November 6th, 2022 – 14:05 AST/JST. An hour into official service for Sword Art Online.

There was no magic in the game, which was odd for MMORPGs overall. But I felt like it would have defeated the purpose of getting to experience 1:1 movement and immersion like this. Waving your arms around to activate spells could come later in another game, after people have learned to appreciate the value of intricate and precise swings of a sword or axe.

Just under an hour into service, I'd made it from the Town of Beginnings, to this village of Horunka. Less than ten minutes later, I had accepted a quest, defeated a fellow beta tester named Kora in a Total Loss duel, completed the quest, and watched a bonus cutscene. Now, I was on my way to another quest on the other side of town. After finding out that quests had global cooldowns – that meaning that once a quest was accepted, it could not be accepted for a given interval by any player, not only the player who just accepted or completed it – I wondered how this would reflect on the beta testers who now had a limit on how they could use their previous knowledge, and on the new players who would have their experiences obstructed by the people who rushed off to objectives, which they may have only found once it had become unavailable to them.

If «Secret Medicine of the Forest» would only yield one «Anneal Blade» – a «1-H Sword» – to the entire server each day, that would drive up the market value of the sword for a great deal of time, right up until the fifth or sixth floor opened, where the sword's usefulness would begin to run dry. But if you played your cards right, you could use this sword on its own from here to the fourth floor with zero issues. But I still wanted to wear out the default curved blade first, as I couldn't make the most of the Anneal Blade without the «One-Handed Sword» skill, until I reached Level 6 to unlock a third skill slot, which I could then fill with that skill. And I had only just made it to Level 2 from the quest reward XP from the medicine quest, as I had struck unfathomable luck with the spawn rate of the Little Nepenthes' flower-bearing variant. What would normally take 2-3 hours for most, even myself in the beta, ended up taking a couple of minutes for me this time.

I made my way to a ranch at the end of an unpaved road, smelling only of dried grass, unlike how I suspected a real ranch would smell. By the cow shed, was a middle-aged man in a straw hat, with a pitchfork in his hands as he sighed and shook his head, obvious concern in his face as a golden '?' floated above his head. I was sure these symbols were reversed in the beta – an exclamation for available quests, and a question mark for quests in progress.

"Afternoon, sir. How goes the ranch?" I hoped that wasn't too informal to be picked up.

"Not good," the NPC answered like in the beta, "One of the calves got lost. It's probably in a field out of the east side of the forest. Can you bring it back here before it gets attacked by a monster?"

"Yeah, I can do that." As I agreed, the mark changed to a '!' as usual. Just then, I was knocked to the ground by a feminine figure, whom I promptly shoved off of myself to stand again.

"Oh, Sarako, again," I chuckled with slight annoyance as I helped her up, "Were you trying to catch this quest before me?"

"Nah, it was just a little joke," the self-acknowledged gamer thot giggled, "I just wanted to see if I could roleplay the frustration of seeing the cooldown. As soon as I saw the quest mark disappear, I knew I had to pounce on you."

"Well, why don't you see if you can at least talk to him, since he's not behind a door?"

Sarako shrugged. "I suppose it's worth a shot."

I stepped back so she could approach him. "Excuse me, sir, is there a problem?"

The man shrugged as he cradled his pitchfork. "Can you come again at 8:05PM?"

Sarako turned to me with a sigh. "Six hours."

I tilted my head as I looked at the quest log. "Huh. This quest is called «The Heifer Strikes Back»."

"New name?" Sarako revealed her knowledge of the quest. "It was just «Lost Calf» before, no?"

I shrugged as I closed my menu. "Something must be different about the objective."

"Probably implies a scripted combat encounter. Why don't I make sure you get through this one as well, and I can get an idea of what to expect when I take the quest myself?"

I simply nodded, and sent her a party invite, which she accepted. As stated by the NPC, this quest's main objective was to find a calf in the east forest. We took the mother cow with us as required, proceeding out of town and giving her the opportunity to lick a chunk of rock salt every so often.

