Chapter 13 (Extra long chapter since i might not be updating for some time)

Day 15 since Momonga and the rest of Ainz Ooal Gown arrived in this new world.

Currently, Albedo stood amidst the scorching sands of the Dolar Desert, her sharp eyes scanning the barren horizon. Accompanying her were several elite summons, each renowned for their heightened senses—an essential precaution in discovering what was off with this place..

It proved to be a wise decision.

Within hours, the summons picked up faint ripples of power lingering in the atmosphere. Without hesitation, they began to trace the residual energy, following it deeper into the desert with Albedo close behind.

Day 17. After two days of relentless searching, Albedo and her team finally stopped at a seemingly unremarkable spot—an expanse of sand where the air shimmered unnaturally.

This was the predicted location of the tornado's formation. The summons immediately surrounded the area, their senses flaring.

"Something's wrong with the space here," one of them reported. And indeed, the fabric of reality itself felt different from anywhere else. It was like space was layered on top of each other.

"Albedo?" A voice suddenly echoed inside her mind, laced with surprise, as though genuinely caught off guard by her presence.

Albedo instantly froze, her senses snapping to full alert.

"W-Who said that?" she demanded, her eyes scanning the vast desert around her. But no sound came from the open air. After a tense heartbeat, she realized the voice hadn't been spoken aloud.

It had been transferred directly into her mind—a form of mental communication, one that bypassed the physical world entirely.

"It's I, Rex Tempus… and I don't think you should be here," the voice continued, calm but firm. "This dragon might awaken if it senses you and might realize I'm alive."

Albedo's brow furrowed, momentarily confused. The voice was far too casual for the weight of what it was saying.

"But we've got a bit of time to talk," Rex added with a relaxed tone, almost nonchalant. "He won't be up and moving for another five months or so. Still, I'd rather not take any chances."

It was unnerving how composed he sounded—especially considering he was, by all accounts, he was inside the stomach of an island-sized dragon..

"We were sent by Lord Momonga to locate your whereabouts…" Albedo said, falling to her knees with reverence.

"Why are you even kneeling?" Rex's voice cut in sharply, laced with irritation. "Stand up. I don't care for that kind of nonsense."

Albedo blinked in surprise, visibly stunned by the command. Slowly, she rose to her feet, though her expression remained uncertain, caught between obedience and confusion.

"May I know more about the dragon you spoke of?" she asked quickly, her voice more composed. "And… are you alright, Lord Rex?"

"Oh, this old thing?" Rex said casually. "That's the Dragon Lord—the one responsible for us being dragged into this new world."

His tone was so light it almost clashed with the weight of his words.

"Anyway, leave. Go back to Nazarick. Just in case I die here, I left behind a stack of papers—everything I've learned over the past 200 years." There was a brief pause. "It's in the Re-Estize Kingdom. I was passing through a small village there… I forgot the name. Corn Village? No, that doesn't sound right."

"Carne Village?" Albedo offered uncertainty.

"That's it," Rex said, snapping his fingers as if he'd finally recalled it. "I had the papers sealed away in a forest near Carne Village. There was some kind of powerful rat-like creature living there, so I figured the forest wouldn't vanish anytime soon. Thought it'd last long enough for me to return eventually."

His tone shifted slightly—more serious now. "Tell Momonga to retrieve it. I set the password to access the information to something only he would know."

Albedo nodded deeply, her respect clear in her posture.

"I can't speak any longer," Rex continued. "Sending my voice across dimensions like this is harder than it sounds. If I keep going, the dragon might awaken."

His voice dropped into something almost grave.

"Return in three months. If I don't respond, it means I need more time than I expected. If that happens, Nazarick must go into hiding. This dragon's goal is to devour everyone who came from our world to regain power."

With that, the connection was severed, leaving Albedo standing alone, the heat of the desert swirling around her, and the weight of Rex's warning echoing in her mind.

Wasting no time, Albedo teleported back to Nazarick and immediately reported everything to Ainz. Upon hearing Rex's message, Ainz personally made his way to the forest near Carne Village.

He found it strangely amusing—the very first village he had encountered upon arriving in this world now happened to be the same place where Rex had hidden something for him.

Finding the treasure's location wasn't difficult. Ainz dispatched a wave of undead to scour the forest, and before long, they led him to a deep pit, expertly concealed by several layers of magic.

Most of the spells were child's play—Ainz unraveled them with ease. However, the final seal was different. It pulsed with a failsafe enchantment that would instantly destroy everything hidden within if tampered with carelessly.

"The name of the World-Class Item Ainz Ooal Gown managed to create…" Ainz muttered with a dry chuckle. "Rex was always so careless with his passwords."

Still, there was a hint of fondness in his voice. Rex never bothered with elaborate riddles or complicated codes—he preferred simple answers, but ones that only a true member of Ainz Ooal Gown would know.

Ainz's thoughts drifted back to the past—back to the game.

Their guild had once suffered a major loss. They had secured a mine rich in rare, highly valuable ores. It had been a tremendous discovery, one that allowed them to craft powerful equipment… and, as they later discovered, if enough of those ores were gathered, they could form the legendary Caloric Stone—a World-Class Item.

