Sword Art Online - Alchemy Edition.
Summary: This is a basic idea for a story that I had when watching the anime, one that I hope someone would take up.
Disclaimer: I do not in any shape or form own Sword Art Online, it's a light novel series written by Reki Kawahara and illustrated by abec, whilst the anime is produced by A-1 Pictures. The only thing that I own is the idea for the alchemy part of it.
Prologue…
Announcement!
22rd of April 2022:
We begin our story with Kirigaya Kazuto, a fourteen-year-old teenager, in his room watching a gaming interview on TV. The interview was with Kayaba Akihiko, a development director from Argus. He had an important announcement on a game he was working on, Sword Art Online. It was the first-ever VRMMO (Virtual Reality Massively Multiplayer Online) game created by Argus.
Sword Art Online was going to introduce the second generation FullDive machine that was created by Argus, known as NerveGear. From the reports that were out there, the NerveGear's has a high-density microwave transceiver that was capable of accessing the user's brain, allowing it to send fake signals to the five senses of the user. The transceiver is not only capable of inducing fake sensory signals, like smell, taste, hearing and the like, but the transceiver can also block every movement command from the brain to the body. So that it could prevent the player from moving their body while in FullDive, so is to avoid injuries. The transceiver was also capable of blocking sensory information from the body to the brain, thus, while using it, the player is completely insensitive to the physical world.
But there's one major danger to the NerveGear and that it is capable of destroying a person's brain by emitting high-powered microwaves, shutting down one's vital processes. However, the NerveGear was equipped with a new generation diamond semiconductor central processor, to prevent this from happening. The only way for the gear to be deadly was if the NerveGear was damaged, or its protection was purposely turned off.
Now as for Sword Art Online, it was the first game of its kind. Not only was it the first-ever VRMMO game, but the style of game. This game was the first-ever that didn't have magic in it, that the only way to fight and defeat monsters was using swords and swords skills. There were other skills, like cooking, fishing, blacksmithing and the like, and you can master them over time. These skills were basic daily life skills, so you can take time off fighting monsters and do something else or help gain items to help you in fighting the monsters - like food, armour and new weapons that you could make.
Now Kirigaya was lucky enough to be one of a thousand beta testers to play Sword Art Online for a month, to see how the game was and to see if there were any bugs left in the game. He had to admit that it was great fun. At the end of it all, he had to answer a questionnaire about the game and if there was anything he thought could be added to the game.
Whilst Kirigaya loved the idea of a sword skilled game only, the problem was that he would have liked some other way to heal other than potions. As there were a few times during a boss fight that he needed a potion but found that he ran out and died, so he wrote down that he wished that there was a skill to help him to heal other than potions.
So when Kirigaya heard that Kayaba was giving an interview, he wanted to watch it to see what it was all about. He wondered if he was going to announce some changes to the game, he highly doubted it, but with developers anything is possible.
So here he was watching Gaming World, to see what this announcement was. At the moment the show was showing ads. When the ads finished, it went back to Gaming World, where a female announcer said, "Welcome back viewers, this afternoon we have a meeting with a development director from Argus, the person behind FullDive and the first-ever VRMMO game, Sword Art Online, Kayaba Akihiko." From here the announcer went on to explain about Argus, it's past and a bit about Sword Art Online and what they knew about the game. Afterwards, she introduced Kayaba Akihiko who entered the stage, where the guests at the show clapped for him.
"Thank you, Akari for having me here today." Kayaba thanked Akari.
"You're Kayaba," said Akari, "now, you said you have an important announcement that you wanted to make."
"Yes, that's true," admitted Kayaba, "I'm sorry to say that Sword Art Online will be on hold for at least a year."
There were many gasps and whispers at this, and Akari had to ask, "What do you mean? What happened for the delay to happen?"
"As you know, a few months ago Sword Art Online was tested by beta testers," said Kayaba, as Akari nodded in acknowledgement, "well, what you don't know is that we give the beta testers a questionnaire to fill in to find out about any bugs we might have missed and what we could add to make it better."
"So I'm guessing that with this delay there was some sort of bug to be fixed or some idea you're planning to add?" inquired Akari.
"You would be right Akari." admitted Kayaba, "You see from the questionnaires we came to realize was that people wanted some sort of skill to heal other than potions or do certain magic to help in fights. So for the last few months, we at Argus have been trying to figure out how to do this without breaking the idea of Sword Art Online too much, where the main goal is to use swords and sword skills. As we believe that normal mages would make things too easy, so we had to come up with something that people had to work for instead of something given with ease. It took a while, but we finally came up with an idea, Alchemy."
Hearing this there were whispers of shock and confusion at this news, even Kirigaya was confused about this. Sure he heard of alchemy, where you create something out of something else, such as healing potions and such. There was a myth that an Alchemist could turn lead into gold, and create a stone known as the Philosopher's Stone which meant to give a person immortally, even turn lead into gold.
In fact, from his time searching for anime and games, he found a few alchemy themed games and anime, in fact, he found an anime from about twenty years ago called Fullmetal Alchemist. He enjoyed the show, seeing how the different use of alchemy, they had to use symbols to use magic. If he remembered rightly, they needed an item or something so that they could use said powers. They didn't have to cast magic the same magic as mages did, it was harder seeing how they had to learn the symbols and use an item to use the symbols instead of using chants.
