The neRvgear, which was released in May 2022, has finally completely realized the "virtual reality". The major electronics manufacturer that developed neRvgear calls it "complete stealth" by connecting to the imaginary space it creates.

On Sunday, November 6, 2022, a very special day, "swordartonline" officially began its operation, which is commonly known as the open beta. One o'clock in the afternoon is when SAO officially starts, but most players are ready by thirty minutes.

But unbeknownst to this group of players, the next moment was the moment that would change the fate of their lives, because the game had been set up from the beginning of the open beta and could not be logged out of the game. Moreover, this was set by the game's developer, Akihiko Kayaba, and the operating company and other developers were completely in the dark.

sao is a large-scale, fully stealthy RPg with over 100 floors of dungeons, each with an extremely large space to explore and endless fun.

At this moment, in the middle of a vast stone floor, surrounded by street trees, and dashing medieval streets, in the distance, there is a huge palace that glows black, which is the central square of the "Start Town", where the game begins.

It's just that now it's crowded with a lot of people, and it's not the nPcs in the game, but the players of the game sao, there should be almost 10,000 people here, and they are all teleported in here in an instant.

Soon, anxious noises began to be heard in various places, and the volume gradually increased, and even a large number of players were scolding the game GM, the atmosphere of the whole square was very depressing, filled with a large number of players' negative emotions, after all, the game could not be exited, and it could not make people happy.

"Look over there!" Suddenly, the noise was drowned out by a shout, causing the players to look up.

At this time, about 100 meters above the ground, that is, at the bottom of the second layer, a bright red checkerboard-like pattern was dyed. If you look closely, you can see that the pattern is formed by the interaction of two English words. The two words written in bright red font are "warning" and "systemannouncement".

A red pattern that covers the entire sky, the central part of it is like a huge drop of blood that is quite thick, slowly dripping downward. But instead of dripping to the ground, the blood suddenly changed shape in mid-air. Appearing there was a giant nearly twenty meters tall and wearing a crimson cloak.

The appearance of this GM-like giant in a red cloak may be a little new and unfamiliar to many new players, but for veteran players who participated in the closed beta, there is some foreboding in their hearts.

At this moment, the right sleeve of the cloak suddenly moved, and through the enlarged cuffs, a pure white glove could be seen. But the sleeves and gloves were obviously separated from each other, and there was no ** part to be seen at all, and a man's deep and transparent voice came from far above.

"Players, welcome to my world, my name is Akihiko Kayaba, and I am the only person who can control this world now!"

"Don't talk nonsense! Hurry up and let's log out! ”

"Hurry up and get me out of the game, I still have things to do in the real world!"

Just as Kayaba Akihiko was halfway through her words, the players below began to riot, but Chewba Akihiko didn't seem to pay attention to the shouts of the group of people below, but continued to talk to herself, just like a robot, reading out the prepared text in advance.

"From now on, you won't be able to log out of the game on your own until you reach the top of this castle. In addition, there is no way to stop or deactivate neRvgear by an outside person. If anyone tries to do that—"

Speaking of this, Akihiko Kayaba also symbolically paused, and when the group of players were very sluggish and did not come back to their senses from what Akihiko Kayaba said, he said the next sentence with no emotion: "The microwaves emitted by the signal component of neRvgear will destroy your brains and stop your life activities. ”

"I don't believe it, I don't believe it!"

Someone sat down on the stone floor and said in a dumb voice, "It's just to scare people." This is not possible. Don't ramble over there, get me out of here. I'm not that idle to play with you here. That's right, it's all a game activity. It's a show for the opening of the game, right? ”

And, just as if to destroy all the players' hopes, the kind of broadcast that looks like announcing work in the kayaba has started again.

