November 6, 12:47 PM
Kaiji Residence
(It's a helmet with a visor and some cables running from the back into his computer, doesn't look like the most comfortable thing to wear while fighting to the death with swords.)
As if he could sense my skepticism, Daiki started, "Don't worry about the look of the helmet, Ash. When you're in the virtual world, you'll be so immersed you won't be able to feel it!"
When Daiki offered me the opportunity to be the first one to try out his recently acquired NerveGear, I was hesitant, to say the least. However, he managed to persuade me to at least give it a go. Now here we are, waiting until 1:00 so I can delve into the world of Sword Art Online.
To say that I'm nervous would be a massive understatement. Although I'd consider myself more athletic than the average person, I feel like that by no means will grant me the ability to wield a sword and battle others. Although Daiki assured me that I'll be on the same playing field as everyone else thanks to the Sword Skill system, as it becomes more about timing and knowing when to use the skill. Even still, I can't help but feel that having prior experience with a blade would be invaluable at a time like this. Maybe I could watch a quick YouTube video on it…
Just as I was about to search for videos to turn me into the greatest swordsman in Japan in 5 minutes, Daiki grabbed my shoulders making me nearly drop my phone. "Hey, it's almost time! We've only got a few minutes to get you strapped in and ready to go, otherwise you'll be behind everyone else by a few crucial minutes!"
Only Daiki could see a few minutes as crucial, but I knew better than to argue with the RPG master himself… self-proclaimed master, that is. I noticed that he'd been setting everything up for my dive while I pondered if this was truly a good idea. He gave me another reassuring smile and pointed at the bed, where I would most likely be laying the next hour or so. I took his signal and laid down, putting the helmet on. Truth be told, it looked a lot blockier and heavy than it felt, but I suppose that won't matter in the dive. The visor in front of my eyes displayed the time in the top left corner, and in the top right was a battery symbol with a lightning bolt. I figured it meant it was connected to a power source, most likely the computer.
My heart was pounding in my chest, the clock on the HUD had just ticked to 12:59, and each second passed feeling more like a whole minute. I had no idea why I was so nervous, it was just a silly sword fighting game after all! … But was it really the sword fighting aspect of the game that rattled me? Or was it the thought of entering a whole different reality, one where I have no sense of the real world. This was so incredibly different from the VR I had used back in the states.
And just as my heart was hitting 200 beats per minute, or so it felt like, the clock ticked once more and displayed 1:00 in the top left of the display. If there was one thing I took away from Daiki's prep sessions for me, it was this moment here, the phrase I couldn't forget under any circumstances: "Link Start!"
All I could see was white, until only seconds later, several lines came flying at me in a variety of colors, making me feel like I was going through a tunnel of them. Then a multitude of circles naming off different tests of my senses appeared, each one being quickly approved. Next up was a screen of great anticipation for any gamer; character creation. The sheer number of customization options alone was mind-boggling, someone could spend hours here and still not be satisfied. That thought triggered Daiki's "every crucial minute" warning earlier, so I moved quick. I made a character somewhat resembling myself: taller than average and a bit on the thinner side, though I definitely increased the muscle definition. One stark difference from my real body was the lack of silver hair, as that would only serve to make me stand out, just as it did in the real world. I also kept my blue eyes from real life, and finally decided on a brown, medium-length generic looking hairstyle. With all that, I was satisfied and felt ready to enter the world. As I confirmed my character, I saw the welcome screen, and as I was being thrown into the game world, I had the sudden and strange thought that I'll have to be wary of catfish.
With a sudden flash of white and newfound feeling, I opened my eyes and took a look around. I couldn't believe how real it all felt, I had absolutely no sense of my real body! As I childishly played around with my new body, other blue auras appeared around me until the plaza-like area I was in was practically brimming with players. After a few minutes of collective shock and awe, players began to file out into the rest of the starting town. I walked down a road filled with merchants selling goods of all kinds on both sides, I figured these had to be NPCs. I briefly looked at some of the different weapons and clothing pieces on display, but I quickly figured out I was wasting my time due to starting money problems. Just as I was starting to move away from a weapons stand, I was struck from behind and nearly fell to the ground. I looked up to see a black haired guy sprinting down the road and veering left down an alleyway, only to be tailed by another male sporting red hair and a matching headband.
(What a couple of idiots… not even so much as a sorry for nearly leveling me to the floor!)
After recuperating from my close brush with death, I pondered what to do next. I thought back to Daiki's prep sessions once again and remembered one word stuck out among the rest; grinding. As I recall, he made it quite clear if I want to stand a chance in this world, I'll have to put in quite some hours to keep my level respectable in relation to others. Although I wasn't sure if I'd be playing this game for that amount of time anyways, if I liked it I'd possibly consider purchasing a NerveGear myself.