It was an overpowered World-Class Item, one that allowed the user to make a single request to the game developers—be it for materials to craft weapons, armor, or even golems. The item was consumable and could only be used once, making it an incredibly rare and coveted treasure.

When they lost control of the mine, it was a devastating blow. At the time, Rex had been preparing to forge his own World-Class Item—something tailored to his unique build. But that plan was torn apart when another guild used a World-Class Item to banish Ainz Ooal Gown from the mine.

Rex was furious. In a fit of rage, he personally led the counterattack. What followed was nothing short of annihilation. Rex spearheaded an assault that wiped the guild off the map. They respawned, only to be slaughtered again and again. It became a brutal cycle—one that continued until the enemy guild members gave up and stopped logging in.

Only then did Rex return to Nazarick, bringing with him the very same World-Class Item that had been used to exile them. It was a moment etched into Ainz's memory.

"Caloric Stone," Ainz said, and with that single phrase, the final barrier shattered. A soft hum echoed through the air as a stack of papers rose from the hidden pit, floating gently before him. Ainz reached out and took hold of them, his eyes lights, narrowing in surprise at the sheer number—thousands of pages, each carefully preserved.

Though overwhelmed, he didn't hesitate. He returned to Nazarick, the weight of the knowledge heavy in his grasp.

And so, Ainz began to read—page after page, diving into everything Rex had uncovered about this strange new world. From the intricacies of Runesmithing to the nature of Talents and the depth of Wild Magic, every subject was documented in stunning, exhaustive detail. It was the kind of research that would have taken lifetimes.

If Ainz still had the ability to sleep, he was certain he would have dozed off countless times from the sheer density of information alone.

There was also a meticulously detailed list of the power structures within this world—records of legendary figures and ancient forces. Among them stood beings like the Heavenly Dragon, whose strength was said to rival that of a World Enemy, and many others of similar, overwhelming might. At the top of the hierarchy loomed the Primordial Dragon, a creature that birthed those titans.

It took Ainz an entire week to work through the dense archive Rex had compiled. But once finished, he fully grasped the terrifying reality—the gap between Nazarick and this world's true powers was far wider than he had imagined.

Beings like the Dragon Emperor and the Heavenly Dragon were going to be formidable obstacles, especially with their command over Wild Magic, which operated beyond the rules Ainz was accustomed to.

Still, Ainz Ooal Gown was not without options. With the sheer number of World-Class Items in their possession, he could outfit Nazarick's strongest NPCs with enough power to stand toe-to-toe with even the most ancient beings of this world..

By the way, World Class items nullified wild magic, and the other way around…

2 days before Albedo discovered Rex, he remained trapped—only a head, his body long gone—watching the Primordial Dragon Lord slowly mend its colossal form. After nearly a year of relentless regeneration, the dragon's HP had finally returned to full. Now, at any moment, it could awaken. Rex estimated he had about three minutes to a few months left before that happened.

"Well, you really have ended up just a helpless head." From deep within the strange dimension Rex was confined to, a massive silhouette emerged—a towering Silver Dragon, its armored scales gleaming like polished steel. Each step it took echoed with restrained might, its presence alone enough to weigh down the space around it.

"Yeah… I'm guessing you're the Dragon Emperor?" Rex asked, his expression shifting, eyes narrowing with a mix of irritation and curiosity.

"That I am," the Dragon Emperor replied with a sharp grin. But it didn't waste another moment—time was short, and at any second, its father could awaken.

In the blink of an eye, the silver-scaled titan appeared before Rex. Without hesitation, it reached down, lifted his severed head with a clawed hand, and—as if Rex were nothing more than prey—devoured him whole.

The Dragon Emperor had no time to convert Rex into power—his father could awaken at any moment. So, without delay, he turned toward the towering form and opened his mouth wide. A torrent of primordial magic, the very essence his father wielded, began to swirl and funnel into him.

For over twenty years, he had silently observed the battle between his weakened father and the relentless human. Despite all their power, neither side had been able to land a finishing blow. The fight dragged on until both collapsed—yet while the Primordial Dragon Lord slowly recovered with each passing year, Rex had made no effort to heal. He simply remained still, a severed head refusing to give up but being unable to do anything to regain strength.

The Dragon Emperor could have acted at any time, but Rex scared him. As the strongest player, Rex was capable of pulling off the impossible, and the Dragon Emperor was certain he still had hidden cards to play. Yet for the past few years, Rex had done nothing, just watched silently as death approached. And so, the Dragon Emperor waited, unsure if it was all just a trap.

As for the Primordial Dragon Lord, he had been in a semi-awakened state ever since the Dragon Emperor convinced him to leave this world for a time, suggesting he explore beyond if boredom plagued him so much. But the Dragon Lord's curiosity proved dangerous. He reached out with his primordial magic, searching the void for something—anything—that might pique his interest. What he hadn't expected was for something else to latch onto his magic. And when he pulled his power back into their world… he unknowingly dragged that something along with it.