If the cow went too long without the rock salt, she would run all the way back to the ranch, and we would have to start again with the gradual walk to the objective location. The only indication we would get that 4-5 minutes had passed and the cow wanted the salt, was a faster wag of the tail as the invisible gauge ran down. This gauge would continue to run down during battle, so the more manpower available to finish off encounters, the easier it would be to manage time. No enemies would attack the cow, so that was one saving grace. For the time being, Sarako and I sliced up the worms that appeared just outside of town, and we made our way through the forest.

"Do you intend to grab the quest right away when its cooldown ends?" I didn't know why I asked, because it was entirely possible that she would have some simps back in the hours that would pass since then.

"Depends on if they've added to the quest reward," Sarako answered without much hesitation, seemingly expecting some conversation between battles, "Otherwise, I will probably just try to strategize with the way I gather other players. I only had people to fight, do quests, and buy me expensive stuff – no crafting, no tactical thought about how the fighters fought, nothing remotely practical whatsoever."

I rolled my eyes as I gave the rock salt to the cow again. "At least you're forward-thinking with how you use your simps."

"It's time for this tactical thot to have some tactical thought."

Even the pair of Forest Wasps that emerged from a nearby thicket were upset at that pun. We drew our weapons and each went for one. They were like the Yellow Wasps in the fields near the Town of Beginnings, just slightly higher in level. And just like them, they had an attack allowing them to fire poison from their stingers. Perhaps the developers felt it was a bit janky to have them spit it from their mouths in the beta?

In real life, where my autism increased my hearing sensitivity, the buzzing of these torso-size insects would be maddening to the ears – never mind the terrifying thought of insects this size attacking.

While Sarako was having an easier time with a straight sword, I opted to just pelt my target with a rock first. Aiming at the neck, the wasp ducked under the system-assisted throw – into the range of my next attack.

I quickly got into the activation pose for Reaver, giving the wasp time to send some poison my way, before launching myself at the wasp, passing through the poison in the process. The debuff didn't trigger this time, but I sliced into the 'collar' of the wasp, to use non-insect terminology – the weak point of the wasp and bee-type enemies. At least the poison didn't hit my sword, as it would wear weapons down faster than it would to armor.

I then pulled out another rock and threw it at the Forest Wasp, hitting it right in the face as it flew along a half-ring path to turn around. I then threw another rock with basic assistance, rather than with the Single Shot move, and it flew under the projectile to charge toward me with its stinger. Without hesitation, I jabbed my blade into the neck, snapping it but not severing it. The wasp fell to the ground before shattering, as Sarako decapitated the other.

Maintaining the cow's taste for salt, and after another three encounters away from the forest, we finally reached the «Rata Plain» where the calf was meant to be. The Southern Grasslands by the Town of Beginnings was separated from this large field by a wide river. There were cliffs at the northern end of the plains, splitting the floor into north and south halves. There were three ways around the cliffs: through caves in the west, a cliff dungeon in the east, or past a boar Field Boss through the center canyon.

Thinking of central regions – wetlands laid at the center of this plain, and in the middle of that was what could be described as a kobold town. I had mentioned this 'settlement' in my testing report after the beta phase had passed, but it was really just a place to fight kobolds, and nothing more.

By now, it was 3:10PM. It took an hour to lead this damn cow to where it needed to be, to start searching for the calf. There was a space about 500 meters in diameter in the western part of the Rata Plains, where the calf would be. We had to lead the cow around this space, and she would confirm if we were close to it. We'd still run into monster spawns, and the geography had its own hazards to watch for, such as thorns and reeded ponds, but it only took a spare eye to navigate obstacles of that kind. And a calf should be visible over 50cm of grass.

We took our time having the cow lick its rock salt, and keeping the large rats and scarabs at bay as our search continued – or hers, at least, as she was the one who would lead us to the calf.

A typical, mundane moo would come from this cow each time she licked the rock salt, an indication that she was ready to move on. But suddenly, we got a "Moo!" in a hurried tone, as the cow headed east about 20 meters.

"Finally!" I chuckled at Sarako's dwindling patience as we ran to catch up to the cow, as she let out another sharp bellow, followed by a shrill "Moo!" further ahead. We simply passed in front of the mother to see, and there it was. The calf was right there, only a few meters from us.

