I opened my eyelids and started to get up onto a sitting position. My room was colder than usually. I remembered that I turned on the room heater on my ceilings last night, but I was still cold. That's probably because it's November.
The room was really, really messy. Mountains of dirty clothes stood in the middle of the room. Posters were hung on top of each other all of the dark blue wallpaper. Books and pieces of paper were all over my bed and my computer desk. The bookshelf next to the desk was practically empty with dust on it. A digital clock was hung onto the wall showing the time right now.
It was 9:30 AM. November 6, 2022.
I opened my month and said with a low tone.
"Heater, Air-con off..."
Series of beeps were heard all across the room. The fan of the air-con and the heater stopped spinning, while their lids started moving and shut them both. Suddenly, my phone vibrated on the desk, making a really uncomfortable sound.
I placed my feet on the cold, smooth wooden floor and started to walk to where the phone was. The phone's wallpaper was a screenshot of a girl facing a half-bull, half-human boss with a rapier on her right, ready to attack the beast. It was a screenshot from the Beta period of the first ever VRMMORPG game, "Sword Art Online". A small black window appeared on top of the wallpaper, showing that I had a message from someone via a messenger. I tapped on it, and displayed the message.
'Yuki: Good Morning :)'
'Me: Good Morning, when should we "dive in"?'
'Yuki: Hmm...The server will be up at 12, so, let's "dive in" at around that time :)'
"Me: K :)"
I was excited already. The Beta period ended about a week ago, and I haven't been on since that time. Thinking about it, I really feel bad about all the stuff I got in the Beta period.
I looked at my surroundings again and started to work. I changed the sheets and covers of my bed and pillows. I picked up all of my books and placed them orderly onto the bookshelf. For the clothes on the floor, I picked them all up and placed them inside big baskets and dumped them inside the washing machine. I grabbed the pieces of paper that was lying on the desk and dumped them inside the bin. Finally, it was all done!
I looked at the digital clock once again. 10:04 AM.
I went downstairs to the kitchen. The house was empty. My mom and dad had gone off to work since 7 AM. And my sister was probably going to her friend's house, or went shopping at the mall nearby. Scent of minced pork ribs flew into my nostrils immediately, as I entered the kitchen. I glanced at the counter of the kitchen, and there it was. Ribs! I went to the refrigerator and grabbed the bottle of milk with my left hand, and grabbed my cup with my right hand. I placed them both on the counter, and went to the rice cooker with a plate on my hand. I put some rice on the ceramic plate, and placed the plate next to the plate of ribs.
The TV remote was at the far end of the kitchen's counter. I quickly grabbed it and changed the News Channel to the MMO Stream channel. The screen flickered and then showed the channel on the screen.
"This week's game of the week must be the first ever VRMMORPG, Sword Art Online! Thousands of people have been waited for the release of this game. Thousands of copies of the game that was online were sold in seconds. The waiting line for buying the game was made for people to wait for 4 days!"
The female familiar MMO Stream announcer announced with a sweet and high-pitched voice, as I gobbled the rice and pieces of meat from the ribs. Before I knew it, I finished it all! I then grabbed the plates and cups and placed them into the dishwasher neatly. I grabbed the TV remote and pressed the "On/Off" button. The TV screen flickered for a sec then went black.
I walked upstairs to my room, and twisted the knob of my door and went inside. Beep, Beep! Beep, Beep! I went to my desk and grabbed my phone again. '5 messages from Yuki' I pressed on the window and quickly scrolled through the messages.
'Yuki: What will you do till then?'
'Yuki: Hello?'
'Yuki: AFK again... -_-'
'Yuki: I think it's nearly the time to login!'
'Yuki: 30 minutes left'
'Me: I think its 15 minutes left now!'
'Yuki: I'm so excited! '
Next to the message that was sent was the profile picture of Yuki. She was a beautiful dark brown haired girl with braids. Her brown eyes glimmered like crystals. She was doing a peace sign while gently smiling at the camera. Behind her were me, and couple of other guys smiling at the camera. I can't believe why a girl like her would be interested in video games, and not shopping like other girly stuff.
'Me: IKR :)'
'Yuki: Hmm...I think it's already on!'
'Me: REALLY?!'
