Disclaimer: Usually, I write out a very specific disclaimer explaining exactly what it is I don't own but once again I find myself not really interested in doing so for this story as it's very tedious. Suffice it to say I own nothing that was created by anyone else and I'm making no money whatsoever from the writing of this FanFiction.
Warnings: Mild to moderate violence, character death, foul language, alternate universe (i.e. kiss HP canon goodbye), angst, drama, starts pre-Hogwarts Era, original Quests, some minor religious themes, child neglect, references to large scale ostracization/shunning of a minor, and who knows what else.
AN1: This story is self-beta'd; so there may be occasional grammatical or spelling errors that crop up every now and then and for those I apologize in advance.
Chapter Eight: Meltdown of Epic Proportions
Saturday, December 21, 2019 8:09 PM
Sosei-sha no Ma, Hajimari no Machi, First Floor
Letting out an angry huff over being forced to follow someone else's orders for the first time in over a month, Harry opened up his Menu to see what he had on hand for weapons since he didn't know what had happened to his Longbow after he'd fought the stupid Stinging Salamander he'd caught while fishing and to check the current date and time. His anger would quickly turn to confusion as soon as he opened his Menu to find that it too had been switched over to English. Even more confusing were the number of glowing Sub-Menus; a clear indication that a bunch of stuff had changed after his fight with the Salamander and before he'd just opened his Menu.
Harry glanced between his open Menu and the dark stairway that he believed led to an underground Dungeon of sorts several times before he decided that it would probably be best to know what else had changed before he started on the stupid Quest that he'd been told he had to do. He then sat down on the floor and gave his Menu his complete attention as his eyes first went to the time and date stamp at the top of the default Menu and felt rather weird when he saw that it was still the twenty-first and that he'd only lost four hours since he'd hooked the Stinging Salamander.
He thought more time than that had passed but shrugged off the oddness of time stretching itself out as he opened up the first flashing Sub-Menu; his Player Stats Page. He went to skim over the page the moment it opened only for his eyes to get stuck on the very first line that listed the category that his character fell under.
His mind went blank as he stared at the words at the top of the open screen.
Category: Data Corrupted
Harry had no idea what that was supposed to mean aside from the fact that the game no longer categorized him as a Human Player for some reason. He didn't even try to figure it out because all he could see in his mind's eye was the way his penname had been crossed out on the Monument of Life. In a desperate attempt to think about something other than the game's recent inability to recognize him as a Human Player, Harry let his eyes drift further down the Stat Page. He didn't get very far before yet another alteration leapt out at him.
This time, it was the line that reflected his current and total HP. The same line that hadn't changed once since he'd hit level ten even though it was supposed to have increased by a hundred and seventy-five points of HP with each level he had gained. Harry felt as if the back of his throat was burning as he realized that his HP had finally changed after all this time. He wasn't really all that happy about it though. That was odd, really; since he would've thought that he would've been happy to see his HP finally being adjusted to reflect the number of levels he'd gained over the past six weeks.
It was kind of hard to be happy about the change when instead of the significantly higher point value he had hoped and expected to see, all he saw was a line of asterisks and a system warning that stated that his HP was incalculable though.
The biggest problem he had with the game being incapable of calculating his HP was the fact that he had no way of knowing just how much HP he had and how many hits he could take before he'd shatter. A glance up and to the left of his vision revealed a golden HP Bar that appeared nearly twice as long as the one he'd had prior to being bumped up to level twenty; so that was something, at least. It wasn't until he dropped his eyes back down to his open Stats Page that it dawned on the nine year old that his HP Bar was the wrong color.
As soon as that realization struck him, Harry gasped and his eyes widened comically as he jerked his head up a second time to stare at the altered HP Bar sitting just slightly above his head in confusion bordering on hysteria; HP Bars were supposed to be green when they were full, yellow when you took a hit that dropped you below three-quarters of your total HP, orange when your HP Level reached about half of your total Points, and red if you had less than one quarter of your HP remaining.
HP Bars did not turn gold.
And yet… his HP Bar was most definitely gold.
It was not a yellow-orange or an orange-yellow in color like the glow that engulfed a Player when they gained a level but an honest to goodness twenty-four caret gold that glinted metallically as it hung in the air above him.
