At this moment, the whole 10,000 players in the central plaza just stared into the read cloak floating in the sky, none of them could say a word.
“Trapped here… forever…?”
A player suddenly murmured.
It might seem like they didn’t understand what Kayaba Akihiko just said, but that was not the case, they just denied the harsh reality in front of their eyes because their brain couldn’t process all that at once, that was why the whole central plaza was dead silent. Only Rozen, who could respond to this sudden turn of event composedly.
“………”
Of course, Rozen himself had a hard time believing what Kayaba Akihiko just said, however from the few words that he just said, Rozen had a hunch that he’d reveal the reason why he went this far in the next second.
There was only one reason that led Rozen to believe that was the case. That was because he felt a certain feeling from this man called Kayaba Akihiko, a nostalgic feeling that he felt from certain people…
That was…
“Magus…”
Kayaba Akihiko gave the same vibe as a magus, who will do any means necessary to reach the root. They had little to no empathy, with complete disregard for human life.
Therefore, Rozen knew what will come out of his mouth was cruelty and despair.
And as he predicted…
“I know you may have a hard time understanding what I am saying now, but it doesn’t matter. You only need to know one thing. That is the fact that this world is no longer a mere game, but another reality. Another real world.”
“There are three things you need to pay attention to.”
“One: From now on, all resurrection mechanism in this game will cease to function, so when your hp becomes zero, your avatar will die forever and unable to respawn.”
“Two: When your avatar dies, a powerful burst of microwave radiation emitted from a transmitter in the NerveGear will destroy your brain, thus ending your life.”
“Three: This game has already started. No one can stop this. If by any chance, anyone in real life, attempted to remove the NerveGear forcibly, the transmitter in NerveGear will also emit microwave radiation to destroy your brain. This was no exception if either NerveGear’s external battery run out for more than 10 minutes or disconnecting the internet, or even if someone tried to destroy the NerveGear itself.”
“These conditions have already been published in the outside world through the media.”
“Presumably, your body in the real world should be being moved to a hospital or other facility along with your NerveGear to be treated there. I also mentioned in the media that they only have about a two-hour time window to do so.”
“The only way you can be released from this game is to clear all 100 floors of Aincrad, of course, that means you must defeat all 100-floor bosses guarding each floor.”
“Once any of you clears the 100th floor, all surviving players will be logged out safely.”
“It’d do you well to remember what I’ve just said in the future.”
Before anyone had a chance to process what he said, he added.
“As proof that I’m not joking here, I‘ve prepared a special present for all of you in your item storages. Take a look.”
Every player in the central plaza instinctively accessed the main menu and checked the item storage, including Rozen.
The item’s name was Mirror.
Rozen was certain that he never had this item before.
At that moment, Rozen almost tapped it without hesitation and selected the use button from the options window.
“Zheng!”
A small mirror appeared in Rozen’s hands.
After looking at the Mirror for a brief moment, suddenly…
“Zheng!”
Rozen and other players were shrouded by blueish light right after.
Rozen closed his eyes subconsciously, and when he opened it again, Rozen couldn’t believe his eyes.
Because the face reflected in the Mirror was not an intellectual face like a wise military tactician, but a handsome guy, looking a little childish, a seemingly lazy half-breed teenager that he was familiar with
That was his actual face in real life.
“That means…”
Rozen turned his head and looked around.
“This… what’s going on here!?”
“Is this for real!?”
“You…who are you!?”
“Who are you?”
One by one, players yelled out one after another.
Rozen saw the handsome men and beautiful women he saw earlier turned into ordinary looking men and women. The game, which looked like a fantasy world at first, suddenly seemed like a real world.
Obviously…
“Our avatar turns into our real-life appearance?”
Rozen muttered such words.
Kayaba Akihiko then said in a sinister voice.
“With this, you’ll less likely think this is a “game” but a “reality” instead, right? ”
After that, Kayaba Akihiko finished it with ice-cold words.
“This concludes the tutorial for the official launch of Sword Art Online.”
“Players, I wish you the best of luck.”
With that sentence as the finale, the red cloak floating in the sky then disappeared, along with the red polygons in the sky.
The silence still permeated in the central plaza.
Until…
“Let me out! Log me out of here!”
As if waking the rest of the players from their daydream, once a player said those words, the rest also followed suit.
“Let me out!”
“Get me out of here!”
“Don’t screw with me…!”
“This is just a game!”
“It’s just a game!”
“Let us out!”
The noise like a tsunami shook the air in the entire square.
As the player panicked, all kinds of noises and emotions were mixed in the central plaza.
Rozen went to an ally during the commotion.
“Bang!”
He smashed the Mirror in his hands to the ground, destroying it into polygon shards.
The light of the polygon shard illuminated Rozen’s face, face full of disgust and anger.
Although he didn’t exactly know what happened, but he got the gist of it.
“You won’t even hesitate to imprison 10.000 people just for the sake of your research?”
Rozen’s eyes were lit in fire like never before.
“Then, I will show you!”
“I’ll clear all 100 floors and find you at the topmost floor. I’ll make you regret ever using me as a guinea pig.”
“Kayaba Akihiko.”