I shook my head to clear my thoughts, I need to be focusing on the grind right now! I followed the road until I found myself out of the cluster of buildings and instead faced with a field covered in green and spotted with the occasional cluster of trees. It truly was beautiful, the only sign of civilization was the dirt road that twisted and turned through the hill-like landscape. There were a handful of players scattered throughout the field, all of them occupied in their exp-filled massacre of boars. I decided it would be best to join in the slaughter, and found a relatively empty space. After making my way to the spacious area in the field, a boar spawned looking away from me. I unsheathed the starter two-handed sword from my back and watched as the boar turned and became aware of my presence. In all my years, I could never have guessed that I'd fear a charging boar, even while I'm equipped with a blade easily capable of gutting the foul beast, but here we are.
Rather than freeze up from the fear, I used it as my motivator, something to drive me to take down the creature! I began my own charge towards the boar, and as we became closer, I started to prepare my swing and end this battle in one blow. However, I quickly realized I had a problem, the sword was rather heavy and wasn't going to connect near in time. Instead, I tried to dodge and cancel out of my swing, but I only succeeded in lessening the damage. I still suffered a tusk slash to my side, and unbelievably I couldn't feel the pain! Although, my health took a very slight hit, almost going unnoticeable. Even still, I would never forgive the bastard for what he did, I looked like a fool out here! While everyone else is slaughtering the creatures effortlessly, I'm out here being beaten by one. That thought made me start to sweat, I looked at the players around me, but to my relief, it seemed nobody noticed, as they were all too busy in their own grinding. I definitely wasn't going to risk embarrassment again, and instead of charging in like a fool twice, I thought back to what Daiki told me about combat...
"At least for starting out, you should take advantage of the sword skill system. It does the work for you as long as you properly activate it! From what my guildmate told me who was in the beta, you have to almost let it build up by pausing, and when you feel the build-up come to a peak, just let it loose!" Daiki said pumping his fist.
I sat with one arm crossed and used my free hand to rub my eyes, "Let it build up? What is "it"? And how do I even begin to activate it?"
Daiki just grinned, "Well for the first part of your question, I'm not entirely sure myself. That's only what I was told. However, I do know how to activate them!"
And with that, he began to run me through each of the stances to prepare to activate sword skills…
After trying to remember any relevant skills, I heard the boar coming and looked up. It was much closer than I anticipated and acted completely out of reflex. I brought the sword down to the right of my waist, and miraculously I could feel the mysterious it! Once the boar got within range, I unleashed the pressure that was built up and my sword streaked a light green color as it went upwards from right to left and slashed through the boars head, leaving a red line behind.
I watched as the boar exploded into hundreds of pixels after its health bar reached empty. The only thing remaining was a "Result" screen, which displayed the 24 Exp and 30 Col I earned. Though, the in-game rewards were nothing compared to the adrenaline rush I had felt; never in my life did it seem like I could die at any given moment! With that burst of excitement and adrenaline still going through me, I eyed the next boar that spawned. It made a nasty noise, and began its charge, while I couldn't wait for it to get closer, hands holding the blade to the right of my waist…
November 6, 5:21 PM
Town of Beginnings, West Field
After hours of tearing through the lowly boars, I had finally learned to feel comfortable with my blade and its skills. I had also racked up a good amount of Exp and Col, at least compared to when I began. However, the thrill of the battle and the rush associated with it was what truly kept driving me for more. It was only the setting sun that dragged me out of my craze for blood. I checked the clock and was shocked to find it was almost 5:30!
(Holy shit… I've been out here for almost 5 hours?! Time sure went by fast… but I better go ahead and log out before Daiki gets worried, don't want him to think I'm never coming out.)
I opened up the menu with my right hand and attempted to find the logout button. However, there was no logout button to be found! I felt my heart skip a beat as I came across a button that had a symbol making it seem as if it was intended for logging out, but much to my demise, there was no response when hitting the button. I tried saying "log out" and smashing it with my pointer finger, as well as a variety of other methods. Of course, none of these were successful. I was close to panicking, but I refused; there must just be a bug. I decided to seek out other players and ask for help.
As I navigated the field, the lack of players reminded me just how far I'd traveled in an attempt to satiate my thirst for boar blood. I was almost starting to fear myself, for I could barely remember moving so far from the main crowds of people; however, I couldn't finish coming to terms with what had happened, as I saw two figures in the distance. As I approached them and their appearances became clearer, I recognized both of them. I cringed as I identified one as the guy from earlier that ran me over, and the other as the weird looking one that chased him into the alley.
They both turned to me as I drew nearer, so I shouted out to them, "Hey, can you guys log out?!"
The one with red hair shouted back, "No! It's some bug or something, we just have to wait it out!"
