is a Japanese light novel series written by Ceez and illustrated by Tenmaso. It was serialized online between November 2010 and December 2012 on the user-generated novel publishing website Shōsetsuka ni Narō. It was later acquired by Enterbrain, who have published eight volumes since January 2019 under their Famitsu Bunko imprint.
A manga adaptation with art by Dashio Tsukimi and composition by Ryō Suzukaze has been serialized online via ASCII Media Works' Dengeki PlayStation Comic Web website since July 2019 and has been collected in seven volumes. Both the light novel and manga are licensed in North America by Yen Press. An anime television series adaptation by Maho Film aired from January to March 2022.
Plot summary In Japan, a VR-accessed multi-player online fantasy role-playing game (VRMMORPG) named Leadale, which offers a very liberal customization system, has become immensely popular in recent years. A young girl named Keina Kagami, rendered permanently paralyzed and on constant life support, uses this game from her hospital bed to interact with the rest of the world. When she unexpectedly dies after her life support shuts down during a power outage, she finds herself transported into the game world of Leadale, in the body of her personal avatar Cayna. To her surprise, she also finds out that 200 years have passed in Leadale since she last logged into the game, a period in which the seven kingdoms she knew were devastated by war and re-organized into three new kingdoms: Felskeilo, Helshper and Otaloquess.
As Cayna begins making her way in this new world and meeting the three NPC children she had created in the game, she finds out that her death sparked rumors that ruined Leadale's reputation and caused the game to be shut down. However, several other players also ended up trapped inside the game as well, some of them for years. The current kingdoms are also increasingly plagued by attacks from high-level monsters, all stemming from Leadale's abrupt cancellation, which made them go rogue inside this world. What's more, after she re-encounters her former in-game mentor, Opus, she learns that Leadale was specifically created to help her out of her isolation following her accident, but was commercialized afterwards. The game had, however, an unfortunate bug which displaced the minds of several players into the virtual Leadale world. After Keina's death, Opus synchronized the game system with her new elven soul, essentially making it into a real living world.
However, the cancellation of Leadale also meant that it was necessary to restrain the game's ultimate challenge elements, the Event Monsters, which have taken a life of their own. They were sealed inside the ruins of the former Brown Kingdom's capital, now known as the Abandoned Capital, but the barrier has begun to fray. Soon, all the players stuck inside the game must unite to stem a tide of unprecedented proportions which threatens to lay waste to the world of Leadale.
Characters Players and Skill Masters /
Originally the 17-year-old daughter from a wealthy Japanese family, Keina was rendered a permanent hospital patient on life support for several years by a terrible accident in which her parents were killed. When her life support fails in the midst of a game session, Keina dies, but her mind is uploaded into the world of Leadale as her RPG avatar Cayna, a powerful Black Kingdom high elf mage (in-game level 1,100). In Leadale, she specializes in magic, and as an elf, she can also communicate with plants, which makes harvesting plant materials in her presence an unsettling undertaking for her.In the game, Cayna is a member of the Cream Cheese guild, which consist of Limit Breakers and some of the more eccentric players. She had also attained the extremely rare title of being one of twenty-four Limit Breakers and the third of thirteen Skill Masters, who act as assistant game administrators and are capable of bestowing other player characters with free skills at will. When demands for these services kept mounting, Cayna was forced into seclusion, and the subsequent creation of several Guardian Towers to make those players actually earn these skills was initiated. After meeting Opus in Leadale again, she is shocked to discover that for some reason, Opus bonded her soul to the game's matrix after her death, essentially making her the game's living central processor and heartpiece. The assimilation took two centuries to complete, at the end of which time Opus arranged for her reawakening in Marelle's inn.Cayna is infamously known under the bynames and Ferocious Firepower, from the trademark power-boosting magical item she received upon becoming a Skill Master. / / Leadale's thirteenth Skill Master and a Black Kingdom demon avatar (level 1,100) of a player ostensibly installed by Leadale's administrative company to observe the game and report any bugs or malfunctions. His accumulated knowledge of the game's and its players' procedures has made him a master strategist, earning him the nickname "Leadale's Kongming". Like Cayna, he was a member of Cream Cheese and also served as Keina's mentor when she had first entered the game. Crescent Moon Castle, his Guardian Tower in the kingdom of Helshper, is a reflection of his penchant for sadism, as it is riddled with all kinds of deadly traps; hence it is known as the House of Murder and Malice.It is only much later, after Cayna meets Opus in Leadale again, that she learns that Opus is actually one of the Leadale game's original creators and administrators named Rin Kuzuhara, who once visited Keina at the hospital to introduce her to the game. He was also responsible for the restructuring of the lands of Leadale into three new kingdoms and the exile of the Event Monsters into the Abandoned Capital after the game ended its service. Some time after their reunion, he raises Cayna's level to 1,109 and gives her a set of new special abilities.
A sliver dragoid player avatar (level 427), current leader of the Felskeilo Knights, and former subleader of the Silver Moon Horsemen Guild.
