– Testing Track –
My name is Kouki. I'm just your average RPG player, and I've been playing a lot more MMORPGS lately.
Well, I would have, if I hadn't been stuck playing this one. Don't get me wrong, under any other circumstances this would be a great game, an instant hit. The graphics are wonderfully designed and the gameplay is amazing and intuitive. The fact that it uses a virtual reality headset makes it even better.
The fact that it can kill me is...rather off putting, to say the least.
Still, even in spite of that one major flaw, Sword Art Online is a great game. Just a bit dangerous to play, you know?
You see, apparently this game can make said virtual reality headset (the Nerve Gear, for the curious), emit a super high energy pulse that cooks your brain like a TV dinner in a microwave (in more ways than one). I'm inclined to believe this, mainly because even if it turns out to be false, I'd much rather not risk my life trying to verify it. Getting your brain fried sounds painful.
Unfortunately, it looks like I'm going to have to verify that claim sooner, rather than later.
Mainly because I'm dangling off a cliff that overlooks a bottomless abyss.
Oh, and coincidentally? The guy who pushed me off this cliff is standing in front of me (or rather, my fingers). His name is Gurou. He used to be one of my friends, before he killed the rest. And then pushed me off a cliff.
You see, we met on one of the upper floors. We were surrounded, but this guy gave us some healing that we desperately needed. And then he offered to join us, and I accepted, and then-
"Fu fu fu...I've always wanted to see you die. Goodbye, Kouki."
Well, shit. Looks like I'm going to have to end this monologue here, folks. I'm about to fall to a clumsy, painful death. Goodbye, world!
My fingers lose their grip on the edge of the floating island, and I find myself falling...
...Hey, what's that down there? A platform? It looks like a balcony of some sort.
Looks like I'm not going to die after all!
I'm going to have to fall towards it if I'm going to save myself...
Wait. How do I do that?! Do I flap my arms or lean towards it or something?
Oh well, here goes nothing...
...
*wham*
Ow, ow, ow! That hurt! I landed on my freaking face!
Oh well. Beats being dead, by any rate.
Hang on. Where am I?
The platform I landed on seems like a metal balcony of some sort. It's really long, though, and juts out into thin air just below the huge castle that we all live on. The balcony's actually made of the same stuff you would find in modern factories. That seems a bit odd, given that the rest of the game is pretty archaic. Actually, thinking about it, if you were looking down from Floor 1, you would be able to see it, if barely. Has anyone else been down here? Has anyone come back from here?
...Probably not. I'm sure that rumors of a place under Aincrad would spread quickly.
Anyways, turning towards the island, I can see a metal door set into the rock and dirt. There are signs nailed around it, each reading various things like "Keep Out" and "ARGUS Personnel Only".
Well, I don't have much choice do I? I open the door and walk inside.
Once I walk inside, I can see that I walked into what appears to be a lobby. The place also looks pretty modern. The walls are made of sheet metal. Florescent lights are affixed to the ceiling. There are a few chairs scattered around, along with several tables. The room is also devoid of life, artificial or not.
There's a single hallway leading from this room. I walk into it, and from there I walk into the first room I see.
Inside there's a small futuristic-looking machine. All sorts of blinking lights and screens are attached to it. A nearby panel holds a few buttons, dials, and levers. A label above it reads "Weather Machine".
...
Weather machine? I wasn't aware that this game even had weather!
I mean, I know it has variable temperatures. Anyone who's ever been on floor 28 knows that (and has probably invested in a coat, just in case they run into another snow-themed floor). I didn't know it had actual weather effects, though!
On closer inspection, the dials appear to control several important meteorological parameters.
Wind speed, humidity, temperature, precipitation level, cloud cover, etc.
The levers also control various parameters.
Precipitation – On/Off, Precipitation – Rain/Snow, Fog – On/Off, Lightning – On/Off, etc.
I decide to turn a few dials to max (temperature, wind speed, precipitation level, cloud cover) and flip a few levers (Precipitation – On, Precipitation – Rain, Lightning – On).
I look at the buttons, and hit one that says "Confirm".
Immediately, I can hear the sounds of a fierce thunderstorm above. Walking out onto the platform, I can see and feel the first rainstorm I've experienced in years. It's also pretty cold. I'd hate for anyone to get caught out in this. Actually, that leads me to think: Can we get sick in this game? I haven't, but I was a pretty healthy guy back outside the game. Well, I didn't get sick often, anyways.
Actually, this rain's coming down pretty hard. I wonder if it's going to mess anyone's plans up...
– Meanwhile... –
Kirito was sitting by a lake on the 22nd floor.
He was trying, and failing, to catch a fish. He'd been there all day, as well as the past three days, and not a single fish had even tugged at his line.
He'd gone out to every floor, looking for and testing every kind of rod and bait available. In all the effort had cost him a substantial amount of money in fishing supplies. Nothing had worked.
Needless to say, he was getting pretty frustrated.
"Damn it, are there even any fish in this lake?!"
And then a true miracle happened.
He felt a pull on his line. It was a weak pull, but at least there was a fish on the other end.
