With a heavy yawn she responded to the incessant ear piercing sound of her alarm clock with a precisely aimed slap. Or it would be a slap if it were a face. The alarm clock she turned off was a monster themed clock based on a cute slime monster. Asuna pulled herself together mentally, crawled out of bed and made her way to the washroom to get herself cleaned up. She heard some notifications go off on the approach and while she brushed her teeth, cleaning her mouth from the overnight germ buildup, she checked over what news came through the night.

Kazu had let her know before they went to bed that there were dangerous achievements in the game they were introduced to the previous night, Ordinal Scale, but that they might not be so dangerous in controlled environments. There were plenty of dangers to the potential of Ordinal Scale. It could merge augmented reality to reality far too quickly and those who weren't yet wearing AR headsets would immediately shun the new game. Having Ela's name on the production team list wasn't a good enough selling point for them. If it were up to her, she might have removed the dangerous achievements entirely for the sake of safety.

Those thoughts met a notification for Ordinal Scale users that hot fixes were applied to the game through the night after several people world wide stumbled across the hidden dangerous achievements. Such achievement rewards weren't being removed from the game, but unless in a controlled environment, such as designated locations where such achievements wouldn't harm uninvolved people and the risk is measured more aptly. The rewards for the original stakes of attaining the achievements would get an asterisk to signify they were among those who got the original conditions and therefore the more bountiful rewards for wearing them. The rewards for getting the achievements after the hot fix was cut a small amount. It would add up in the long run, but in the short term, it didn't give the impression that people who risked their lives potentially, wouldn't be upset at the update.

She smiled and finished with her clean up and was settled into her school uniform. She logged back into Ordinal Scale just to see how frequently the solo events would pop up. Almost right away as she was descending the stairs to the ground floor of the house, she spotted a kobold searching around for prey. It would be troublesome for events to keep popping up at home, so she wondered if it was possible to set an area as a sanctuary against events.

Entering her virtual inventory to equip her prized rapier made specially for her by Kazu and Rika together, she gracefully bounded from the middle of the staircase and ran through the kobold with her rapier. It was the only monster in the event thankfully. Rewards popped up and a name for the event.

[Encroachment of Night Dweller(s): Completed]

The rewards were minimal, but perhaps it was just a wake-up event. She wondered what the point of it was. It was strange that an event would pop up so suddenly. During the moment she thought on it standing in place, she put away her virtual rapier and her mother cleared her throat for attention.

"Is there a reason for your...interesting entrance?"

She was still disapproving of several aspects of the situation surrounding her daughter, but she understood that Asuna had a promising future so long as she worked alongside Ela in some form. Just because she couldn't see the proof immediately, didn't mean she should dismiss that augmented reality was possibly the most significant part of the future, and her daughter was acquainted with the person who started that major step from virtual reality.

"Sorry, I'll turn it off."

Her mother shook her head and beckoned her over with a sigh.

"Your mentor, Ela-san arranged with me late last night to have a meeting this morning regarding future plans. She has some ideas and she wants to make sure I'm kept in the loop. I understand you want to decide your own future, one with that...girl you met within Sword Art Online. I appreciate she's keeping me in the loop and offering you several paths with which you can stay with the girl you have found love in. I still think you are a little too young to be thinking of spending the rest of your life with someone, but I have no room to speak on that further since your father and I were ready to marry you off to someone we thought would be a good fit for your future and ended up a sickening criminal."

Asuna was blinking throughout her mother's explanation and she sat across from her at the dining table. She was ready to thank for the meal as her mother finished and explained her reason for the extravagant entrance quickly.

"Thank you for giving me this chance. As for my entrance I was introduced to an augmented reality game last night, the first of its kind. There was a random event monster spawned at the bottom of the stairs and I defeated it. That's all it was. I'll clarify if you need me to explain anything else about it."

Her mother nodded but wore a confused expression at the same time.

"What is this game you're talking about?"

Asuna sent her mother the invite to the game. Her mother also had the AR device and wore it all the time aside from cleaning herself, so she would have received it.

