This world is not reality, but a virtual reality world, a game world called "Sword Art Online".
Players need to put on special hardware called "Brain Wave Equipment" and enter a world composed of 100 levels through a fully immersive way. They can connect all the senses of the brain to the game to play. This is an unprecedented full-scale game. A stealth massively multiplayer online role-playing game.
Fully immersive gaming means that instead of turning on the console and holding the controller buttons or joysticks to operate, the brain's senses are sent directly into the game world to play.
Players can walk, run, jump, and even feel smells in the game.
Being able to truly jump into the game world - this is a slogan that has never existed before, which is enough to make players all over Japan rejoice and flock to buy "brain wave equipment".
Ten thousand units of "Brain Wave Equipment" were sold in major electronics stores and game stores across the country, but because of players' desire to dive into the game world, they were sold out almost instantly.
It is said that its sales speed exceeds the sales speed of game software and hardware in the past, and it is said to be the fastest sell-out speed in Heisei history.
Players who obtain this equipment happily jump into another real world in the game.
Of course, I am one of the players.
It was only one person who created this incredible world.
That person's name is Kayaba Akihiko.
He is a young genius game designer and quantum physicist who is a key figure in the development of a small and medium-sized game development company into the largest company.
The development director of this game "Sword Art Online" is also the basic designer of the "brainwave equipment", a person known as an "outrageous scientist".
As a player, I look up to him so much.
I would buy the magazines he participated in and read the interviews so many times that I could remember every sentence.
But what Kayaba Akihiko did later, what happened in the game, they only discovered later.
And when they were enjoying the game and preparing to log out, they realized that the log out button did not exist, and the players fell into extreme confusion.
And when players started asking what was going on and how to log out, there were constant voices from all corners, and the entire game world was involved.
Players are gathered in a square and learn firsthand from Kayaba himself what kind of character he has become and what he is really up to.
For those who are confused about players being unable to log out, Kayaba said.
The inability to log out is the original rule of "Sword Art Online". If you want to log out, you must reach the top of the castle, which is the 100th floor, and defeat the final boss there to clear the game.
If your physical strength drops to zero during the journey, high-power electromagnetic waves will be emitted from the brainwave equipment, burning the brain and stopping life activities. You must remain immortal, do not let your physical strength drop to zero, and keep rising from the 1st floor to the 100th floor.
The moment they heard these words, the players were eroded by despair and fear.
This was like a death sentence from Kayaba Akihiko, who was admired by game administrators and players.
The game that was originally just for enjoyment has unknowingly taken control of our lives and declared that it can be crushed at any time.
Speaking of which, Kayaba once said this in an interview: "Although this is a game, it is not a joke."
So that's it, I gained a strange sense of identity amidst the chaos.
I intuitively felt that the longed-for Kayaba turned into a terrifying murderer who could trap 10,000 players in a death game.
However, I am no longer confused.
From the moment I entered this game, I felt that this game was no longer just a game, but another reality.
This view was affirmed by Kayaba Akihiko himself.
This world has become another reality, no, to be precise, reality itself.
However, the world that players really belong to is not this world, not the Ionkraad created by Kayaba Akihiko, but the real world.
In order to return to the real world, players have to clear the boss of this game.
Whether it was because of my will as a gamer or because I was driven by the desire to return to reality, I still don’t know, but no matter what, I was driven by a desire to clear this game and prove myself, and I pushed away. Confused players walked out of the field.
On such a day, it will be about one year later on December 24, 2023.
I left my footprints and walked alone in the snow-covered forest.
A few hours ago, I entered this 35-story mysterious forest, fought a boss that dropped specific items, and won.
The item held by this boss is the Resurrection Saint Quartz, which has the power to resurrect players who died in the game.
I lost someone important before I came here looking for this item.
It was because of my pride and negligence that five important people died.
No, not dead, I killed them.
One of them looked at me and said something as he was dying.
The words spoken before death must have been curses or curses.