One acute panic attack and twenty-eight minutes later, Harry mechanically exited his Stats Page without even taking notice of the fact that the point counts for his Stamina and Luck Attributes also now registered as incalculable. He had never really paid all that much attention to his Character Attributes because he didn't really understand the significance of the Character Attributes in RPGs; he was still very much a newbie when it came to gaming, after all (SAO was pretty much the only RPG game he'd ever played).
He did, however, take notice of the flashing Item Sub-Menu and a small frown tugged at his lips as he tried to figure out what was bothering him about the flashing line. It wasn't until he realized that his Inventory was flashing red like it usually did when he'd reached the maximum storage limit instead of a yellowy-gold like the rest of the Menus and Sub-Menus that had been affected by his recent level increase and his… his death. A full body shudder wracked Harry's body as the image of his crossed off name on the Monument circled through his mind yet again in response to the reminder.
Once he'd shoved the unwanted memory into the depths of his mind, he frowned at the flashing bar of red on his Inventory/Equipment Menu. He knew it had been a while since he'd last been in town to sell off the stuff he didn't need but he also knew that his Inventory hadn't even been close to full when he'd hooked the Stinging Salamander earlier that afternoon. He didn't know if that meant that he'd somehow picked up a bunch of junk or if the bug that had infected his Menu over three weeks ago had mutated and corrupted his Menu further.
It was with great reluctance that he opened the Sub-Menu in order to find out what the problem was since going into a Quest with a full Inventory was just asking for Monster Drops to toss him cool stuff he couldn't carry. What he found was both good and bad news. The good news was that his Oak Longbow and Arrow Quiver were both safely stored in his Inventory; meaning he wasn't going to be forced to go into a Quest unarmed. The bad news was that the space limit of his Inventory had apparently been cut in half by whatever glitch it was that had affected the rest of his Menu.
Thankfully, those Items over his limit hadn't been automatically destroyed or lost at the time of the adjustment and he would be able to pick and choose which Items he would keep. The number of Items he'd be forced to abandon would also be reduced by two since he could reequip his Bow and Quiver in order to clear out two spaces. The fact that he'd lost his Sleeping Bag, Camp Chair, and Bamboo Fishing Rod meant there were three less Items he'd have to give up as well; though he did mourn the loss of all three Items.
He'd loved that Sleeping Bag and he'd enjoyed Fishing (something he had never been allowed to do in the real world); though he was still upset about the fact that his last catch had been a ruddy Monster instead of another tasty fish.
Focusing back on the list of Items in his Inventory, Harry began the tedious process of sorting through the stuff he knew he needed to keep, the stuff he'd like to keep, and the stuff he could trash. He also needed to consider those Items that couldn't be removed from his Inventory; such as his Healing Potions, Antidote Crystals (of which he now had a total of five types – he'd picked up Blindness and Dizzy Antidotes a week before he'd leveled up), Transport Crystals, Healing Crystals, and Message Record Crystals.
Thankfully, those Items only took up one Inventory space each whereas pre-glitch, each Item used to take up a number of spaces equal to the quantity of the Item in question; so fifteen Healing Potions would have taken up fifteen spaces in the Inventory. There were some exceptions; Arrows took up one space for every ninety-nine Arrows on hand – so one hundred Arrows would take up two spaces. Or at least they had prior to Harry leveling up to level twenty; looking at the list of Items in his Inventory now he could see that his Arrows had been infected with the Item Glitch.
Each type of Arrow now took up exactly one slot and showed that there were exactly ninety-nine Arrows of that type present in his Inventory. It was possible that the rest of his extra Arrows had been deleted but the fact that none of his other Items had been deleted gave him reason enough to believe that that wasn't the case. He could check that out after he dealt with the rest of his Inventory. Contrary to his earlier concerns, not all of his remaining Items had been affected by the glitch as Food, Drink, and Clothing Items all took up a number of spaces that were equal to the number of Items.
That meant that he could open up another couple of spaces simply by eating a couple of Items. Or he would if he could actually stomach eating anything right that minute; which he couldn't. Letting out a soft sigh, Harry scrolled down to the bottom of the Item List and took note of how many Items were highlighted in red (as that would tell him how many Items he had that was over his limit). The revelation that he'd picked up a Leather Pack when he'd killed the Stinging Salamander (since he didn't like to think it had ended up in his Inventory through other means) cheered him up a little.
