In 2022, humanity finally achieved a fully realized virtual space.
Amidst this technological breakthrough, the world saw the launch of a single game: Sword Art Online.
As the world's first VRMMORPG, its birth was something gamers across the nation had anticipated with bated breath. The game utilized "Full Dive" technology through a specialized, helmet-like device known as the "NerveGear." This hardware intercepted signals from the brain to move a digital "Avatar" within the virtual world. Every player controlled their own unique character, relying on a single weapon and their own personal skills to navigate their adventures.
Furthermore, by leveraging the unique properties of virtual space, the game even allowed players to experience "daily life" within its borders. As more details surfaced, the excitement of the country's gamers and internet addicts intensified. Their expectations for this new world grew exponentially as they counted down the days until the official opening.
During that time, the developers announced a standard Beta Test. Participants were to be chosen by lottery, but the number of accepted players was a mere one thousand. While that figure might sound significant on its own, it was a pitifully small number compared to the massive audience of hopeful players.
After all, this was the world's first virtual reality game of its kind. Since participating in the test meant experiencing this world before anyone else—along with gaining priority rights to purchase the full version—it was no surprise that applications flooded in.
The truth is, I—Mitsuki Mishima—am a well-known internet gaming addict. When I learned that I had won the lottery for the beta test through pure luck, I felt as though I were walking on air. From that moment on, whether I was asleep or awake—even while sitting in class—Sword Art Online was the only thing on my mind.
As soon as I returned from school, I took care of my business and rushed to my room. I slid the NerveGear onto my head and immediately launched myself into that other world.
But in the end, it was only a beta—a mere trial run in preparation for the official service. The moment of farewell eventually arrived. After I somehow managed to overcome the bitterness of that temporary separation from that world, I finally reached this long-awaited day.
「The start time is exactly twelve o'clock. I've finished my chores and changed my clothes. — Preparations are complete. Let it begin at any moment.」
The clock read 11:55 AM. I had finished every necessary preparation and was in a state that allowed me to "Full Dive" at any second. Just putting on the NerveGear helmet brought back the rush of excitement I felt during the first day of the beta test, and a natural smile crept across my face.
I was home alone; my parents were busy with work, and my aunt, who usually spent her time at our house, had gone out for the day. In short, today was the perfect time for gaming.
... The moment had arrived.
「— LINK START!」
The moment I opened my eyes, I found myself in another world. What I stepped on now was not asphalt, but a stone pavement. When I looked up, I didn't see my bedroom ceiling, but a brilliant blue sky.
「I'm finally back...! To this world.」
The stage for our adventures is the floating castle, Aincrad—a massive steel fortress consisting of one hundred floors. We are currently at the bottom, on the first floor: The Town of Beginnings.
As other players began to materialize and log in one after another, I took off running through the city at full speed. To conquer this game, I had to reclaim my combat instincts by facing the weak monsters on the city's outskirts.
I first headed to the weapon shop I frequented during the beta days. After checking my status and attributes, I purchased a "Spear" as my starting equipment. With my remaining money, I bought healing potions and headed to the city's suburbs—the area where the Anti-Crime Code no longer applies.
「— Seiyah!」
The spear I swung knocked back a "Blue Boar." I seized the opening to activate a single-hit Spear Sword Skill: "Shaft". The tip of the spear, shrouded in a green light effect, pierced the boar's body. With that single strike, its HP dropped to zero. Its body shattered into polygonal particles and vanished.
In SAO's combat system, there is no "Magic," which is usually the core of RPGs. Instead, there are special techniques known as "Sword Skills" for every weapon class—skills that exist in nearly infinite numbers. By initiating a specific movement, the system takes over the character's body, allowing the execution of techniques with speed and power impossible under normal conditions. These Sword Skills range from single strikes, like the one I just used, to rapid-fire consecutive attacks.
「Ah... I've mostly regained my combat sense. Am I close to leveling up?」
After an hour of intense hunting, I became so immersed that I ended up slaying a significant number of monsters.