He began to pull his rod back, when something completely unexpected happened.
It began to rain. Heavily.
The temperature dropped, the wind picked up, clouds rolled in, and thunder crashed in the distance.
Kirito, having almost forgotten about rain in the rainless Aincrad, dropped his rod in shock, where it fell into the water. He then began a mad dash back home, which ended with him inside his home, unfortunately sopping wet and freezing to death. It was then that he decided to check his inventory for things he had dropped in the rain.
Things that included the fishing rod. Along with the fish that was on its line.
He let out a mighty bellow fit to shake the raging heavens...
"FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU-"
...before being forced by Asuna to calm down.
– Back to Kouki... –
...nah. I don't think people even do much outside anyways, besides fighting monsters. Anyways, I wonder if there's anything else in this building that's interesting. Back into the hall I go!
I walk further down the hall, and walk into the next room I find.
There are a multitude of robotic arms with various attachments attached to the sides of the room, and a conveyor belt running down the middle. I can also see a computer screen in front of the conveyor belt, right in front of the door. I give it a tap, and the room seems to come to life, the robotic arms springing right up, the screen flickering a bit before showing a menu.
It looks like this room is for crafting swords. I mess around with the settings a bit.
Crafting Test Unit – Blade Autocrafter
Mode: [Custom] / Random
Type: One-Handed / [Two-Handed] / Knife
Damage Attr.: +[16] (-20 - 20)
Weight Attr.: +[4] (-10 - 10)
Durability Attr.: -[8] (-10 - 10)
Attribute: [0xFC] "Judge, Jury, and Executioner – x2.5 damage to Red players"
Model: [0xFA24E] "broadsword185"
Name: ["Lawbringer"] / Random
[Confirm]
I hit the confirm button, and the room goes into action.
An orange-red block appears at the far end of the conveyor belt, and the robotic arms swarm around it. I can hear the sound of metal on metal, and I can see sparks flying. Aside from that, I can't tell what they're doing; the cluster of arms is too dense to see through. Then, they recede, and down the line comes a shiny new sword, with a slightly whitish hue. I pick it up, and give it a few experimental swings. It seems pretty good. A bit heavier than I was used to, however.
I walk back out into the hallway, with my new sword strapped onto my back.
I walk even further down the hall, looking into each room I pass. I pass quite a few rooms, but none seem very interesting to me (Flavor Combinatorics? I'm not a cook. Teleport Gate Control? I'm not interested in leaving quite yet..). Eventually, I reach the end of the hall. There's another door there, this one different from the others. It looks like a heavy-duty door, like what you would see in banks and the like. Despite its appearance, the door opens quite easily, and I immediately see that the room inside is massive and poorly-lit.
A massive steel vault door lies in the center of the room. Several ceiling mounted spotlights are trained on it. A booth sits by the door, with a single button labeled "Hatch Open/Close" inside, as well as a few signs. Looking closely at the signs, I can read what they say.
"Hazardous testing area ahead. Enter at risk of character."
"Sealed 01/25/2022 – Do Not Enter"
"This Area Contains: Trans-Reality Alteration Substances, Biohazards, Bugged Monsters"
Regardless of the ominous (and somewhat comical) warnings on the walls, I hit the button.
A loud warning klaxon sounds, and alarm lights begin to flash, as the huge door begins to rise, revealing a large dark pit, with a stairwell leading down it. A chair and a flashlight lie by the first landing of the stairwell; I take the (fortunately still-functioning) flashlight and venture into the deep pit.
After a few minutes walking down the stairs, I find a singular lever, with sparks flying out of it intermittently. I flip it up, and after a few seconds floodlights come on, bathing the area with light.
The sealed-off area appears to be composed of raised catwalks and platforms, with poles rising up out of the bottomless pit below, holding the entire area up. Floodlights are placed by the catwalks at intervals, providing plenty of light to see. The floor layout is much the same as the upper portion of the facility: one long catwalk, and additional platforms with various objects on them branching out from it. However, unlike the rooms up above, the platforms do not have helpful markings describing their purpose; they merely have alphanumerical designations.
I walk onto the first one, marked A-001.
The platform looks a lot like your stereotypical laboratory: Rows of tables, littered with microscopes, test tubes, and petri dishes. A handful of sterile-white machines stand by the far end of the platform. As I'm walking down the rows of tables, I accidentally trip. I pick myself up, and a stinging pain on my right hand informs me of a small cut. My HP's only gone down by a bit, but the fact that it went down at all is surprising.
After looking around the lab for a bit, I walk back out into the "hallway", and walk onto another platform, marked B-005.
This one appears to be an observation platform of some sort; I can see another raised platform off in the distance. Two consoles stand by the sides of the platform.
One reads:
Monster Tester
Mode: [Spawn] / Delete / Modify
ID: [0xF5CB] "Killer Worm Type 2"
Attributes: [None]
Allegiance: [None]
Count: [1]
[Confirm]
I opt not to touch anything on this platform, and I quickly walk back out onto the catwalk.