However, no matter what kind of unheard curse or curse, I longed to hear those words. In order to make the player's resurrection item usable, I desperately upgraded the level to meet the conditions for obtaining it, while enduring the curses of the players around me, and finally reached this incident.
As a result, everything was in vain. Covered with scars... I defeated the boss while enduring a lot of damage, and obtained the item, the Resurrection Saint Crystal.
In the description column of this prop, it is written that it will only take effect ten seconds after the player dies.
The effect only lasts ten seconds... The person I wanted to protect died about half a year ago.
Therefore, even if it is used, it will have no effect.
After the cold explanatory text, I subconsciously smashed the prop, slashed it with my sword, tried to destroy it, but failed to do so, and finally took it back.
I was tired of everything, and I roared like an animal and rolled around.
After that, everything felt empty and I finally started walking towards the town. Staying here will only be eroded by emptiness.
What do the people I want to protect think when they are dying? Have countless resentments against me. Say evil things. Or a thousand curses and stuff like that...
I was full of such thoughts, and with a weak consciousness, while walking in the lush and quiet forest, there was a sudden loud noise.
A huge creature produced by the body, a sound coming from deep within its belly. Is this the roar of a monster?
Indeed, this is the domain of monsters, so it is not surprising to hear monsters roaring, but does a monster make such a sound?
While I looked around blankly, I felt an unusual aura.
Since my search skills are higher than ordinary people, when I approach the location of a monster, I can sense the unique aura emitted by the monster.
However, the smell is quite strong. The one emitting this aura should be an intermediate boss level monster. There is probably such a monster nearby. But why would such a monster appear at this time?
I put my hand on the hilt of the sword behind my back, looked around, and immediately found the source of the sound.
Deep in the forest on my right, a monster with an obviously different atmosphere from its surroundings looked at me and stopped there quietly.
When I turned my attention to its appearance, it was surrounded by hair as white as snow. Huge wings grew from its back. It had a tall and straight outline like a wolf. There was a giant sword-like thing near what humans call its forehead. It has horns and is a dragon that walks on four legs.
"Wolf's, dragon...?"
In about a year of living in this world so far, I've seen and fought a variety of monsters, and seen a few different types of dragons, but this is the first time I've seen one in person Such a dragon.
I sometimes get information about monsters from the information house, but I've never seen information about dragons like that.
No, maybe I didn't notice their presence.
"What is that guy..."
The dragon moved slowly towards me.
I was getting closer and closer to the face of a dragon I had never seen before, and I couldn't help but feel a chill running down my spine.
I am accustomed to dragons and would not be surprised or scared by ordinary dragons, but this dragon obviously has a different temperament. From the atmosphere to the appearance, everything is different from ordinary dragons. Still, outwardly, it's a monster. He must be planning to attack me.
While I was thinking, the white dragon had already come to me. I heard a trembling voice that was completely different from that of a human. I looked up, and my black eyes almost met its wolf-like red ones.
Immediately it would bite me or scratch me with its sharp claws, or spit fire from its mouth. In this game, the dragon mainly attacks with fire, claws, and teeth, and there was no doubt it would launch an attack like this that would kill me.
I failed to protect the people I was supposed to protect and became frantic in my pursuit of reanimated props, like a demented clown. It might as well be burned to death by its flames, or torn to death by its claws and teeth. After all, it was waiting for the chance to attack me too.
It should attack immediately. I had already taken a fighting stance, ready for an attack... I should have been, but the white dragon standing in front of me never showed any sign of attacking. It just stared at me quietly without moving or speaking.
"...?"
It did not attack. It was clearly a monster, but it didn't attack me as the enemy.
Could it be that it is not a monster? Or is this some kind of incident? I gleaned some information about the activities from the well-informed information house, but there are countless activities in this game, and there may be some that I haven't discovered.
Is this some type of incident?
Will encountering an unknown dragon trigger some kind of event?
Although I thought so, nothing happened.
Bailong stared at me quietly, motionless.
Since it didn't hit, it must have been some kind of event, but what triggered the event? Maybe if I just take some action, I can trigger the event.