"It's a game which is built around events, from what I've experienced so far. If you have items from other games which were crafted through the physical system Ela programmed into virtual reality, you can equip them at least as a way to fight. I noticed that my equipment didn't have any stats. This game seems to progress through leveling yourself, doing events. Ah, and it also encourages physical health. So at the least it's good for getting some exercise. There are some big events where I was invited with Kazu last night into the game, where you can fight alongside several other people to defeat large boss monsters which are based on the ones we encountered in Sword Art Online."

She hummed and installed the game. It was a very fast install for everyone.

"It sounds very interesting. Maybe we could do a bit of exercising together with these events. It would be nice to bond during time we aren't busy with studies and work. I also heard about you getting a job as a nurse trainee at the university. I just hope such work won't impede your studies and is along the lines of what you want to do with your future."

Asuna nodded.

"I'm eager to be doing something other than study all the time. And the patients we met yesterday give me determination to do better, so they're good to be around."

Her mother nodded with a gentle smile. It was very welcome to have such a good atmosphere between them. Before SAO came into her life, Asuna couldn't imagine her mother giving such an expression. It had become semi-common of recent since Asuna had been proving herself with her studies and results with testing and catching up in no time. It was all thanks to the aide of Ela and her children, but it was also the fact that her mother only wanted the best for her.

"Ah, this feels interesting...so the equipment you said was crafted by Kirigaya-chan...ah, I can wear it like this..."

She was impressed and looked down at herself. The equipment was flattering. Kazu designed the equipment as a type of battle mage outfit, just in case Kyouko ever decided to join them in some kind of virtual or augmented game. The outfit didn't show anything unnecessary, and was detailed to an extent she was honestly baffled. The design gave her the impression of a person of nobility wearing decorative equipment but lacking functionality. However there was plenty functionality and protection built into what she was wearing. Sturdy sections all over meant to guard weak points on the body, small amounts of decoratively designed silver on the chest, shoulders and waist. It was impressive all around. And the weapon that came with it was a rapier. She hadn't understood the descriptive role of a battle mage until she was wearing it that it was something to protect the essentials while not being too heavy and as well provide mobility. It was cloth more than anything else.

"Perhaps Kirigaya-chan should reconsider her career goal and become a fashion designer..."

Asuna stifled laughter and her mother cracked a more broad smile.

"But then her greater talents would be wasted, now wouldn't they. Thank you for inviting me to this game. Ah, could you tell me how to turn it off so it doesn't disrupt me at work?"

Asuna went over it quickly. They both realized their breakfast was getting cold while they spoke and quickly spoke their gratitude for their food before beginning. Not a minute into them starting to eat, Kyouko received the call from Ela. She answered and Ela appeared beside her, just out of reach of phasing into the chair next to her.

"Ah! That startled me...I might not get used to people or creatures materializing so close so suddenly."

Ela bowed lightly and offered an apology.

"I'm sorry for the sudden appearance. I will try to appear from a distance in future calls we may have. Good morning Kyouko-san, Asuna."

Ela took the seat beside Kyouko as it was offered and began speaking as they ate.

"This morning's meeting is regarding Asuna's future plans and what has been going on regarding her studies and work. I have been keeping you informed as much as possible, Kyouko-san. Today I inform you that there's another future possibility for Asuna she might take up. There is a program which has been added into the augmented reality feature called personal training. It's a fitness program which for the time being, doesn't have an avatar. There are several dozen users who are requesting an avatar or a varied selection of avatars and personalities to exercise alongside. The application is aimed toward rehabilitation, fitness and to weight loss. I would like to suggest this as a possibility to be a fitness trainer and or an avatar fixture to the program."

Asuna wasn't surprised. It was one of many, many jobs which were suggested by her. Ela's mind fixated heavily around the future of augmented reality and providing a large quality of life for users. There were some suggestions which didn't involve augmented reality, but those suggestions fell flat with Asuna even if they were more familiar to Kyouko.

"What would the avatar work be like?"

Kyouko's question was like many. She wanted to know everything possible about the potential jobs. She didn't want her daughter doing anything inappropriate or revealing of herself after all, even if she knew Asuna was protective enough of herself. She wanted to make sure that Asuna wouldn't be put in danger.