Normally, it would just be a matter of the calf listening to the mother and following her back home. But this time, around its neck, was a rough rope made from intertwined dried grass. And the other end was in the hand of a small figure, leading the calf eastward toward the wetlands.

"Cease your steps!" I tried to not sound like generic fantasy law enforcement, but I felt like I made myself sound that much more like them.

The figure ahead didn't appreciate it either, and turned towards us. The canine snout, pointy ears, and the tail that emerged from the grass, told us…

"That's a kobold."

"A «Swamp Kobold Rat Hunter»," I elaborated, drawing my sword as Sarako did hers, "A Level 5 monster is a bit much for us to face at Levels 1 and 2."

"Yeah, the cursor is magenta for both of us, huh?"

"Like the Nepenthes."

The kobold interrupted our brief conversation. "Kororu guru…" Whatever it said in its language was worthless to us as it tossed aside the rope and drew its spear. For a twisted wooden handle and a bone tip, it was a hard-hitting weapon. But the power of this enemy was the least of our worries.

"Naru ran gura!" In response to our opponent's call, out of the grass rose another two kobolds. But only one of them was another rag-wearing Rat Hunter – and they were the weakest.

Standing a head taller than them, in leather armor, wielding a dagger in its right hand, and an iron rope-hook in its left, was a «Swamp Kobold Trapper». And its cursor was the dark crimson of dried, oxygenated blood – an impossible victory for us.

The rope-hook had a special attack called «Weapon Dropper», pulling weapons out of the player's hands so that the other kobolds could swarm them as they tried to retrieve it. Everyone in the beta had been killed at least once by one of these. I was close to beating the first one I fought, though.

Sure, I figured I could simply come back later, at a higher level after respawning, and have an easier time against it. But I didn't believe in giving up, I was too stubborn – I lost 20 kilograms playing DDR back in Australia, and kept myself in the 60-70 range in Japan playing Six-Foot Style. Those games weren't designed to replace conventional exercise; just to encourage and contribute. But I wanted those high scores in the arcade centers.

"Konjura!" The Trapper's call prompted the Rat Hunters to flank him.

"You're actually going for it?"

I chuckled with my eyes fastened on the hook. "I've played games where I've chipped high-level enemies to death before."

"You're insane," Sarako sighed as she brought her sword forward, "At least the calf ran back to the mother once the rope was released."

The Trapper began twirling its rope, a heavy woosh accompanying the hook as it swung in the air. Both of the Rat Hunters cradled their spears in their approach, too.

"Let's go for it, then."

"Sure, whatever. Let's just get this over—"

"Moooo!"

From behind us came the bellow of the mother cow, and the ground began to rumble. As we rolled aside in opposing directions, the cow passed between us with ground-shaking force.

"Narungo!" The Swamp Kobold Trapper launched its hook at the cow, and it simply bounced off the cow's right horn. The 500kg+ cow then slammed her head into the chest of the Trapper, sending it into the air – as it was still smaller than human, despite being bigger than most kobolds. And at the peak of its height, the Trapper's model shattered.

"That's what I'm talking about!" I laughed confidently, pulling back my arm for Reaver.

"Roggo…" The Rat Hunters whimpered with trashed morale, and their flinches gave us openings for the start of the battle. Of course, they still gave us quite the thrashing, and we had to top up from a few pixels of HP with all the potions we had left. But at least Sarako and I ascended to Levels 2 & 3 respectively. Now, Little Nepenthes would show me pure red cursors, instead of magenta. And the Frenzy Boars would already be showing pinkish-white cursors of barely-noticeable XP yield.

More battles akin to the journey down to the Rata Plain, would await us on the way back. But we made it back to Horunka with the cow and her calf. The ranch owner graciously thanked us both, giving us the expected Cor – Aincrad's currency – from the beta, and an additional reward of a basket. The quest reward XP also boosted us to Levels 3 & 4.

"Well, you've certainly got a head start, haven't you?"

I chuckled at Sarako's pouty statement, and opened the basket. "Maybe there's something in here that I can give you."

She leaned over my shoulder to look inside. "Nah, two loaves of black bread? You need all of that. And don't let me spoil what's in that jar."

"Let's see it, then," I answered as I plucked the jar from the basket. "This is a… Oh! It's sour cream. What do you know…"

Sarako nodded with a smile. "I might just make someone stay in Horunka, then."

