JAPAN, KANTO, 6:00 PM
"Konichiwa wonderful citizens of Japan, I'm Regara Yakura with Remiyu Gatini and today is the official release of the Virtual Reality Massive Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game: Sword Art Online!"
"Goodness that sure is a mouthful of words"
"Well it's a mouthful of a game. The designer of the nerve gear, the cardinal system, and the seed; Akihiko Kayaba, says that the game's content can last the regular gamer a rough estimation of two to three years!"
"That's amazing Regara, but what's the nerve gear?"
"It's the new virtual reality headset which makes use of all the person's senses. Unlike early examples of virtual reality headsets like the oculus rift which only made use of someone's sight and hearing, the nerve gear can allow you smell new aromas, taste delicious new foods, feel textural new environments and practically live in a whole new world!"
"Sounds like I better get a copy of this revolutionary system how much is the nerve gear and the game?"
"Well Remiyu, the nerve gear is starting at ¥131052 while the game costs ¥14197, selling at your local Sofmap, Game Hollywood, or Media Land. Unfortunately for us, the game and nerve gear have been selling like crazy, selling just over seven million copies combined from all around the world just as we speak to you."
"Well here's to everyone hoping all the rest of us can snag a copy of Sword Art Online, this is TV Japan, signing off!"
With the game's ten year development, I've had more than enough time to scrape enough money to afford a copy of the game, a nerve gear headset, a monitor, and a computer. Now after all these months, I can finally escape to a whole new-
"Kazuto! Could you help me with the cooking for a bit?" My sister called from downstairs.
"Coming Sis!"
Goodness, I thought Suguha had learnt how to cook chicken korma by now, oh well. "Which step are you up to?" I shout down the stairs to her.
"Well, I don't remember how long to cook the garlic and onions."
"Just...garlic and onion?"
"Yes, how long do I cook them?"
"Goodness me Suguha, you forgot the ginger!" I say, groaning silently as I rush to the pantry to grab some ginger.
"Oh god, do-do I have to start over?"
"No no, just turn down the flames and chop up the ginger."
"Okay then, thank you."
I grab another pan to heat up the ginger, put it on the stove and drizzle some oil in the pan, and turn the flame on under it. "Finished!" Suguha says.
"Good, now how long have you cooked the garlic and onions for?"
"Just about one minute."
"Then put the garlic in the pan and cook it for a minute, then chuck the garlic and onions in that pan. Do you also remember what to do next?"
"No, sorry." She says chucking the ginger in the pan.
"It's all right, I'll go and print off the recipe, also stir the mixture around each minute or so when you put it in." I say running up to my mum's room and printing off a sheet. I go to rush back, but she has left. "Suguha!?" I call out, with no response. I look all around the house, eventually coming across her laying on my bed, with the nerve gear on.
I tap on the nerve gear repeatedly, before she turns the power off and takes it off. "Did you REALLY forget the ginger?"
"I forgot what came after. I just wanted to have the first go! We both paid for this!"
"You paid only fifty two yen!"
"And you would be fifty two yen short had it not been for me."
"Gah, just go and finish dinner!"
"Whatever Kabutops."
As my sis stomps downstairs, I can finally lay down on my bed and start up the game. I slip on the nerve gear, clip up the nerve power straps and shout to the gear: "Link start!"
SIGHT-OK
SOUND-OK
VOICE-OK
TASTE-OK
SMELL-OK
LANGUAGE: JAPANESE
LOGIN-USERNAME:******
PASSWORD:*****
CHARACTER CREATION:
You have character data from the beta test, would you like to load it?
'Kazuto' (M)
YES
Welcome to Sword Art Online!
LEVEL 1 VIOLET TOWN CENTRE, 6:09 PM
Finally I'm back in this world. This beautiful iron castle in the sky. Time to go off and finish this game full on! I run off through the market towards a gate to the plains, but I bump into someone.
"Augh, ow oh god, are you okay?" I say, helping the man up.
"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine, I should have been looking where I was backing up to."
"And I should have not been running, I'm just so hyped about this game and I want to immediately get into the action!"
"Me too, but, I don't know where the gate is. Also, I think I've seen your face somewhe-YEAH I know you! You're one of the beta testers from the SAO mag!"
"Well yeah, but-"
"Since you're already super powered up from the test, could you help me out with this game? I'm kind of a noob. I'm just used to pushing buttons to win."
"Whatever, let's go to the gate."
"Thanks bud, I'm Kline by the way." He says grabbing my hand and shaking it."
"Nice to meet you Kline, I'm Kazuto."
LEVEL 1 SAPPHLOWER PLAINS, 6:16 PM
Kline gets knocked back by an orc boar and fall flat on his butt.
"Ow, why is this thing so tough to beat?" He groans.
"You've already forgotten that you don't win this game by pushing buttons."
"Well then YOU kill the pig!"
"Alright, for low level monsters like these, you'll need to get their attention first." I say throwing a rock at the boar. The boar stumbles for a bit from impact, then turns around and charges at me grunting and howling.
"Then get your weapon out, hold it over your shoulder to charge it up, then RELEASE!" I swing my sword down onto the boar and I shoot forward, slicing through it like butter.
"That...was AWESOME!" Kline shouts jumping on his toes.
"Think you can handle it?"
"Just you wait, I'll mow down these pigs like cutting an American lawn! But...uhhgg, I'm getting hungry, so I'm gonna log out & order a pizza."
"Glad I could help, seeya." I say walking off to Quartower plains, but Kline runs up and pulls on my shirt.
"Hey, where's the log-out button?"
"You just open menu, select options, then it's right..." I say and do, but there's no log-out button.
"It's right...where, Kazuto?"
"It should be at the bottom, but it's probably a bug or something, it's common for stuff like this to happen, we'll just e-mail an admin."
So we do, then we start heading back to town to wait for a response, but we're suddenly warped to the centre, where we can see tons of players, some of which we see also don't have a logout button.
"Is, is this happening to everyone?" Kline asks.
"I don't know Kline, but I really hope this is all a coincidence."
Just then, there appeared a red hexagonal warning sign in the sky, then another, and another, and more and more until the sky shone a crimson red curtain over our eyes. The crowd, along with Kline panicked and tried to leave the area, but the teleport crystals wouldn't work and if we tried to walk out we were teleported back in.
"Remain calm fellow players, this is an important announcement which will not be repeated so please listen up!" Boomed a loud voice from the red sky.
"My name is Akihiko Kayaba, the creator of Sword Art Online. You have all noticed that the log-out button seems to be missing from all of your menus, I assure you that this is not a bug or a glitch, this is a welcome. This is a welcome to a new life inside a world far superior to the pitiful world we used to know. Unfortunately, in order for you to experience my new world, I had to make extreme decisions.
The nerve gear is even more revolutionary than advertised I assure you, because it not only embraces you in a new world, it can keep you in the new world. If any one from the outside world tries to remove your helmet, you will stay in the game because the nerve gear can hold a conscience until the character either dies, or completes the game. You also don't need to worry about your real bodies dying of hunger, because as long as the nerve gear helmet stays on your head and you keep eating in this world, it can send signals to your brain that will give the illusion of consumption of actual food. Of course when you wake up your body will notice the illusions and you will feel extremely hungry.
And to make this whole experience even more real, if your hp reaches 0 in the game, a powerful microwave radiation will fry your brain in the real world. So as said before, the only way to escape from this paradise and get back to the other world, alive, is to defeat the boss on the 100th floor, who will be me.
Enjoy all the 100 floors of wonder in the new world, I hope to see you soon, and enjoy your stay in Aincrad!"
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!