I look at my clock, seeing it is 11:02 AM. Great, she's two minutes late. Sighing, I lean back on one of the pillars of the Teleport Gate in the Town of Beginnings. It's been a while since we've conquered the Jeweled Water Peaks, so for about two weeks we've taken a break from our main quest and did our own thing, including finding a fourth stone. In that time, we've gained a new member to our party. So while everyone else heads to the fourth area of the game, I wait on our newest addition to the game.

Ah, there she is. She wears a red, blue, and white songstress dress, similar to her attire from SAO and ALO. Her hair is still red and flows down her back, which made her easily recognizable. I let her look around in shock and awe before I make my appearance. "You're late. But I see Dad's code got you in okay."

She places a hand on her hip. "Long time no see, Jaymes. You don't look any different here than you do in the other games or real life, huh?"

"Well, more or less this is my SAO avatar, which I guess was always me, heh."

She smiles and steps off the platform, jumping into my arms. "It's been so long since we've played together! I missed you so much, dummy."

"Dummy? Is that how you feel about your number one fan, Rain?"

Rain steps back and folds her arms. "Don't get ahead of yourself… Anyway, where is everyone else?"

"They're checking out the new area. I don't know if you're ready for it, but someone had no problem leading me on deadly wild goose chases in the past, so why not?"

She scoffs. "As I recall, you did pretty well back in SAO, especially with that goblin fortress. Who knows, I might get lucky."

"Sure," I say as we party up and step back towards the gate. "But the tables have turned. You're now the noob, and I'm the veteran. And you got multiple teachers who are just as experienced as--" I stop talking as the gang returns to town, looking completely winded. It's rare that we completely wipe out, so my only reasoning for their tired looks is exhaustion. Yet they only left an hour ago. "Why are you guys back?"

Yuuki points to her mouth. "Water. Need. Now."

"Soooo hot," Leafa says before dropping to her knees. Looking at the rest of the group, I get the idea. The desert temperature must be well-emulated, much like some levels were in Aincrad and in certain places of Arun and the world of GGO.

Sighing, I turn to Rain, who can't help but laugh at the embarrassing display of our friends. "I...am going to take back what I said right now. It's like SAO, you know how it is."

"Haha! You better."

Two days later…

"Mmm…" Kirito, Rain, and I face the quietly thinking Asuna as we sit and enjoy a meal of Asuna's preparation. However, the cook has barely taken a bite herself.

Looking at the other two of us confused, Kirito ends our conversation of Rain's tales of idol stardom to address his girlfriend. "Is something wrong, Asuna?"

"I was just thinking over some of Premiere's quest. All the things she's been burdened with, all the things that could be coming."

"Yeah. Even we had a little pressure on her, thinking she's the Goddess and all. Now, that may not even be the case."

Asuna sighs. "I've got this horrible feeling that the actual truth, whatever it may be, is going to be frightening."

"You're not the only one, Asuna," I say. "I've had a bad feeling since the beginning. An NPC, with all settings set to null, a quest that, now that I think about it, makes just as much sense as Rei's initially did, which is none. The only difference is that Premiere feels unfinished."

"Unfinished?"

Kirito nods. "Leafa is definitely right about the distinct lack of hints. And the story… Well, it could be clearer without becoming chaotic. We've all been so driven to finish this quest, but almost none of the details add up. All the things we've had to do. They all seem so random. Collecting stones and praying to trees, where do they link up? That's why we call her Premiere, right?"

"What do you mean," Rain asks.

"It's her first time for everything," I answered. "She'll find her 'true self' eventually. I compared her to Rei's but at least Rei's was leading to an endpoint. Premiere's quest is strange and twisting. Maybe she's a Goddess, maybe she's not. None of that really matters."

Asuna nods. "No matter what, she's still her."

"Exactly. Oh… Oh, it's Seven. She wants to chat." Kirito presses a command that initializes the voice chat feature Seven has given me and Kirito. Kirito used it before, when we were confused on what was wrong with Premiere at the start of everything.

"Privyet! Is now a good time?"

"Hey, Seven."

"Hello, Seven."

"Is that Asuna? So sorry! Didn't know you two were sharing some time."

I chuckle. "It's quite the show, Nanairo."

"Joshua? Oh, of course you three are together. Anyone else I'm missing?"

Rain giggles. "Privyet, little sister!" Jaymes has told me lots about you."

"Nijika? You're in the game?"

"Mhm. Jaymes pretty much coerced me, you know how he is. He's helpless without his dear Rain."

"Anyway," I hastily interrupt, "what's up, Nanairo? You seem sort of anxious."

"Well, I would have told you earlier, but there's something that just came up in my work, and I feel like you guys need to know."

"Speaking of which," Kirito comments, "we never got to ask what exactly your work was. Is it like Jaymes' work or…"

"Settle for an explanation, then. Hehe! Ever since Origin started, we've been running stress tests on the AmuSphere. In layman's terms, we're trying to see just how many calculations the AmuSphere can run at a time."

"Oh! Like seeing how many people an elevator can carry before it crashes."

I cringe at Asuna's analogy. "At least you have the right idea, gruesome as it is."

"Mhm. Right in the middle of all these tests, I started noticing a strange phenomenon within the systems. I can't be sure how widespread it is , but a bunch of AmuSphere units are slowing down for no discernable reason."

"Well, with all the effects and stuff in-game, isn't some slowdown to be expected?"

Seven counters Kirito's argument. "That's not the same kind of lag I'm talking about. It's happening even when the system isn't running hot. I think yours are a part of it."

"Really," Rain inquires. "I've only been here a few days, and the game runs just as fine as ALO does."

"You wouldn't notice. By slowing down, I mean at a rate of less than one percent. It;s indistinguishable to most humans."