'Yuki: Yeah, I checked on the website just a second ago!'
I pressed the "ON" button of my triple screened monitor. I placed my palm on the mouse and double clicked on the browser I frequently used. I then clicked on the website bookmark on the top of the screen. The website loaded for a few seconds then appeared on my screen. At the top corner was the status of the server, "5678/10,000 players online". I gasped then turn off the monitor.
'Me: Imma "Dive In" right now! ;D'
'Yuki: Yeah, me too :)'
I turned my phone to vibrate, and threw it next to my pillow. I quickly went on my bed, and laid there for a moment. I then reached for a helmet-like object and looked at it. "Nerve Gear: Full Dive" was written above the screen. I grabbed the Ethernet cable, charging cable, and client cable then plugged it onto the Nerve Gear as quick as possible. I glanced at the window of my room for a moment, as birds chipped and sang outside on the tree branches. I then turned back to the Nerve Gear and placed it onto my head. A digital clock was at the left corner of the screen, while the battery logo showing that it is charging was at the right corner of the screen. I then shut my eyelids.
"Link start!"
I said that with a low tone, as darkness started to take over. After a few nanoseconds, streams of rainbow started to appear then banished. The familiar tests took place. Hearing: OK. Sight: OK. Smell: OK. Taste: OK. Touch: OK. The test windows then disappeared. Replacing those tests was a login panel. I tapped on the username, as a holographic keyboard appeared in front of me. 'Nakato'. I then tapped on password and typed my password on the holographic keyboard. After this, I tapped on the "Remember me" check box, and tapped on login. A window appeared. "Do you want to use the character 'Nakato' from the Beta test?" I tapped on the rectangular [OK] button. "Welcome to Sword Art Online!" Before I knew it, I was sucked into darkness, so I closed my eyes. Vertigo hit me, as I opened my eyes.
I looked at the structure in front of me. It was the Black Iron Palace, where they kept the people who broke the rules of the game during the Beta test. I folded my palms and formed a fist, while looking down smiling. I looked around me. About two or three thousand people filled the great central plaza of the "Starting City" probably wondering about this beautiful place, Aincrad.
Aincrad is what the world is named. It is basically made out of stone and steel. The gigantic castle was in the sky. The floating castle was divided into 100 different floors, and each floor has a diameter from 8 kilometers to 12 kilometers. And this is the first floor, so it is probably the biggest floor on Aincrad. Surrounding Aincrad was the infinite sky. And if you looked down, you could see nothing, but clouds under the gigantic floating castle.
Two soft hands were placed on my shoulder, as I was wondering about this amazing place. Long dark brown hair swayed onto my face. The scent of the hair was like petals of roses. The small figure then jumped onto me, which made me fall down to the ground.
"Nakato!"
The figure shouted at me, as she was on top of me. She looked like the girl on the wallpaper of my phone this morning. They both had the same body, and also the same hair. And by the way, Yuki's real-self and her in-game self looked really similar. They both had the same braids but, Yuki's real hair was lighter.
"You scared me..."
I spoke gently, as I tried to get up. I started to look around and noticed that everyone was watching me. I looked down with embarrassment, and grabbed Yuki's hand and ran from the central plaza and headed for the direction of the Black Iron Palace. Yuki's hand was soft, and warm.
"Where are we going?!"
Yuki asked, as we made a left turn through an alleyway then headed for the marketplace. The marketplace was crowding! Male and female players were walking along the small streets of the marketplace. NPC sellers were shouting about what they were selling, while players went to shops and bought some goods with their starting 100 col. Col is the currency of this game.
"Hmm...We're buying our beginning items, of course..."
I spoke, as I headed for the armor shop which was right next to the weapon shop. I tapped on the counter of the shop and selected "Hard Leather Chest-plate", "Hard Leather Shins", "Hard Leather Arm-guard", and "Cotton gloves". After selecting all of those, I glanced at the cost of those items. The total cost was 35 col. I tapped on the blue circular "O" button, and accepted the trade. After that, I placed my thumb and index finger together and started to pull down. I tapped on the "Player" button, and then pressed on "Inventory. I then tapped on "Equipment" tab. I equipped all of the equipments I bought.
