"And that's the last tune up to the current issues in Ordinal Scale...why the heck did you put in emergency content and dangerous content? I understand that I told you about the potential of doing everything with a virtual avatar which would negate the actual risks, but I didn't intend to release that to the public as common knowledge. People have been complaining incessantly about the dangers of that. Some people are even injured..."

Ela glared through her virtual eyes at one of the lead designers for Ordinal Scale.

"I'm sorry...I had no idea you were keeping it a hidden mechanic. I wanted to give it more excitement and challenge but I understand now that it's my fault those people are injured..."

He was slightly pudgy, stood at about a head taller than Ela's virtual avatar and he had a sweaty, unkempt demeanor. He was the designer of Ordinal Scale and a person that was only briefly acquainted with Ela. Her name was on Ordinal Scale because he put it there.

"I'll take all responsibility I need to for my error..."

She sighed and a call started. A ring went the full way through and was answered right before the next would start.

"Hello, dispatch services."

"I am reporting the designer of the Ordinal Scale's danger and emergency events system. Do you have my location through gps?"

A bit of key clacking and she was answered.

"Yes, I'll have someone there in a minute. Is the designer there with you? Is this person responsible for the related injuries?"

"Yes and yes. I have further business to attend to, so I will be heading out as soon as the authorities have arrived. Please let them know they won't be seeing me, only the one responsible."

With that, Ela confirmed one more time and the call ended. She was waiting on the final stage to go through on her robotic body she was working on.

"I was hoping you wouldn't turn me in..."

She gave him a baffled expression before expressing it vocally.

"You said you would take responsibility, and as someone responsible for a lot of medical care work needing to be done as well as just injuring several people through the implementation of those mechanics, your responsibility will need to be judged by the proper authorities. I don't have the kind of say to give someone pardon for such a thing."

He groaned and sat on the floor. He was filled with regret.

"I just wanted to add something fun...I have all the blame but I think it's unfair I take the whole of it. You didn't tell me the-"

"Don't start dragging me in. I told you it was going to be a restricted mechanic of the AR devices to be able to project yourself as a virtual avatar. It's your fault for implementing something that you didn't clear with me. Something obviously dangerous."

With the sound of a vehicle pulling in to the driveway, Ela turned and noticed that it was a police cruiser.

"I'm busy today but I'm tempted to stay long enough to make sure you don't try putting any blame on me. It sounds as if you're spiting me now."

She glared at him and he trembled.

"I can take care of it mom."

Shii entered the room with a popping sound and animation and a smile on her face.

"Thank you. Please ensure this thrill seeker doesn't say anything he doesn't need to. His memory is his own fault."

"I've got it~"

With that, Ela returned to her virtual menu and went through her contacts until she arrived on Sachi. She used the command to move to her side and raised a hand in greeting.

"Waaah!"

Sachi fell back on her butt when she noticed Ela suddenly standing beside her.

"Sorry about startling you, were you not ready for the consultation?"

Sachi shook her head and hurriedly got to her feet.

"I'm sorry for startling so easily...and you're on time. I was just surprised by how suddenly you appeared."

Ela nodded and moved to sit across from Sachi. She also sat and took in a deep breath.

"I'm ready."

Ela nodded and began.

"We now begin your job consultation for work with the AR program. The jobs you listed you would like to consult for are all available. Which of them would you like to take?"

Sachi blushed and looked between her kotatsu surface and Ela until she could keep her eyes on Ela.

"I would like to take the job of being a security worker. I want to help people, but I'm having trouble remembering medical information. I'm having trouble with so many things with the other jobs I listed, but being security or working alongside police as a scout, that kind of thing reminds me of Kazu and how she was able to do the same things and protect all of us back in SAO."

Ela nodded with a cheerful smile.

"Excellent! I have a few requests from local and foreign law enforcement services to have a scout. There are many other opportunities you could fulfill within this position, however it will take some time for them to deem you ready to act as their scout."

Sachi sighed in relief. She didn't think she would get the type of job she realized she would be most likely to fit. She could keep working on her memory and become a medical professional of some sort eventually, but she felt she needed to start as soon as possible since Asuna, Kazu, Suguha, Rika and Shino were already working jobs outside of school.

