Chapter 18

Buku slept peacefully beside him, her slime form bubbling softly in a calm rhythm. Ainz watched for a moment, ensuring she was truly asleep before turning his attention inward. He had promised to take a proper rest, but his mind refused to settle. There was always something to improve, something to analyze. If he was to rule effectively, he needed every advantage, and tonight, that meant testing Mind Travel.

Leaning back, he cast the spell. At first, nothing seemed different, but then – a shift. His awareness detached, floating free of his body while his physical and magical senses remained intact. He felt weightless, a sensation similar to using VR gear, only he was still distinctly aware of his body. With just a thought, he shot up through the mountain rock until he saw the night sky.

After a slight adjustment, he continued his ascent till he could see the world's curvature, passing over numerous settlements and environments.

'This method of observation is so much better than remote viewing. I'll need to teach this to Buku – maybe it will help with her teleportation.' Despite her considerable power, Buku still struggled with long-range teleportation. The main issue was perception—she couldn't accurately lock onto a destination she hadn't seen before. Perhaps Mind Travel would be the missing piece, and if it could be taught to others, the potential for surveillance would be limitless.

For now, he had another test in mind. Ainz focused on Orgrimmar. Instantly, his vision shifted, and he found himself gazing upon the capital of the Horde. Every detail was perfectly clear, from the flickering torches lining the streets to the distant, guttural laughter of orcs celebrating the night away. The spell worked just as intended.

Then, a more ambitious target entered his thoughts. Earth. Specifically, Itsuki. The world twisted again, and suddenly, Ainz was in a relatively spacious apartment. His brother-in-law lay sprawled on a couch, an unfamiliar woman beside him, lightly snoring away. The room was an absolute mess — empty bottles littered the floor, clothes strewn haphazardly, and sickly, stagnant air filled the space.

'Is he living like this… Wait, are those syringes?' Ainz's attention fell on the small objects lying on the nightstand.

"Itsuki, you piece of shit! This is how you are spending your inheritance?" Ainz roared, but there was no response, no sound. He tried to interact with the environment by imagining a hand and grabbing Itsuki, but his illusory hand didn't touch the man, passing through as if he wasn't there.

'I can only observe…' He concluded as he looked around the house. It was a mess. More bottles and clothing dropped wherever; it was almost as messy as the alleyways. The more Ainz looked, the angrier he got. Was this how his brother-in-law lived with the help of the inheritance he received after he and Buku were remade?

Then, something different. A stark contrast to the filth. A single, pristine room.

Intrigued, Ainz moved inside. At its center stood an altar, the faint glow of two burning candles casting shadows over a framed picture—him and Buku. His skeletal fingers curled as he took in the sight. Beside the frame, a diary lay open.

Ainz hesitated.

It felt wrong to pry, but he had to know. So he read.

'Why did she have to leave me? I see them in my dreams as game characters. Am I going crazy? I failed. I failed. I am a shit brother. I should have died with them.'

The weight of those words settled deep in Ainz's core. His earlier anger dissipated, replaced with regret. He had got it all wrong. Pero wasn't just living a hedonistic lifestyle. He was unable to cope with his sister's death and was numbing himself with drugs and alcohol, as most mortals did.

'Don't worry; we'll get you soon. Just hang in there, ok? We miss you. I could try…'

Ainz attempted to cast a gate to the location, but the spell failed. He tried again. And again. Each time, the spell fizzled into nonexistence. Just to be sure, he tested a few other spells, but every attempt resulted in the same failure, even the most basic of magic.

He could only observe Earth, nothing more.

The realization ate at him, but he forced himself to move on. Lingering here would change nothing. And telling Buku? No. She was better off not knowing. It would only hurt her. If she would learn of it, it would be after they had managed to summon him successfully.

Ainz shifted his focus. Artemel. Imagining the teenage-looking entity that had remade his life for the better. The scene shifted again, and he found himself in a brightly lit game room. Artemel sat cross-legged, immersed in a driving game on an ancient-looking console on a large-screen TV.

Before he could open his mouth, a perfect copy of her stepped out from her body and turned to him with a smile. "Heya, Ainz. Heard your call. Let's fix this."

With a snap of her fingers, Ainz's awareness solidified. He was no longer a mere observer — his full skeletal body now stood before her.

Artemel stretched and motioned for him to follow. As she stepped forward, the room dissolved into golden sand beneath their feet, a sunlit beach stretching endlessly before them.

"I have a few questions." Ainz began.

"I bet you do." Artemel kicked up some sand absentmindedly. "But remember, I won't just solve your problems. That's not how the game works. There's no fun in that."

Ainz could feel the warmth of the sun in his bones. His boots sank into the sand, making walking require mild effort, something he hadn't felt in a while.

Ainz frowned. "Game? Are our lives just a game to you?"

She shrugged, "Everything is a game. But don't look at me like that. I look young because I want to. I am, how you say it, young at heart. I could look like this?" Her form suddenly grew slightly taller, aging into a woman in her mid-twenties. "Besides, I'm not the worst traveler to have you in my games."

She shifted her form again, now looking like a brown-haired, rather unassuming man in a three-piece grey suit. "You could be dealing with my teacher's precisely planned paths or…"

She changed again to a black-haired woman with white horns, yellow catlike eyes, and large skeletal wings on her back. "Deal with the queen herself. You know, you're quite a popular piece among us. Several versions of you exist in our games."