I cup my chin. "If it was one or a few AmuSpheres, or spread across games, it might be an error with the unit… But an issue for a game having thousands of players… What's causing it?"

"I don't know. Hence the 'strange phenomenon' moniker."

"Yet that's a serious problem."

"Could be. Which is why I'm running surveys. That way we can discern how much a problem it is or isn't. There shouldn't be much of a health issue, but to be on the safe side, I'm prioritizing this particular task. And just to get in front of this train, don't worry, it's not gonna turn into a NerveGear. Safety protocols are fine."

"Thank the heavens," Rain softly whispers.

Kirito nods. "Still, the mysterious slowdown is kinda freaky."

"I might have overstated the problem. It may be more than three years since the NerveGear was released, about three for the AmuSphere, and of course the Augma releases in April, but VR tech is still new. Really new. So, at its best, there;s gonna be plenty of problems. Still, even the government is involved in Origin's development. They're pushing Full DIve tech really hard. So SA:O isn't just a game. It's also an attempt to build upon and surpass Akihiko Kayaba's Cardinal System. And if it comes out that Full Dive's problems aren't just linked to Cardinal, VR research could be set back decades. Remember, the Seed is a lesser version of Cardinal, but Origins and old ALO were developed on the original version. It is very optimal research is done on this version, but if it fails, it's not as if VR will disappear, but research on it…"

"Even companies who are starting to see value in VR research like my family's will drop out of it or will be forced to use the Seed. Not a bad idea, but the full version of Cardinal is much better."

"Indeed… Ah, sorry. Didn't mean to be all doom and gloom. I just figured I should get in touch with you three and let you know what's going on."

"Thanks, Seven," Kirito says. "We really do appreciate it. Let us know if there's anything we can do to help."

"You'll be the first I call. So, on a more important note, how are you guys? Sounds like you're having fun. You three aren't bringing in my sister to your circle of antics?"

I grin as I lean on Rain. "What do you mean, she has the choice to opt out. Plus Rain enjoys it."

"Indeed," Kirito says. "We're doing good for the most part. Still working like mad on that questline I told you about last time."

"You mean the Null NPC? You got plenty of strange phenomena yourselves. You haven't encountered any wacky bugs or anything, have you?"

I shake my head. "Quite the opposite. She's developing."

"The story isn't making much sense though. I feel like we're about halfway through and we're still stumbling in the dark. Lack of info is one thing, we're putting it together, but the whole two Goddess revelation is something else entirely."

"Hold on… Two Goddesses? What?"

Asuna continues her explanation. "At first, we thought the NPC with the null settings was the Goddess all those rumors talked about. Then...things got crazy."

"And you don't have any other information about the quest? Not even a teeny-tiny bit?"

"We have those six stones to gather," I recall, "which led me to believe this was somehow related to the Aincrad legend. Three of us actually did something similar in SAO."

Seven begins to panic. "Six stones… Sacred stones… Are you kidding me? AAARGH! WHY? Why are you doing this now?"

Rain sighs. "Care to explain what Asuna and the two knuckleheads got into?"

"That quest is still under development. Like, completely under development. Every aspect is supposed to be locked."

"What? Are you for real?"

"That's the whole Ground Quest thing I was telling you about! The big opening event! How in the world did it get out?"

Lisbeth's eyes widened as the four who received the news relay it to the rest of the group. "The Ground Quest? THE Ground Quest? That's what we've been doing?"

"So this whole thing wasn't supposed to be playable? While that does explain some things, it does raise far more questions."

"When I said it felt unfinished, I didn't think it actually was!"

"This clears up at least one mystery. That's why Premiere's settings are all nulled out."

"But...how? It's not even supposed to be in the world yet. There's no way we could have accessed it."

Kirito agrees with Silica. "Seven was just as stumped as we are. Though she did say it was weird, so at least we're not alone on that front."

Philia turns to me as I sit in the windowsill nearby. "You… You think it's okay to keep going?"

"I see no issue."

"If it's still mid-development, I dunno… It might be risky."

"I agree, Agil. You might be right."

Yuuki sighs. "But… But we came so far! We're so close! I can taste it!"

"And Premiere can't finish it on her own! She… She's an NPC! She neeeeeds us!"

"If we don't finish it, then what? Premiere just keeps wandering around town aimlessly."

I nod while clutching my chin. "I agree with all that, but…"

"Daddy," Yui says to Kirito, "I have an idea. We should look for an admin console."

"Like the terminals in SAO and ALO?"

"It would be similar. The developers would have placed one in-game so they can tweak and fine-tune from within. If I comb through the console, I should be able to find out how Premiere's quest was activated in the first place."

"Are you sure there is one," Yui's "mother" asks.

"Well, not positive, but the game is Sword Art Online at its core. I can only assume the console would have been ported as well."

"Makes sense. Why get rid of a perfectly good tool? The only problem is that it won't be easy to find."

"Seven might know where it is."

"I believe she would. She is a developer in a way." Kirito nods to himself and pats Yui on her shoulder. "Once we locate the console, I'll be relying entirely on you, Yui. Jaymes, that sounds like a plan."

"Mhm. I have my hypothesis, so I'll leave that entirely to you three and Strea. In the meantime, the rest of us will search for the missing piece in the quest. If this is analogous to the story of the Great Separation, then we need to find the second Goddess. Philia, Rain, the three of us and Premiere will go on a little treasure hunt in the field for the fifth stone and some clues."

Lisbeth chuckles. "Oh, you don't want us to look after dear Premiere?"

As memories of Kirito and I playing judge over Silica, Premiere, Lisbeth, and Leafa in swimsuits (Premiere won unanimously) and the suggestion Lisbeth made afterwards, I shake my head. "Not after the other day, you lewd woman. Anyway, let's get to it!"