Chapter 13: Reality Check

December 7th, 2024

Josh was finally discharged from the hospital after spending weeks of physical rehabilitation to regain his muscles that he had lost from spending the last 2 years in the VR world as well as the fine and gross motor coordination following his triumphant return to the real world. It was some of the most tedious and most annoying experiences he had the displeasure of enduring as the various news reporters were barging into his room every few hours to squeeze out as much information on the SAO incident as they can, especially his involvement in the development of the death game. Due to all the interruptions from the publicity, Josh had not gotten any information regarding his siblings recovery process nor did he receive any information on the locations of his friends from SAO in real life. Despite all those hardships, Josh had made it back home safely only to find a n empty house and nobody to greet him. He assumed that both his siblings were still in rehabilitation which would make sense since they were younger than he was. Aside from eating his first meal away from the hospital, Josh's first order of business was to catch up on any current events he had missed while he was stuck in SAO. He also wanted to look into any updates on what happened to the game that he created before he was trapped in Mr. Kayaba's game.

After hours of research, Josh discovered that Argus had gone bankrupt and a company called RECT had taken over the SAO servers. It made sense since the game did not shut down midway. He also discovered that RECT Progress, the Full Dive Division of RECT, invented the Amu Sphere which was a safer console compared to the Nerve Gear because there was no internal battery source. On top of that, they had launched a popular VRMMO game called ALfheim Online over a year ago while Josh was still trapped in SAO. Seeing this made Josh go livid. What the hell is that?! Josh thought angrily. You've got to be kidding me! Did they seriously have the nerve to steal my game from right under my nose?! Outraged, Josh made his way to the old Argus Headquarters building the next morning as fast as he could only to find it completely abandoned. The place was barred shut and Josh had no choice but to break into the building. Josh made his way to the conference room only to find it completely cleaned out. The development room and his workspace were also picked clean and his game hardware that he secured was also gone. Of course they would take my hardware! Josh thought as he slammed the top of his desk hard. If they dare tamper with my game, I will make sure they pay dearly with a multi-trillion yen lawsuit!

Frustrated that he could not recover anything from the old Argus Headquarters building, Josh made his way to the RECT Headquarters to see if he could find any evidence that could incriminate the thieves within the company and prove that they were the ones who stole his game. When he entered the building, Josh noticed the portraits of the executives of RECT behind the receptionist's desk and saw the name, Shouzou Yuuki, as the CEO of RECT. Yuuki eh? Josh thought as he walked towards the receptionist's front desk. That name is definitely familiar. It must be Sauna's father or something. Hopefully for her sake that he's not responsible for stealing my game.

"Yes, may I help you, sir?" The receptionist asked professionally.

"I would like to have a word with Mr. Yuuki, the CEO," Josh requested politely. "When would he be available?"

"One moment please," The receptionist said as she looked up his schedule. "I'm afraid you will not be able to reach him during business hours since he is very busy with back-to-back meetings regarding the SAO incident."

"If I may, ma'am," Josh insisted. "I am also an SAO survivor. I believe that he has a daughter that was also stuck in SAO that I am friends with."

The receptionist looked at Josh wide-eyed and surprised. She then pulled him to the side and sat him down in a private area. "I could get fired for doing this so if anyone, including Mr. Yuuki asks how you got his number, you didn't get it from me, understand? This is his business card. You could call him right away if you want since he regularly visits his daughter in the hospital from the SAO incident. I can say no more."

"Thank you so much and I promise your secret's safe with me," Josh said with a smile.

After leaving the building, Josh had taken out his old phone and called the number on the card. After a few seconds, the call picks up.

"Hello Mr. Yuuki, this is Josh Altman," Josh introduced himself. "I believe you've heard of me."

"Ah yes, Mr. Altman," Mr. Yuuki said. "Your stories are all over the news. I won't ask how you got my number since I'm sure you've done your research. How may I help you, young sir?"

"I was hoping to have a word in person with you," Josh requested. "I have some questions I need to ask regarding your company."

"Very well," Mr. Yuuki replied. "I am currently at Tokorozawa General Hospital located in Saitama visiting my daughter, Asuna. She still hasn't woken up from the game yet which I'll admit is very strange since you have already woken. We may talk there right now if you wish."

"I would really appreciate that, Mr. Yuuki." Josh stated. "I will head over there immediately."

"Don't mention it, Mr. Altman," Mr. Yuuki reassured him. "Any friend of my daughter is a friend of mine. I will see you later."

Josh hung up and started his way to the hospital where Asuna was at after taking care of a few things back home. After he was checked in, he walked over to Asuna's patient room where Mr. Yuuki was waiting inside.

"It's nice to finally meet you in person, Mr. Altman," Mr. Yuuki stated with his hand extended. "I am Asuna's father and the CEO of RECT, Shouzou Yuuki."

"It's a pleasure to meet you too, Mr. Yuuki," Josh commented as he took his hand. "It's also nice to meet Miss Asuna in person as well."

"Naturally, I would have her introduce herself, but as you can see, she's still in this comatose state," Mr. Yuuki said in a sad tone. "You said you had some questions about my company?"