After he finished going through the List, Harry equipped his weapons and the pack before he transferred several Items into the pouch to clear out his Inventory; most of them Food Items with high Durability (like the bottles of Mulled Cider and Candy Canes). He also trashed a few Items that he knew he wouldn't need and that he'd only been holding onto so he could sell them the next time he was in town (like the extra two sets of Leather Boots he had on hand). The last thing he did was make certain that he had a handful of empty spaces so that he could pick up useful Items while on his Quest.
Once he finished cleaning up his Inventory, Harry moved onto the Skills Menu so he could fill the new Skill Slots that should have been unlocked when he reached level twenty. The moment he opened the Sub-Menu, he knew the glitch had messed with it further. To start, instead of seeing the current number of available Skill Slots at the top of the Sub-Menu, there was now a pair of asterisks and another system warning that indicated there was 'No Limit Applied' to the number of Equipped and Unarmed Skill Slots that had been unlocked.
On top of that, the nested Sub-Menu inside of the Skills Menu where the Unequipped Skills that he'd unlocked had been listed no longer existed while all of the Skills that he had unlocked to date were listed in the Skill Slots under their assigned Skill Type (Equipped or Unarmed). On top of that, he was now unable to unequip a Skill once it was unlocked; which meant that he'd be able to use every single Skill he'd unlocked whether he wanted to or not. And there were some Skills that he had no interest in using (such as the numerous Sword Skills – not that he had any of those at the moment).
Backing out of that Menu, Harry checked to view the last Sub-Menu under the Inventory/Equipment Menu that had been highlighted; the in-game camera. The moment he selected that option, a Notification Window opened up to inform him that the automatic download feature had been permanently disabled due to the system being disconnected from the computer. The panic attack that hit Harry upon reading that was five times more severe than the one he'd experienced as a result of the changes that had been made to his in-game categorization and HP Bar.
First he gasped and spluttered and verbally denied the truth of what he'd read before he'd collapsed backwards onto the floor, clutched at his chest, and blacked out. When he'd woken up, he'd taken one look at the still open Notification Window and flew into a rage filled temper tantrum; had he been thinking clearly, he would have wondered why no one had come to see what was happening while he'd been yelling his head off but it never really occurred to him to wonder why no one had heard him having his tantrum slash panic attack.
The cycle would be repeated twice more before numbness set it and he just sat there dumbly staring at the Notification that had driven reality over the nine year old like an out of control lorry.
He'd been disconnected from his 'stolen' computer.
His connection had been cut from the computer and yet he was still inside the game.
He had truly died.
And yet… somehow, he still lived on inside of the game.
Numbness gave way to denial once more and Harry fumbled through the Menu after closing out the horrifying notice in order to attempt to upload one of the other files that he had downloaded onto the hard drive weeks earlier. As soon as the Window closed, he received another message informing him that a new Sub-Menu, called Photo Album, had been added to the in-game Menu Camera. The brief description said that the new Album would store a copy of all photos taken by the Camera but he barely paid any notice to that as he closed out that Window just seconds after it had popped open.
After closing out the Notification Window regarding the new Sub-Menu, Harry paused for a brief moment to see if any more Windows were going to pop open without warning before he continued with his plan to upload something from Dudley's old computer. The moment he opened the Upload Sub-Menu under the Options section of the Settings Menu, Harry received the same exact message a second time and as he stared at the open Notification Window, tears began pouring down his cheeks as the realty of his death hit him once more.
Instead of sinking into another cycle of repeated tantrums and panic attacks this time, Harry mechanically closed out the system message and his Menu before he climbed to his feet and shuffled towards the gaping hole in the floor that he believed was the access point to the Quest that he'd been given by the Fates. As soon as his foot landed on that first step, a line of torches lit up along the wall beside the staircase but Harry hardly noticed the flicking lights and the dancing shadows they cast as he blindly descended the stairs.
There was only one thought circling through his mind; he was dead.
He was dead.
Dead.
His relatives had either pulled the plug on him or they had left him locked up in his cupboard instead of sending him to the hospital when Kayaba's trickery had first been announced. Or maybe it had been the Stinging Salamander after all.
He was dead.
His relatives or the game had killed him.
Dead.
Dead.
Dead!