"You seem to be holding yourself back. Do not feel rushed to pursue work. Remember that you can always take commissions if you need money, but if it's something you want to do for the rest of your life, a career, you should consider your desire more."

Sachi squirmed a little.

"I was thinking of becoming a doctor or paramedic, to help people in the same way as Asuna and Kazu currently are. But I already said I'm having a hard time remembering medical information..."

Ela nodded.

"There are ways that can be helped. We had a program to help your memory so you could catch up to your current grade. If that isn't working for you anymore, I have a few more methods to preserve your memory. Or, you could use your personal AR as a method of keeping all of the information organized and quickly accessible. Memory doesn't need to be how you approach being a medical professional if the information is always available to you at any time."

Sachi sighed in relief.

"So there were still ways...thank you, Ela-san. Are there any commissions you would recommend to me right now?"

For about five minutes they went over commissions and Sachi took a few for security and one for aiding at a medical clinic as a virtual helper.

"Well, onto my next appointment. I'll be able to occupy my new body later today. It feels so exciting that I won't have to live full time in virtual and augmented environments."

It had been two weeks since she entered her local medicuboid. Ela had managed to develop as close to perfect of a robotic body as she could manage in that time. It was light weight, but sturdy. It had the capacity to work without sacrificing any part of her. Her brain and memories could stay within the AR network, essentially becoming immortal. Her robotic body coupled with her mind in the network was something that couldn't be imagined merely a decade ago.

"I'm eager to see what your new body will be like! Please do take pictures for all of us."

Ela smirked.

"How about I show you right away? I have a camera I can access in the room where my body is being put together. It's almost finished, but I'll need to put a skin over it at a later time. You'll be able to see the finished product this way at a later time, but it's essentially this virtual avatar that the skin's appearance will take."

Sachi nodded emphatically. She wanted to see what Ela's robotic body was like underneath the skin. It felt like an invasion of privacy, but it was something she should get used to if she wanted to become a medical professional.

A window popped up in front of Ela and she turned it over to Sachi right away. She saw a highly detailed human figure made of metal. There was one green glowing eye and one blue one, but they were just lights in the eye socket placement. The figure was undeniably female in nature and slim. There was no hair, no skin, simply a lot of metal covering intricately laid wires like they were forming human nerves flowing through a natural body. It was literally as if she was skinless, showing the muscle and nerves underneath.

"That's...so cool! It feels a little strange that it's exactly like a body without skin and having unnatural color. The eyes are the giveaway that it's unnatural, otherwise I'd think it was an off color scientific model."

She was a little more talkative when she found she was more interested. Usually Sachi was shy and not very talkative, but give her something she was truly interested in, and she would lose some of her timid nature.

"Indeed. The only thing that would be missing from appearing like a real living body is fluid, but thankfully it doesn't need that just yet. It's the finishing touch when I put the skin on. I'll need some grease for it so its movements will stay smooth. For the time being as it is, it would serve its purpose until I can cover it in skin."

Sachi nodded energetically.

"Right!"

Ela chuckled a little and checked the time.

"I need to get to my next appointment. It was a good talk. Just be sure to take care of those commissions I gave you."

Sachi hummed a little and waved in response. Ela vanished and appeared at the location for her next appointment. With Rika.

"Oh! It's Ela-san!"

Rika raised a hand in a simple greeting and Ela returned the gesture.

"How has your progress been coming along with your work?"

Rika stretched her arms and back before answering.

"Tiring. Serving customers and walking around with those heavy trays and needing to move elegantly, doesn't really suit me. I hear you've been giving all of the others separate commissions. And I'm really envious of you appearing in virtual form..."

Rika had social anxiety. It wasn't as bad with people she knew, but it was horrible when she didn't know someone. It was getting a little better through confrontation, but sometimes it felt like she was taking a step forward and several back.

"Part of your current issue with work can be alleviated. You have been working here for more than long enough that your connection to the network should allow you as a virtual avatar to interact with your work. You can do your work without going to work physically. With your virtual avatar you are stronger after all, so carrying those trays should be easier."