Character progression in SAO isn't as complex as in traditional MMOs. By distributing the skill points earned upon leveling up into either Strength (STR) or Agility (AGI), a player modifies their avatar's capabilities. Basic stats like health and defense increase automatically. Therefore, if you focus on raw power, you increase Strength; if you prefer fast attacks or a "hit-and-run" style, you increase Agility. It works without the need for overthinking, leaving the direction of growth to the player's taste. For someone like me, who tends to agonize over character builds, I appreciated this simplicity.
After warming up against weak monsters for a while, I decided to return to the city to log out temporarily. I swiped my right hand to summon the status window.
It was then that I noticed something strange for the first time...
「The logout button... it's not there?!」
The logout icon, which should have been at the bottom of the main menu, was missing. I thought its location might have changed in the official version, but I couldn't find it no matter how hard I searched.
「Is it a bug...? On the very first day?」
Admittedly, discovering bugs on the launch day of an official service is not unusual; in fact, the probability is quite high. However, this was worse than a simple glitch. Could a malfunction actually occur in the logout function—the one feature absolutely indispensable in a Full Dive game?
It seemed the players around me had noticed it too, as a wave of noise and unrest began to sweep through the city. Then—
「...?!」
Suddenly, a blinding blue light enveloped my field of vision.
When I squeezed my eyes shut and then reopened them, I saw the central plaza of The Town of Beginnings, the same place I had appeared upon logging in. Along with me, the players who were unable to log out were crowding into the square. In the middle of that chaos, I spotted a familiar face.
「Hey, you're Kirito, right?」
A character with the features of a classic hero turned around. When he saw my face...
「Wait... Mitsuki?」
「It's been a while.」
Mitsuki is my character name—a simple creation combining the first and last parts of my real name. This "Kirito" was a friend I had fought alongside in many battles during the beta test. He was one of the few players who preferred heavy one-handed swords that required high physical strength. He was also among those who reached the tenth floor, the maximum limit of the beta test; I was one of them as well.
「And who is this?」
According to Kirito, the man wearing the red bandana was named Klein. It seemed he had leveraged Kirito's status as a beta tester to ask him to teach him the basics of combat in SAO.
「You both noticed, right? The logout button is gone.」
「Yeah... Since every connected player has been forcibly teleported here, I assume the administration will make an announcement soon...」
「Wait, look up!」
Following Klein's words, Kirito and I turned our gaze toward the sky above the plaza. A glaring red line had appeared, displaying the words: "Warning" and "System Announcement".
Just as I thought the administration was finally starting their announcement, the warning screens multiplied with terrifying speed, dyeing the sky a deep, bloody crimson. From there, a viscous liquid resembling blood began to pour out and gather in the air.
The liquid soon took the shape of a massive hooded cloak, with white gloves emerging from the sleeves to form the silhouette of an avatar. However...
「Why is there no one inside?」
As Klein noted, there was no visible face within the cloak suspended in the air. Kirito and I had seen this same cloak during the beta test. This crimson robe is used as the avatar for the Game Master. Normally, the face of either an elderly bearded man or a woman wearing glasses—employees of the operating company, Argus—would appear inside.
As questions flooded our minds, a voice suddenly echoed from the robe...
『Players, welcome to my world.』
「"My world"...? That's a bit much, even if it is technically true.」
Certainly, if the speaker was from Argus, the company managing the game, the statement wasn't entirely wrong.
『My name is Kayaba Akihiko. I am currently the only person capable of controlling this world.』
「「!!」」
I had read about him in magazines. Kayaba Akihiko—the genius designer and quantum physicist who was the driving force behind Argus's growth from a small firm into a major corporation. He was undoubtedly the creator of SAO, and more importantly, he was the man who designed the NerveGear we used for the Full Dive.
『I believe you have already noticed the logout button is missing from the main menu. However, this is not a defect in the game. — I repeat, this is not a bug, but a feature of the original Sword Art Online.』
「A feature...?!」
So, from the very beginning, this game was a one-way path away from the real world. Why would he create something so dangerous...?!
As the players stood in a state of shock, Kayaba continued his speech coldly.