'Looks very familiar. Wait, why does she pick a form that looks almost like the Guardian Overseer Albedo from the original Nazarick?' Ainz could see this so-called queen she referred to looked remarkably similar to one of the Guild Base's NPCs.

'Wait…' Ainz suppressed a shudder. The implications of that were unsettling. Timelines were involved, at a bare minimum.

"But enough of that. Since you are here, I will answer a few questions. But don't think you can barge in whenever. A grown man just dropping in a young girl's room is suspicious, you know." Artemel giggled as she switched back to her youthful default form.

"Right."

"Oh, don't pout. I'm just messing with you. Anyhow, to answer your main question. Creating life is as easy as your Nazarick Instruction Manual describes. You just need clear intent and enough feminine and masculine energy. So you and Buku can do the slow method — let nature take its course — or directly construct the twins at their ideal starting age; high elves grow up the same as humans before their maturity slows down. Everything written in the Nazarick manual is enough information."

Ainz blinked. 'Is it really that easy?'

"So all we need is to perform the ritual together with clear intent and provide the energy?"

"Yes. You can recreate any NPC you want that way. Or empower someone to be the supreme servitor, but you and Buku first need to remove the limiter I put on you. It is also found in the instruction manual," Artemel explained.

"What about-"

"Nope. Not going to explain how to break the reality barrier. Pero stays where he is until you figure it out yourselves. And don't worry; he will be fine for the most part. It's not like he is living on the street." Artemel shot him down.

Ainz decided that he could at least try to get some indirect information. "Why didn't my magic work on Earth?"

"Because only your awareness was there. Magical energies on Earth don't follow the same rules, and you didn't have any mana there in the first place. Just concentrate on what you already have and, spoilers, be ready to meet more of your kind in the future. I have some really entertaining plans. Now off you go."

And just like that, he was back in bed, except in his skeleton form.

Buku slept soundly beside him, unaware of what had just transpired.

Armed with a better understanding, he pulled out the Nazarick instruction manual from his inventory. He needed to reread it until he had the thing's intricacies and implications memorized and understood by heart.

The sands, driven by the harsh desert winds, were relentless, but the inhospitable Tanaris was the best place to remove their limiters. The closest settlements were tens of kilometers away. Ainz had chosen one of the world's most lifeless and inhospitable areas in case something went wrong. In the worst-case scenario, they would release a tremendous amount of energy, and the entire region would turn to glass.

Buku crossed her arms, slightly miffed at Ainz for using the night to be productive instead of resting as she had asked. "Are we sure this is necessary?" Buku questioned.

"Artemel warned that more of our kind will appear. We cannot afford to be at a disadvantage. Besides, it will take everything we have to create the twins," Ainz reasoned.

"Oh, well. Let's just hope we don't crack the world or something." Buku nodded.

It wasn't the possible side effects of removing the limitations that worried Ainz the most, but what would happen if two supreme beings engaged in an all-out battle? At no point did Artemel clarify that the other supreme beings would be friendly, especially if they were other versions of him, who would be just as paranoid and preparatory as himself.

If they were as truly powerful as Ainz assumed, Azeroth would not survive a clash between two supreme beings. They would be geared to the teeth, their worlds, families, and allies similarly armed to the assumed battle to the death, knowing that no Momonga or Ainz would allow another one of themselves to exist out of sheer caution. Which meant that the time to figure out how to defeat others of his kind without world-ending consequences was now. It was just another problem added to his pile and a big one at that.

He started the ritual by first feeling for the metaphorical chains around their cores. To be safe, he would remove his limiters first.

It was as easy as described in the manual. He just needed to imagine his core expanding and using the growing energy to break the chains, and that he did.

The moment he removed his limiter, he felt a rush of energy as if he had just removed a shirt three sizes too small. With nothing explosive happening, he just as quickly removed the binds restricting Buku's potential as well, maintaining careful observation.

She took a long breath, "Like taking off a straitjacket. Alright. Time to see what I can do. Be ready to teleport me back, darling." Buku stretched and cast Fly on herself. Although she was far from proficient in using magic, she had learned a few spells quite well, flight being one of them. She still surpassed the other natives of this world by leaps and bounds, after all.

"Be careful!" Ainz shouted after Buku as she shot up in the sky with a shockwave.

{ I'm fine. Looks like I can control my energy output as well as before. I just know there's a lot more to use! } She messaged. { See you back home. I'm flying back! }

Ainz sighed; there was no point in arguing with her. He cast a gate and returned home to start preparations for the creation of the twins. They would need a living space and multiple sets of clothing, as their old gear simply didn't exist. Then again, they, including many NPCs, already wore armor made out of dragon scales in their in-game lore, and there were enough shed black dragon scales to make each twin at least twenty sets. As for weapons, Ainz decided he would gift the twins divine tier ones currently in his inventory, a bow for Aura and a staff for Mare. Thus, the creation of reliable allies would begin.

Editing by NabeisWaifu, aidan_lo, and Nich L

Proofreading by IAMTHEPLOKOKIOPO, Ivan Chechnya, and aidan_lo, fvvck.

Link my discord server (https://discord.gg/WmGKVU3XG2)