Harry's feet stepped off the final step and still Harry didn't notice his surroundings. Not even when the torches on the wall beside the stairs winked out at the same time as a line of torches lining both walls of the inward spiraling corridor that he now stood in flared to life. He didn't even see the first snakes (realistic snakes whose species could be found in the real world and not any of the Monster Snakes that were found in the game like the Vicious Vipers) that slithered out of cracks along the base of the walls. He certainly noticed it when the first one bit his ankle though (hard to miss the sudden blare of Status Warning of being Poisoned) and Harry's apathetic trance snapped in the blink of an eye.
Letting out a roar of pure fury, Harry viciously retaliated in response to the attack; his Bow and an Arrow materializing in his hands without conscious thought on his part. Years worth of pent up anger and frustration over the way his relatives had treated him were released in a torrent as Harry fought his way along the ever inward turning corridor while tears of grief and pain poured down his face in a torrent. Each Arrow that successfully struck its target would shatter the snake it hit; the multiple deaths surrounding Harry with a haze of red crystal shards and the dying hisses of snakes.
"Why!?" Harry railed as he fired Arrow after Arrow at every single glimpse of movement and every flash of color he caught out of the corner of his eyes; a few of his Arrows even destroying a couple of the torches that lined the wall when he mistook their flickering light for an attacking snake. "Why, damn it!? Why couldn't they love me!? Why didn't they want me!? Wasn't I good enough to love!? I followed their stupid rules and did everything they told me to do! So, why!? Why did they hate me!? What did I ever do to them!?"
Harry's furious words echoed up and down the twisting corridor several times until they became garbled to the point where they lost all meaning before they faded away while his questions remained unanswered.
His anger would carry him roughly a third of the way through the spiraling corridor where he stumbled into a Safe Zone that was clear of snakes. The sudden cessation of attacks saw Harry stumbling to a stop when his anger had petered out due to a lack of targets to vent his fury on. All he was left with in the place of said anger was a burning heartache and cold tears that continued to course down his face in a never ending stream; the coding that directed each Player's reactions to various emotions fueling the continued storm of simulated saline that poured down his face.
Without his anger to push him on, Harry dropped to his knees as the mental exhaustion of maintaining such a volatile emotion (one he rarely ever felt, let alone voiced) for who knew how long hit him all at once. The nine year old passed out two seconds later. When he woke up sometime later, Harry felt rather numb as he mechanically cured himself of the Poison Status that had been inflicted on him by the snakes that had bit him. He then restored his HP using a Healing Crystal when he finally noticed that his HP Bar had shrunk to less than a quarter of its total length; though the color of the Bar was still gold rather than the red it should have been.
He also forced himself to eat a single Sausage Roll and drink down a bottle of Cider despite the fact that he wasn't really at all hungry or thirsty. After he finished the small meal, Harry automatically checked the current durability of his Bow and replaced the Bowstring when he noticed how much 'damage' and 'wear' the weapon had taken since he'd entered the Dungeon. He then checked the number of Arrows in his Quiver and opened up his Menu to pull more Arrows out of his Inventory when he noticed he had less than a dozen left on hand.
As he restocked his Quiver with more Arrows, Harry learned that his earlier assumption that the Arrows in his Inventory were now self-replicating Items like his Crystals had been correct; meaning that he had an unlimited supply of the types of Arrows that he currently had on hand. That was both good news and bad news. It was good news because it meant that he'd never run out of Arrows. At the same time, it was bad news because it meant that those Arrows would take up space in his very limited Inventory and make it harder to replace them with better Arrows later on.
The confirmation that the glitch had basically infected everything in his Inventory (the exaggeration not even registering to his childish mind) made Harry unreasonably angry at something other than his relatives for once. This time, he was angry at the game that he'd come to consider home and instead of sending him on another rage filled rampage, it made Harry turn his back on the Quest he'd been given. He was sick and tired of this game that was no longer a game and he just wanted out.
Unfortunately, Harry didn't have the option of quitting; the Fates had locked Harry into the Quest that represented the Destiny with which he had been born. And the moment Harry tried to back out of said Quest, the counter measures that the Fates had put into place to prevent him from trying to 'escape' his Destiny activated.
The moment Harry took a single step in the direction of the exit, a slab of thick stone dropped down out of the ceiling and blocked off the corridor. If that wasn't bad enough, the moment Harry placed his palms against the stone obstruction and made a futile attempt to push it out of the way, the stone wall began moving towards him. And removing his hands from the moving rock wall didn't make it stop. In fact, the moment he took his hands off of the moving wall, it picked up speed as it continued to bear down on the moody little archer.