I rolled my eyes as I put the basket into my inventory. "I'm sure those guys would prefer to serve bread to you with their cream."

"Which… may or may not be sour."

"Would they expect you to notice?"

"Touché."

I chuckled as Sarako glanced away awkwardly. "Anyway, we have already played for two or three hours now. Sure, the second and third were a slog, but we're getting somewhere."

The e-girl smiled, looking back up at me. "Yeah. Those were some quick levels."

"We definitely weren't meant to do that last one this early."

She shook her head with a giggle. "Hell no. That was crazy. Kobolds, this soon?"

"Well, we did it," I exhaled a sigh of satisfaction, and sent her a friend request, "There will certainly come many more opportunities for us to use our knowledge from the beta."

"Yeah, for like, 10% of the game." She then declined my friend request. "I'll see you again, SAUER."

I chuckled again as she departed without another word. I knew why she was keeping her contacts clean for the time being. That said, it took us just over half an hour to get back to town.

With her out of the way, I made my way around town to pick up the rest of the quests in Horunka. The others were simple, typical MMO quests – "Kill this", "Gather that", and the like – yielding only Cor and XP rewards. Those took up another hour and a half, but they helped me reach Level 5.

This unlocked my third skill slot, to which I immediately assigned «One-Handed Sword». And as luck would have it, my default curved blade was on its last legs.

I decided to sit down and eat one of these black breads that I received. I may as well try the sour cream with it, too.

I took the basket from my inventory, and retrieved a loaf, along with the jar. To call it a 'loaf' was somewhat unfair to sliced bread – these were closer to slightly larger, slightly flatter rolls.

I tapped the button on the top of the jar, and a glowing orb appeared on the tip of my finger. Then, with a stroke of my finger, spread the sour cream across the bread.

"Heh, fun." It was a silly comment, but I just loved this game so much. I took my time with the bread, knowing that my avatar's nourishment wouldn't affect my real nourishment. That way, I'd remain hungry for dinner when my boss cooked it – unless her mother could be home from work at the hospital to cook it instead.

By the time I finished the bread, it was 5:25. When I had come back to turn in all the quests, the sun had already come down. It could be seen through the gap between the floor discs, the second floor being the last to cover it until it could shine painlessly into my eyes. It was still grating to stare at it like in real life, but just as a sensory annoyance, in this case.

Seeing the sunset from the ground, with the orange sky above, made me think of the days before office life, where my desk was only a door or two away from my bed. For the last six years, I'd been seeing the sky from a window multiple floors up off of the surrounding terrain. But for this sight to feel the same way it did when I looked at the real sky, it made me realize that I was not 'too old' for the next generations of technology. I may be 25, but the people that were creating the new digital contraptions that boomers couldn't grasp, were only a decade or two older than me. And as for the NerveGear and SAO? For all I knew, Kayaba Akihiko could have been older or younger than me.

Just when I thought I would get annoyed by my own mind's wandering, I got a message. Well, I had only successfully added Kirito. I opened up the chat interface to see what he sent.

[Do you have your logout button?]

What.

I navigated back to the first menu, and then to 'Settings/Main Menu'. Sure enough – where the button 'Log Out' would be, there was only its icon, an ajar door with an arrow, and no text.

Out of curiosity, I pressed the 'button' anyway. Nothing. It may as well have been gone from the interface altogether.

[You don't have it either?]

Kirito got back to me right away. [Nope, or Klein. He's gonna miss his 5:30 pizza.]

[Ahh, not the pizza!]

[GM isn't answering either.]

Well, RIP pizza. That was why I had my lunch right before launch. If anything got wacky for the first few hours of service, I needed time for the dev team to figure it out. I was going to stick around up until six anyway, but it looked like I was going to be here for longer.

And then there were bells. Or, one bell, ringing from the Town of Beginnings, reverberating all over the entire floor. And then, an all-consuming, bright blue light enveloped me.

Back in the square at the Town of Beginnings, where I appeared after the light dissipated, I saw everyone else there, too. Kirito, Klein, Sarako, other beta testers I'd seen before. All 10,000 players were gathered in this one spot, pulled from whatever they'd been doing at that point.

