ATWT Rewrite

I gasped, the reality of the situation crashing down on me.

"Yukari!" I yelled, my voice thick with panic.

I looked around frantically, but there was no sign of her or the man. The world was unfamiliar, distorted by the strange green light, and I felt a rising fear in my chest. Was she here too? Was she safe?

My name is Kiri Tanto. I lived on Earth, and the last thing I remember was my death. I expected to wake up to the sound of medical equipment beeping. A surgeon's voice. Instead, it was the sun. I felt something crawling on my skin—a butterfly. I promptly killed by slamming my hand against my face. I looked at my hand, still lying down, with the corpse of the butterfly on it.

I sat up against a nearby tree and looked at my surroundings. From atop the small mound, I saw cities sprawled sporadically around. In the distance, groups of horses, sheep, and cows grazed. But that wasn't the most unusual thing. There were slimes—yes, slimes—the generic fantasy enemy. They were balls of pure energy with a core in the middle, moving like snails. There were slimes of every color: red, white, blue, silver, black—anything you could imagine. The nearby cities all seemed to have numbers for names: 61, 90, and 348.The closest being 63rd. There was also a giant river, the width of a football field, stretching on and on to my left.

"What's going on?" I mumbled to myself. "Where's my sister?"

I wasn't the only one who seemed confused. There were other groups of people who, like me, had just awakened in this strange world. Scattered like ants across the vast expanse of plains, some of the less fortunate didn't wake up under trees and were being followed by slimes.

I remembered ATWT. All the World Tree. A new server was supposed to release today—May 20, 2035. Was that what the green light was? My alarm for the server had gone off, and moments later, the world was engulfed in that strange, glowing radiance. But what was it really?

One thing was clear: we were definitely on the first floor. I recognized it instantly. The sprawling cities surrounded by forests, the endless fields where countless slimes roamed—slimes I had farmed hundreds of times for armor.

"System," I said aloud, expecting the familiar interface to appear. Nothing.

"Inventory," I tried again.

"Items."

Still nothing. No menus, no prompts—just silence.

Panic started to creep in. Was this the world of the game? Was this the new server? These questions raced through my mind at a speed I couldn't keep up with. Around me, others seemed just as confused, their voices rising in a mix of fear and uncertainty. Everyone wanted answers.

But none were given.

I assumed we were in the game and decided to test my theory. Something simple—magic. That should work, I told myself.

"Create_flame."

A tiny flame sparked to life at the tip of my finger. It flickered and glowed with an intensity that felt real. But as the flame burned brighter, I could feel something draining from me—an invisible force pulling energy from my body. I was feeding the flame with my own mana. It was subtle, but undeniable. 

The sight confirmed it for me. We were in the world of All the World Tree. Whether this was a world modeled after the game or the game had somehow overwritten reality, I couldn't say. But one thing was certain: this wasn't the world I knew anymore.

 I rose from beneath the tree to head toward the nearby city. The 63rd.

The people I saw in the distance stood there, whether out of fear or some other emotion. All I knew was that I needed to get to a city as fast as I could because if I didn't, all the items would be gone. Since this isn't a game where everything respawns, once items are gone, it will be impossible to get more.