had gathered the required ten, but why stop there? My hoarder instincts took over. For an hour, I stripped the fields clean, collecting every herb in sight. Some players grumbled about my greed, but I simply shrugged, feigning innocence, and moved on to another end of the field and resumed my hoarding session. After another hour of trying to hoard as much as I can, finally I decided that I am satisfied with my haul, so, I turned my attention to combat.

My first target: a Level 1 Horned Rabbit. Roughly the size of a basketball, the creature had snow-white fur, glowing red eyes, and a menacing horn protruding from its forehead. At rest, it looked deceptively cute. But as soon as it detected my presence, it let out a feral hiss, its red eyes narrowing dangerously.

"Hsss..." it seemed to snarl, pawing the ground aggressively prepared to lunge at me.

"There Is no need to hiss at me, little fella… just come at me…".

I might sound obnoxious right now, but I said that in order to also calm myself.

The Horned Rabbit began its attack, its movements were erratic, swift. It leaped at me with wild ferocity, aiming its horn directly at my chest. I dodged, barely avoiding the piercing strike. Observing from the sidelines had taught me its pattern—hiss, jump, stab. I repeated the sequence in my head, studying its rhythm.

The moment it leaped again, I sidestepped and slashed downward. My sword cut through the air, grazing its side. The rabbit landed, hissed, and lunged once more. Again, I evaded and struck. On the third attempt, my blade cleaved cleanly through its body, splitting it in two. The creature dissolved into a puff of smoke, leaving behind a slab of raw meat. I picked it up and tossed it into my inventory with a satisfied smirk.

"That was kinda neat,"

Combat in Yggdrasil apparently Is as real as it gets, I need to move my body, on my own, it followed the real-life actions and logics as well, then again this is what a full dive game should look and feels like, maximum realism, wanted more of that action, I battled two more Horned Rabbits before a familiar notification appeared:

{Congratulations! You have leveled up from Level 0 → Level 1.}

"Finally, I leveled up…Phew~ …. experience is quite hard to get huh…"

I remember in the Anime that Momonga mentioned that leveling in Yggdrasil is a hard work, and from what I gathered just now, what he said made sense, a player need to know how to fight, defend themselves and active enough to do any action, the rule of real life applied in this game, to those that are wimpy outside would be a wimpy in here as well, a player had to take initiative to do anything in this game, otherwise there is no dice for them. Leveling up before submitting my quest, made me felt a sense of accomplishment welled up within of me. This was only the beginning. And I have learned a lot in a short span of time here. Done with my little experiment, I turned back to Oak Town, it was time to submit and completed my first quest in Yggdrasil.