Kirigaya wondered if this alchemy idea was based on something like Fullmetal Alchemist or one of the other anime/games that were out there. Either way, after a few seconds of silence, Akari asked Kayaba, "So Alchemy, as in creating healing potions along with other attack type potions."
"Yes, that's part of it," admitted Kayaba, "in fact, the player's first mission for those who want to learn Alchemy, is to build their own, what we call Alchemy Chest. These chests are the most important items for an Alchemist, as the chests are used to allow the Alchemist to create potions wherever they are as long as they have the ingredients in their inventory. Once they gain the Alchemy Chest, over time they'll learn recipes to create better potions for healing and fighting."
"That seems simple enough." said Akari.
"Not really, that's just the start of being an Alchemist," Kayaba informed Akari, "as the game goes along, they'll gain another weapon, an Alchemist which will allow the Alchemist to cast create symbols which would allow the Alchemist do more magic. I won't go into detail so as not to spoil the fun for the players to learn, but there'll be quests where they learn these symbols and do more powerful magic."
"Wow, that's interesting." Akari said in wonder, even Kirigaya was in wonder of this too, it wasn't magic, but at the same time, it was. To earn such a skill you would have quests, create the Alchemy Chest and whatever else that Kayaba had planned. "So tell me Kayaba, is there anything else you can tell us about any other changes you are making or more about this Alchemy ability."
"Well, I can tell you that the skills that I mentioned are only the start." explained Kayaba, "For the true power of an Alchemist to shine, the Alchemist will have to learn and master some of the basic skills. For example, food and drink, in Sword Art Online, food and drink well normally heal you and keep hunger and thirst at bay. However, for an Alchemist, as they level up their cooking and alchemist, they can add stats and bonuses to the food by a skill called synthesizing, so that you can gain resistance or/and extra stats for a short while."
"I see, so can players who become Alchemist do the same with other things, such as armour and weapons?" asked Akari, "And if so, what would the difference be? I mean we know that certain weapons and armour would have their own stats and abilities when a player makes such a thing, so what can an Alchemist do with such an item to make it better?"
"Good question Akari and the answer yes the Alchemist can do the same with the other stuff, and the second part of your question, it all depends on the player." said Kayaba, "Let me explain, all the results of the things that the player make depends on the materials that the player uses. So if a player uses a basic iron bar to make say a sword, they would get a basic iron sword. Now, if a player has, say a dragon's claw and an iron bar, depending on the blacksmith skill and knowledge/plan the sword could become a dragon's sword of some kind with either high stats or/and elemental skills from that dragon. Do you understand so far?"
"I believe so, yes," said Akari, "in like most games, to make something you would need a blueprint and materials to be able to make something. But how would being an Alchemist make any difference?"
"Because as long as the Alchemist has a beginners level in blacksmith, they don't need high plans to make special weapons and armour. They can enhance the basic items instead." explained the director of the Sword Art Online.
"That seemed a bit overpowered though," Akari pointed out to Kayaba, "they could use high levelled items for low levelled items."
"That wouldn't be the case," Kayaba told her, "just like a normal blacksmith, for the Alchemist to use high levelled items, they would need their blacksmith skill at a higher level. And like normal high levelled items, you need to have a high-level character to use them."
"What stopping a high-level player using alchemy on a low-level item and adding high-level abilities and selling it on?" asked the announcer.
"Right now nothing, but that's part of the reason we're holding the game back for a year or so," explained Kayaba, "but we're hoping to make it so that having such an item is like having a high-level item and needs to be a certain level to use it. We want it so that things are as fair as possible. We have started work on it, but there's still a few bugs to sort out on it."
"That's good to hear." Akari said with a smile, "So what are you hoping for an Alchemist with a low-level blacksmith skill to be able to do?"
"Simple things, like boosting their skills up a bit to changing elements to fight their fight." explained Kayaba, "At the moment, there are no limits to how much one can synthesize an item. But over the next year, we're hoping to make it depending on the Alchemist level, they can have so many stats/bonuses on the item. So if they have low levels they can only have up to say three stats/bonuses but at a higher level though they can have up to say ten stats/bonuses or able to rearrange the items altogether."
"I have to say this Alchemy skill seems to be very nice and different, I can't wait to see if you can fit it into your new game." Akari said with a smile before she became serious, "But whilst it sounds great, it seems that these Sword Alchemists are overpowered, how can those who don't want to be an Alchemist deal with those who are one?"
"Because an Alchemist can create items that'll allow another person to use certain skills." Kayaba explained with a smile, "For example, an Alchemist could create an item, say a necklace, where a person could cast say a buff to make a person's attack and speed stronger or allow them to cast a fireball. So whilst none Alchemist might not be able to synthesize things, that doesn't mean that they can use Alchemy Items and so be able to fight against an Alchemist."
"I see," said Akari, "now Kayaba, would you mind answering a few questions from our audience?"