"Do you know what's going on?" "Uh-uh." I glanced back at the couple behind me – a girl in a pink shoulderless tunic and a guy about a head taller than her. Hmm…

"Someone forced a teleport…" Gee Kirito, you got any more insight right now? And right after that thought ran through my head, the bell on the central clock tower of the square stopped ringing. I glanced up at the clock, and it was now 5:45. I'd been dwelling on the interface for 15 minutes.

As Kirito approached Klein, I found myself to them as well, just as another player pointed up to the sky over the square. "Look. Up there!" And we all did. Above us, was a long, hexagonal prompt colored in red, reading 'WARNING' and flashing slowly. "Now what?" asked Kirito beside me.

More red hexagons spread across the sky, turning it red, as some read 'System Announcement' alongside many of the other symbol. Thick, goopy blood dripped from between the tiles and pooled together in the air, lightning coursing across the mass as it began to form a shape.

"What the hell is that thing?" Your guess is as good as mine, Klein. And not too long after, it took shape as a scarlet robe, with golden trimmings, pale white gloves, and an empty, hollow hood.

"Is that the Game Master?" "Why doesn't he have a face?" "Is this an event?" All asked behind me.

"I'm scared!" The pink-tunic girl clung to her boyfriend's arm. "Don't worry. It's just a part of the opening ceremony."

"Attention, players," the empty robe began as he raised his arms outward in invitation, "I welcome you, to my world."

"What does he mean by that?" Kirito wondered audibly.

"My name is Akihiko Kayaba. And as of this moment, I am in control of this world."

Kirito flinched beside me. Yeah, you're looking at a revolutionary game designer.

Lots of overlapping chatter behind. "Seriously?" "Is that really him?" "Wow, that's some entrance."

Kayaba continued to speak. "I'm sure most of you have already noticed an item missing from your main menus – the logout button." He then opened his own menu, visible to us, to demonstrate.

"Let me assure you, this is not a defect in the game. I repeat: this is not a defect. This is how Sword Art Online was designed to be."

"He's… kidding, right?" Klein wasn't too quick to buy it.

"You cannot log yourselves out of SAO – and no-one from the outside will be able to shut down or remove the NerveGear from your head. If anyone attempts to do so," he continued, "A transmitter inside the NerveGear will discharge a microwave signal into your skull – destroying your brain, and ending your life."

"What are you talking about?" "Oh, come on, that's such BS!" "This game sucks!"

"Let's get out of here," said the boy taking his girlfriend toward another street, and bumping into an invisible wall, "Hey! I can't get out!"

"Hah. Are you listening to this crap? He's gotta be nuts, right?" Klein turned toward the beta tester who had reacted the most so far to this announcement. "Right, Kirito?"

"He's not. The transmitter signals in the headgear work just like microwaves," Kirito answered with his eyes fixed on the GM robe, "If the safety's disabled, it could fry your brain."

"Couldn't someone cut the power, or…?"

"That won't work," Kirito explained, "The NerveGear's got an internal battery."

"Nh… Graah…!" Klein had to face the truth. "This is crazy. It's totally crazy!"

"Despite my warning," Kayaba resumed speaking, "The families and friends of some of the players have attempted removing the NerveGear – an unfortunate decision, to say the least."

So, he spoke outside, too. "As a result, the game now has 213 less players than when it began. They have been deleted from both Aincrad, and the real world."

"213…!" Kirito gasped, as Klein shook his head. "No way… I don't believe it!"

Screenshots of news articles surrounded the GM. "As you can see, international media outlets have round-the-clock coverage of everything – including the deaths."

Some of the screenshots were of TV news broadcasts, as well. "At this point, it's safe to assume the likelihood of a NerveGear being removed is minimal, at best."

"I hope this brings you a little comfort as you try to clear the game." Upon hearing this, Kirito glared back up at the GM robe. "It's important to remember the following: there is no longer any way to revive someone within the game."

Not this goddamn trope, I thought. "If your HP drops to zero, your avatar will be deleted from the system, forever."

Here we go.

"And the NerveGear will simultaneously destroy your brain."