Within seconds, Harry had been forced out of the Safe Zone and found himself besieged by another swarm of low level venomous snakes and still the wall continued to push him onwards. Harry's HP Bar would drop down to the halfway point before he managed to bring his Bow into play and he had to work hard to fight off all of the snakes that were swarming over and around him while keeping ahead of the moving wall behind him lest it squash him flat. Once he cleared a path through the snakes in front of him, he ran forward in order to escape from the stupid things.
He wouldn't stop running until he lost sight of the moving wall but while he slowed down, he didn't stop moving as he continued to fight off the snakes that had followed him and the new ones that appeared from out of the walls. Anytime he thought of stopping, the far off grinding of the wall still moving somewhere behind him would spur him into picking up his pace. The constant flow of snakes seeking to bite him also kept him moving. He was at least thankful that it only ever took a single Arrow to destroy each snake; he didn't like to think of how much worse it would have been if he'd needed to hit each snake multiple times before they shattered.
A shudder wracked Harry's body as he briefly imagined trying to fight off a hoard of Stinging Salamanders in place of the rather weak snakes (the nine year old finally noticing that all of the snakes were between levels one and five) that he was currently fending off.
Now that he was actually paying attention to his enemies and his surroundings, it felt like time had slowed to a crawl as he fought his way forward in an effort to escape the moving wall that he thought was trying to crush him; his fear of the moving wall strong enough that it took his mind off the fact that he was trapped in an underground hallway (much like his earlier anger had blinded him to his current surroundings when he first entered the Dungeon). It also felt like he was moving through an unending circle as the corridor continued to curve in on itself without end.
Everywhere he looked it was the same dirty gray stone walls and floor painted with the yellow-orange of flickering torch-light and an endless tide of venomous snakes in shades of greens, blues, browns, and blacks.
By the time he'd traveled about two-thirds of the way through the spiraled corridor and stumbled upon a second Safe Zone, Harry was well and truly sick of both snakes and stone walls; his inner turmoil and preoccupation with the unfairness of being forced on this stupid Quest the only things keeping him from panicking over the fact that he was essentially trapped in this underground Dungeon.
As soon as Harry stepped into the Safe Zone, another stone wall dropped down to cut him off from the way back; though this one thankfully didn't start moving. Harry made certain to keep his hands far away from the blockade as he didn't want to accidentally push a hidden trigger on the thing that would activate it. Once he was sure he wasn't going to get chased out of the Safe Zone by the new wall, Harry methodically restocked his Quiver, downed a Healing Potion, and used another Antidote Crystal before he forced himself to eat a pear and drink his last bottle of Chilled Milk.
He was just thinking about camping in the Safe Zone for the 'night' when the wall that had blocked off the corridor behind him scraped along the side walls as it lurched forward. Cursing his luck, Harry angrily fired a handful of Arrows at the wall and then took off running when each impact against the wall only made the thing move faster. He would end up taking his frustration out on the snake population that converged on him yet again the moment he stepped outside of the Safe Zone.
Once he reached the 'end' of the coiled corridor, Harry suddenly found himself standing in front of what could only be the door to the Boss Chamber. The huge door was circular in shape, appeared to be made of metal, and decorated with an etching of a realistic looking snake with green gemstones for eyes. The moment he was standing in front of the door, all of the snakes that had been hounding him from the moment he set foot in the circular Dungeon vanished like smoke before a breeze and the moving wall that had been threatening to squish him ground to a stop; much to Harry's relief and consternation.
He was relieved because the sudden absence of the snakes meant he didn't have to keep fighting while the fact that they fled in the face of the Boss Room filled him with dismay because it meant that whatever was beyond that door scared them. He did his best not to think about the wall that locked him in the small section of hallway between the Boss Chamber and the unmoving slab of stone since the moment he did, he knew he'd panic because of how small of a space he was currently trapped in.
The anger that had carried him through the last third of the corridor fizzled out about the same time and once again left Harry feeling numb as he stood in the empty section of walled off corridor and stared at the ornate door in front of him. For five long minutes, the tormented nine year old considered just barging ahead into the Boss Room in order to get the ordeal over with but he eventually decided against it.