"Work as an avatar is to record yourself in various exercise positions so that you can display exercises to those using the program and you would also provide vocal input. It's an automated system so it wouldn't require to constantly be nutritionist and trainer for users of the program. It would be a recording session and an update frequently for requests within reason. A one time or several times job which would give users a visual to relate to when using the program."

Kyouko nodded.

"So it's work that several people might do, and it's something rather reasonable since it's focused on health and fitness. This sounds fine to me, and gives room for other work."

Asuna nodded in agreement.

"As for being a fitness trainer, what kind of education would she need?"

Ela hummed a little and smiled brightly.

"Asuna's studies in the medical field with me have progressed to a point she could start immediately. In essence, the work of a fitness trainer within the program would be a person who would provide nutrition guidance, exercises fit for the user, and plotting out the near fitness future for users of the program. She would need to update herself on guidelines and new information as it comes in, but her current education is wholly encompassing of what would be needed in the program. Over time more would be required, but right now she could start this work in her off time and provide for users. It's somewhat like working as an avatar, but the avatars are all purpose within the program. As well, there are some animation studios who are suggesting adding animated avatars to protect the real identities of workers for augmented programs. For now, she wouldn't have an animated avatar to protect her. So this is to her discretion on immediate acceptance of the job. As a final note, both jobs could be done from home or from nearly anywhere, but another workplace or school I suggest not double tasking."

Kyouko finished her food and rubbed her forehead with her fingers. It was all up to Asuna in the end. She was stacking up potential futures which could set her future in stone as more than prosperous, and choosing what she liked most from the bunch. So far, a previous job as a fencing teacher was the one she brightened up to most. She wanted Asuna to do what she loved in the end, and if it meant being a fencing teacher while doing other quick jobs on the side, even that would be fine with Kyouko. She had become honestly enthralled in the future she was witnessing. Ela was at their dining room table, while at the same time in another country. Very far away. That alone was something impressive to her. That she could also sit and interact with the environment around them instead of act like a specter, phasing through the ground and the walls and the very chair she sat in, that she could generate special effects and windows of information and have a full scale online interaction within a real space, not on a computer screen or in virtual reality. It was all so much to process. When Kyouko was Asuna's age, virtual reality was barely a promise to eventually come. There were many, many failures leading up to the success of the set of geniuses who made it happen, and the singular genius among them who took the steps further.

"Well?"

Asuna smiled.

"This is another option I really like. I think I'll start with the avatar work. If it's possible, I would like to get a template for what you want me to record, and set me up with whoever will do animations to cover my appearance in the future. As much as being protected by an animated appearance is appealing, I would like to take on some work now so I can save for something."

Kyouko gave a confused expression.

"It's a secret!"

It only made Kyouko more curious, but she was happy to see the bright and slightly mischievous expressions her daughter could make around her. She had gotten used to her son being the only one capable of doing that. Her and her husband had given Asuna enough depression that she might regret it for the rest of her life, so she wanted to make up for it and do right by her. She wanted to support what Asuna wanted to do so long as she was safe doing it and she wouldn't need to worry about affording the future she chose.

"In that case, for the time being how about you make use of the function from..."

Ela explained that for the time being, Asuna could use a different, slightly older game to fulfill the role temporarily since Asuna mentioned within her response that covering herself with a virtual avatar was appealing. The older game was a first edition semi virtual reality game which allowed users to control an avatar with physical devices as well as camera sensory. It was very under accurate in performance and took a lot of effort to work properly, but it would only be temporary. There might be danger and there might not by using her real appearance as an avatar for the program. It might make her a celebrity of some sort, which would mean she couldn't enjoy her outings as much without covering herself up. The lack of danger might be from the slight desensitization from there being virtual avatars all over the place over the last several years providing entertainment and she would just be another entertainer in a sense.

The word celebrity had become too vague, and anyone could be a celebrity with a little bump into different spotlights.

"In any case, I'll inform the animators and have one contact you later today. I suggest you put more focus into graduation since you're only a couple years away. You can do this work part time. As much as you might want to make some fast money right now, we should also take into account one potential threat. There's still two escaped members of Laughing Coffin out there and they might target you to get back at Kazu for imprisoning them back in SAO. I want to give you as much protection as possible in that case. Unfortunately the law enforcement there couldn't protect you indefinitely until those people are caught..."