(Crap. Daiki is gonna be pissed, and his parents even more so. It took enough convincing as it was already to even buy the thing for us. Now we'll have to explain why I was inside it for hours on end if I don't get out of here soon…)
Just as I was getting closer and intending to formally introduce myself to the two, I was stopped in my tracks by the sound of a bell echoing in the distance. All three of us were silent, and the two began to fade away, and I joined them! I felt the familiar feeling of logging in, as players were appearing in blue auras all around me. The bell was still going, however, there was now the chatter of all the players to go with it. The feeling of unrest was rich, and I felt a cold sweat coming on. Looking around, I realized there must've been the entire population of the game in the starting area from before!
Soon, the bell stopped. A red dome made up of polygons filled with text that read "warning" ensnared the starting area. What looked like blood at first began dripping from the cracks, until it formed into a mysterious and incredibly large hooded figure that hovered above the starting area. I heard some players around me claiming it to be the game master, and this caused a few to even be relieved as they took it to be just a part of the opening ceremony now.
However, everyone fell silent when the figure raised its arms and began, "Attention, players. Welcome to my world." It continued in a deep and almost dark voice, "My name is Kayaba Akihiko. As of this moment, I am the sole person who can control this world."
That was a name I was certain I've heard before. My suspicions were confirmed when others around me were shocked, and began exclaiming that it was the creator of the NerveGear and SAO itself!
Once again, everyone shut up when he continued, "I'm sure you've already noticed that the logout button is missing from the main menu. But this is not a defect in the game. I repeat… this is not a defect in the game."
(... What?!)
Despite my growing heart rate, he kept going, "It is a feature of Sword Art Online. You cannot log out of SAO yourselves. And no one on the outside can shut down or remove the NerveGear. Should this be attempted, the transmitter inside the NerveGear will emit a powerful microwave, destroying your brain and thus ending your life."
This definitely riled up the crowd. Players were starting to really lose it now, myself definitely getting there. I did my best to maintain my composure, as panicking especially would not help me here.
Kayaba moved on, "Unfortunately, several players' friends and families have ignored this warning and have attempted to remove the NerveGear. As a result, two hundred and thirteen players are gone forever, from both Aincrad and the real world." To substantiate his claim, he pulled up news articles from many different locations and had them orbit around his massive avatar, "As you can see, news organizations across the world are reporting all of this, including the deaths. Thus, you can assume that the danger of a NerveGear being removed is now minimal. I hope you will relax and attempt to clear the game. But I want you to remember this clearly…"
Everyone perked up and listened carefully, but nothing could prepare us for what he said next, "There is no longer any method to revive someone within the game. If your HP drops to zero, your avatar will be forever lost. And simultaneously, the NerveGear will destroy your brain." This caused everyone to fall silent out of shock or fear, or both, yet he still had more, "There is only one means of escape: to complete the game. You are presently on the lowest floor of Aincrad, Floor 1. If you make your way through the dungeon and defeat the Floor Boss, you may advance to the next level. Defeat the final boss on Floor 100, and you will clear the game."
What was silence before was now a mass panic, as players didn't know what to make of any of this, myself included. Before the crowd got too out of hand, Kayaba had one more thing to add on, "Finally, I've added a present from me to your item storage, please see for yourselves."
I followed his directions and checked my item storage, to find an item with the name "Mirror." I equipped the item, like everyone else around me. We all were looking into our mirrors in confusion, when suddenly one by one, players began to be enveloped in a silver flash of light, and it wasn't long until I joined them.
Once the light was gone, I looked into the mirror again. I now saw myself with the same blue eyes, although my face was drastically different. Or perhaps I worded that wrong, as it may have been different from the face I had on my in-game avatar; however, it was identical to my face in real life! And not only that, but my once brown hair was now identical to my real life hair; silver with more than a couple of strands running down my face.
As I wondered helplessly how this was even possible, I heard players around me talk of a scan from the NerveGear earlier on, and now that they mentioned it, I do remember doing that before entering the game. If only I had known what that would've revealed… I was just thankful there were bigger fish to fry, so nobody paid any attention to my abnormality.
As I finished checking out my avatar and seeing that is it truly an exact replica of me, Kayaba started up again, "Right now, you're probably wondering, 'Why?' Why would Kayaba Akihiko, developer of Sword Art Online and the NerveGear, do all this?" He paused briefly, "My goal has already been achieved. I created Sword Art Online for one reason: to create this world and intervene in it, and now, it is complete. This ends the tutorial for the official Sword Art Online launch… Good luck players."
And with that, he disappeared, and the dome along with him. A few seconds of silence later, outrage took over the players. Screams out of fear and rage were widespread, some yelling death threats to Kayaba, while others curled up in balls and accepted whatever fate they had coming. While I on the other hand… I just watched. I didn't know what else to do, but just like before, when I was trapped in a corner and didn't know where to go, I remembered one piece of advice Daiki gave me above the rest: Grind. And with the fear of the omnipresent possibility of permanent death as my new motivator, grind I did.