He was just too tired and heartsick beneath the numbness that was now smothering him.
The moment Harry decided he needed a break, the wall beside him cracked open to reveal a hidden Safe Room where he could rest without fear of being attacked by snakes or stupid walls while he slept. When he cautiously entered the room, Harry was rather surprised to find an overly large room that was twenty feet long, ten feet wide, and furnished with a bed, a table, a desk, and two chairs. There was also a connecting door that led into a large washroom that was only five feet shorter in length than the main room.
None of the other Safe Zones he'd used in the past had ever had anything like that in them.
Instead of thinking about the matter too deeply though, Harry simply took a shower in the bathroom (leaving the door open so he didn't feel trapped) before he pulled the covers off the bed and spread them out on the floor (he'd shied away from the bed since he'd never once slept in a real one), curled up in the covers, and fell into a deep sleep. He woke up what felt like several hours later feeling even worse than he had before he'd gone to sleep and it was with great reluctance that he got up off the floor to take another shower, eat a wedge of Fruit Cake, use a Healing Potion and a Poison Antidote Crystal (he'd forgotten to heal himself earlier), and returned to his blanket nest.
This time, he tossed and turned for a long time before he fell into a fitful sleep that was riddled with nightmares. The next time he woke up, Harry just sat in his borrowed blankets and stared at the wall for a long time before he dropped off back to sleep without conscious thought. When he next woke, Harry had a second meltdown as his earlier rage returned and he cussed and cursed and trashed the entire room before he screamed himself hoarse. After his tantrum, he fell asleep on the floor yet again and slept the sleep of the dead for what felt like weeks when he finally woke up once more.
The first thing he saw when he opened his eyes, was the mess he'd made during his little tantrum.
Ashamed of his earlier behavior (mostly because it reminded him of his spoiled cousin), Harry scrambled up in order to put everything back where it belonged. Once he'd finished putting the room to rights, he would nibble on a few fruits and vegetables before he soaked in the tub for several hours and did his best not to think about anything. He'd eventually haul himself out of the tub and return to the nest of blankets on the floor to sleep some more as the drive that had pushed him through the endless curving hallway of the underground Dungeon remained dormant.
Harry had lost complete track of time by that point (and for some reason his Menu was no longer capable of telling him the date or time which only made it harder for him to determine how much time had passed) and he spent several waking and sleeping cycles of doing nothing but staring at the ceiling between restless naps until the day he opened his Player Menu to stare at the system notice that had shaken his world. This time, he just felt numb and resigned over the reminder that he was dead but somehow not dead because he had returned to the game.
It still hurt.
And it still made him angry.
But he no longer had the energy to rage against the unfairness of it all.
After a while, he closed out the Notification Window and absently paged through the rest of his Menu. It was as he was listlessly shifting between Menu Pages that Harry discovered he had somehow gained access to all of the games and other software programs that had been installed on Dudley's old computer; the links appearing in the various Sub-Menus of the Settings Menu based on program type – for example, the game links were found under the Game Play Sub-Menu that let him change his in-game settings.
Though how it was possible for him to play those games or use the other programs without a connection to a computer and access to the original disks that held their software was a complete mystery to him; the nine year old completely unaware that his magic had 'captured' every scrap of digital data that had been on his 'stolen' computer and shunted it into the game through his NERDLES. Of course, being a kid, Harry just had to test some of the games that were listed just to see if they worked or if it was just another example of the rampant corruption the glitch had caused to his Menu.
He was more than a little surprised to find that all of the games and programs did work; though he spent more time checking out the games than he did the other stuff. Some of the games popped up in Windows that allowed him to play them just like he'd play them on the computer (only without the hassle of using the mouse or keyboard – he could move and select things just by touching them with his finger). Other games (in particular, those games that used the FullDive Technology) would temporarily create a doorway into a pocket Dungeon where he could play those games.
The idea of playing a game inside of a game was rather weird but Harry quickly got over it. He thought it might be nice to have something to do if he ever got bored while he was here but didn't expect to actually play any of the other games all that much since he really couldn't see himself getting bored with Aincrad. Then again, there might be times when he wanted to escape this world since he'd never get a chance otherwise seeing as how there was no way to log out of Aincrad and even if he could, there was the little problem of him being dead.
Case in point; Harry had just spent what felt like several hours trying out several of the games listed in his Menu in order to continue putting off the Quest that he was supposed to be completing.