Kyouko interrupted suddenly.

"Wait, there are still murderers from that game out there?!"

Kyouko was shivering with an expression between fear and fury.

"Why have I been in the dark on this of all things?!"

Asuna and Ela tried to calm her down but Kyouko wasn't having it.

"You can do your studies from home now considering everything, why didn't you tell me?! Is it just so you can spend some physical interaction time with Kirigaya-chan every day?!"

She stopped for a moment and Asuna explained.

"That is partially why, but also because I wasn't cleared from home connected schooling. At this point though I could do semi-dive. I could go to school like normal but with my virtual self in augmented spaces. The whole school at this point is covered in augmented space, so it's entirely possible for me. At first, we needed to set it up. I wouldn't be getting my physical exercise in though."

Kyouko covered her eyes, rubbed her forehead some more and trembled as she pulled her self control in.

"This is that augmented environment coming up again...can I get an explanation from you, Ela-san?"

Ela nodded.

"Augmented environment is physical space around the world which has been occupied by someone using an AR device. It provides internet connection without any lag or connectivity issue, and allows for virtual information to be imposed onto physical environments. To simplify, all of Japan at this point has been mapped into augmented reality, and so if someone were to dive into virtual reality, they could explore Japan from their bed by using their virtual avatar. And those who are connected to the augmented network would be able to see and interact with them since their mind would really be there."

Kyouko was shocked.

"That's a thing? Exploring the world from the safety of your home, your bed?"

Ela nodded.

"Here, if you're okay with it, I'll help you experience it."

Ela stood up and led the way to a seat along the wall of the dining room long enough to lay down on and Kyouko followed her lead. After settling down, Ela sent her a prompt to dive, which she accepted right away. And finally Ela showed her a short guide on exiting the virtual server and entering the augmented server. And there Kyouko appeared, standing next to her unconscious body. It was surreal and probably difficult to comprehend that she could be perfectly fine while being in such a state. It was as if she were a ghost, but could return to her life at any moment.

"How is this possible?"

Ela and Asuna smiled to her.

"The augmented network is an amazing thing. I used the single strongest thing about humanity to create it. Our minds. Just by observing your surroundings, you contribute to building and expanding the augmented network. If you can see it, you can go there as long as you're diving. This creates a significant amount of protection from danger, since when you're diving with the AR device, you are alerted to danger fast enough you can return to yourself immediately at a moment's notice even if you're half the world away in the augmented network without suffering the consequences of the fantasy of teleportation."

Asuna and Kyouko were both in awe, even if Asuna had heard it several times before, she couldn't get over how monumental it was to be able to do such a thing. Kyouko hearing it freshly for the first time was even more in awe.

"Anyway, if you want to go to school through the augmented network from now on, I won't discourage it so long as you remember to get good exercise in every day. I recommend against doing it all the time, but I'll inform the faculty of your school that you won't be able to fully participate in physical education classes. I have other things that require my presence shortly, so be safe and I will talk with you later."

Ela disappeared and Kyouko returned to her body swiftly.

"I might make use of this as well, since my work doesn't require great physical effort and I could already do my work from home anyway. I need some physical rest after all the appointments."

She went to her room and Asuna went to hers and the two of them dived in and went about their days using the augmented network.

Asuna was able to move around far faster than normal by using her virtual self's agility stats. She also had incredible stamina as her virtual self, so she was able to make it to the bus stop in no time. Rika was arriving at the same time, and she was baffled at what she saw.

"Uhm...Asuna? How are you moving so fast?"

Asuna couldn't help herself and smiled widely.

"I'm my virtual self right now using the augmented network. Ela-san told me this morning that there are still Laughing Coffin people out there who might still come after me since I'm so close to Kazu and so I'm going to play it safe for a while and go to school like this."

Asuna noticed an Ordinal Scale event pop up and realized she had logged in during the dive process unintentionally. She could thankfully use her virtual self's magic and cast a large bubble around the swarm of giant insects the moment they appeared, popping the insects with the bubble before they could do anything.