『You cannot log out of your own volition. Furthermore, no one from the outside can shut down or remove the NerveGear. If such an attempt is made, the signaling elements in the NerveGear will emit high-energy microwaves that will destroy your brains, terminating your vital functions.』
It sounded like utter nonsense—the kind of thing any sane person would mock and dismiss. But it was possible. The phenomenon Kayaba described—"frying the brain with microwaves from signaling elements"—was essentially the same principle behind household microwave ovens. If the power was sufficient, the frictional heat generated by the rapid vibration of the signaling elements could literally cook a brain.
Kirito seemed to reach the same conclusion, letting out a low groan.
「But... that's impossible. If the power plug is suddenly pulled, the NerveGear shouldn't be able to produce that kind of energy. Unless it was equipped with a massive internal battery...」
「... I heard that thirty percent of the device's weight consists of battery cells. But... but this is insane! What if there's a sudden power outage?!」
Klein was right. If the brain could be destroyed by the internal battery even if the electricity was cut, it meant some players might die due to circumstances beyond their control, like a blackout.
『To be more precise, if the external power is cut for ten minutes, if the network connection is lost for two hours, or if an attempt is made to unlock, dismantle, or destroy the NerveGear, the brain-destruction sequence will be executed.』
Hearing Kayaba's words, I breathed a small sigh of relief knowing the chance of dying from an unavoidable blackout had decreased. But the problem was far from solved.
『Unfortunately, as of this moment, there have been several cases where families or friends of players ignored the warnings and attempted to forcibly remove the NerveGear... As a result, two hundred and thirteen players have departed the world of Aincrad—and the real world—forever.』
「Two hundred and thirteen people...?!」
『As you can see, due to the high number of fatalities, this situation is being widely reported across all media outlets. Consequently, the risk of forcible NerveGear removal has significantly decreased. Therefore, I want you to rest assured and focus your efforts on conquering the game.』
Multiple windows appeared around the cloak, displaying footage from famous news programs. They appeared to be live broadcasts of the current situation. The bold headlines read: "Online Game Incident: Victims Falling One After Another." Other programs were broadcasting similar news.
「Don't mess with me! You're telling us to play calmly while we can't log out?! This isn't a game anymore!!」
Kirito shouted, his patience finally snapping. But his words didn't reach Kayaba, who continued talking as if none of this concerned him.
『However, please pay close attention. From this point forward, no means of revival will function within the game. The moment your HP reaches zero, your avatar will vanish forever, and simultaneously—』
A short silence followed.
『—your brain will be destroyed by the NerveGear.』
... This meant that the end of one's HP—Game Over—was synonymous with "Death."
The moment I heard Kayaba's words, a specific memory flashed through my mind...
Yes... it was during the beta test. While I was leveling up alone on the first floor and hadn't yet grown accustomed to Sword Skills, I took a head-butt from a Blue Boar that brought my health bar to zero. After a brief moment, my character shattered into polygonal shards, and I was respawned in the "Black Iron Palace" on the first floor.
Afterward, I headed back to the same spot for revenge, thinking: "Next time, I won't take that hit..." or "I need to increase my attack count..." RPGs are fundamentally built on the principle of trial and error. As the saying goes, "Failure is the stepping stone to success"—you try, you fail, you try again, and eventually, victory awaits.
But in this situation, where a Game Over leads to the death of the physical body, that cycle is impossible.
『There is only one condition for your release: you must clear this game. You are currently on the first floor, the lowest level of Aincrad. You must conquer the labyrinths on each floor and defeat the Floor Boss to proceed to the floor above. Once the final boss on the one-hundredth floor is defeated, the game will be considered cleared.』
「Clear the game... the hundredth floor? That's impossible. I heard that even in the beta test, we couldn't climb that far!!」
The thousand beta testers—Kirito and I included—had experienced this world before the other nine thousand players. Despite having a one-month time limit, we were defeating bosses and steadily ascending. In the end, the beta test concluded when we reached the tenth floor.
If we cleared ten floors in a month, couldn't we finish the game in ten months? The answer was no.