Another discovery was the revelation that the various dictionaries and thesauruses he'd uploaded six weeks earlier had been moved from his Inventory and affixed as help programs under the Help Menu. He hadn't even realized the 'books' he'd uploaded from the computer had disappeared from his Item Storage until he saw that section since he had mostly stopped using them a long time ago because he'd pretty much memorized the words that were used most in the game and therefore didn't need to translate everything every time a new Window popped open like he had in the beginning.
Of course, the fact that his Menu and all of the System Windows were all now written in English also made such help aides redundant.
The last change he discovered was that while he could no longer upload things from the computer in his cupboard, he could, on the other hand, still download things from the internet. The discrepancy was kind of weird but Harry didn't question it too much since it allowed him to pretend that nothing had changed even if he knew deep down in his heart that nothing would ever be the same again. Of course, there were a lot of things that Harry was ignoring at the moment because thinking about them cut too deeply and stirred up too many negative emotions.
And while he'd slowly been breaking free from the conditioning that the Dursleys had foisted on him (to never seek attention from others, to never show his emotions, and to never voice his curiosity) through their rules, he couldn't just forget eight years of suppression. So, his earlier emotional outbursts made him feel rather ashamed of himself and worried that someone would punish him for it at some point. A part of him was even wary of the fact that the Fates hadn't punished him for daring to backtalk them a couple of times earlier.
Of course, the Quest they'd forced on him could be considered punishment enough.
The Quest he was, in fact, in the middle of right that moment.
Harry grimaced over the mental reminder of the Quest that he was supposed to be completing right that minute. He'd pretty much forgotten all about the Quest during his repeated temper tantrums and emotional breakdowns. He grew worried at that point as he wondered if there was a time limit on how long he had to complete the Quest and if he would automatically fail the Quest if he didn't finish it within that time. This was actually the first ever Quest that Harry had taken in the game so he wasn't really sure how they worked.
Sure, he knew where most of the Quests could be found on the First Floor thanks to his explorations (both in the Beta Test during the summer and in the Live Version of the game these past weeks) but that was all he knew. He'd had no interest in them at the time he'd stumbled on each of them. He'd been far too caught up in exploring Aincrad to bother with doing favors for a handful of NPCs in the game just to earn a prize that he may or may be able to use. He also hadn't felt he was hero enough to take those Quests that involved rescue missions.
He might have imagined himself as following in the footsteps of the [in]famous Robin Hood but he didn't really know how to be a hero. He'd always been the victim, the one that needed to be saved. He hadn't even been able to save himself from the Dursleys and they weren't even all that evil for all that he'd always seen his relatives as his personal villains (or demons) since they'd never actually hit him or anything like that. And now he'd never be saved or even have a chance to save himself because he was dead.
"Dead. I'm dead," Harry announced to the empty air. "I bet my relatives are all pleased to know I'll never burden them again. They're probably celebrating right this minute." The anger and heartache he felt over the perceived truth in those statements drove Harry to his feet as he declared, "Well, I'm happy to be free from them too! I'm glad I'm dead because it means I'll never have to see their ugly faces again! You hear me!? I DON'T CARE! I'll live here forever and ever and no one will ever tell me what to do again! I won't let them! And I won't let anyone else lock me up anymore either!"
Harry wiped the tears off of his face as he stormed out of the Safe Room he'd been hiding in for who knew how long. He was tired of being locked in this stupid Dungeon and if the only way for him to get out was to finish the stupid Quest he'd been given, then that was what he was going to do. He'd show the Fates. He'd finish their stupid Quest and then tell them to leave him alone so he could get back to exploring his home.
The second he set foot in the corridor outside of the Safe Room, Harry was attacked by another hoard of snakes and he let loose a War Cry as he brought his Bow up and fired the first Arrow. By the time he'd shattered the last of the stupid serpents, Harry was breathing hard and his Quiver was nearly empty; the Item only capable of holding two hundred Arrows. After taking a moment to catch his breath and heal his injuries, Harry restocked his Quiver with more Arrows and squared his shoulders before he marched up to the door of the Boss Room.
