Darkness and cold were the melody of this world; daytime in Helheim was brief, and even then, the sky remained a murky gray.
HaHaHa·Hades had traveled from the central world to Helheim's outer regions, and he couldn't help but shiver. Though he couldn't feel cold in the game, the eternally gloomy atmosphere still had a chilling effect.
Ever since YGGDRASIL's major expansion, Valkyrie's Downfall, Hades had been in a semi-retired state. While he still updated his equipment and other items, it was only out of habit from his past spending, and eventually, he retired completely.
Now, after a year, returning to YGGDRASIL's world brought a sense of unfamiliarity. This was only natural—he hadn't logged in for a long time.
That unfamiliarity also slowed his journey to Nazarick. He arrived at Crystal Plain, a border region of Helheim and a necessary path to reach Grenbera Swamp, where the Nazarick Underground Great Tomb was located.
Crystal Plain was not named for being filled with crystals, but because the frozen plant leaves on its overgrown expanse were as sharp as crystal blades. Every step would cause damage, and even "Holy Relic" grade protective gear would be cut, inflicting a continuous HP drain debuff.
However, Hades was unconcerned.
His equipment was "Divine Grade," so environmental negative status effects posed no threat. Though Crystal Plain was also home to ore-type monsters with high defense, they posed no obstacle to him.
That was because he wasn't traveling on foot—he was flying straight toward Nazarick. While the skies also carried negative status effects targeting humanoids, the blessings of his top-tier equipment rendered such minor effects meaningless.
HaHaHa·Hades accelerated toward the Nazarick Underground Great Tomb in Grenbera Swamp while checking his backpack.
Most of his primary items were stored there. The unlimited backpack had a capacity of only 500 kg, which wasn't enough for him, so he carried several of them. As long as materials were available, more could be crafted—very practical for life-skill players.
Materials that normally required smelting and crafting could be sorted and stored directly in the backpack, eliminating the hassle of constantly running to the warehouse.
Hades had another reason for carrying so many unlimited backpacks.
That reason was tied to one of the World Items he possessed—the "Seed of the World Tree."
Compared to other World Items, or even the "Twenty" with their heaven-defying abilities, the "Seed of the World Tree" was not particularly outstanding. Its maximum potential depended on the user's own strength.
Its effect allowed players to freely change their race. In YGGDRASIL, changing race was not especially difficult—players could succeed by obtaining certain items and completing special quests.
However, there was one exception: for Undead players, the only way to change race was by using the "Seed of the World Tree."
If its sole purpose were to let Undead players change race, then as one of only two hundred World Items, it would seem far too underwhelming.
Perhaps the developers realized this, because in addition to changing races, the "Seed of the World Tree" could also store all data for the races transformed by its possessor.
Specifically, if your current character had reached level one hundred and you wanted to switch to another race, the item would store all data of your current race form, allowing you to play another race without worry.
But what if a high-level player tried to PK you while you were leveling up with your transformed race?
The answer was simple—use the "Seed of the World Tree" to switch to your stored level one hundred race character and let the opponent learn they had picked the wrong target.
The "Seed of the World Tree" could store data for two different races.
This meant that, in addition to his current character race, HaHaHa·Hades also had two backup level one hundred characters he could switch to at any time.
Of course, the two stored races and the one currently in use had to be three different races.
The storage limit of the "Seed of the World Tree" was only two slots. If you wanted to store a fourth race—beyond your current one and the two already saved—you would have to delete one of the stored race data entries.
Naturally, this created an additional need for backpacks. Different characters and different professions required different items and equipment. With three races and three different professional builds, Hades found that a 500 kg backpack capacity was far from enough.
While, in theory, adding just one more 500 kg backpack might suffice, one of Hades's two stored races was a full production profession, meaning he needed triple the backpack capacity.
Even so, Hades could not carry every material for his production profession with him—there were simply too many, and carrying them all was unrealistic. In his guild's personal warehouse, he not only had countless materials but also various semi-finished items and equipment he used to improve his production profession proficiency.
As Hades familiarized himself with the long-unseen YGGDRASIL operation panel and replied to Messages from the six guild members one by one, he was already nearing the destination of his trip.
"Purple Poison Swamp, huh..."
HaHaHa·Hades glanced at the location marker on the YGGDRASIL map interface.
"Hmm... Grenbera Swamp is deep inside the Purple Poison Swamp. Almost there," he muttered to himself.
Although one of his stored races had the Magic Caster profession and could use teleportation magic, YGGDRASIL's map was vast, and many areas—including certain critical routes—were designated as restricted teleportation zones.
As a result, traveling in YGGDRASIL often took considerable time.
Watching the time until YGGDRASIL's server shutdown tick away, Hades knew there was no way he could launch an invasion on Nazarick and make use of the second World Item he had gone to such lengths to obtain.
The remaining time wasn't enough to accomplish anything else either—but at the very least, he could take one last look at Nazarick to close the chapter on his old goal.
As he got older, Hades gradually lost the passion he once had for games. Perhaps it was because his real life was more fulfilling than the virtual world, but regardless, YGGDRASIL remained a memory from his middle school years.
Take his in-game name, "HaHaHa·Hades," for example. Hades, the god of the underworld in Greek mythology, ruler over life and death, seemed like a unique and imposing name to his middle-school self.
However, by the time he joined the game—several days after launch—the name "Hades" had already been taken. On a whim, he typed in "HaHaHa·Hades," and to his surprise, it was instantly accepted.
23:59:40
Looking at the time on the YGGDRASIL interface, HaHaHa·Hades sighed. At this moment, the Great Tomb of Nazarick lay beneath his feet, but time had already run out.
23:59:50
Gazing at Nazarick's surface structures, Hades recalled that battle from long ago. Time had moved on, and that event was now just a small, insignificant episode in his life—but it had been part of his youth.
23:59:59
...Goodbye to the past...
00:00:00