Compendium

This chapter serves as an overview of the world as well as concepts and terms associated with the story. Information here are also revealed in the story and may or may not be updated so there might be some minor spoilers.

If there's anything in the story you'll like for me to explain better, just comment and I'll address it.

★ SETTING

The location is the human realm Midgard and the year is 2008 on the Gate Calendar, 2008 years after gates to other worlds were discovered and 5000 years after the great war that led to the creation of the world tree yggdrasil.

The start of the gate calendar not just marks the discovery of gate worlds but also the beginning of the research and mastery of ygg. Following the industrial revolution, artifacts from gate worlds and ygg became a driving force in Midgard technology, thereby prompting the need for hunters.

While it might be the modern age of hunters in Midgard, there are several gate worlds which are either far ahead or behind in terms of advancement, the possibilities are endless and await exploration.

★ HISTORY

5000 years ago, the Overlord, Ymir van Grace and his immortal army battled against Asgard and other races with the aim of dominion over the nine realms, but ultimately lost.

Following Ymir's defeat, he was used to revive the tree of yggdrasil and it's new power used to seal the rest of his army. However, his queen, Irene left a certain unfinished project behind, known as the Overlord system.

Following the ideals of Ymir and Irene and their desire for the final war, Ragnarok, the organization Ragnarok was formed to achieve that goal.

★ TERMS

•YGG : The essential life energy in all things which, put simply, are fragments of yggdrasil, connecting nature, worlds, realms and all living things in a giant web of life

•GATES : Portals that connect The human realm to other worlds full of wonder and mystery. There are two kinds of gates— Natural gates which spawn randomly, revealing a new, unexplored world at the other end of it and Artificial gates, created by humans for easy transportation between already explored/registered worlds.

•GATE WORLDS : These are unidentified "isekai" worlds that exist at the other end of natural gates. Gate worlds are filled with treasure, information and minerals that aren't native to Midgard as well as monsters, beasts or Demi-humans who call that place their home.

The three kinds of lifeforms aside from plants and microbes that can be found in gate worlds are:

–Monsters: humanoid behemoths with no sentience, usually appearing as obstacles to kill reckless hunters. Examples are orcs, goblins or stone sentries

–Beasts: Monsters resembling animals (primarily distinguished by the fact they don't walk on two legs), also without sentience. Examples are Shadowwolves, Dragons or Great White Serpents

Monsters and beasts are divided into tiers depending on their threat level—20–21 are reserved for weak, harmless beasts like slimes and rabbits. 19 for small beasts with powerful features to defend from predators. An example is the poison porcupine. 16-18 are for mid sized, powerful beasts and monsters like silverwolf packs and twin headed ceberus, 13-15 are high tier capable of wiping out countries and 10-12 are boss monsters and beasts. Then there's 0-9, for disaster class beasts and monsters capable of wiping out entire worlds.

–Demi-humans: Aside from characteristic features that signify their race, they are indistinguishable from humans. They are sentient and can control their ygg like humans. However, they don't need to link with monsters or beasts for power since they already have innate abilities unique to their race. Examples are onis(only distinguishing feature being their horn at the center of the head), cat girls(cat ears and tail), etc.

Once a gate world has been explored and conquered, a control flag is placed at the core, assuming control of the world for the owners of that flag(mostly the government) after which they can do what they want with it, such as control the gate access to prevent Intruders

Desolate Worlds: Desolate worlds refer to captured gate worlds whose core goes out of control, changing the climate and spawning new monsters and beasts— It's a rare phenomenon and it's cause could only still be speculated, but the threat level of such worlds increase significantly from it's original threat level.

•YGG CONTROL : All humans possess ygg and train to master it at young ages. Ygg control grants the user heightened physical abilities and allow them use of basic skills using their aura. However, after training for a while, they can link their ygg with a beast of monster and inherit their powers. Depending on the results of linking, everyone is placed in one of three categories

–Warriors: People who assimilate the beast's essence, granting them phenomenal physical abilities(far greater than that of ygg control) as well as close quarters skills. With martial arts training and technique, complementing their skill category, some become insanely strong close-mid range fighters

–Mages : These people contract beasts as familiars, using them as catalysts to perform spells— it could be a skill unique to that beast, one created by another mage which they learnt or an original spell they created

—Beast Tamers : As the name implies, they link their ygg with beasts allowing them to connect with them on an emotional level and forge a relationship/partnership. Tamed beasts can be used in battle or for other things.

Ofcourse, depending on talent and training, some people might belong to two or even three categories

•LINKING: The act of connecting your ygg to that of another lifeform

•HUNTERS : While there are several jobs involving ygg control in Midgard, the most popular and one of the most lucrative is the job of hunter— government workers licensed to explore gate worlds who also double as the government's military and security force both on and off Midgard. Because gate worlds contain several valuable materials, hunters make a lot of money from turning in their findings to the government.

Hunters are divided into ranks to determine the threat level of worlds they are allowed to explore

•Rookie: 5,4,3,2,1

•Expert : 5,4,3,2,1

•Specialist: 5,4,3,2,1

•Slayer : 5,4,3,2,1

•Master : 5,4,3,2,1

•Grandmaster : 5,4,3,2,1

•Saint : 5,4,3,2,1

•King : 5,4,3,2,1

•Paladin

The lowest rank is Rookie 5 and highest Paladin.

While these are official ranks, people also use it to determine just how strong they are in terms of power, so you also have non-hunters strengths bring unofficially estimated with these ranks as a benchmark