System Maintenance Chapter 46
Author's Note: Haha, the chapter you've been waiting for! Though, I think it'll come as a surprise. :3
Again?
"Wait, what do you mean again?" I asked immediately. Agatha tilted her head and gave me a blank look. Right, an NPC wouldn't understand such a vague question. "Umm, that is, could you tell us what happened on the quest you had us do?"
Agatha nodded, then said in a voice scratchy from coughing, "You took me to a magic spring in a forest that healed my illness, then took me to see the nice Onii-chan who brought me medicine first."
"That was all?" She nodded. Keiko and I exchanged glances. "So, where was the magical spring?"
"In the forest," she answered vaguely. There was one healing spring that came to mind immediately could it be the same one?
After thinking for a moment, I asked, "And who was the Onii-chan we took you to see?"
"His name is Kirito." We would have asked if we could bring her to the healing spring again, but based on how this quest was, she would always get sick again, even if we brought her. So, after we wished her luck getting better, which as an NPC, she didn't understand, and thanked her mother, who didn't even give a response, we left the house.
"Next place to check is the spring then," Keiko noted.
"I'm not so sure about the Onii-chan part though," I pondered. "If he was the first one to bring medicine, it had to be a player. Nothing a player could do would be able to screw up pain dampening, right?"
"I see your point, but let's check it out anyway if the spring clue doesn't pan out. It'll be our only lead at that point." I nodded, and we set off. While we weren't really sure where the spring was, it wouldn't be a problem as long as Keiko led the way. We couldn't sprint all out though, because the forest quickly grew dense as we made the trek uphill. We were forced to wind all though tree trunks, large brush, and rocks as we half-ran. After a pretty long time, considering how short our normal travel time was, we emerged in a vaguely familiar clearing. Only vaguely, because we had only been here a few times before, nearly a month ago. Also because, behind the familiar pack of wolves, was an entirely unfamiliar spring.
The small pond was completely frozen solid. However, before we could inspect the spring, we had to kill off the wolves guarding it. I couldn't be sure if the monsters had gotten weaker, or if we really had such a level advantage that they totally couldn't manage anything. The entire group of ten fell to our blades within a matter of seconds.
Then, we stood before the frozen spring, staring at it with dumbfounded looks. "It... definitely wasn't like that before..." Keiko managed.
"Y,yeah..." Slowly, we stepped out onto the ice, shuffling forward on the glassy surface. "Totally solid," I commented. She nodded and we stopped in the middle, looking around. Despite the strange changes, it was looking like the magical spring info was no good either. Next up was—
Falling.
Without warning, I felt myself falling. When I looked down, there was nothing. Then I looked up again, to see a hole with a canopy of trees showing, inside a completely blank space. It was so disturbing, I was too stunned to open my mouth and scream. After a few seconds, a swirling darkness wrapped up around us and everything went dark. It cleared after an unknown amount of time, but nothing seemed to have changed. The entire space was blank, even I didn't exist. There was simply nothing.
Did we just die somehow? But, if that was the case, shouldn't the «Nerve Gear» be frying my brain right now? Then, maybe there was a small period of time in limbo, before the server told the equipment to kill you? Then, maybe I was already dead and this was the afterlife...
In that emptiness, I waited for some length of time. I could not begin to imagine how long, as there was nothing to mark time. Maybe a moment, maybe an eternity. But really, what did it matter anyway? Until finally—
"Oh, it's you two again," a deep voice seemed to emanate from everywhere, but create no real sound, as if it was all in my head. Even though as far as I could tell, I didn't even have a head at the moment. "Now what's this? A cheating flag... for moving outside of the map? The location... through the ground. Sounds like a bug, let's see..." Who was this man, who sounded both bored and intrigued at the same time?
"Hmm, it looks like the area suffered from numerous errors... Your character data as well... Really? Eight flags? How did you even..." His voice trailed off and there was silence for some time. "Ok, those are minor, and those are within expectations... Then, the item flag... Let's see... You have eighteen +7 reinforced swords? While that's certainly strange, it isn't a cheat, so the flag is... Oh, you got those already? Hmm... I guess you haven't used them then, I'll just clear that flag for now..."
Items? Using something? Had we picked something up? This was clearly someone with control over the game. Some kind of «Game Master»? However, the only person with control in SAO was... Kayaba Akihiko! The creator of this death game was personally inspecting my character data to sort out bugs? Seriously? How could he personally manage ten thousand players like this?
Then, it occurred to me. He was sorting out bugs and such. Normal players wouldn't have any way to create bugs in the game under normal circumstances. However, we had the strange «Blessed Twins» skill which seemed to attract all sorts of weirdness, as well as our polar luck, which surely ground away at everything around us.
"Wait, how do you even mess up the ethics code? Oh, oops, that one is my fault, but why do you even have that toggled... Let's see... Personal data... What?! Then, login time?" The voice which must have belonged to the madman behind this whole plot stopped his voice for a few seconds, then broke into hysterical laughter.
When he finished, he went on, "How amusing, Rikito Eiji and Keiko... Apparently twins, though not identical... But according to your login time, you were never reverted to your original appearances. Hahaha! I can't believe I gave «Blessed Twins» to two players who aren't actually twins! In that case I'll link the ethics code too... Hmm, which state though... Well, I'll give you a pass here, you probably haven't been able to sleep lately anyway." Amongst everything he had said, the only thing that registered in my mind was, Wait, he gave us the skill? What could that mean? After laughing for a minute, it seemed Kayaba had calmed down again. "Still, seeing how things have worked out so far, I'll leave it be. I don't know if I would be able to untangle you two again myself anyway."
He paused momentarily, releasing a 'hmmm' sound briefly before he spoke again. "That one is fine, but the pain dampening system is... How did you even manage to break that? Hmm, let's see, that function is local, but I can send a system override for it and... done." He seemed to think for a moment before going on. "Actually, I'll keep you on your toes, since you are special after all." That part was very worrying. What was he doing to my character? "Last is your level, 17 already? It's high enough to get a warning for cheating. While that level is understandable for you... I think I'll have to handicap you a bit for all the trouble you've caused so far... So, I'll just overwrite that with the level average, and... done. That should keep you around a bit longer."
After that, he went on as if speaking to himself, "But, I'm going to have to keep an eye on those two, they certainly broke my expectations of that «Unique Skill». I never expected it to progress so far so quickly..." Even though he wasn't talking to me, his words made me want to gulp in anticipation, though I had no throat. "Well, that fixes that problem, now just for the area, even though no one uses it anyway... Oh, and goodbye. Good luck. I expect to see you two become fine adventurers, just, not quite yet." Those words evoked a strange reaction. Something like Deja'vu, but kind of different, passed through my consciousness.
In the time it took me to shake the strange feeling, sweeping darkness had again descended upon me from the void.
The next thing I knew, I felt the prickle of grass on my face.
My eyes fluttered for a moment as I tried to open them, then slowly pushed myself to my knees. Keiko was pushing herself up from the ground at the same time. When I looked around, we were in the middle of the woods.
"W,what the hell just happened?" I stuttered out.
Author's Note: Yeah, I decided to make «Blessed Twins» an actual unique skill, instead of just a rare extra skill given to twins. I think I have an idea in mind for it. Maybe.
Author's Note: Those long messages a pain to format. :(