"You don't have to worry about your body in the real world. All the television, radio, and online media are now reporting on this situation and the situation where most of the victims appeared. Therefore, the danger of neRvgear being forcibly removed from your head can be said to have been reduced to a fairly low level. ”

This sentence sent all the players present to hell

"In the future, your body in the real world should be transported to a hospital or other facility during the two-hour disconnection buffer time under the neRvgear, and then carefully cared for. I hope you can rest assured that you can put your mind on the strategy game. ”

"What the hell are you talking about! Do you want us to concentrate on the strategy game? Can I still play the game without worrying if I can't log out? ”

At this point, someone finally couldn't help it, and a sharp cry erupted from his mouth, like staring fiercely at the huge red cloak floating near the bottom of the upper layer, and the man continued to roar: "This can't be a game at all! ”

As a result, as if he had heard the man's words again, Kizuhiko Kayaba continued to announce in his unsubdued voice smoothly, "However, I hope you will pay special attention. For all of you, 'swordartonline' is no longer just a game, it's another real world. In the future, all resurrection functions will be removed from the game. So when the hP becomes zero, your characters will be wiped out forever, and your brains will be destroyed by neRvgear. ”

"Finally, let us show you that this world is the only reality for you. In your inventory, there's a gift I've prepared. Please take a look. ”

And when all the players opened the inventory, they found a prop called "Holding a Small Mirror", although they didn't know what it was for, but they all took it out in a concrete way. Immediately after, the surrounding players were suddenly enveloped in white light, and all they saw was pale.

In just two or three seconds, the light disappeared, and all the people who looked like the handsome men and women they had appeared in a fantasy adventure game a few dozen seconds ago were gone. Instead, it's like a group of real-world young people who gather a lot of guests in a game fair and have them put on armor.

It's just that at this moment, in the crowd, six figures appeared out of thin air, but because they appeared when the players' eyes were pale, no one noticed that there were six more people next to them, and besides, after the white light, everyone's appearance changed.

Therefore, no one noticed that these six people appeared out of thin air, not even the Kayaba Jinghiko directly above them, not to mention the group of players who were panicking at the moment, they themselves hadn't reacted to what the situation was!

"Is this SAO? It's a dreamy feeling! Youbaa looked at the surrounding scenes of some Western European style and sighed.

And the excellence of a novice equipment on the side, he also looked around very carefully, and then touched Youba's little head, "How about it, aren't you happy, this is the two-dimensional world, doesn't it look like it's no different from the real world?" ”

Youba nodded his head very hard, and then looked left and right with a curious expression, like a child, as if he was full of interest in these new things, "Excellent, what should we do now?" Isn't it time to fight monsters and level up and then push the boss? ”

"It's not that fast, let's wait until we get used to it first." Bai Xueji glanced at the already panicked players around her with a smile on her face, as if she liked to see the desperate looks on their faces.

No one was able to notice the six of them who were out of step with the other players anymore, because the words of the red-cloaked giant directly above them immediately caused them to riot, "You must be wondering why now. Why did Sao and neRvgear developer Akihiko Aoba do this? Is this a large-scale terrorist act? Or is it a kidnapping case committed for ransom? ”

"None of that is my purpose. I can even say that I don't have any purpose or reason anymore. If anything, it's because for me, this situation is the end goal. To create the world and to see it, that's why I invented neRvgear and created sao. And now, all my goals have been accomplished. ”

After a short period of time, Kayaba's voice rang out, "That's it for the game description of 'SwordArt Online', good luck to you. ”

The last sentence had a few reverberations and then vanished, and the huge bright red cloak rose silently, starting at the tip of the hat, and gradually assimilated with the system message that covered the entire sky as if it were dissolving.

Its shoulders, chest, and limbs slowly sank into the blood-red water, leaving only a ripple to spread. Then, the message that filled the sky suddenly disappeared as it had appeared.

In just a few dozen minutes, the people who turned from gamers to prisoners squatted on the ground with their heads in their hands, some raised their hands to the sky, some hugged each other, and some even began to protect and curse each other.

"That's an unpleasant guy, Akihiko Kayaba."

Looking at the players who were caught in a riot around him, Excellence pouted, and then looked at the five girls beside him, "Let's go, let's start our new adventure!" ”

to be continued