A male human adventurer player avatar (level 392) and a former guildmate of Shining Saber. His user has been trapped inside his avatar for ten years in Leadale, making him reach his early thirties.
A female human adventurer player avatar (level 430) for a male user, who apparently used a "hack" on the game system in order to play as a female. A relatively new player, she met up with Exis by chance after the game service ended. Her true gender is revealed by her frequent lapses into masculine speech; in the anime series, it is additionally emphasized by the use of a male voice actor.
A dragoid adventurer player avatar (level 630) whose name is a shortening of Xxxxxxxxxxxx. Exis was a secondary character used by the player Tartarus (nicknamed "Tartar Sauce" by Cayna, and "Tartaroast" by Opus), who is also a member of the Cream Cheese Guild.
A Leadale player with a demon avatar. After getting stranded in Leadale and being convinced this was still "just a game", he became a bandit leader and started wreaking havoc in Helshper to level up. Easily defeated by Cayna, but proving virtually unkillable by execution because of the game's health point system, he was instead sentenced to hard labor in a mine. After spending some time under forced labor, Caerina (Cayna's granddaughter and captain of the Helsheper knights) takes him in as a recruit for Helspher's army.
Leadale's first Skill Master, whose avatar was a werecat. She has a compulsion to collect information and compile it into statistics, and she thrives on tests to her intellect. Her Guardian Tower is one of the few ones with no fixed location; it is instead located in the innards of a huge whale, and its interior decorations were originally meant to emulate a setting from Pinocchio, her favorite childhood story. Liothek Leadale's sixth Skill Master, a female player who has an extreme passion for creepy things and pets, like amphibians, mollusks and crustaceans. Her Guardian Tower, the Palace of the Dragon King, is located underwater near the Felskeilo coastline, near Luka's former home village. Kyotaro Leadale's ninth Skill Master who used a dragoid as his game avatar, and the master of the Silver Moon Horsemen Guild. His Guardian Tower is located on the site on which the Felskeilo capitol arena is erected during the 200-year span between Keina's last login and her rebirth. Kujo Leadale's second Skill Master. His mobile Guardian Tower, which is located on the back of a titanic turtle, is a TV station guarded by a living Buddha statue who challenges intruders to a hundred-questions quiz about the game. Hidden Ogre ("Gramps") Leadale's twelfth Skill Master (level 800), with a dwarf avatar. On Earth, he was a retiree who now regrets that he spent too much time with the game after his wife died. To alleviate his loneliness, he used the Foster System to adopt 108 little sisters. He was also trapped in Leadale when the game was taken offline, and has regularly sought out Kujo's Guardian Tower to try and solve its quiz. His Guardian Tower is a traditional Japanese mansion floating in the sky. Jaeger A player (level 800) who uses a huge, muscular human as his avatar. He is the former leader of the Silver Watches, a guild based in the former Red Kingdom. He is both a close friend and a rival of Opus (who he habitually calls "Heimer"), with whom he had alternatively clashed and cooperated during the game era. After getting stranded in Leadale, he opened a curio shop and got married. Ark A female Leadale player (level 230) who was introduced to the game by her younger brother Exis/Tartarus and has since become a member of Felskelio's Imperial Knight corps after getting trapped in Leadale. Like Cayna, she has ended up nicknaming her brother's original avatar "Tartar Sauce".
Summons and Familiars
An AI support unit created by Keina's uncleLight Novel Vol.1, p24 to assist her after she was permanently paralyzed. After her rebirth in Leadale, Cayna is still able to access it (consequently, only she can perceive and interact with Key, although later Opus is later found to have that ability as well), and it serves as her advisor and protector. / A game character appearing as a type of familiar, this tiny, green-haired fairy was bequeathed to Cayna by Opus when she sought his Guardian Tower out. Because of her nature, initially only Cayna and the other players stuck in Leadale can see her. After Opus prompts her, Cayna eventually names the fairy "Kuu" (as a counterpart to Kee), thus giving her a material form. It is later revealed that Kuu is a manifestation of the Leadale game's subsystem installed into Cayna.
A werecat pair of butler and maid (both level 550), and originally NPCs summoned by Cayna's magic while playing the game on Earth; Roxilius was created by Cayna, but Opus added Roxine as a gesture of his twisted humor. Upon first summoning Roxilius some time after her rebirth in Leadale, Cayna discovered that Roxilius inexplicably did not disappear after his summoning duration had expired, so she also summoned Roxine to have them both take over the daily chores in her newly founded household. While Roxilius is well-behaved and polite, Roxine is confrontational, arrogant and sharp-tongued, especially against Roxilius. This rivalry habitually results in bitter duels between the two, which Cayna must break up on an all-too regular basis. Their names are a reference to the number 64 (六十四, rokujūshi), which stands for Keina's birthday on June 4.Light Novel Vol.4, Character Data: "Roxine".
A centaur warrior (level 250) who is occasionally summoned by Cayna as an auxiliary. Siren