I looked at Yuki, and saw that she was also putting on her starter equipments, as we walked to the weapon stand nearby. I then tapped on the counter like I did earlier, and then selected the "Starting Silver Long Sword", which only cost 10 col. I tapped the "O" button, and equipped the sword to my back. A black leather scabbard appeared on my back, with the sword I've bought from the muscular NPC who crossed his arms fearlessly.
Apparently, Yuki bought a starter rapier, like she did in the Beta test period from about two months ago. Yuki grabbed my arm and skipped to the nearby city gate which was at the end of this tiny street. The city gate was really big. Carvings of monsters and the city's name were on the top of the gate. Gigantic doors were attached to the sides of the gate.
We bought sprinted out of the city, and headed towards our regular hunting spot from the Beta period. The air was cold and moist, but I love it. Autumn and winter are my favorite seasons. It was autumn in reality, and I didn't know that it was also autumn in-game so I was pretty surprised.
Green grasslands could be seen from the dirt road which we are running right now. Mountains and valleys which were far away could be seen from here. I turned back, but the "Starting City" is nowhere to be seen. We've been running at full speed for a few minutes now, but I didn't feel any exhaustion or lost of breathe at all.
Wolves, Boars, Wasps, and other creatures can be seen on the grasslands. We headed towards that place and sat there for a moment. I was sure that the creatures would have noticed by now, but they just ignored us. The grass was soft. To be honest, it was softer and fluffier than my pillows in reality. I lain on the grass, and Yuki did too.
"I feel more alive in here than in the real world"
Yuki exclaimed as she blinked a few times, while looking at the ceiling of the floor which really look like the sky.
"I think so, too"
As I said that, Yuki looked at me, and smiled. She then looked at the ceiling again. After a few minutes of lying down on the grass, I got up and pulled the sword on my back with ease. Yuki got up a few seconds after I did and grabbed her rapier from the sword's scabbard which was attached to her belt. She dashed towards a 'Frenzy Boar' and launched her starter skill with speed which was 'Linear'. The boar's HP decreased by half and hit the yellow zone, as it faced Yuki. Yuki jumped over the boar, as it dashed to attack Yuki. Yuki landed behind the boar, and then launched that attack once more. The boar's HP dropped from the yellow warning zone to the red then it was all depleted. A window appeared in front of her showing the amount of Col, Experience, and Items she got.
I was watching her with my mouth opened wide the whole time, as she finished of the boar. I then shook my head then shut my mouth, and smiled with embarrassment. Yuki opened her mouth, and tried to say something, but then just shut her mouth.
I drew my one-handed sword, and then dashed towards a wolf with speed. The wolf noticed me, and jumped to me. As it jumped, I slid my shoulder to my left and dodged the wolf's attack swiftly. I then activated my sword skill, 'Rage Spike'. Red light effect brightened up the sword that I was holding. Soon my body and the sword hovered towards the wolf; right after a green light effect brightened the sword for one second. The sword went through the sword, and got a critical hit. The wolf's HP dropped from full to the red area then it was all depleted. A familiar window appeared in front of me, and then just closed automatically after that.
Yuki looked at me with a 'what the...?' face and then walked towards another monster, and attacked it like she did before. I stared at her beautiful avatar as she killed the monsters, one by one with the rapier she was holding.
The sky around us turned amber, as the sun was setting. Orange light made the once green grasslands became orange. Birds were flying from north to south across the horizon. The grass smelled even more wet and moist as the sky turned red.
I lied on the grass for a few minutes, admiring the sceneries around me. I had fought lots and lots of monsters since I logged in this morning. I glanced at the left corner of my field of vision, and saw my HP bar, my Experience bar, and my level. My HP bar was full, and my experience bar was at the halfway point. My level was 4.
In other MMOs, level 4 was weak. But in "Sword Art Online" and on floor 1, hitting level 4 in just a day is really, really hard because the level bar of SAO needs really high amount of Experience to level up each time, and the monsters of the first floor drops a really small amount of Experience. One may need a few weeks to level up to level 10 on the first floor.
"Hey, what's your level?"
I asked with a low tone, to Yuki which was lying on the soft grassland next to me. Her long brown hair was blocking her face, so I wiped her hair out of her eyes. Her soft eyelids were shut. Her cheeks were as pink as the cherry blossom, and her face was really, really beautiful. Her soft hazel colored lips were half opened.