I walk down the catwalk, passing the other platforms. They're not very interesting anymore; they all simply look like the first two rooms I found down here. However, I can see another interesting platform down by the end of the catwalk. I pick up the pace, but stop when I'm hit with a sudden coughing fit. I stop for a moment to take a breather, before walking onto the platform.
The platform's lined with monitors, much like a few rooms in the upper portion of the facility. A single very large monitor stands towards the far end of the platform, with what appears to be a desk and keyboard in front of it. A small sleeping bag lies beside the desk, with various supplies nearby. I could see crystals, food, and two or three swords amongst the supplies.
The bag appears to have gathered dust; it probably hasn't been used in a while.
The monitor reads:
––––
CARDINAL Status / Control Panel
Main Status: Enabled, Partially Functional
Players Online: 6,235
GMs Online: 1
Floors Cleared: 74
Game Mode: Death Game
––––
Game Subsystem Status:
– Error correction: Online (errors corrected: 40,523)
– CARDINAL Self-Check: Online (last self check: two days ago)
– Monster Spawning: Online (monster spawning pattern: "FinalA_DG")
– Keep-alive servers: Online (6,235 players connected)
– Programs:
– Economy Adjuster: Offline
– Psychotherapy: Offline (0/5 MHCPs active, PTMAI not active)
– Law Enforcement: Offline (0/10 LEOPs active, CAILE not active)
– Incarceration: Online (1/1 prison instances running)
– Trans-Reality Messaging: Partially Online
– – Text: Online (current alias: "The Messenger")
– – Voice: Offline
– – Video: Offline
– Misc. AI: Offline
– Failover: Online (8/10 game servers ready, 15/15 keep-alive servers ready)
– Network IDS: Online (No incidents in the last 30 days)
– Physical IDS: Online (No incidents in the last 30 days)
– Neural Scanning: Online (3,765 scans collected)
––––
Options:
1. Enable / Disable subsystems
2 . Subsystem options
3. Character modification
4. Player actions
5. Server options
6. Admin console
7. Disable CARDINAL (CAUTION!)
Option: _
My first instinct was to simply walk away and not touch anything, but a small, high-pitched voice in the back of my head urges me to reactivate Psychotherapy for some reason. The voice seems like that of a young girl, and sounds very desperate, almost as if it were begging.
I didn't see any problem with its request, so I cough a bit and begin to type in a few commands...
Option: 1
Select one:
1. Enable
2. Disable
Select: 1
Available subsystems for enabling:
1. Economy Adjustment
2. Psychotherapy
3. Law Enforcement
4. Trans-Reality Messaging
5. Misc. AI
Select: 2
Enabling Psychotherapy subsystem...
Gathering societal data, please wait...
Activating MHCP: 01 – "Little Child Lost"... success. 1 instance started ("Yui").
Activating MHCP: 02 – "Freud"... success.
Activating MHCP: 03 – "Sounding-Board"... success.
Activating MHCP: 04 – "Louis"...success.
Activating MHCP: 05 – "Group Therapy Coordinator"...success.
Activating Psychotherapy Master AI (PTMAI)...success.
Would you like to see more information about the MHCPs? Y/N (n) y
MHCP01, aka "Little Child Lost", is designed to foster preexisting interpersonal relationships in patients by giving them a young child to care for. It is unique for being the only MHCP that can be in multiple places at once; it is composed of a multitude of "instances". Instances are fully sentient, do not share data, and, as with other AIs, use our in house AI Engine.
One instance of MHCP01 is active and within the world right now ("Yui").
MHCP02, aka "Freud", is an AI designed to mimic a modern psychologist. It was the first AI psychotherapist, created before PTMAI and is fully certified. It is also fully sentient, similar to
MHCP02 is currently active, but is not in the world yet.
MHCP03, aka "Sounding-Board", is a chat bot derivative designed to give patients an impartial voice to talk to. Unlike older chat bots, MHCP03 is fully capable of learning and actually receives data from the other MHCPs and PTMAI.
MHCP03 is currently active, but is not in the world yet.
MHCP04, aka "Louis", is a derivative of MHCP03 with a personality designed to "connect" with most people; it is similar to MHCP03 in all other regards except personality.
MHCP04 is currently active, but is not in the world yet.
MHCP05, aka "Group Therapy Coordinator", is just that: it acts as a mediator and coordinator during group therapy sessions. It is also a derivative of MHCP03.
MHCP05 is currently active, but is not in the world yet.
PTMAI, the Psychotherapy Master AI, oversees the MHCPs and their operation, and personally treats "high-difficulty" patients, or patients that have been unsuccessfully treated by at least three MHCPs. As such it is fully sentient and certified for psychotherapy, much like MHCP02.
PTMAI is not seeing anyone right now.
Option: _
The voice in my head thanks me, and apparently leaves. Where she went, I don't know.
I'm too tired to care.
As I turn around and walk down the catwalk, I can't help but notice that I seem to be walking slower than usual.
I begin to feel a chill as I walk up the stairwell to the surface level.
By the time I walk the way up the stairwell and reach the vault-door room, I feel very tired.
I take two steps, before my legs give way, and I fall to the floor as my vision fades.
Just before it fades completely, I notice a man in a brown coat walking towards me.