All the times I cussed in the beta. All the close calls I had today. And I can't let it happen anymore. Over the past five hours, my avatar shattering could have been the last thing I saw. And I would not have known all of this.

"There is only one way for a player to escape now: you must clear the game." Kayaba then displayed the map in his menu. "Right now, you're gathered on floor one – the lowest level of Aincrad. If you can get through the dungeon and defeat the boss, you may advance to the next floor."

The palace at the top glowed brightly. "Defeat the boss on Floor 100, and you will clear the game."

"Clear it?" "What's he talking about?" "Why should we believe any of the crap you're saying?!"

All reactions from around the square. I then glanced over to the players I'd spoken to in these past hours of service.

"We can't clear all 100 floors…" Klein doubted audibly, "That's freakin' impossible. Even the beta testers never made it that high!"

"…Klein. Why would we have been given an opportunity to finish the game before it's out?"

Kirito glanced at me in response to my comment, and Klein shook his head, hopefully at himself.

"Last but not least," Kayaba continued his speech, "I have placed a little present in the item storage of every player. Please, have a look."

Everyone opened their inventories, and found a small hand mirror, just big enough to reflect the whole face of an avatar. After a second or two to look at ourselves, every player was suddenly enveloped in bright blue light. And then a few seconds later, the light faded.

"You okay, Kirito?" I heard Klein's voice, and turned to see the same color of hair, but a different hairstyle and slightly different facial hair.

"Yeah," a slightly younger voice answered, "Wait… Who are you?"

Klein held his expression. "I'm me, who are you?"

The boy who Klein called 'Kirito' no longer had shoulder-length blue hair, but instead, black hair falling only just below his ears. He was shorter, and his face was rounder. I looked around at the other players, and several male players had the shoulderless tunics of female avatars.

"Son of a…! You're a guy!?" I heard by the invisible wall. "You're not seventeen!" I could just barely see them from here, but the '17-year-old' was much wider now. And the 'girl' was even skinnier afterward than before.

"Wait a second…!" Kirito realized as he and Klein pointed at each other.

"Is that you Kirito/Klein?" It was fun to hear their confusion simultaneously, especially when they looked to me. "SAUER, you made your real self?"

"Yeah, I wanted people to recognize me," I chuckled half-heartedly, "But I'm more interested in the ones that changed."

"The scan…" Kirito explained in response, "There's a high-density signal device inside the NerveGear rig, it can see what my face looks like. But how does it know my height and body type?"

"When you first put the NerveGear on," Klein answered, "It had to do this calibration thing. It asked you to touch your body all over like this, remember?"

Kirito nodded slowly as Klein patted his own arm. "Oh yeah, you're right. That's where it got our physical data…!"

"But… This is…!" Klein held his temple. "What's the point? Why would anyone do this to us?!"

Kirito then pointed to the robe again. "I think he's about to tell us."

"Right now, you're probably wondering why – why would Akihiko Kayaba, developer of Sword Art Online and NerveGear, do this?" The GM then proceeded to answer. "Ultimately, my goal was a simple one: the reason I created Sword Art Online, was to control the fate of a world of my design."

"Kayaba…!" Ooh, Kirito used his given name. I guess anger counted as a personal connection.

"As you can see, I have achieved my goal." Kayaba's arms fell to his sides. "This marks the end of the tutorial, and the official launch of Sword Art Online. Players, I wish you the best of luck."

Red smoke then poured from the hood and sleeves of the robe, which collapsed and faded away, as the smoke returned to the sky and disappeared, along with the grid of alerts.

I took a second to stare at the uncovered sky, just as the sun passed behind the buildings.

So, there were not ten thousand standing here. Those 213 whose families tried to pull them free of the hardware, they weren't here. And whoever had run out of health in-game were—

That was when I remembered the white knight who tried to 'save Sarako from' me. Kora. I defeated him in a Total Loss duel. I reduced his HP to zero.

I killed someone. And the system deemed it a legal kill, because it was a fair, pre-established fight. The cursor above my head was always green today – the mark of a crime-free player.

But just as I had killed, I thought, so could I have been killed if I didn't. And I could still be killed by someone else. That 'someone' might not even be connected to a real brain. And it wasn't likely to ever be that way.