I poked on Yuki's pink cheek, as I glanced at the time on the right corner of my field of vision. It was 5:30 PM. And I started to get hungry again already. Yuki finally woke up, and sat on the grass, half asleep.
"Good evening"
"Good even-..."
She stopped speaking and looked at me with enormous eyes. She looked down, and wiped her face. She then yawned softly, and looked at me again.
"What time is it?"
"About 5:30"
"Hmm...It's 5 already?"
She spoke softly, and then sighed. She opened her mouth and continued.
"I think imma logout for a bit; I'm starving!"
"Yeah, me too"
I spoke with a smile. I heard my stomach growl really loud. Emotions and feelings were overstated in the SAO system, so that's probably way my stomach growled so loud like this.
Yuki then placed her thumb and index finger together, and pulled down. She pressed on the "Settings" button, and "Options" button, and pressed on...
"The logout button is not there..."
"What?"
"It's not there..."
I then toggled the menu quickly, and pressed on "Settings" then "Options" and... It's really not there. I began to become worried right now. I then sighed a bit and regain my usual calmness.
"Hmm...It must be a bug"
"Yeah, since the official release is today and all"
"Try calling the GMs"
Yuki quickly pulled down her thumb and index finger again. She then pressed on "Contact", and then pressed on "Call GMs". A window showing the red GM's cloak appeared in front of Yuki, as the main menu disappeared automatically.
"They're not answering"
Yuki spoke with a soft, worried tone and looked at me anxiously.
"Hmm...Let's wait for a while; the GMs will surely fix the problem soon"
I spoke with a calm voice, and looked at Yuki with my usual smile. I then toggled the main menu again, and tried to call the GM as I sat down on the soft grass below me. Just then...
Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding!
The sound of a huge bell was sounded across the first floor. The sound made the grass which swayed by the wind look like they are dancing. The sound was so loud that I and Yuki needed to cover our ears. After about a minute, the sound stopped.
"What's going on?"
"It's a system announcement, like in the..."
Crimson blue light shone across my body, as I spoke. The crimson light was so bright that I needed to shut my eyes. The sound effects of the light were so powerful that I can't hear anything around me. I knew what this was. It was a forced teleport, like it was in the Beta.
When I opened my eyes, I was surrounded by several thousands of people. To be exact, everyone on the server. All ten thousand people were in the gigantic plaza. In the middle of the plaza was a tall clock tower, with a bell on top of it. Giant pillars surrounded the plaza from the right and left that formed two semi circles, leaving two gates for people to get out of the area. But, the two gates were protected by an invisible force field, so it was impossible to get out. All ten thousand people were wearing the 'What is happening?' face as they were teleported to this gigantic plaza.
"Look!"
I faced the Black Iron Palace, and looked up at the sky, as someone shouted. Two polygons were on the sky. [System Announcement] and [Warning!] was written on it. After a few seconds, the amber sky that was once there was replaced by the polygons that were written [System Announcement] and [Warning!].
This had never happened before in the Beta so it made me a bit nervous because of its red sinister color. Yuki was also worried, and grabbed my left arm with speed. I placed wrapped my right arm around her body as I looked up in the sky.
Red blood-like liquid oozed out of the polygons and fell halfway to the ground, and then was attached together. After that, the red liquid started to morph into a gigantic figure, and stood up. The figure was wearing red embroidered cloak with gloves on his hands.
Something came into my mind. That was the cloak that GMs wore at the events in the Beta. But in the Beta, the GMs had either a beautiful girl's face or an old wizard's face. But...
It had no face, nor a body.
It started to speak as it raised both of its hand.
"Players! Welcome to my world!"
Those words echoed through my head from that time, until now.
AN: Please note that the next chapter will be published next week so stay tune; make sure to favorite, and follow this one. And if there's any spelling mistakes or grammatical mistakes, please do tell me via the reviews. Arigato Gozaimasu~! ^^
P.S: This is my second fanfiction, so I think this will have a bunch of mistakes. I abandoned the first one since it had too many spelling, grammatical mistakes, and also had only 2 followers. I hope this one could get a better result. Anyways, thanks for reading. ^^
