All World-Class Items share one common passive effect.
When a character possesses and equips one, they receive a special buff known as [Protection of the World].
In other words, if the bearer is struck by an effect-based attack of the same World-Class tier, they will be completely unaffected, unless it is purely damage-based.
This is what is known as effect nullification.
However, this nullification only works against effects of the same level of power.
Examples include Wild Magic, which carries the designation of World-Class magic, and the Power of Faith, which can turn the impossible into reality.
Effects from lower levels of power, such as Tier Magic and Super-Tier Magic, can still affect the bearer.
Of course, there are exceptions to every rule.
Even among the roughly two hundred World-Class Items, there are inevitably a few unusual ones.
Setting aside [Protection of the World], some World-Class Items have rather underwhelming effects, to the point that they are not even as useful as Divine-class Items.
Others, however, possess terrifyingly powerful effects capable of easily altering the rules of the game itself.
[Yggdrasil·Leaf]
Just as its name suggests, this World-Class Item possesses an extremely straightforward yet overwhelmingly powerful effect.
It could be described as an unrestricted version of [Protection of the World].
When equipped, the bearer becomes completely immune to any negative effect that could adversely affect them.
Whether it is a curse inflicted by enemy magic, toxic corrosion, or environmental debuffs of any kind, none can affect the bearer in the slightest.
Furthermore, by consuming precious experience points, the item can go one step further and completely reverse those negative effects, turning them into positive ones instead!
Imagine an effect that was supposed to drain HP instead restoring HP. Needless to say, dealing with something like that would be extremely troublesome.
"I can't believe you had this item. If I remember correctly, the last time it appeared was back during the early days of the game."
Holding the emerald-green leaf between two fingers, Naohara and his two companions thought back to an old story surrounding the item.
[Light-Fingered Demon]. It was one of the lowest-tier Demons in the game, with no special abilities to speak of except the ability to steal Players' items.
Yet that single ability alone had caused quite an uproar.
During the early days of the game, there had been an incident that Players talked about for a long time afterward.
A Player had his World-Class Item stolen by a Light-Fingered Demon without even realizing it. By the time he noticed something was wrong, it was already too late.
After receiving a flood of complaints from Players, the game's operators eventually changed the mechanic, weakening the Light-Fingered Demon's ability so that it could only steal items of its own tier.
But the Player who had been robbed never recovered his World-Class Item.
Naohara had even felt sorry for the guy at the time.
According to the Guild [Three Burning Eyes], the World-Class Item that had been stolen was none other than the [Yggdrasil·Leaf] before them.
(P.S.: A World-Class Item really was stolen, but it was never stated which one. This part is just my own guess.)
"Pure luck. Nothing but luck."
"I was just doing my usual material farming on the Abyss map. Then, while I was farming, the thing suddenly dropped straight into my inventory."
The Minotaur Sage let out a low chuckle, giving off the misleading impression that he was a simple, honest fellow.
But beneath that calm exterior, his heart was bleeding!
A World-Class Item. A World-Class Item that had been with him for six hundred years. And now he had simply handed it over.
Then again, after spending centuries hiding from danger and avoiding combat entirely, he had hardly ever used the World-Class Item in the first place.
Effect Two required experience points to activate, and there was no way he would risk losing a level just to use it.
There were consumable items that provided expendable experience points, but those were either incredibly rare or Cash Shop Items.
As a monthly pass holder, the Minotaur Sage had indeed collected some of them in the past so he could make proper use of this World-Class Item.
But once the game entered its later years and Players began leaving in droves, he rarely purchased that sort of thing anymore. Eventually, he barely even logged in.
The one time he had used Effect One, it had failed him.
Enhela's Kuyō Divine Right had directly interfered with the flow of magic inside his body.
Under the game's mechanics, magic disruption counted as a negative effect, yet the [Yggdrasil·Leaf] had failed to make him immune to it.
It was probably similar to that World Boss in the game whose [Corpse Toxin Breath Attack] could poison even Undead with absolute poison resistance.
After all, it was the power of the Kuyō. It was hardly strange that even a World-Class Item could not stop it.
Still, none of that changed how precious a World-Class Item was.
The Minotaur Sage could only console himself with the thought that staying alive came first. He would just have to consider the item the price he paid for his life.
"This item is surprisingly compatible with me."
Momonga suddenly spoke.
Life and death, positive and negative. Both were concepts based on the reversal of opposites.
Compared to the [Wheel of Good and Evil], which represented the concepts of good and evil and was currently being eroded within his body, the [Yggdrasil·Leaf] before him seemed to be an even better match.
"Momonga, are you thinking about changing targets?"
"Then everything we've done so far would have been for nothing."
Herohero's voice tightened slightly, uncertainty creeping into his tone.
The moment they stopped applying the concept of Erosion, the World-Class Item would quickly return to its original state, rendering all three years of effort meaningless.
"I was just saying it. Giving up halfway isn't my style."
Realizing his friend had misunderstood, Momonga waved a hand dismissively.
"For us right now, getting stronger as quickly as possible is what matters most."
The threat of the Kuyō World Devouring Demon weighed heavily on them.
For the first time in a long while, the three felt a genuine sense of urgency. The last time they had experienced anything like it was during their lives as corporate slaves before transmigrating to the New World.
"So, fellow countryman, what are you planning to do next? Maybe become a General of the Sorcerer Kingdom or something?"
After chatting for a while, the three turned their attention back to the Minotaur Sage, with Naohara being the first to ask.
...
A General of the Sorcerer Kingdom?
That sounded like being a glorified workhorse. What a pain.
I was a workhorse before transmigrating, and I'd still be one after transmigrating. Then what was the point of transmigrating at all?
The Minotaur Sage grumbled inwardly.
Still, at least he had managed to keep his life. Since he had benefited from their mercy, obediently handing over the price of his life seemed to have been worth it after all.
"Well, I think I could go back to the academy and continue working as an instructor."
A general was obviously the kind of person expected to charge into battle at the very front.
With his skinny little arms and legs, teaching and educating students suited him far better than fighting.
Looking down at his arms and thighs, each as thick as a barrel, the Minotaur Sage nodded firmly.
"Hmm... I suppose that works."
Naohara thought about it for all of one second before agreeing.
By now, he had more or less figured out what kind of person this guy was.
A textbook coward who valued his life above everything else.
If Naohara had to sum him up in one sentence, it would probably be: [You really do only ever think about yourself~]
As long as no one deliberately went after him, he would remain perfectly obedient and content with the status quo.
He might have plenty of ideas running through his head, but paradoxically, he had no desire to personally change anything. In that sense, his way of thinking was remarkably middle-of-the-road.