A scan.
“…Of course!” I muttered, looking up at Klein. “The NerveGear’s got those transmitters all over the underside of the helmet, including the part that covers your face. So not only can it read your brain, it also re-creates your facial details…”
“But what about my height…and my weight?” Klein peered around, his voice uncharacteristically quiet.
The crowd of players, still staring about in amazement, had clearly lost a few inches in average height after the “adjustment.” Both Klein and I had set our avatars’ heights to be about the same as our own, hoping to avoid throwing off our physical coordination during full dive due to any changes in eye-level. But judging from the crowd, the majority of players had given themselves an extra six inches, if not more.
And that wasn’t all. The average girth of the crowd had swollen considerably as well. But the NerveGear could only scan our heads. How could it have gauged our body size?
Klein had the answer.
“Wait a sec. I remember this ’cos I just bought my NerveGear yesterday. It did that thing during the set-up phase…What was it, calibration? It asked me to touch my body in all these different spots. Could that have been it?”
“Oh…right, of course…”
The calibration process was a measurement of how far the user needed to move to touch his or her body, such that the system could re-create the proper surface area digitally. In essence, it was enlisting the user’s help to build an internal measurement of the user’s body.
It clearly worked. Every player in the world of SAO at this moment had been turned into a virtually perfect polygonal replica of themselves. The intent was obvious.
“It’s reality,” I muttered. “He just said so. My avatar and my hit points are now my real body and life. Kayaba re-created our faces and figures to force us to recognize the truth.”
“B-but, Kirito,” Klein wailed, scratching his head as his eyes bulged beneath the bandanna. “Why? Why would he do something like this…?”
I couldn’t answer that. Instead, I pointed upward.
“Just wait. He’s about to answer that, I’m sure.”
Kayaba did not disappoint. The solemn voice continued a few seconds later, ringing out from the bloodred sky.
“You are likely asking yourselves, why? Why would Akihiko Kayaba, developer of SAO and the NerveGear unit, do such a thing? Is it an act of terrorism? An elaborate kidnapping to extract ransom money?”
And for the first time, Kayaba’s emotionless voice began to take on the faintest signs of color. Despite the situation, I felt a hint of longing in his voice. But that couldn’t be right.
“What I seek is neither of these things. I have no goals or justifications at this moment. In fact, this very situation was my ultimate goal. I created the NerveGear and SAO precisely in order to build this world and observe it. I have now achieved that aim.”
After a short pause, Kayaba’s voice was back to its usual monotone.
“This concludes the tutorial phase of Sword Art Online. I wish you the best of luck, dear players.”
His last word echoed briefly before dying out.
The crimson robe silently ascended, the tip of the hood melting into the system warnings still displayed in midair. The shoulders, chest, arms, and legs followed into the bloodred surface, leaving a single outward ripple behind. The next instant, the giant wall of messages plastered across the sky disappeared as abruptly as it came.
The wind blew over the top of the square, and the BGM from a band of NPC musicians slowly approached from afar, bringing life back to my ears. The game had returned to its original state. The only difference lay in a few very crucial rules.
Finally, at long last, the throng of players exhibited the proper reaction.
The square exploded into noise, convulsing with the sound of ten thousand voices all at once.
“This can’t be happening…You’ve gotta be kidding me!”
“Screw this! Let me out! I want out of here!”
“You can’t do this to me! I’m supposed to meet someone tonight!”
“No! Let me leave, let me leave!”
Screams. Rage. Shrieks. Insults. Pleading. And roars.
In the span of several minutes, we’d been turned from players to prisoners. We held our heads, sunk to our knees, shook fists in the air, grabbed others, and turned on one another.
Oddly enough, the more the screaming continued, the clearer my thoughts became.
This is reality. Everything that Akihiko Kayaba said was the truth. He, of all people, would be capable of this. That destructive, unpredictable genius was part of his allure.
I would not be back in the real world for quite some time—months, if not longer. I wouldn’t be able to see or speak to my mother or sister. I might never do so again. If I died here…
I was really dead.
The NerveGear—game console, shackles, and guillotine blade all in one—would fry my brain and kill me.
I took a slow, measured breath and opened my mouth.
“Come with me, Klein.”
I grabbed his arm, his figure still imposingly tall even after the shift to our actual body types, and quickly led him out through the hysterical mob. We must have been placed near the outside of the group, as it took little time to escape the crowd. I marched down one of the town streets radiating out from the square and stepped behind a stationary carriage.
“Klein,” I snapped at the dazed man in the most sober tone I could manage. “Listen up. I’m leaving this city right now and heading for the next village. Come with me.”
I pushed on, my voice low, as Klein stared at me from beneath his hideous bandanna.
“If what he said is true, then we have to get stronger and stronger in order to survive. I’m sure you already know that MMORPGs are a battle over system resources. There’s only so much gold, loot, and experience to go around, so the more you win, the stronger you get. Everyone’s going to have the same idea, so the fields around the Town of Beginnings will be bled dry in no time. You’ll be forced to wander around, endlessly waiting for mobs to repop. We need to take this opportunity to set up base in the next town. I know the way, and I know which spots are dangerous. I can get us there safely, even at level one.”
By my standards, it was a marathon speech, but Klein listened to every word. A few seconds later, he grimaced slightly.
“But…remember what I said earlier? I stayed in line all night with some friends from another game just to buy this. They were logged in. They must still be back in the square. I can’t just leave them behind.”
“…”
I held my breath and bit my lip. The intention behind Klein’s pensive stare was as plain as day. The jovial, faithful man couldn’t leave his friends behind. He wanted to bring them with us.
And I just couldn’t agree to that.
Even at level one, I was confident that I could protect Klein alone from the more aggressive monsters along the route to the next village. But any more than that would make the risks too great. What if someone died en route and, as Kayaba said, had his actual brain fried? The responsibility would lie with me: the guy who wanted to leave our initial haven and failed to keep everyone safe.
I couldn’t handle that unbearable pressure. It was impossible.
Klein seemed to pick up on my momentary hesitation once again. A stiff but broad smile cracked his stubbly cheeks, and he shook his head slowly.
“Nah…I can’t ask for more of your help than you’ve already given. Hell, I was a guild leader myself back in the last game. Don’t worry, I’ll get by with the techniques you taught me. Besides, there’s always the possibility that this really was just a bad prank, and we’ll be able to log out in no time. So go on, jump ahead and don’t mind me.”
“…”
For a few seconds, I stayed silent, grappling with a conflict the likes of which I’d never faced before.
And then I spoke the simple words that I would grow to regret over the following two years.
“…Okay.” I nodded, taking a step back. In a hoarse voice, I continued. “We’ll part ways here, then. Shoot me a message if anything comes up. Well…see ya, Klein.”
As I averted my eyes and tried to turn away, Klein barked out.
“Kirito!”
“…”
His glance said he wanted to ask something, but his cheekbones only twitched, and no words came out. I waved and turned northwest, the general direction of the village I sought to go next.
After five steps, I heard his voice call out behind me again.
“Hey, Kirito! Turns out you look pretty cute after all! Just my type!”
I grimaced and called back over my shoulder. “And you look ten times better now that you’re a mountain bandit!”
And having turned my back on the first friend I ever made in this world, I started walking forward. After a few minutes traveling down the twisted back alleys of the city, I turned around to look. There was no one there, of course.
Gritting my teeth and swallowing the strange sensation that seemed to block my windpipe, I picked up my heels and ran.
First the northwest gate of the Town of Beginnings, then a vast field and deep forest, and finally a little village. I raced onward toward what lay beyond, headlong into a lonely battle for survival without end.