"No I don't mind, I'll be happy any question that I can," said Kayaba, "but I should warn you that there might not be some questions that I can't answer."
"I understand." said Akari.
Then for the next ten minutes or so, the audience asked Kayaba about Sword Art Online and about what to expect from it. One of the questions that caught Kirigaya's interest was about PKing, the person who asked about this was worried about the PKers ruining the game, seeing how they would kill whoever they want for no reason other than its fun to them. Kayaba sighed at this and admitted that at the moment there wasn't much he could do about this, as it was part of the game, a world where the player can do what they want.
However, they were looking into adding roles, good vs evil, to try and limit the PKing. Where the evil side would try to kill the good side, whilst the good side would try to protect those who the evil side was targeting. Both sides would have a few missions based on their side too. However, with everything that they had planned for this year, they didn't know if the roles would be ready to go before the launch or not. But it was something Kayaba wanted to put into the game in the future so that the players would have more of an option to what they can do during their time in Sword Art Online instead of worrying about getting to the top of Aincrad.
Kirigaya was interested in this, there weren't many VR games where you could become evil and most of the time he would play as the hero. But if Sword Art Online gave the players a chance to become an evildoer, he thought he would look into it and see what it was like to play an evil character before starting again as the good guy.
Either way, as the interview got to the end, Akari asked Kayaba if there was anything else they should know about. This was when Kayaba revealed that on the day that the game goes on sale, other than the copies that the beta testers have as thanks, there would only be a hundred thousand copies on sale. And depending on how the launch day goes, more will go on sell in the following months to come.
When asked why only a hundred thousand copies were going to be on sale, Kayaba revealed something interesting, he was to sell new headsets before the game comes out. These ones would allow players to use the skills that they had in real life in the game, so if they were good at swimming or martial arts, it would be transferred into the game. This was something he wanted to do this year, but they had a few more bugs to deal with before doing. But now that the game was on hold for a year, he hoped that the bugs would be dealt and this ability would be ready to use when Sword Art Online goes on sale in a year. So they wanted to test this out before selling more copies.
Whilst they can do most of the testing beforehand, but that would be under a controlled environment, the real test would be after the game goes out. When thousands of people are playing the game at the same time, that would be the real test to see if this worked on not. Kayaba then went on to explain that if they buy the game and bring their old headset to trade, they could get the new headset for half the price.
Now this, like everyone else who was watching the show, caught Kirigaya's interest. He knew kendo from his childhood, so if this was right, he could use this skill in the game along with any other skills he had. This got him thinking that he should work on his kendo skills along with learning other skills that might help him in the game. Not only that, but it would also help him get fit, something he had been thinking about doing for a while now, but putting off seeing how he had no real reason to push him in doing so. Now he had a reason.
After learning about this new ability that was going to come to the NerveGear, Kirigaya watched as Kayaba let out his biggest surprise. When the game is out, the players would have an option to op into an optional system called Training System. Kayaba explained in the future he wanted to use the NerveGear as a training tool, to teach people through VR for when people couldn't get out to learn things, like medical reasons.
But to test it to make sure that it worked with a lot of people, as long as they could get it into the game, they wanted to put it into the game to test it out on those who agree to use the Training System. If they agree to use the system, when they do the quests to learn some of the basic skills, like cooking, blacksmith, jewellery making and the like, they would have an option to enter the Training System. Here, instead of learning the skill in a few moments, they would spend a week or two to learn the skill the normal way.
By actually doing the training by hand instead of a system command, like if they were becoming a blacksmith, they would actually have to go through the training that blacksmith did in the medieval times. Unless they get the job done properly, they wouldn't complete the quest. However, to give the players the incentive to actually do the hard work, during their time in the Training System, not only would they learn a new skill in real life, but they gain permanent bonus stats for their character. Like for blacksmithing, they would gain extra stats in strength and endurance. Whilst where jewellery making, would give you stats such as intelligence.
Kayaba admitted that some of these skills might not be of any use in this day and age, but he wanted to know if it was going to work fully or not. So he wanted to test the system with basic skills before doing anything more advanced. However, he was also planning to use the Training System to teach people kendo to use swords better too, along with other skills that might help people in the game.
After this, Akari thanked Kayaba for coming in and thanked the viewers for watching before ending the show. As Kirigaya thought about what he learned, he had to admit the new system about being in the skills that people had into the game was great. He found that during his time in beta testing the game, he found that the swordplay was a bit stiff and he had problems with it. So if he could bring his kendo skills into the game, it would make things much easier.
But at the same time, he knew that his kendo skills were a bit rusty, so it would be useful if he practices a bit before the game comes out. Not only that, but he might as well look into a few other abilities that might help him in this new game. So far the rest of the day, Kirigaya thought about what he could do to help him when Sword Art Online comes out in a year.
To be Continued(?)
Author's Note: Here end the plot idea for Sword Art Online, I hope that you'll like my idea and how I added some sort of magic into the story. I hope that someone will take this idea up and write a story based on this. But just in case no one does and someday I decide to take this up myself, I would like to hear your thoughts on this, how I could make the start better and any ideas you would like to see in the future and what alchemy powers I could use.