Rika blinked a few times in surprise.

"That thing Asuna has done for school?"

Ela nodded.

"I don't approve of using it unless absolutely necessary, but since you are all in danger of being targeted by the Laughing Coffin members out and about, it would be wise to go out as your virtual avatars when you can. I've installed several securities to your homes so leaving your physical bodies home shouldn't be a risk."

Rika was confused.

"I heard about the Laughing Coffin thing but...I'm confused what you mean by not approving of it."

"It's a function I want to keep relatively secret. Everyone related to the Alt guild within SAO should make use of it for safety reasons, but otherwise it's something I've locked from other AR devices. It isn't something people can use unless I approve it and activate it."

She finally understood.

"Whoa...so, I shouldn't leave home physically anymore?"

Ela nodded.

"Until the Laughing Coffin members still out there are caught, you should all be careful. If you don't need it, don't use it. But if you do need it, definitely use it. For now I highly recommend it. As far as work, if you feel you aren't making any progress, I have some commission work you could do which deals in customer service in a more controlled, safe manner."

Rika shook her head.

"No, thank you but this work will be fine. Being able to make use of my virtual avatar will be more than enough help. I want to make progress on fighting my social anxiety in my way. Helping at the cafe is more than enough for me."

She had a smile on her face.

"Well then. This is how you enable it."

She showed Rika how to access the program which let them use their virtual avatars in augmented space.

"Thanks!"

Ela nodded.

"If that's all, I have one last appointment before I occupy my new body. I'm happy to hear how you're doing."

Rika nodded and gave a thumbs up only for Ela to disappear immediately with the thumbs up.

Where Ela ended up next, she was facing Yuuna.

"Greetings, Ela-san. How were your other appointments today?"

Ela nodded with a light smile on her face.

"They went great. I hope this last one also goes well."

Yuuna frowned.

"I might have to disappoint you..."

Ela knew what she meant as soon as Yuuna said that.

"So then...someone here has been hacking into Ordinal Scale as well. I'll need to resolve that before it goes out of control. It's not my game...I should just shut down the game and take it over before re releasing it. I can't seem to trust other people with co-creating a game unless they're my kids."

Yuuna sighed.

"My father's business division has a few people who have been trying to hack in and alter Ordinal Scale. It's despicable. It's to take advantage of some people. The thing is, these people are directly connected to Sugou Noboyuki, who Kazu got locked away, the one who was dealing in human experimentation information."

Ela clenched her fists, but took a deep breath to calm herself.

"I will handle everything. Thank you for your assistance looking into that. I'll have to concern myself with something more pressing after this appointment however before attending to these concerning individuals..."

Yuuna wore a frightened expression. She had unfortunately seen the more frightening side of Ela. Ela still hadn't shown any of them true anger from herself. She had been angry for their sakes, but she mostly brushed off her anger. Her anger was becoming more and more frightening to Yuuna. Perhaps because of not properly letting it all out.

"Are you alright, Ela-san?"

Ela calmed herself again.

"I'm okay. I just have a lot on my plate right now and I'm eager to rid us of all of these issues that are piling up. Part of me is tempted to use the augmented network and do some foul deeds to fix all the messes that have been piling up, but my sensible side is making me stop. It's also making the process longer. I prefer efficiency when I can commit to it, but that's some horrible efficiency."

Yuuna closed her eyes and hung her head. She wished she could be of more help. But she had provided the utmost she could already. Her talents and desires were lined up with performing music. That wasn't going to be able to help with Ela's further work in correcting the current issues they were facing.

"Well, let me know if there's ever anything I can help with. Oh, and Eiji has told me he wants to be of help to you as well. He's sad that you have gone to everyone but him for help even while you've been helping him so much with his studies and physical training regimen."

Ela nodded in understanding before disappearing from Yuuna's sight.

She was aware. She needed Eiji to be strong as soon as possible. She needed him to be able to keep up with and support Kazu with something soon. It wasn't ready yet however. She had returned to the room where her robotic body and her medicuboid were hooked up. Three minutes. Only that short of a time and she could finally feel alive again, instead of living in perpetual agony.