Admittedly, beta testers knew the monsters' weaknesses, the most profitable quests, and the safest routes to major cities. We possessed knowledge and experience that the new players couldn't match. This was why Klein had asked Kirito to teach him how to fight.
But that knowledge only held up to the tenth floor. Beyond that, there was no prior information. More importantly, what we knew was only from the beta version; adjustments had undoubtedly been made for the official launch. If the city layouts or item prices changed slightly, it was manageable. But if the stats of the mobs or floor bosses were buffed... our beta knowledge couldn't be fully trusted.
In the end, we had no choice but to explore slowly in a world surrounded by death. Doing so would make clearing the game a distant goal—one that might take years.
『Finally—I will show you proof that this world is your new reality. In your item storage, I have prepared a gift from me. Please check it.』
Before Kayaba finished his sentence, I swiped my right hand to open the menu window. When I navigated to the item storage, I found an unfamiliar item name.
「"Hand Mirror"...?」
I attempted to materialize it as a physical object. An ordinary, unremarkable hand mirror appeared in my hand. On its surface, nothing was reflected except the face of the "Mitsuki" avatar I had been using since the beta. It seemed the same applied to Kirito and Klein; they were tilting their heads or furrowing their brows.
「────?!」
Suddenly, a bluish-white light flooded the entire plaza.
「— What is this...?」
When I cautiously opened my eyes, the same central plaza stretched before me... but I felt an eerie sense of wrongness.
「「Is that you, Kirito (Klein)?!」」
I turned toward the voices behind me. I didn't find the brave hero's features or the serious samurai face that had been with me moments ago. Instead, I found the faces of two strangers I had never seen before.
The one-handed swordsman who seemed to be Kirito hadn't changed in height, but his face was no longer that of a classic hero. It was now the face of a boy who looked about my age, with features that leaned slightly toward the feminine.
As for Klein... his transformation was the polar opposite of his previous serious face. His sharp eyes had become bug-eyed, his nose hooked, and a neglected beard grew from his chin. In this form, he looked more like a wild barbarian than a wandering samurai.
「Then, Mitsuki is...」
The two of them turned their gazes toward me. Right—had my appearance changed too? I looked into the mirror in my hand again. As expected, it didn't reflect the avatar Mitsuki, but the real face of Mitsuki Mishima.
「It seems all ten thousand players here have had their avatars replaced with their real-world faces.」
「Y-Yeah. You're being strangely calm about this.」
「Not really. I'm shocked. But beyond the face... how did he do this?」
The NerveGear, by design, covers the entire head with high-density signaling elements. Because of this, it can reproduce every detail of the face with extreme accuracy, from the basic structure to the smallest features.
But what about the body? It seemed Kirito and I had set our heights in the game to match our real heights to avoid any sensory dissonance during movement. However, it appeared most other players had added ten to twenty centimeters to their stature.
Furthermore... as a side note, it seemed there were those who were posing as females while being male—what's known in internet slang as "Nekama"—and quite a few players were now in a visually tragic situation.
「I bought the NerveGear recently, so I remember. There was something called "Calibration," wasn't there? When the device asked us to touch our bodies in various places.」
「I see. If that's the case, it explains the situation.」
「But... but... gah, why?! Why would he do something like this in the first place...?」
Kirito pointed his hand toward the cloak suspended in the sky for Klein, who was clutching his head in confusion. It was as if he were saying: "He's about to answer us."
『I believe you are now wondering: "Why?" Why would Kayaba Akihiko, the developer of the NerveGear, do something like this? — I created this world, the NerveGear, and SAO for one purpose: to create this world and observe it. And now, everything has been fulfilled.』
I found myself clenching my fists involuntarily. I gripped so hard that my nails would have dug into my skin and drawn blood if this were the real world.
『With that, the tutorial for the official service of Sword Art Online concludes. — I wish you, players, the best of luck in your battles.』
The crimson robe disintegrated, being absorbed into the air like a video being played in reverse. Soon, the cloak vanished entirely, and the red warning screens blinked out of existence in an instant.
