MMORPG: Isekai World Online

About a year ago, the Swindlers Guild and Ottenmore kingdom had some conflicts with one another.

Belial offered me resources, and in return, I would give him powerful NPCs to help build his Guild's manpower and bring them up in the leaderboards for GP (Guild Power).

Having GP is important, the more you have, the higher the rewards are in quests, and you can also receive medals for reaching certain requirements in GP.

The current medals are:

{Bronze

Silver 

Gold

Platinum}

Each guild member will have a medal next to their name or Personal Hub, allowing others to see how powerful their guild is. To see someone's information, it simply pops up on the player's field of vision, next to their health bar. However, some players can, and will, hide their game avatar's info, not allowing other players to know how strong they are.

But besides that, the Swindlers guild became the strongest guild inside Isekai World Online at one point, and it happened to me.

Belial offered me powerful items.

They were level infinity items, capable of enforcing their own logic into the world, just like the others.

At this point in time, I had a handful of level infinity items, but I managed to obtain more from sheer luck.

I gave the Swindlers Guild Legendary Grade NPCs that I summoned from the Ritual Port to raise Belial's GP from silver to platinum, in only a matter of days.

He was high on power and couldn't believe I actually accepted his offer, but I was also happy because I could obtain a level infinity item with the price of throwing away a few Legendary Grade NPCs.

Sure it may seem like a waste, but a level infinity item is far more valuable.

Eventually, Belial fulfilled his part of the deal, giving me Nyarlathotep, the ring located on the pinky finger of my right hand.

It can create avatars of my choosing, having them fulfill my desires.

The avatars I create can range from female, male, dragonic, vampire, undead, and many other race classes as well.

I hate to say it, but I felt unstoppable at that point in time.

I can create avatars who can become any race class with little to no effort.

You may be wondering why Belial didn't keep such a precious item, but that's simple;

He could already create something like this.

Yeah, that's right, he was a hacker.

He downloaded certain mods in the game, breaking the system, which allows him to create level infinity items on a whim.

I didn't find that out until later on when one of my subordinates overheard his conversation with other Swindlers guild members.

I refused to believe it at first, but as a Great King, nothing goes unnoticed.

I watched Belial and his every move from an avatar created by Nyarlathotep to see if it was true—

And to my surprise, my servant was right.

The avatar that joined the Swindlers Guild was named Dorothy.

I didn't summon her from the Ritual Port, no, I summoned her from Nyarlathotep. 

She's actually connected to me, and considering everything was a game at the time, she only acted on my will. She moved and operated like an NPC, just like any other avatar I created.

But now, NPCs no longer exist. Dorothy is now a living and breathing organism, given life, and a soul!

Her entire purpose was to give the Swindlers guild trouble, and now that she's alive, she will become smarter, and more intelligent than ever before. 

They wouldn't see it coming, not from a mile away.

Dorothy, my own avatar, will become a monster.

"The hell's up with the long face?"

I could hear a voice echo through my castle...

Wait—I could hear a voice? 

The only ones who can move in stopped time are the Great Kings, who the hell is talking-

"Ah!" I looked up and could see Crimson walking through the door, into the throne room, "I'm assuming Angelica is with you." I announced.

"Yeah, she saw that the world was stopped in time and got confused, so she brought us together to come visit you, thinking it was an emergency." Said Crimson.

("Hmm—I almost forgot we can dispel others from stopped time—I have to keep that in mind.")

"Ah, I see, well I suppose you can say that this is an emergency," I announced.

"Wait, seriously? What the hell is going on?" Asked Crimson.

The other Phantom Mutiny made their way through the door; Emerald, Lucienne, Christopher, and Kuma.

For some reason, I didn't see Angelica.

"Let your guard down!!" 

Oh— she was behind me.

She threw a direct punch at my head, attempting to knock me forward, but I evaded through the Eyes of the Emperor.

I saw a few seconds in the future, disappearing from her attack, and appearing behind her, extending my hand.

"You're impressive as always, I shouldn't be surprised."

My hand extended to her face, but she did the same to me.

She was so fast! She managed to predict me and turn around just in the nick of time.

The only reason I couldn't predict Angelica's actions was due to her speed far surpassing my foresight, not giving me time to react.

"I've played with you long enough to know how to counter a couple of your moves, Emperor, you're not the strongest in the world you know?" Angelia snickered.

"I do wonder, who is the strongest among the Four Great Kings? There will be a day we'll need to settle this, don't you think?" I proclaimed.

"Ehehe, no need, we're all strong in our own right," she gently lowered her hand, as I did the same. Looks like we weren't gonna fire spells at one another, "Jokes aside, why did you freeze time? We usually do that when something bad happens."

I crossed my arms, giving an audible sigh.

"The NPCs in Isekai World Online are sentient."

"Oh?" Emerald lifted her brows, quite bewildered, "Define 'sentient' more clearly, brother."

"As in, they have souls. Actual souls, like humans, do. I don't know how this is possible, but the only logical explanation is the Absolute. He must've given every NPC a soul after the 1.2 update for some reason, but this can lead to a lot of problems."

"Ah, what kind of problems, exactly?" Christopher asked confidently, "Considering we're stuck inside the game, having NPCs act on their own moral is quite refreshing, no? Walking around with mindless robots would be tedious if I do say so myself."

"What? Are you just giving up on hope at this point?" Asked Lucienne, "You're talking like there's no way we can find access to our other world." 

"From the circumstances present, no, there is no other way. We're stuck here, trapped inside our Game avatar's body, and now we must live like this for the rest of our lives." Proclaimed Christopher.

"Christopher's right, as much as I hate to say it—this is our new world—and we have to accept that fact, Lucienne." Kuma hesitantly said.

"I feel quite heartbroken about it, I'm sure we all do. My family back in the present world must be suffering, and it pains me to imagine that." Emerald closed her eyes, pessimistic about their situation, "But there is no time to wallow and give up just yet, I'm sure we as a group will find a solution to break free and return home."

"That's the spirit Emerald!" Angelica winked at her, leaning up against my arm, "I don't know how I feel about being stuck in the avatar of a girl, but I can make it work... unless," Angelica walked in front of me, getting into my face, "Hey, you're gonna have to let me borrow that Nyarlathotep item and let me create a male avatars body, Emperor!"

Ah, right, some people are stuck in the body of their opposite gender, I forgot about that.

"It suits you, Angelica."

"Suits me? Wait a minute... are you saying that because-" 

"Inflict Magic, Omni Warp."

Angelica suddenly vanished from Ottenmore kingdom, far away across the continent.

("I'm not letting her say anything embarrassing!")

Omni Warp was a superior version of Spatial Warp that allows the player to appear wherever they want, or whenever they want. 

They could appear in physical places, as well as metaphysical places. They're able to teleport into dreams, consciousness, data, and other abstract worlds, even past or future.

Only users of Arcane Magic can use it.

She deserved it.

Like hell I'll let her expose my secrets!

"Anyways, the point is, we must value NPCs like we value player lives. We cannot afford to have anyone die, unless absolutely necessary. Emperor is a monster, and I created him to be that way, but the orders I give out are from Lee Kennedy. We must keep our same morality, and not let our game avatars' morality overpower our own, understood?"

"Yes, understood." They all said.

"But still, this is gonna be a pain in the ass. We'll have to take care of NPCs while also helping out players. Man, give me a break already!" Crimson shouted.