"Yes, I do. I'm sure you've heard all this from the news, but I was a developer and admin for SAO," Josh started. "I was also Mr. Kayaba's assistant and confidant during my time working at Argus. I have read about your company and your Full-Dive Division taking over the SAO servers following Argus's bankruptcy. I was wondering if you could tell me more about that division."

"Yes of course," Mr. Yuuki said with a smile. "The Full Dive Division, otherwise known as RECT Progress, is in charge of all things related to the virtual reality consoles and game hardware associated with virtual reality. Our division head, Nobuyuki Sugou, has launched their first VR game, ALfheim Online, about a year ago with the intent of bringing more players inspired by SAO into the virtual world without the worry of being trapped into life or death circumstances."

"That sounds very generous of Mr. Sugou," Josh commented, trying to hide his sarcasm. "I am to assume that you have no insider information on what RECT Progress is doing regarding ALO, right?"

"That is correct," Mr. Yuuki confirmed. "I have no business with what takes place in the virtual world. I leave that all to Mr. Sugou, who is planning to inherit this company after my retirement."

"I understand," Josh said softly. "In that case, I would like to speak to Mr. Sugou about ALO if you don't mind."

"I'm afraid Mr. Sugou is currently busy with the supervision of ALO from the inside," Mr. Yuuki stated. "Perhaps you can meet with him from within the game. I am willing to give you the ALO game hardware free of charge as an apology for the inconvenience."

"I really appreciate that, Mr. Yuuki," Josh thanked. "Please give Miss Asuna my regards in case she wakes up before I see her again."

"I would be more than happy to, Mr. Altman," Mr. Yuuki replied. "I have your number saved on my phone. If you need anything, please don't hesitate to call me. Also, I have notified my receptionists to have the game ready for you when you come pick it up."

"Thank you very much. I will be looking forward to talking to you again in the near future," Josh thanked again as he headed out the door.

Josh walked out of the hospital with a new determination to infiltrate the game. It was his own creation and nobody could tamper with what was already sealed. If diving into this game was the only way Josh could catch the thief who stole his creations, he would do it in a heartbeat. Not to mention, it would be a pleasure to see with his own eyes what he personally created from scratch. Josh arrived at the headquarters building once again and picked up the game that Mr. Yuuki had promised. He immediately returned home to fire up the game on his Nerve Gear without any other care in the world. Not only did he want to catch the culprit, he also wanted to make sure those thieves did not somehow tamper with his game. It was towards the evening and Josh was lying on his bed just as he had done before for SAO. With his Nerve Gear on again, Josh closed his eyes as he uttered those two famous words: "Link Start!"

The colors of light flashed before his eyes again as the 5 senses calibration labels appeared. Josh logged onto his account, which surprisingly got through. Unfortunately, his admin character was stolen by the usurper, so he had to create a new character from scratch.

"Welcome to ALfheim Online," The game read out loud. "Please enter your gender and character name."

Josh immediately entered Altinator as his character name and chose male as his gender.

"Now, please select your race," The game instructed.

Josh quickly chose the Salamander race. He knew that they were the strongest race in the game since he created it that way.

"You have chosen the Salamanders," The game confirmed. "Your avatar's appearance will be selected randomly by the system. If you wish to proceed, please select the circle button. Otherwise, please return to your character settings."

Josh selected the circle button and the game continued its monologue.

"Congratulations new player, you will now be transferred to the hometown of the Salamander Territory," The game explained. "ALO wishes you the best of luck!"

The game flashed white as Josh disappeared and Altinator appeared in-game as a muscular version of himself from the real world. He only had the basic armor and weapons, a two-handed sword. Altinator fell gently down near the outskirts of the Salamander capital hoping that nobody saw him in this basic gear. He retreated into the forest and hid among the shadows where nobody would see him. First things first. I need to get out of these starter gears. Altinator thought as he tried to access his menu. But before that… He quickly sighed in relief as he saw the logout button. Ok, time to get to work. Altinator checked his stats and noticed that they were, indeed, the same stats as he had in SAO, which makes him incredibly overpowered in the game. Just as I thought. My stats from SAO transferred over to this game like I planned. This must mean that they cut corners and used the same Cardinal System that was used in SAO. If that's the case, then it means I can do this.

"System Login… ID: Altinator," Altinator called out. The admin menu popped up. "System Command: Enable Administrative Privileges, Restore Previously Saved Objects."

Altinator's SAO gear appeared onto his body, including his clothes and signature sword. Perfect, my security lock worked. Now all I need to do is to delete all my items exclusive to SAO. Altinator thought as he went through all his items and deleted each one that was marked with question marks.

"System Logout," Altinator called out again as the admin menu disappeared. Ok, time to meet my new friends.

Altinator walked back to the Salamander Capital, Gattan, and was greeted by the guards stationed there by the gate. The moment the guards saw Altinator as a prominent Salamander, they allowed him inside. Altinator saw tons of Salamander players, most of them were part of the Salamander Army. Just then, a squad of Salamanders led by a buff player with the rare two-handed sword called the Demonic Sword Gram. Altinator made eye contact with that player which caught his attention.

"Hey, you there!" the buff player called out. "I don't think I've seen you before. Are you a noob?"