Rika sighed.

"This kinda makes it feel like cheating...but I guess you're only a day early on it. We might as well all start doing this, everyone from our guild for safety reasons considering what you said. But really, now you're basically cheating by using your virtual self's stats. We were on realistic terms with Ordinal Scale because we were using our physical bodies."

Asuna shrugged.

"If using virtual avatars to play Ordinal Scale wasn't intended, then Ela wouldn't have allowed exploring the physical augmented network while playing it. Eventually everyone will know and be able to get the dangerous achievements without any actual danger to themselves or their surroundings. But you're right, Ordinal Scale isn't difficult at all with a strong virtual avatar."

Rika let out a sigh.

"Of course Ela-san would be involved in the first released AR game...and of course she would make it like this. I would think she would make the game more difficult though."

They both pondered where the difficulty of the game was since the game so far was obviously easy. Unless it was a large scale event for an uncapped amount of people, events for one or a few partied participants were easy enough to handle in an attack or two each. The event with the swarm that just occurred was a joint event between the two of them, and she defeated the whole swarm in one spell. It could simply do with their current Ordinal Scale level and the event monsters that would spawn later on would give them more of a challenge, but currently it was easy since the game had only come out recently.

The two of them spoke about many things until the bus they hopped on arrived at the SAO survivor's school where Rika got off, and Asuna continued on to her school relaxing in silence. When the bus arrived at the stop, she was greeted by Kazu.

"Good- ah! Good morning Asuna. How are you enjoying augmented living?"

Asuna narrowed her eyes and she couldn't tell if Kazu was doing the same thing. Kazu would know and probably be diving since just the day before she spoke about how her body needed an immense amount of rest.

"Yes I am diving right now. I figured it out last night so I'm surprised you were also diving this morning."

Asuna blushed a little.

"I didn't figure it out myself. Ela-san was meeting with me and mom on future counseling this morning and she told us about it since there are still Laughing Coffin members on the loose. So I'm going to go out through the augmented network for a while. At least since we're both doing it, we'll be able to..."

She hugged Kazu's arm.

"Experience contact between ourselves normally. But that does leave us out of physical education."

Kazu shrugged.

"Not a big deal. We can still participate as long as our classmates are using AR and we use an augment item for sports. I have some virtual sports equipment that we can use with our class I generated in my personal server last night since I thought this might be a possibility."

Asuna shook her head.

"I would have been fine with taking a day or two off from that class with our reason we have, but you're always so prepared..."

She stuck out her tongue but her tone of voice was still a little disappointed that they wouldn't have a day off from physical education.

"Doesn't mean that we won't take a day or two off from it. Just letting you know instead of keeping you in the dark on it. I'm really sorry about keeping secrets from you even if I wanted it to be a surprise."

Asuna sighed.

"I was only upset because there was so much going on. I'm fine now. I was feeling a sense of needing to do everything I could to keep up with you, but I realize now I don't really need to keep up. As long as we continue to feel the way we do for each other and support each other, as long as we do our best at what we do, how much overall skill one of us has over the other doesn't matter. I'm happy to make a goal of getting better than you at something I want to be great at, something I do for a living. I'm thinking of taking a few contract jobs for a short term goal before I graduate, so I wonder if you're okay with me doing some jobs for a while during your current job with training as a nurse."

Kazu nodded happily.

"I'm happy that you've found some goals. And that you're finally happier. I felt bad for a while, that I was putting you in a position where you couldn't keep up with me since that was your kind of personality. I'm just glad that you're feeling better."

Asuna rested her head on Kazu's shoulder and they continued on to the school earning some glares, some excited chatter and some shouts calling them disgusting normies.

They ignored it, enjoying all the time together they had. Kazu was only at school for Asuna, and Asuna was feeling greedy. She wanted some physical time with Kazu and nobody could stop her while they were in the augment network on their own. Just hugging and holding hands and cuddling were enough to make her feel like the stress that had been building up had no reason to exist.

"This kind of thing, makes up for any and all of those bad feelings I had. Please let me be a little greedy."

Kazu kissed her on the cheek in response and let her keep holding on how she was.