And that was the truth. Everything that we just heard. If we die in here, we will die out there.

I heard a mirror shatter on the ground. "My god… Aah!" Players glanced back at the girl who first panicked, and many shouting voices soon followed.

"Let me out, let me out of here!" "I can't stay here! I have a meeting after this!" Well, I did too.

"Stop pushing!" "You have to let us go!" "Wait, seriously?!" "What did we ever do to you?! We just wanted to play a game!"

As the others panicked, the invisible walls disappeared, and Kirito grabbed Klein's hand.

"Come on, Klein…!" Kirito pulled him out to a street in the west, and I quickly followed.

"Okay, listen," Kirito explained, "I'm heading out right now for the next village. I want you to come."

"Huh?" Klein lazily inquired.

"If what he said is true, and I think it is," Kirito began as he opened his map, "The only way we're gonna survive in here is by making ourselves as strong as possible."

I stepped closer to see him pointing at the map. "In an MMORPG, the money you can earn, the XP, once the game starts up, there's only so much of that stuff to go around."

He pointed to the Town of Beginnings on the map. "Look, the fields around the Town of Beginnings are gonna be hunted clean soon." He dragged a path-drawing tool along the road up to Horunka, where I had just been. "If we head to the next village now, we'll have an easier time collecting cash and points."

He then closed the map. "Don't worry, I know all the paths and places we should avoid. Even if I'm Level 1, I can get there easy."

Klein hesitated. "Well, thanks, but… You know those friends of mine; I was telling you about? We stood in line for a whole night to buy this, and…" He glanced back toward the square.

"They're back at the plaza… Somewhere. And I can't leave 'em."

Kirito seemed to glance up at the top-left corner of his HUD, where his name, HP and Level would display, along with those of other party members. He might have been unsure of taking multiple players with him at once.

"Sorry." Upon hearing Klein, Kirito looked at him again.

"Can't ask a guy I just met to risk his life for a bunch of strangers, can I?" Klein seemed to chuckle lightly beneath his words. "So, don't worry about me. Get your ass to the next village."

Kirito glanced over at me for a second, and Klein spoke up again. "Hey, don't worry. Last game I played, I ran a guild, so I'm more than prepared. And with all the stuff you taught me, I'll get by, no sweat."

"…Okay," Kirito sighed as he began to step away, "If that's what you want, I'll get going. But if you're in a jam, message me, okay?" As he said that, I opted to send Klein a friend request as well.

"Sure." And Klein accepted my friend request. He could now reach me, too.

"I'll be seeing you, Klein. Take care." Kirito then turned away to begin walking.

"Kirito!" And then he stopped. Klein hesitated, and Kirito began moving again. "Hey… Kirito. …You look better like this."

The young swordsman turned to see Klein again. "Way cooler than your avatar."

Kirito smiled in his reply. "Yeah, and I think that scruffy face fits you ten times better, too."

Kirito then ran ahead, and I followed. He stopped for a moment, and looked back. And I did, too.

Klein had already left. The thought of not seeing him again must have crossed his mind, as when he swung his head forward to continue, a tear flew onto my collar.

"Alright, here's the thing, Kirito," I began to explain as I caught up to him, "There's a lot that I will have to explain when we get to Horunka, since I've done everything there already."

"You have?" Kirito turned his head to me.

"Yeah, a lot has changed from the beta," I answered as I pointed out a Dire Wolf spawning up ahead of us, "And we'll likely see many more changes later."

"But Kirito," I continued as he drew his default shortsword, "Keep in mind, that our generations are side-by-side in history. And we're both designed to understand every intricacy of a video game."

"We were born in a time that allowed us to grow into gaming, and we could play them as a full-time job if we wanted to." I smiled watching him ready «Slant», a diagonal slash. "This is a situation that couldn't be better suited to us. This is our world. And we'll leave on our terms."

"You're right," Kirito finally answered as he executed Slant, and slew the Dire Wolf with the move as we passed it, "We cannot lose! And as you say, we will not lose!"

I laughed as we ran ahead. "That's right! YOU HEAR US, KAYABA?! WE'RE COMIN' TO COLLECT!"

"YEEEEEAAAAAAAAH!"