Sword Art Online Lost Arcs
1. Sword Art Online : Unsung Hero Chapter 1
An impossibly huge castle of rock and iron, floating in an endless expanse of sky. That was the floating castle Aincard. That was the stage in where Sword Art Online was to take place, a project ten years in the making finally coming to an end. The world itself held great meaning to me and so many other but mostly to Kayaba who probably spent more time working on it himself then an other developer in this building. The excitement knowing it was less then a day away now was almost unbearable, especially ever more so considering the mass amount of information and secrets that the developers had access to. It was almost to good to be true, a virtual world where you could run and fight to your heart content. No hand held input device, no TV screen with limited view, just you inside a game and your blade to fight with. It was already late and the sun was departing for the day and I was desperate to finish the last report on mob spawn algorithms that would be presented and taken into next weeks developer meeting to make some fine tuning to the game. It hard to write about something you want to be doing, almost like torture to yourself if you ask me. Izumi must have noticed my trouble focusing on the task at hand, leaning over to my workstation he said "Having trouble there?" "You don't even know, I can't stop thinking about SAO" "I know how you feel even as a developer I can't wait to see all of Aincard as a player." Fukashi Izumi was a co worker and an old friend, he had been on the SAO development team longer then I have, he was the first person I worked with after starting to work in the Argus HQ two years ago. He was the only co worker who I talked to on a daily basis, we've spent countless hours running around in SAO preparing it for today, in game he was a skilled tank but with the power to set your skill level to whatever you wanted it to be on most floors and having access to system aid abilities it was impossible not to be a good play. "Are you gonna get a chance to log in tomorrow Fukashi?" "Eh, if I can get all these reports done by then" he said pointing to a tower of papers. "Ah, i'll pray for you then" I said jokingly. "But seriously whats the deal with Kayaba sensei giving use all this paperwork last minute?" "Im sure he just wants to make sure everything goes according to plan, I mean the Cardinal System isn't exactly an easy thing to monitor" The Cardinal System, SAO's backbone, true that without this system SAO would have never been possible to run on this big of a scale, let alone a VRMMO the first of its kind. The Cardinal System was what would essential keep SAO alive capable of monitoring and taking care of SAO alone if so needed but to get it running was "a pain" and thats being generous. In reality the Cardinal System was the reason SAO took ten years to develop, small changes anywhere in the Cardinal System would cause major errors and fixing those errors would only make matters worse if lucky, if not the system could just shut down. Kayaba though never gave up and almost singlehandedly developed it on his own. He was truly a mastermind, the Nervegear presented almost as many problems but in comparison to the Cardinal it might as well be considered a small bump in development. Truly the Cardinal System was something else on its own something I am proud to say I had a part in making. "Well im all done for today" I stated stretching my arms out "Already?!" "Yup, see you tomorrow in SAO" I teased reaching for my bag "Wait, wait help me with my stuff please!" wailed Izumi as I walked towards the room "I'll send you a screenshot of the opening day if you don't make it" "That just cruel!" I heard him say as I left the room short afterwards I heard the sliding door close and a barely audible ping coming from the electronic lock.
Finally, time to go home I told myself. The hallway was long and quiet it was late so many of the developers had already gone home but there was a unfortunate few who worked night shifts, how they managed to take a night shift with SAO coming out tomorrow was beyond my understanding. The hallway was a bright white with light in the corner guiding its visitors, in comparison to the barely lit room I was just in this was just hell to my eye, it was almost as if I was looking directly into the sun itself. "Going home so soon GameBreaker?" "Huh, oh yeah I finished up with all my work so im off now" "Oh come on don't you want to stay and try another practice match before the game goes live?" "As tempting as that is I'll pass" The man I was talking to was a well know graphic designer here in Argus HQ, I admit he caught me off guard since room doors arent usually left open but there was an option to do so on the lock "Well take care GameBreaker" "Same to you" I said waving back as I continued down the hallway. GameBreaker huh, I was so use to hearing this I yet can't recall when people here started calling me that. The nickname was given to me for constantly finding ways to "Break" SAO during pre-alpha and alpha states, evening during the beta I was able to still find bugs and abuse them but the name is more related to my fighting style in SAO, every month or so the developers would hold tournaments to see who was the best fight among them and I could never wait for those day to come, the excitement of facing a real person in SAO was always a rush, and even more so was the ability to use blades. The first few tournaments were "odd" to say the least with people afraid of being stabbed by the other persons blade which lead to everyone being very defensive and little action happening but after a few months we got better and so did the fights. I was reaching the end of the hallway where there was a security checkpoint. The man behind the desk ask for an ID which I already had ready as this was a routine thing. "All good, you can pass" "Thank