A system tag flickered into view labeling the Boss Room as the Chamber of Secrets the moment he was within arm's reach of it. Harry wrinkled his nose at the mystical sounding name for a room buried deep under the Koku Tetsu Kyuu even as he wondered what kind of secrets it could possibly hold aside from the stupid Boss that he was supposed to fight all by himself. Instead of thinking about it for too long lest he talk himself out of finishing the Quest right that minute, Harry took a deep breath, shoved the door open, and walked into the room beyond with his Bow in hand.
Translations: Japanese to English
Hajimari no Machi – Starting City or Town of Beginnings
Koku Tetsu Kyuu – Black Iron Palace
Sosei-sha no Ma – Room of Resurrection (New Translation)
Game Terminology:
Aincrad – An Incarnating Radius (the name of the Castle that is SAO)
Attributes – are the 'inherited' or 'natural' characteristics that all Players, NPCs, & Monsters are given in an RPG game (examples include Strength, Defense, Agility, etc.)
Avatar – the term for a playable character that a player uses during game play
Dungeon – an area within the game where players can attack or be attacked by Monsters (or other players)
Experience Points – the points earned for each quest completed and each Monster killed
FullDive – the use of technology to fully immerse one's conscience in a virtual reality
HP – Hit Points: the number of Life Force/Life Points/Health Points a person has
NERDLES – Nerve Direct Linkage Environment System (a surgically implanted chip that allows the FullDive system to interface with the brain – the surgically implanted part may or may not be canon as it was something I thought seemed more logical than it just being part of the interface helmet)
Player Stats – A list of a player's in game statistics and skills
Ranged Fighter – a warrior class character that fights from a distance
Skills – set abilities that can be performed by characters/players in a game
Skill Points – Experience points that are applied towards mastery of an in game skill
Sword Skills – programmed movements that initiate attacks within the game
Notes:
Harry's Emotional Meltdown – Please keep in mind that Harry is a nine year old child that has been systematically shunned and neglected throughout his formative years at this point in the story. On top of that, he was emotionally repressed up until he first started playing the Beta Version of SAO; meaning that his emotions hadn't really been given much of an outlet and there's only so long a person can hold in their emotions before they explode all over the place.
That's what happened to Harry in the last two chapters. Does that mean he's going to be a blubbering mess for the rest of the story? No. However, it will take time for him to learn how to cope with his volatile emotions (particularly those of a negative nature) and it will take him time to learn how to properly express his emotions in a healthier way. So, he will have moments of angst and drama. Not completely unexpected though; as I said earlier, he is a child.
Harry's Game Data/Stats (After Death):
Category: Data Corrupted
Caste: Warrior
Class: Ranged Fighter
Type: Bowman
Level: 20
HP: ****** System Error: HP Incalculable
Cor: 26,720
Attributes: DEF [13], ATK [23], STR [05], AGI [10], STM [**], & LCK [**]
Unspent Stat Points: [97] (20 extra points carried over from Beta Test)
Main Equipment:
Oak Longbow – Reliable Bow accurate up to 200 yards +10 ATK
Steel Arrows – Med. quality Arrows; oak shafts fletched w/ duck feathers & tipped w/ steel Arrowheads +3 ATK
Leather Boots – Sturdy boots that make noise: +2 DEF
Leather Gloves – Sturdy gloves that protect a player's hands: +1 DEF
Leather Clothes – Sturdy clothes that protect a player's body: +5 DEF
Leather Pack – Sturdy backpack that allows a player to carry extra Items even when their Inventory is full
Equipped Skills: ** System Error: No Limit Applied
(Basic 1-250 pts, Advanced 251-500 pts, Proficient 501-750 pts, Expert 751-999 pts, & Master 1000 pts)
Animal Call – 0052
Archery – 0601
Climbing – 0063
Cooking – 0435
Dead Shot – 0219
Detection – 0472
Fishing – 0399
Hiding – 0454
Howl – 0032
Humming – 0086
Hunting – 0487
Listening – 0251
Longbow – 0422
Night Vision – 0113
Roar – 0019
Searching – 0593
Short Bow – 0362
Singing – 0029
Sneak – 0664
Sprint – 0177
Tracking – 0592
War Cry – 0018
Whistling – 0048
Unarmed Skills: ** System Error: No Limit Applied
Camping – 0485
Escape – 0275
Navigation – 0568
Research – 0081
Scouting – 0473
Stargazing – 0621
AN: Chap 9 to be posted on 03-18-18. ~ Jenn