She tested touching her robotic body one more time with her virtual avatar and she finally met success in being able to move it slightly. Being able to move her physical body with her virtual avatar would be incredibly useful in the future, she thought.

Three minutes passed fast for her. It was because of her perception of time. She spent so much time accelerating that she couldn't accurately age herself. She couldn't go off of her birthday by a long shot. She accelerated enough time to put on several lifetimes of her current age. With the time passed, she interacted with her medicuboid, began the transfer from her medicuboid to her robotic body and her brain information copied into the robotic body's head, as well as all her other living functions such as heart beat, blood flow, and everything resounded healthily. Her robotic body was ready for her, just sleeping. The transfer didn't take very long. Her original body was dead as soon as it was submerged in the fluids of the medicuboid, kept alive by her mind being present and giving it jolts through the augmented network while she was working.

She should have died several times over, but the medicuboid and her own efforts somehow managed it. The moment she realized she could safely return to her body, she did so. It was a horribly strange feeling, going from the most comfortable she had ever been to feeling thoroughly cold, stiff and naked. Of course she would feel naked. She didn't have a skin on. Of course she would feel cold, she didn't have her heating regulation going yet. And of course she would feel stiff. She had already prepared herself for the short trip to her laboratory.

She sighed and felt the mechanisms of the body respond in kind, everything was working smoothly, but some of the more heavy movements like moving her legs were stiff. She needed to be careful until she got the skin on and lubricant flowing through her new body.

She felt something touch the back of her legs and looked behind her, only to see that Shii was there, holding onto the handles of the wheelchair.

"Until you get lubricant flowing and the skin on, please rely on me, mom."

Ela smiled wide and nodded. Shii had been with her since she was fifteen. It felt like so much longer. Shii was so reliable, strong and knew just how to communicate with her to calm her down from nearly the most heightened states she had been in. She was eternally grateful to her oldest child.

The robotic body had incredible sense of touch, sight and hearing. The only two remaining of the primary senses, taste and smell would be next to useless to her since the body wasn't built with intent to process food. It would be a waste of food resource after all. All her body would need in the future for maintenance, would be grease to keep her functioning smoothly, and minor fixes she would need whenever she would strain her body's movements. It wasn't meant to be used in high stress situations, though she hoped in the future to make it more mobile.

When she arrived in her laboratory, even the skin was finished production, coating a mannequin which was the size of her new body. She had spent much time accelerating in an artificial space to design both the skin production machine to copy the appearance she desired, and the robotic body which could be copied to produce similar bodies for her children. Improvements would need to be made in the future for mobility, but for the time being it would fulfill its current purpose.

She needed to remind herself constantly that her condition was that she needed the body to stay alive. She couldn't survive any longer off of the corpse that now laid in the medicuboid her previous body occupied. She achieved her goal of preserving her life for the time being. A perfect body that could do everything she wanted to be able to do wasn't the goal. Producing sensation for touch sight and hearing was already above and beyond what her original goal was.

"Well, time to get in there so the automated application arms can put it on me. Can you help me in Shii?"

She nodded her head and helped her in. The process seemed both too fast, but also careful and elegant. It was strange seeing the skin become unrecognizable for a short few minutes until it was fully applied. Ten minutes and the application machine was finished working. She walked out of the chamber, feeling some of the stiffness go. There was some grease on the inside of the skin automatically to help with the application process. She checked it over and nodded in satisfaction that there were no creases or openings shown where the skin had openings to fit over her new body.

She moved over to the greasing station and some of her other, unfinished projects were waiting to be finished. She shook her head, though she wanted to get to work on finally finishing those projects, she needed to finish applying grease to the new body. She applied a little pressure and a pore opened up in the skin. She applied grease several times, smoothing out her new skin each time to ensure that her appearance wouldn't be marred by the grease application process. It took her half an hour to finish the entire process, and she took her robe which hung by the door before checking herself in the mirror. After seeing herself reflected nearly perfect in the mirror on the back of the door, granting her pure satisfaction in her current achievement, she put on the robe and left the room, ready to confront Kikuoka Seijirou about his project she had told him not to start. But not before thanking the clinic staff for allowing her to make so much use of the premises.