The first player had appeared 700 years ago, in front of the two. Back then, the Dragon Emperor had been quick to move, eager to slay the newcomer and claim the strange, valuable gear the human carried. To him, it seemed simple—just another fragile mortal.

But this was no ordinary human. This was a player, and he entered the world wielding magic the Dragon Emperor had never encountered. Spells like Reality Slash, which bypassed durability entirely, and other overwhelming abilities that shattered the conventional rules of combat. Although the Dragon Emperor was stronger in raw power, he was unprepared for those strange techniques. He lost.

He wasn't as powerful as he was today. At the time, he was nowhere near world enemy level—perhaps equal to facing five level 100 players at once—but against that player, it hadn't been enough.

The only reason he had been losing to a single level 100 player was because that player possessed a world-class item, which completely nullified his wild magic. Forced to rely solely on his physical capabilities, the Dragon Emperor quickly found himself at a disadvantage. By the time he realized just how outmatched he was, the damage had already been done. He had suffered greatly under the unrelenting onslaught of the player's strange and overpowered abilities.

He would have died that day had the Primordial Dragon Lord not intervened. His father used the same primordial magic that had drawn the player into this world to forcibly send him away. Whether that player was returned to his original world or cast into another remained a mystery.

Before the Primordial Dragon could fully awaken, the Dragon Emperor retrieved a scale he had preserved—one taken from his father at the height of his power. Without hesitation, he drove the scale deep into the Primordial Dragon's chest. A sharp cry of pain echoed through the dimension as his father's eyes snapped open in confusion and agony.

From the embedded scale, an overwhelming surge of power burst forth, paralyzing the Primordial Dragon just as he was preparing to channel his magic. His colossal body trembled as the energy within him was forcefully disrupted, rendering him numb and unable to resist.

"W-what are you doing?" the Primordial Dragon gasped, disbelief lacing his voice. This was the son who had shielded him, the one who helped create this isolated dimension for his recovery. This was his most beloved son… he could not fathom the betrayal.

But the Dragon Emperor said nothing. His expression was unreadable as he began siphoning every last drop of his father's power, ignoring the pain and shock in his father's voice. 

Afterward, he began to devour his own father alive. The Primordial Dragon couldn't truly die—as long as magic existed in the world, his essence would endure. He was a being tied to the very fabric of magic itself. The only way to truly end him was to replace him, to take his place and ascend as the new Primordial Dragon. And as his son, the Dragon Emperor possessed that right.

It would be a long and slow process, one that demanded patience and strength beyond reason. But the Dragon Emperor didn't care. Time was meaningless to him—he had waited centuries for this moment, and he would wait centuries more if that's what it took.

And so, after consuming the body of his father, he entered a deep, death-like sleep, beginning the long transformation. The journey to becoming the next Primordial Dragon Lord had begun.

Inside the Primordial Dragon, Rex had already regrown all of his limbs. He now sat focused, studying the strands of primordial magic—fragments he had secretly taken while the Dragon Emperor was busy stealing power from his father.

Of course, Rex had known all along that the Dragon Emperor had been watching their battle. But that changed little. From the very start of the fight, the Primordial Dragon had stripped Rex of all his gear using his magic, leaving him to fight completely bare. 

Rex had relied on [Apex Singularity] to defend himself the moment he arrived in this dimension, using it to shield his body from the devastating spells meant to break him down into raw energy—energy intended to be consumed by the Primordial Dragon. He was forced to do this since he was faced with a new form of magic.

That single moment had resulted in [Apex Singularity] being sealed away by the Primordial Dragon Lord—something that genuinely shocked Rex. In all his time playing, only Final World Bosses had ever possessed the ability to seal away job classes. If Rex had known the dragon was capable of such a feat, he never would've revealed [Apex Singularity] in the first place.

Still, even without his most overpowered class, Rex had managed to fight the dragon to a standstill. Once the battle ended and the dragon slipped into hibernation, the seal was lifted, allowing him access to [Apex Singularity] once again. But Rex didn't run or flee—he remained, waiting for the Dragon Emperor to make his move.

And now, he was given the chance to take his time to study and understand just what primordial magic was. This was a form of magic beyond the likes of wild magic and tier magic. This was the most complex form of magic he had ever seen, which seemed to be the fusion of both tier magic and wild magic. 

Rex wanted two main things. One, he wanted to become the new primordial being... why would he not want that? And secondly, he wanted to use this chance to see if he can see the secerts behind the magic that turned game avatars and NPC into real life characters.

Rex wasn't foolish; the only reason he was able to do what he did was thanks to the fact that this dragon was in a weakened state. With [Apex Singularity] being sealed, it had caused both Vector Monarch and Limitless to also be sealed. But Rex had other job classes, such as World Champion, and the newly gained Job Class, Champion of the 9 Realms. A Job Class he couldn't get back in the game, but he was able to learn in this new world.

To say that Rex wasn't even at 1% of his true power would be an understatement. But he won... because good guys like himself always win.