you, huh, excuse me whats wrong with that monitor?" I asked point to a monitor that seemed to be show glitched live footage almost as if it was stuck on a single second in time. "Oh that, I've already sent a technician to go look into" "Ah okay anyways thank you." Thats weird I thought to myself "That camera was watching the server room" I muttered to no one. "Well im sure they have it under control" I had finally reached the exit, usually the assistant always tells me to be careful going home but to my surprise she wasn't there tonight instead there was a different women. Not a strange face for sure but none the less out of place. "Rinko sensei?" "Oh Ros-kun, off already?" "Yes, i've finished up for today and am just on my way out" "As quick as ever" "not only in real life but in SAO to" she added, it was weird to see her here since see is usually helping Kayaba sensei "Oh Rinko sensei I wanted to ask, um is Kayaba sensei mad or annoyed by me" "Huh? What do you mean" she asked looking concerned "I mean I havent seen him since last week and when I do he has this serious look on his face" "Oh, im sure his just stressed out by everything going on right now" "Ah thats reassuring" It did feel better to hear that, for a while I serious thought I had done something to upset him not only was he my boss but he was someone who gave me a future, one I couldn't have achieved without him... "Actually I think his down working on something in the server room" "Oh is there an issue, does he need help?" "Ah no im sure his fine, something about a camera glitch I believe" "Ah well i'll be on my way then good night Rinko sensei" "Good night Ros-kun get home safe you hear me?" "Hahaha yes sensei" With that I stepped out into the cold night. I walked down the street and waited for at a bus stop, the bus arrived shortly after and I quickly got in to escape the cold. The bus was almost empty except for a few late night riders, I sat in the back looking out the window at the enormous building which slowly moved out of my view.
Sword Art Online huh I remember the first time Kayaba sensei introduced me to the idea, it seemed impossible but the more he spoke about it the more I wanted to help create it. It had been almost three years since I meet Kayaba and I thought of how diffrent my life would have been without meeting him. He took me under his wing and taught me so much that would have taken me a lifetime to learn, I also meet Rinko sensei through him, and although I call her sensei shes much more like an older sister, always scolding me if I skip breakfast or waste to much money on old games and computer parts. I had learned so much from both of them. Kayaba has opened so many door for me and I intend to pay him back with whatever I can.
The bus stopped a short way from where I lived. I walked down a familiar streets to a small apartment complex down the street. Kayaba was the one who helped me find this place and even helped me start renting it. It was perfect for one person and also wasn't to far from school. Just as I was about to cross the street I saw a familiar face walking up the stairs to the second floor of the apartments. It was an elderly lady carrying what looked to be grocery bags, this person was my neighbor. I rushed to help her with her bags "Aiko-sama let me help you with those" "Huh, oh Ros-kun its you, thank you your to kind" she replied humbly as I took the bags from her Aiko was living here before I moved in and was one of the first person to welcome me to this new place. She was always making extra food for me and would invite me over to eat, she was a nice person and quite chatty to. She would always talk about her grand daughter and how we would get alone just swell or recent news she saw on here television. I felt bad for her living alone so I would always accept her invitations. I dropped off her bags in front of her door "Ros-kun your nice, please come in have some tea" "Ah I can't sorry I want to head to bed early today" "Oh its fine dear, say you haven't heard of that new game all these young people are talking about, the news was all over it today what was it called Sword Arms Online?" "Sword Art Online" I corrected her "That one" she yelled "Your not planning on playing it to are you?" "Ahaha actually I am" "Oh, you kids and your games, just make sure you don't play it to much, I tell my grand daughter that to but she nevers listens, she couldn't stop talking about it when she head of this new game" "Oh is she buying it to?" "She already has, she was so happy when it arrived she couldnt wait to play it and kept talking to me about the many adventures she will have in it with here friend during her last visit" Part of me was happy to hear that player were just as excited for SAO as I was, it was warming to hear that players were already ready to dive in
All our hard work is finally gonna pay off I thought
"Well im going inside now its freezing out here" "It is, good night Aiko-sama" "Good night Ros-kun, remember what I told you and make sure you use a blanket tonight, don't go catching a cold on me" "Haha I won't" With that I walked over to my door, pulled out my key and walked in. SIGH its been a long day. With a quick shower and change of clothe I was sitting in front of my computer, the news of SAO that was flooding forums and fan sites was outstanding, people voicing there excitement and frustration for not being able to wait a few more hours. I agreed with all of them. In a few more hours SAO would go live and a grand adventure would begin for thousands of people, just thinking about it was enough to make me want to wait those few more hours awake, but before that thought could get the better of me I shut off the monitors to my computer and crawled into my bed. SAO, I can't wait I said as I held an imaginary sword up in the air. Tomorrow please come fast I begged as I shut my eye, eagerer to wake up the next morning.