Silence fell over the plaza. The only thing audible was the calm background music of the market district in The Town of Beginnings.
After seconds of stillness... the emotions of the players who had reached their breaking point exploded all at once.
— 「Don't screw with us! Get us out of here!」 「This is unacceptable! I have an appointment!」 「Get me out! Get me out of here!!」 —
Amidst the screaming, one phrase crossed my mind. It was a quote from Kayaba published in a magazine I had read just before logging in. He had said: "This may be a game, but it is not something you play." It wasn't a metaphor or anything of the sort; he meant those words literally. In this moment, SAO had transformed into a death game where lives were the stakes.
「... Kirito.」
「Yeah. Let's hurry.」
In the middle of the plaza where the terrified cries of ten thousand people rose, Kirito—who was holding Klein's arm—and I stepped out with quick strides.
「Klein. We're heading to the next village immediately. Come with us.」
When a look of confusion appeared on Klein's face, I pulled up the menu window to explain.
「If what Kayaba said is true, then to survive in this world, we must constantly grow stronger. It might be calm now, but the fields around the Town of Beginnings will soon be swarming with people thinking the same thing, and they'll hunt every monster in sight. If that happens, we'll be forced to wait for spawns. We need to leave the city now and make the next village our base.」
The resources provided by VRMMORPGs—the money and experience players earn—are neither fair nor unlimited. In other words, there isn't a permanent, fixed number of monsters in a given area. Respawns require a certain amount of time to pass after a monster is defeated. If too many are killed in a short period, the monsters will vanish from the field, leading to a resource depletion. To avoid this, we had to claim the next village as our base, where no one had arrived yet, ensuring a stable source of experience points.
「Kirito and I are beta testers, so we know all the routes and danger spots. Even at level one, we should arrive safely.」
However, Klein's response was...
「But... but man. I bought this game after standing in line all night with my friends from other games. They must still be in the plaza... I can't just leave them and go.」
This changed the situation. If it were just Klein, Kirito would have been enough, and with me there, it would have been even safer. But if the number increased by one, two, or three more people... frankly, safety couldn't be guaranteed. No matter how much experience two beta testers had, Kirito and I were still just players. We had to protect ourselves and raise our own levels first.
In such a situation, neither I nor Kirito had the confidence to protect a group of beginners.
It seemed Klein realized what was going through our minds from our grim expressions. He gave a wide grin and said:
「Nah, I can't burden you guys any more than this. Don't worry about me; you two head to the next village.」
He urged us forward.
「I was a guild leader in the games I played before, too. I'll manage somehow with the techniques Kirito taught me.」
「... I understand. Then —」
I opened the menu window and sent a friend request to Klein. Players registered as friends can message each other and see each other's locations on the map if they are on the same floor.
「... Goodbye, Klein.」
「Yeah. Take care of yourselves out there.」
「We will.」
Finally, we bumped fists in a parting salute, turned our backs, and began to run.
「Kirito! ... You've got a really pretty face! Totally my type. And you, Mitsuki! You're a handsome guy, so you must have plenty of girlfriends, right? Introduce me to them next time!」
Klein's final words were just like him... full of jokes.
「That barbarian warrior face suits you ten times better!」
「When we get out safely! Though I don't even have one girlfriend!」
We called back to him, and this time, we truly headed toward the area outside the protection zone. I looked back while running and saw that Klein had already turned toward his companions. He would surely lead them well.
And so, we left The Town of Beginnings and stepped into the zone where the Anti-Crime Code no longer applies.
「Kirito. I'm going to go grab the spear I relied on in the beta. You're going for the Anneal Blade, right?」
「Yeah. I have to get that sword first, or nothing can start.」
「Alright, we split here then. The directions are opposite.」
「Got it. ... Don't die.」
「You too. If we stay alive, we'll meet at the Floor One boss battle at the latest.」
That was the conversation we exchanged as we sprinted down the road. It was a moment that would significantly impact the future for both Kirito and me.
For later, Kirito would meet "that girl," and I too would have my encounter with "another girl."