It's November sixth, 2022, just over a month after the beta-tests for Sword Art Online ended. Also, today is the day the SAO servers will go back on again. No one has waited as long as I, Kazuto, for this day. I was one of those beta testers, and although I only made it to floor eight a month ago, I think I can be the first person to get to the hundredth floor and beat the final boss. Plus, the best player only got to floor ten so I think I'm set.
"Kazuto, you want lunch?" my sister, Suguha, questioned from down stairs.
I replied, "Ya, I'll be down in a second." I checked the clock, 11:47. I figured I have plenty of time to have a meal before the SAO servers go on at 1:00, so I rushed downstairs asking Suguha what she had in mind for dinner.
"Are you four? I bet you could have made a herd of elephants deaf." I blushed and sat in my seat while she continued; "Anyway, do you want a sandwich?"
"Sure, that sounds good. I'll be diving later today, so you don't have to think about me while you're at kendo, I'll be right here." I grinned.
"I don't think of you all the time!" she yelled while throwing a slice of bread that hit me in the face. We both laughed a bit and ate quietly. Suguha is my cousin, although we were adopted siblings and we grew up like we were brother and sister. She loves to make our grandfather proud and play competitive kendo; however I can't wait until I can dive into Sword Art Online and destroy everything with my sword. I was surprised when I found out she didn't really want to try SAO, but with people camped out in lines for days, I can't say I blame her. SAO is the first VRMMORPG, or Virtual Reality Massive Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game, that utilizes the NerveGear's ability to connect to the human mind and create the great sensation of actually being inside the game. Kayaba Akihiko founded the NerveGear, then after dozens of games, SAO finally uses all of the NerveGear's potential and create the best game in modern history. "So, Kazuto, are you done eating? I need to get ready to go."
"Wait, what? What time is it?" I questioned worriedly.
"It's 12:38, why?" Without saying a word, I fleeted up the stairs with some more loud stomps. I thought I could hear my sister sigh, but I ignored it, turned on the news, and picked up my magazine.
"Was this the day of last week's launch?" the news women started, "What were all of these people in line for? End of the line! Sword Art Online! The people at the front of the line waited for three days prior to the launch, it's amazing, or is this just what any real gamer would do? On today's MMO Stream, we'll be covering the internationally famous Sword Art Online, AKA, SAO! To be honest, none of the NerveGear software released so far has really taken advantage of the hardware." I looked at my thumb as I started to see a bead of blood trickle out of a paper cut. I merely blinked and kept reading my magazine to the sound of the stream. "But SAO was made by the NerveGear inventor, Kayaba Akihiko, and its long awaited VRMMORPG. I can't wait!" I looked back as I heard my sister say she was off to practice, and then I set my book down and kept watching. "The beta testers all said it was incredible! I wanted a copy, but only ten thousand copies were sold in its first printing. It sold out online in seconds, and as you saw, hardcore fans bought out all th-"I turned off the computer and light as I lied into bed. I looked over seeing the clock blink 12:56.
I grabbed my NerveGear headset and put it over my head. In the top left corner I saw it blink 12:59. I thought to myself my clock must have been slow. The blinking light showed 13:00. I smiled and stated aloud with anticipation, "Link start!"
Bright lights of all colors whizzed past my vision. I quickly calibrated the NerveGear with the same gestures in the beta test. I choose my language almost immediately. Logged in as fast as I could, and when given the option, selected the character I used in beta, Kirito. I saw the message; "Welcome to Sword Art Online." Beams of blue and gray engulfed my like before, and I opened my eyes in the world of SAO. Blackness. I tried to open my eyes again, but they were open. I looked around in the dark, surprised to see a little girl. She only looked about eight, and she was staring at me in question. She mumbled, "Who are you?"
I didn't remember this from the beta test, and she didn't have a color cursor to tell what she was. I looked around and asked, "Where are we? This wasn't in the beta test."
She looked puzzled. She was still thinking deeply while she trailed off into saying, "I'm Yui." While she was thinking, I looked around then, I saw a picture pop up out of nowhere. It wasn't very surprising, because in a virtual reality, anything can happen. I got up, Yui still thinking about what is going on, and saw the picture was of town, the town of beginnings. I recognized it from the beta tests; however I started to wonder why I wasn't there. Yui exclaimed, "I understand now," making me jump and look back at her. "You were one of the beta testers, Kirito, if I'm correct, so when you logged on to Sword Art Online, you must have switched the new one you preordered and the outdated version you had. When you logged on, the Cardinal system didn't recognize you, however because you had the capability of learning, it sent you here, with me, the only AI in SAO." I still can't believe how she knew my name, but just as I was about to open my mouth, she tells me that she is an AI, artificial intelligence, designed to prevent people from going insane in SAO. "I have game master commands; however, if I use them, I might get deleted from the SAO database by the Cardinal system. It corrects any problems that might arise within the game through a series of algorithms."
After a couple minutes, I open the menu, but, the menu won't open. "Yui, why can't I open," after thinking about what Yui told me before, "you help prevent people from going insane? Why would that be an issue in SAO?"
Yui seems to realize how little Kirito seems to know about Sword Art Online, and how no other player knows more about this world than him. "Kirito, SAO was designed as a game where you can't log out. But, also, it is a death game; the NerveGear will kill you if you die."